Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1903-08-06

guage that the statement Of mine to
which he referred was falsehooj, II
I caught his word Alright. Mr.. Presi-
dent, this not being the place to meas
ure with any man the capacity to vio-
late decency, to violate the rules OF the
Senate; or to commit any of the ifnpro-
prieites of life, / have only to say that
If the Senator-the member from Mis-
sissippi-did impute Or intend to inn
pute to me q falsehood, nothing ex-
cept the fact that this is the Senate
would prevent my denouncing him as
a blackguard and coward. tApplause
in the galleries.) Let me be more spe-
cifie; Mr.. President. Should the mem
Der from Mississippi, except In the
presence Of the Senate, charge me by
intimation, or otherwise, with false
hood, would denounee him as q
blackguard, d coward, and liari And
understanding what he said as / have,
the rules and the proprieties OF the
Senate are the only restraint upon
me-"
Slowly and deliberately Lamar arose
and gave this singing 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 unparliamentary Ian
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 Conkiing 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 ac-
complished orator. There is some
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, Slijell. Toombs,
Clement G. Clay and A. G. Brown.
And he continued:
There was another-Jefferson Da-
vis-Mr. President, shall | 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 vicarious sufferer OF
his people, the solitude of whose pun
ishment should lift him above the Jlbe
and jeer of popular passion; but whose
words will stand forever upon the rec
ord of history; not in definance, 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 magnifi-
cent peroration of George F. Hoar in
summing up for the House of Repre-
sentatives in the impeachment of Bel
knap. and read it's disconsolate and ac-
cusative 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 tie 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
| Cotton 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. 1T
might have been" How different
would have been the fortune of the
Democratic party had the South
hearkened 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 Bayard's. Later, Mr..
Cleveland appointed him to the Su-
preme Bench. He died an associate
justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States.
Chief Justice Fuller pronounced his
eulogy and cited his gifts in the SEN
! tence:
| His was the most suggestive mind
| L ever knew, and not one of US but
has drawn from its inexhaustible
store"
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
| his destination he gave the driver half
a crown The cabby looked at it in