Edgefield advertiser. (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, July 24, 1851, Image 1

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~~i wpmttr junl,~ t~t a emtotratic 3Jettrital, Zttottu to Aottr 3ftigjts, MeU, golf tico, seal Mutelllgetnte, Eiteratutr NvitEnprne gititre, . "We will cliu; to the Pillars of the Temple of our Liberties, iad if it must ill, we will Perish amidst the Tais. 24 4ytJU YA E'DGEFIELD, S. 2411851. W. F'. DURISOE, ProprIeter. JU YVOL. XVIm.-- .27 politicL , SPEECH OF RON. F. W. PICKENS, Delivered at Edgefield C. H., July 7, 1851. Mu. CFAZanAuII FELLOW CTxzus:-I return von my sincere thanks for the kind manner in which you are pleased to receive we--It is far, more than I had a right to expect. It is with the utmost reluctance that I am induced to trespass upon you at the present time. I assure you in great sinceritythat upon 'no previous occasion of my life. have I risen to speak more reluctantly or under feelings of deeper embarrassment and anxiety for the future. I thank God ! that I have been able, for the last few years, to withdraw myself entirely from all the bitter conflicts of party t'eeling. It was my lot, when very young, to have been thrown into many angry con tests in the -excited party warfare of the day. I know that I have said many things, vhich perhaps in cooler moments I might have wished unsaid. But removed, as I have been, for years, from all active strug -gles in politics, I can truly say that what -ever harshness may have been generated by collision, I, at present, feel net a lingering sentiment of unkindness towards any party or any men, with whom it has ever been my lot to come in conflict through the past scenes of life. I neveT wish again to mingle in the bitter, and, for the most part, heartless struggles of politics. I have enough, in the endearments of home, to 9 ie contentment to the heart of any man. ut, gentlemen, we are on the eve of mighty events. And the emergency of the country rises superior to all parties or all party con tests. Entitled to an inheritance, transmitted through treason and revolution, I would be untrue to those from whom I claim my ori gin, and prove myself but a bastard, if I could hesitate to risk that inheritance and life itself, if necessary, in defence of the an cient liberties and independence of South Carolina. If we expect to go through the present controversy successfully, the very first thing to be done, is to produce union, concert of action, cordial and kind feelings at home, in every citizen of the State and between all classes and all parties. We must forgive and forget the past-we must come together as brethren of one family-we must bury all feelings in a consecrated and holy devotion to the State, and nothing but her true honor and interests. Division at home will be fatal to South Carolina-and through her to Southern Independence. All know that to divide South Carolina is to paralyze her arm, and to make her imbecile is to destroy all hopes of Southern co-operation or Southern resistance. Our strength has heretofore con sisted in our union, and this has made us a fit basis to commence Southern resistance. We are a small Statc.and have been isolated by detraction and abuse. The minions of Federal power and the tools of Northern ag gression have singled us out for their con stant denunciation, because they well knew we stood in their way and were their main difficulty in perpetrating schemes of plunder and usurpation. If we become united, they become bitter. If we become divided, our deadly enemies begin to c::ultand fawn upon and flatter those who make the division. I stand here untrammelled, to speak the unbiased dictates of my heart and the con. vietions of my judgement, and I beg and en treat that there will be no party divisions in South Carolina, and that we will give and take, and if we differ,we shall differ as friends and as brothers, with no hard or unkind as persions whatever. The day of trial Is com ing, and let no man suppose we are to go through without difficulty and without dan. wers. Commercial credit is sensitive and dreads a convulsion; banking capital is also sensitive, and to the amount of millions will be deeply felt in any movement calculated to shake socty. Brit if the people of the State, with all the interests of the State, be united and we move with judgemnent and firmness-standing uplont our chartered rights as fixed in the compact and deducible fromn the history of the Confederacy-we can do any thing that a sovereign people dare do we can save ourselves by joint co-operation with our sister States of the Southa, if pos sible to be obtained by prudence and concil iation-but ifall hope of co-operation be lost and we should be drven to the last sad alternative, if we are cordially united at haome,we can sace ourselres alone. Fellowv Citizens :-The great struggrle in modern times is for separate comnmunttl'es to preserve their separate independence. The tendenecy in all modern society is to aggrega lion, where one consolidated public opinion is to govern absolutely. The press, steam powver, and electric communication all tend to, concentrate one united public opinion and public feeling, withaout reference to different local interests. Local feelings and local rights are all absorbed in one general vor tex. Formerly the great struggle in the world was, to protect and secure thae personal or individual rights of man. Trhe contests for liberty were all confinecd to securing person al rights. But we have longz since passed that point in the progress of civil liberty. Magna Charta-trial by jury-and the habeas corpus, have all secured mere personal lib erty at least to every Englishmnan and Amer But the struggle, nowv is to preserve the in dependence of separate comnmunities. It is far more difficult and regnires a far more philosophical constitution of society. For one community to be subject to the control or public opinion of another commnunily, if carried out in the power of Government,ias political despotism. Magna Charta and its principles have secured personal rights, and a Confederacy of separate independent States, with power in the parts to prevent themselves from being absorbed by thme central head, will secure political liberty. English writers and Enaglish statesmen have exhausted thec subject of persoanal liberty, bait being a com pact small territory, with no distinct and