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The Gainesville Eagle.
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UY J. K. RK D WIN K.
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EDITORIAL EAGLETS.
“The man on horseback” will here
after go on foot.
And now the £>herman men accuse
Garfield of selling them out at Chi
cago.
Gen. Garfield and Judge Field are
both graduates of Williams College
Massachusetts.
One of the prominent citisens of
Gainesville is a first cousin of Mrs.
General Garfield.
<*-
Grant as the Democratic candidate
is the latest suggestion of some
visionary politicians.
* .
The democracy scored a victory in
the defeat of Grant and third term
ism by the Chicago convention.
—♦
Senator Ferry received a genteel
Hogging the other day by the father
of a young lady whom he had grossly
insulted.
’ r The Seaport Appeal classes those
who are loudest in their denuncia
tion of Senator Brown, as ‘‘spring
chicken politicians.”
Four years ago Blaine received on
the first ballot for the presidential
nomination 285 votes. This year he
received 284, a joss of one.
At this writing Judge Field and
Senator Bayard seem to be the most
* prominent candidates for the demo
cratic nomination at Cincinnati.
It is insisted by some of the dele
gates to Chicago that Mr. Garfields
nomination was an accident. That
is they didn’t go to do it.
On Friday of last week Senator
Hill and Senators Hampton and
Butler became involved in a hot per
sonal controversy over the Kellogg
resolutions.
i ♦ ♦
The latest ocean horror is the
collision between two steamers, Nar
ragansett and Stonington, near New
York in Long Island sound, by which
the latter vessel was sunk and about
fifty lives lost.
Gen. Chester A. Arthur, the re
publican nominee for vice-president,
is in his fiftieth year, and during the
war was quartermaster-general of
the State of New York, with head
quarters at Albany.
Grants supporters in the Chicago
convention stuck to the bitter end.
On the thirty-sixth and final ballot
the vote stood, Garfield 399, Grant
316, Blaine 42, Washburne 5, Sher
man 3. Grants lowest vote was 304
and highest 306.
The Grant leaders now assert that
Grant is repulsed—not defeated; and
he no more doubts his election to the
Presidency in 1884, if he lives, than
he doubted his conquest of Richmond
when his lines recoiled in bloody con
fusion from Cold Harbor.
Senator Brown seems determined
to make the most of the present
session. Every day he has engaged
in discussion of public matters with
the most experienced and able of
Senators, and his voice has uttered
no uncertain sound.— Augusta Chroni
cle and Constitutionalist.
Those who are so terribly shocked
at the appointment of ex-Gov. Brown
to the United States Senate may as
well take it easy, for the great body
of the people will at the proper
time ratify and endorse it in language
not to be misunderstood, or miscon
strued, and don’t you forget it.
The New York Sun congratulates
the Republican party upon escaping
a nomination of Gen. Grant for the
Presidency, even at the cost of pre
' ferring a candidate whom it styles,
“a perjurer and a suborner of per
jury.’’ The allusion is to the alleged
complicity of Gen. Garfield with the
Credit Mobilier corruptions, and to
the De-Golyer paving contracts in
the city of Washington during the
reign of “Boss Shepherds Ring.”
The few politicians and their im
mediate followers, who are so
vehement in their opposition to Gov.
Colquitt, and who prate so vocifer
ously of rings, and trades, omit to
tell the people that at this time
Georgia’s credit is higher than ever
before in the history of the State, and
that the peoples taxes are now nearly
one third lower than they have been
since the war. These are stern facts
which will not “down at fancy’s
bidding.”
An analysis of the balloting at
Chicago shows that Grant received
an average of about 177 votes from
the Southern Democratic States, 52
from the Northern Democratic States,
and 70 from the Republican States;
Blaine 35 from the Southern Demo
cratic States, 62 from the Northern
Democratic States and 182 from the
Republican States, and Sherman 47
from the Southern States, and 9 from
the Northern Democratic States and
40 from the Republican States.
The Gainesville Eagle
VOL. XIV.
GORDON’B_TRIUMPH.
HE SPEAKS IN JUSTIFICA
TION OF HIS RESIGNATION.
He Indignantly Refutes All the Charges
of Bargain and Sale Made in Connec
tion With His Resignation From the
Senate—An Enthusiastic Audience.
