Shortly after his return to Georgia from Texas, Toombs was compelled to meet Joe Brown to consult in regard to the details of the campaign in which both were interested. It must have been an interesting meeting. It was as if Prince Charlie and Cromwell had met to arrange a campaign. It was a meeting between Puritan and Cavalier. Toombs was full-blooded, hotheaded, impetuous, imperious. Joe Brown was pale, angular, awkward, cold, and determined5. It was as if in a new land the old issues had been buried. Toombs was a man of the people, but in his own way, and it was a princely and a dashing way. Brown was a man of the people, but in the people's way; and it was a cold, calculating, determined, and common-sense way. Howell Cobb had written to Toombs to go to the aid of Brown, expressing a fear that the nominee6, being a new and an untried man, would not be able to hold his own against Ben Hill, who was the candidate of the American or Know-nothing party for governor. So the dashing and gallant7 senator sought out the new and unknown Democratic candidate for governor, and had a conference with him. Toombs found the young man strangely cold and placid8, and yet full of the determination that martyrs9 are made of. He found that Joe Brown had already mapped out and arranged the plans for his campaign, and the more experienced politicians saw nothing to change in them. They were marked by shrewdness and sagacity, and covered every detail of party organization. This was satisfactory; but how could the young man sustain himself on the stump10 against such a speaker as Ben Hill, who, although a young man, was a speaker of great force and power? Toombs thought it would be better to meet Hill himself, and he started out with that purpose; but when he heard Joe Brown make two or three speeches, and saw the tremendous effect he produced on the minds of the audiences that assembled to hear him, the older campaigner went home, satisfied that young Brown needed no instruction and no coaching in the difficult art of influencing the people and winning their votes.
The personal history and career of Joseph E. Brown should be studied by every ambitious boy in the land, especially by those who imagine they cannot succeed because they lack opportunities that money and friends would obtain for them. From 1857 to the close of the war, and after, the political history of Joe Brown is the history of the State; but that history, attractive as it is, is not so interesting as his struggle to make a name for himself in the world. Joseph E. Brown was born in Pickens County, South Carolina, and was the eldest11 of eleven children. His family was English. His grandfather fought manfully against the British and Tories in the Revolutionary War. His father fought under Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, and was at the battle of New Orleans on the 8th of January, 1815.
Joe Brown was born in 1821. His parents were not so well off as to be able to send the lad continuously to school as he grew up. He had to "take his chances." He was compelled to work in the fields in season, and was permitted to go to school only when there was nothing for him to do on the little farm. He did farm labor12 from the time he was eight until he reached the age of nineteen, and the schooling13 he had received was only of the most haphazard14 kind.
Before he was grown, his father moved from South Carolina into Georgia, settling in union County, near a little valley named Gaddistown. Up to this time, though young Brown was nineteen years of age, he had learned nothing but reading, writing, and arithmetic, and very little of these. He was now compelled to work harder than ever. Settling in a new country, and on new land that had to be cleared before it would yield a crop, the Browns had as much as they could do to get the farm in order in time for the planting season; and in this severe work, Joseph E., being the eldest son, was the chief reliance of the family. He had a pair of small steers15 with which he plowed16; and when he wasn't plowing17 on the farm, he was hauling wood and butter and vegetables to the small market at Dahlonega, and taking back in truck and trade some necessary article for the family. In this way he learned the lessons of patience, self-control, and tireless industry that all boys ought to learn, because they are not only the basis of content and happiness, but of all success.
When Joe Brown was twenty years old, his father allowed him to seek an education. All he could do for the industrious18 and ambitious boy was to give him his blessing19 and the yoke20 of steers with which he had been plowing. With these young Brown returned to South Carolina and entered an academy in Anderson district He gave the steers for eight months' board, and went into debt for the tuition fee. In the fall of 1841 he returned to Georgia and taught school for three months, and with the money he received for this he paid for the schooling he had gone in debt for. He returned to the Carolina academy in 1842, and went into debt not only for his schooling, but for his board. His patience and his untiring industry enabled him to make such rapid progress that within two years he had fitted himself to enter an advanced class in college. But the lack of means prevented him from entering college. Instead he returned to Georgia and opened a school at Canton, Cherokee County. He opened this school with six pupils, and the number rapidly increased to sixty, so that he was able in a short time to settle the debts he had made in Carolina. He taught school all day, and at night and on Saturdays devoted21 himself to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1845, and was at once successful. He made no pretense22 of oratory23; but his simple and unpretending style, his homely24 and direct way of putting a case, and his faculty25 of applying the test of common sense to all questions, were as successful with juries as they afterwards proved to be with the people; and before the people he was irresistible26.
