USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 2 > Part 27
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" Up above him, in the gallery, with arms folded proudly and gracefully, showing just one aristocratic hand in whose blue veius the rich blood coursed calmly in the tranquil flow of his high-bred composure, sat another figure.
" There was the air of the soldier about this man. His erect carriage, his easy and yet faultless dignity of dress and manner, the perfect grace of movement, the firm mouth and the strong lines of the handsome face, with the flashing eye, all proclaimed the old blooded Southerner, fine fibered and high-mettled as an Arab steed.
" He had the magnetism and dash of a born leader. *
" The man in the gallery was the rival of the man on the stage. The prize to be awarded on the morrow was sought by both, but the winner was already known.
" The patrician in the gallery, throned in the hearts of Georgia's chivalry, had reached out his white hands, and pointing to his bright record and his stainless charac- ter, had asked this splendid gift of the State. And she said to him, 'Nay !' with a pang at her heart.
" The plebeian on the stage, deified in the reason of the people, had pointed his thin, patient fingers to the pregnant future, which his 'judgment ' alone could utilize to their advantage, and said, 'I am one of you. Give me this!'
" And with utter faith they gave it to him.
" The people loved Lawton's purity and his shining character.
" They trusted Brown's sagacity and his wonderful management.
" There the two men sat, in the struggle for the best honor in the gift of the State. And I could not help thinking of the forces and ideas that were at stake in the contest between them. It was the last close struggle for supremacy between the spirit that ruled the old South and the spirit of the new South. The old South was a South of traditions, of sentiments, chivalric memories, of heroic impulses. The new South is a South of conservative tendencies, of practical ambitions, of democratic ideas."
604
SENATOR BROWN'S SERVICE.
The scene was certainly an impressive one, and the result it prefaced was invested with a vivid and philosophical interest. It is a pretty idea that contending forces of variant systems of civilization were involved. Perhaps they were to some extent. But there could be no better representatives of the best of the Old and New South, than either Gov. Brown or Gen. Lawton, while Gov. Colquitt and Gen. Gordon stood as striking types of the most cherished sentiments and practices of our ante-war civilization. The result had a two-fold significance. It was, to a considerable extent, personal in noting the restoration of public confidence to Gov. Brown as well as harvesting the fruits of the recent victory. And it demonstrated the determination of an honorable but practical people to conform to the new order of things to the fullest extent necessary for the public welfare.
The election of Joseph E. Brown to the United States Senate by a Legislature so representatively Democratic, over a competitor so for- midable, and who would have received the cordial support of the body under other circumstances; and after so full, free and searching a test of the issue on its merits, was as fair a triumph as has ever been won in the State. And it was a victory for both Gov. Colquitt and ex-Gov. Brown. The element of Gov. Brown's pre-eminent capacity for the great trust entered largely into this battle, and his career as a Senator in the session of Congress of 1880 and 1881 crowningly verified the anticipation of his usefulness. He had in the three brief weeks of his appointment in 1880 placed himself immediately among the foremost factors of the august body he entered. In the first lengthy session of his elective term he continued conspicuously and prominently his strong and valuable service. He made a number of speeches that seized the attention of the Senate and people. He steadily grew in influence and prestige. He became a recognized party leader. He made a strong speech upon the important subject of establishing an educational fund. His interest in the cause of free and liberal education has been earnest and unceasing. Perhaps the most effective speech that he made was on the " Peculiar Coincidence " in the determination of Senator Mahone of Virginia to support the Republican party in effecting an organiza- tion of the United States Senate.
That memorable contest is recent in memory. Senator Mahone, a Democrat, gave the Republicans a majority by his vote, and his friends Gorham and Riddleberger were nominated for Secretary and Sergeant at Arms by the Republican caucus. The contest between the Demo- crats and Republicans over the organization of the Senate continued
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605
HIGH OPINIONS OF SENATOR BROWN.
for weeks. The Democrats refused to go into the election of these officers after the committees had been organized. The Republicans refused to go into Executive session to transact the business requiring attention. Many of the Democrats were for yielding. It was Senator Brown who held them to the policy of resistance, a policy that finally succeeded and that gave new strength and courage to the somewhat demoralized Democratic party.
