Cobb failed for a large amount, and after all his property had been sold to satisfy his creditors there still remained a considerable sum unpaid. Although Howell Cobb could legally and equitably have evaded the payment of these claims, which, if enforced, would involve the loss of the handsome estate bequeathed to him by his uncle, Captain Cobb, and would embarrass him very seriously for many years, he resolutely refused to avail himself of any means to escape liability and paid all the claims to the uttermost farthing, principal and interest."

Comparatively few are the great men of history who have been free from envious rivalries. The laurels of Miltiades are said to have kept Themistocles from sleeping and the praises of Cæsar are known to have annoyed Pompey; but Howell Cobb envied no man his honors. And after he had wrought with all his splendid powers for his State and for his country, accomplishing what none before him had ever surpassed, he still had the magnanimity to hope that the gleanings of the grapes of Ephraim might prove richer than all the vintage of Abiezar.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Thos. R. R. Cobb: The Patrick Henry of Secession in Georgia.

N the crest of the wave which swept Georgia with tempestuous fury into secession there rode into

recognized leadership an intrepid champion of Southern independence who had hitherto been quietly intent upon his professional engagements, caring more for law than for politics, but who now plunged with almost startling suddenness into the public councils to become the Patrick Henry of the approaching revolution in Georgia. This unexpected arrival upon the scene was Thomas R. R. Cobb.

There was something in the personality of the new champion which seemed to challenge instant and undivided attention. Nor was this mark of respect the reverential tribute which men pay to gray hairs. The spokesman was youthful in appearance and hardly looked his age, which was less than thirty-six. He seemed to be fresh from his text-books. His brow was intellectual and his eyes lustrous, while his features, which bespoke the classic chisel in the subtler curves of grace as well as in the bolder outlines of strength, unmistakably denoted scholarship and research. But permeating all these char

acteristics the glow of an overmastering purpose was distinctly visible. Blood earnestness was stamped upon every lineament of his beardless face; and in every syllable which rolled in accents of thunder from his impassioned lips profound conviction was lodged. He spoke like an inspired prophet. His whole body seemed to be aglow with enthusiasm. His burning words ran with lightning-speed and thunder-roll, like avalanches loosed from Alpine heights and changed by sudden alchemy from ice to fire. His message was couched in terms which the simplest could hardly fail to understand; and over the mountain-tops and through the valleys and along the water-courses rang the prophetic shout:

"Immediate and unconditional secession!"

Before urging the South to adopt this bold ultimatum, Mr. Cobb sought by the most conservative appeal to allay the fever of anti-slavery agitation at the North, and to check the tide of hostile aggression which was fast goading the South to madness. Numerous letters were published in friendly Northern papers urging the adoption of milder sentiments and less disruptive measures on the part of the abolitionists at the North, and showing the dangerous issues which such an attitude of defiance to constitutional rights and liberties was almost inevitably calculated to involve. These letters were signed by "An Honest Slaveholder," and were addressed to an imaginary correspondent under the name of "An Honest Abolitionist." They attracted wide attention throughout the country and were even reproduced abroad with eulogistic comment; but they failed to accomplish the conciliatory objects which the author contemplated.

Mr. Cobb deeply regretted the failure of this sincere