The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-06-18
Re-Enter WigfalI.


A Democratic exchange says with aphoris-
tic brevity and with visible exultation, ''Wig-
fall does support Greeleyv' And a meek and
lowly follower of the vegetarian philanthro-
pist Wigfall must be! This same Wigfall is
at least the most picturesque figure of the
OF his name calls up that period of our history
most vividly. For, unlike most of his Sena-
torial associates in treason, he plunged sud-
denly into obscurity soon after Sumter, in
whose reduction he took his usual melo-dra-
matte part He went out of public notice as
suddenly as he entered it. What sensation
this wild, unkempt, barbaric tiger from the
swamps of Texas was in the Senate, to be
sure. 1t is worth while to look at him for a
moment, with his hair rising up from his
forehead ''like the rank vegetation of jun
gle' as Bull Run Russell averred. 1t will
mark as nothing else can the miraculous
changes of twelve short years. This Texan
aPparition expressed all the scorn, contempt
and bitter hatred of his southern associates in
the most unreserved and brutal way. While
Davis laid the lash on the backs of the Aboli-
zionist Senators with stately dignity, while
Mason and Hunter and Benjamin and Mallo-
ry and Yulee and Clay and Fitzpatrick be-
rated their opponents after the manner of
Southern gentlemen" and while Toombs
and Green of Missouri piled the scourge with
more unrestrained but less effective zeal,
Wigfall poured out day after day the grossest
insults and the coarsest abuse with no
more hesitation and no more delicacy than
If he had been in the congenial atmosphere
OF Southern bar-room. He had biting
wit of his own, too, and could tip you clas-
steal allusion or poetical quotation as aptly
as Sumner himself-a thing which makes the
moral incongruity of his character more
striking still. So he has re-emerged from the
wilds? Ifhe makes as notable a figure in his
new avatar as he did when he last appeared
in the Senate the whole world must admire.
In any other country but this such effrontery
would have cost Louis the dislocation of his
BULBS neck. Long after all the other South
ern members of Congress had departed, stalk
ing gloonlily out of the Senate, and had fed
hoarsely Gro aking Southwark, like a flock of
ill-omened birds, Wigfall with impudence
never excelled stayed behind to gloat over the
death-agonies of the Republic. Exulting in
his treason, glorying in the new save-hold-
ing Confederacy, defying the government
that ought to have punished his blatant dis
loyalty, his voice was still heard daily in the
Senate, where he still jeered at the Union
and ravn6 ifc
spired him. He dared to remain in an enc
my's country a close observer and prompt re-
porter of all that was planned or done against
nascent treason, and as if to establish STAN
dard OF impudence, higher than ever before
attained, for the emulation of future ages, he
openly spit upon and pulled the nose of every
man who dared to say word for the Union.
In his last speech in the Senate, made Just
before he departed for Charleston to provide
the stage effects for the opening scene of the
war, occurred a passage so memorable that
we are sorry to be obliged to quote it from
memory. "Your Union," said he, sis lost
forever. We have now organized Southern
Confederacy to which you will presently be
sending suppliant ambassadors, praying for
admission to our Union. II you behave
tolerably well meanwhile and if your repen-
lance seems genuine, we will try to forgive
you and will perhaps consent to establish
commercial and diplomatic relations with
you.' .l-.te.
Such tremendous fellow as this was of
course expected to disclose natural taste for
wading knee-deep in gore, but somehow he
did not figure very prominently in any ca
pacity during the war. We supposed that,
like his brother Titans of the old cosmogony,
he had returned to his native mud from
which he sprung. But now he is out for
Greeley! A white hat-emblem of all the
meek and gentle virtues and graces-is jam
med down on to the wild Texans shaggy
name! One would like to be there when he
reaches out his hirsute paws to take up his
little candidate in his arms so that he can
conveniently look at him-especially as moth
ing in the world can prevent his swallowing
his new favorite at two mouthsful, if he hap
pens to dislike the color of his hair!