USA > Arkansas > Biographical and pictorial history of Arkansas. Vol I > Part 35
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opponent took the stand, and scarcely delayed long enough to get through a respectable introduction, before assuming an air of superiority and contemptuous ridicule for the young aspirant. "There is a tide in the affairs of men which, when taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;" and the young man had the courage and sagacity to see and to ride the flood. He stepped. up to the mistaken bully at the supreme moment, and demanded and commanded respect in the fearless tones of Jove, which quickened and carried conviction and meek obedience. This moral and physical courage, so unexpectedly manifested by the young farmer-boy, challenged the admiration and respect of the auditory, spread through the county, and made him the hero of the hour. Had he failed in that supreme moment he would never have been governor of Arkansas; from that mo- ment his election was assured. We have given prominence to this circumstance because, like the index-finger, it points to the resolute pursuit of ends and convictions which are typical of the life of Governor Hughes. Eminently a man of peace and quiet, he becomes a lion only when necessary to display those latent forces .. He began the study of law after his election to the office of sheriff, and came to the bar in 1857, located in Clarendon, and practiced there until the civil war demanded his services in another field.
Loyal to his native section, he espoused the cause of the Confederacy, without critically weighing the great political questions underlying that struggle. Sectional disregard of con- stitutional obligations, followed up by triumph at the polls and the play of musketry and cannon on the people of the slave- holding States, retired all further consideration of constitu- · tional questions until the day of blood was over. He recruited Company F of Colonel Charles W. Adams' Twenty-third Ar- kansas infantry, of which he was elected captain. When the regiment was organized he was elected lieutenant-colonel. When the army was reorganized, after the great battles of Shiloh, Farmington and Corinth, he was left without a command, but immediately joined Morgan's battalion of Texas cavalry, trans- Mississippi department, and served in that command until the collapse, in 1865. We have read high testimonials to his ability, courage and efficiency as a soldier, from Generals Holmes,
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Moore and Cabel, but have no room for insertion here. At the close of the war he rejoined his wife and child at Claren- don, with no capital but a profession and a good name. The confidence of the people in him was unlimited, as a lawyer and citizen, and at that flush era in the courts he rapidly recovered his lost fortune. In 1866 he was elected to the legislature, and by that body, one of four commissioners to confer with the president, with a view to avoid, if possible, the miseries and humiliation of reconstruction, then sweeping over the con- quered provinces. But that class of rabid and revengeful poli- ticians, headed by Thad. Stevens and his following, then dominated the government. These leaders were riding and directing the angry whirl and tremendous energies of the po- litical revolution, following on the heels, and growing out of the results of the war. No one then knew whether we were drifting into monarchy, a purely centralized government, or whether we would drift back, after the storm, and anchor near the ancient land-marks of the constitution. The leaders were angered at the fact that Andrew Johnson was too stubborn to be led by the nose.
These complications stamped the mission with failure, and postponed the inauguration of republican government in Arkansas until after the revolution of 1874. In that long night Arkansas was governed with the despotism of a Persian Satrap, and with as little regard to the rights of the people. In 1874 the republican cuttle-fish polluted the political waters until it died of its own poison. When that event took place, the people regained their liberties and assembled in convention through their representatives to inaugurate a new and a better order of things. Governor Hughes was a representative man in this convention, and his conservative forecast left its impress in the constitution of that year. His conspicuous services in this convention first brought him prominently before the peo- ple, and the democratic convention of that year nominated him for the office of attorney-general, and the people ratified it at the polls. He started out in life an "old-line whig," but, on the demise of that party, took shelter in the democratie fold, where he has been honored and treated as "one of us." In 1876 he was a candidate for governor, and received a very flat- 48
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tering vote, but was defeated in the convention. From 1876 to 1884 he devoted himself to liis professional and agricultural interests, being a large planter. He is exceedingly fond of fine stock, horses particularly, and raises many on his farm, but never indulges in the hazard of the race-course. In 1884 he again competed for high executive honors and was successful, being elected governor, by a very large majority, in the race of that year. In 1886 he had no opposition in democratic ranks, and was elected to succeed himself.