Joe Brown and his Steers 270
But he was not yet through with his studies. A friend advanced him the money necessary to enter the Law School of Yale; and there, from October, 1845, to June, 1846, when he graduated, he took the lead in all his classes, and had time to attend lectures in other departments of the college. He returned home, began active practice, and was soon prosperous. He became a State senator, and was afterwards made a judge of the superior courts.
When the Democratic Convention met in Milledgeville in 1857, for the purpose of nominating a candidate for governor, it had so many popular candidates to choose from, and these candidates had so many and such strong friends, that the members found it impossible to agree on a man. A great many ballots27 were taken, and there was a good deal of "log-rolling" and "buttonholing," as the politicians call it, on behalf of the various candidates by their special friends. But all this did no good. There was a deadlock29. No one of the candidates was able to obtain a two-thirds majority, which, according to Democratic law, was the number necessary to a nomination30. Twenty-one ballots had been taken with no result, and the convention had been in session three days. Finally it was decided31 to appoint a special committee made up of three delegates from each congressional district. It was the duty of this committee to name a candidate on whom the convention could agree. When this committee retired32, it was proposed that a ballot28 be taken, each committeeman writing the name of the candidate of his choice on a slip of paper, and depositing the slip in a hat. This was done; but before the ballots were counted, Judge Linton Stephens, a brother of Alexander H., stated that such a formality was not necessary. He thereupon moved that Judge Joseph E. Brown of Cherokee be selected as the compromise man, and that his name be reported to the convention. This was agreed to unanimously, and Joseph E. Brown was nominated; and yet, if the written ballots had been counted, it would have been found that Alfred H. Colquitt, who afterwards became so distinguished33 in Georgia, had been nominated by the committee. He received a majority of one of the written ballots when they were afterwards counted through curiosity. Twenty-three years later, Colquitt, who was then governor, made Joseph E. Brown a United States senator under circumstances that aroused strong opposition34, and immediately afterwards Brown aided Colquitt to a reelection in one of the bitterest contests the State has ever witnessed.
The unexpected nomination of Brown by the convention of 1857 introduced into State politics the most potent35 element that it had ever known. The nomination, surprising as it was, was not half so surprising as some of the results that have followed it. At the moment the convention nominated him, Joe Brown was tying wheat in one of his fields near Canton, in Cherokee County. He was then judge of the Blue Ridge36 Circuit; and on the day that his name was placed before the Democratic Convention at Milledgeville, he had returned home. After dinner he went out into his farm to see how his men were getting on. He had four men cutting wheat with cradles, and he found the binders37 very much behind. About half-past two o'clock he pulled off his coat and ordered the binders to keep up with him. It was on the 15th of June, 1857. The weather was very warm, but he kept at work all the afternoon. About sundown he went home, and was preparing to bathe, when a neighbor, who had been to Marietta and heard the news, rode to his house and told him about the nomination, which had been made at three o'clock that afternoon. Telling about the incident afterwards, Joe Brown, with a twinkle in his eye, said that he had heard that a good many men were anxious to buy that wheat field, so as to have an opportunity to tie wheat in it while a nominating convention was in session.
