New-York tribune., 1879-05-19
SENATOR HILLS LOYALTY.

A DISCOVERY
THAT PUT TIE SENATOR IN AN UNPLEASANT
IIGHT-THE CLAIM OF UNIoNisM FRAUDULENT.
IrRoM REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEl
WASHINGTON. May Ex-senator Hill in his speech
delivered in the Senate week ago asserted that a
large proportion of the exCOnfederate officers now
III Congress were Union cooperation men In 1851,
who opposed the secession of their several States
for the then existing and he drew from this
alleged fact the conclusion that they constitute
class of men whom the Northern people ought to
trust. To illustrate the loyalty of these men IN
1861 Mr. Hill gave the Senate and the country
chapter of his own political history and said he
introduced it because he was a representative man
"a representative of the class III whose behalt
he was speaking, and who he said filed
so many of the seats in Congress assigned
to the representatives of the South He then re-
ferred to the circumstances under which the Seces
SION Convention of Georgia was called in 1861,
mentioned his election as a delegate to that con-
yention by the people of TToup County, and quoted
from his letter accepting that nomination, to show
that he was Union man. Following that he also
read from letter which he wrote to friend on the
evening after the ordinance of secession was passed.
in which, without disclosing how he himself had
voted upon the question, he used such language, de-
plorng step the State had aken as TO convey the
immersion that he had stood with Alexander II.
sion until after it was actually accomplished.
Mr. Hill ever since the war has represented himself
AS a Union man, and has always claimed the honor
of having stood out against secession until after his
State. against his protest. had actually voted to
sever its connection with the Union In the
sketch of his life prepared by himself for the Con-
press0nal Directory, he says Of himself: HE was
delegate to the State Convention of 1861 and adj
vocated the Union until the ordinance OF secession
had been adopted"
Strangely enough no one during the last ten years,
or since MIR. Hill has returned to public life, has
thought to challenge the accuracy of his state
ments; and even the Republican press of the coun-
trv and Republican members of Congress have ac-
cepted his account of himself as veritabe history.
Now that he himself has brought the subject
TO the attention of the country, an appeal
TO the record is not only timely but import
ant for the light it throws upon the political
character and professions of the men into whose
hands Mr. Hill thinks the country ought to give the
Government without any msgivlngs.
The proceedings of the Secession Convention of
the State of Georgia during the early part OF its
session IN Mi}ledgeville were secret and although
its journals were subsequently published, the book
containing them is very rarely met with, and very
few of the public men to-day have ever
seen it, This may be the reason that Mr.
HIPS account of himself has not recently been
questioned. The fact is that Senator Hill was, III
1861 and for several years before, Union man OF
such uncertain constancy that one could ever
tell where to find him. The Hon. Joseph e. Brown,
who was the Governor of Georgia in 1861, when
the ordinance of secession was passed, and who
was. therefore, as thoroughly familiar with the
events of that period as anyone wrote and pub
lsbed series of letters in the Summer of 1867, in
ono or two of which he had something to say about
Senator HIPS UniOnism during those exciting
times The men who were most responsible for
secession were those who by their speeches ana
acts prior to 1861 advocated the destruction OF the
Union in certain contingencies, and III advance ed-
ucated the people of the South to demand secession
after Mr.. Lincoln's election. How did Mr.. Hill act
then ? The following is an extract from one of
Governor Browns letters bearing on that point
In 1859 in his Dudley letter Mr.. mr. IN answer
IN fine question what the people OF Georgia should 40 IN
Ie event the Republican party elected ts candidate Tor
The Presidency the next year, most enpnattay M & au
vised War war war I'm every sense In whlc thc Term
is defined or detnable" and in the event that Douglas
elected or any one m most eaTeest terms think
no word in indicated the desire or intention
of the writer await an overt act OF Vppres50h py
he Federal Government the cooperation OF all the
Southern States as contingency on WHICH %
snoGiu M Giunpnded his party his friends and his honor,
and defended and 1ustlned IL III MS epooo"0' 'H' "
whenever he alluded TO IT,
In onotber letter Governor Brown repeated his
accusations against Mr. Hill of having been IN favor
81 vor without waiting for an overt act on the part
of the Government of the United States lie went
even further and declared that he had voted for the
ordinance Of secession and signed 1t. Governor
Brown said: , ,-..
In 1889 he (r HID took position IN advance ior war var
i,hout waiting for overt net or oppression py ~.
TTidayai Goyernment IN case tho Republican phty
t6oud elect Their candidate for the Pfesdehey neAr
yc9r I'm the Fall OF 1859 he was elected Slne nehn.o
-, 1,onn County After Mr. blncoIh WIS
iccied President lie backed down from MS poso sn1
FOR the convention on the Union or 'tVPei"siodn n
ticket lie was elected, ana TOOK MS, MS lotH s."V
m tn Secession Convention He at first opposed stees-
son Before the passage OF the ordinance OF ~
alter IL was kn0wn that majority oi te ~, M
red n AZ began discussed IN private ccles VIM
sboad be elected the Provisional Congress ~ easJ s @