The limited space and scope of this work denies extended mention of the measures of administrative reform recommended and carried out by Governor Hughes. His policy has been wise and conservative, and is indorsed by the people. If he lives he will be a formidable competitor, in the near future, for a seat in the United States senate. As a speaker he is popular, attractive and forcible, and sometimes indulges in pleasant sal- lies of wit and humor.
WOLSEY RANDAL MARTIN, FORT SMITH ..
In the middle of the sixteenth century, under the lead and power of the Romish Church, religious fanaticism reared its re- morseless head against Protestantism in France, and fed the flames of desolation and extermination against the resolute Huguenot, until emancipation was proclaimed by the first Napo- leon. These persecutions for two and a half centuries robbed France of much of her best blood. In 1724 Louis XV issued a severe edict against the Huguenots, which drove thousands to seek asylum in foreign lands, and amongst them Louis . Mantaigne (a name illustrious in the history and literature of France for three centuries and more), who came to the western world, and sought and obtained asylum in South Carolina. From this ancestry in the paternal line young Martin is de- scended ; from the maternal line he inherits Scotch-German blood. W. R. Martin, the subject of this sketch, was born at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, February 6, 1865. There is something phenomenal and interesting in the brief history of this, the youngest man accorded place in this work, and the simple his- toric facts are all we offer to ward off criticism, should there be those who like to indulge the weapon. His father, John M.
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Martin of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is an eminent lawyer, ex-pro- fessor of law in the University of Alabama, and was a mem- ber of the forty-ninth congress from Alabama; was fifteen years a member of the Alabama legislature, and was speaker of the senate. His mother, Lucy C., is the daughter of that eminent jurist, Judge E. W. Peck, who presided on the su- preme bench of Alabama for twenty years, and then resigned the office because of the infirmities of age. His paternal grand- father, Joshua L. Martin, was governor of Alabama, and de- clined to become a candidate for a second term, that he might accept a nomination for congress, to which he was elected, and died from sunstroke, before the expiration of his term, quite a young man.
His accomplished mother took charge of his early education, and at the age of fourteen he was fully prepared to enter the State university. But the laws of that seat of learning did not admit of matriculation until the candidate for university honors was eighteen years old. To meet the necessities of this special case the regents of the university, after thorough cxam- ination, repealed the statute, and made an exception, for excep- tional reasons, to the general law, in favor of the young candi- date. He remained at the university four years, and graduated with distinguished honors in 1882, receiving the degree of bach- elor of arts. Without spending any time in recreations, imme- diately after graduation he repaired to the University of Vir- ginia, and attended a course of law lectures, that year, under that celebrated jurist, John B. Minor. In 1883 he entered the law department of the University of Alabama, and by extra exertion graduated in one instead of two years, and received the degree of bachelor of laws. After graduating in the law de- partment of the university, he applied to Justice Stewart, of the supreme court, for license to practice law, and was exam- ined and pronounced qualified by that jurist, but he was then only nineteen years old, and minority presented the only disqualification. Judge Stewart's sympathies were moved for the young man, and of his own motion he prepared a petition to the legislature of Alabama, then in session, rep- resenting the facts, and asking the passage of a law removing the disabilities of the young man, and the act was passed. Imu-
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mediately after the removal of his disabilities, his father gave him his inheritance and took him into partnership, but, after the father's election to congress, the son removed, in the fall of 1885, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and has settled with us permanently. I have always had a passion for bril- liant, worthy young men, and in more than thirty years' ex- perience at the bar have not knowingly wounded the sensibili- ties of one. These little kindnesses to young men have often brought rich rewards in the shape of retainers, to aid them in matters of moment, where they needed assistance.
