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THE WASHINGTON GAZETTE.
VOL. XX.
ROBERT TOOMBS.
A VISIT TC THE HOME OF THE
GREAT GEORGIAN.
How TTe I*ooia at Homs, Hia larsr Tears, His
Karri His Political and the Che >
Queried Career cf a Great Man. Some
Personal Incidents of the trip.
(Correspondence Atlanta Constitution.)
WASHINGTON, U.V., August B.
(Special)— cannot see well enough
even to write a nigger's pass." was
the suggestive comparison made to
vbur corresjKuuleut by 'General
Toombs, while explaining his failing
eye-sight.
The name of Robert Toombs has
long belli a charmed place in the
hearts of Georgians. Proud of his
, taleuls, electrified by his eloquence,
F confident of his powers, Georgia has
indorsed him in many political cun
filets, and at ‘ast went down into a
sea of blood at his bidding, ills mis
takes, sometimes very grevious, have
been the result of his excessive honor
lie would never purchase peace nor
■com prom iso with an etemv, but met
every issue with such a sturdy front
S3 often to provoke collision where
softer words would have calmed the
waters. But Toombs was oorn in a
hurricane, his life has been a cyclone
and even his declining years are but
murmurs of the departing storm.
‘‘Dor’s whar Glnrul Toombs lives,"
said an African guide as he stopped
in front of a magnificent uiaß-ion on
onefof (ite fitresi streets in America.
A large flower yard, probably three
hundred teel wide, spread out to view
Flower beds, from which sprung the
fairest leaves of color and design,
were arranged in cros-es, diamonds
and stars. Appropriately placed,
were young oaks and evergreens. In
•front of the gate stood a sturdy oak,
a tree suggestive of the man who®
presence the correspondent was aji
proaching. Its branches hung low
giving a most pleasant shade. Situa
ted about two hundred feet back was
,an old style mansion, reached by a
brfcKcd piVsincnade, the verandah
facing the second story, which was
reached by an easy flight of steps.
Beneath the verandah floor there was
-a magnificent display of polled flow
ers, showing the taste and skill of
Mrs. Conjmodnre Hunter, whose
kind attention soften* the abscence of
the late lamented Mrs. Toombs.
“I am glad to see you,” said the
general, as he met vonr correspond
ent with the remark quoted above,
“my life is lonesome. My darling
wife who for fifty three years shed
light over uiy life, is dead."
GENERAL ORAVT’s PLaCE.
A few words brought up the sub
ject of Grant’s funeral.
“Grant was the greatest sold.cr pro
duced by the Avar," was the onic
wiiat unexpected remark nude by
Geueral liobert Toomb-. “General
Lee was a very good engineer, a mau
of fine famiiv, a companionable gen
' tleman but be was not the man to
• Wad a reyplntiomry army."
“N*w that Grant i in his grave,
what is your estimate of his charac
ter ?’’
“lie was a simple-minded, kind
hearted soldier, who had no more
animosity against the south than he
had against the north- He was a
West Pointer," remarked the general
with a peculiar facial expression, “and
with West Pointers the choice of arms
is a professsion into which patriot
ism enters but little.”
“Did you ever have any personal
relations with Grant as president?”
“Oh, yes,” he replied. “When the
.last days of the war brought the
rtieivirtg federal* this way they stole
my books and manuscript. . I would
not take a hundred thousand doqare
for them cow ifl had them, and there
was a time when I would not have
taken half a million forthem. When
Grant became president, I went, to
Washington to eudeaver to recover
these papers. When I entered I was
received quite cordially, and stated
myeirand. President Grant took the
greatest interest in the matter,not only
assuring me that I should have my
papers returned, but detailing an ef
ficient officer to aid me in the search.
There is a story behind this however
which partially accounted for Grant’s
interest in me.”
grant's exit iromthb army.
The General then proceeded to tell
the story,which wasquite interesting.
The Toombs and Crawford farail'es
had always been qnite intimate.
Governor Crawford’s sister had mar
WASHINGTON, GA., FLIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1885.
ried a Dr/lfe it. who afterwards died
of yellow fever in Augusta. Dy"*o
Mr. Toombs service in the iicm.iT
senate a young officer named Grant
hail beeni-nnrt mart ialed -in Cidifor
nia for paying out too much money
as quartermaster of the Fourth regi
men!, to his brother officers, dnhil .1,
Crittenden, of Kentucky, approached
Senator Toombs to secure congress
ional relief for the unfortunate cap
tain. lie Stated that young Grant
had married Miss Julia, the daughter
of Frederick Dent, of Missouri. This
Dent, it was developed, was a brother
of ilie f.fntlenia'n in Augusta, amt jt
was hoped that Senator Toombs’ in
terest in a constituent would induce
him to lend a baud In saving the hon
or of the Dent family.
