The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-06-28

! either party to the struggle. 1t had
to be fought out, sooner or later.
There was no ghost Of hope that such
antagonistic and irreconcilable ele-
ments, could ever meet on. grounds
of compromise. But that period, be-
fore, during and after the war, fur
nished many flashlights of character
and showed how the chickens come
home to roost sooner or later.
There was Stephen Douglas, great
and brainy, and a firm supporter of
the all-powerful pro-slavery element
Of the South until their cause began
to wane, when he pitched his South
ern Jonahs overheard. He doubt
less saved his own political hide at
home, but his betrayal of his friends
and their cause shifted out his last
star Of hope for the presidency in the
memorable struggle of 1860.
Andrew Johnson turned his back
upon the South, during the days
which tried mems souls, and thereby
reached the goal of his ambition, but
when he was being eaten up, like
Acteon, by mis- own new dogs, the
South shielded him from a national
disgrace.
! When Virginia, after much halting,
finally cast her lot with the Confeder-
acy, there were two promising young
men within her borders, and bred to
her soil, whose judgment did not
coincide with that of their native
State. Lee knew the sacrifice, but he
could not, for~the life of him, strike
the grand old commonwealth which
had honored his lineage, and from
whose loins, he had sprung. George
Thomas did not scruple to draw his
! sword against her. Years rolled on,
Thomas loaded with the honors and
emoluments, which follow upon the
heels of great victories, sat in the
temple of the money changers and
baSked serenely in the sunshine of
sleek prosperity. We are casting no
stones, but mark the irony Of fate
The man who spat in the face Of the
State, which bore him, died of a brok-
en- and disappointed heart, because he
did not get enough. Lee, with all
lost, save. honor, spurned princely
salaries, to teach poverty stricken
youths has left name which grows
more redolent with each succeeding
cycle of time. Show me your lead
ers, and their calibre, and the rest is
easily told.
1t behooves the twentieth century
alumnus to ponder well the lives of
the men, whose individuality, charac-
| ter, and the true grit of manhood,
had been largely responsible for the
standing Of this nation in the eyes of
the world. At this time, when the
atmosphere is surcharged with -ru-
mors of Hamiltonian theories of
Federal consolidation, at the expense
of State rights, it is an inspiration to
follow the record of man like John
Randolph fRoanoke.r He quaffed
too deep,J from the cup Of gall and
bitterness, but we must take great
ness as We find it. Brilliant as a dia-
mond, but ignorant as a child, of the
feline arts by which the weak ard
petty trimmer climbs to place and
power, he never CROOKED the preg-
nant hinges of the knee that thrift
might follow fawning." Friends might
forsake him and enemies might howl,
it made no difference. Jefferson's
son-in-law might be sent into his
district to break him down. Defeat
had no terrors for him. Constituents
turned their backs upon him, but
they rallied again, when they realiz-
ed the style of man they had slaugb-
tered. Open and above board, hon
est to the very marrow in his bones,
no combinations could daunt him and
no friendships could sWerve him from
the path of rectitude and righteous
ness which his judgment and con-
science told him to follow. He
acknowledged no master,b ut. God,
championed no cause, throughout his
illustrious career, which clashed, III
his eyes with the welfare of the State
of Virginia, whose interest he loved,
with an idoIatry, that surpassed the
love of woman.
The political history of this coun-
try has probably produced no states
man who stood out, more boldly ard
grandIy, in the blazing sunshine o.
high and consistent ideals.