There was no loud talk, no
braggadocio, no threats, no clamor for war. On the contrary there had
suddenly developed an overwhelming desire for a peaceful solution of the
crisis.
The Convention which had unanimously elected Jefferson Davis, President,
and Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President, had relegated the hot heads
and fire eaters to the rear.
Three great agitators had really created the new nation, William L.
Yancey of Alabama, Robert Toombs of Georgia and Barnwell Rhett of South
Carolina. And they were consumed with ambition for the Presidency.
Toombs was the most commanding figure among the uncompromising advocates
of secession in the South--an orator of consummate power, a man of wide
learning and magnetic personality. William L. Yancey was as powerful an
agitator as ever stirred the souls of an American audience since the
foundation of our Republic. Barnwell Rhett of the Charleston _Mercury_
was the most influential editor the country had ever produced.
Yet the suddenness with which these fiery leaders were dropped in the
hour of crisis was so amazing to the men themselves they had not yet
recovered sufficient breath to begin complaints.
Toombs destroyed what chance he ever had by getting drunk at a banquet
the night before the Convention met.
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