The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-01-24
AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE TO A
SPLENDID CHARACTER.
Washingtnn Cnpital.

Senator Lamar's probable retire
ment from public life would be a ma
tionaI calamity. At no time in our
past was the conservative ability of
such statesman SO necessary to the
country as now. To brain power of
unusual weight and warm, impul-
sive temperament, Senator Lamar
has yet such thoughtful self control,
that when leading his people in the
late civil war he was as radical and
progressive as, after defeat, he became
cautious ond conservative.
Thus organized, Lamar has been Of
immense service to the South and to
| the Union. He has done more for us
in tnat direction thanany other South
ern leader. Indeed, it would be no
exageration to say that all the South
ern leaders combined have been of less
service than this eminent man.
When one bears in mind that re-
construction means replacing the
Union upon the foundations of mu-
tual and fraternal considerations on
which the fathers based the founda-
lions Of ourrepublic, after desolating
war, in which partisan strife was en-
FILTERED by sectional prejudice and
amino sity, one can readily perceive
how important such n statesman at
the South as Senator Lamar was to
the country at large and his section in
particular.
The conquerOrs could well afford to
be magnanimous. The conquered
were those to be conciliated. There |
has been much Boosting, on no fOun-
dation in fact, OF this magnanimity. |
1t has been and is claimed that the |
Government In this respect was in its
conduct Il marvel and model to the .
world. No leader of the revolt was
hung, 40 property contiscated. This
is true; but the punishment that fol-
lowed victory was far more terrible
than death. 1t was degradation, not
of leaders, bat the entire mass of men,
women and children heretofore max
ing up the governing element of the
South. The slaves of that region,
who had been kept through genera
tons scarcely one remove above the
brutes, with whom they were classed,
were suddenly called into citizenship,
and under the control of common pen
iUentiary cOnvicts, made masters Of
the Government. Crime ran riot. Not
only were States plundered and white
men butchered, but no woman could
cross the threshold OF her home in
safety from idsult and outrage.
Under this terrible condition Of af-
fairs L. q. G. amar came to the front
among the very first, and through his
advice and eloquent pleading the
errible yoke was not only thrown of,
Dut the entire South came in peaceably
md orderly, with words of friendship /
IN the lip, whatever might be at the
leart; and the men who had been
into the very earth were .
he first to offer the olive branch and
ay, "Bet us be friends and fellow I
itizens." !
Lamar was returned to the Senate {
" his State, and his conduct i'm that q
Ugh place has been marked by the
'atience Of a grand nature. When
summer died he took up all that was L
IOble in Summers character, and 7
laimed him as a great property of the {
7hole people. No indiscreet or angry VI
has been heard from his a
ifted lips. He has said to the trou- {,
led South, "Peace, be STILL" and n
-hile losing nothing of his self-re- l.
pect aud singular dignity of charac- o.
II and bearing, he has treated the Fl
forth so as TO win love for himself ia
nd his people. OF
His vacant chair in the Senate will id