National Republican., 1876-02-03

office, little Aleck Stephens was the target
at which Hill directed his fire. This war
of words came near resulting in an en-
counter with pistols, which was only
averted by Hill S positive refusal to meet the
embryo chairman of the Committee on
Weights and Measures upon the field of
honor, evidently approaching the Shaks-
perian admonition
"He who fights and runs away
Will live to fight another day;
But he who is In battle slain
Will never live to fight again"
1t was during one of these warm CAM
paigns that Hill threatened to pin Stephens
ears back and swallow him whole "Then
you will have more brains in your stom-
Zach than you have in your head, " retorted
little Aleck. In 1857 Mr.. Hill was nomi-
mated by the Wing party for Governor of
Georgia. His past record as Conservative
was good, and the opponents of Toombs and
johnson rallied to his standard, but with
out avail, and Joseph E. Brown was the
successful candidate by nearly twenty thou
sand majority We hear no more of Hill
from that time to the commencement of
the Yancey- Davis Toombs movement for
taking the South out of the Union. The
Secession convention of Georgia met at
Milledgeville on the 10th of January, 1861,
and Mr.. Hill appeared in it as delegate
from Troup county, having been in
structed by his constituents to OPP
pose disintegration at every stage of the
contest. Mr.. Hill voted against the ordi-
nance Of secession, and opposed 1t SO ar
deutly that Toombs and Nesbitt resolved
to capture" him, which they accom-
plished in this wise: They deputed Hill to
prepare an address to the people of Georgia,
setting forth the imaginary grievances of
the State, and as this honor had been de-
MED to others of prominence. Mr.. Hill fell
into the trap, and was thenceforth as noisy
in his support of treason as he had pre-
viously been in combating it. On January
81, in secret session, Hill was appoint ID
one of a committee of thirteen to frame
constitution for the Independent republic
of Georgia, and on January "a he was ap-
pointed one Of the eight delegates from
that State to the convention Of seeding
SlhlCs dt 11OulSouCifB hlo.p W houlO buO
constitution of the Southern Confederacy.
During the recess Mr.. Hill took an active
part in framing the Confederate constitu-
ton and electing Jefferson Davis Provis-
ional President of the Confederate States.
He reappeared in the Georgia convention,
and on the 10th of March he recorded his
vote, together with Stephens and Johnson,
for the adoption and ratification" of that
constitution "by the State of Georgia. act
"ing in its sovereign and independent
character" In March, 1861, Mr.. Hill
Joined with his fellow members of the COM
mittee of thirteen in reporting in secret
session a new constitution for Georgia,
which, as finally adopted, contained the
following provisions
"The General Assembly shall have no power
to prevent immigrants from bringing their
slaves with them.
'The General Assembly shall have no power
to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves"
From the above it would appear that Mr..
Hill had weighed well his words uttered in
the House of Representatives, when he de-
clared that the South committed mistake
in Withdrawing from the Union, instead of
remaining and effecting her purpose in ii,
and that henceforth she would consider
herself in her fathers house, with her
brothers as companions, fighting fanaticism
in the Union, and not out Of it.
In April, 1861, Mr.. Hill was elected to
the Confederate States Senate from Georgia,
and at once entered upon his duties. In
this capacity ne was untiring in his, efforts
to establish Southern independence and 80
conspicuously did he serve the Confederacy
that JEFF. Davis conferred upon him the
sou6riquet of 'rhe right arm of my govern
ment." The old feuds between himself
and Toombs and Stephens were forgotten,
and they Wed with each other in de-
nouncing Northern men and measures. In
1868 he got into an alteration with Ysncey
in the Senate Chamber, which resulted in
his dashing the Alabama Senator upon a
desk. Yancey was taken to Spotswood's
hotel, and never left it alive, having expired
about three weeks after receiving his inju-
ries. A vote of secrecy" was taken upon
the matter by the Senate, and excepting
vague rumors, none of the particulars of
the difficulty were known to the country
until after the war. At the close of the
war there were those in the South who ap-
preciated the magnanimity exhibited by
Grant at Appomattox, and resolved that