Senator Hill first uncovered the position of Senator Mahone, and Gov. Brown demonstrated the matter, and was fiercely assailed by Mahone, to whom he made a crushing reply. The matter illustrated that peculiar quality of successful leadership for which Gov. Brown has been so remarkable in his long and varied life. Senator Lamar said of him that " the ease, dignity and power with which he estab- lished himself as one of the leaders of the Senate was simply marvel- ous." Mr. Hill, his colleague, could not find words to express his esti- mate of Gov. Brown's "discretion, sagacity and inflexible patriotic sentiments." Senator Conkling said that he "looked to see Senator Brown one of the most notable men in the country." Senator McDonald of Indiana uttered this strong encomium:
" He is one of the most valuable additions made to the Democratic force in the senate for years. More than that, he is a senator whose influence will be felt all over the country. He seemed to recognize instantly upon coming into the senate that it was not a debating society, but strictly a practical business body. He therefore became at once a sensible, straightforward, sagacious worker, and won the confidence and esteem of both sides of the chamber. He can be a power for good in the practical questions that must be settled now that sentimental issues have died out."
These strong opinions from the highest sources will show how Sena- tor Brown impressed himself upon the strong brains. of the Senate. His political stature to-day cannot be estimated. He is in the very ripest maturity of his potential faculties, and has the largest possible arena for their exercise, a domain of distinction and usefulness com- mensurate to any man's abilities. He is fortified by his religious ante- cedents and connections, and his christian liberality is an undying monu- ment to the man. Mr. J. P. Harrison in his book of Baptist celebrities just published, thus speaks of his charities.
" Through life he has been a most liberal giver ; yet his charities have been so unos- tentatious that few if any are aware of their extent. Some of his donations have necessarily been public, and a few of them it may be well to mention.
" He contributed $800 to the building of the Sixth Baptist Church of Atlanta ; $1,000 to the Georgia Baptist Orphans' Home; $1,000 to Mercer University ; $500 to the Southern Baptist Convention ; $500 for an organ for the Second Baptist church of At-
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606
THE LEGISLATURE OF 1880-81.
lanta ; $3,000 for repairs and additions to the same church ; $500 (some years ago) to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and recently (1880) $50,000 to the same institution ; and last year he contributed $800 towards the payment of his pastor's salary. His smaller charities, from one hundred dollars, and downward, have been simply innumerable."
He holds a large variety of heavy trusts: President of the Western Atlantic Railroad Company, President of the Dade Coal Company, working 350 hands, President of the Walker Iron and Coal Company, working over 300 hands, and making 75 tons of iron per day, Presi- dent of the Southern Railway and Steamship Association, including the transportation companies interested in Southern traffic, Presi- dent of the Board of Education of Atlanta, etc. These large responsi- bilities practically testify to the versatile genius of this masterful character, and give augury, that in the near future we may expect alike in great business enterprises, and august political achievement that Senator Brown will enlarge his own fame and give luster to our State.
The Congressional election resulted in a fine corps of Representatives, viz .: George R. Black, Henry G. Turner, Philip Cook, Hugh Buchanan, N. J. Hammond, James H. Blount, Judson C. Clements, Alexander H. Stephens, Emory Speer. These gentlemen have been alluded to in this work. Col. Black has been identified for years in high place with the State Agricultural Society, and is a handsome, talented person, a ' fine specimen of our Southern gentlemen. Col. N. J. Hammond has been a member of the Constitutional Conventions of 1865 and 18:7, and Attorney General of the State, under Gov. Smith's administration, and is now serving his second term in Congress. He is one of the best equipped men we have in public life, with uncommon powers of intel- lect, information and eloquence. Somewhat of a cold and exclusive individual, with little popular warmth, he has, by sheer force of intellec- tual power and available public capacity, clutched high trust. He is a marked character, strong and brilliant, and his future is one of large promise.
