The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1872-04-26
BRECKENRIDGE.
One Of FOrBey's emfuisceERces- An
Almighty Big Country TO whip"

Almighty B'S Country TO whip
The last number of the Washington
Sunday Chronicle gives the following,
which IS one of Colonel Forney's Sc
ries of Anecdotes Of Public Men: :"
While [ was editor of the Washing
ton Un1OTl, under the Administration
Of President Pierce, q very interest
ing incident took place at dinner at
my fCrRer residence, now the Census
Bureau, on Eighth street, near +.
It was attended by a number of the
Democratic leaders, including john
Q. Brecllinridge, Of Kentucky; Law
renee NJ. Keitt, of South Carolina;
Jesse d. Bright, of Indiana; John
Slidell, Of Louisiana; and several
whose names l cannot remember.
Hon Samuel $. Cox, then Il very
young man, known rather for his
book, "The Buckeye Abroad" and
for his talents rs an occasional lee
tn Ell, was among the guests, and did
me the honor to write an editorial
against the know-Nothings-the
proof of which was sent TO us while
we were at the table, and read aloud
for the general delectation. Mr.. Keitt
was full of humor and took special
delight in teasing Breckenridge 10y
his raillery of the Kentuckians-
their peculiar habits and ideas. The
retort of Breckenridge was recalled
to me the other evening at the re-
porter's banquet IN Washington by
Mr.. Cox, who, after having been ap-
pointed Secretary of Legation to
Peru, in 1855, was chosen n Repre-
sentative to Congress from Ohio for
three successive terms, and then, on
his removal to New York, chosen sew
eral terms to the same body IN which
he now figures as one of the ablest
advocates of the Dem Ocratic party.
Breckinridge wittily described a
recent trip to South Carolina, and
his meeting with several of the orig
| inal seces~iouists-one of them a
military officer III Keitt's district,
who had ju5t returned from a train
| ing, clothed In faded regim entails,
with huge troopers sword at his
side, and chapeau surmounted with
very long plume. He was full of
/
canted with particular eloquence
upon what he called the wrongs of
the South. 'I tell you, sah, we can
not stand it any longer; we intend to
fight; we are preparing to fight; it
is impossible, sab, that we should
submit, sab, even for an additional
hour, sab" "And from what are
you suffering?" quietly sked Breck-
inridge. "Why, sab, we axe suffering
under the expressions OF The Fed
eral Government. We have been
suffering under 1t for tLirFJ years,
and will stand it no more"
"Now," said Breckinridge turning
to Keitt, 81 would advise my young
| friend here to invite some of his con-
stituents, before undertaking the war,
upon tour through the North, if
only for the purpose of tea, hing
them what an almighty big country
they will have to whip before they
get through
The effect was irresistible, and the
impulsive but really kind-hearted
South Carolina HotspUr joined IN
the loud laughter excited by Breck-
inridge's retort.
Somehow the name iof Baker Is
always associated in my mind with
that OF Breckenridge. You have not
forgotten my description cf the thrill
| ling scene between these two men,
after the battle of Bull Run, in the
| Senate of the United States-tE,e elo-
quent attack OF Breckinridge upon
the administration f Mr. lincoln,
and the magnetic reply of Baker,
who had Just come Ill from his camp
in time to hear the outburst Of the
/ kentuckian, and 10 answer 1T on the
spot with such overwhelming force.
He was killed in one of the Virginia
battles, October q, 1861, and on the
28th OF that month L reproduced IN
an ''OccasionaP' letter one Of his
fugitive poems, which Is 50 beautiful,
and the last verse of which applies
so strikingly to his u timely death,
that I copy it here:
"ro A WAVE"
! Dogt thou seek star with thy swelling crest
! q wave, that leavesJ thy mOthers breasty
Dust thou leap from thy prisOnsd depths below
In OF their calm and constant How?
Or art thou ceking some distant ! nd,
To die in mUrmurs upoa the strandg
/ Hast thO1 tales to tell OF the pear lit deem,
=, here the wave-whelmed mariner rocks in sleep :
I Canst thou speaN OF IA gics that sunk in pride
Ere the roll OF their thunder in echo died
hat trophies, what Hners, floating free
in ,lIe shs dOwy depths Of that silent sea
II were in vain to ask, a. thou rocst afar,
OF banner O mariner, ship Cr star:
II were vain 10 seek in Thy stormy &C
some tale of the sOrrowfu pas- tO trace;
hou art swelling high; thou art dashine free,
II W vain are the questions we ask Il Tu,c.
! too am d wave on the o my sea:
! I too q n "A vance cr driven ike thee;
I TOO am seeking distant land,
To he lost aud gone ere / reaCn tie strand,
Fo the land 1 seek Is q Wsveless IN re-.
nd they who once re- Ch it shall wander 80 more.