A passion for young men made Alexander H. Stephens the strongest man Georgia ever honored; he spent much of his time in his younger days with them at Milledgeville and other seats of learning in the State, and made all of them his staunch friends. Since writing the last sentence, I see the vulnerable opening to a " Parthian arrow ;" but let the wit indulge and enjoy himself. The history and habits of the young man augur a brilliant future, and his talents justify the hope.
A. H. GARLAND.
The career of this remarkable man challenges more than superficial inspection. In many respects his character differs widely from that of all other celebrities in our local history, and marks him with an individuality without parallel in Ar- kansas politics. The masses of the people have been artfully led to regard him as wise and great, without ever scrutinizing the agencies employed to support and blaze the way to his rapid and almost uninterrupted promotion. The masses, if competent, have never attempted an analysis of the elements which go to make up the result denominated great in this dis- tinguished citizen. In some things he is the wisest and great- est man Arkansas has ever put on her roll of promotion ; but to appreciate and understand him correctly and justly, this concession must be taken with proper limitation and discrim- inating qualification. It is not fair to view that character in the light of recent electric events which have startled the nation, without going back to the commencement of his public career, and shielding it with all the wise and beneficent pre- sumptions of the common law.
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HON. A. H. GARLAND.
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A. H. Garland was born in Tipton county, Tennessee, June 11, 1832. In 1833 his parents moved to Arkansas, where his father died during the son's early minority. His mother mar- ried the amiable and cultured Judge Francis Hubbard of Hempstead county, who proved himself the warm friend and able adviser of his foster children, whom he educated at Bards- town, Kentucky.
The future senator read law and was admitted to the bar in 1853, and commenced his professional career in Hempstead county, where three years of anxious probation, in the quiet village of Washington, did not produce satisfactory results, and he began to cast a prospecting eye over other fields for better fruitage. Perhaps no man of his age was a better judge of where to throw a line or cast anchor. Nature at an early age gave him the key to man's foibles and weaknesses, and made him a consummate diplomat in winning the confidence and favors of men, to foster the rapid growth of his own dis- tinct individuality, as he cautiously laid plans and followed them up, to the realization of his ambition, step by step. With- out producing friction or exciting resolute antagonism, in time he became the Richelieu and the Talleyrand of Arkansas poli- tics. At the budding season of his remarkable career, one of those fortuitous circumstances, which sometimes rise up in the pathway of men, came to him in the extended fame, the large accumulation of professional business, and the declining years of Ebenezer Cummins. He saw the great advantages which would accrue from an association with him in business, and lost no time in fixing the relation of partner with that eminent lawyer, who died in March, 1857, leaving Mr. Garland, in less than one year from date of partnership, heir to his large and profitable business. This valuable inheritance of profes- sional business was husbanded and utilized to its full capacity. Some of these inherited cases went to the supreme court of the United States, and became the foundation of Ec parte Garland, reported in 4 Wallace, which extended his fame beyond the confines of Arkansas. This case is known as the test-oath case, decided by a divided court and a majority of one in favor of Mr. Garland. His argument in that case dis- played much research and ability. He was an old-line whig,
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with flexible, politic and accommodating basis, until that party survived its usefulness and was shelved with the relics of the past.
Whilst the Union sentiment was popular and in the ascend- ency he was regarded as vehemently inclined in that direction, and, as such, was elected from Pulaski county to the State convention of 1861, which pronounced the divorce of the State from the Union, sanctioned by his vote. Intensely Union in sentiment, he was foremost with the first to seek and obtain Confederate honors at the hands of the convention, which dele- gated him to the provisional congress of the Confederate States, then sitting at Montgomery. There was nothing wrong or to condemn in all this, perhaps, but it aptly illustrates and displays that wonderful versatility of talent and accommodat- ing sentiment which has furnished the major part of Garland's greatness through life, both in and out of public place. At the general election of 1862 he was returned to the Confederate congress at Richmond, and was again elected to that body in 1864, but resigned soon after, to accept a seat in the Confed- erate senate, made vacant by the death of Hon. Charles B. Mitchel. In 1866 he was elected to the senate of the United States, but was denied admission, in common with others, dur- ing the reconstruction period. He practiced his profession from 1865 until called to the executive chair, after the adoption of the constitution of 1874. Governor Garland was inaugurated in January, 1875, and his administration at home was popular, but not for any intrinsic merit, forecast or statesmanship dis- played by him. It was the dawn of day after a long and dis- tressing night.
