The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1878-07-13
"Stephens ! Stephens Stephens i"
from the multitude. It was now
settled that

THE ONLY WAY TO GET STEPHENS
down was to kill him, and that ia
partly the reason why 80 few have
tried to do it since. General Cass
! had been sure of the State by
10000, but his influence gave it to
General Taylor by 1900. It was
after this that he challenged Gov
ernor Herschel Y. Johnson for a
discourtesy in debate. The matter
was settled without fighting but
in the correspondence Mr. Stephens
made use of his memorable state:
ment: "No man has any right to
insult another like a worldling, and
then to seek a sanctuary like a
Christian"
His controversy with the Hon.
Benjamin H. Hill. the present Sena-
tor from Georgia, was more serious.
Mr.. Hill was invited to political
barbecue Tor dinner of meat cooked
IN plt,) where Mr.. Stephens and
Judge II. w. Thomas were to do the
Democratic talking. Mr.. Stephens
began his speech in his usual tone
Of lpsolent contempt. Said he : 1T
was expected that representative
men Of the parties would be in de-
bate to-day. I do not say that
MIR. d. H. HILL,
the Know>Nothing orator, is unable
to discuss these great questions
aoith me. [ do not say he is afraid to
meet mo in this discussion. T do
not shy he bache0 out Of this affair.
/ only soy that he promised to come,
anil that he is not here" This was
| reported to Mr.. Hill, who, when
next he spoke alone, retorted by
saying that he had charged Mr.,
Stephens at Lexington, and Mr..
Toombs at Washington village, with
''having betrayed the Wing party,
and having acted worse towards it
than Judas Iscariot. for, though
Ju lls betrayed his master, he did
not abuse him afterward." Said
Mr.. Hill: II thundered this in
their ears, and they covered under
it, The issue was made up, not SO
much on whether he said it or not
for he did SO later, if not then
but upon whether they ''oowered"
or not. Mr.. Stephens wrote his
demand for retraction, and Mr..
Hill wrote about politics, and said
he was insensible to any feeling of
fear. Mr.. Stephens challenged him,
and Mr.. Hill wrote Of the issue, and
of family and moral duties, and said
he would resist and defend himself
if attacked. Then
MIR. STEPHENS ''pUDL1sHED" HIM;
and that the present good genera
ton may know what an awful thing
that was, I copy the hot paragraph;
II am compelled by a sense Of
duty to myself and the public to
make known that by the CORES,
pondence just terminated, and in
relation to it, Mr.. Hill has proved
himself to me to be not only an inn
pudent braggart and OH upscrupu.
lous liar, but despicable poltroon
besides. All these + proclcim him
to bo, holding myself, notwithstand,
ing what has passed and this denun,
citation, still responsible, eUe,s to him
for what I say, il be be not insensi-
bile to shame and degradation, how.
ever he may be to 'fear,'"
Again, at the close, after speaking
of the Elbert discussion:
81 will also, I trust, be excused,
even by the most fastidious, for the
language now used toward him,
which my own self~respect would,
on ordinary occasions, forbid. But
when o mendacious gasconader sets
up wantonly to asperse private
character and malign individual
reputation, and then refuses that
redress which gentleman knows
how to ask as we'll as to grant, no
course is left for the most courteous
and decorous, the most upright and
honorable, but to put the brand of
infamy upon him, there to remain
until a radical change in his char.
acter, and especially in his conduct,
either in giving personal insults or
making proper amends for them
when given, shall remove it.
ALEXANDER Fl. STEPHENS.
Washington, D, G., December
IL, 1856" (
The best possible proof of the
civilization of the South, even in
that day, is that this illumination
made simply no ''brand' at all, and
didn't "remain" worth cent. Mr..
Hill ror1ad hy ra,;oc, - a.