THE "KNOW-NOTHING" PARTY.
In the fall of 1854 the elections were generally adverse to the
Democrats. The slavery agitation at the North, intensified by the
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, resulted in a large number of
Free-Soil candidates and "anti-Nebraska" Whigs being elected to the
House. In the West and South, the "Know-nothing" movement had arisen as
in a single night, and with secrecy and strength had asserted itself on
election day. The consequence was that the Democratic majority in the
House which had been elected with Franklin Pierce now disappeared. The
years of 1854-55 were full of uncertainty in Georgia. The old-line
Whigs, who had broken away from their party associates upon the
nomination of General Scott for President, had not yet gone into full
affiliation with the Democrats. Many of these men joined the "American
party," which had arisen out of antagonism to the large foreign
population flowing into the States and Territories. This party put out
candidates for Congress and the State offices in Georgia.
To Alexander H. Stephens, more than to any other man, was due the honor
of breaking up the Know-nothing movement in Georgia. Amazed at the
rapidity with which this party organized and the completeness with which
it worked; repudiating the principles which it held and the
proscriptions which it enforced, Alexander Stephens announced, early in
the day, that he would not be a candidate for reelection to Congress. He
declared, in a letter, that, from the secrecy of the order, he was
unable to know what they were doing, and, as political principles should
come out in the open sunlight for inspection, he could not submit his
candidacy to any such concern. He did not hesitate to condemn the
practices and creed of the American party in public. Prominent leaders
in his district who recognized his ability made it known that they were
willing to support him, if he would not be so severe in his
denunciations. Mr. Stephens promptly replied that the crisis required
the knife, not the poultice. However, he did run for Congress and scored
the secret order on every stump in the district. He declared, in a
speech in Augusta, that he "was not afraid of anything on the earth,
above the earth, or below the earth, except to do wrong." Mr. Stephens
was elected. Religious fanaticism and race prejudice received a death
blow in Georgia. "It writhed in pain, and died among its worshipers."
Mr. Toombs had already made himself felt in this campaign. He was in the
shadow of a domestic affliction. His youngest daughter died in February
of that year. This occurrence brought him to decide upon a trip abroad,
which he had long anticipated, but which his busy and eventful life had
not allowed him to enjoy.
In April, 1855, he wrote his wife:
I feel more and more anxious to get abroad and out of this
country; to be relieved of the thousand harassments of
business, and look for a great deal of pleasure in our
quiet and uninterrupted strolling over the hills and plains
of Europe, where nobody knows us and nobody can harass me
with business or their troubles. I wish I could, like our
darling child, thank God there was rest in Heaven.
Just before he left the State, he attended the Supreme Court of Georgia,
at Milledgeville. At that time he wrote his wife:
I have had a hard, close week's work. The lawyers very
kindly gave way and allowed my cases to come this week,
which brought them very close together, and, as I am but
ill prepared for them, not having given them any attention
last winter, and but little this spring, I have been pretty
much speaking all day and studying all night--and that
without the benefit of "specks," which I am beginning to
need.
All the old Whigs here have joined the Know-nothings, and
keep very shy of me, as I have spoken not softly of the
miserable wretches who expect to govern a great country
like this with imbecility, if they can only cover it with
secrecy. I have been greatly beset not to go to Europe this
summer, as the political campaign is likely to be hot. I
shall go, and the rather that I may avoid such an event,
and take that leisure and repose with my family in foreign
countries which I seem to be totally incapable of getting
at home.
Mr. Toombs left no doubt as to how he regarded the American party. In a
speech on the Kansas-Nebraska bill, he had declared that the country
could assimilate the foreigners from Europe and the Chinamen from Asia,
and gather under the ample folds of the American flag every nation on
earth.
It is related that in the early part of Mr. Toombs' political career he
was accused of having subscribed to build a Catholic church in Georgia.
The charge was repeated secretly from ear to ear until it came to his
friends. It was on the eve of an election in Wilkes County, and a
delegation, in spite of the lateness of the hour, went to Mr. Toombs'
residence, awoke him, and asked for an authoritative denial of what they
considered a damaging charge. Mr. Toombs listened to the delegation, and
then declared with emphasis, not free from profanity, that it was so. "I
have responded to their calls just as I have those of other
denominations. You can tell the people that the distribution of my
money is none of their business."