The Legislature of 1880 and 1881, elected Col. James S. Boynton President of the Senate, and Hon. A. O. Bacon, Speaker of the House. Col. Boynton is a tall, stately, dignified gentleman of sterling ability, the very highest possible character, and of most agreeable manners. He has made an admirable presiding officer, and both he and Mr. Bacon are prominently spoken of for Governor. Among the more experienced members, who have been mentioned before, we find in the Senate, A. C. Westbrook, R. L. Mc Whorter, Wm. B. Butt, H. D. McDaniel, W. P.
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607
THE PERSONELLE OF THE LEGISLATURE.
Price, J. M. Wilson, S. M. H. Byrd, B. C. Duggar, R. T. Fouche and A. T. Hackett. In the House of the better-known legislators were: P. Barrow, W. S. Basinger, J. B. Estes, L. F. Garrard, A. H. Gray, W. M. Hammond, A. L. Miller, N. L. Hutchins, T. W. Milner, W. J. Northern, E. A. Perkins, J. H. Polhill, W. R. Rankin, M. P. Reese, H. M. Sapp, J. L. Singleton, J. M. Smith, H. D. D. Twiggs, P. B. Whittle, W. M. Willingham, C. T. Zachry.
Mr. Pope Barrow has been a most useful member with an unusual capacity for legislative work, and a happy vigor and courtesy in dis- cussion. Col. W. S. Basinger is one of the most original and intellec- tual members, a gentleman of thought, conviction and culture. Judge H. D. D. Twiggs has taken a high prominence, a fluent, ornate and eloquent speaker. He had graced the Bench, and he was equally and conspicuously at home in the legislative halls. The other gentlemen have been sketched in this volume. This legislative body has been unusually rich, in bright young men, just entering public life.
Hon. P. W. Meldrim, in the Senate, has made a brilliant reputation. Representing the critical constituency of the 1st District, including Savannah, a handsome, thorough-bred looking gentleman, with a pecul- iarly silvery elocution, he has at once become a legislative leader. Dr. R. B. Harris, E. P. S. Denmark, A. L. Hawes, James G. Parks, Du Pont Guerry, S. G. Jordan, John S. Reid, W. J. Winn, B. F. Payne, are new men. These are all promising young Senators. Among the* young Representatives are F. G. Du Bignon, a classic young gentleman, making gems of exquisite speeches, and carrying important measures affecting his constituents with a wonderful success; J. C. Branson, Reese Crawford, son of Martin J. Crawford, W. C. Carter, J. M. Dupree, E. F. Du Pree, F. C. Foster, Henry Hillyer, J. J. Hunt; Davenport Jackson, son of Gen. Henry R. Jackson; H. C. Jones, J. J. Kimsey; Lucius M. Lamar, Colonel of the famous 8th Georgia Regiment, in the war, and ripe now for congressional honors; T. W. Lamb, Edwin Martin, J. H. Martin; S. W. Mays, of Richmond, a brilliant young lawyer; W. H. Patterson, W. A. Post, W. W. Price, F. P. Rice, H. C. Roney, L. L. Stanford, Dr. C. M. Summerlin, J. L. Sweat, W. B. Wingfield, W. C. Winslow; Seaborn Wright, a rare young orator, gifted by inherit- ance with eloquence from his silver-tongued father, Judge Aug. R. Wright. Mr. J. T. Youngblood and U. B. Wilkinson must not be omitted from the valuable new members, though not young men.
The work of this body has not been very valuable, while it has illus- trated the impolicy of biennial sessions and the impracticability of the
608
GOVERNOR COLQUITT'S AIDS.
laws on local legislation. This legislature has been singularly illiberal in many respects, and yet it has expended nearly a quarter million of dollars beyond the State expenses. It refused to begin the construc- tion of a much-needed new capitol; it declined to even make a bid upon some valuable colonial records of the State, on sale in England; it killed a general temperance law; it left the railroad commission law practically unchanged; it voted $165,000 to enlarge the lunatic asylum; it authorized the expenditure of $18,000 for a new revision of the code made by Geo. N. Lester, W. B. Hill, and it has improved the convict laws without any radical changes.
