Of course they would not suffice.
"As they were coming away the great Mr.Lamar said to the poor landlady, 'Madam, have you lived long in Washington ?' She said all her life.
'Madam,' he continued, 'were you at a fancy dress ball given by Mrs.
Senator Gwin of California, the eighth of February, 1858 ?' She said she was.

'Do you remember,' the statesman, soldier and orator continued, 'a young and handsome Mississippian, a member of Congress, by the name of Lamar ?' She said she didn't." I rather think that Lamar was the biggest brained of all the men I have met in Washington.

He possessed the courage of his convictions.

A doctrinaire, there was nothing of the typical doctrinaire, or theorist, about him.

He really believed that cotton was king and would compel England to espouse the cause of the South.
Despite his wealth of experience and travel he was not overmuch of a raconteur, but he once told me a good story about his friend Thackeray.
The two were driving to a banquet of the Literary Fund, where Dickens was to preside.