Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-18
l.. Q. c. LAMAR,
a Public Nan who Thinks and Has a
Purpose.

In most respects Senator Lamar is a
typical Southerner. One who is at all
familiar with the ante-bellum DAYS and
with the American citizen who flOurished
then, and who gave tone and quality to
the foreign idea of our people, would re-
cOgnize the physical characteristics as at
sight. Long black hair, straight as an
Indians, black eyes, dark complexion,
loosely-hanging clothes, generally a broad,
soft hat, all these things make Mr.. Lamar
look like a SOuthemer. But he is more
SOutherner in his speech than in his APP
pearance, and still more Southern in his
nature than in his speech
When the Congressional Directory is
consulted one who knows Mr.. Lamar well
must be astonished to read that when he
was 24 years old-he is now 5S-he was
"adjunct professor Of mathematics in
the University Of Mississippi The sur
prise will not be heightened. however.
when it is further learned that at the
same time he was assistant editor of DR..
Bleds0e's Southern Rerielc, nor again
when the information is given that he
turned his back on mathematics in a wear
and went back to his law books Georgia
gave Mr.. Lamar his birth and training,
but Mississippi has reaped most of the
reward and now enjoys the fruit of his
powers and hes scholarship. He has been
in public life since 1858, when he was
elected to the Georgia Legislature. He
remained in his native State from 1850 TO
1854, only four years, and then he moved
back to his plantation in Mississippi. In
three years more he was sent to Congress,
and remained until 1850, when he resigned
to take his seat in the secession cOnVen-
tiOn of his State. Then came the war.
For the first two years Mr.. Lamar was a
Confederate Colonel; during the rest of
the time he was Mr.. Davis diplomatic
agent in Russia. When peace returned.
he resumed more cOngenial occupations.
and until he was elected to the Fortv-
third Congress he was, first. Professor of
Political Economy and Social Science,
and then Of law. in the University of Mis-
sissippi.
People who know Mr.. Lamar well, and
who have any friendly feelings whatever
for him, are very likely to end by having
a strong affection, for he is himself an af-
fectlOnate man. Although they did not
like one another, Mr.. Lamar and the late
President Garfield had natures very
much alike. Where they parted Illus
trates the difference between streneth
and weakness of character Both were
men of strong emotions and sentiments
They had both the Imaginative faculty de-
Veloped so greatly that they were
poetic men, just short Of poets: both were
orators; both loved books. Here the re-
semblance ends. Through all these char
.acteristics in Lamar runs a nerve of
strength. All Of Garfeld's traits were
dominated by his Oyermastering weak
ness. Gar1ield's love for man was
tickle; Lamar's is sincere and enduring.
GarhelN's emotions would shed them
selves out in tears and eNclamatiOns:
LamarS make no audible or visible
sign, for they are too strong for
that. The Northern man had vices that
he drowned in sea of virtuOus out
pourings, while the Southern man has
nothing to conceal, though he may have
something to be ashamed Of While Gar
field said that he had himself to live with
always and that it was important, there
fore, that he should have the respect of so
constant cOmrade, Lamar feels that and
acts on it. Garfield had impulses where
Lamar has purposes. Garfield yielded
his Judgment to his surroundings, and
could not resist the temptation to small
corruption; Lamar's public life can never
be anything but pure. The whole differ
ence is that between man of character
and man without.
The most lOvable side of Lamar's
character is shown, of course, to his
friends, but it is shown so exclusively to
them that it is not known of by mere
acquaintances. The world, or that part
OF it that has come in contact with the
Mississippi Senator, looks upon him as
warm and contiding. His secrets belong
to his friends, and no one is simpler or
less artful in his talk with those whom
he likes. He tells his thoughts and feel
ings with the freedom of a child,
and he seeks advice and encourage
ment with the guilelessness of a
singuIarly frank and open nature,
More than any other public man have
known, Mr.. Lamar seems to put himself
wholly i'll the hands of those with whom
he is en- rapport. He pours himself out;
he opens his mind and heart and permits
you to see what he thinks and feels. He
treats friend as part of himself and
admits that he has pride in what he does
and in the powers that he knOwshe pos
sesses. There is no vanity shown i'm all
this; it is the natural confession that all
strong men must make to themselves.
Mr.. Lamar simply enlarges his own per-
sOnality and takes into it those whom he
loves. He trusts them as he does him.
self, while to the general public he is
somewhat cold and reserved.
For the last few years Mr.. Lamar has
had very little to say III the Senate Not
Withstanding his breadth of view and his
intense desire to put an end to sectional
controversy, he is so thoroughly Southern
that he has found il almost absolutely ne
cessary to keep still in order not to
reply to the ungenerous taunts that such
mental and moral pygmies as George
+. Hoar are continually project
ing against larger and better men.
Notwithstanding his silence, Mr.. Lamar
has not been idle. He has sat day after
day in the Senate chamber and waited
for his opportunity. He always thinks.
and he almost always thinks of the South,
and of the best means of wiping out all
differences between it and the North.
social and moral, as well as political.
If Mississippi and his whole section did
but know it, Mr.. Lamar is their safest
leader. He is better than all the MahOnes
and Cashes and Chalmerses, and than all
the ''independent' movements in the in
terests of the 'tOuts."
He wants the South to abandon the poli-
tics of getting one set of men in or out of
office, and to take the business view of
politics. Although he is an imaginative
man. he is one of the most logical: and
he has accepted the results of the war as
very few Of his fellows of the South dream
of. He holds that State sovereignty is
gone, for there cannot be two sovereign
ties In the same government. What are
the powers of the States has become main-
ly question of policy, and then he holds
the conservative view, concerning which,
however, he is no firmer, though he Is
more honest, than Mr.. Edmunds.
1t Is probable that as long as Mr.. La
mar remains in public life, he will be one
of the least talkatiye Of Senators. He