Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-15
POLITICIANS OF THIEF Pc
RIOD.
Graphic Pen-Picturc OF Two Noted
New York Congressman.
Correspondents Of the Cincinnati Enquirer
MIR. BROOKS. OF NEW YORK.

Correspondents of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
MR.. BROOKS, OF NEW YORK.
WAsH1NeroN, April 10, 1870.-We
hear much nowadays of 'self-made
men; 2 but the title is greatly abused and
often misapplied, in the sense OF being
thrown away upon persons whose self
maken is no make at all, but only the re-
suit of some lucky accident which jerked
them into notoriety, said perseyering i'm
pudence which Kept them there. A hun
dred and fifty years ago Lady Mary
Wortley Montague urged this discovery
upon her very stupid husband, when she
wrote to him that toward the obtaining OF
political power ''the first qualification is
impudence las Demosthenes said of ac-
ton in oratory) the second is impudence,
and the third is impudence.p Tried by
the standard of self-culture, and the
steady and persistent battle to ultimate
and honorable triumph against "low birth
and iron fortune, the number of self
made men in the public life
of America is very small. There are Col
faxes enough, but unless we mistake a
low order of Sunday School demagogery
for high order of craftsmanship, we
must call them self-foreed instead of self
made. If l were called upon to name the
two men in the House of Representatives
who owe most to themselves and least TO
others for the positions they occupy in
their respective parties and before the
country, | should name James Brooks, of
New York, on the Democratic, and Judge
Kelly, of Philadelphia, On the Republican
side. They both began life "among the
lowly.n and the best evidence of the
purely intellectual character of their sue
cess is that, while both arc prominent
among the public men of the day, neither
has acquired wealth on the road to noto-
riety. In this respect they differ from
the Cameron type of "self-made men,
who ''grow rich by stealth and blush to
find it fame" who rise from ill-gotten
wealth into ill-deserved leadership.
Mr.. Brooks is, perhaps, one OF the
ripest scholars, as he has been one OF the
closest students, in the House. Hebegan
life as a school teacher, then many years
ago-twenty- l belieye-came to
Washington to write for New York pa
per. On the savings of his work for a
long session he went to Europe, and
travelled the continent on foot, studying
French and German as he went along,
and acquiring a thorough knowledge OF
the habits and manners of the people
among whom he Travelled. BY close ap-
plication ever since he has perfected HIM
self in all branches of knowledge, until
he has become one of the most interest
ing speakers IN the House 10 listen
to when a subject is up which
calls for historical illustration. His
voice is not pleasant, being a con-
slant alienation between shrek and a
scold, and his gestures are limited to
monotonOus bending forward of the whole
body, but he can be generally read with
interest and profit, for his facts if not for
his arguments His personal appearance
is quite prepossessing. l should guess
him to be quite fifty years of age He
is rather above than below the medium
size and height-broad-faced and broad
chested, always neatly dressed, and quite
up to ones ideal of the representative
of the richest district in the United States
"a distinction which Ibelieve he enjoys.
In social life he is little inclined TO cold
ness and reserve, and not apt to impress
a stranger favorably. But after the first
or second approach, you will find him
clever and genial, remarkably fond of
conversation, and with singular power
of contributing TO its interest and
making 1t attractive. Few appear
to such good advantage in that
most difficult of all species or oratory
the after-dinner speech. No matter
what the subject of the toast or the oc-
casion of the ''call, he is never wanting
in appropriate remarks, and never hesi-
tates on the brink of the tipplc as if en-
barrassed or afraid, but plunges in medals
res into response, and always concludes
too soon for his audience, in which res
pect he differs from most of the post
prandial orators l know of. In his pO-
litical career, Mr.. Brooks is another illus
tration of what | said in former letter.
that the jewel of consistency has no place
in the civic crown. While you can not
apply to him the poetic verdict which is
is so fitting for Morton
Stiff in opinion, always in the wrong,
Everything by starts and nothing long
1t is, nevertheless, true that he has
''swung the circle" of political parties
pretty thOroughly-having been an in
tense Wing, a rampant Nothing,
and now a Jealous Democrat. But he
has always been able to give good reason
for the faith that was in him, and we'll
gifted with the power of making ''the
worse appear the better reason" he has
always a good answer for any adversary
who assails the motives of his many "new
departures.
FERNANDO WOOD.
cannot help thinking that if Charles
Dickens were to write another American
novel, and were to introduce American
politicians into its chapters, he would Sc
lcct Fernando Wood for one of them.
And simply because he is such peculiar
sort of persona perfect riddle to the or
binary newspaper correspondent, in whose
tread mill life there is little time for the
study of such a character, even if the
ability for its portrayal were there; but
an 'fneXhaGstible bottle" for illustration
and development in the hands of the great
novelist. There is something about him
which | certainly cannot describe,
but can only write about in a
| ierky and unsatisfactory sort of
way. First, there is the man himself, as
he sits in his seat or stands on the floor.
| Straight as fishing pole and, was about
to say, nearly as tall; but the reader will
| at once perceive that that depends very
much upon the fishing pole; always
| dressed in the ncatest of black trousers,
and the neatest of black coats with the
| shiningest of velvet collars; never by any
possibility letting us know whether he
wears waistcOat or not, but giving a
slight assurance of a shirt in the exhibit
| ton of so much of it as can struggle into
| notice above the third or fourth button
| of his outer broadcloth. Whether he
| looks so straight because he is so thin,
| or looks so thin because he is SO straight,
| / shall not attempt to say, but
when to his straightness aud his
thinness you add his buttoncd -up-ncss,
and then, on top of all these, put
"a small head thickly covered with
whitening hair, ard an cmOtionless face
| with pair of small twinkling eyes, and
the largest and whitest mustache on the
| American continent you have altogether
a very remarkable tout e1lScmbte;' so
much so that when the proprietor OF this
| stranreness of contour and person rises to
| address the House, and stands on the floor
as the representative of so much of the
American nation as is included in his dis
trict, there is always a sensation in the
| galleries. If you never saw him before
| in your life, and didn't know who he was,
YOU would still Join in the feeling of