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Written for the Benner of the South and Planters’
Journal,
Letter from Hon. A. H. Stephens.
THE KEYSTONE STATE.
Libkrtt H au, Ckawvokovii.le, Ga. >
25th February, 1871. j
Messrs. Editors Farmer of the South
and Planters' Journal:
In this day’s issue of the Banneb I
see a communication from Lynchburg,
Va., over the signature of Virginias,
in which the writer tasked himself with
considerable labor to point out quite a
number of “blunders,” as he calls them,
of Mr. S. Hayden, in the article from
his ]>en, I sent you two or three weeks
ago, on the true origin of the term
“Keystone” as applied to the State of
Pennsylvania This communication,
from your Lynchburg correspondent,
deserves some notice by me, from the
fact that he says he was induced to do
what he did,because of my commenda
tion of Mr. Hayden's article to your
readers. You will, therefore, please
allow me to say, through your columns,
that the strictures ot Virginius upon
Mr. Hayden's article evince, in my
judgment, much more of the spirit of a
cavilier or a “ captor verborurn," than
that quality of mind which duly ap
preciates the merits ot an argument,
and properly estimates the value of
truth, whenever or however presented;
even though it may be “blunderingly”
done in immaterial respects Your readers
will remember that the point or matter
in our history which Mr. Hayden un
dertook to elucidate, and in which un
dertaking ho was so signally successful,
was the true origin of the term “Key
stone" so applied as above stated. He,
with a master hand, traced it to the I
segmentary stone arch of a bridge j
erected (neat the close of the last cen
tury), over Hock Creek at the end of
the avenue leading from Washington
City to Georgetown in the District of
Columbia, and in which segmentary
arch, composed of thirteen blocks, each
one of the original thirteen States of
the Federal Union was distinctly repre
sented by name.
It was not his object, nor did it come
within the compass of his purpose to
give, iu exact minute detail, the history
of the Declaration of thelndependenceof
the thirteen American Colonies, nor of
their Confederation by which they be
came thirteen separate sovereign and
independent States. With these great
and the exact facts attending
their dates, lie had nothing
'scentitm of his object,
no vote of". John
1 ’ ll > or State ot
ktol' the
or
BANNER OF THE SOUTH AND PLANTERS’ JOURNAL.
ginitts, in relation to the dates of cer
tain proceedings in the Congress of
Colonies at first, and of the States after
the 4th of July, 1776, touching the
Declaration of their Independence and
Confederation referred to Mr. Hayden,
I have, in this notice simply to say,
they have no bearing whatever upon
the real merits of the argument he
had in hand. It is entirely immaterial
in this respect whether Richard Henry
Lee, of Virginia, made the motion for
the Declaration of Independence and
Confederation, on the part of the Col
onies, in the Congress, on the Gth day
of June, 1776 as Mr, Hayden inci
dentally states or on the day after—the
Ith of June, as Virginius so stoutly
maintains. So of all the other “blun
ders” he has specifically set forth.
They might be and some would
lie of importance in discussions of ques
tions of another character. They have
none whatever in the one under con
sideration. By what authority Mr.
Hayden was guided in giving the date
as he did in this instance, or in his
statement of other matters equally im
meterial, in the investigation he was
upon, I know not. Nor is it any part
of my object to assume his defense.
Rut the most notable and character
istic feature in your correspondents con
tribution to historical knowledge is
contained in the following sentence :
• “Without pointing out any other er
rors I will call attention to the fact,
“apparent upon a view of the whole
“proceedings, that the Congress of
“1776 did not pretend to have the pow
“er to make a declaration of Independ
ence of its own motion, but that all its
“powers were based upon the assent of
“each and all the colonies, acting sppa
“rately for themselves; which utterly
“rebuts the assumption of the Feder
“allatyT)(<c.fftrat;,,n oftndepand
“t net' was the act of the Colonies as a
“consolidated nation."
| By Federalists, in this sentence, the
j writer evidently meant those «-ho
should more properly be styled Central
ists, but who soon after the present
Constitution was adopted by the States,
falsely took to themselves the names
of Federalists for the purpose of con
cealing their real principles of consoli
dation and Empire, as the same class of
men at this time have, for a like pur
pose, stolen and appropriated the name
of Republicans. By proper designa
tion they were, and are Centralists,
and Imperialists, or as Jefferson styled
some ot their leaders, Monarchists.
