The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1850-05-08

| ioOkcu on inc success OF his well con-
ccrtcd plans. But in the moment of
victory. tall cid man, with his long
white locks streaming i'll the breeze,
bursts into the crowd and invoking
the God Of Battles in q voice heard
above the din of conflict, rushed i'm
pctuously on the conqucring foe.--
Animated by such leader, they re-
new the fight and change the for
tunes of the day. And when the
victory is won, and all hasten to
thank their dclivcrcr, he suddenly
disappears, leaving them in rs great
wonder and astonishmcnt as were the
Roman Fathers when Castor and
Pollnx vanished Rby vcsta's holy
well" That man, long regarded as
an angel from heaven was afterwards
known to have been Goffc, the Rcgi-
eide: who, from an opening in his
cellar, witnessed the chances of the
contest and rushed to the fight with
al: the fires Of Nascly kind!cd afresh
in his veins.
1t is: indeed, interesting but mel
ancholy to trace the record of lives
thus spent, and to dwell on the emo.
tons which must have agitatcl their
breasts during the long period of
their exile. How strange at that
time was the contrast between the
country in which they lived as wan.
dcrcrs aud outlaws, and Tic land
which they left Echind them. Stran.
ser still was the contrast between the
rank which they i,cll in the one, and
that which they had held in the 9TH
err For in these Inhabitants Of the
cave we discern the near relatives Of
Cromwell and the heroes who had so
often put to flight tie bravocs of
lIunstord and Rupurt, and in the
disguised wanderers Of IIaicv, we
sec those Who in the Hall of William
Hufus had sat in Judgment OH the
life of !, King, VIII had witnessed the
Inauguration Of Oliver and who had
followed in procession as Lords of
the RlpRRfGy ll' RGy rjHh2Yy.s jH2yse when ofrsr was
Not long since it was announced
that the descendants Of John Dix
well, another Of the Regicidcs, had
disintcrcd the remains of their anccs-
tor for the purpose of erecting a mon
umcnt to his memory. Having also
fed to America, Dixwcll, under the
fcigncd name Of Davids, long resided
i'll New Haven, and at his death,
was buried BY the side Of Gollc and
Whally. AS we Stand with his re-
lativcs by the opening grave of this
Rcyicide we think of New Haven as
it was in 1858, and We 20 with its
weeping citizens to the house Of
mourning. We gather around the
couch OF an aged suffer cr, now III the
eighty y-third year ofhis aye, who is ob.
served to be troubled and restless, for
he has been anxously cxpcctin. Il rev.
olution in England. Now upon the
bed Of death, in his Slight dclyium he
mentions names and recalls events
which plainly indicate that his past
Ii c has been one Of uncommon inte.
rest. Now he is on the field Of bat
tie charging the enemies of the Com
monwealth. Now he is dwelling on
the liccntious age Of Charles ! |, and
now on the tcrrors Of the bloody AS.
sizes. But while we thus stand
around his bed, it is whispered that
courier has just arrived from Bus
ton with the news that James | had
been hurled from his throne, and that
the glorious revolution Of 1858 had
been achieved. The welcome news
falling upon tie cars Of the dying old
man, starts him from his dclirium.
His thoughts no longer wandering,
he thanks God for this great victory
of civil and religious freedom, and
telling the astonshcd group that his
nam, is Dixwcll, that he is one of the
Judges of Charles I. Without
struggle he brcathcd his last, when
the evening sun had sunk behind the
noble rock which was once the home
of Goffc and Whally, his spirit was
winging its way to regions where the
drum beats 40 revcillc and where the
clarion sounds no alarms.
Such were the sad lives of the
RcgiciIcs in America, the story of
whose exile, suIierings, and death
has thrown a livelicr interest around
the pages Of history, and furnished
themes for poetry and romance. The
time has come when their characters
may be dispassionately reviewed by
history. And the historian of what.
ever party in noting these public acts,
will record for the Judgment of ages
to come that among those who have
fought in the cause Of civil and reli.
g'ous liberty, none were more con
slstcnt in their principles, and none
more exemplary in their lives.
c.