It elected as Judges of the Superior Court the following gentle- men: William O. Fleming, George Hillyer, James R. Brown, James T. · Willis, J. C. Fain, F. M. Longley, S. W. Harris, William B. Fleming, · John D. Stewart, R. W. Carswell, E. H. Pottle and C. F. Crisp. A new judicial circuit has been created, the North Eastern, and Hon. C. J. Wellborn elected the Judge. During Gov. Colquitt's administration the following Aids were appointed on his staff: Col. B. B. Ferrill, of Savannah, a pleasant and public-spirited young gentleman, of one of the old families of that city, and Col. W. D. Mann of Albany; and recently Lt. Col. J. H. Estill, the proprietor of the Savannah News, one of the first citizens of Georgia, Lt. Col. L. C. Jones, of Atlanta, and Lt. Col. T. W. H. Harris, of Rome. Of Col. John B. Baird, who, under " the new law, was appointed by the Governor Adjutant General of the State, with the rank of Colonel, the convention of military officers that met in July, 1880, in Rome, passed the following complimentary reso- lution in appreciation of his services in this department, the resolution being offered by Lt. Col. Magruder:
"Whereas, Col. John B. Baird accepted appointment as Adjutant General of Georgia, and has zealously and laboriously discharged the duties of that office without compen- sation-
" Resolved, That in behalf of the Georgia Volunteers we do hereby express our high appreciation of the valuable and gratuitous services thus rendered, and we commend him as a faithful and efficient officer."
CHAPTER LI.
THE JOURNALISM AND LITERATURE OF GEORGIA.
A fine Endowment of Press Writers .- The Daily Journals .- A Strong Array of Papers. -Gifted Editors .- Newspapers running back to the Revolution nearly .- The Weekly Journals .- The Religious Press .- The Literary Periodicals .- A Heavy Corps of News and Political Weeklies, Original, Independent and Progressive .- A Galaxy of Bright Thinkers and Writers .- A Steady Growth of a Vigorous Journalism .- Model Editors .- Georgia's Picturesque Literature .- The very Home of the Nation's Humor .- An Unequaled Quintette of Humorists of wide Repute .- Our Historians and Biographers .- Men known to the World .- A Glittering Endow- ment of Poets of National Fame .- Our Novelists and Miscellaneous Writers.
TAKE them all in all, Georgia has as bright, independent and gifted journalists, and as newsy and vigorous a batch of papers as any State in the Union. Our press typify admirably the sturdy and self-asserting character of our people, and blend a sparkling vivacity with resolute conviction and an admitted ability. It is a matter of undeniable fact that there have been in the past, and are to-day, more notable and brill- iant men that have illustrated and adorned our journalism than any State North, East, West or South. There is now a larger endowment of superior press writers connected with the papers of this common- wealth than any other can show. We have men that can be pitted against any workers on the continent, witty, tasteful, scholarly, discrim- inating, masterful spirits of the pen-whose labor finds a ready market in the metropolitan papers of largest circulation, and the most critical magazines of the times.
Our ablest statesmen, orators, jurists and business men have been many of them connected with our State press. Some of the most pow- erful names among our people have vivified and given it honor,-among them Alex. H. Stephens, Gen. A. R. Wright, Judge Cincinnatus Pee- ples, ex-Gov. H. V. Johnson, Gen. Mirabeau B. Lamar, Col. . James Gardner, Gen. Henry R. Jackson, H. W. Hilliard, Samuel Barnett, P. W. Alexander, Gen. Wm. M. Browne, Dr. H. V. M. Miller, Albert R. Lamar, and others. At the present time, as has been stated, we have a superb array of known and gifted writers, whose utterances are quoted over the whole country, and make Georgia a marked State in its able and progressive journalism.
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610
THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE AND CONSTITUTIONALIST.