IFrtyn Atlanta Constitution.]
GENERAL GORDONS SPEECH.
My Fellqw-Citizens—You are my
witnesses that so long as I was in
public office I was free from that
pardonable vice of egotism so com
mon to public men. You are my
witnesses that so long as I was a
candidate for your suffrages, I ab
stained from all allusions to my rec
ord as arguments for support. Now,
however, since I have surrendered
my commission with which you en
trusted me, and have come to give
an account of my stewardship, and
in view of recent occurrences, some
allusion to my record may be made
without any violation of propriety or
good taste. Before I was thirty
years of age the war came. It found
me in your mountains engaged in
prosperous private pursuits, with a
devoted wife and two children to
make my home happy. Hitherto I
had turned my back on all offers of
political preferment, and these had
not been wanting, but when the toc
sin pf war sounded I felt that the
time had come for me to turn my
back, also upon home and private
interests. Summoning around me a
body of hardy mountaineers, I or
ganized them into a company and
tendered their services to the con
federate government. From that
time until the last echo of the last
drum beat at Appomattox, I endured
with your sons and kindred the pri
vation of the camp, the fatigues of
the march, the loneliness of the pick
et and the dangers of battle. [Ap
plause.] At the close of the war I
found myself with enough of the
confidence of Lee [cheers ] to be en
trusted with the command of one
wing of that grand army, and I be
lieve I may challenge your apprecia
tion of the truth that when our
standards were furled and my sword
sheathed I had not only the confi
dence, esteem and affection of that
grandest of living or dead captains,
but the confidence, affection and
esteem of every officer and soldier
who had followed the red cross of
the confederacy to battle! [Ap
plause]
After the war I repaired to some
extent my shattered fortune, when
you generously called me to become
your candidate for governor, and
then to the exalted political station
from which I have of my own choice
just retired. I will not attempt a
detailed account of my votes or ac
tions during my services in the sen
ate I may say generally, however,
that I have endeavored, in season
and out of season, to subserve your
interests in that arena also. [Ap
plause.) If I was willing to give
my life in battle to secure your
rights and your independence out of
the union, I was no less ready, sure
ly, to consecrate all the powers which
God had given me in order to secure
your equality, peace, prosperity and
freedom within that union. [Re
newed applause.]
When I entered upon my duties
in the senate, I found many of our
sister Southern States in chains; a
dominant majority pouring its vials
of wrath day by day upon the heads
of this devoted people. It was my
fortune to meet its leaders in de
bate, to mingle in exciting scenes
and the .furious passions of those
perilous times; and I have now the
proud satisfaction of pointing you to
the fact that no word or act of mine
has ever been quoted by political
foes to your detriment! [lmmense
applause.] In South Carolina, in
Alabama, in Mississippi, all over the
South, at the North, in the east and
west, have I spoken in your defense.
Every insult that was offered you by
your foes has been met and replied to
by me wherever it was uttered; and
yet I think I may say that I retire
from that scene of conflict possessing
not only the confidence and esteem
of my democratic associates, but
with the respect and confidence of
my republican foes! [Applause.]
And if the press of this country is to
be believed; if telegrams and private
letters are to be regarded as testi
mony, I can point you also to the
fact that I return to my home
and the walks of a private citizen
possessing the good will of all my
countrymen of every political party
in every section of our common coun
try. [Great applause.]
My countrymen, I am proud of
your confidence—more proud of it
than of any other portion of the
legacy that I shall leave to my chil
dren; but I am obliged, in this con
nection, to make one observation:
That it is a little marvelous that
during all these years of service, of
devotion to your it tercets, of toil
and of anxious watching and work
ing, there have been a few men in
Georgia—only a few thank God!—
who have never seen one virtue in
my purest motives nor one merit in
my best actions! [Cheers.] Even
now these men pursue me to private
life. lam not amazed at it; lam
not angry at it; but for them I have
nothjng but a feeling of pity, not
unmingled with contempt. [Cheers
and laughter.] They are not satis
fied with my reasons for retiring
from public life, and seek others than
those I, myself, have given over my
own signature to the governor in my
letter of resignation. One says that
I resigned to be
A CANDIDATE FOR VICE-PRESIDENT !