“It was finally agreed," said Mr.
Toombs, that the military committee
should report favorably on the Grant
cS*e provided tFie young mull would
obligate himself to resign immediately
To this young Grant, whom I met in
the corridor, readily assented. True
to his word he resigned, and the next
lime I inet him lie was president of
the United ; , v , *
“Did he refer to tin matter?"!
“Oh, no; but lie was exceedingly
kind. The hour for holding the cab
inet meeting arrived ami I rose to go,
when Grant said:
“Don’t go, general, I would sooner
talk *o you than to my cabinet."
SKdKSJFtOX At*THKyogFEDERACT.
The conversation then drifted back
into the bloody days of the confedera
oy.and the agitation which 1W up toil.
“The culmination of my political
career." said General Toombs, “was
the secession agitation. The statement
that there existed among the southern
senators m Biots and 1860 a couspi ra
cy to force secession is untrue. There
was no conspiracy, no understanding.
The encroachments of the northern
congressmen upon the reserved rights
of tlie states, the incendiary agitatioti
of disturbing questions in that suction
had ah.-rmod the people of the south
ern states. Th,bv elected men to con
gress to represented tboir views.
These men were representatives, and
were only guilty ot the lame conspira
cy ifso you chose to callTt, as always
exists between constituent and repre
sentative. The question of secession
came up from the people just in the
name shape as other questions go up,
and consequently, the southern sena
tors merely presented the views ot
those whom they represented. They i
went home and addressed their con- i
siiinenis upon that as they i
did ti|>oii all othev q Rest ions.
All my speeches were so made
to my constituents in Georgia, or in
mv place upon the fleor of the senate.
I always gave pry utterances to the '
press trecly. I never luppresscd a
speech nor spoke in riddles. My
life has been an open page which all
men right read.
WHY THE CONFEDERACY FAILED.
‘ Was there ever hope of success for
the confederacy; and if so, why did it
tail ?"
“There was no doubt of success,” |
answered the general, arising from
the reclining positron in which lie
had up to this time lain. “The south
cold havestfeceatfed had it not been
throttled by West Point. The Pres
idency of lire confederacy was offered
to me and declined. When Bouth
Carolina, with singular stupidity,
wrapped itseif aronnd Jefferson Davis,
Mississippi, was not so insane, but
coaid not,out of courtesy vote against
her own citizen. Hence Davis be
came president, and West Point was
the school whence he drew his ideas.
He had graduated from that instil u
tiorgand never been brought to realize
the fact that men in civil life knew
anything, lie filled the commands
with West Pointer*, and he stack to
them through every reverse. The
Martinet discipline of that institution
was the only reliance of Mr. Davis.’’
“Under whom could the confedera
cy havs succeeded ?”
“Albert Bidney Johnson was the
one man who could have certainly
succeeded, but death cut his career
short. Joseph E, Johnston came
nxu When Jeffprson Da vis, inspired
by domestic intrigues, removed John
ston from the command of the wes
tern army, he killed the confederacy.
Davis was thoroughly incompetent.
Ilia forte was renew writing. He
would have been a successful maga
zine man, but in the bustle of practi
cal, every-day life,he was utterly Jost.
My personal feeling for Mr. Davis is
t
of the kindest character, but that does [
it\ot c move the facts of history.
GESStRAL TOOMBS’ ESCAPE.
“When Hie war was over I capitu
lated and accepted tho parole. Ii
marched mv brigade back to Augusta,
disbanded them there and returned to
my home to observe n > parole. One
day, just a* the fam were sitting
around tho dtnrter tab! a hoiseman
rode up with a ntessag rot General
Smith, of Macon. Tho dh/ before
while the federal calvary lo iter Wil
son was socially engaged with Gen
eral Smith he said to the latter:
“Smith, I hare a distasteful task as
signed nte. Notwithstanding that
General Toombs is on parole, Secre
tary Stanton has sworn that lie is too
marked a traitor to go free, and I am
ordered to arrest him. Would to
God that I could not find him.
“ ‘Perhaps your wish will be grati
fied,’ said Smith.
“Seeking an opportunity for a mo
ment's absence, General smith horsed
a trusty ntn, with instruction to lake
the short cnls through the country,
in ordor to notify me of Wilson’s
coining.
“If your horse give* out, get anoth
er, say it is for General Toombs.' were
the last words said 10 Hie horseman
las the cjt,tiffing hoofs bore him
away.
