The Portland daily press., 1880-12-31
The Great Capitol.
An Ante-Rebel Hope that has Gone to
Seed.

Mr.. A. K. Mcclure of the Philadelphia
Times writes to his paper as follows from
Columbia, s. c.: ga painful history may be
studied by walk around the ideal capitol of
the south. Long before the war it was tho.
hope of South Carolnians that separ.sion from
the North must come sooner or later, and that
Columbia would be the capital and center of
southern power. 1t pervaded not only the
iordly planters who had their troops of docile
slaves, but the poor white man who struggled
in ignorance and poverty by the side of the
often more favored bondman, caught the in
spiration of his superiors, and how stub
bornly he maintained it was fearfully attested
on many battle fields. Like the scarcely
understood hope Of the Russian serf, that
his people must one day worship at the
cradle of the church in Constantinople, the
white serf of the South was enthused with no
better understood hope Of worshiping southern
omnipotence at the cradle Of disunion in South
Carolina. 1t was this dream that founded the
unfinished capitol in this city. While planned
ostensibly as the capitol of South Carolina, on
a scale of grandeur worthy of Greece or Rome
in their best days, it was the unwritten law
anu tuc uuCOuicbocu uOpo VI LILO Dldt0y tudI
the Palmetto capitol must be worthy of the
future confederacy as the temple of its laws,
and for years before the clash of disunion arms
was heard, the expected capitol of the slave
empire was patiently progressing. 1t is CO.
lossal in size and it was conceived in degree
Of architectural magnifcence before which
every state capitol of the union would have
paled into obscurity. 1t had been raised to the
square, ready for its richly ornamented copings
and roof, when war arrested its construction,
but enough had been done to portray its mar
velous elegance. On the exquisitely carved
marble facings of the four fronts of the build
ing are hewn inches for the statues of the
fathers of the new confederacy, and artistic
circles for COMMUNICATING in bas-relief those
who deserved distinction above their CO.
laborers. But two of them are finished, and
they present the profiles of McDuffie and
Hayne; and who will fill the many vacant
places, now that the whole dream has perished,
some future generation must decide. In the
poverty AMI desolation wrought by war and
carpet-bag profligacy, there is no hope for the
completion of this imposing structure by those
now in active control of the State. The era of
severe economy has of necessity followed the
desolating tread of the adventurer, and the un-
slightly picture of dilapidation and waste is
presented by the building that was once the
pride of every South Carolinian. The beauti-
ful walls are stained and their seams opened
by the ceaseless ravages OF time, and the rude
temporary finish made under the reign of the
stranger to echo the voice of the slave as he
enacted laws for his master, adds to the gen.
eral dreariness that surrounds Capitol Hill
Fluted or half finished columns of imposing
dimensions are scattered about the grounds;
elahorately wrought massive granite cups are
resting beside the walls which await Them and
the debris of the finest italian marble tells the
story of the magnifcence thai was designed
for this central altar of southern worship.
Two monuments stand in the unbecoming
rudeness that surrounds them. One tells how
the North and the South once fought under
the same flag in Mexico, by an elegant bronze
palmetto tree, on which is engraved the fallen
heroes who overthrow the legions of Santa
Anna, and the other, erected by the ladies of
South Carolina tells in mute but eloquent
marble how the Confederate warrior braved
and died for his cause"