The yoke of political bondage was broken during Governor Baxter's administration, aided by democracy and the conserva- tive element of the republican party in congress. Aided by these elements, Governor Baxter put down the political banditti headed by Clayton, Dorsey, Brooks and the then chief justice of the State, John McClure. Judge Wilshire, a conservative repub- lican, then in congress from Arkansas, deserves the lasting grati- tude of the people for his noble exertion in driving the parasites from power, and restoring the people to their inheritance.
The superficial observer of current events gave Mr. Garland
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the lion's share of credit and official honors for these great and important achievements, when, in fact, hundreds of citizens con- tributed more and risked more than he did to bring about the result. The polished art of political as well as financial boom- ing has become one of the industries of the age, well understood by Mr. Garland and practiced in his interest. The entire capi- tal invested in this art is industriously husbanded in the vaults of delusion, but it is now time the important events of that decade assume their proper relation to history, freed from the political coloring which characterize the pretender and the par- tisan. Whilst the conflict known as the Brooks-Baxter war was in progress, and for sometime after its culmination, Baxter was the natural hero of the hour, and the people felt magnanimous and generous for the immense relief he had been so instrumen- tal in bringing about, in the restoration of their liberties. To check this tide, divert and ride it in another direction, and reap the official fruitage it bore on its bosom, required first-class diplomacy. It required the secret hand of a Talleyrand be- hind the scenes and the dexterity of Richelieu to influence Baxter to become his own patriotic political executioner - to become the passive instrument in the hands of others, instead of remaining the proud master of the situation, which he un- doubtedly was, but without the ken to foresee where the com- plications which surrounded him would ultimate. He was firmly seated in the saddle until January, 1877, if he chose to maintain his position, but he voluntarily gave up to the people two years of his term as governor, feeling well founded in the belief that they would appreciate and reward him for the per- sonal sacrifice, and they did tender him the nomination for gov- ernor when the democracy assembled in convention, after the adoption of the new constitution of 1874. He declined it with an eye on the senatorial prize, which was to be disposed of in January, 1877, and the people crowned Garland governor, the highest prize then in the gift of the successful revolutionists. Baxter's faith in the spasmodic gratitude of republics was not justified; there was an ambition equal to his to gratify, with unrivaled facilities to judge of the public vulse, and to catch every prize that floated on its tide.
In the mean time the Baxter tide was ebbing away and the .
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Garland boom was borne on an upward swell. All the agen- cies for manufacturing popularity were industriously applied, and the electric motor was pressed into service to carry the declaration abroad, that Mr. Garland was a " great constitu- tional lawyer," as though it requires any greater depth and scope of talent to understand a constitutional provision, than a simple statute. When the election of senator came on in 1877, Baxter drank deep the waters of disappointment, and found lit- tle consolation in the conviction that promises, express or implied, when they stand in the way of ambition, are but feeble barriers. Mr. Garland was elected to succeed Clayton, in the senate, who it was a great relief to retire from the political trusts he had usurped and shamelessly abused. In 1883 he was again elected to the senate without opposition, the republicans, by artful manipulation, joining in to swell the triumphant tide. The popular heart was played on with the hand of a master, and wrought up to a degree of hero-worship, a republican solo was chanted as the chorus to a democratic ditty, and the electric lute responded to both keys, as the basis of an exaggera- ted influence in the senate, which ultimately found expression through channels detrimental to the public service. It is due to history, in this connection, to analyze the most wonderful of our native growth in politics. In his knowledge of men, and the best methods to manipulate them in his own interest, he has never had an equal in the State. His head is absolute master of his tongue, the passions, and every emotional manifesta- tion. In this, for the latitude of Arkansas, he is supremely great. The glaciers of Switzerland are as fruitful of grati- tude for past favors. He never expresses an opinion on any question of public moment whilst the mind of the masses on that topic is undergoing formation, but he watches the incuba- tion with unerring sagacity, and when it is sufficiently mature, he is too, and is always with the people.