First, on the Grant ticket; second,
on the Tilden ticket, and third, on
any ticket! [Laughter.] Now, it is
said that confession is good for the
soul, and lam going to make a con
fession. I am a candidate for vice
president. But not on the Grant
ticket, not on the Tilden ticket, not
on any political ticket, but on Mrs.
Gordon’s ticket!' [Great laughter
and cheers.] And the senate over
which I trust God in His mercy will
permit me to preside for long years
to come is composed of big and little
Gordons and assembled out here at
Kirkwood ! [Renewed applause and
laughter. |
THE KELLOGG CASE.
Others have said: “Oh, no; he did
not resign to be vice-president. He
resigned because he was afraid to
vote on the Kellogg case.” You have
seen it charged. Dodging! Well, I
do not know that I have been in the
habit of dodging more than other
men, at least since the shells ceased
to fly around me. [Applause.]
“Dodging the Kellogg case!” I was
in favor of my entire party dodging
that case. I agreed with some of the
oldest and wisest leaders of the party
that it would be bettter to dodge
that case and leave it where the law
left it, and leave the responsibility
for the wrong on the majority that
committed it; but I never had any
idea of dodging a vote when it came
up. And if it is any comfort to the
few men in Georgia who are my
enemies, I am ready to tell them how
I would have voted had I remained in
the senate. I did not agree with my
colleague and other able democrats,
but I did agree with such men as
Allen G: Thurman, George H. Pen
dleton, Thomas F. Bayard, Lucius
Lamar, Wade Hampton, and Butler,
of South Carolina; Pinckney Whyte
and Groom, of Maryland; Jones, of
Florida, and others, who are per
haps as towering democrats as sit in
that body or ever sat around the
council boards of the republic.
[Great applause.]
Ido not propose to criticise any
one who differed with me, but I am
showing you that I was in pretty
good company, and that there was
not much necessity for my dodging.
I should have voted against unseat
ing Kellog, not because I believe he
was elected, for Ido not so believe;
not because the body which claimed
to have elected him, or the persons
who commissioned him, were the
lawfully elected legislature and ex
ecutive of Louisiana, for I do not
believe that. Nor would I have giv
en that vote because I believe that
the judgment of the senate seating
Kellogg was a righteous judgment,
for lam profoundly convinced that
history will pronounce the verdict
that it was a most unrighteous judg
ment. Nor would I have given that
vote because of any diminition of
interest in the welfare of Louisiana,
for every throb of my being has been
one of unspeakable sympathy with
the sufferings of that down-trodden
people. Nor would I have given
that vote because of any abatement
of my ahorrence of that caricature of
government which conceived in pas
sion, born in revolution and baptized
in fraud, was set up by bayonets over
an unwilling people and has made
the name of Louisiana the synonym
of a great historic unparalleled po
litical crime ! [Great applause.]
On all those pointe I was in accord
with the democrats of every shade
of opinion; but I should have voted
against the resolution unseating him:
because I do not believe he could bo
lawfully unseated. I would not con
vict a murderer unless he could be
lawfully convicted. [Applause.] I
could not give that vote to unseat
him, because to thus right Louisi
ana’s wrongs would be, in my judg
ment, to inflict an infinitely greater
wrong on the Constitution and laws
of the land on which the rights of
Louisiana and all her sister States
must rest. [Applause.] I could not
give that vote, because to give it one
thing is certain. I should have to
strike down a time-honored prece
dent, old as the constitution itself,
inviolate and never infringed from
the foundation of the government to
this hour. With my views of the
methods by which the liberties of
this people are to be preserved under
the forms of a republican govern
ment, I would suffer any condemna
tion, before I would give a vote to
strike down any of the muniments
of Jaw which in our situation as a
minority of the people in this coun
try are the sheet anchor of our safe
ty; or before I would set a precedent
which would authorize political ma
jorities with their unbridled wills to
settle great questions of the .rights of
GAINESVILLE, GA., FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 18, 1880.
States, communities and people.
Now, ihy countrymen, lam not go
ing into any discussion of the points
in the Kellogg case or of the laws
bearing upon it. But I have said
this much that these gentlemen who
feel such an interest in my reputa
tion may understand that they may
not be unhappy any longer. I didutU,.
dodge the Kellogg case.
