The Aberdeen examiner. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1866-current, 1883-02-08
In Memory Of ..seN. HILL"

lamented statesman, we will endeavor
to reproduce for their benefit some of
the beautiful tributes paid to his man
hood and character in Congress on
the '25th of January, commencing in
this issue with the remarks Of ,Sena-
ators ingalls, and Vest
Mr.. INGALLS,, of Kansas. BEN
HILL has gone to the undiscovered
country.
Whether his Journey thither was
but. one step across an inperceptlble
frontier, or whether an interminable
ocean, black, unauctuating and voice
less, stretches between these earthly
coasts and those invisible shores-we
do not know.
Whether ON that August morning
after death he saw more glorious
sun rise with unimaginable splendol
above celestial horizon, or whether
his alphabetic and unconscious ashes
still sleep in cold obstruction and
insensible oblivion-we do not know
Whether his strong and subtle
energies found instant exercise in an
other forum, whether his dexterous
and disciplined facilities are now con-
tending in higher senate than ours
for supremacy, or whether his powers
were dissipated and dispersed with his
parting breath-we do not know.
Whether his passions, ambitions,
and affections still stay, attract, and
impel, whether he yet remembers us
as we remember hiln-we do not
know.
These are the unsolved, the insoluble
problems of mortal life and human
destiny, which prompted the troubled
patriarch to ask that momentuous
question for which the centuries have
given no answer,-"if a man die, shall
he live again p
Every man is the center of a circle
whose fatal circumference he can not
pass. Within its narrow confines he
is potential, beyond it he perishes;
and if mortality is splendid but
delusive dream, if the incompleteness
of every career, even the longest and
most fortunate, be not supplemented
and perfected after its termination
here, then he who breads to die should
fear to live, for life is tragedy more
desolate and inexplicable than death,
Of all the dead whose obsequies we
have paused to solemnize in this
Chamber | recall no one whose I'M
timely fate seems so lamentable and
yet so rich in prophecy as that of
Senator Hill. He had reached the
meridian of his years. He stood upon
the high plateau of middle life, in
that serene atmosphere where temp
tation no longer assails, where the
clamorous passions no more distract,
and where the conditions are most
favorable for noble and enduring
achievement. His upward path had
been through stormy adversely and
contention such as infrequently falls to
the lot Of men. Though not without
the tendency to meditation, reverie,
and introspection which accompanies
genius, his temperatement was pales-
trio. He was competitive and UNI
peaceful. He was born a polemic
and controversialist, intellectually
pugnacious and combative, so that he
was impelled to defend any position
that might be assailed or to attack
any position that might be intrenched,
not because the defense or the assault
were essential, but because the posi-
tions were maintained and that those
who held them became by that fact
alone his adversaries. This tendency
Of his nature made his orbit cratic.
Hewas meteoric rather than planetary,
and flashed with irregular splendor
rather than shone with steady and
penetrating rays. His advocacy Of
any cause was fearless to the verge of
temerity. He appeared to be inditfer-
ent to applause or censure for their
own sake. He accepted intrepidIy
any conclusions that he reached,
without inquiring whether they were
polite or expedient.
To such a spirit partisanship was
unavoidable, but with Senator HILL
it did not degenerate into bigotry.
He was capable of broad generosity,
and extended to his opponent the
same unreserved candor which he
demanded for himself. His oratory
was impetuous and devoid of artifce.
He was not a posturer or phrasmon-
ger: He was too intense, too earnest,
to enjoy the cheap and paltry deco
rations of discourse. He never re-
a hostile position nor
approached it by stealthy parellels.
He could not lay siege to an enemy,
nor beleaguer him, nor open trenches,
and sap the mine. His method was
the charge and the onset. He was
the Murat of Senatorial debate. Not
many men of this generation have been
better equipped for parliamentary
warfare than he, with his commanding
presence, his sinewy diction, his con-
lidence, and imperturbable self-con-
troll.
But in the maturity of his powers
and his fame, with unmeasured oppor-
tunities for achievement apparently |
before him, with great designs unac-
,omplished, surrounded by the proud |
snd affectionate solicitute of a great |
the pallid messenger
With the inverted torch beckoned him
% depart. There are few scenes in
history more magic than that pro-
;racted combat with death. No man
mad greater inducements to live. But
n the long struggle against the
nexorable advances of an assidious
ind mortal malady, he did not falter
Tor repine. He retreated with the
Ispect of victor; and though he
uccumbed, he seemed to conquer
lis sun went down at noon, but it
ank amid the prophetic splendors of