The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-28

70
 By George. died on sayres lips:
 Moss ceased his badinage and Judge c. stood transhxed to the floor. You could have cut the silence with knife,
 for the speaker was Bill Yancey. and the claret belonged to Bates. the re-
 doubtable editor of The Montgomery Journal Belcher was the first to recover | speech. heard him say soothingiy: 70 Bill, I wouldn't mind him. Bill
 pressed his lips and said nothing, but plainly saw that Bates's claret would
 have to How. Harris retreated to the
 back room. T. and S. had important
 business up town, while Nose and I
 repaired to Hageman's drug store. on
 the corner, to inspect his collection of coins and to discuss--the weather. Whether Judge c. ever came down the stairway I do not know, but when looked back Yancey had reached the pavement. Belcher close at his heels. still urgently repeating, 70, Bill. I would not mind him.
 Yanccy was not over captious, but he was a sworn friend of Chapman. and could not stand by and see him trampled on. Yancey had his faults, perhaps grave ones. but his faults were the parents of his virtues With his foresight and convictions. he was com pelled to c1amor; with hIs detestation of party perfidy he was compelled to
 show resentment. In his day he was denounced by his enemies as an alarm ist. The geese of the Roman citadel
 were alarmists. England's Hampden was an alarmist So was Patrick Hem ry; so was Paul Revere Why, he woke up people at midnight to warn them that the foe was coming. Ala bama had need to be alarmed--Ala-
 bama had need to be stirred. Yancey was an agitator. I recall his mad ut terances. He said the slave was a chattel The Bible had implied the same
 thing. The Consultation before him
 had said 1t. The fugitive slave law had
 said it. Daniel Webster had said 1t.
 The Yankee who sold the slave to your
 bought him had said it. You say 1t.
 wili you Sthen hang the shade of Yam
 cey in effigy? VIII you draw and quar-
 ter his memory?
 An alarmisti Why. if 1t comes to
 that. the conscience is an alarmist It
 clamors night and day. As we'll have
 hedgehog fin the human bosom. It is
 a bell that clangs incessantly; 1t is
 barb that bricks eternaily. You cam not sleep in the same house with 1t. if you do not drug 1t or drown it. or obey 1t. It scorns compromise, 1t in-
 sists on principle. -Yancey, as the
 leader. was the political conscience of
 the South. Viewed as such, how reas-
 onable. how temperate he! He begged
 not to be trampled on. "Noli me tam
 gere"--that was his motto. He begged
 to live in the Union under the aegis of the Constitution. No man ever plead for protection, In the Union. as he. No man ever appealed for justice and fair dealing under the Constitution as he The Constitution was always on his lips The people saw the light. they felt the heat--they said he was fire-
 brand. They should have said he was
 torch-bearer.
 You may censure.~y you may condemn
 him, if you will, but if admired cour- age based on personal honor, as you If I admired integrity that grows poor in public service, as you--if ad-
 mired patriotism that declines or re-
 signs position for the public good, as you---if admired truth and candor. twin jewels of the soul, as you--if
 detested party treachery and double
 dealing, as you--if believed in unit
 ed. solid South for protection, as you 70, if believed in State rights, as the palladium of popular liberty. as you, would go and plant rose on Yancey's grave.
 It was a gay calvacade that left
 Montgomery on the 18th of July. 1s47. to attend the whig barbecue at Mount Meigs. Roan horses. bay horses. clay banks. horses with curb, horses with
 snaffle. long-tailed horses, dock-taiIed horses, stallions. mares. racers. cone
 stagas--anything that could neigh, or
 whinney, was pressed into service. Bug
 gies, surreys phaetons, sulkies, wag-
 ons, carryaIls--anything that could
 turn a wheel. pulled out from Mont
 gomery. Riders with spurs. riders
 with whips, every eye distended. every
 muscle strained, eager to cover. in
 the shortest possible time. the interven-
 ing miles. Far as the eye could reash,
 the road was lined with vehicles The
 hillites flung themselves out of their cabins to wonder and to cheer, the dogs parked and yelped, the cattle
 threw up their tails and disappeared