sectional iunterests, entirely consolidated in interest and feeling, they have hiad no great ocasion to imnesimto the stil lhighr then ries connected With the separate rights of in. dependent communities acting together under a common Government. The French writers and enthusiasts, at the breaking out of the French revtlutlcn, push. ed personal rights to an extratiie. The phi. losophy of Rousseau and Voltaire and their followers made the public mind drunk with new theories and doctrines. Being goaded and insulted by arrogant orders in society4 they made all liberty turn upon the natui'al and personal rights of man; and the whole French people were converted into a nation of Propagandists. They believed thema selves to be the chosen people of fate, des tined to overrun the nations of the earth, and to redeem and regenerate a world of mankind sleeping under ignorance and despotism. And they came well nigh at one time to con verting whole kingdoms and nations into mere provinces of a great French Republic. .Many of our leading men of that day caught to some extent the enthusiasm and wild theo ry of French liberty. Amongst them were Franklin and Jefferson. They endeavored to plant many of these doctrines in Ameri ca. It was from this kind of philosophy that the abstraction contained in our decla ration of independence, "that all men are born equal" was taken, and many supposed that this carried out, would always give lib erty. And the higher and far more philoso phical proposition, that all separate and inde pendent States were equal, seemed for a time to be lost sight of. The Northern people now seem to believe themselves to be the inheritors of French philosophy and French tiberty; and under this idea, suppose that they are the chosen and peculiar people, un der Providence, to spread the blessings of universal equality and relieve us from the evils of our local institutions. They consider themselves to be the elect of God to govern the world according to their notions. It is well ascertained from history, that at the formation of the present Federal com pact there were great and important interests in the separate States,peculiar to the different States. They were not ordinary interests that spring up in a body politic, but they were vital interests, essential to the very existence of the States themselves. Amongst these was the institution of domestie servitude. It is well known that the constitution could not have been adopted unless this interest were left exclusively under the control of the States interested, and unless it had b-een un derstood that the Federal Government was entirely excluded from all interference With it after the year 1808. And if the States now have not the right and the power to pm tect it in any way that their judgements may dictate, then there has been a perversion of power and they have been defrauded. If power has been exercised over them so that in their judgements,the peace and final exist ence of their society may become endanger ed-they have a right, under the police power if nothing else, to protect and defend them selves in any way that they may deem neces sary. If the power of the non-slaveholding States be concentrated through the Federal head so as to act upon, and absorb the slave-holding States, or to circumscribe their increasing power on account of their institutions, then if there be no check through the action of the States concerned, it must end in political des potism. If the people of Massachusetts, and New York, and Pennsylvania and Ohio, be brought to act together by their prejudices, or feelings, or public opinion, so that they move as one mass, and get control of the Fed eral Goverment, and bring it to bear, in all its moral and political power, upon the local in stitutions of the Southern States, then as far as these are concerned, they are governed by a people an alien to them as if they were en tire foreigners. What consolation Is it to a South Carolinian to tell him that he is gov erned by the freemen of Ohio who understand liberty much better than lie does, and who deem it a duty they owe to God that the country shall be finally purged of the.,sin of slavery ? What may be very well suited to Ohio, may not suit Sotith Carolina at all. The whole organization and structure of our Society are ditierent. They are almost two distinct orders of civilization; the one rest inir upon the individuaml equality of men of alfeolors, and the other resting upon domnes tie servitude in the black race. This distinc tion pervades all society, entering into the social, moral and political relations of every man in thme two sections. They teach their children in their schools and at their fire-sides to conttemn and hate ts and our institutions. The samue is taught front the pulpit and around the sacrament table, as well asin their politics. Who is to judge het ween us? Thme Federal Government? If this Northern ma jority control it absolutely, anid fimaly-bring it to bear upon these points, thent it is but the judgmen t of Ohio in another form brought to act uploni the interests and institutions of Southt Carolinat. If this be the habitual work itng of the system,then indeed are we a doom ed race. The truth is there are sections and States in this confedcratcy having totally dif ferent local interests, and the seperate inde pendence and cquality of the States is essen tial to guard and protect those interests in our system. State equality is an essential principal of liberty. We may have general interests in our external relations and foreign intercourse united, but when the General Government acts upon the organized local institutionis of the country, then it necessarm ly becomes a despotism-an engine turned upoti the interior liberty of sections, instead of maintaining our exterior independence. True liberty consists in a system of fixed and ascertained law, suIted to the interests of the commutnity, and regulated and controlled by those upon wvhom the law operates. WVhat may be very good local law to Sotuth Caro lini may be totally unsuited to Ohio. To takle our institutionts and tranmsphmnt them there would bie as vain as to pilant the orange tree upon the frozen Mountainis of Vermont and expectit to bloom and to bear. And so in like manner, to transplant the sociala:nd political institutions of Ohio in South (ii-olina, would be as vain as to expect us to live on whale. blubber upon which