Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/304

 298 Southern Historical Society Papers.

and again during the session of i842-'43. From his earliest connec- tion with political life he became a central figure. His views were bold, enlarged, emphatic ; and his utterances eloquent, aggressive, and weighty. In 1S44 he was, by an admiring constituency, advanced to a seat in the Representative Chamber of the National Assembly. Here he made his dedzii on the Oregon question. In the judgment of Mr. Stephens, his first speech placed him in the front rank of the debaters, orators, and statesmen of that body.

Educated in and a firm disciple of the Jeffersonian school of poli- tics, Mr. Toombs then sympathized with the Southern Whigs.

In March. 1853, he quitted the Hall of Representatives for a chair in the Senate Chamber of the United States. This he continued to occupy until the passage by Georgia of her ordinance of secession, when he withdrew from the National Assembly and cast his lot with the Southern people in their struggle for a separate political exist- ence.

The public utterances of Mr. Toombs as a Representative and Senator from Georgia have passed into history. Among them will be specially remembered his speeches defining his position on the organization of the House in 1849 — on the power of the House to adopt rules prior to its organization — on the admission of Califor- nia — in which he arraigned the North for repeated breaches of good faith, and demanded equality for the South in the Territories, and in justification of the right of secession. His lecture, delivered in Bos ton on the 24th of January, 1856, was carefully considered, and cre- ated a profound impression. On all these, and on kindred occasions, he exhibited wonderful physical and intellectual prowess. He was now in the zenith of his fame, in the full possession of his magnetic influence and kingly gifts — fearless, honest, and marvellously elo- quent. In the language of another, those who did not see him then can form no conception of the " .splendor with which he moved amid those dramatic scenes. A man of marked physical beauty, the idol of a princely people— golden-tongued and lion hearted — the blood of the cavaliers flashing in his veins and the heart of the South throb- bing in his breast — he recalled the gifted Mirabeau, who, amid scenes scarcely less fiery or fateful, ' walked the forum like an en)peror and confronted the commune with the majesty of a God.' " He gloried in the whirlwind and caught his inspiration from the storm. As though born to kindle a conflagration, he inflamed by his wonderful power of speech and swayed by his electric fire. Like unto a Scythian archer scouring the plain, he traversed the field of argument and