The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-12
HIT KNEW THE GIANTS.
HE WAS A REPORTED IN 1860 AND
LINCOLN CALLED HIM "DOB."

Relics and Letters of Surprising In
terest-Hovv He Maintained Friend
ship with Blaine and Reed at the
same Time-PriceIess Reminders of
the PIumcd Knight-A Reminis-
cence of summer-A Great Journal
lists odd Mistnke-PersOnalty OF
Mr.. Hit
Washington. Feb. 11.-If Representative
Robert Roberts Hit of Illinois weres 10
compile his "reminiscences the result would
be volume of extraordinary interest Not
only has he figured prominently in ma
tional and international affairs for nearly
a genera ton but he has enjoyed personal
relations of a peculiarly close character
with more men of emineuce perhaps than
any other man of the day.
Away back before the war, when a mere
boy he was attached to Abraham Lincoln
in way that gave him enviable facill-
ties for studying the processes of Lin
coins mind. He was a stenographer and
q newspaper reporter cor the Chicago Trib-
une. at that time the one great Repub-
lican organ Of the West. ana throughout
the memorable debate between Lincoln
and Douglas. preceding the latter's cleo
ton to the United States Senate, young
Hit followed Lincoln, taking down in
Shorthand every word that publicly fell
from his lips These famous addresses
which made Iincolns national reputation
and which, more than anything else, con-
tributed to his election as President, owe
their permanent and enduring form to the
youthful reporters notes. the originals OF
which the congressman still boards among
his literary treasures. Lincoln called him
Sob and was fond of the boy.
Valuable Experiences in Paris.
After the war Hit came to Washington
as clerk of a Congress committee and had
an opportunity TO become acquainted with
the great statesmen of the reconstruction
era. f'"sI
His good luck sent him to Paris in 1874.
lust after the Franco Prussan War, as
secretary of legation and charge d'ahaires
ad interim. History was being made
rapidly in the French capital in those
days, and Hit spent seven years in Paris,
a period which was closely packed with
important events. He returned to Wash
ington in 1881 to become Assistant Secre-
tary of State, and the next year was
elected a member of the House of Repre-
sentatives. All through his career i'm Con-
gress he has been conspicuous in the dis
cussion of international questions and
now, as chairman of the House Commit
tee on Foreign Affairs, he is regarded as
a diplomatic authority beside whom there
is no peer. Had it not been for Hits
conspicuous position in the House and for
the fact that the administration regarded
his presence there as essential TO the
proper handling of the complicated
questions growing out of the war with
Spain, he would probably have been APP
pointed Secretary of State when Judge
Day retired from Office.
Friendship Firmly Cemented.
Hit has had the good fortune to Ce-
ment friendship more firmly than almost
any other man now in public life. He was
Blaines closest friend in Washington. In
the concluding years of Blaine's life Hit
was the man in whom he confided most
and was often to be found in the historic
old mansion on Lafayette Square. AT the
same time that he enjoyed these affections
ate relations with the great Secretary, of
State he was the best friend of Speaker
Reed, Blaines bitterest enemy in public
life. And no finer tribute could be paid
10 the delicate tact of the Illinois represent
tative than that he should have continued
for years such a relationship with two
such men without losing the confidence of
either
In Hits house in X street is room
which is devoted to the memory of Blaine.
The walls are covered with pictures of the
Maine leader, with autograph letters and
with all sorts of relics which bring Blaine
TO mind Elsewhere in the house are Lin
coin relics, and stored away somewhere In
places where they will be found sometime
and brought TO light are scores and hun
dreds of confidential letters from men
tr-hn will in
instance, while Hit was secretary of Legal
tion and charge d'affaires in Paris he car
ried on al delightfully."- personal correspond
ence with James Russell Lowell, who at
that time was American minister at Ma
drid None of these letters has ever
been published. Whenever they see the
light they win make sprightly reading
for there is not one of them, no matter
upon how trivial a subject, which does
not contain an odd turn of speech or a
witty alluson. How many other lines of
correspondence the Illinois man has been
carrying on during all these years only he
can tell.
Memories That VIII Not De Pub
Iished.
There are some things which Hit re-
members about great men who are dead
and gone that would be meat for the ICON
oclast and that are hardly likely to find
tlltH way INTO any duNlpflZeu biography.
Charles Sumner, as Hit recalls him, was
a monument of colossal egotism Never
even for a single moment or when among
those who might naturally presume upon
some measure of acquaintanceship, would
he drop the pose of the statesman or min
gle with others on their own level In a
street car he would quote Latin to the
conductor. He seemed always to feel that
ne was an object of observation. and that
he was contributing to the dignity of
history. In the Senate he was without in
1luence. He was as far outside the daily
life of his associates as if he had already
been ehiseled in marble. once when he
was placed by accident on the useless
Committee on Revolutionary Claims. he
took it as a personal affront, and nobody
could ever explain the matter to him. And
yet" says Hit. Sumner was a great
man, and his memory will always i've"
! HIT tells entertaingly Of the way in
which the Chicago Tribune failed to print
a line of Lincoln's historic speech at Free
port in the Douglas debate.-the greatest
OF all Lincoln's addresses before the Civil
War Hit was reporting the speech and
was writing out his notes for the next
mornings paper when owen Lovejoy. the