Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1850-08-10
Portrait Of 'Hangman POOts.'

"A correspondent oil Ihe Tribune ura"s
tho following portrait of Footc, the fiery
Senator from Mississippi. We are inclined
to think it true to the life, and that the man
has been greatly underrnted.
1t is great mistake to undervalue FooTE.
Half the people at the North think him little
better than a fool. have learned to my
cost, in the course of my life, the danger of
concerning Just such fools as he is. Fool
ish, vain and frivolous he may be at times
uncomfortably annoying and vexatious he
certainly is, either, should think, as friend
or an opponent. So much for drawbacks.
The temptation is a strong one TO end the
inventory of characteristics at that and to
shake him off as a nuisance. But here comes
the rule: He won't be shaken off from any
body or ANYTHING that he has formed either
a friendly or a hostile attachment to. He is
endowed with the pertinacity Of gadfly -
the harder you shake the closer he sticks
lie belongs to the never-say-die" school of
philosophers, not mentioned, i believe, among
the numerous schools of the classic Greeks,
but a most potent sect in modern times, at
all events. Everybody else tires out some
times your never-say-die" philosopher
never tires out. You may beat him in ar
gument, and resume your seat with smrk
of seli-complacency at the completeness of
your victory-up he pops again, and fights
on just the same as it you hat'nt Knocked
his brains out before. You may turn the
laugh OH him until another mans face would
blister with bushes He 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 him
with contempt and keep silent, and he will
persecute you with continuous assault till
some day when page has just upset an ink
stand, or somebody treads unluckily on your
toes, at the nick of time, you answer peev-
ishly back again, and all your stock Of digni-
ty which has been accommodating for a fort
night, is upset in jiffy. 1t is quite ridicu-
lous then to try it over again. Make blum
der ever so small in any matter of political
history, and your opponent, who knows
everything, comes down upon you and ut
terly coniounds you with copious extracts
from half a dozen Of your own old speeches
which you had completely forgotten. In
fine, do what you WILL turn where you will,
there he is. Fancy he is of no importance
as much as you choose, you find that the fact
is be annoys you. He will be, with no leave
asked, either your friend Oh your enemy, and
finally, tired and worried out with such a
pertinacious assailant, you surrender at dis
cretion, and admit him to be your friend.-
As your friend, he must be your particular
and confidential friend. lie must know all
your plans and be allowed to help you for
ward; and as he already knows everybody
else's plans, he can really be ofservice to
you. And there it is. You are saved aud
delivered. You don't belong to yourself any
longer. Before you know it, you are mere
auxiliary to Mr. FOoTE. The dread of re-
newing the old conflict will keep you at that.
So it is that half dozen lubberly men of
calber in the Senate, and twice as many lit
tie ones, are subsidized to MIR. FooTE, to
whom, perhaps, they would deny, if ques-
toned, either the title of "a great man" or
of"a a man of talent"
MIR. FooTE is man of indefatigable in
dustry, with all the watchfhllness, though
perhaps, not the secretiveness of cat. lie
lives and breathes in the political atmosphere
solely, and is devoted soul and body to what
ever are his political schemes for the mo-
ment. They may seem to change rapidly,
but his madness has always method in it,
He has ten-fold more power TO influence men
by one means or another, than any other po-
litician in Washington. Ii is just such men
as he that have seen succeed, while have
seen your so called men of talent fail, at the
bar and elsewhere. If the Compromise bill
don't pass, after all, it will not be the fault of
MIR. FooTE.