Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 16.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[422] ‘majores’ signifies ancestors absolutely, and is also more suggestive than “patres.” The latter is a term applied to our immediate progenitors who may be alive, whereas ‘majores’ conveys the idea of a more remote generation that has passed away.

That being disposed of, the question arose as to the proper signification of the word “aemulamur.” Honorable emulation is the primary signification of the word; in its secondary sense it is true it includes the idea of improper rivalry, or jealousy. But it is used in its primary and honorable sense by the most approved authors.

The secondary and improper sense of the aemulari is excluded in the proposed motto by the relation it hears to “Deo vindice.” This relation excludes the idea of envy or jealousy, because God, as the asserter of what is right, justifies the emulation, and as a punisher of what is wrong checks excess in case the emulation runs into improper envy or jealousy. In adopting the equestrian figure of Washington, the committee desires distinctly to disavow any recognition of the embodiment of the idea of the “cavalier.” We have no admiration for the character of the cavalier of 1640 any more than for his opponent, the Puritan. We turn with disgust from the violent and licentious cavalier, and we abhor the acerb, morose and fanatic Puritan, of whom Oliver Cromwell was the type. In speaking of Cromwell and his character, Guizot says that “he possessed the faculty of lying at need with an inexhaustible and unhesitating hardihood which struck even his enemies with surprise and embarrassment.”

This characteristic seems to have been transmitted to the descendants of the pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts Bay to enjoy the liberty of persecution. If the cavalier is to carry us back to days earlier than the American Revolution, I prefer to be transported in imagination to the field of Runnymede, when the barons extorted Magna Charta from the unwilling John. But I discard all reference to the cavalier of old, because it implies a division of society into two orders, an idea inconsistent with confederate institutions.

Mr. Semmes moved to amend by substituting ‘vindice’ for ‘duce,’ and it was agreed to.

In taking his leave, the reporter was informed by Mr. Semmes that he did not know the seal was in existence and was glad to learn that it had been presented to the State of South Carolina, the first State which seceded from the Union.