The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-06-19
ALBERT G. BROWN.

noble virtues, made conspicuous in q
long and brilliant public career, be-
longs now to the past. 1t is with great
satisfaction that we learn that his
character and services, and the les
sons which his private and public life
teach, will be the subject of public
discourse by one well qualified to illus
trate them. The subject is full OF in
terest. AS private man his life was
without reproach. Straight forward
honesty, generosity and kindness, dis
tinguished his intercourse with men.
We never heard him accused of wrong.
AS a public man, serving through Il
long period in almost every Office of
power and distinction in the gift of the
people of the State, and beset by all
the temptations which opportunity,
office and power present, his reputa-
ton is without stain.
When we reflect that these charac-
! teristics were associated with extra
ordinary talents employed in political
controversy, and in almost every de-
partment of government, we are at no
loss to account for the high place he
SO long maintained in popular esteem.
He reached the highest office which
the people Of 4 State can bestow, not
by Il sudden bound not by an, acct
dental combination; but by Il steady
ascent through the lower to the higher
grades. He progressed from seat in
the lower House Of the Mississippi
Legislature, to the Senate of the United
States, passing through all the enter
mediate stages of official service. A
career thus marked, is a great career.
AS success in public life, it trans
cends that OF any man of his time, or
of any time in Mississippi. 1t was
not achieved by lucky or adroit strokes
of management. His public life was
one continued stoutly waged battle for
his principles and the party which
represented them. He never played
the dark horse in the competition for
office. He either proclaimed his can
didacy, or his party proclaimed it. He
was man of the people and for the
people. He heartily sympathized with
the people. They knew him and he
instinctively knew them. The under
standing between them was perfect.
1t was a feeling common to the whole
body of his constituents that he vas
closer to them, and that they knew
him better, than they knew any other
public man who served them. He
was, so to speak, communicable in a
sense that no other public man of such
emiuence in our observation ever was.
No official elevation removed him an
inch further from his fellow citizens
than he was when he stood amongst
them private man. Those who
ascribe to him what are termed pop
uar arts make profound mistake.
He was very able man and needed
no arts. He in fact employed none.
1t was the natural bent Of the man to
represent his people, not to awe them,
or to rule them. This man was the
most thoroughly rounded and COM
plete public servant, the product of
representative institutions, that is
presented to our contemplation in all
our history. He was the perfect fruit
Of our Institutions, and those who
question his claims to lasting respect
must begin by questioning the insti-
tutions which produced him.
Albert G. Brown stood in the front
rank of those public men of the South
ern States whose careers were closed
and whose doctrines were practically
overthrown by the civil war. 1t will
be very difficult for PROSPERITY to judge
fairly of their claims to craftsmanship.
History is the blind slave of the for
tunate. Across that wide gap, the
merits of men who strove to maintain
the equilibrium between the free and
the slave States, and to contine the
Federal Government within the
bounds Of the constitution will appear
less conspicuous than they once seemed
to us. Even from the present stand
point, they seem to have followed
from necessity but a single line Of pO-
litical thought and effort. Having
to maintain slavery as II
fixed condition, the social problems |
which now are beginning to present |
themselves, and which elsewhere en-
gage and develop the minds of states
men to great scope and fullness, were
not before them for solution. On the |
line which they were driven to follow |
they have left speeches and writings |
Of the very highest merit, and amongst |
them stand the speeches and writings |
OF Albert G. Brown. They give the
most ineligible idea that can be OBJ
tanned Of the measures and questions, |
and the course Of feeling and opinion
upon the causes which were at work
to produce the rupture between the
free and slave States.
The indiscriminate application of
the title statesmen" in This country,
has left it almost destitute of signifi-
,ance. Government is not an exact
.cience, and least Of all popular gov
One of the chief functions
Of the statesman and his chief quail
ication, is the management Of public
opinion. This qualification Albert G..
Brown possessed in high degree.
That he always guided il wisely we
will not assert but that in his efforts
% sway the public mind he was i'm
,elled by patriotism and thorough
we firmly be ieve. If he
FRED at all, he erred with the best
ntellects and the most unselfish patri-
ITS of the South.