es.

But Robert Toombs concluded that his place was in the field, not in the
Cabinet. Too many prominent men, he explained, were seeking bombproof
positions. He received a commission as brigadier general, and on the
21st of July, 1861, joined Generals Beauregard and Johnston at Manassas.

CHAPTER XXII.

BRIGADIER GENERAL IN ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

When Robert Toombs resigned the Cabinet and took the field, he still
held the seat, as was his prerogative, in the Confederate Congress. This
body, like the British Parliament, sat in chairs, without desks. One
morning Congress was discussing the Produce Loan. By this measure,
invitations were given for contributions of cotton and other crops in
the way of a loan. By the terms of the act these articles were to be
sold and the proceeds turned over to the Secretary of the Treasury, who
was to issue eight per cent bonds for them. This was an extraordinary
measure, and never really amounted to much. Colonel A. R. Lamar, at one
time Secretary of the Provisional Congress, relates that during this
debate General Toombs walked into the hall. "He was faultlessly attired
in a black suit with a military cloak thrown over one shoulder and a
military hat in his left hand. He made a rattling speech against the
measure. Drawing himself up, he said: "Mr. Speaker, we have been told
that Cotton is King, that he will find his way to the vaults of the
bankers of the Old World; that he can march up to the thrones of mighty
potentates, and drag from the arsenals of armed nations the dogs of war;
that he can open our closed ports, and fly our young flag upon all the
seas. And yet, before the first autumnal frost has blighted a leaf upon
his coronet, he comes to this hall a trembling mendicant, and says,
'Give me drink, Titinius, or I perish.'" The effect was magical; Colonel
Lamar, in commenting upon this dramatic incident, sums up the whole
character of Robert Toombs:

"He was cautious and safe in counsel, while wild and exasperating in
speech."

When Mr. Toombs was once asked by an Englishman, where were the files of
the State Department, he answered that "He carried the archives in his
hat." When he resigned the position of Secretary of State, Hon. Robert
M. T. Hunter of Virginia was appointed in his stead. General William M.
Browne had been Assistant Secretary under Mr. Toombs. He was an
Englishman, who came to this country during Buchanan's administration
and edited a Democra