This bold and prompt reply did not prevent his reelection to the
legislature the next day.
No man was more liberal in matters of religion and conscience than Mr.
Toombs. In 1851 he wrote his wife in reply to a letter informing him
that his daughter wanted to join the Methodist Church:
I am content if she desires, and you wish it. My opinions
about revivals, to which you refer, have been long formed
and much strengthened by my experience in the world, but I
am not at all desirous that they should be the rule of
anybody's conduct but my own. I have therefore endeavored
to stand upon the Protestant principle in matters of
conscience, of judging for myself and allowing others to do
the same. The Judge of the Earth will do right at the final
hearing.
On June 6, 1855, Mr. Toombs set sail from New York, in company with his
wife and daughter, and Mr. W. F. Alexander, his son-at-law. In ten days,
after a smooth trip, he landed in Liverpool, with just enough roughness
off the coast of Ireland to show old Neptune in his element. Mr. Toombs
was in the very prime of a vigorous life. He had accumulated a
competency at the law, was in fine physical condition, and had a mind
broad, sensitive, and retentive. He could stand any amount of
travel--this man who rode his circuits on his horse, and who endured the
wearing trips from Georgia to the national capital. He remarked at the
outset of his European trip that he had more money than time, so he
secured special conveyances at every available place, and pushed his
journey to all points of interest. From London he went to Paris, Lyons,
Marseilles, thence to the Mediterranean, where he passed the Fourth of
July plowing his way to Naples, sleeping on deck to escape the stuffy
stateroom of the little steamer, and catching all the cinders from the
smokestack. Embarking at Naples, he went to Rome, where he was entranced
to see the historic spots of the Eternal City. Rome had for him more
charms than Paris. Crossing the Alps, he went to Geneva, and striking
the Rhine, he proceeded by boat to Amsterdam, thence to Brussels, where
he walked over the field of Waterloo. Leaving his family in Paris, he
crossed to England and made a tour alone through Ireland and Scotland.
As an American senator, Robert Toombs bore letters of introduction to
prominent people in Europe. His reputation was international, his
acquaintance with the diplomatists of the Old World was extensive, and
his knowledge of the history and government of the different countries
was complete. But he did not seek notoriety in his trip abroad. He
presented none of his letters. He preferred to travel among the people,
and at night, like Jean Valjean, he loved to see the _bourgeois_ in
their gardens and at their ease, in order to study their habits and
condition. He took great interest in the laborers. On one occasion he
got down from his _diligence_ to ask a man, who was drawing water from a
well to irrigate the land, how much he was paid for this slow and
cumbersome process. He was astonished to hear that it was but twelve
cents a day.
Mr. Toombs spoke the French language; he studied the people, and no man
was a better judge of human nature. He said when he returned that the
Southern slave was better treated and was a better laborer than most of
the peasants whom he had seen.
His conversation during his European trip was bright and racy. He never
fagged in body or mind. He never became a trifler or a tease. He was not
a man who cared for his personal comforts or appetites. Occasionally he
would abuse the hotels as being far behind the American hostelry. Now
and then he would jest with his guide or indulge in bright raillery over
the Italian peddler with the inevitable cigarette. He made it a rule to
smoke a cigar in every country, to test the tobacco, and also to sample
the wine of every nation. He drank but little at that time, never
touching ardent spirits in any way. Good-humor, good health, and
happiness followed him as he made the circuit of the Continent.
Just three months were passed by him in the Old World. He arrived in New
York in September, 1855, where telegrams awaited him, summoning him to a
desperate campaign in Georgia.
The contest in Georgia that year was sharp. The American party elected
several members of Congress, but their candidate for Governor, Judge
Andrews, was defeated by Herschel V. Johnson. The latter was one of the
strongest Democrats in Georgia. He had, in 1853, been elected Governor
over so able a man as Charles J. Jenkins.
Mr. Toombs plunged at once into the canvass and proceeded, in his own
vigorous way, to fight the Know-nothings.