Two weeks later the Mercury preached a burial sermon over the
Barksdale Bill, which had now been rejected by the House.
Congress was about to adjourn, and before it reassembled
elections for the next House would be held. "The measure is dead
for the present," said the Mercury, "but power is ever restive
and prone to accumulate power; and if the war continues, other
efforts will doubtless be made to make the President a Dictator.
Let the people keep their eyes steadily fixed on their
representatives with respect to this vital matter; and should the
effort again be made to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act, demand
that a recorded vote should show those who shall strike down
their liberties."



Chapter V. The Critical Year

The great military events of the year 1863 have pushed out of
men's memories the less dramatic but scarcely less important
civil events. To begin with, in this year two of the greatest
personalities in the South passed from the political stage: in
the summer Yancey died; and in the autumn, Rhett went into
retirement.

The ever malicious Pollard insists that Yancey's death was due
ultimately to a personal encounter with a Senator from Georgia on
the floor of the Senate. The curious may find the discreditable
story embalmed in the secret journal of the Senate, where are the
various motions designed to keep the incident from the knowledge