THE REASON OF REASONS.
But I come now to the reason of
reasons for my resignation. “Bajjrj
gain! ‘Corrupt trade!” Weil, say
countrymen, if my life, if my charac
ter, if my record as it stands " now
completed, in war and in peace, in
public and private, does not answer
that, it will go unanswered forever,
so far as lam concerned. [lmmense
cheering ] I answer, however, for
Governor Colquitt.
But for this most inexcusable as
sault upon him, my voice would not
have been heard in this campaign.
While lam no longer in public sta
tion, I have not abdicated my posi
tion as private citizen, and Ido not
intend that my friend shall suffer
this wrong as long as my voice may
be in any degree potential with the
people of Georgia. I propose, there
fore, to answer, not for myself, but
in the cause of truth and justice.
And in answering, I shall adduce
proofs so overwhelming as to cause
the flush of indignation to glow upon
the cheeks of every honest man in
Georgia.
They did not understand how it
was possible for any man to make
up his mind willingly to lay down
an office, to obtain which they would
have labored a life time. Strangers
to the passion of pure patriotism,
they do not suppose any other man
possesses; [applause] and they are
perfectly unable to comprehend how
any man could hold an exalted office
for the purposes for which the gov
ernment created it, and then lay
down that office when the groat
of good government have been se
cured through it. Such men would
have been astounded that George
Washington should prefer his country
home on the banks of the Potomac
to the crown tendered him by a
grateful people, and would have
sought to find some corrupt ipotive
moving him thereto. They
understand how Gordon could* have
quit the senate witji five
him, and as they are very compli
mentary to say now—“for a life time
if he wanted it”—unless moved by
wicked motive. My countrymen,
you will pardon the assertion, but if
they had followed me during the
war they would have found me capa
ble of doing a good many things
which they would not do ! [Great
applause.] If they had set by my bed
side in 1862, with two balls through
my right leg, a third having shivered
my right arm, a fourth through my
shoulder and a fifth through my
cheek and jaw, and had seen me in
that fix refuse a call from my Ala
bama people in the district in which
I then resided to become a candidate
for the confederate congress, which
would have given me more money,
greater comfort and somewhat less
of danger [applause,] do you think
such men could understand why
Gordon should calmly lie there
awaiting strength to remount his
horse and return to the field, instead
of going to congress? [Cheer's.]
Now, my countrymen, I know you
will believe me when I say I refer to
these facts in no spirit of vain boast
ing nor for popularity; for I ask
nothing of this people save the con
sideration due an ex-soldier, a pri
vate citizen and an honest man.
[Applause.] I refer to this fact only
t > press the question upon these
self-righteous men, whether they
think that such a man is made of the
stuff to barter and dicker away his
honor for any man, or any money, or
any power beneath the stars ? [Great
applause.]
A STRAIGHTFORWARD ANSWER.
I repeat that in answering these
men I shall „so utterly overwhelm
them as to bring the flush of indig
nation to the cheek of every proud
and fair-minded man in Georgia.
[Cheers,] Eager in the wild hunt
after Colquitt, they thought they had
chased the fox to his hole! The se
quel will tell whether they have
rushed into a mare’s nest or a den of
lions! [Cheers.]
I come now to the second fact,
which had excited adverse criticism,
viz: the appointment of a man who
has done much to provoke hostility
and resentment among Georgians.
The sentiment of a large portion of
our people was naturally opposed to
such an appointment, and they gave
expression to this opposition without
waiting to know the reasons which
controlled the governor or the ulte
rior effects upon the future of our
party or the country. Many of these
men were guided by the highest im
pulses known to our manhood. The
bitter opponents of Gov. Colquitt
took advantage of this sentiment to
strike him down. An instant appeal
was made to the prejudice and pas
sions and sentiment of the people.
They said, “Aha, wo have him now!”
They sent telegrams flying over the
country, held indignation mte’ings,
unbarred the m gazines cf their
wrath, and tir.d at him the red hot
shot of their malice and detraction,
until they thought they had slaugh
tered him.
“but he lives!”
[Cheers.] He still lives, my coun
trymen!— [Renewed cheers.] The
hero of Ocean Pond, of Olustee, still
lives, and from every drop of blood
drawn from the veins of Alfred
Colquitt in such an unholy warfare
there will spring a champion of his
cause, panoplied in the armor of
truth, valiant, bold and invincible!