The point or feature, however, in this
sentence, to be specially noticed in this
connection, is the astonishing self-com
placency with which the writer seems
to announce the fact he does, as being
apparent from his account of the pro
ceedings, of the Congress, and not as
having been equally clear and apparent
from Mr. Hayden’s statement, on ae
feunt of its “blunders” and “errors”
set forth!
all '* important fact thus
by your critic us
a view ot' the
o' ■
own researches a fact which Mr. Hay
den with all his “errors” and “blun
ders ’ had made- to appear so clearly
before!
It was for the proofs, by which this j
great fact and others kindred to it in our
history was so clearly established by Mr.
Hayden in the article referred to, that
I commended it to your readers—and
still commend to others who have not
yet read it Yours truly,
Ai.exaStoer H. Stephens.
Written (or the Benner ot the Sooth and Planter*’
Journal.
Chemistry Controls Crops.
BY 1)B. A. MEANS.
Our lots have been cast in a remark
able age. Stirring events, within the
last three-fourths of a century, have
characterized the history of nations in
the scientific, political, commercial and
agricultural worlds. Nor have won
ders yet ceased. Generative agencies
are yet in action. Significant and
strange phenomena continue to meet
the eye and command public attention.
Let us take a rapid eye-glance of the
past and the present, and humbly en
deavor to forecast the future.
Amid all. the ordinary vicissitudes
which have transpired since the Ameri
can RevaU'tion, and through which
our great cx%fotfty,haa passed, the South
has ever an honorable posi
tion of States,
and underlßjEjtifeusmcfcS of advancing
to grow rapidly
in agriculturally commercial import
ance, which ever secure wealth,
and give character and prestige to an
enterprising pec
Scarcely one m aiie of yoss*,' h «•
ever, have yet paasvd away since the I
red flag oi war (yarned upon our hori- j
| son —its thunders j.hik the iipteu 6i
; 'h* nation, ami out lo ved land rocked '
jas with tin trt-r,or* of an earthquake.
'Oar «nthi riasti ’ le t ■ « dipped the]
sfupkiaer' sos bus. -miry and mechan
ics—abandoned Jbeir counting-rooms
and professions-jftf.rsook all the com
forts of honnfeikd rushed to the tent
ed field, aurfHLe bloody carnage of
battle. noble sons stood
shoulder in the deadly en
counter, roar of bursting
bombs artillery. And O,
alas! how many through whose veins
flowed our oten heart’s blood, sunk un
der the volcanic fury of that merciless
war, and found red winding-sheets and
distant graves in a land of stranggsgT
Still we have lived on. T&iTfiKSering
torch ot ruin seut'lts 'iurid glare over
our quiet hills aid valleys; our homes
and the product of our fields went up
in cinders to jWaven; our flocks ami
herds fell in tfl field under bullets or
blades, or were Riven off before our
eyes by a maiaiding soldiery ; raid af
ter raid curgpd Lur once peaceful com
munities ; and A complete tho climax,
the “Grand i»my” of the conqueror
crushed us urler its iron heel in its
onward “marc! to the sea." The hopes
ot a “Southern Republic” expired upon
the plains of tl e “Old Dominion,” and
our immortal I -,e was the first and pro
foundest morn ier at the tomb. And
when, within ; few short years after
wards, his owr great heart buret under
the pressure ot his country’s woes, the
congregated m .Pious whom he had so
intensely love* , grief-stricken and sail,
bowed m rev -vential homage around
the tomb oi lu.ii beloved and fallen
■bjef; while unrounding States and
admi ingly gazed, and honor-
But vet we hopefully
evil elasticity and
—.< -t their tap r.>.p§j t>•.>
BHHHNH' ioIMv be up’ Iby til' 1
HpHHHjjHrt ; aiiiD ahlto'js;!' i!
jfrnhdSSmlffks h iu Vrh saaki-n a.'
