HIS GREAT FAULT.
No just biography of Robert Toombs can be written that does not take
into notice the blemishes as well as the brightness of his character. He
was a man on a grand scale. His virtues were heroic, his faults were
conspicuous. No man despised hypocrisy more than he did, and no one
would have asked any sooner to be painted as he was, without
concealment. During the latter part of his life, many people knew him
principally by his faults. Few knew what the wayward Prince Hal of the
evening had been to King Henry in the morning hour. Like Webster and
Clay, he was made up of human frailty. As his intimate friend, Samuel
Barnett, said of him: "In spite of splendid physique, a man of blood and
passion, he was not only a model of domestic virtue, but he avoided the
lewd talk to which many prominent men are addicted. A fine sportsman and
rider, a splendid shot, he was nothing of the racer or gamester. After
all, he was more of a model than a warning." Among his faults, the one
which exaggerated all the others, was his use of ardent liquors. This
habit grew upon him, especially after the failure of the war. A proud,
imperious nature, accustomed to great labors and great responsibilities,
was left without its main resource and supplied with the stimulus of
wine. No man needed that stimulus less than he did. His was a manhood
vibrant in age with the warm blood of youth, and always at its best when
his spirits and intellect alone were at play. He was easily affected by
the smallest indulgence. When he measured himself with others, glass for
glass, the result was distressing, disastrous. The immediate effect of
excess was short. The next morning his splendid vitality asserted
itself, and he was bright and clear as ever. The habit, however, grew
upon him. The want of a physical check was bad. This was the worst of
all his faults, and was exaggerated by special circumstances. It was
less indulged in at home and greatly circulated abroad. Frequently the
press reporters would surround him and expose in the papers a mere
caricature of him. His talk, when under the influence of wine, was racy,
extravagant, and fine, and his sayings too often found their way into
print. In this way great injustice was done to the life and character of
Robert Toombs, and Northern men who read these quaint sayings and
redolent vaporings formed a distorted idea of the man.
To a Northern correspondent who approached him during one of these
periods, General Toombs said: "Yes, a gentleman whose intelligence
revolts at usurpations must abstain from discussing the principles and
policies of your Federal government, or receive the kicks of crossroad
sputterers and press reporters; must either lie or be silent. They know
only how to brawl and scrawl 'hot-head' and 'impolitic maniac.' Why, my
free negroes know more than all your bosses. Now, damn it, put that in
your paper."
Robert Toombs was built to live ninety years, and to have been, at
Gladstone's age, a Gladstone in power. He took little pains to explain
his real nature. He seemed to take pains to conceal or mislead. He
appeared at times to hide his better and expose his worse side. If he
had been Byron, he would have put forward his deformed foot. He was
utterly indifferent to posthumous fame. Time and again he was asked to
have his letters and speeches compiled for print, but he would never
hear of it. He waived these suggestions away with the sententious
remark, "that his life was written on the pages of his country's
history." With all his faults, his were strong principles and generous
impulses. "We know something of what he yielded, but we know nothing of
what he resisted." Include his strength and his weakness and measure him
by other men, and we have a man of giant mold.
One who was very near to Toombs in his last days said of him when he was
dead: "It was a thing of sorrow to see this majestic old man pausing to
measure his poor strength with a confirmed habit, rising, struggling,
falling, and praying as he drifted on."
General Toombs used to say that Webster was the greatest man he ever
knew, that Clay managed men better, and Calhoun was the finest logician
of the century. "The two most eloquent men I ever heard were Northern
men," said he; "Choate and Prentiss." "Pierce," he used to say, "was the
most complete gentleman I ever saw in the White House. He was clever and
correct. Zachary Taylor was the most ignorant. It was amazing how little
he knew. Van Buren was shrewd rather than sagacious. Tyler was a
beautiful speaker, but Webster declared that a man who made a pretty
speech was fit for nothing else."
Toombs met Abraham Lincoln while he was in Congress. He related that Mr.
Lincoln once objected to sitting down at table because he was the
thirteenth man. Toombs told him that it was better to die than to be a
victim to superstition. At the Hampton Roads Conference, President
Lincoln expressed to Judge Campbell his confidence in the honesty and
ability of Robert Toombs. He was a great reader. General Toombs often
said that if the whole English literature were lost, and the Bible and
Shakespeare remained, letters would not be much the poorer. Shakespeare
was his standard. He was fond of Swedenborg, and in his early youth
relished Tom Paine.
General Toombs had a great affinity for young men, upon whom he exerted
a great influence. He once said to a party of friends that gambling was
the worst of evils because it impoverished the pocket while it corrupted
the mind. "How about drinking, General?" he was asked. "Well, if a man
is old and rich he may drink, for he will have the sympathy of his sober
friends and the support of his drinking ones."