The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-01-26
Political leaders
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We believe the Hon. Bcn Hill to b.
an honest and pious man as the worIJ
goes, M eloquent orator, n good law
iycraul logicjan, and CITED with Ian
mace clear, trrse and bold. We once
mad ]unhouuded faith in his moral c0ur-
age, shat he woDid 20 into exile, or 9"
to the stake rather than swerve hairs
breadth from his considered convic
tons. W. remember that lie once
dropped a remark to us, IN company,
Just before the Secession Convention
assembled, that "wc were too strong n
UMon man for the times The remark
was half playful and half earnest, but
it left Il mark, and We we've not disap-
'poiuted when his name WIS recorded
in the Affirmative on the iilal passage
OF tie Ordinance Of Secession. We
were satisfied then, il not before, aver
to believe in the iDra!lihle man, or poll
tician, and that however high our est
mate Of Mr.. Hill as a thinker, Il speaker
or writer, that he had not in his char
actpr the clements Of a Cato or Gran
mcr.-oi 4 hero or martyr.
Our health, time and space, viii no.
pcirj Us to say but f few words al
present in relation to he address from
Mr.. Hill, publ. el in full in oOr issue
Of Wednesday. Much OF this address
VIC approve, while q large portion wc
sincerely condemn ~ ~ opDo7rfc 30 .
f~rrGspirit, sound logic, and that per.
lection Of reason, not force, whose
sent is in the bosom Of God" aRu
culiod-Law. Mr., Hill says:
Indeed, successful usurpation is the
strongest expression of power, and
law itself, in its last analysis, is only
power
SO thinks Mr.. Hill, and so did not
think Sir Matthew Hale, the ablest
JUDGE, Tic purcst man, and the most
pious christian that ever wore t En-
S!iah judicial crminc. Dir. Hill will
find, by turning to TIE LIST volume
Of Wcndells Blackstone, we FORGET the
page that when the British Monarchy
vas overtime n, and the head Of
Charles the First was held up bleeding
hy The hands of the eXccuti0ner TO the
popuiace ofLondon, that Tor years If
ter u Commonwealth had been cstab.
iished and Cromwell declared Protect
or, that the great and good Sir Matthew
Hale did not consider law, either in its
first or last analysis, only power. He.
at least, thought that English law was
quite n different thing from American
Radical law
" That he should take who has the power
And he should keep who can"
lie believed that the clements of flaw
consisted in right and justice written
by the finger Of God on every human
heart. in every age, whether savage
SAINT Or sage. This writing may b,
obscurcd or entirely hlotted out ly :
false religion, education or ambition
Int that is no reason why the standard
OF law and pc yer, of right and wrong
OF tyranny and liberty, should he DIES.
troyed. Sir Matthew Hale refused to
receive a com mission from power
(Cromwell) to sit as Chief Justice OF
the Kings Bench, because he thought
the %usurpation violated the principles
Of English liberty, and that no power
OF the sword could or should stand in
the place ofjust law, honestly admins
tered.
If Mr.. Hill will look North or South,
he will see two noble examples of the
triumphs Of law v power, of moral
right over political wrong. He will
discover the truth of the lines
There never yet was human power
That could escape If un!or"ivrn.
The patient search, the vigil long.
Ofhim who ire. lures up NrOn!."