The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-12-01

ham in discussion with Smith, digest ed his energy, fa1lacy. and assimilated It's every virus. Aidrich cared for none of these
 Aldrich does not convince. nor does he persuade--he dominates. When those big. black, brilliant eyes, from a great big dome of thought, give a glance at another Senator they read him through and through. and he dis covers fin a twinkling whether 1t is worth while for Nelson w. Aidrich to waste any time on that fellow. There Is the secret, the whole secret of tho mans strength. He has pow- erful. and sometimes an imperious will, and precious little important legis- latior has been enacted by the Arheri- can Congress for twenty years that he did not approve. and none that he did not assent to. His cardinal prin- ciple is that mankind is composed of two parts-the rulers and the ruled. He is no demagogue; no hypocrite. What the South visits on the negro in a political way he would mete out to the mudsills of the North if he could discern safe and practical way to accomplish it.. e
 Ambrose E. Burnside, q stout soldier and an incapable captain, was repeat edly chosen Governor of Rhode Island after our big war. Then he was, ele- vated to the Senate. succeeding Will Ham Sprague, who got the honor for his millions. and who was no incon- siderable man. notwithstanding his vast wealth. In the Senate Burnside was a party man, and said yea" or may" as party politics dictated. His last appearance in that body was the special session of the Senate convened by Garfield soon after his Inauguration. It Is a rather formidable volume in bulk that records the proceedings of that session. and in it's pages Benjamin H. Hill stands out in bold relief as the most powerful debater since Douglas. He first skinned Malone, and then he grappled with Conklfng, Hoar, and several other big men and made mon keys of them all. Of all \our public men. Ben Hill was the greatest when measured by the length of his service in the national councils--two years in the House and five in the Senate. He met all corners. including Blaine, Gar field, Carpenter. Conkling. Hoar, Logan and others. during those seven years, less four months, and the blood of all of them stained his beak and the flesh of all of them was on his talons
 Burnside died early in the autumn of 1881, about the time Garfield expired, and Rhode Island sent Nelson W. Ald- rich to supply the vacancy. He had been trained in an academy; he had been in the Town Council; he had served in the State Legislature and been Speaker of the House. His was perhaps the first name on the alphabet ical roll of the House of the Forty sixth Congress. a body that contained as many able men as ever sat in delib- eration on Capital Hill Get it's roster and read the names of the pembers from Kentucky and Ohio TexasNand In- diana, Georgia and Virginia. if you would take satisfaction in the thought. There were giants in those days" Tn rich was a cipher. He was no orator. and of all great masters of the Amer ican Congress he was. and Is. the least loQuacious. and yet he can talk, and make strong speech when occasion imperatively demands it. *
 When Aldrich entered the Senate the Republican side had just lost it's three ablest men-Carpenter was dead Blaine had left the Senate for the Cabinet and was now in retirement writing "Twen- ty Years in Congress-" Conkling, like many another great man of genius, af- ter resigning in indignation at injus- tice. and in disgust of ingratitude, aI- lowed himself to be persuaded by his
 
 against his better judgment and con trary to firm resolution-Conkling al- lowed himself to be dragged into a contest for reelection and was humil- lated by the results. That is a history that expect to see repeated in one of the leading Southern States next year
 But there were left of the Republi. cans. sherman, who took the shoes Ohio had taken from Thurman and given to Garfield, after Garfield had approprfated the shoes Ohio had sent him to the na- tlonal inquest to procure for Sherman. Ihere was Hoar, whom time and expe- rience had not yet fashioned into the broad. patriotic catholicity of the Hoar or later years. There was Ednfunds. matchless in the skill with which he employed technique at the, bar and in the Senate. There was IngaIls, bril- liant. eloquent, venomous a perfect master of phrase and elected for fac- tion; -'''
 On the Democratic side was Beck ponderous in argument, indefatiRabIe Tn industry, powerful in disputatio Vest supported him--the rapIer of Bus sy d.Amboise thrusting with the mace or Athalstone side by side. Lamar was another. the finest imagination that has sat in Saxon council since Burke. Of Ben Hin I have spoken. Harris was there. and Garland. Morgan. too, was just disclosing to his fellow citizens that he was in the front rank Of American speculative statesmen. Pugh, his colleague, was scarce sec- ond to him as thinker. and perhaps was his superior as lawyer. Baxard