He ascends the political watch-tower and discovers the ebbs and tides and currents of public opinion with unrivaled sagacity. In politics he is an agnostic in the broadest sense of the term, and expresses no convictions until first satisfied that he is but echoing the popular heart. This characteristic in the life of the distinguished senator comes to the surface all along the line of
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his public life, from the time he voted to refer the question of se- cession in 1861 to the people, until his expiring hours in the senate of the United States. This profound agnosticism, this intensly selfish political forecast was eminently illustrated in the senate during the expiring hours of President Arthur's ad- ministration, when the Sherman-Davis resolutions were under consideration. The republican side of the senate was hurling thunderbolts at President Davis in an effort to divert attention from General Sherman's unsupported assertions for truth, and to saddle all the responsibility for the civil war on Mr. Davis. Lamar and Garland sat there whilst the republican lash was being cracked over their persons, both prospective members of Mr. Cleveland's incoming administration ; and to repel the at- tack, in the strong but noble and dignified manner it deserved, might endanger their reaching that round of ambition. But such a consideration found no support in the lofty nature of Lamar, who stood up like Ajax in the senate, assumed his full share of responsibility attaching to the civil war, and hurled back the republican javelin into the camp from whence it came. Mr. Garland had voted for secession in 1861, was a member of the Confederate congress from May, 1861, until its expiring hour, had voted hundreds of millions of money in aid of the rebellion when it was popular and in progress, but now, from profound considerations of policy, devoted to selfish considerations, was dumb as a mummy beneath the Pyramids, when his fallen chief and the legions of heroes who supported him in the world's greatest revolution, and the people who gave him every office in their gift and made him all he is, were being bitterly assailed.
The noble survivors and descendants of the forty regiments and battalions Mr. Garland had voted to equip and send to the field from Arkansas at that supreme hour, had a vast in- terest in their representative in the senate, to defend thein for acting a chivalrous part at his instance, in the world's greatest drama, but his tongue sought refuge in the waters of Lethe. Moral cowardice is sometimes mistaken for moral heroism- but the two principles cannot animate the same mind nor flourish on parallel lines. The sagacity of the political trim- mer, who falls to windward at dangerous junctures, must not be mistaken for the wisdom of a statesman, whose highest and 49
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noblest province it is to mould and lead, and not to trot after public opinion, like the poodle after its patronizing mistress. During the senatorial career of Mr. Garland he stood higher in the estimation of northern republicans than any man on the democratic side of the senate. This popularity arose from two causes : first, his non-combativeness, misnamed conservatism when applied to those political junctures demanding positive and aggressive action, rather than the negation of silence ; secondly, it was the homage always paid to talents inde- pendent of the associations with which connected; that he is a fine lawyer, all competent to judge admit; but his talent in this direction has been over-estimated. In other words, his unrivaled command of tongue and temper enabled him to sit in the senate like a penitent at a baptizing, when politicians on the floor were working their batteries of sectional prejudice against the south. President Cleveland made him his attorney-general, and the appointment was hailed with sat- isfaction north and south, and was particularly gratifying to the pride of Arkansas; he was the first cabinet minister our State ever had, and his fame was nursed as its heritage. Up to that time no political cyclone had swept across his brilliant ca- reer since the affair at Appomattox sealed his commission as a Confederate States senator, but triumph, without the watchful stimulus of opposition, the plaudits of the multitude, the easy ascent to great elevation, crowned with gilded success in a golden age, at an unguarded hour overshadowed his proverbial caution, and led him to stake his fame as the banking capital of a moneyless corporation flaunting five millions of fictitious capital at its mast-head.
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