San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-08-23
THE s.BIG FOUR"
stephens, Hill, Toomb' and Brown Constitute
The Observation-Disclosures ana
characteristics

| was seated near a group OF Geor-
Ola legislators, listening to q spirited
discussion, writes an Atlantic cores
rondent of the st. Louis Globe Demo-
crat, when some one interrupted the
disputation with the remark: "There
comes Gen. Robert Toombs." Hooked
toward the entrance to see a man
dressed is loose. fitting linen suit, with
craving hair and shrievled face, stoop-
ing shoulders and halting gait. He
appeared to lean heavily on his cane
as he stopped in the doorway to speak
to a friend who accosted him. His
ewes were lustreless and his voice
tremulous. One who knew the stall
wart political malcontent, the aggres-
I sive leader, the fiery debater, the mag
nifcent specimen of physical man
hood personated in the United States
Senator Robert Toombs twenty-five
years ago, must look regretfully at
the weak old man whose physical de-
bility is hardly suggestive OF the
shrinkage of his reputation and in
fuence as q publicist. Personally,
however, he is held in exalted esteem,
Either in domestic, social, or business
| life, Robert Toobs is esteemed for all
that is honorable. His nearest neigh
bors are his frmest friends. All who
know him admire his generosity and
integrity. Only in political affairs
are his tongue and pen at discount
with Georgians. While Cen Toombs
was receiving the greetings of the
score of gentlemen who had risen
and grouped about him as he adj
vanced from the entrance, a carriage
drawn by pair of black horses passed
in front of the hotel, through which
was visible the long face and White
hair and beard of Joseph b. Brown.
Some one Oh the outer circle, state
senator remarked to his right-hand
neighbor: 81
Georgia's quartet of ablest minds:
Stephens and Hill are gone"
The senator was right; Alexander
H. Stephens, Benjamin Fl. Hill, Ro-
bert Toombs and Joseph b. Brown
were Georgia's big -Four" in affairs
of state during recent years. Each
was prominent in the southern Con-
federacy; Stephens as vice.presldent'
Toombs for time as a cabinet officer,
Hill as the leader Of the Jeff Davis
wing in the senate, while Joe Brown
was Georgia's WAL governor. The
course of each of the four subsequent
to the war has been distinct. Brown
Joined the republican party in 1868,
was prominent in it's councils until
1875, when he returned to the demo
cracy. Stephens was Bourbon
democrat in 1872. refusing to sup
port Greeley, but after his return to
congress was virtually an indepen,
dent; Hill was a bitter opponent of
reconstruction in 1867-69, affiliated
with reconstructionists in 1871, and
was Bourbon every year and day and
hour since the day Georgia seeded
from the union.
The quartette were four interesting
personages. Toombs and Brown
have always been at loggerheads,
Toombs and Hill were always at outs;
Toombs and Stephens, from first to
last, friends of the Damon and Py-
thias type. Joe Brown and Hill We're
at enmity for twenty-five years, I'M
til they became colleagues in the
United States senate in 1880. Brown
and Stephens continued personal
friendship even when oppoing each
other in politics. Stephens and Hill
never were friendly, Stephens once
challenging Hill to fight. Stephens
and Toombs were great lawyers;
Brown was a thorough scholar in
law, but no orator; Hill was the most
eloquent of the four, but special
pleader- effective before jury by
reason of his magical speech, rather
than from profound knowledge of
law. Brown and Stephens were the
poorest of boys, and paid for their
schooling from their personal earnings
and savings. Toombs and Hill had
means foracquiring education. Steph-
ems was always very weak, physically;
Brown never robust; Hill and Toombs,
on the contrary, were superb speci-
mems of manhood. Opposing each
other almost all around, each of the
four men had nevertheless been sue
cessful in his candidates. for honors
/ from the same constituency. Toombs,
Brown and Hill have represented
Georgia in the senate; Brown and
Stephens have occupied the guberna-