Of the daily press of the State, we can point to Walsh and Randa !! of the Augusta Chronicle, Moore of the Augusta News, Howell, Finch. Grady and Harris of the Atlanta Constitution, Clisby and Reese of the Macon Telegraph, Thompson and Richardson of the Savannah News. King of the Columbus Enquirer-Sun, and De Wolf of the Columbus Times, while H. H. Jones, J. H. Martin and S. W. Small (" Old Si.") still browsing in daily newspaperdom, though not editing, are still ree- ognized powers of the press. Dr. H. H. Tucker of the Index, Rev. Atticus G. Haygood of the Advocate, and Mrs. Mary E. Bryan of the Sunny South, are among our recognized paper celebrities.
The daily press of Georgia is able, enterprising, independent and financially strong. It has a high reputation abroad. Several of them are among the oldest journals in the country, running back almost to the Revolution, and enjoying the distinction of having been established and edited by very illustrious men. The oldest living paper is the Augusta Chronicle and Constitutionalist, representing two old jour- nals, the Chronicle having been founded in 1785, and the Constitution- alist in 1799. A history of this powerful consolidation of venerable papers would pretty nearly furnish the chronicles of Georgia for three- quarters of a century. Mr. William Smythe was not the editor of the Chronicle and Sentinel in 1858, as stated in page 79 of this volume, but James M. Jones was chief editor then. In 1846-47, James M. Smythe, father of W'm. W. Smythe, was assistant editor. The contro- versies in 1850 between the Chronicle and Sentinel and Wm. W. Smythe, resulted in a duel between Tom Thomas and Smythe, in which the latter, at the third fire was shot in both thighs. In 1839, Mr. Jones employed Mr. V. M. Barnes to aid in editing the Chronicle, which he did with vigor and ability, and in 1860 and 1861, Mr. Barnes was chief editor. In 1863, Mr. Barnes edited the Constitutionalist, and was a member of the Constitutional convention of 1865. The Consti- tutionalist, under James Gardner, from 1850 to 1860, was the most - potential political paper we have ever had in Georgia, and Gardner would have been Governor on the strength of his editorial power but for an early indiscretion. The two Wrights, father and son, Ambrose R., better known as " Ranse," and Gregg, were two brilliant writers. The younger, H. G. Wright, was a witty and felicitous paragrapher, capable of heavy work, and yet with a singularly happy fund of keen, hearty humor. Its present management is exceedingly able and bright. Patrick Walsh, James R. Randall, and a sprightly young writer, Pleas- ant Stovall, conduct it. Walsh has fine chances to realize Gardner's
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H. G. WRIGHT.
JAS. R. RANDALL.
JAMES GARDNER.
AUGUSTA "CHRONICLE."
Z
GEN. AMBROSE R. WRIGHT.
HENRY C. MOORE.
HON. PATRICK WALSH.
AND "CONSTITUTIONALIST."
611
THE COLUMBUS ENQUIRER-SUN, AND ATHENS BANNER.
baffled hope of filling the Executive chair of Georgia, and giving to his paper the glittering distinction it so closely escaped a quarter of a cen- tury ago, of furnishing the State a Chief Magistrate. Randall is perhaps the most scholarly and versatile writer we have on the Georgia press.
