The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1848-01-12
From the Charleston Mercury.
THE PALMETTO EMF


THE PALMETTO REGIMENT.
believe our Legislature have done no.
thing for our gallant dead who fell upon the
bloody fields OF Mexico AS to providing
for the bodily comforts of their surviving
families, that is nothing. There may he
something i'll Republic that might make
that an unsafe and unpolitic precedent.
But then, why has the Legislature done
nothing effective towards commemoratinc
permanently the fame and honor of those
sons of South Carolina who have covered
the State with glory in a foreign land?
But Tor the Governors Message, and the
reports OF Committee or two, there is no.
thing official that has passed both branches
at Columbia, which would show that the
Palmetto banner was borne III triumph by
band of heroes over the pcrilous ridge Of the
battle at Contreras, Churubusco, Chapultc-
pee and the Gari,a of Mexico. Is there
nothing IN all these deeds Of valor worthy
10 be commcmorated in all after times q
Are we but the degenerate sons of noble
sircs?
All people who have furnished examples
for the admiration ofthc world, have taken
pride In raising up monuments by which
TO transmit their heroic deeds to a dccotel
posterity; and when State ceases to re-
member with gratitude the valor of her GAL.
liant sons it shows cold indifference that
chills the heart of hero, and argues that
she herself is degenerate and corrupt.-
those who expect 10 make South Carolina
great BY Ens:cly developing the physical
resources of the State, vastly mistake the
genius and the spirit of our people. What
are the physical resources of South Caroli-
ma, as compared with the other great and
gigantic States that encircle this Confede-
racy? Literally nothing. The only true
way to make us great people is to devel-
opc our moral and Intellectual endowments.
Make us brave and heroic people make
us intellectual and eloquent, and you will
make US great people Others may SUR
pass us IN numbers; others may surpass
us IN wealth; f; but for all those noble quail
ties that have kindled the admiration of
the world, aud fired the enthusiasm of the
great and the wise in every age and in eve
ry country, we will be their superors. A
people arc great, not from their physical re-
sources OF brutal numbers, but from their
great deeds.
The Greek valor of Butler, the Roman
intrepidity of Dickinson, and the heroic and
glorious band who died with them under
the triumPant flag of their country, upon the
bloody fields of battle, have done more to
kindle noble AMI high enthusiasm
amongst our children, have done more for
the fame and moral worth of South Carroll
ma, than whole generations of men reposing
IN lnglorouS ease and luxurious indulgence
stimu ated into what are called modern en-
terprise, by jesuitical fnanciers, or miscra-
bic politicians. Their fame, at this dav,
is worth more to South Carolina than ali
her Rail Roads and all her Banks
Why is It that Athens, small and incon-
siderable town Of Attica, held for so long
a time the moral sway of the world? It
was because her people had the gratitude
to bring back the bones Of Themistocles
from foreign land, and raised over them
magnificent tomb, upon which her chill
dren could stand and "wake to ecstacy"
the genius of stormy Democracy.
When Perlcles covered her glorious hills
with those beautiful marble monuments that
have been the wonder and admiration of
all after times, he we'll understood the true
genius Of her people, and all the elements
OF genuine greatness. Neither Herodotus,
nor Polybius, nor Thucydides, nor any of
the trashy historians of modern time, have
ever given us as vivid history of that
wonderful people, as what we read from
their tombs, their monuments, their temples,
and their porticoes. No man can walk by
the standing columns of the Parthenon, It
seems to me, without communing with the
spirits ofthe mighty, and feeling his heart
beat and expand with deeper and warmer
emotions of enthusiasm. II
A lion stone was erected at the straits of
ThermopyI@, and the bones Of Leonidas
were carried back to Sparta by Pausanias
forty years after his death, and monument