The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-03-28
Barlow Man Reverts to Fight
Between Carolina Senators.
aE DON'T BLAME THE COMBATANTS
In olden Times Such Incidents Were
Thought a Great Wrong, But
Politics Have Changed
Status Of soions.

has the right to talk about 1t. Till
man did wrong In jumping over three
desks to strike McLaurin. About one
desk was the limit Of propriety. Three
| desks gives a man time to cool and
that makes K against the law to fight.
AS to the time and place. that Is OF no
consequence now. There was a time
in the days Of Webster and Calhoun
and Tom Benton and Henry Clay
when the United States senate was as
sacred almost as a church, but now a
large majority Of its members get
/ their places by conduct infinitely more
disgraceful than fighting. Bribery and
corruption have got so common that
a man cannot get there without using
a big pile of money and making q lot
OF promises. OF course do not include
our southern senators, for they
| haven't got the money. If we had
some millionaires in Georgia Clay and
Bacon would have to step down and
out. And l am not so disguised with
Tillman for fighting in the senate
chamber He had reason to believe
that his partner had received prom
lses, and reckon he had. He certain
ly had great expectations, or he would
not have Topped over to the republi-
cans so suddenly. Politicians have to
be paid for their votes. Tillman is a
true man, but he is not a great anu
good man. I admire him for some
traits in his character. He cannot be
bribed rintimidated. He dares to
/ say what he believes and he uses his
pitchfork with impunity. He is i'm.
petuous and combative, but he is sin
cere and everybody admires a sincere
man, Sincere is one of the strongest
and best words in our language. 1t
/ literally means unsealed-without wax
for in the olden times letters were
sealed with wav but If it contained no
secrets it was not sealed at ALL for
wax cost money. Tillman is a bold,
defiant, stubborn man, but he is not
| great. A great man like Webster or
Calhoun would have said to McLaurin,
We'll, sir, II l am a liar / deserve the
epithet. If l am not, then you de-
serve it, but l shall not stoop to give
Il" | wish We were all that great.
This thing Of resenting the charge Of
lying with blow is a strange perver-
sion of propriety. A man may gain
his ends cheating, swindllng, over
his ends by cheating, swindling, over
cealing the truth, but you must not
call him liar.
He may break all the command
ments, but don't call him a liar,
though that is not in the Decalogue.
All that / regret about the fight is
that Spooner did not call Tillman q
liar and get mauled before McLaurin
came in. want somebody to whip
Spooner He was the teaser that
brought on the fight and was delighted
that 1t occurred between the two
South Carolina senator's With his
party it is no crime to shoot down ten
thusand Filipipos, who refuse to give
up their country, but 1t shocks them
awfully to have little fracas in the
senate chamber.
Well, there are some great men and
there are many good men, but great
ness and goodness are rarely combin-
ed. Addison says it takes both to
make a man complete. Such, for ex.
ample, as Washington and Robert e.
Lee. Job says great men are not all
ways wise and he might have added
most of them are mean, selfish, heart.
less and ambitious. Lord Bacon, for
instance, who took brides while on the
bench, and Cromwell and Napoleon.
Webster was a very great man and
long has been my ideal of greatness.
He was called the Godlike, but some
times his human nature overcame him.
And so with Henry Clay and Bob
Toombs. The great weakness Of the
people is idolatry. Partisan or sec
tional or religious idolatry. Every man
who climbs high up where the people
can see him is either a saint or sin.
ner, according to our politics, our sec
ton, our creed. One man idolizes the
character of Lincoln, or of Grant, an
other holds both of them in contempt
I suppose that three-fourths Of the
northern people pay homage to the
memory of old John Brown for whaI
they call his good intentions, and ev
cry northern history and encyclopedia
: Apologies for him, and even so good
man as Mckinley excused himself
= for not attending the refinement o.
his bones, on the ground that thu
nroes,-re ~ official duties would no