The next paper in seniority is the Columbus Enquirer-Sun, which was established as the Enquirer in 1828, by Mirabeau B. Lamar, who afterwards became so famous as the first President of the Republic of Texas. Gen. Lamar ran the paper until 1830, when he was succeeded by Hon. Henry W. Hilliard, recent United States minister to Brazil, who edited it for a year. Gen. Lamar resumed control, in 1834, for a while. S. M. Flournoy was editor, through various changes of proprie- torship, from 1834 to 1857, when he died. Mr. Thomas Ragland was sole and senior proprietor from 1843 to 1873. Mr. Flournoy was a vig- orous writer and ardent whig. John H. Martin was editor from 1858 to 1876, of whom we have spoken elsewhere. The sons of Mr. Rag- land, in 1874, sold the paper to Mr. A. R. Calhoun of Philadelphia, who ran it until 1876. Mr. Calhoun made things lively. He cut about at men and measures in a manner somewhat unusual to our quiet news- paper experiences, and kept in an incessant turmoil of editorial and personal conflict. In 1875 he bought out the Sun, and adopted the present name of the " Enquirer-Sun." Major W. L. Salisbury bought out Mr. Calhoun, and conducted the paper, with Mr. J. G. De Votie as editor. Major Salisbury was assassinated in 1878. Mr. John King, the present proprietor, bought the paper soon after. Mr. De Votie contin- ued as editor until his death, in April, 1881, when Mr. King assumed editorial as well as business management. The paper is a model of typographical beauty, and one of the progressive journals of the South. It was made a daily in 1858. Under the enterprising and able manage- ment of Mr. King, it wields a powerful influence.
The Athens Banner, made a daily in 1879, by Dr. H. H. Carlton, and now owned and edited by that very high type of our best Georgia journalism, J. T. Waterman, runs back to 1816. Athens took early to the press. The first paper was brought in a wagon from Philadelphia, by Rev. John Hodge, a Presbyterian minister. It lived but a short time. A little sheet was published by Samuel Wright Minor, who was the first editor that hoisted the name of Gen. Jackson for Presi- dent. Jackson remembered him by making him printer of the laws of the United States, though Minor had removed to Fayetteville, Fayette Co., Georgia. The Southern Banner was published and edited by
612
THE SAVANNAH NEWS.
Albion Chase and Alfred Nesbit, and was the only Democratic paper in that part of the State. Alfred Nesbit went to Milledgeville and took charge of a paper started by John A. Cuthbert, afterwards United States Senator from Georgia. Col. Hopkins Holsey, Mr. James Sledge, Mr. S. A. Atkinson, Messrs. T. W. and T. L. Gantt, Dr. H. H. Carlton and Messrs. Chapman and Ingraham, in succession, owned the Banner. Mr. Waterman bought it in September, 1880. Mr. Waterman is one of the really independent and original members of the Georgia press. Hc is a trenchant and a cultured writer, fearless, honest and immovable in his convictions, a keen, witty paragraphist, and with a modesty that runs to shyness in his manners.
The Savannah News was established in 1850, on the 15th day of Jan- uary, by John M. Cooper, publisher, and Wm. T .. Thompson, editor. Savannah has had a number of papers that have had an honorable career, the Georgia Gazette, founded by James Johnson, in 1763, and suspended in 1799; the Savannah Republican, by John F. Everett, in 1802, and running for seventy years, covering twenty-four changes of management and including P. W. Alexander and J. R. Sneed among its conductors; the Savannah Georgian, in 1818, by Dr. John Harney, living to 1859, and numbering those two bright men among its editors, Gen. Henry R. Jackson in 1849, andAlbert R. Lamar; the Evening Journal, in 1852, by J. B. Cubbege, and Advertiser in 1865. The Savannah News was started as a cheap business daily, its price being four dollars a year. The paper has had a number of changes of proprietorship, but through them all Col. Thompson has been the editor for the thirty-one years of its varied and influential existence, except from the fall of Savannah in December, 1864, to August, 1865, when Mr. S. W. Mason ran the paper as the Savannah Herald, a little war affair. Col. Thompson was propri- etor from 1855 to 1858. T. Blois and Aaron Wilbur have been among the proprietors. Col. J. H. Estill became proprietor in July, 1867, and under his business management and the capable editorship of Col. Thompson, the News has become one of our most powerful representa- tive Southern journals, financially successful, boldly enterprising, inde- pendent, dignified, and potentially influential. It is a model of typo- graphical beauty and taste. Col. Estill is destined for large things. No man can tell where he will bring up. He has a cool sense, a clear judgment, and a firm nerve that are the components of a strong indi- viduality. He handles everything well. His executive ability is very marked. Whatever he touches, prospers. He owns a street railroad. He has erected one of the finest buildings in the State for his paper.
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