The Washington times., 1902-04-12

| OF trying 10 dSptISe.
From the opening to the close of his
| long career, Hampton set his own ideals
and duties. and then serenely advanced
toward them, regardless of who or what
intervened, and making never a stop or a
turn TO win the friendship or avoid the
| enmity of any of those who stood in or
| beside the path. eager TO surrender their
| opposition for a smile from him. or re-
| solved TO smite him if he scorned to di-
vert his footsteps and make detour
where they stood.
Following in this course. which he had
marked out for himself regardless of tho
| opinions Of other men, Hampton Journey
| ed in his lifct lime through scenes of war
and scenes of peace-acrCss quiet land
| scapcs, wherein cotton squares were blow
| ing and moCking birds were making music
! of the hours-oVsr ensanguned fields
| where men were reeling and staggering in
! the death-grip. and bullets were whining
and sabers hashing-through stately for
umS and through gay and brilliant ball
| Iooms-up SUBMITS of success and into
| valleys of misfortune-through stretches
| lit with The dazzling radiance of splendid
| triumphs and through shadows black
| with the inky gloom of direst misfortune.
| defeat. ard grief-and always and ever
| all along that route. At every point of it,
| he was serene. self-poiscd, and infiexibe.
Wearing calm and almost sweet smile
the while, ard displaying no exultation.
revealing no despair, bidding for no favor,
| aud Offering no studied affronts.
Redemption of South Carolina"
Thus he when he swept in the
hcadlong charge in the forefront of
! 'ilamptons Legion" and by reason of
the fact his men followed him with n de-
votion and n faith that nothing could
shake. And thus he was when he swung
into the fight for the redemption of
South Carolina" And he still was SO
when he won il.
And when the people of South Carolina
the great common people. as the popu-
lar phrase puts it-that class which he
loved with all the love of his lions heart
as a whole. and wanted nothing to do
with as indiyiduals-arose in their might
and swept from power the bourbon order
of which he was the head. he retired, still
serene. with sigh for those who had
fought for him and smile for those who
had whelmed him.
When the Confederacy fell. Hampton
wasted no vain tears. spent none of his
vitality in feeding despair, sought no
temporary consolation in dreams of what
might have been or of what might be ''if''
but instead. true TO his personality. and
singularly illustrative of it, he calmly laid
his sword aside studied for a moment
the conditions which had followed Ap-
pomattoX debating how best to grapple
with them and then grappled
At that juncture in his career there
was opened to him. as to many others
of those who had followed the fortunes of
the South, two alternatives in life, one OF
which involved hardship and danger and
one of which offered nothing but material
prosperity. His duty however. he
thought, lay with the former. and with
the former he accordingly went-pausing
not second to decide and stopping not
moment to gaze upon the fair personal
prospects which he was passing by And
by reason of that choice and the services
he rendered his name is enshrined in the
heart of the Southland
Stood for Glass Rights and Lost.
Later, under very different circum-
stances and in very different way. he
revealed to the fullest that very different
quality which made OF him such a perfect
figure of the antebellum Southerner of
the upper class.
This was in the revolt of the South
Carolina Democracy which swept from
power the States ancient "aristocratic
government"
"A rule of bourbons," the leaders of
that revolution cried, land the common
people have no chance so long as they
rule" and when Hampton, the king of
the bourbons, was confronted with the
cry and told by his devoted people that
If he would but utter a single word in
denial of the shout the shouters would
be silenced and the uprising would cease.
and begged to utter shat word, he. for an
swer, declared in clarion sentences that
the cry was true-that South Carolina
governed by gentlemen. and that the
government they offered better for
all than any the common people could set
up.
Easily could Hampton have saved him
self and his personal fortunes. An eva
sion a yielding, single shout for the |
common people" and he would have sur
vived the order for which he stood But
he scorDed TO do any of those things-he |
scorned to change or even hide his uni
form-he fiaunted it, instead, and said
that by what 1t stood for he would stand
or fall-he shouted that 1t was true he |
believed gentlemen only were fit to gov |
ern and he declined to surrender his he /.
liefs or stand aside Tor the avalanche |
bearing down upon him-and so he was |
swept over and buried-as other rnlendid |
champions of obsolete system ha,S heen |
engulfed and buried by the avalanches OF !
progress as those gentlemen who remain
ed loyal to the principles which Louis |
personified were crushed and ended by |
the French Revolution juggernaut as they |
stood fast beside the standard of Divine |
Right.
Confederacy's Beau Sabreur.
This great defeat OF Hamptcas, how
ever no more disturbed the lofty serenity |
of tho cnrrI than did tho many friumDhS |
and defeats that had gone before, and the |
Hampton who died yesterday was the |
same calm-eyed, self-poised. and courtly |
l. hl.