Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-08-17
From the Charleston Courier, srd inst.
The Late Edmund Rhett.
CONTRIBUTED By A FRIEND.

AAO AobO EumuAU AAVttt
CONTRIBUTED By A FRIEND. :.
The high character and rare en-
dowments of this gentleman, whose
death briefly chronicled in the Cou'
7ser of yesterday, demand at on,
hands more extended notice. -
Notwithstanding he has descended
to the tomb before ne had attained
the maturity of manhood, he YET
lived long enough to make his mark
upon the times in which he moved
and he has left behind him record
to which his friends may recur with
a satisfaction qualified only by the
regret, that career SO full Of promise
should have been cut short, before
the blossomings of a rare and eleva.
ted genius had ripened into a harvest
of abundant fruition. aa
Mr.. Rhett was the fourth son Of
the Hon. Robert Barnwell Rhett, SC
well known in South Carolina, and
so highly distinguished throughout
the entire country in the better days
of the Republic, and was born in the
month of November, in the year
1888. After going through the usual
academic course, be was sent to the
South Carolina College, and left that
institution to complete his education
at Harvard College, in Massachusetts,.
He graduated about the year 1850,
with great distinction, and entered
upon the study of the law. Hisdeat
took place on Saturday morning last,
at the residence Of his brother, Colo
mel Alfred Rhett,, at Cordesville, is
the Parish Of st. Johns Berkley.
His entrance upon the cares and
duties of manhood happening at a
period when the country was con-
vulsed by weighty and important
political issues, he was naturally di.
verted from the duties of professional
life, and at.an early age, yielding to
the ardent patriotism, which was a
passion of his warm and generous
nature, he threw aside pursuit in
which be was likely to attain emf
nent success, and devoted himself to
the study and consideration Of the
grave questions on which depended
the welfare and even the existence Of
his country. To these subjects, he
brought the powers of a mind well
stored by careful preparation, and
disciplined by original thought and
patient and laborious Investigation,
and. superadded to this, q purpose
and a will that were fully equal to
the emergencies Of any'occasion, how
ever great.
The shallow sophistries of that
school Of political philosophers who
had suddenly discovered that a rep
resentatiye Republic, established with
special reference to the protection Of
the few against the many-the weak
against the strong-was, in fact, noth=
ing si mora. q: less than an irresponsible
mobocracy, In which the mere will of
the majority was the supreme law Of
the land. found no favor with the
poised intellectof Mr.. Rhett, and he
at once once avowed himself a zeal
oua and uncompromising advocate of
the doctrine of State rights, as the
only safeguard inculcated by the
Of the Republic, and recog-
nized by the Constitution; and by an
adherence to which the permanency
of our institutions could only be
secured.
It was in the discussion and sup
port of this, and.other great cognate
political problems, that he pre-emi-
nently distinguished himself, and
while yet a mere youth, almost be-
fore he was entitled to the toga vsrilis,
took high rank among the thinkers Of
the period, and placed himself, side
by side, with the strong men who
were to fight the great battle, the re-
suit of WHICH was to decide the fu-
ture destiny Of thirty millions Of the
human race.
The columns of the Charleston
Mercury, at that time owned and
edited by his brother, Colonel R.
Barnwell Rhett, Jr., attest the mas
cu1ine boldness and vigor of his
trenchant pen, and it is no more than
simple justice to say of his mastery
productions, that they produced a
profound impression on the public
sentiment of the times-an impress
sion which the efforts of the inter
ested and self-seeking partizans Of
absolutism could neither weaken nor
remove.
They stand as monuments not only
of his genius, but of his lofty patri-
otism and sterling honesty.
When the madness of Radicalism,
running riot over everything that
was sacred in law or constitutional
enactment, eliminated in the election
Of a sectional President, and the
Southern States perceived that the
argument was indeed exhausted and
that nothing was left but a withdraw
al from a Government that was felt
only through its e1actions and its op-
pressions, Mr.. Rhett found his appro-
pirate and congenial place among the
brave defenders of Southern rights,
and was unanimously elected First
Lieutenant in one of the earliest vol
unteer companies that was formed in
Charleston, and of which he soon be-
came the commanding officer.
His military career was short, as
he was very soon obliged to retire
from active service by 4the require
mentsof declining health. But though
he was thus compelled to relinquish
the field and to sheathe his sword, he
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