managed matters in Congress as to make the secession of Georgia
follow the inevitable failure of measures that he proposed in that body.

With the people of the South, and indeed with the people of the whole
country, divided between three parties, the election of a Republican
candidate was a foregone conclusion. Following this came secession, with
all the terrible disasters of a war in which the South could not have
hoped to succeed if reason and common sense had ruled. If the South
had fought for her constitutional rights in the Union and under the
old flag, the result might have been different. She would have had
the active sympathy and support of that large and influential body
of Northern men who were sincerely anxious to see the terms of the
Constitution faithfully carried out. But disunion was more than these
constitutional Democrats could stand. Daniel Webster had solidified
their love for the Union, and no consideration of party could affect it.

The course of the South, considering all that was involved, should have
been conservative; but it was not. It is perfectly well known now that
Abraham Lincoln was willing to sacrifice the abolition party on the
altar of the Union. He was prompt to announce his policy in this
respect. But secession came, and with it came the doom of slavery. That
all was ordered by Providence, it would be foolish to deny; and yet it
is impossible not to regret the great sacrifice of blood and treasure
that was demanded by the unhappy war that followed secession.

THE FARMER BOY OF GADDISTOWN.

In 1857, when Bob Toombs was looking after his large landed possessions
in Texas, and bringing the squatters to terms, he received a letter
from one of his political friends, announcing that the Democratic State
Convention had adjourned after nominating Joseph E. Brown as a candidate
for governor. Toombs was traveling with a party of friends, and to one
of them he read the letter. Then in a dazed way he asked, "Who is Joe
Brown?" His friend knew no more about Joe Brown than Senator Toombs did,
and all the way home the travelers were puzzling themselves with the
question, "Who is Joe Brown?" They were destined to find out; for the
convention that nominated Joe Brown for governor brought to the front
in Georgia politics one of the most remarkable men the State has ever
known.

Shortly after his return to Georgia from Texas, Toombs was compelled to
meet Joe Brown to consult in regard to the