[Continued cheering and great ap
plause.] Why, they forgot that
Alfred Colquitt bad the confidence
and love and affections of the people
who had known him from his youth
up. They forgot that there was such
a thing as sober second thought with
the people. They forgot that the
people love justice, and that justice
had her seat in the clear, calm atmos
phere of reason, and not in the
murky clouds and dust of partisan
passion! [Cheers.] Now, every
body knows that I am not the cham
pion of Gov. Brown; but I am the
friend of Alfred Colquitt and of the
Democratic party, and I would be an
ingrate io both, as I shall presently
show, if I should refuse to expose the
wrong which is being done to both
my friend and the party by these un
warranted assaults. I have known
Gov. Colquitt almost from my boy
hood I know the secret impulses
of heart and brain which guide all
his actions, and I do know that no
executive was ever moved by higher,
more unselfish or patriotic considera
tions than was Gov. Colquitt in mak
ing this appointment. I repeat that
but for these ungenerous, unjust, un
holy assaults upon his fidelity and
his honor, my voice would not have
been heard in this campaign; but as
I shall presently show I had, by my
refusal to accede to bis earnest and
repeated requests to withdraw my
resignation, forced upon him the
necessity of making an appointment
to fill the vacancy. lam not guided,
therefore, as some might imagine,
simply by a chivalric devotion to my
friend in thus coming before the
public, but by a grave sense of public
duty—duty to him and to the party
which has honored me far beyond
my deserts. I wish to rutllirk in
this connection that private citizen as
I am, that my pen shall not be stajed
nor my voice silenced wherever truth,
or honor, or justice, shall demand
their services. [Loud and prolonged
applause.] Let us place ourselves in
Governor Colquitt’s place, and laying
aside all passion, see what our cool
judgment would dictate. [Laughter
and applause.] Let me premise
what I am about to say by the remark
that while, as a matter of sentiment,
most of us would have preferred some
other Georgian, yet there are thou
sands in and out of the State who are
beginning to agree with that greatsst
of living Generals, Joseph E John
ston, that Joseph E. Brown was the
very best selection that could have
been made under all the circum
stances surrounding our present and
the momentous issues involved in our
political contests for the future.
There are great men and true men
now in high places of responsibility,
who believe that the time had come
in the South when the integrity of our
society, the security of our property
and the supremacy of our political
principles required that we should so
liberalize our policy as to extend the
olive branch to all men now in accord
with our principles, although they
had differed from us in the transition
stage succeeding the war as to public
policy. They saw in Governor Brown
the most distinguished representative
of that class of citizens in the entire
South. They saw in him a man of
intellect, of long experience, of dis
tinguished services in the ante bellum
history of the State. A man of large
property deeply interested in the
material progress of the country and
in stable government—a life long
Democrat, who although denounced
by us for voting for Grant and recon
struction in 1868, was joined by us
in voting for Greeley and reconstruc
tion in 1872. [Applause.] This is,
I say, what other men, able and
true, saw in this appointment. What
did Gov. Colquitt see to guide him to
a conclusion which his enemies now
seek to use to his detriment. If he
will permit it. I will publish his letter
informing me of Governor Brown’s
appointment and of the results he
expected to be produced upon him
self, the party and the country. He
saw the two strongest Democratic
Districts in the State lost to the Dem
ocratic party. He saw in a third the
same fate seriously threatened. He
saw in a fourth Hammond, able and
eloquent, elected after a most labori
ous struggle. He saw the party,
upon whose supremacy seems to de
pend all that is valuable to us as a
people, apparently on the verge of
dissolution. He saw the friends and
life-long followers of Governor Brown
among the hardy yeomenry of the
mountains dissatisfied and ready to
break with the organization; and he
felt that he might thus recall them to
their allegiance, recapture these Dem
ocratic strong holds, harmonize for
mer differences, assuage bitterness
and assure the future of Democratic
supremacy. I wish to repeat here
that everybody knows that I am not
the champion of Governor Brown,
but it is due our manhood that we
either cease hostility to Governor
Brown or cease to ask his time and
talents and money for the benefits cf
our party. It is due to truth to state
that Governor Brown-has been un
faltering in his fidelity to the Demo
cratic party for ten or twelve years;
that he was the supporter of Milton
Smith, of Alfred Colquitt and of my
self in my last race for the Senate,
even against his life-long friend—that
upright jurist and great statesman,
Herschel V. Johnson. It would be
unworthy in me were I io fail, in this
public manner, to testify to the earn
est, unswerving, potential aid given
in the last campaigns to myself and
to the standard-bearers of the puny
in those hotly contested mountain
districts. [Applause,] In thus speak
ing at some length upon the purposes
of Governor Colquitt in making this
appointment, I have done him but
simple justice,. If 1 know myself I
speak in the cause of truth, of haimo
ny, of Democratic unity. [Applause.]