The great majority of the people of the State were as much puzzled about Joe Brown as Toombs was. Either they had not heard of him before, or they had forgotten him. In those days a man who made a reputation in the Cherokee country was not known to the rest of the State for a long time. The means of communication were slow and uncertain. But the whole State found him out just as Toombs did. He was prompt to begin the campaign. Toombs had already left the Whig party, and was acting38 with the Democrats39. Stephens had left the Whigs, but had not become a Democrat1. He was an Independent. He was, as he expressed it, "toting his own skillet." Ben Hill was Joe Brown's opponent, and these two met in debate before the people on two or three occasions. It was thought at first that Mr. Hill had the advantage of the tall and ungainly candidate from Cherokee, but the end of the contest showed that the advantage was all the other way. Mr. Hill was a man of very marked ability. He was one of the few good speakers who could write well, and one of the few fine writers who could speak well. He had courage, he had wit, he had learning, he had eloquence40; he had everything, in fact, to attract popular approval and entice41 a popular following; but somehow, and until the very latest years of his life, he fell far short of being a popular idol42. He was showy and effective before a mixed crowd, he never failed to attract applause, and it was supposed that Brown was making a losing campaign; but the campaign was going just the other way. Hill, in the course of his discussion, said hundreds of things that the people applauded; while Brown said hundreds of things that the people remembered, and carried home with them, and thought over. Joe Brown was not only a man of the people, but a man of the country people; and he pleased the city people who had formerly43 lived in the country. The result of the campaign was that Know-nothingism was buried out of sight in Georgia. Joe Brown was elected by more than ten thousand majority, and the Democratic majority in the Legislature was overwhelming.
Although he was only thirty-six years old when he became governor, the people began to call him "Old Judgment44." This was due no less to his peculiar45 gift of hard common sense than to his peculiar pronunciation. His speech and his ways were "countrified," and they remained so all the days of his life. His voice was not musical, and he had a peculiar drawling intonation46, which, if it had been a little more nasal, would have been an exact reproduction of the tone and manner of the Down-east Yankee. He shared these peculiarities47 with hundreds of the descendants of the Puritans who settled in the mountains of East Tennessee and North Georgia. He had no wish for the luxuries of life; and though he lived comfortably, he never, even when by close economy he had accumulated one of the largest fortunes in Georgia, cared to live finely. He was a plain man at first and a plain man at last, always temperate48, industrious, and economical.
His term of office in the governor's chair was for two years, and at the end of that time he had almost entirely49 remolded and refashioned his party. He had stamped his own personality and character upon it, and it became in truth and in fact the party of the people,—the common people. In his management of State affairs he had introduced the plain business methods suggested by common sense; he dispensed50 with all unnecessary officials; he shook off all the hangers-on; he uprooted51 all personal schemes: so that when the time came to nominate a man to succeed him, it was found that the people had no other choice. His party thought of no other name.
The year of Joe Brown's second nomination, as we have seen, was the year that witnessed John Brown's ridiculous raid into Virginia. The people of the South, however, thought it was a very serious matter, and the people of Georgia were not different from those of the rest of the South. Some very wise men allowed themselves to be led away by their passions. Even Joe Brown, as Alexander Stephens once said, "tucked his judgment under the bed" for the time being. Back of the indignation created by the John Brown raid was the unconfessed and half-formed fear that the Northern abolitionists would send their agents to the South and organize a negro insurrection. Many of the Southern people remembered the horrors of San Domingo, and there was a vague and an undefined but constant dread53 that such a rising of the blacks would take place in the South. But there never was any such danger in Georgia. The relations between the slaves and their masters were too friendly and familiar to make such an uprising possible. The abolitionists did send agents to the South to stir the negroes to rebellion, and some of them came to Georgia, but in every instance their mission became known to the whites through the friendliness54 of the blacks. There was always some negro ready to tell his master's family when the abolition52 agents made their appearance. Still the people resented to the utmost the spirit that moved certain so-called philanthropists of the North to endeavor to secure the freedom of the negroes by means of the torch and midnight murder.
Consequently in 1859, when Joe Brown was nominated for governor the second time, the people were greatly stirred. Sectional feeling ran high. In that year began the active movement that led to secession and the civil war. If all our statesmen had been as wise as Mr. Stephens and Mr. Hill, war would have been averted55. Slavery itself, in the very nature of things, was doomed56. It had accomplished57 its providential mission. It had civilized58 and christianized millions of savages59 who had been redeemed60 from slavery in their own land. It had justified61 its own ends, and would have passed away in good time, no matter what compromise may have been made.
