Year: 1872

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anything better from Congressman Beck


He admits himself to be a foreigner by


birth, and yet in his speech, ostensibIy re-


plying to my defense against his gross per-


sOnal attack, he says the people of Ken


lucky "have met him with ovations at
home such as no carpet-bagger in the South


ever has or ever will receive" To say


nothing of the shocking grammar of this


sentence, is the graduate of Transylvania


University so ignorant of the history of


this country as to call me carpet-bagger?


If he does not mean me, what right has
this sort of talk in his personal eXplana-


ton?


l have said that he shirks the main is


sue and that issue l made very plainly


in my reply to his first attack. 1t was his
imputatiOn cast upon my integrity against


which I defended myself, not his opinions


of my politics. [ am one of the two Sena-


tors he alluded to when he said "their only


refuge from the penitentiary appears to be


in the Senate of the United States"


He must credit the world with excessive


stupidity if he supposes it did not make


the application he intended. The follow
| ing editorial notice in the Washington
Sunday Chronicle shows how the public


viewed his attack upon me, and though


there are other papers that have chosen to


express their disapprObation of both, [


wish it distinctly understood that / was the


attacked party and had the right to reply,


which no fair mind could deny me:
| ''.SenatOr BrOWnlOW.-From the Obiec-
tions urged by the Democratic press to the
style and substance of Governor Brown
| lows defense of himself and his State
against the aspersions of Representative
| Beck it would appear that, Notwithstanding
| his infirmities, the Tennessee Senator can
still strike home. The manner i'll which
| he has retOrted to the declarations of Mr..
Beck, that his only refuge from the peni-
| tentary appeared to be the Senate is
characteristic, and might have been expect
ed by the Kentucky member or any other
man who was at all cOnverSant with Gov.
BrOWnlOW's career. Those who find fault
with his style might as well remember
that the style of his assailant was any
thing but polite. When man is told he
has taken refuge from the penitentiary it
implies that he has been guilty of felony,
and a severe answer must come in course.
Angry men do not pick out fine words,
and Governor BrOwnlOw has always been
noted for his propensity to call a spade
spade. 1t was certainly a mistake to inn
pute to him want of integrity, for men
who differ widely from him in opinion be-
lieve him to be strictly honest, and his
political foes at home have vindcated him
in that regard. There is no kinder man
in the world to his friends than Governor
BrOwnlOw, and, perhaps as necessary off
set to this trait, no more unrelenting enc
my. Nevertheless he is as easily cOnciliat-
ed by kind and courteous word as he is
aroused by an angry and improper one."-
Sunday Morning Chronicle, February Is,
1872.


Mr.. Beck admits that he was all over
seer; but denies that he ever whipped any
mans slave; though he thinks upon re-
Election that it might have been better,
both for him and them, if he had done so
sometimes. He does not give up the phi
IosOphy of the benefits of negro fiogging on
the moral nature, and we are therefore in
darkness as to how the process would have
"been better" for both parties. It is
great pity he did not embrace the oppOrtu-
nifty to improve himself in any way, for he
sOrely needs it.


l cannot regret a speech that has called
forth such gushing specimen of autobio-
graph and maudlin sentiment as follows:


My family ties bind me to the grand
old State of Virginia. love the people of
the South; and L will stand by them as
long as l have voice to speak, &c.


Truly the State of Virginia should be
overwhelmed with this honor, and the
much-lOved people of the South shouldap-
preciate this attectiOnate-bOSh


The New York Tribune correspondence
gives the following graphic summary of
the way he did it;


He now got angry, and said, Very
WELL I will see to it that nothing is print
ed in the Globe that is not read So will
L. shouted a dozen Democrats. Mr.. Beck,
who had been making a strong speech
against the denominations of reconstruc-
ton in Tennessee, now changed his tone,
and gave the House all the personalities
for which it had stomach. He detailed
his personal history in full, even to trivial
details. His father had raised the best
stock in New York. He had gone to Ken |
lucky poor and friendless, and now repre-
sented the greatest district in the United |
States. He was held up as an example to |
ried Virginia woman, and his children |
were the great-great grand childred of the |
brother of George Washington. He had |
never been hOstler in livery stable, or |
slave-driver, and any man who said so |
was a liar-referring to BrownlOw. He |
had never laid lash on slaves back; no |
man had ever laid lash on his back no |
man had ever struck him blow no man |
would strike him and live. Mr.. Beck |
went on for twenty minutee with this sort |
of stuff to the surprise of every one, for |
he has always ranked as the ablest and |
most sensible man among the southern |
Democrats. There is this to be said, how
ever, in justification of the gross breach Of
good taste, which he committed, that he |
spoke under excitement, and that, when
excited, it is almost impossible for man
of southern training to refrain from in
dulging in braggadocio.H


So it appears that he attempts to build
up his line of aristocratic succession
through the maternal ancestor. That at
least is sensible. l have no doubt the
" Virginia woman he married is worthy
of all the good he can say of her. The fact,
however, that she has such husband as
Beck excites my pity. He does well to
point his children to their great-great
grandfather on the mothers side. 1t will
be gleam of sunshine in the shadow of
their fathers reputation, and perhaps the
Kentucky Legislature will one day let
them change their name to the maternal
farther back, and, like Mark Twain in
Judea, weep tears over the tomb of