1 ' 1,1,1 ‘ tii‘ • .I . e
'ey ; ii: 1 1 ii-.i: 1 ,ir« •
111' 1
! c out§-y is still at unrest,
■omaßtions threaten and
j. A 8 the broad bosom
lashed into fury by
'.-1 ■ ' ;
days together after the wild winds
have hushed, so, our national agita
tion has been too wide-spread and tem
pestuous to subside in an hour after the
hurricane has passed. But no storm
has lasted for ever—its violence must
be spent, and the auspicious time is
probably not far distant, when unex
ampled prosperity may reign over these
fertile plains, so recently desolated by
the Demon of War. Evidences, con
firmatorv of these expectations, sur
round me to day.
And here, before directly advancing
those views which we design to illus
trate and inculcate, allow u» to indulge
in a hasty and discursive survey of
consecutive epochs in the historical
past —coming down in one glance
to the last half of the present cen
tury-—that we may the more effectively
present the data upon which our cheer
ing anticipations are founded.
Principles and opinions recognized
and popular in one age, will lie pro
nounced false or impracticable in the
next, and lie superseded by others of
superior claims, which again, must, in
after years, yield their ascendancy, and
yet the human mind continue to pro
gress toward consummated excellence.
Truth must be expurgated, and expa
triated. Each age and nation have
their several parts to perform in the
great drama ot human existence.
The wise and benign economy of
heaven is unfailing in the prosecution
of its cardinal purpose, to develope,
dignify, and refine the moral, intellec
tual, and social characteristics of our
race, and no matter whether at one time
it moves on in bold and steady current,
and at another, is apparently arrested
and diverted from its favorite channel
by opposing barriers—yet it knows no
rest—acknowledges no failure; but like
the majestic Mississippi, which though
it must plunge through rocky gorges,
and, vexed and flanked by intruding
hills or mountain spurs, make a thou
sand incurvations in its course, each, in
itself a blessing to the laud, serving!
to reduce the velocity of its cur- j
rent, tor the better security of the!
ittOUBiUKt craft • float -itemm- it*-
bosom ; and at the same t ime to spread i
a wider and richer alluvium for the
sustenance and refreshment of ani j
rnalcd thousands, at last rolls on trw
umphantly to the Gulf. It was cradled j
in the rocky mountains, a«d*from its
womb in the snow-beds va born for
the sea, and for oountlesySenturies has
proudly defied all opposition to the ful
filment of its noble dednny.
Thus with the obstructions offered
to the workl wijle and benevolent plans
of Almightw ‘Goodness, designed for
the enlargement and perfection of the
Adamic ijee. In the language of a
.gifted author, “God is making a tour
of'lhe world, and every new phase of
civilization is an additional proof of a
divinely identical plan.” Harmonious
ly supportive of these views wc find
that in the illustrious Periclean age,
when the “divine Plato”—the pupil of
Socrates, and the glory- of Athenian
philosophy, blended together and em
bodied in triple concord, in his lec
tures in in the Academy, the subjects
of “morals, physics, and dialectics,” he
united the claims of Heaven and Earth
—mind and matter—but under the im
pulses of an incipient but misguided
Republicanism sought to enthrone the
authority of the State, which he regard
ed as the grandest organization for the
control of the popular will, and the
greatest agency by which to elicit popu
lar activity. Hence, the religious opin
ions and religious rites, as well as the
social relations of the masses, were su
bordinate to the force of his doctrines.
Nor did his distinguished pupil, the
great literary light of the Lyceum, and
who closed the great era of philosophi
cal vigor—Aristotle himself—change
the aspect of the popular mind upon
this subject.
