fames S. Green. to Hayne. The result was the " little giant" got the worst of it, and the administration was delighted. Though Douglas lost the presidency in 1860, he triumphed over his old antagonist when he carried Missouri, the only State he did carry. In that campaign Green sup ported John C. Breckenridge, and lost. Dur ing that canvass, while speaking before a large audience at Fayette, Missouri, from the same platform with General John B. Clark, a brilliant advocate and politician, this inci dent occurred : Clark had made a speech in favor of Douglas, and then sat down. Green, in replying, made a statement which Clark dissented from by shaking his head. The keen eye of the speaker detected the move ment, and he said : "The distinguished gen tleman shakes his head. This reminds me of an incident that happened at a school I at tended in old Virginia. One Monday morn ing a little girl came to school with her little brother; and, leading him up to the teacher, said that her mother asked her to tell him that Johnny had a habit of shaking his head, but he must not mind it,— there was nothing in it. Fellow-citizens, never mind about the General shaking his head,— there is nothing in it." The Douglas wing of the Democracy hav ing won in his State, and Green having lost prestige more or less by reason of his weak ness for drink, it became apparent that the day of his political power was drawing to a close. Indeed before the next legislature convened to elect his successor to the United States Senate, it was a foregone conclusion that he would be defeated. Judge Waldo P. Johnson, an able jurist and a Douglas sup porter, was therefore elected in the session of 1 860-6 1 . After the vote on the joint ballot was announced, by which Johnson was de clared elected, he was called before the joint assembly, and in the presence of a large audi
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ence made the customary speech in acknowl edgment of the honor conferred on him. But there was no enthusiasm manifested. Then it was that the ardent supporters of Green called for their favorite. Colonel N. C. Claiborne, himself a brilliant orator from the Old Dominion, and then a member of the legislature, who was present, in speak ing of the occasion and of Green's speech, said he never heard it equalled by any one. For an hour he held the vast audience spell bound by his matchless eloquence. He re viewed his own course in Congress, and delicately alluded to some of the causes which had led to his defeat. All the pent-up forces of his mighty nature seemed to be called out for this last supreme effort of his life. When he closed the effect was impres sive indeed, — there was scarcely a dry eye in the assembly. Had the speech been made before the vote was taken, Claiborne said, " he believed no power on earth could have defeated him for reelection." After this the war between the States quickly followed, and although Green strongly sympathized with the South in that great struggle, he took no part actively in the great contest. He seemed to be crushed in spirits, and led an aimless life for several years, spending most of his time in Washingington. After the close of the war he located in St. Louis, and resumed the practice of law. While there, the late Samuel T. Glover, at the time one of the leaders of the St. Louis bar, relates of him this incident : Glover and other able attorneys were em ployed on the one side in a very important case in that city, wherein large interests, as well as intricate questions of law were in volved, while Green alone appeared as attor ney for the other side. The day for argu ment was set. For some two. weeks prior Green could not be found at his office, and no one seemed to know where he was. On the
