in Atlanta, September 4, 1848. The trouble was renewed;
Judge Cone denounced Mr. Stephens, who rapped him over the shoulders
with a whalebone cane. Mr. Stephens was a fragile man, and Judge Cone,
with strong physique, closed in and forced him to the floor. During the
scuffle Mr. Stephens was cut in six places. His life for a while was
despaired of. Upon his recovery he was received with wild enthusiasm by
the Whigs, who cheered his pluck and regarded his return to the canvass
as an omen of victory.

Shortly afterward he wrote to Mrs. Toombs, thanking her for her interest
and solicitude during his illness. He managed to write with his left
hand, as he could not use his right. "I hope," he says, "I will be able
to take the stump again next week for old Zach. I think Mr. Toombs has
had the weight of the canvass long enough, and though he has done
gallant service, this but inspires me with the wish to lend all aid in
my power. I think we shall yet be able to save the State. My faith is as
strong as Mr. Preston's which, you know, was enough to move mountains. I
got a letter the other day from Mr. C----, who gives it as his opinion
that Ohio would go for General Taylor. If so, he will be elected. And
you know how I shall hail such a result."

During Mr. Stephens' illness Mr. Toombs canvassed many of the counties
in the Stephens district. Both men were reelected to Congress, and
Zachary Taylor received the electoral vote of Georgia over Lewis Cass of
Michigan, and was elected President of the United States.

The Democrats, who put out a candidate this year against Mr. Toombs,
issued an address which was evidently not inspired by the able and
deserving gentleman who bore their standard, but was intended as a sharp
rebuke to Mr. Toombs. It is interesting as showing how he was regarded
by his friends, the enemy.

"Of an age when life's illusions have vanished," they said of the
Democratic candidate, "he has no selfish aspirations, no vaulting
ambition to carry him astray: no vanity to lead where it is glory enough
to follow." They accorded to Mr. Toombs "a very showy cast of
talent--better suited to the displays of the stump than the grave
discussions of the legislative hall. His eloquence has that sort of
splendor mixed with the false and true which is calculated to dazzle the
multitude. He would rather win the applause of groundlings by some silly
tale than gain the intelligent by the most triumphant course of
reasoning."