The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1922-06-29
nssIssIpPrs eREAT SENATOR.
How win williams Successor Com
pare to Him

with the passing of John Sharp
W;lliams from the Senate the politi-
III landscape at Washington will not
,ar,sin the same. At the Mississippi
nrinaries to be held in August a new
Senator will be chosen for the seat
now filed by the states foremost
nnhlic man. Mississippi long has re-
garded John Sharp Williams with
bride. The state has had to it's credit
diligent and capable legislators, but
few of these have attained national
distinction. Of it's citizens who have
occupied high places jefferson Davis
viii be mentioned first and from his
time Senator Williams will be apprais-
ed by many the ranking statesman.
Williams has been in national life
At Washington for nearly thirty years.
n three congresses his party present
N him as its candidate for the
sneakership. In the house he was the
nrotege Of Charles F. Crisp, enjoyed
The good viii Of Thomas B. Reed and
was the friend of everybody. Senator
George F. Hoar said to his colleague,
Henry B. Anthony of Rhode Island.
that It seemed no eulogy or funeral
of a senator was complete unless
Anthony took part in it, because he
was reckoned the next friend of the
man who was dead. The same thing
might be said Of Williams.
A man of spirit, he can give and
take blows in the public arena. Never
has he failed to qualify as man of
action when occasion arose. In fact |
once he went so far as to engage in
a fist fight on the floor of the House |
with a Missourian of not, Judge |
David A. DeArmond. But there were |
no casualties and the only injury in
flicted was to the dignity of the
House.
as a gentleman and a scholar. Educa-
ted at the University Of Virginia and
at Heidelberg, widely travelled,
student Of government and a clear
thinker on his feet, he possesses the
essentials Of a ready and finished
public speaker. His definition of a
gentleman given in an address in the
House eulogizing Edward C.. Walthall,
who belonged to the old South, has
been pronounced worthy to be placed
beside that of Chaucer:
"The ideal gentleman was always
honest, spoke the truth, faced the en-
emy; fought him if necessary, never
quarreled with him nor talked about
him, rode well, shot well, used chaste
and correct English, insulted no man,
bore no insult from any, was studious-
ly kind to his interiors, especially his
slaves; cordial and hospitable to his
equals; courteous to his superiors If
ne acknowledged any; he scorned
demagogue, but loved his people," /
Williams will leave the Senate per- ;
haps with feeling that he was out {
OF place there. 1t may be that he {
will have in mind the senate of Web
ster, Clay and Calhoun, with which t
he is so familiar, as his speeches testi- {
fy and the senate of Aldrich, Bailey I
and Penrose, of which he was part. {
His conception of senate is a body
with constitutional power raised to /
It's highest terms, a legislative body 8
swayed neither by the executive nor 9
the voters, That he has been a sena- /
tor OF independence, conviction and
determination nobody can deny. No c
doubt has ever existed about his atti- y
tude on public question. Every s
senator has known before the calling d
q the roll how Williams would vote. a
with government directed by what he a
considers an organized minority he
has no patience. 81 would rather be
dog and bay the moon than serve
another term in the Senate" was a
remark attributed to him when he was
asked to stand for reelection.
When the suggestion was made to
Joseph G. Cannon that the people
should make him president, that bat r
lled Scared warrior of politics replied +
mat they could go further and do t
worse, and he added that they pro- B
oaoiy would. Mississippi must send G
Is best to Washington if the seat of i
Igohn Sharp Williams IS to be filled.- d
Kansas City Star. n
4, - Il
..o Chancellor Griffith took a very q