The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-08-24
ATLANTA Constitution

translation of Latin maxim that is
more than 1000 years old. Nevertheless,
history is made up of the character and
deeds of notable and great men, and 1T is
our duty to study them and profit by
their example, The Latin maxim was in
tended no doubt to apply to our neigh
Dor who has recently died and not to the
great public men whose acts and deeds
make up history. The world has per-
feet right to analyze and criticise the
characters of Alexander and Caesar and
Cromwell and Bonaparte and Benedict
Arnold, but even these were not settled
until century or more had passed after
their death. Bonaparte is not settled yet
and English, French and American his
torians are still hammering away at his
character and his deeds. That he was a
scourge to mankind and the age in which
he lived and a traitor to his devoted
wife and all to crafty his selfish am
btion, no reflective man can doubt The
disposition to idolize great warriors
handicaps all young historians and cap
tivates the people when one of these
fighting men offers for office. 1t was this
that elected Taylor and Harrison and
Jackson. How Roosevelt will get along
with his war record for killing bears re-
is relying more on being historian and
slandering men after they are dead. He
will lose nothing up North by telling
lies on Jeffrson Davis. He belongs TO
the same school of historians that Prof.
Goodwin Smith-that lying Engl1shman
who wrote a history of the United States
that was taught in Northern colleges and
said that the first settlers OF virginia
were renegades from England-mostly
convicts who were given choice of the
gaIlows or of exile to Virginia, and
strange to say they cohse the exile.
But | was Illuminating about the last
words of Daniel Webster, who in my
opinion was the greatest man the coun-
try ever produced, not the greatest but
the grandest-the most godlike. He made
many great speeches, but the greatest
of all was that delivered at Capon
Springs, where he was brave enough to
qualify all his previous utterances con-
corning the rights of the States and to
declare that any State had the right to
withdraw from the Union when unjustly
treated and that the State was the sole
Judge of hat For this he was denied
the privilege of speaking again in
~ Faneul hall. For this he was sacrificed
in verse by Whittier. For this that
speech was left out of his published
works-the publishers saying that it
would greatly damage their sale to have
it in. This brings me to the text l
started to write about, for l have re-
ceived three letters from cultured gentle
men who tell me that 81 still live" were
not Webster's last words, but there were
two more that the editor suppressed,
and these two were more brandy.
These gentlemen concur in saying that
, Webster was very fond of brandy and in
his last days INDUCED too much and
during his last illness his physician kept
him alive on brandy. The morning he
died his physician called and finding him
alive, but apparently unconscious, said to
the attendant. He cannot live but lit
tie while, but if he should live until
o'clock give him some brandy" When
the clock struck Mr.. Webster reused
up and pointed to it and whispered, Il
still live-more brandy The last two
words are left out of the biography and
may not have been said. Nevertheless
this version has parayZed much of my
sentiment and all l can do is to leave it
in doubt 1 remember that it was said
of Mr. Webster that he was overload of
his brandy toddies. Brandy was gen.
tleman's drink whiskey was for the COM
mon people and rum was for eggnogi
and for the yankees to ship to Africa to
buy, niggers with. Even in my young
days the gentlemen drank brandy-peaeh
or apple, or cognac. 1t was kept on the
sideboards and was always offered to
visitors. When l was about fourteen
years old John Mcpherson Berrien came
to our little town of Lawrenceville to
attend court He was considered very
great man. He was our United States
Senator and had been attorney general OF
the United States under Jackson. After
l had swept out the store l walked down
to the hotel to get a glimpse of him.
He had just gotten up and came out on
the piazza in his shirt sleeves to take
a wash. After that the landlord brought
him out a bottle of brandy and some
sugar and the great man took liberai
toddy 1t was a revelation to me to sec
how suddenly a great man could come
down to the level of common people. But
then it must be remembered that Mr..
Berrien was from Savannah.
Now here is another letter in which
\ take peculiar interest and commend to
the veterans of Georgia. For years |
have lamented that we have no record
roll of our Confederate soldiers. al
luded to this not long ago in one of my
letters, and it has provoked an old friend
me encouragement. The letter is from
Hon. Walter Clark, Associate Justice of
the Supreme Court of North Carolina,
and who was recently nominated for
Chief Justice. He has recently finished
the history of the North Carolina Regi
ments, in five volumes, having been
chosen for this work by the Confederate
Veterans Association. These volumes
are not roster, but a history of the
acts and deeds of every regiment eighty
four in number). Twenty years ago that
grand old State published a roster, in
four volumes, wherein is recorded the
name of every officer and private, and
what became of them. North Carolina
was the banner State of the Confederacy,
and continues to be. With a voting pop
1lation of $4,000. it sent $4,000 troops
to the front, and 1000 of these were
killed or died in service. Judge Clark
has promised to send me the five volumes
11~ 20