American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1879-11-15
A LETTER FROM SENATOR HILL.

A LETTER FROM SENATOR HILL.
A Pain Talk with Hon. s.. Ii. Chittenden of
Aims and Purposes-Arguments That Are
UnanswerabIe.
In reply to an open letter addressed
to him by Mr.. S. b. Chittenden of New
York, Senator Hill of Georgia has writ
ten the following letter:
WASHINGTON, October Is, 1879.
DEAR MIR. CHITTENDEN: / have read your
open letter addressed to myself and published
in the Tribune of the 4th inst. You were enti-
divers engagements have worked a delay
which know your good nature will pardon;
hurt, and Congratulate you on your escape.
have made summer speeches in Geor-
gia. made few remarks very unexpectedly
at Tammany Hall on the Fourth of July. and
| it must be to this speech you refer, as L have
| adjournment of Congress have been quietly
but with more than usual solicitude watchlng
the course of political events, and nave peeI
studying to understand as accurately as could
the real temper of the North toward the South
and the Constitution, together with the cause,
| the tendency and the probable final effect OF
that temper upon our sectional relations and
governmental institutions. However much we
may differ some questions of policy, be-
lieve you will do me the justice to admit that
/ am in the habit of speaking, when speak at
all, precisely what think on an sup1eGts. Inc
study alluded to is not pleasant one. VIII
frankly say that at no period OF our Union, as
il seems to me, have the Northern people
so greatly or so unjustly distrusted the South
ern people, nor do think there ever was
a generation at the North who so little under
stood the Constitution little regarded
that Constitution as our bond OF union | do
not mean to be offensive, but do mean TO be
| candid when say that to berate and misrep-
resent the South and to misinterpret ana ig-
more the Constitution seems to be the two sub
| jects which absorb the hearts and minds of the
Republicans of the North, and to which all
other subjects are held as subordinate Your
/ lott trt lhal
this sad fact. You say: Your tmyD candl-
date for COMMEMORATIVE is an excellent man,
by the way-says that the election lin New
York; concerns only State affairs but every
body laughs at him for saying it, What!
are elected to attend only TO State affairs? You
go on: The common feeling seems to be that
but that is also the final battle with rebellion;
| the climax of bitter sectional strife and prob
aoe g9gNW ato to o1 Rattne WITH
rebellion in a State election for only state ON
GERS in New York nearly fifteen years after the
| war has ended? Pardon me, my friend, but
| this far exceeds Falstaff's battle with his i'm
aginary but constantly increasing foes = in
buckramI' Nevertheless you seem to write
correctly the views of your party in New York
and throughout the North. attended Re
publican meeting in Cooper Institute on the
night of the 4th inst.-the night of the day your
The meeting was called to ratify the Repub-
| ican nominations for State officers. After
some sensible remarks by the Chairman we
had two elaborate, evidently prepared and,
In these two speeches made to help the cleo
ton of State officers there was not single al
fusion to State affairs Not one. With single
exception mot a singular exception, by the
way the poor, rebellious, barbarou5 and solid
S was really mo- noteWoTthy and commanded my
full attention. The speaker made what he
undertook. in behalf of absolute NationaIism,
to give meaning to the Constitution whlcn
am sure never occurred to its trainers nor TO
any of the great expounders of that 1nstru-
ment in the two generations that succeeded
its trainers, and then added that F" If his con-
struction was notthe correct one he was in IA
yor of tearing up the Constitution and con-
signing it, with the rebellion, to damnation! Is
parative good feeling and assured National
PROSPERITY Is this tearing up process to
be the - final battle with rebeliionf"
The feeling of distrust, abuse and hate of the
South in the Republicans of the North exhibits
all the symptoms Oh and
Even your local elections for State county,
fec na Of f1 hatred and sust of the South It
is found in your bar-rooms, eounting-hoSHses
and pupts is beyond reas ;dan and, that fe sb
North % is weary of sectional strife. The Re
publican party lives on and thrives by this
sectional strife. Bad men speculate on it and
ting Office. You say: IF there be anything
got out it is the fact that Southern ideas and
Southern men have generally opposed the
who planted and rooted our institutions and
thrift in the hard and thorough discipline of
New England
had supposed that thrift people
was due TO the abundance of our cheap fertile
lands, the great variety of our productions,
the industry of our people, all protected and
inspired with hopeful vigor by that unprece-
denied Constitutional system of dual Federal
2sal srse adson Rnted
and great number of Southern men had
TO 40 Would abate no of
of the credit to which New England is entitled
in this work. l despse all seetionaiism,
fIr.a Nor ne n
South. L believe one section of this coun-
try is all virtuous or all vicious, and no one
vices But if our history teaches any two
facts more indisputably than all other facts
First-That slavery was "planted'' in this
country from Africa and "rOoted" in the
South through the hard and thorough disci-
Second-That secession was both :" planted
and rooted" as adoctrine in our Constitutionu
system by New England; and was taugnt, aa,
vocated and threatened as a Constitutional
remedy for State grievances by leading New
England statesmen many years before II was
ever whispered in the South.
The first threat of secession was made In the
first term of Washington's Administration.
The New England members in Congress had
brought forward a proposition for the assumP-
war debts of the States. The Southern States
had largely paid their debts, while the debts OF
the New England states nad mostly ,,, per
some of whom, Northern historian tells us,
were then in Congress The proposlti.oL WIS
followed. New England threatened to secede
and Congress could do no business but adjourn
from DAY to day, and its dissolution was i'm
minent Atthis critical moment MIR. Jefferson
arrived at the Capital from foreign mission.
He found Mr.. Hamilton pacing up and down
in front of his house Tor the mansion) in utter
despair of the Union. Hamilton explained to
Mr. Jefferson the situation and appealed to
him to save the Union" Jefferson did save
it. Howl Not by argument, nor by denouIn-
cling the New England members as traitors
and criminals, but by trade! He proposed a
trade by which the New England members got
their money and the Southern members got
the National Capital located on the Potomac
instead of further north. For two gem
erations afterward the favoritc method
of saving the Union was by giving
the North the money and the South
the honors. Under this process the North has
grown so great that she insists upon having
all the money and all the honors, ana upon
treating the South criminals ana traitors!
NV friend, did you refer to this happy faculty
of coming out of all contests to saNeth Union
with more money in their pockets when YOU
spoke of our institutions ana thrlit belng
planted and rooted in the hard ana thorough
discipline of New EnEland?' If SO, Junius
himself never made Il harder hit, and you must
talk. rank as of the first, il not the very
first of American lettcr-writers. L congratu-
late YOU on your wcl-Nyon laurclsl
Again You say: New York has loaned to
the South and lost more money there than all
the other States.'' How much money has New
York made out of the South2 From my earliest