Rome too, “Imperial Rome,” who in
the days of her martial glory, well nigh
extinguished the flame of that resplen
dent system of philosophy, which her
refined and powerful national rival had
kindled, perpetuated the same mistaken
polity, under her feeble perception of
moral truth.
In the middle ages, generally con
sidered to embrace about the period of
1 1000 years, and commencing after Pe
pin, the Carlovingian, had driven ont
j the Lombards from Italy, under the
i pretext of defending the “Holy Church
lof tiie Republic of God,” laying the
keys of their conquered towns upon
the altar of St. Peter; and, by- that
significant act, symbolizing and origi
nating the subordination of civil power
to spiritual authority, the phases of
the political and the religious world
underwent a striking and important
change.
Charlemagne sanctioned and com
pleted the establishment of ecclesiasti
cal domination begun by Pepin, and as
the reward of his services, had his
brow encinctured with the diadem of
the Western Empire, at the hands of
the Supreme Pontiff. For 700 years
this stage of social progress continued
to maintain its distinctive features and
its predominance. And yet whatever
may be justly said of the errors and
extravagancies of Pontifical rule, dur
ing the 12th and 13th centuries, when
Catholicism was at the zenith of its
prosperity, yet the impartial historian
cannot deny its beneficial effects, in an
age of ignorance and violence when it
was the only retreat of learning and
the doctrines of the cross, bound to
gether all the Christians of the Latin
Communion from Calabria to the He
brides, and accomplished an effective
part in the economy of Heaven,, but
destined to be in its time superseded
and overruled by a nobler order of
things.
Like the oscillations of a falling
pendulum, which does not rest at the
lowest point, but from the momentum
acquired by its fall, is carried as far to
the other extremity, so, great revolu
tions in popular feelings, sentiments or
governments when a signal change has
been effected, do not stop at the point
of equilibrium, but under the accumu
lated force of successful progress, ac
quire a moral velocity which carries
them far beyond.
But the exclusive authority of the
State over men and morals has long
since passed away, and the opposite ex
tremes of Church exclusiveness and
control has been on the wane and
, tod • extinction
jfor several of the last generations, un
der the broader views and clearer per
. *»?&«$ of advancing civilization. For
i it may be ssfelyassumed as a postulate'
i that “all systems, civil and ecelesiasti
| cal, which are incapable of advancing
Fwith tWt lidetfi general improvement,
must be swept away by its progress.”
It is true, however, that a few charac
teristic exceptions yet linger upon the
eye, and are traceable upon the map of
civilization. Bnt the formidable and
imposing ecclesiastical dogmas, which
once over-awed and swayed the popu
lar mind, are fast retiring from before
the illuminative diffusion of Bible light,
and the concomitant intelligence which
ignores the subtleties of mediaeval
scholasticism and claims independence
of thought.— (to be continued.)
The New Orleans 2'irnes presents
the following brief and seasonable re
marks on the present situation. If
we could extract the true lesson taught
us by this season of temporary ad
versity “and bear it in mind in the
future, a hidden blessing may indeed
be brought to light
The planters have small balances
this year, and their purchases must be
made on a low standard of prices for
the coming year. The effects of this
sudden decline have fallen upon this
season with unexpected severity; but
it is to be hoped that corresponding
benefits will be enjoyed in the next
season, when onr planters will produce
their crops at less cost, and with
greater economy of management.
Thus this temporary adversity may
prove a blessing in disguise. The
negro laborers who had become un
settled and irregular under the in
fluence of high prices, are now more
disposed to settle down and be content
with regular wages, and certain
employment, than engage in the risk
of shares in a crop which is subject to
such sudden fluctuations of prices.
These effects are shown in the cheerful
ness and alacrity with which the hands
on the plantations have gone to work
to break up the ground for coining crop.
There have been no disputes or
difficulties in making equitable arrange
ments between employer and employe.
At no period since the war have the
relations between these two classes
been more satisfactory- than they are
I now. The prospect of the next sea-
I son is, therefore, an encouraging one,
1 and ought to console us for the short
| coining of the present.