‘"P. W. A.,"’ the
Richmond correspondent of the Savannah
Republican, pays
Mr. Toombs, the
Secretary of State, the following well-merited compliment:
‘
"And here let me turn aside to offer a passing remark in regard to
Mr. Toombs, the
Secretary of State.
Many of the people of
Georgia, myself among them, have radically differed with him in the past, while all have freely acknowledged his great ability.
It has often been said by his friends that he showed off to the best advantage in a rough-and-tumble fight in a court-house, or in such a skirmish as that in the
United States House of Representatives during the contest for Speaker, when he said, ‘"Let discord reign forever;"’ but his conduct during the present revolution proves how much they were mistaken.
He now sits-quietly in his office, free from excitement of every kind, with a full appreciation of the vast responsibility that attaches to his position; and yet, for the first time in his life, in my judgment, he now brings to the performance of his duties the whole of his great powers and unrivalled abilities.
The hustings and the
Senate chamber furnished favorable occasions, in the excitement of the moment, the keen encounter of wit and sarcasm, and the heavy shock of intellectual strife, for the display of those rare gifts with which nature has endowed him; but the revolution that now convulses the continent has called into play powers and resources which had hitherto never been evoked, and which otherwise might have lain dormant forever.
This tribute is justified by the consummate tact with which our foreign relations have been managed, and the complete success with which Master Seward has been foiled at every point of his Machiavellian policy."
’
