Old party antagonisms arose at the last moment to
confront the candidacy of Mr. Toombs. Toombs had summarily left the Whig
party in 1850, to join the great Constitutional Union movement.
Jefferson Davis had always been a States' Rights Democrat, and had been
defeated for Governor of Mississippi by the Constitutional Union party.
Thus it would seem that, at the eleventh hour, party lines were drawn
against Robert Toombs, and his boast that he had saved the Union in 1850
probably cost him the presidency of the new republic. There was a story,
credited in some quarters, that Mr. Toombs' convivial conduct at a
dinner party in Montgomery estranged from him some of the more
conservative delegates, who did not realize that a man like Toombs had
versatile and reserved powers, and that Toombs at the banquet board was
another sort of a man from Toombs in a deliberative body.

At all events, the recognized leader of the Confederacy was set aside,
and with rare unanimity the election of officers was accepted with
unselfish patriotism.

At that time a curious and remarkable incident in the life of Mr. Toombs
was related. Within thirty days he had performed journeys to the extent
of fifteen hundred miles, largely by private conveyance, and during that
brief period he served under four distinct governments: as senator in
the Congress of the United States, as delegate from his native county
(Wilkes) to the convention of the sovereign republic of Georgia, as
deputy from his State to the Congress of seceding States, which
instituted a Provisional Government, and finally in the permanent
government which he aided in framing for the Confederate States of
America.

In the perfection of a permanent government and the new-molding of a
Constitution, Mr. Toombs was now diligently engaged. The principal
changes brought about by him may be briefly recalled. It was specified,
in order to cut off lobby agents, that Congress should grant no extra
compensation to any contractor after the service was rendered. This item
originated with Mr. Toombs, who had noted the abuses in the Federal
Government. Congress was authorized to grant to the principal officer of
each of the executive departments a seat upon the floor of either house,
without a vote, but with the privilege of discussing any measure
relating to his department. This was an old idea of Mr. Toombs, and
during his visit abroad, he had attended sessions of the British
Parliament in company wi