The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-08-29
Senator ToOte.

There is much truth in the following
humorous description Of this remarkable
man:
1t is great mistake to under,alue
foote. Half the people at the North
tnlnk him little better than a fool.
have learned to my cost, In the course
OF my lite, the danger of contenning
Just such tools as he Is. Foolish, vain
and frivolous, he may be at times; un-
comfortably annoying and yexatious he
certainly Is, either, | should think, as a
fiend or an opponent. SO much for
drawbacks. Inc temptation is d strong
one to end the inventory OF chara rter-
istics at tnat, and to shake him off as a
nuisance. But here comes the rule:
lie won't be shaken off from any body
or any thing that he has formed ei,oer a
friendly or hostile attachment to.
! Every body else tires out sometimes your
"never-say-die philosopher never tires
out. You may beat hun in argument,
and resume your seat with smrk of
selt-complacency at the completeness OF
your vlctory--uP lie pops again, and
lights on just the same as If you hadn t
knocked his brains out befrre. You
may turn the laugh on him until another
man's face would blister with bushes.
lie never knows it, but gets up and
talks on just the same. Get mad and
storm at him, and he will storm back
again; make up your mind to treat
hm with contempt and keep silent, and
he will per&ecute you with continuous
assaults, un,ii some day when page has
just upset an inkstand, or somu body
treads unluckiy on your toes, at the
nick OF time, you answer peevishly yIback
again, and all your stock of dignity
which has been accuInulatng for tnIt-
night, is upset in jifiy. II is quite ri
dlculous then to try it over again.
Make blunder never so small in any
matter Of political history, and your op-
poncnt, wh, knows everything, comes
down upon you and utterly conlounds
you with coPions extracts from half IL
dozen of your own old speeches which
you had completely forgotten. In fine,
do what you will, turn where vou will,
there he is. Fancy he is of no i'll port
ance as much as you choose, yrn find
that the fact is he annoys YOU. He
viii be, with no leave asked, ei.her your
friend or your enemy, and finally, tired
and worried out with such pertina-
cious assailant, you surrender at diScre-
ton, and admit him to be your friend.
As your friend, he must be your partic-
ular and confidential friend. He must
know all your plans and be allowed to
help you forward; and as he already
knows every body eIse's plans, he can
really be OF service to you. And there
1T is. You are saved and deliveGed.-
You don't belong to yourself any l',nger.
Before you know it. you are mere
auxiliary to Mr.. Fdote. The dread Of
renewing the old conflict will keep you
at that. So it is that half a dozen lub-
ber y men of calibre in the Senate. and
twice as many little ones, are subsidized
to Mr.. Fo't te, to whom, perhaps, they
would deny, if questioned, either the title
of great man." or of "a man Of tai
ent."
Mr. Foote is man Of indeiatgable
industry, with all the watchininess,
though, perhaps, not the secretivness of
a cat. He lives and breathes in the
political atmosphere solely, and is de-
voted soul and body to whatever are his
political schemes for the moment. They
may seem TO change rapidly, bat his
madness has always method in IT, He
has tenfnld more power to influence
men by one means or another. than
any other politician in Washingt, IN. 1t
is by just such men as be that J. have
seen your so-called men of talent foiled
at the bar and elsewhere.