Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-05-22
BAD BEN. HILL.

Ben. Hill is q Pharisee, and has
a bad habit when calling attention
to his own merits, of economizing
the truth. He is not like George
Washington, for he has demonstra-
ted his capacity more than once to
tell what is the reverse of truth.
In his late speech, with which his
friends are not satisfied, he par
AIDED what he wished understood as
his Union record, before the coun-
try. He said he was a Union man
until his State adopted the ordir
nance of secession. His remarks
have called out some unsavory
things in his record. Among others,
Gen. H. Y. Boyntcn, of the Gin
cinnati Gazette, has been looking
after him, and gives a few points as
follows:
soon after the passage Of the recon-
siructiOn acts, which provided for
convention in each of the rebel States,
Mr.. Hill, in s series OF articles entitled
Notes on the Situation" which were
published in the Augusta Chronicle
and Sentinel, and reproduced in nearly
all the Democratic papers of Georgia,
advised the people of his State to vote
against a convention, as the recon-
stTuctiOn acts were uncOnstitu tiOnal.
In very bitter speech at Atlanta, July
IS, 1867, he cOunseled resistancetO the
reconstruction acts, and suggested that
they should "indict every one who
under such void authority invades
your rights according to existing
laws The speech vas so revolution
airy in its character that Gen. Pope,
who then commanded the military
district, called the attention of the
authorities at Washington TO it. A
number of leading Democrats of GeOr-
gia differed with Ben. Hill as to the
expediency of refusing 10 reconstruct
the State. Among those were ex-Gov.
Joseph Z. Brown, the great war Gov
eTnOT OF Georgia. In q series of ar.
ticles entitled Review of b. II. HIPS
Notes on the Situation" he ably com.
batted Mr.. HllPs position, and in reply
20 Mr.. HIPS assertion that he (HilD
had been opposed to secession, "Old
Joe. Brown" as he was called in
Georgia, exposed the falsity of the
claim by briefly sketching Ben. HIPS
political life.
In these articles Gov. Brown az
serted that Hill started his political
life protesting to be a Democrat in
1919 he was the Know Nothing can,li-
Gate for Congress in his District, and
was defeated; in 1856 he vas on the
Electoral ticket supported by the
Know Nothing party of Georgia and
was defeated in 1857 he was the Know
Nothing candidate for Governor and
was defeated. In 1859 he took position
in advance for war, and in his Dudley
letter. in answer to the question what
the people of Georgia should do in the
event of the election of a Republican
President, he most emphatically adj
vised War, war, war, in every sense
in which the term is defined or defin-
able :" And in the event Stephen A.
Douglas was elected, or any one hold
ing his opinions, he recommended in
most earnest terms the same course.
No word in that letter of Hill indi-
Gated the slightest desire or intention
10 await an overt act of oppression by
the Federal Government or the CO.
operation of the Southern States. as a
contingency on which lostiIities
should depend. After the election N
Mr.. Lincoln, Hill backed down from
his position for war, and in the winter
Of 1860 he was elected to the Secession
Convention of Georgia in the Union |
or Cooperative ticket from Troup |