The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-06-03
LIFE OF =. $. PRENTISS.

The following letter is addressed to
number Of gentlemen of Natchez, b..
the writer, Col. Claiborne, who wa
asked to write Il life of Sargent S
Prentiss
NArClIEz, May 10, 1881.
! Gentlemen, =:
Your highly appreciated letter q
! the I'd ult., would have been promptly
and gratefully acknowledged, but for s
severe attack Of pneumonia, which
still confines me to my bed.
When you express 4 desire to have
an impartial biography of the renown'
ed S. S. Prentiss, and call on me tC
write it, you pay me the highest com
! mands qualifications of Il high order,
dinary man Of his times, and I am
proud to find you think n.c equal &c
the occasion.
l was his constant adversary III poll
ties, State and national; sometimes
his competitor often in collision with
| his personal ana pecuuiary Interests.
Yet you take the higher, purer, more
! intellectual view Of the matter, and
consider me capable of presenting al
in,pa'3iM history of his canvass!
This is high praise, from high
source, but you do me hope, no more
than Justice.
intellectually Mr.. Prentiss was SO
superior to those whom he encounter
ed, he was not, at any time, an Object
or envy. People opposed him, from
various motives, but no man consider
ed himself his rival. His genius was
phenomenal, and it commanded the
admiration Of foes as well as friends,
without provoking either envy or ami
mostly. Many of his earliest, truest
who would resent his philippics forth
moment, but could never resist the
fasciuations of the man; his gencrou s
sympathies; his inimi!ah!c humor:
his matchless cloquence.
His life has yet to be written. The
memoir by his brother is 4 collection
ofpapers for the family circle, but bear
ing 70 resemblance to PrcntisS of Mis-
sissippi. The Prcntiss that we knew
could never have Hourished in New
England. No man of his type has
ever appeared there. He came to Mis-
sissippi when society, from peculiar
causes, was in a state Of transition and
disorganization. And he represents
an era and people, such AS have
never been seen before or since. The
peculiarities of those times their i'm
preston On morals and character his
own singular idiosyncracy, aud the in
fueuce OF intimate associates after he
he went to the Bar, must all be con-
sidcrcd, and have, strictly, no parallel
1t is no holiday undertaking to write
the life of such a man, blended as it
was with the lives Of men inferior to
himself, all hourishing and debating
their own terms to the community, at
Il period when society had been over
turned, and its reorganization was a
subject of doubt.
or tho men of that peculiar circle,
who then welded most of the
wealth and power Of the State,
and were the idolators of Mr..
Prentiss and of the bviiiiant ar
ray of lawyers who witnessed his
wonderful displays Of learning and
oratory, very few survive. There are
many able and accomplished writors
at tho Bar, and on the Press of Missis-
sippi, capable of writing Il valuable
memoir of Mr.. Prcntiss' professional
aud public career. This, however, is
familiar to us all, and a blaze OF glory
illuminatcs the narrative. What we
WISH W hilON IS tnc trut II: WarinpSS
of the man his early dreams and pro-
pensities how he spent his first two
years in Mississippi; his habits while
teaching school his debating society
experiences, etc. We wish to see him
in dishabillc, and then decide for our
selves what influences so thoroughly
changed him IN twelve months after
he went TO the Bar.
/ only know one man who can thus
trace him up. lie isa ripe scholar, an
able lawyer, brilliant writer-thc
favoritc pupil of Mr.. prcntiss-always
his devoted friend. 1t was at his
patcrnal hearth Mr.. Prcntiss found his
first home i'll Mississippi, and where,
to the last hour of his life, he ccnccn-
tratcd his affections. J refer to the
Hon. Joseph ID. Shields, of the Natclcz
bar, well known in Northen au,.
Southern literary circles. lie has
much biographical material Oh huud,
and has the memories and memoranda
of many relatives and friends who
knew Mr.. PrcntiSs intimately, to
draw upon. lie would bring to the
enterprise advantages such as no other
writer can command, and an cnthtisi-
asrn worthy of the subject, and of. your