The Tupelo journal., 1903-08-07

guage that the statement OF mine to
which he referred was a falsehood, II
4 caught his word Alright. Mr.. Presi-
dent, this not being the place to meas
ure with any han the capacity to yio-
late decency, to violate the rules of the
Senate, or to commit any Of the impro-
prieites of life, | have only to say that
If the Senator-the member from Mis-
sissippi-did impute or intend to i'm
pute to me a falsehood, nothing ex-
cept the fact that this is the Senate
would prevent my denouncing him as
a blackguard and a coward. (Applause
In the galleries.) Let me be more spe-
cifc, MI. President. Should the mem
Der from Mississippi, except in the
presence Of the Senate, charge me by
intimation, or otherwise, with false
hood, | would denounce him as a
blackguard, a coward, and a liar! And
understanding what he said as l have,
the rules and the p%roprieties of the
Senate r the only restraint upon
me-"
Slowly and deliberately Lamar arose
and gave this stinging retort:
"Mr. President, / have only to say
that the Senator from New York un-
derstood me correctly. did mean to
say just precisely the words and all
that they import. | beg pardon of the
Senate for the supplementary lam
guage. 1t was very harsh; it was
very severe; it was such as no good
man would deserve, and no brave man
would wear
ingalls, tells this story with some
satisfaction. 1t is evident he had no
love for Conkling, and for this occa-
sion Conkling was unquestionably de-
feated.
1t was the year before that Lamar
made the speech against the Stanley
Matthews resolution declaring the ma
tional debt payable in standard silver
dollars at a ratio of gold of 16 to l.
The peroration of this speech surpass-
es any other public address of this &C.
complished orator. There is m
thing grand in the way he marshaled
the Senators of the old South, who had
upheld the honor of the country in a
more elder day-Hammond, Mason,
Hunter, Benjamin, Slidell, Toombs,
Clement c. Clay and A. G. Brown.
And he continued: p
There was another-Jefferson Da-
vis-Mr. President, shall l not be per-
mitted to mention his name in this
free American Senate, which has been
SO free to discuss and condemn what it
has adjudged to be his errors? One
who has been the vlcarious sufferer of
his people, the solitude of whose pun
ishment should lift him above the jibe
and jeer of popular passion; but whose
words will stand forever upon the rec
ord of history; not in defiance, not in
triumph, but in the sad and grand
memoranda of the earnest spirit, the
lofty motives of the mighty struggle,
which, however mistaken in its ends
and disastrous in its results, was inau-
gurated by those who believed it to be
in the interest of representative lib
erty and constitutional government"
And then he turned to that magnif-
cent peroration of George F. Hoar in
summing up for the House of Repre-
s%entatives in the impeachment of Bel
KNAPP, and read it's disconsolate and &C
sentences to the proud and
lofty boast of Hammond.
Though it was the greatest speech
Mr.. Lamar ever made, it enraged his
constituents, who not only withheld
applause, but thanked his colleague,
the negro Bruce, for voting for repu-
diation. Mr.. Lamar not only spoke
against the Matthews resolutions, but
voted against them, though instructed
by the State legislature to vote for
them. In that he incurred the dis
pleasure of Mr.. Davis himself, who.
though a firm supporter of the public
credit, yet adhered to the doctrine Of
instruction, as Stephen A. Douglass
had done years before. Lamar pre-
ferred to follow the course of Burke.
Ben Hill also opposed the Matthews
resolution in a powerful speech.
These were the two ablest men the
States have sent to either house
of Congress since the war, and when
We read their speeches on the silver
question one is tempted to say, 'It
have been" How different
would have been the fortune of the
party had the South
to the teachings of Ben
Hill and L. @. c. Lamar.
Mr.. Cleveland made Lamar one of
his cabinet, but his place was the Sen
ate, as was Bayari's. Later, Mr..
appointed him to the Su-
preme Bench. He died an associate
of the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Chief Justice Fuller pronounced his
and cited his gifts in the SEN
tence:
His was the most suggestive mind
l ever knew, and not a n of us but
has drawn from it's inexhaustible
Overreaching Pat.
An English tourist on his arrival
at Dublin hired an Irish cabby to take
him and his baggage to one of the
principal hotels. When he arrived at
destination he gave the driver half