One thing is certain, that while others
high in position were apologizing for
or defending Grant, while he drove
the cold iron into the breast of
Louisiana, Governor Brown was de
nouncing this act of tyranny. [Ap
plause and cries of “that’s so.”]
And now, my countrymen,you have
this whole question before you. What
are you to do about it? Am I who
know the facts, and jou who have
heard the facts, to stand coldly by and
see Colquitt stricken down for this
act? Are you to sit still, am Ito be
silent while this uptight man, this
brave soldier, this able executive and
stainless Christian is hounded by de
traction, blackened by defamation
and robbed of the chaplet of untarn
ished honor with which his grateful
countrymen have crowned him, and
which the God of humanity has
stamped upon his brow. [Loud and
prolonged cheers, interrupting the
speaker for some time, and cries of
“no, never!”]
I come now, my fellow-citizens, to
the last act in the drama by which
“the Pretoriau guards have sold out
Georgia.” Gordon takes the position
of counsel for a railroad company.
Yes, that is true. But suppose it
turns out that this position was ten
dered by the President of the Louis
ville and Nashville Railroad Com
pany. Suppose it turns out, also, that
I sent my resignation in order to
accept another business position en
tirely disconnected with the Louis
ville and Nashville Railroad Company
or with any other railroad company
east of the Rocky Mountains. What,
then, will these men say who are so
disturbed lest somebody should do
some thing wrong? What will they
then do for some pretext for harrow
ing up their righteous souls? [Great
laughter.] Well, this is precisely the
truth, as will appear by the docu
ments which I shall hand to the re
porter. I had long since decided to
retire from public life and had only
waited for time and opportunity to do
so consistent with my own honor and
your interest.
That time had come. Your rights
were secured, your liberties safe, and
the opportunity for congenial and
profitable employment for myself pre
sented itself. Some months ago I
met a Confederate friend, formerly of
Louisiana, who had acquired a large
fortune on the Pacific coast and was
engaged in important enterprises in
Oregon. He made me such offers as
induced me to consent to join him. It
was my purpose, however, to continue
in public life until the Legislature
should meet, but the letter which I
hand the reporter will show why it
became necessary for me to accept at
once.
COLONEL HOGG’S LETTER.
New York, May 1, 1880 — My Dear
General Gordon: I trust you will par
don me for pressing for an early
decision as to your purpose in respect
to resigning your seat in the United
States Senate and accepting the posi
tion tendered you in Oregon. lam
compelled by my own negotiations to
know as early as possible what I can
say as to your action. May I again
remind you chat in a pecuniary sense
the certain compensation is more
than double that which attaches to
your present position. The business
opportunities you will enjoy in Oregon
will enable you to accumulate a
fortune in a comparatively brief
space. I beg, in making your decis
ion, you will keep these considerations
in remembrance, as well as the minor
collateral ones.
Trusting for an early response, and
that it may be a favorable one, I am,
my dear General, faithfully yours,
T. Egenton Hogg.
General J B. Gordon,.
To accept this offer, and one which
I was arranging for my sons, I sent
my resignation to the Governor.
While in New York conferring after
my resignation with Col. Hogg, I
received intelligence that Mr. New
comb wished to obtain my services, as
shown by his letter, which I also hand
the reporter.
mb. newcomb’s letter
Louisville and Nashville Railroad
Co , New York Office, No. 52 Wall
Street, Nos. 9 and 10, May 19, 1880.
