The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-06-06
But he was greatly surprised when he

But he was greatly surprised when he
received a telegram informing him OF
his election on the first ballot Confed-
crate States Senator over Toomos,
Jackson and Iyerson, who had led the
secession movement ToombS vas Is
years older than Hill. had been a MEM
Der Of Congress since 1845, Senator
since 1853, had crossed swords in de-
bate with the great McDuffin, OF
South Carolina, when only thirty years
old who said Of him: Il have hearo
Randolph of Roanoke and met Bur
CESS of Rhode Island, but this wild
Georgian is q Mirabeau-" In the
convention that electedw the Confed-
crate President he only missed thar
prize by one vote. This was a great
victory for Mr.. Hill, who was only So
years old to achieve over the secession
leaders who were older than he was
His entrance into the Senat opened
up a new era in his career. It was
the very theater he needed to display
his transcendent abilities. He dedi-
Gated himself wholly to the effort or
the South to win her independence and
during h progress of the struggle
when the clouds lowered dark and
heavy over the poor C~onfederacy and
when stout hearts quailed and became
hopeless, his devotion grew more in
tense.
while the tree of freedoms with
cred trunk puts forth a leaf,
Even for the tomb a garland let 1t be-"
During the war the Confederate
President was assailed with a bitter
ness unparalleled in political warfare.
John w. Daniels, editor Of the Rich
mond Examiner. the most brillie mt
writer this country has ever produced,
was severe in his denunciation and rid
tcule Of Mr.. Davis. W. L. Yancey,
Senator from Alabama, Louis l. Wiw-
fall. Senator Of Texas, and Robert
Toombs, OF Georgia, a general in the
Confederate army and a member OF
Congress were three of h most elo-
quent orators OF the South, were all
hostile to the President and unspar-
Ing in their attacks upon him Mr..
Best, who was a Confederate Senator
with Mr.. Hill, IN his eulogy on him,
delivered in h United States Senate.
rs, 1889, says: The fierce
built up most determined opposition to
Mr.. Davis among the leaders Of h
South. That the President Of the Con-
federate States was loyal to the people
Of the South in every fiber of his ma
ture cannot be doubted save by the
granted, whether he was mistaken In
h of the war Or in the pol
Icy of-his administration, should be a
sealed book to all those who sympa-
thized n suffered with him. It is
enough to say now that never was any
public man assailed by opponents so
formidable as those who attacked the
President of the Confed crate States.
Toomhs, the MirGbeau of the revolu-
ton; Yancey, whose lips were touched
with fire, now the honey of persuasion
and then the venom OF 1nvective; Wig
fall, brilliant, aggressive and relent-
less; this was the great triumvirate
which assailed Mr.. Davis adm1nistra-
ton. No power Of description can do
Justice to the ability, eloquence or bit
terness of the debates in which Mr..
Hill single handed but ~undaunted,
met his great opponents. So the war
progressed and the fortunes of the
C~onfederacy became each year more
desperate, the bitterness and violence
Of this parliamentary contest increased
until scenes Of actual personal coils
ion occurred on h floor of the Con-
federate Senate" I heard DIR. J. l. M.
Curry, of Alabama, in an address at
Wake Forest, on eloquent oratory say
that the great orators of the world
were SO few that they could be counted
on n fingers of one hand. He named
hem as follows: Demosthenes, Cicero,
chatham Mirabeau and Yancey. In
1910 1 was in Selma, Ala, and 1 heard
an intelligent man say that he heard
a physician who heard Yancey deliver
speech before a southern AGRICULTURAL
= AoAI6QLISI OClOIO the
wal and he said he spoke k he was
inspired and that he did not believe
he was conscious of what he was say
ing, and he said he was satisfied that
he had heard the grandest flow of elo-
duence that ever fell from human lips.
His eyes were turned
tears streamed down his cheeks, there
was a froth upon his lips and the peo-
pie left their seats n gathered
around him SO they could touch him.
I aN-0 honn NV f~
copy Of his life but it is out of print.
Marshal Ney at Waterloo, Mcdonald
at Wagram, Murat at Ezlare never dis
played a sublimer courage thar did
Hill in defending the administration of
Confederate President against the
attacks of these great orators. Al he
unwilling of Hilps monument at At
lanta In May, 1886. Mr.. Davis made q