A man of rare common sense and directness of speech, as of action; a
transcendentalist above all, a man of ideas and principles- that was
what distinguished him. Not yielding to a whim or transient impulse,
but carrying out the purpose of a life. I noticed that he did not
overstate anything, but spoke within bounds. I remember, particularly,
how, in his speech here, he referred to what his family had suffered
in Kansas, without ever giving the least vent to his pent-up fire.
It was a volcano with an ordinary chimney-flue. Also referring to
the deeds of certain Border Ruffians, he said, rapidly paring away his
speech, like an experienced soldier, keeping a reserve of force and
meaning, "They had a perfect right to be hung." He was not in the
least a rhetorician, was not talking to Buncombe or his constituents
anywhere, had no need to invent anything but to tell the simple truth,
and communicate his own resolution; therefore he appeared incomparably
strong, and eloquence in Congress and elsewhere seemed to me at a
discount. It was like the speeches of Cromwell compared with those
of an ordinary king.
As for his tact and prudence, I will merely say, that at a time when
scarcely a man from the Free States was able to reach Kansas by any
direct route, at least without having his arms taken from him, he,
carrying what imperfect guns and other weapons he could collect,
openly and slowly drove an ox-cart through Missouri, apparently in the
capacity of a surveyor, with his surveying compass exposed in it,
and so passed unsuspected, and had ample opportunity to learn the
designs of the enemy.
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