The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-07-25
ANrE-BELLuM SENATORS.
"Reminiscences of jeff Davis, Robert
Toombs and II. Nj. Il. Hunter.


"reminiscences of jeff Davis, Robert
Toombs and r. Nj. L. Hunter.
In the year 1850, says the st. Louis re-
publican of July 10Th, Jefferson Davis of
Mississippi Robert Toombs of Georgia,
and R. NJ. T. Hunter of Virginia were
members of the United States Senate,
and not only its three most influential
members, but eminent southern leaders
Each represented state which claimed
and exercised weighty influence in the
national council, and as they belonged to
the dominant party and were champions
of the theories that rested on slavery,
they possessed an authority which, in
the present changed condition of things,
it is difficult to comprehend. The politi-
cal sky wore a troubled look in the spring
of $780, The John Brown raid on Har-
per's Ferry had recently taken place,
showing what daring and dangerous
measures Abolitionism was capable of;
Kansas, after fierce struggle, had been
lost to the south; the growing republican
party was preparing for the Chicago con-
vention that nominated Abraham Lin
coin; there were grave divisions in the
democratic party that had ruled the
country for nearly fifty years; and, to
complicate things still more, there was
strong native American element in the
southern states which refused to ally it
self with the southern democracy in de-
Tense of the extreme position which the
latter claimed was necessary for the
maintenance of southern institutions and
interests. Congress was still in session,
and it was observed that Davis, Toombs
and Hunter were frequently sitting to-
gether in the senate, as if in consulta-
ton. These consultations usually took
place at the desk of the senator from
Mississippi, and the fact was remarked
then, as proof of the clearer perspicacy,
stronger will, and superior ability Of the
man who was destined afterward to be-
come chief of the then only dreamed of
southern confederacy.
These three men are still living. 1t is
strange that it should be so, but there
are many strange things connected with
the tremendous drama in which they
played so conspicuous a part. Their ex-
perimental confederacy was born, lived
and persisted so long ago that the Ameri-
can youth of to-day know nothing of it
except what they read of in books. The
south has passed through the blood and
agony of a conflict which left the flower
of its population beneath the sod, and
SCARED its mountains, valleys and forests
with the tracks of prowling missiles.
Abolitionism had its way, slavery was
overthrown and ruin ran riot over the
southern land till there was little left to
destroy Yet the three senators of 1860,
from Mississippi, Georgia and Virginia,
have survived all the havoc and are still
above the turf beneath which all their
prominent contemporaries lie buried.
Their old abolition enemies are gone.
Garrison, Seward, Greeley, Chase, Gid.
dings passed away long ago. Even Wen
L
republican president, has been in his
bloody tomb these nineteen years. The
great Douglass sleeps in Illinois soil, and
trees twenty-five years old grow over
his grave. His presidential competitors
in the memorable campaign of 1850,
Breckenridge and John Bell, are asleep,
too, each in the soil of his native state.
All the members of the first republican
cabinet are gone but One-SimOn Cam
eron-and Simon Cameron was a COM
paratively obscure man in the spring OF
1860
The MississippiSenator of 1860 is now rs
years old; the Georgia senator is "a: the
Virginia senator is IS. They are not very
old men, yet there are not three other
living men i'll the world who were actors
in a great historical drama who have
served as pall-bearers to such a process
sion of eminent fellow-players.