If we are to exercise fully [our] judgment, sometimes we may be required to lead, inform, correct and on occasion even ignore public opinion in our States.
I think that a rather simple, a rather “corny” but a rather thought-provoking story once told by a Mississippi Senator who had opposed his state best illustrates this point. The Senator involved bore the fascinating name of Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar; and he had gotten himself into the predicament of which I spoke by three different actions: first, he had delivered a moving eulogy in the Congress upon the death of the South’s most implacable enemy, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts; secondly, he had abided by the decision of the special electoral commission to award the Presidency to the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876; and finally and most terrible of all, he had violated the instructions of his State Legislature and ignored the wishes of his constituents by opposing the free silver movement which sought to promote easy, inflationary money for the relief of Mississippi and other debtor and depression-ridden states.
When Lucius Lamar returned to Mississippi he was met with bitter hostility. But in a series of powerful speeches which he delivered throughout the State, senator Lamar, a former officer of the Confederacy, told the story which I would like to repeat to you. In the company of other prominent military leaders of the Confederacy, he said, he had been on board a blockade runner making for Savannah harbor; and the Captain had sent sailor Billy Summers to the top mast to look for Yankee gun boats in the harbor. Billy said he had seen ten. But that distinguished array of officers knew where the Yankee fleet was, Lamar related, and they told the Captain that Billy was wrong and that he should proceed ahead. The Captain refused, insisting that while the officers knew a great deal more about military affairs, Billy Summers on the top mast with a powerful glass knew a great deal more about what boats were in the harbor. It later developed, according to Lamar, that Billy was right, and that if they had gone ahead they would all have been captured.
And so Lamar insisted to his constituents that he did not claim to be wiser than they; but that he was in a better position as a member of the Senate to judge what was in their best interests. And he concluded the story with these words:
“Thus it is, my countrymen, you have sent me to the topmost mast, and I tell you what I see. If you say I must come down, I will obey without a murmur, for you cannot make me lie to you; but if you return me to my post, I can only say that I will be true to love of country, truth, and God.”
Take that, netroots!