“In a few hour’s time General Wil
son was in the city, but I was Well on
my way in another direction. On
his way tip he passed through Craw
fordvillc, and informed Aleck Steph
ens of his arrest, but told him to stay
there until his return, when he should
have the company of his friend
j Toombs.
‘lt yon get him to come along
against Ills w 111.’ replied Stephen*,
‘yon will be the firet man whoever
did it.’
“On my way I sold some cotton on
my southwest Georgia plantation,suc
ceeded in reaching New Orleans,
thence to Cuba, and later to TXgiand'
[and France. On my return I ro
; smned the profession of la v.”
LIFE SINCE THE WAR.
On his return General Toombs .at
[once took his old place at tho head of
I the Georgia bar. In the Dupree case
i he received a cash fee ot forty thous
and dollars, and in the Ebcrhardt
| ease, the same week, a cash fee of
twenty thousand,makingsixty tbotis
| and dollars in one week’s work.
POINTS or PERSONAL INTEREST.
In tho midst of tho conversation
i pretty little Louise Colley, the six
teen months old grandchild of Gener
al Toombs, came running in, claim
ing a kiss from grandpa before she
was taken out. A sweet little creature
| dressed in white, with flowing ring
lets and ruby lips, she nestled in the
bosom of her grandfather with the
most perfect love.
■•She U so affectionato,” said the
general, “she recalls the days when
my own cbtidren were like her.
“My family on th# paternal side was
English, and fought against Charles.
The earliest records show them to hare
been opjiosed to kingly arrogance.
When leading my brigade along the
Rappahannock. I passed the homes
where three generations ofToombs
lived. My father, v. ho was a cap
tain under General Washington, with
a number of his comrades, located on
lands in this vicinity in 1815. Here
he met Miss Haling, the daughter ot
Jimmy Huiing, a wealthy planter,
whom he married. The Hillings were
Huguenots, who fled from the French
Flanders, and found a refuge in Eng
land settling in Taunton. Three of
them were among those arrested by
William Penn, who resorted to this
means of persecution in order to gain
pin-money for rhe women of tins En
glish court. The Hulings resisted the
demands made on them,for which one
was put io death and the others were
sold into servitude in the West Indies.
In time they reached the Carolinas,
where they became prosperous plan
ters.
I was born 1810, and when old
enough attended the village school
here, following that up with terms in
the university of Georgia, Princeton
College,and the iaw school of the Un
iversity of Virginia. I was ready for
the bar at the age of 20. A special act of
the legislature removed the difficulty
of non-age, and I was admitted to
the bar in Elbert superior court,
Judge William H. Crawford presid
ing. lat once took a leading place
at the bar, and served several terms
ill the stale legislature. The old
eighth district was strongly demo
cratic. At a dining giving in Au
gusta 1; the late Mrs. Tubman, to
ttenrv C.ay, who was her guardian,
at which myself and Judge Crawford
were present, Mr. Clay insisted that
I should make the race in the whig
interest. I did so and won by a large
majority .The story of my career in t lie
house and i 1 ( senate is a matter of
history,
THE STORY OF IUS M ARRIAGE,
“During my attendance in tliecomi
ty. school here, a little girl named Ju
lia j)iißose also attended. I went to
college and Miss Dußoso went to
school near Athens with my sister.
Oueofmy el er brothers got married
while I was-, way. On mv return a
voting matt, I found that my brother's
wife was Miss Du Bose’s jcldcr sister,
and there I mot the little school girl,
of years before now a gro ami lady
At tho ages respectively of 21 and 27
we were married. Four children were
born to u , of whom one married Mr.
Alexander ot Augusta, and the other
Dudley Dußose. The last named wed
ding look place in Washington and
wa- attended by President Buchanan,
Bishop Pierce performing the ceremo-
ny. Then it was that the incident so
often quoted occurred, in the which
President claimed the right to kiss
the bride for the nation.”
Airs, Dußose died while General
Toombs was in Fiance leaving lour
children Uobert Toombs Dußose, now
aged 21; Dudley Dußose. now aged
22; Camille Dußoso (uow Mrs. Henry
Collev.) and Miss Sallie Lou Dußose
Little Louse Colley, li'tlo Anna
Wilson Dußose are the only great
grand children orGen. Toombs.
“For fifty three years,” resumed
General Toombs, “my dear wife was
my constant friend,companion and ad
viser. We traveled four continents
of the world together, and visited
many islands of the sea. Now she is
waiting lor me with tlu; same sweet
faith sue soillustrated here,
A FAITHFUL DOG.
