The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-08-16
MIR, HILLS SPEECH AND HIS NOTES.

On the 10th July, 1867, the Hon. BENJAMIN
H. HILL, of Georgia, made speech at Allan
ta, ssOn the Condition of the Country" At the
close of his speech, according to the reporter,
three cheers were proposed "for the only man
south of Mason and Dixon's line that has pro-
claimed the truth from the seaboard to the
mountains" In this speech, therefore, we
have looked for the truth. We have not found
it. We have not seen in it single proposition
stated fairly. We have found in it little else
than an excited appeal to the passions of those
who listened; and in the most of that which
was charged against others, much which had tho
most fitting adaptation to Mr. HILL himself.
We ore at liberty to deal with the speech as
we think it deserves; because the subject IS
common with US and the people Of Georgia.
Whatever Mr.. HILL has said to the people ef
Georgia, is equally applicable to the people Of
this State.
eff (says Mr.. HrLI) you vote for oonven-
tion, you are pERJURED." And this declara-
ton, 30 startling, Mr.. HILL proceeds to prove,
by the assertion that the Act of Congress by
which provision is made for the proposed Con-
vention in these States, is unconstitutional.
Being then unconstitutional, the vote for the
Convention he says, violates the obligations
of the amnesty oath; because that oath binds
him who takes it to support the Constitution.
1t would be perhaps sufficient to say that one
of oil VII
the Constitution of the United States, had been
obliged to seek and obtain q pardon, should be
rather difident interpreter of its obligations,
as declared by all the departments of its gov
ernment. When Mr.. HILL sought for and OBJ
tanned that pardon, he admitted that he
had wrongfully done that which, in his
speech, he again counsels and advises. he
again sets up his opinion as to the legal effect,
and, therefore, of the obligation Of an existing
law, against the authority of all the depart
ments of the Government Of the United States.
He has admitted that in this he has heretofore
erred little more moderation then would
have been in better taste from one, who had be-
fore him the recent proof of his mistake, ac-
cording to his own admissions, of what that
Constitution meant, and of the obligations it
imposed, and which he confesses to have vio-
lated.
Of Mr.. H1LL's opinions previous to the late
war we have not any knowledge. OF his
opinions during that war, we have also but
limited experience. This, however, We
gather from portion of the de-
bates in the Senate of the Confederate States;
that Mr.. HILL was the advocate Of measures
arbitrary; of doctrines tyrannical; of that con-
struction of the powers of that Congress which
destroyed every principle of Constitutional
Liberty for the advancement of which the war
was waged. It would be difficult for the Con-
gress of the United States toIexercise any pow
ers which would be more arbitrary, and with
less show of sanction in the Constitution, than
were some of those which, in the Congress OF
the Confederate States, had the support of Mr..
HILL.
Mr.. HILL, in his Notes, has told us that, ''after
years of heroic struggle, the Southern people
laid down their arms, because they were assur-
cd by their enemies, and taught by long. trust
ed but faithless counsellors and oficeholders
among themselves, by SO doing they would be
again in the Union as before"
Mr.. HILL has evidently not the materials for
writing history of that struggle. In opposi-
-. nj IF ha
that led to the cessation of hostilities, we will
place the testimony of the gallant and i'll used
General JOHNSTON: "Events (says that
true soldier) in Virginia which broke every
hope of success by war, imposed on its Gene
rails the duty of sparing the blood of this gal
liant army, and saving our country from fur
ther devastation and our people from ruin"
And who does not know that this is SO?
And when the heroic men who composed
these armies yielded, it was for the considera-
tions which this brave General, with the terse
language of the soldier, but the true instincts
of the man, thus pointedly sets forth: 81 made
(he says) this convention (the convention with
General SuERMAN), to spare the blood of the
gallant little army committed to me; to prevent
further suffering of our people, by the devas-
tation and ruin inevitable from the marches OF
invading armies; and 10 avoid the crime Of rag
ina hopeless ,car." Will Mr.. HILL be regarded
as more trustworthy in his statement of the
causes that led to the cessation of hostilities,
than General JOHNSTON? Will the people be-
lieve Mr.. HILL that they were tricked into
surrender; or General JOHNSTON, that the war
had become so hopeless, that the further prose-
cution of it was crime:
Well with the Convention then made be-
tween General SHERMAN and General JOHN
sToN, was it left, rs Mr.. HILL would have it,
United States was constitutional and what was
not! Not so. After the preliminary parts of
the Convention had been complied with, the
officers and men were "pcrmittcd to return to
their homes, not to be disturbed by the United
States authorities, so long as they observe
their obligation (not to take up arms against
the Government of the United States until pro-
perly relieved from this obligatien), and tie
lavS in force ,rhere they may reside"
Who, then is, under this obligation, permit
ted to say that law, passed by the constituted
and proper departments of the Government of
the United States, is not o law he is bound to
obey? Who will say that a law passed in pur
suance of the power and forms of the Constitu-
tion, with which the Supreme Court has re-
fused to interfere, is yet not law, for the
observance of which the officer or soldier who
has been thus paroled is to give obedience?
How any one who occupied position go re-
sponsible as that of Mr. HILL, and in which
there should have been such ample opportunity
for knowing and understanding the causes that
broke down the struggle, should pretend that
the acts of demagogues or politicians led to the
surrender of the armies of LEE and JOHNSTON,
ie indeed grrnrisinp How fur the octa and