which the writer was a witness, may be given as a fair illustration of
Benton's insulting and insufferable manner in this celebrated canvass.
During the delivery of his speech, in the densely-crowded court-house, a
prominent county politician, who was opposed to Benton, arose and put a
question to him. 'Come here,' said Benton, in his abrupt and
authoritative tone. The man with difficulty made his way through the
mass, and advanced till he stood immediately in front of Benton. 'Who
are you, sir?' inquired the swelling and indignant senator. The citizen
gave his well-known name. 'Who?' demanded Benton. The name was
distinctly repeated. And then, without replying to the question that had
been proposed, but with an air of disdain and annihilating contempt that
no man in America but Benton could assume, he proceeded with his speech,
leaving his interrogator to retire from his humiliating embarrassment as
best he could. At the close of the address, some of his friends
expressed surprise to Benton that he had not known the man that
interrupted him. 'Know him!' said he; 'I knew him well enough. I only
meant to make him stand with his hat in his hand, and tell me his name,
like a nigger.']
[Footnote B: See Historical Mag., Vol. 4, p. 230.]
[Footnote C: Among the cotton lately arrived from Port Royal was a
number of bales marked with the form of a coffin. It was the growth of
'Coffin's Island,' which is usually of the highest grade.]
[Footnote D: The palmetto is a straight, tall tree, with a tuft of
branches and palm leaves at its top. The new growth is the centre as it
first expands somewhat resembles a cabbage. It is often used for boiling
and pickling. The wood of the tree is spongy, and is used for building
wharves, as it is impervious to the sea-worm. It is said that a cannon
ball will not penetrate it. It is a paltry emblem for a State flag, as
its characteristics accurately indicate pride and poverty. When used for
wharves, it, however, becomes a veritable '_Mudsill_.']
[Footnote E: Before 1700 a colony from Dorchester, Mass., made a
settlement on Ashley River, and named it for their native town;
afterwards, they sent an offshoot and planted the town of Midway, in
Georgia. For more than a century they kept up their Congregational
Church, with many of their New England institutions. Their descendants
in both States have been famed for their enterprise, industry, and moral
qualities down to the present day.]
[Footnote F: The Barnwells can trace their pedigree back about one
hundred and fifty years to a Col. Barnwell who commanded in an Indian
war. Subsequently the name appears on the right side in the Revolution.
This is a long period to trace ancestry in Carolina; for while nearly
all New England families can trace back to the Puritans, more than two
hundred years, the lordly Carolinians generally get among the 'mudsills'
in three or four generations at the farthest.]
[Footnote G: Some thirty years ago, R. Barnwell Smith made a figure in
Congress by his ultra nullification speeches, and was then considered
the greatest fire-eater of them all. He was not 'to the manor born,' but
was the son of a Gen. Smith, who founded and resided in the small and
poverty-stricken town of Smithville, N.C., at the mouth of the Cape Fear
River. As his paternal fortune was small, and some family connection
existed with the Barnwells, he emigrated to Beaufort, and there
practiced as a lawyer. He was followed by two brothers, who had the same
profession. He was the first who openly advocated secession in Congress.
They have all been leading politicians and managers of the Charleston
_Mercury_, which, by its mendacity and constant abuse of the North, and
its everlasting laudations of Southern wealth and power, has done much
to bring on the present war.
Desirous to stand better with the aristocracy, some years ago the family
sunk the plebeian patronymic of Smith and adopted that of Rhett, a name
known in South Carolina a century previous.]
[Footnote H: During Nullification times the Fullers were Union men.
Doctor Thomas Fuller, who, a short time since, set fire to his buildings
and cotton crop to prevent their falling into Yankee hands, is well
known as a kind-hearted physician, and better things might have been
expected of him.
His brother is a celebrated Baptist clergyman in Baltimore. He was
formerly a lawyer, and afterwards preached to an immense congregation,
mainly of slaves, in his native place.]
[Footnote I: Many years ago the Elliots were staunch Union men, and
Stephen Elliot, a gentleman of talent, wrote many very able arguments
against nullification and in favor of the Union. He always thought that
Port Royal must some day be the great naval and commercial depot of the
South. He may yet live to see his former anticipations realized, though
not in the way he desired.]
[Footnote J: An Inquiry laid by me it few years ago before the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania elicited information as to several of
these 'gates' in that State. I have not the work by me, but I believe
that FALES DUNLAP, Esq., of New York, asserts on Rabbinical authority,
in an appendix to _Sod or the Mysteries_, that the Hebrew word commonly
translated as 'passover' should be rendered 'passing through.']
[Footnote K: _Robertson's Lectures and Addresses._ Boston: Ticknor &
Fields.]
[Footnote L: The negro whippers and field overseers.]
[Footnote M: Referring to the common practice of bathing the raw and
bleeding backs of the punished slaves with a strong solution of salt and
water.]
[Footnote N: _Words to the West. Knickerbocker Magazine_, Oct., 1861.]
[Footnote O: _Continental Magazine_, March, 1862. See article, _Southern
Aids to the North_.]
[Footnote P:
Don't speak of quacks; just take your dose;
Why should you try to mend it,
If Doctor H---- concocts the pill,
And _Parsons_ recommend it?
See _Amer. Jour. of Sci._, Vol. xxx., 2d Scr., pages 10-12.]