Oxford eagle. (Oxford, Lafayette Co., Miss.) 1876-current, 1903-08-06
L. @. LAMAR
sAyoYARp.v in Kansas city Star.

>~~~~~~vO~~~~~
that the institution of slavery, with
all its incidents and affinities, Is dead,
extinguished, sunk into sea that
gives not up its dead. They cherish
no aspirations nor schemes for its re-
suscitation. With their opinion on
the rightfulness of slavery unchanged
by the events of the war, yet as an
enlightened people accepting what is
inevitable. they would not, IL they
could, again identify their destiny as
a people with an institution that
stands antagonizei so utterly by all
the sentiments and living forces of
modern civilization"
Mr.. Lamar was a follower Of Jeffer-
son Davis. Strong men loved the
Southern chieftain as few men have
been loved by brothers in common
cause. Noble women loved him as pa
triot has rarely been loved by woman,
and at the South mothers to remotest
generations will teach their children
to revere him as hero, patriot and
sage. His very name recalls trial,
struggle, defeat, humiliation-every-
thing but dishonor. And IL the South
ern people had not loved him, they
would be unworthy to stand among
a brave, a free and a magnanimous
race.
When the Mexican pension bill was
considered in the Senate, Mr.. Hoar Of
fered an amendment excluding Jeffer-
son Davis from the benefits of it. In
answer to him Mr.. Lamar made
speech that is one Of the finest speci-
mems of indignant eloquence to be
found in the annals Of Congress. After
asserting that Davis was no more cul-
pable than himself or the humblest
person who engaged in the war on the
Southern side-that insult to him was
insult to a whole people-he coupled
the name of Davis with that of Hamp-
den and that of Washington, and
closed with the following, that must
take rank among the finest retorts in
parliamentary history:
Now. sir, | do not wish to make
any remarks here that will engender
any excitement or discussion, but l
say that the Senator from Massachu-
sets connected that name with trea-
son. We all know that the results of
this war have attached to the people
of the South the technical crime OF re-
bellion. and we submit to 1t: but that
was not the sense in which the gentle
man used that term as applied to Mr..
Davis. He intended to affix-l will
not say he intended, but the inevitable
effect of 1t was to affix-upon this aged
man. this man broken In fortune, suf-
fering from bereavement, an epithet
of odium and imputation of moral tur-
pitude. Sir. 1t required no courage to
do that; it required no magnanimity
to do 1t: it required no courtesy. 1t
only required hate, bitter, malignant,
sectional feeling and a sense of per-
sonal impunity. The gentleman, be-
lieve. takes rank among Christian
statesmen He might have learned
tletter lesson, even from the pages OF
mythology. When Prometheus was
bound to the rock it was not an eagle
it was a vulture-that buried his
beak in the tortured vitals of the vic
tim"
Lovers of gossip will be interested
in John ]. ingalls, description of the
scene. He says that Lamar pretended
TO forget the name, and, pausing after
ulteTlHS the Wolu my lHolo5s, Az
leaned over and asked, in an under
tone, Who was chained to the rock?'
Thurman answered "Prometheus, and
Lamar finished the figure.
Roscoe Conkling was wonderfully
gifted man. and the real leader of the
Senate of 1879, though the Democrats
had organized that body. He was per-
hans the strongest man there. and his
command of language was simply the
despair of all his rivals. There were
others as fluent some of them much
more verbose; but it was Conkling
who had no rival-not in Blaine, nor
Hoar. nor ingalls,, nor Carpenter, nor
Lamar-when it came to bringing into
plav the exact word to make his speech
magnificent and his argument irwin
chile. His friends said he was lordly
and his enemies thought him arrogant.
He was both-his loneliness was AFRO
CANT. and his arrogance was lordly.
Lamar had very great admiration for
him. and considered him the most
intellect in the Senate a1d the first
orator in the country.
1t was in June, 1879, that the en-
counter occurred between Lamar and
Conkling.. The Senate had had an all
night session, and after an intermis-
sion of nine minutes the body con-
vened for another legislative day.
Blaine. then in the midst of his cam
paign against the third term move
ment led by Conkling. Cameron. Car
penter and Logan. was in full accord
with his party. He knew that to sue
ceed he must gain such radical States
as Kansas and Iowa in the national
convention. That night he was more
than usually aggressive and audacious
even for him. He had a bout with
Beck another with Vance. another
with Withers and another with Voor-
hees He tnen took a whack at the
whole Democratic side en- bloc.
About 6 o'clock Conkling undertook
to adjourn the Senate to give Carpen-
ter a chance to speak on the army bill
the next day. He failed, though With
ers who had charge of the bill. ought
to have been generous and courteous
enough to accede to his request. Conk-
lon.,r.s ~ =