upon the right of suffrage. This draft he submitted, for inspection and examination, to a few of his Senatorial colleagues, upon the single question of its constitutionality, whether there was anything in its terms in conflict with the Constitution of the United States. Receiving for answer, without dissent, that the clause in question was not in conflict with the Federal Constitution, he carried the draft of it with him upon his journey home, and at the proper time offered it as a section in the new constitution. It was adopted, after full debate, in very nearly the text and terms of the original draft, and is now a part of the organic law of the State.

"His prolonged and laborious service in the Senate had been largely devoted to questions nearly akin to the suffrage clause. Year after year he had thought and spoken concerning the force bill and other methods then proposed of Federal intervention with the election systems of the Southern States and upon the still broader theme of inter-race relations. Always his utterances had been without threat, without menace, earnest, sincere, but temperate, considerate, devoid of violence. His conduct had been that of the statesman, that of the philanthropist and the philosopher. He purposed good for all, good for both races, white and black, but especially he kept faith with those of his own race and lineage. He was not willing to abandon the claim of his own race to a certain political supremacy. He thought this was an indispensable necessity for the welfare of both races. At last the opportunity came to him, as the author of this special provision on the subject of suffrage, to formulate this policy in the law of his own country.

"The most beneficent consequences have resulted from his labors. There is now a stable, firm, unbroken pacification of the government in his State. Civilization and social order have been reestablished. The former disastrous conditions of riot, confusion, and bloodshed have ceased. All classes and colors are at rest. Dissent has been merged into accord and satisfaction. What he wrought in this magnificent domain for human progress and happiness has not died with him. The future generations of that historic Commonwealth will say of him in the years yet to be, Senator George gave to Mississippi and to all the inhabitants thereof the priceless boon of peace.

"In the session of the United States Senate next succeeding its promulgation this constitution," says General Catchings, "was violently and relentlessly assailed. I know of nothing in the annals of Congress at all to be compared with Senaator George's defense of it on the floor of the Senate. His adversaries were literally overwhelmed by his skill in debate, his masterful logic, and the infinite wealth of his learning. Brushing aside almost contemptuously the insinuations, innuendoes, and implied charges so copiously indulged in, he boldly challenged them to indicate in what particular the State of Mississippi had transcended its powers, or to point out so much as a single clause in the constitution adopted by it which was in contravention of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitution. No answer came, and, so far as the United States Senate is concerned, the attack upon Mississippi's constitution has never been renewed from that day to this."

In framing that constitution Senator George has been generally accorded the largest measure of responsibility. And in an opinion delivered by the Supreme Court of the United States not long after the Senator's death the validity of that constitution was expressly affirmed.

As the time approached for Senator George to go for a third election before the Legislature which would convene in January, 1892, the entire State was agitated over what was called the subtreasury plan, a scheme temptingly put before the farmers, under the auspices of the Farmer's Alliance, as a measure for their especial relief. It attracted the keenest attention in many Southern and Western States and was made the leading issue of the campaign in Mississippi.

Senator George was known and recognized as the great friend and champion of the farmers and they expected him to go with them in advocating the scheme. To oppose it seemed to invite defeat, and more than one public man held his peace. But when Senator George was asked his opinion. and his support was solicited he published a powerful letter declaring the plan to be both illusory and unconstitutional and that he would oppose it. He canvassed the entire State with such aggressive power as not only to defeat the scheme in Mississippi, but to "utterly destroy it root and branch in every section of the country where it had found support."

The canvass attracted wide-spread attention, and the interest commanded by the courage and skill which fought and conquered the delusion was universal. His overwhelming election immediately followed.

Something like three years before the expiration of this his third term in the Senate Senator George announced that he would not offer himself for a fourth election, but would retire to private life at the end of the term he was serving, feeling that the time remaining, after having attained the three-score and ten years he would then have reached, would be better employed in another way if he should be freed from the vexations of public office. For his purpose he needed more continuous leisure than he felt he could honestly command if he continued to hold his place in the Senate. During the several previous years he had severely taxed his great strength in preparing for ultimate publication this work which is just now issued from the press in incomplete form. He intended to write a third and concluding part in which he hoped once for all to demonstrate the unconstitutionality of that portion of the reconstruction legislation which interferes with the undoubted right of the State to regulate the suffrage.

It is greatly to be regretted that it was not possible for Senator George to give to the country a considered discussion of this great question. But before the contemplated period of his approaching leisure had arrived he was laid low in death, eighteen months before his term in the Senate would have closed.

In Mississippi City, on the coast of the State he loved and served so well, he passed from life in this world on the 14th day of August, 1897, being not quite 71 years old. On the 17th day of the same month in the town of Carrollton he was buried from the Baptist Church, of which in his final years he was a member.

Senator George once said of another distinguished Mississippian what was even more true of himself: "He knew the people; he mingled and associated with them; he was one of them. He knew their thoughts, their wishes, and their aspirations. He also knew their troubles and trials-their hindrances to success in life. He sympathized with them in their joys and their sorrows. He believed they were capable of selfgovernment. He believed they knew their own interest. He

had faith that in the long run they would be, must be, right. Having this faith in them, he was accustomed in forming his judgment on public measures to give a large consideration to the opinions of the people."

Another has said of him:

"It was his pride that he sprang from the people and theirs that he rose so high. . . . They were grateful for his good offices and he for their approval and support. He made their cause his own, and it was like him to espouse and urge it with all the intensity of his nature."

I cannot more fitly conclude this brief sketch of the life of one whose nature was as simple as his career was great than by quoting the words of his distinguished colleague, General Walthall:

"Proud as he justly was of his name and fame as a lawyer, soldier, judge and Senator, and careful ever to guard them, if his epitaph were limited to a single sentence most accordant with his preference, I am not singular in the belief that 'A friend of the people' would be inscribed upon his tomb."

Mustaque Leavell.

GUATEMALA, January, 1915.