—My Dear General Gordon: I am
informed you are about resigning or
have already resigned your seat as
Senator from Georgia to accept some
position in Oregon. If this be true,
let me see you before you make up
your mind to leave Georgia. 1 am
sure I can make it to your interest to
remain in the South, and do not
doubt, on reflection, you will find it
more agreeable to yourself and familj
to remain among your own people
At any rate, I would like to see you
before you decide upon taking this
step, and see if we cannot reach a
conclusion mutually agreeable. I re
main yours, most truly.
H, Victor Newcomb.
General J, B. Gordon.
I at once saw Mr. Newcomb and
changed my plans and so notified my
friend, Colonel Hogg, whereupon he
wrote me this letter, which I ask the
reporter to incorporate in my re
marks at this point:
New York, May 19,1880. — My Dear
General Gordon : While feeling deeply
disappointed at your decision not to
accept the propositions made you in
respect to Oregon, I can fully appre
ciate and understand the feelings
prompting you to accept a proposition
to which a less remuneration is at
tached than the Oregon one. Yes, I
do recognize that there is a vast dif
ference between your position as a
married man, with a family, and the
ties of the people of your State and
section and that of mine—a bachelor
—who for years has been residing on
the Pacific coast. I am glad that I
have had the opportunity of submitt
ing the business propositions to you
to testify my willingness to further
your interests. Believe me to remain
faithfully yours.
f. Egenton Hogg.
To General Gordon.
How these vile insinuations against
Governor Colquitt now vanish! How
puerile these efforts to defeat him
must now become! How intense must
become the abhorrence of the people
at such unwarrented assaults upon
private character.
I have stooped to bring before the
public even my private letters because
justice to Gov. Colquitt seemed to
require it; but no language can ade
quately describe the contempt I have
for the means employed to defame
thia upwriget Executive. It is a sad
commentary upon the tendency of
the times. Is character so cheap and
office so dear as to justify the effort
to destroy the one in order to attain
the other. [Applause.] If nothing
were due Alfred Colquitt as a vindica
tion at the hands of his people—if
nothing were due the Executive who
has done as much as any Executive
within the past half century to give
your State a proud position among
the sister States of this Union—if
nothing were due the man, who has
served you in two wars, and whose
whole Ide has been devoted to the
highest interest of society, the loftiest
aims of the church and to the most
exalted ends of government; still it
is duo yourselves that you rally to
his support and crown him with
your approval. [Great applause,
and cries, “we will.”] It is due to
these young men who are soon to
become the guardians of our politics
—it is dui these old men now totter
ing to the grave; it is due these wo
men so deeply interested in parity
in all departments of life; it is due to
society, to the church, to the State
and to liberty, that you rise in your
majesty, and by the omnipotent fiat
of an enlightened and inexorable
public opinion, rebuke and banish
forever from our politics these unholy
methods. [Loud and prolonged cheer
ing.] Ah, my countrymen, lam not
mistaken in your verdict. If these
facts can reach the people in time
they will bear Colquitt’s banner to a
great victory as a lesson totraducers.
[Cheers.] Justice and truth have
not forsaken the breasts of this
people. Jehovah still reigns and the
grandest of facts is that for which
His throne is pledged that truth
shall triumph and justice shall live.
[ Immense cheering from the entire
audience]
What a Woman saw in Con
gress and What she Thinks of it.
To go into the House of the Rep
resentatives is to the uninitiated very
much like being let into a menagerie,
for the atmosphere is very hot and
close, the ventilation is very defec
tive—an odor of cigar smoke adds
its burden to a sensitive organiza
tion—-and there is an immense
amount of howling on the floor,
this is my impression of it ail, al
though I’ve listened very intently
and tried to become informed in the
ways of the government of my coun
try. The Speaker spends’m .st of
his time in pounding violently with
his gavel, and nobody seems to care
whether he pounds or not—he ap
parently does it for his own amuse-
A.d v bftising Hates.
Legal advertisement* charged seventy-five cents
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Transient advertising will be charged $1 i>er inch
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All bills due upon the first appearance of the ad
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unknown parties must be paid for in advance.