“I was a mighty hunter before the
LoWl,” said the general, as he sought
to overcome recollection by some pres
ent. topic. “I took great pleasure in
the chase, and kept tho finest pack of
hounds in die country. Dogs are
better than many men. The most no
table dog I ever owned was Julius
which is still living.
“Jttlius! Juliusf’ called the gener
al, as he went to rho door. “I want
ed to let you see him but he Is gone
to a funeral which is now in progress.
Mrs. Toomb’s carriage always attends
the funerals here, just as when she
was living, and poor Julius with a
fidelity which should put meu to
shame, always attends.
“One day while driving out
with Mrs. Toombs, I had oceassion to
get 0111 to give some directions about
the place. On my return I found that
Julius hod jumped into the carriage
and was nestling at Mrs. Toombs
feet. Tints ho became a carriage dog.
He would stand in front of the horses
and keep them from leaving, or lie
would jump in and take care of the
wrapping*, lie would give warn
ings of danger. TFms Mrs. Toombs
became greatly attached to him.
When .Mrs. Toombs lay upon her
death bed, and we were standing
around for the last moment, Julius
placed bis head reverently by the
bedside of his mistress arid gave such
intelligent signs of grief a* to be no
ticed by all.
Noticing thaf General Toombs was
growing weary from his long exer
tion, of which the above is but a mea
gre condensation, your correspondent
withdrew from his presence charmed
with the most noted American of the
present generation, so little under
stood, and yet so grand and great.
Pea Jay.
The Bast Endorsers are Banks Then
selves,
An endorsement of the high reptile
which it deservedly enjoys at home
(where it follows the even tenor ofits
way), is shown by the facts boldly
advertised by the world famed Louis
iana Plate Lottery, that The New Or
leans National Bank, Louisiana Na
tional Bank, State National Bank or
Germania National Bank, all leading
Banks of New Oaloaits, La., will re
ceive any registered letters or postal
orders. The next drawing (184th),
will occur on Tuesday, September 8,
for any information of which address
M. A. Uaupbin, New Orleans, La.
A TIMELY PBOTBST.
The Author of Alice In “Wonderland’’ on
Recent •■Exposures" in England.
I know that any writer who ven
tures to protest against what hap
pens to be a popular cry has little
chance even of respectful attention.
The rapid intercommunication of our
age lias brought us one evil from
which our forefathers were free ; the
mass is moved too suddenly and too
violently ; eacli tide of popular feeling
runs headlong in one direction, sweep
ing all before it and back again with
an equally dangerous reflex, leaving
ravage and ruin behind it. Only a
few years ago, if any impure scaudal
arose its investigation and punish
ment wire left to those whose pain
ful duty it was to know the sickening
details; women and boys were turn
out of court; no particulars were
given in any respectable journal—
nothing but the words ‘the evidence
was unfit for publication.” But a
horrible fashion seems to bo setting
in of making all things public and of
forciug the most contaminating sub
jects on the a t ntions even of those
who can get nothing from them but.
the deadliest injury. Against this I
desire to raiso a warning voice.
The question at issue is not wheth
er great evils exists—nor again wheth
er the rousing of public opinion is a
remedy for those evils—on these two
points wc pro agreed. The real ques
, tioti is, whether this mode of rousing
public opinion is,or is not, doing more
harm than good.
And the worst of the danger is that
all this is being done in the sacred
name of religion. If we had no oth-
I er evidence for the existence of a dev
il wc might find it, I think, in tho ar
gument from design—in tho terrible
superhuman ingenuity with which
temptation is adapted to the tasto of
the age. Not so many years ago vice
was fashionable and the literatare of
the day was openly profligate; no
pretext of piety was offered to read
ers who would only have despised it.
But in our days, to bo popular, one
must profess the very highest and
purest motives. Straightway Saian
is transformed into an angel of light
and with au air “devout and pure, so
ber, steadfast ami demure,” oilers us
his old wares furbished tip in in new
colors.
May I not plead with those who
have, not yet lost their heads in the
whirl and din of this popular mael
strom to consider whither the stream
is really carrying us?
I plead for our young men and
boys, wliose imaginations are being
excited by highly-colored pictures
of vice and whoso natural thirst for
knowledge is being used for unholy
purposes by the seducing whisper i
“Read this, and your eyes shall be
opened and ye shall be as gods, know
ing good and evil!” I plead for our
womankind, who are being enticed
to attend meetings where the speak
ers, inverting the sober language of
the apostle, “it is a shame even to
speak of those things which are done
of them in secret,” proclaim that it is
a shame not to speak of them; who
arc being taught to believe that they
are still within the bounds of true
womanliness anil modesty, while
openly discussing the vilest of topes,
and who all too soon prove by the
eagerness with which they turn to
what so lately was loathsome to them
that there is but one step from pru
dishness to pruriency. Above all,
I plead for our pure maidens, whose
pure souls are being saddened, if not
defiled, by the nauseous literature
that is thus thrust upon them—l plead
for them in the name of Him whosaid
••Whosoever shall offend one of these
little ones which believe in me, it
were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck and that
he were drowned in the depth of the
sea.” .For all these I plead with who
soever has the power to interfere, to
stay before it is too late, the abomi
nation with which we are threatened.
