Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-03-23
roOMBs AND DOUGLAS.
rho Leader OF the Southern and the
Leader Of the Northern Democracy.

WASHINGTON. March 14.--Of all the
,oen in public life for the sixteen years
.bat interviewed between the Inauguration
Of Polk in 1916, till the inauguration of
lincoln IN 1861, there was no man who
SLED a greater space than Robert Toombs.
t4e was graduated from the University Of
Virginia at the age Of Is. In 1886 he was,
At the age of 26, soldier in the Creek
war. Nine years later ne entered
Congress as wing 3ut
when Mr.. Gay, Ine iabhcr
Of that party, passed through the Senate
his compromise measures, admitting Cal
ifornia as a free State, he. with stephens,
Beniamn. Wise, and others, joined the
Democratic party. Two years later ne
became member of the United States
Senate, and continued one Of the most
distinguished statesmen of that body IN
til his withdrawal therefrOm upon the
MASSAGE OF the ordinance OF secession py
the State of Georgia in 1861.
Toombs was less skilllul deoatef IMAM
BENJAMIN, lees able as dialectician than
DAVIS, less potential as an orator than
S5ule. less profound as political phlIoso-
pher than stephens, but in the elements
Of strenQtb. vfgor masculinity, manhood,
virility, be was, with the possible eXcep-
ton Of Thaddeus stevens, the foremost
man that ever sat in the Congress OF the
United States after Henry Clay ceased to
he. He was man oil courage, one VINO
"Rides with the whirlwind and directs the
storm"
He was utterly without concealments.
wearing his heart upon his sleeve and
living in open day. This was the most
prominent feature Of his character. He
was a tribune among Senators and a pa
trician among ple5s, COriolanus every
where-"AjaX, the great, himself 81 host"
The speeches he delivered in Congress
would fill a large volume. He was, per-
haps, the readiest man in the Senate. He
rarely appealed to precedent. He had
but one test, and that not sis it expe-
dientF" hut sis it righCT He was the
bOldpst opponent of Douglas from 1857
until his retirement from Congress. He
made dozen speeches which 1t puzzled
the Little Giant to answer; and to show
the candor ot the man when asked by a
friend in 1853 if Douglas was really a
great man, he responded, in his hearty
way. ''By Cd, sir, there has been but
one greater, and he the apostle Paul"
DOUGLAS AS A DEBATER.
There is little doubt that Douglas was
the greatest deDater either House ever
contained. He was a born pOlemic, and
if he had possessed a 1.-THE of the acquired
knowledge Charles Sumner or Caleb
Gushing or Mr.. Lamar possessed, he
would have been a giant indeed. One
branch of knowledge he did possess in its
entirety. He knew American history,
and knew it more thoroughly than John
Quincy Adams or John Randolph. In
that realm he was supreme. Not
Amos Kendall or Francis p. Blair, not
Horace Greeley or Samuel j. Tilden, was
so familiar with the writings of American
statesmen, the speeches in Congress, and
the history O.: American politics as Ste
phen a. Douglas. Before be was 10 years
Of age he was politician, and before he
was 20 years of age be was a magnificent
stump orator. He was a politician from
crown to sole; It was his vocation.
In the second speech Douglas made in
the House Of Representatives, wien he
was scarce 80 years of age, he attacked
John Quincy Adams. The question was
purely an b storical one, relating to the
Texas boundary and the Louisiana pur-
chase. Not since George Evans had left
The House and Tom Marshall had been
demolished by the "oId man eloquent"
had any MEMBER of that body had the
temeTity to engage in a discussion of that
nature with the old man. Douglas had
not been a member three months, but he
demolished Adams completely and over
whelmingly. 1t was the principal speech
made at that sessiOn-1S43-and from that
day ne was . marked man, and was the
acknowledged leader of his party until II
years later he died, less than 80 years of
age.
The compromise measures of 1850 were
the work of Douglas. He was their real
author, and Mr.. Clay said as much pub
licly and privately. 1t was Douglas that
defended those measures in the Senate
against all oppOsers, and he it was who
convinced Congress of their wisdom and
the country of their eXpediency. Though
mObbed when he reached Chicago by the
Observation-Disclosures, he soon gained the
applause of the mob when he began to
address them on the subject. Four years
later he was again mObbed. but the lead
ers of the mob prevented him speaking, or
he would have made the rank and file ap-
plaud the Kansas ebraska bill as he
had made them give their adherence to
the compromise measures.
sTANDING ALONE IN THE SENATE.
In 1853 DOUGLAS had but one follower in
the Senate-Pugh, OF Ohio. Four years
before he had cOmbatted and OverthrOwn
seward, Chase, Sumner, Fessenden, and
Wade; now he was TO meet the Southern
senators. OF all these Benjamin and
Green, Of Missouri, most worried him.
Davis and TOombs confronted him day BY
day, eoading him and prOdding him and
approaching him. But he never quafled,
and returned blow for blow. And while
his victory over them was less complete
than the one over the Repu blcan
Senators four years before it was,
nevertheless, a victory. The Amerl-
can youth who expects to represent a
constituency in CONGRESS should procure
The speeches made on the debates of the
Kansas and Nebraska bill and the Le-
compton constitution, and carefully study
them. They are unsurpassed in pOemic
controversy by Burke on Warren Hast
lngs and the NabOb's Debts, or Pitt and
Fox on the Disruption OF the Treaty OF
Amlens. Truly, "there were giants in the
earth in those days"
ToOMBs ON THE CODE or HONOR.
When Broderick was killed by Terry I'm
aduel in California in 1859, Toombs deliv-
cred a eulogy on the dead Senator, at the
close Of which he said:
he fell in honorable contest, under a
code which he fully recognized. While l
lament his sad fate, ] have no word Of
censure for him or his adversary. / think
no man under any circumstances can
nave more enviable death Than TO fall In
fndication OF his bOnor. He has gone
beyond censure or praise. He has passed
away from mems Judgment to the bar of
me Judge Of all the earth, who will do
right.
tarth's highest honors end IN 'here he lies.
Aud dust to dust concludes her noblest
song"