NO. 25
mtnt. Then with a very few excep
tions everybody that speaks, acts
exactly as if he intended to annihi
late everybody else. I never can un
derstand what they say, except by
snatches, and what Ido hear seems
to be of very little importance. It
does seem so ridiculous for a man to
get up and work himself into a tre
mendous passion swinging his arms,
pounding on his desk, walking up
and down the aisle, grow red in the
face, and swell up the veins of his
forehead, and end with a grand
peroration about “blowing the bugle
till it resounds again’’ —all of which
I heard and saw the other day, while
all the other members are reading
newspapers, smoking outside the
rail, writing at their desks, chatting
witu each other and continually pas
sing in and out. whde nobody seems
to pay any attention to all this exhi
bition of feeling. They seem to take
especial delight in contradicting each
other flatly, insisting that somebody
is out of time or order, and on the
whole Ive come to the conclusion
that things could't be much worse
any way—and who knows if they
mightn’t be better ?—even if a wo
man had a place in that august (?)
body.
The Senate is better, that is, they
don’t rant so violently, but seems so
slow and stupid, I've found myself
wrndering several times what it all
an ounted to after all. I have been
able, after giving the closest possible
attention for some time, to make out
that they’ve been agitating the ques
tion of a mud road somewhere in In
diana. and I have heard something
about the Indians, and that’s all.
As our Senator Dawes dosen’t seem
to have a boom even in the far hori
son, let’s hope that the Edmunds
boom may amount to something, and
just for this reason, that Mr Ed
munds appears to know everything
that is going on, and to listen atten
tively to whatever is being said, as if
he really had a conscience concern
ing State affairs. I think Mr Hoar
is the handsomest man in the Sen
ate —Gen Burnside may be perhaps
excepted—he certainly has more of a
society air, and is an elegant and
distinguished looking man. Ferry is
considered handsome, but the fact
that he is the rich bachelor of the
Senate, and has, moreover, the aroma
of a dead and gone half-mysterious
love affair hanging about him, may
have something to do with that no*
tion, for to the casual eye he is cer
tainly not a beauty, although well
looking enough; but his beard is very
western and needs pruning. Plumb,
cf Kansas, has a thoroughly good
and honest face full of purpose, al
though his appearence is unpolished.
I h.td entirely forgotten about Sena
tor Bruce until I saw the other day
a colored man with dignified appear
ence walk calmly across the floor of
the Senate as if he belonged there.
At first I wondered idly if there,
were a colored door-keeper, when
he sat down at his desk, and then I
remembered. He has undoubtedly
good—or bad —white blood in his
veins; the shape of his bands alone
would indicate that. He is nut of
the particularly light color, and his
hair, although evidently brushed with
pains-taking care is very kinky. I
am sorrow for him and more sorry
for his wife, who, I understand, is
so white that no one would suspect
her colored blood. She is called up
on by the wives of the other Sena
tors, but still it is under protest after
all—the old race prejudice clings,
and will cling.
Ruined By Speculation.
Lafayette F. Beech, of Nashville,
Tenn., formerly a Colonel in the Con
federate army, took lodging in tho
Trement House in Broadway, New
York, last Friday week. On Tues
day the clerk said.to him that unless
he paid his bill he could not occupy
the room longer than another day.
Nothing was seen of Colonel Beech
at his usual time of rising Wednes
day morning. Later in the day, a
servant, sent to his room, found him
stretched insensible on the bed, with
a phial of chloroform beside him
nearly empty. The odor of the drug
impregnated the atmosphere. He
was taken to the New York Hospital,
and late that even ing the physician
in charge there pronounced his re
covery hopeless. W’hether Col.
Beech intended to commit suicide is
not known. He apparently has long
been addicted to narcotics. A short
time ago he was found insensible in
Broadway, near the Prescott House,
where he had shortly before been re
fused ‘lodging. His insensibility
then was produced by chloroform,
and treatment for one or two weeks
at St. Vincent’s Hospital was re
quired to effect his recovery.
It is said that before the war Col
onel Beech was worth $185,000,
which he deposited in the Bank of
England. After the war he went to
England and drew out this money.
He invested it in cotton and lost it
all. He is said to be well connected,
He has a brother-in-law who is a
member of Congress from the South.
For a time after the war, Colonel
Beech was a Professor in a Southern
college. After his failure he became
connected with a dry goods house in
New York. He has a wife and fami
ly-