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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.