Ex-Major John Went worth of Chi
cago, familiarly known as Long John
recently purchased for 110,000 the
the largest cemotcry 10t—20,000
square feet—ever sold by any ceme
tery company in tho IWest. The plot
is in the Rose Hill Cemetery, not far
from the entrance, and has a com
manding view. Upon it Mr. Went
worth proposes to expend abont SBO,-
000, which he will put into an heroic
statue of himself upon a mammoth
granite pedestal.
NO. 34
GRANT'S GENIUS.
General Butter's Statement of the Milita
ry Policy of Grant in 1864-65.
(From hie Dwell Eulogi.)
It has been said that Grant had no
genius; that is, no intuition bv which
to discover a great fact or to lay out
for himself anew and great course of
action. I have said that his mind
was not inventive, but I know of oue
course of conduct adopted bv .him,
an emanation from hi* own mind, for
so far as I have read in history, it was
never before in that form adopted by
any great commander, and it certain
ly was not done by any other general
in our war. It did not emanate from
the Secretary of War or (he Presi
dent, so far as I have any knowledge
or suspicion and was explained to
myself by Grant, who had just then
been made General-in-Chief of tho
Armies, and came to Fort Monroe to
explain the plan of the future cam
paigns against the enemy, so far as I
was to have part with them, in Vir
ginia in April, 1564.
His proposition was that the enemy
should be conquered by continual at
trition and inflicting loss in every way
and wearing out their resources as
fast as possible and at howevet great
cost, relying upon our our own mom
abundant money anil men to bring
out a successful result. He said that
he would attack the enemy at all
times and under all condition., even
at the risk of losing more men than
they did, as we could afford to loose
more; and as the rate of death by
disease and hardships incident to
camp life was far greater than tho
loss of men by bullet and shell, he
thought upon the whole, that if the
war could bo pressed on and ended
shortly, the loss of life would be less,
and the oxpenses would certainly be
less than those of a longer continued
war. lie said, further, that the ene
my, occupying the interior lines ot
defeuses, could on with less men than
we must use and that We tnnst lose
more than they would in driving
thorn from their defenses, but they
could net retrieve their losses, as we
could ours,
He spoke lo me as Commissioner
of Exchange of Prisoners. H e , aid
that every Confederate held by ns
was one man less to them, white even
if wc exchanged, we should not get
one man to meet the one we gave
because their men were in good con
dition and able at once to go back
into the field, while our men were
in such condition that it would take
months for them to recuperate so as
to come back, if they ever did come
back, into our armies. Hence lie
suggested to me not to refuse the ex
change of prisoners but to so embar
rass the operation as only lo exchange
the sick and wounded of both sides;
and to that policy lie adhered through
the campaign of 186 L This couree
taken by him put an end to thp re
bellion, and lie held to it until, in the
spring of 1860, Lee had neither men nor
rations to feed them upon, nor could
UlO Confederates supply him with
cither,and then came Appomat‘ox
and the conclusion of the war.
This seemed to me then a stroke of
genius, but it required adamantine
nerve and iron will carry it out.
27 TEARS UNJUSTLY CONFINED.
A Pensylvania woman has just been
discharged from the State lunatic asy
lum where she has been confined 27
years on a charge preferred by her
father of extravagance and eccentrici
ty. She has been a woman of ex
travagant tastes and a society leader
in her days. Her father, a physician,
became impoverished,but the daugh
ter did not accommodate herself to tho
change of circumstances, and contin
ued to run up heavy bills for dress,
and finally ordered a piano and set of
furniture which she sold before pay
ing for them. Becanseof this act,
and to save the family honor, the girl
was sent to an asylum in July, 1858.
Her father died and his daughter re
mained in the asylum nntil attention
was called to her case at the national
Convention of Charities and Correc
tions held in Washington last June.
Investigation developed the fact that
tho woman never had been insane,and
was a woman of 110 years, with sound
mind and healthy body. She has made
her home with a friend, who has con
stantly labored for her release.
A California gold mine has bees
named the Grover Cleveland.