The Irish standard., 1905-02-11

van1a, and Keith, Of South Caroline.
had a fist fight on the floor Of tho
house In open session, precipitated BY
the incident that Grow happened to
be ON the Democratic side for some
purpose or other, and that episode had
much to do In elevating Grow to the
speakership Of the Thirty-seventh con-
gress, when John Sherman preferred
the senatorship vacated by Chase to
the speakership of the house. The
fiercest philippe pronounced in con.
gress in the past so years was John
Young Browns attack on old Ben But
Ter: IF l were to characterize every
thing that is pusillanimous in war;"
ETC., but 1t would meet with no ap-
plause ut the present day. Blaine's
ana Garfield's greatest speeches would
be listened to with impatience; Bing.
hams most fervid oratory would call
forth derisive laughter and John A.
Logan's invectives against treason and
I traitors would be Missed.
Grow and Keith, Brown and Butler.
were not further apart politically than
are John Sharp Williams and John
Dalzell, or Champ Clark and Charles
II. Grosvenor, who hurl Rolands and
Olivers ut one another across the main
| aisle in political debate, but who are
i the best of friends in private con-
verse. We cannot imagine Louis T.
Wigfall and Benjamin F. Wade, or
Felix X. Zollicoffer and Owen Love-
joy in amiable social discourse, but
Ben Tillman and Bill Chandler were
chums, and Tillman and Spooner are
as thick as Brindle and Cherry.
| When Tillman made his first speech
in the senate it was to very large
audience in the galleries and a very
, full attendance on the floor. He was
, hcralded. He was Tribune. He was
Brutus and Rienzi He was Wallace
and Tell. He was a very different
order Of man from Lowndes and
Hayne and Calhoun and McDuffe. He
was not Rhett nor Hampton, nor
a Butler. He did not represent that
, splendid race, the country gentry Of
/ the old South, but the new order that
had in troublous times grasped power
and yet hold it. The story of that old
South has never yet been told, and
he who would tell it Alright must be
Burke and Macaulay, Scott and Thack-
/ cray, combined. 1t will be a more
! fascinating chapter in future Glib
bon than that devoted to Virginia or
New England and more wonderful
story.
On this occasion Tillman spoke as
though he actually believed-and
doubtless he did believe it-that he
was not only the honestest man in the
senate, but the only honest man in the
senate. 1t was both an audacious and
, provocative thing to do. One could
{, but think of the profane Gaul who
plucked the beard Of the noble Roman
+, senator in the Forum-but not one
of our senate lifted his curule chair
/ and smote this political barbarian to
, earth. He denounced the president Of
; the United States and the secretary
, of the treasury in language the coars-
; est, and no member of "the most dig
, nified legislative body in the world"
called him to order, and perhaps he
! spoke in billingsgate what the others,
or nearly all the others, would have
i spoken in Addison-those of them who
, could speak Addison-had they been
i imperatively required to discuss Grov-
or Cleveland and John G.. Carlisle, who
at that time were doing more wise
| and patriotic craftsmanship for their
country than both houses of congress
together.
But Tillman has learned much and
has progressed. AS there were brave
men before Agamemnon, he has dis
covered that there were honest men be-
fore Tillman. I do believe he is the
most candid man who has appeared
in our politics since William L. Yam
cey, and that has gained him, as it
will gain any other man, the respect