The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1884-05-25

disaster that threatened q speedy catas.-
trophe for the Confederacy and gave DARK
contrast 10 the brilliant foreground oil the
first year Of the war, illuminated by the vic
tories OF Manassas, Bethel, and Balls Blum:
AT this time the friends OF the Secretary OF
the Navy expressed the belief that "were
a Confederate vessel TO sink in storm In
mid ocean, or be fatally struck by light.
ming. the Examiner and Mr.. Foote would
advocate a resolution OF censure OF MT.
Mallory 10y the Confederate Congress-"
Mr.. BENJAMIN Jared no better. lie was
assailed witt cumulative venom that
knew neither limit nor fatigue. He was
charged with all the military failures,
and was, moreover, credited with an
undue influence over the President,
| used for selfish purposes. That ms
enemies did not despise Mr.. Benlamin's
Diplomatic abilities was attested ~ the
amazing Protean skill with which they
credited him. In bis dealings with his
chief. according to his censors, Benjamin
could be Ricbelieu, Mazarin, Wolsey, OF
.Jelfreys az his own sweet will. hessrs.
Benjamin and Mallory had, in the poverty
OF revenues OF the South. us compared
with those OF the North, a worse problem
TO. deal with than that OF Themistocles,
Z" 10 make small Statea great one." LOOK
ing back at that four years struggle, few
will fail to see the difficulties struggled
with by the Confederate Ministers oil
War and Navy. Mr.. Randolph held the
war portfolio during the period OF Nc
Clelan's repulse in the Seven-Days' Bat
ties and OF Pope's disasters in Piedmont
Va. Mr.. Seldom, an able man OF the
highest public virtue, was condemned for
the overwhelming defeats OF the Confed-
crate armies in the summer and autumn OF
1863. The deluge came too soon after
Breckinridge's accession to the War Office
for popular Judgment TO be framed rs to
bis administration.
North Carolina was fortunate in her con-
tribution of two able and pure men to the
Confederate Cabinet. Ex-Governor and
ex-senator Thomas Bragg succeeded Mr..
Benjamin as Acknowledgement and George
Davis succeeded Thomas Ii. Watts, OF
Alabama, in the same office. Bragg has
been dead for ten years or more, while Gov
amor Watts practices law In Montgomery
and Mr.. Davis in Wilmington, in their re-
spective States. Mr.. Memminger was Sc
cretary OF the Treasury during nearly
the whole existence OF the Confede-
TdCHs lit WIS iUC itstSI PoDOlui hiN
Der OF the Cabinet, being cold and
forbidding in manner. His administra-
ton of Confederate finances was judged a
failure. Mr.. Trenholm, his successor, also
South Carolinian, possibly escaped the
angry censure that befell Memminger by
reason OF the collapse OF the Confederacy,
that came within a brief time after his ac-
ceptance OF the management OF the Trea-
| h1I,, 20 1aod opA Mr.
Memminger practices law in South Caro-
lima. The position they held was trying
one. A Government without the basis Of
financial credit, with armies depleted until
they are mere skirmish lines, cannot beg
or borrow with much success.
| The Confederate Cabinet was fair ex-
preston OF the executive ability available
| in the South; not so brilliant or able as its
soldiership as illustrated by Lee, Jackson,
and Gordon, but equal to such achieve
ments as were possible in the face OF
countless difficulties and obstacles. A
Cabinet presenting such names as ToOmbs,
Hunter, Breckenridge, Benjamin, and Sed-
don, is no beggar for appreciation from
the student OF American political history
made during the decade preceding seces-
sion. Not only was it the best material
lIC COulu Ddlts Dub IL NOulu hd'N
been rare material anywhere. Toombs,
Hunter, Breckenridge, and Benjamin,
were all colossal figures in the Fede-
raj Senate. Toombs-a Marc Antony or
Mirabeau-was always at his best in agita-
ton. He, with the aid Of Governor Joe
Brown, lashed Georgia, after stubborn re-
sstance, into secession. with Herschel v.
johnson. Alexander III. Stephens, and
n Il fr;t 70 Of
genius and eloquence-ln opposition.
Toombs is hardly viewed by Georgians as
the biggest Georgian OF that day. That dis
tinction was claimed for Howell Cobb, who
was Buchanan's Secretary Of the Treasury,
by thousands OF Georgians. To To0mbs
and to Georgia Mr.. Davis gave the post OF
honor in his Cabinet, Cobb being already
the President OF the Provisional Congress.
Subsequently Virginia was honored similar
" when Hunter became Toombs's success
or. Benjamin, type OF the genius OF his race,
an American Disraeli, throughout the war
justified the Executive confidence by fidel-
ity, capacity for labor, and inexhaustible
fertility OF resource. Seldom was a man
Of the Calhoun type Of mind. An acute
dialecticlan, he was an expert in polemics.
or ample fortune, he had abundant leisure
for study, and passed an honorable life,
serving briefly in Congress, to which body
he was elected over the famous John Minor
Bolts. His public usefulness was impaired
by chronic disease. Than Breckenridge the
South has had no more picturesque
public character. As soldier and ci-
william his life was meteoric in the
brilliancy OF its triumphs, and yet he
gave uniform display of steady and grow
ing light to be dimmed at last amid the
shadows OF the failing Confederacy. He
was leader OF his party In the House OF
Representatives at thirty-two; offered the
Spanish mission by President Pierce at
thirty-three; Vice-President when he was
only thirty.siX, and elected senator while
he was still Vicc-President and under
forty. Breckenridge lost heavily by his
participation In the war, to enter which he
left nearly whole term rs United States
senator, when he drove out OF Kentucky
behind his fleet Arabians, distanclng his
Federal pursuers in the race for the Con-
federate lines. Had the Charleston Con-
vention OF April, 1850, remained in
session long enough for a harmonious
selection OF nominee upon whom
both wings OF the Democracy could
have united, Breckenridge was an obvious
probability. by reason both OF personality
and geographical considerations. Nomi-
mated, he would almost certainly have
been elected President. 81 am an extinct
volcano" he would say when, since the
war, his friends would urge his participa-
ton in public affairs. With pardonable
pathos his oId-time friends recall the
"Young Hickory Of Kentucky" as they
dwell upon the consecutive triumphs OF
his early life and the rich, nnfulfiled prom.
Use OF its meridian. 1t Is no mean part OF
the epitaph Of the Confederacy that its
military power was crushed Just as John
Breckenridge, with characteristic dash and
daring, had grasped it for final and SUI
preme effort.