Mr. Stephens and Mr. Hill were opposed to secession. They were for fighting, if there must be a fight, in the union, and this was the true policy. For a while the people of Georgia were earnestly in favor of this; but the efforts of the abolitionists to stir the negroes to insurrection, and the inflammatory appeals of some of the leading men, led them to oppose a policy which was at once just, wise, and considerate. Even Joseph E. Brown, cool, calculating, placid, and not easily-swayed by emotion, became a disunionist, demonstrating once again that beneath the somber62 and calm exterior63 of the Puritan is to be found a nature as combative64 and as unyielding as that which marks the Cavalier.
Joe Brown was reelected in 1859, and did everything in his power as governor to hasten the event of secession. The National Democratic Convention met in Charleston, and the meeting showed that the differences between the Democrats could not be settled; and it so happened, that, while the South was opposed by the solid and rapidly growing Republican party, the people of the South were divided among themselves. What is most remarkable, the people of the South, after making the election of the Republican candidate certain by dividing among themselves, seemed to be amazed at the result. In some instances county meetings were held in Georgia, and resolutions sent to the Legislature declaring the election of Lincoln and Hamlin "a violation65 of national comity66." Nothing could show more clearly that the minds of the voters were upset.
On Dec. 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded68 from the union, and the event was made the occasion for great rejoicing by the secession element in Georgia. Bonfires were kindled69, guns were fired, and people seemed to be wild with enthusiasm. Georgia did not secede67 until Jan. 19, 1861; but Governor Brown did not wait for that event. He committed the first overt70 act of the war. He seized Fort Pulaski, on the Savannah, Jan. 3, 1861.
On the 22d of January, ten cases of muskets71 belonging to a firm in Macon were seized by the New York police after they had been placed on board a vessel72. Governor Brown sent a telegram to Governor Morgan, demanding the release of these arms. Governor Morgan hesitated some time before he made any response. Meanwhile, Governor Brown waited three days, and then ordered the seizure73 of every ship in the harbor of Savannah belonging to citizens of New York. Two brigs, two barks, and a schooner74 were seized and held by the State troops. When this seizure was made known, Governor Brown received official notification that the arms had been released. He therefore ordered the release of the vessels75. But when the agents of the Macon firm made an effort to get the arms, they were refused. Promptly76 Governor Brown seized other vessels, and caused them to be advertised for sale.
This was merely the beginning of those greater events that cast a shadow over the whole country. The farmer boy of Gaddistown was reelected governor in 1861, and continued to hold the office until 1865.
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1
democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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adjourned
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| （使）休会， （使）休庭( adjourn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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nominee
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| n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者 | |
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gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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placid
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| adj.安静的，平和的 | |
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martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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schooling
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| n.教育；正规学校教育 | |
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haphazard
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| adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的 | |
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steers
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| n.阉公牛，肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 )；操纵；控制；引导 | |
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plowed
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| v.耕( plow的过去式和过去分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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plowing
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| v.耕( plow的现在分词 )；犁耕；费力穿过 | |
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industrious
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| adj.勤劳的，刻苦的，奋发的 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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pretense
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| n.矫饰，做作，借口 | |
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oratory
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| n.演讲术；词藻华丽的言辞 | |
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homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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ballots
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| n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 ) | |
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ballot
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| n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票 | |
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deadlock
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| n.僵局，僵持 | |
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nomination
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| n.提名，任命，提名权 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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binders
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| n.（司机行话）刹车器；（书籍的）装订机( binder的名词复数 )；（购买不动产时包括预付订金在内的）保证书；割捆机；活页封面 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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democrats
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 ) | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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entice
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| v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿 | |
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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dispensed
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| v.分配( dispense的过去式和过去分词 )；施与；配（药） | |
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uprooted
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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abolition
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| n.废除，取消 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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averted
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| 防止，避免( avert的过去式和过去分词 )； 转移 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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somber
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| adj.昏暗的，阴天的，阴森的，忧郁的 | |
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63
exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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64
combative
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| adj.好战的；好斗的 | |
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65
violation
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| n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯 | |
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66
comity
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| n.礼让，礼仪；团结，联合 | |
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67
secede
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| v.退出，脱离 | |
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68
seceded
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| v.脱离，退出( secede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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70
overt
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| adj.公开的，明显的，公然的 | |
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71
muskets
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| n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 ) | |
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72
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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73
seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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74
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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75
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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