The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1874-03-18

eracy and upon their great leaders:
Lee and Davis. He adverts to thai
characteristic of Lee which KEPT
him entirely apart from politics
and takes occasion to vindicate the
character of President Davis from
a number of anfounded aspersion'
and false Impressions. Purer o.
better me# never lived.
Whether there be any remedy TO
these evils Mr.. Hill doubts. IL
says:
els there q possible remedy fo
these OWLS? l should be uncandid i
I did not confess to you l doubt it
There is no resurrection for dead re
publics, and few have ever been re
stored to vigor and health after reach
ing our present state of decline.
fear our people have not more intelll
gence and virtue than those whose
histories VIC arc but repeating. Bu1
for one I am willing to make tho ct
fort, and exhort our Southern people
to cherish no feeling inimical to sue
cess, and omit no duty that may pro
mote it. We have more interest ir
restoring constitutional government
than any other people, for if despot
ism shall como over all, North and
South, there is reason to fear that
serfdom of the South to the North
will be our darkest portion. You
know I never regarded secession as
wise in act, for, however legal and
just it may, or may not have been as
an abstract right, I never believed il
would prove practicable as q remedy
have never doubted that a belligcr'
ent collision between ccntralism and
constitutional federalism would, soon
er or later, como. But, by the States
in tho Union, and for the liberties o1
tho people, was always my favoritc
plan to make tho fight. But for the
scnsitiveness of slavery we might
have made that fight only in the
Union. Let, therefore, secession and
slavery be buried out of sight, and,
though late, let US mako one more de-
effort, in the forum or rea-
son, and at the ballot box, to save
the treasures we are losing"
The beginning of the work he
finds in an attempt to elevate the
craftsmanship of the country, -
and this by the exclusion of mill
tary men from civil Offices, and by
the reduction Of Congressional
salaries. He thus concludes:-
But one comfort the Southern
people and their children must ever
lavc.-Whethcr constitutional gov
ernment shall continue or fail;
States shall remain or be
obliterated; whether liberty shall be
recovered or die tho death that knows
no waking, soe shuH be rindscoteds If
tho union of the States, undor consti-
tutional government, and securing the
blessings of liberty, be recovered and
perpctuatcd, the work can only be
lone by returning to the great prin-
ciples for which I'VE struggled. The
General Government must be re-
strained within the limitations Of its
delegated powers, and
the States restored to the unrcstrain-
ed control Of thoir domestic affairs
under reserved rights, or Union,
States and liberty must perish. If
this glorious work shall have success
Lbcn the rcjoicings of according States
and happy millions from tho Atlantic
to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to
Ihe Gulf, will syllable forever the hal
clujahs of Southern triumph'!
But if blindness. madness, hate'and
shall continue coercion and
reconstruction rs accepted and ap-
proved principles Of Federal admins
ration, then the wall that shall come
I'D from the universal wreck Of
Union, States and liberty will drown
lie thunder in loud vindicat;on Of
Southern wisdom and fidelity. The
yraves of Davis and Lee will become
Icccas for journeying, sorrowstrick-
IN pilgrims Of right for ages to come !;
md the future historian, reviewing
,he records your care shall have pre-
served, will write tho epitaph for the
dead: These were the
asst heroes of freedom in America"