the Esquamnaux faittens. No ! the Federal compact between the States was made with a view to guiard and protect these different local interes ts & insti tutions, by reserving to the States exclusive jidic1tion m-ver thrcir tpeculiar and senaurate interests. Without this the Government could never have been formed, and without this, it should never be preserved. Mr. Chair man I the separate sovereignty and Indepen dence of those States is the fundamental law of American liberty. In the declaration of Independence it is ex pressly laid down that these "colonies" (not these people) "are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." In the old arti cles of confederation, the very 2d article, ex pressly declares that, "each State retains its sorcreignty,freedom and independence." In the present constitution it is laid down that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the constitution, nor prohibited by It to the States, are reserced to the States re spectively or to the people." This compact did not make an amalgamated people-it only united States together for certain specified objects. The mode and manner in which it was adopted proves this. It was acceded to by the States separately in their State Con ventions, and until each State adopted It for itself it had no binding effect upon such State. North Carolina and Rhode Island actually refused to adopt it for sometime, and they could have remained out of it to this day if they had thoughtproper. The debate in this State took place in the Legislature upon the proposition to call a convention to ratify the constitution, and the call of the convention was carried by only one vote. Ninty six dis trict, of which this district was a portion, voted against it except one vote, and the great majority in the middle & upper districts were against its adoption. It was carried by Charleston and the low-country. The con vention, sitting in the capacity of a sovereign State, imposes the obligations of the federal compact upon us as citizens, and the same sovereign power can be again called into ac tion to release us from those obligations. As the State acceded to the compact so, it can secede in like manner. Without this right and power the reserved sovereignty and in dependence of the States is all rabid declam ation and swelling assumption. The right and the power of the separate States to cheek, in an extreme case and as the last resort, by secession, is essential to preserve their independence. If this were known and acknowledged as a dormant power belonging to our system, there would be no cause for dissolution, for the Government would abstain from usurping power over lo cal and .ital interests, and the States them selves would feel easy as they had the ulti mate power to protect themselves, and would not become excited on any temporary usur pation or exercise of obnoxious power. But without this, there must ever be in the pub lie minti a restless uneasiness and impatience, for fear that the ultimate liberty of the parts cannot be preserved. And the Government which Was eated as a mere agent to execute the compact between the States, will in the course of time, make its own interests the measure of Its power, and substitute that power as the law for the States that created it, Instead of the compact itself. This com pact is not a compact with the Federal Gov erment, but it is a compact between co-States of the confederacy. And when a State, in its sovereign capacity, makes an issue upon the organic law by which it is connected with the other States, it is an issue not with the Federal Government, but an issue with the co-States. And if the Government in terferes to decide the issue then tendered, it is usurpation-and if it tenders force to put down the State, thus making the issue upon tha original powers of the compact, it is des potism, and we are cowards and slaves if we do not meet it like brave men, although the land should be drenched in blood or wrapt in flames. But Mr. WEasEt says, that the Govern ment after it was created has original and in herent powers of its own, which it is bound to execute and protect. Original and inherent powers! He has never condescended to point out what these are, but was obliged to taike that ground, after first denyinig that the constitution wais a compact, nd when his Boston Review was forced to give that point up, lhe fell back upon the doctrine of original and inherent* powers in the Government after its creation. T1his is a great qitestioin fellow citizens; anti bear with mec while I examine it freely, for wve are ait the commiencemnent of a mighty struggle. The issue whether vwe are under the Go'vernment of Independent States or under the Goveruiient of an absolute majori ty f'eeling for themselves only, is to be deca eided, and if it is to be decided by force we must not only be rig.ht, but wye must under stand the grounds upon)1 which we move. I have said that the States acceded to the comnpact as separate States, and to deny this is to deny history. But I go further and say that it tvas not only made by the States as States, but that they only can tiinmake it tad I say that the Federal Government at this day is lbut the creature of the States. How is the instrument to be amended or al tered?~ Is It by the people of the Uniion?~ No! Article 5th, declares thait amendments may be proposed and if ratified or;,doptd h-~ "t he Lkgisiturns of thrx-fou~rths of the S EVX ERAL STATES, or by CoxvsNTrioss in threefourthms theref," all b~ecome part of the constitution. It is the States that made the constitution and it is the Statesalone that can alter it. Three-fourths of the States can make a new constitution and a new Got' ernent under it. Suppose three-fourths of the States, by amendment to the conistitution, declare there shnall be no Navy and no Army, or that there shall be no President and noth ing but a Congress of States. Can they not do so ? and where then is the power of this Government? where are the orrin~aal and in herent powers that belong to it<Independent of the States? To talk :ibont the Govern mient having siubstant ive powers independent of the States is nothing but naked assertion. Suppose a sinliple majarity of the states should refuse to elect or send Senators to Congress where would your Governmnit of inherent powers be ? I admit, as long as we are in the Union, it is a constitutional duty in the States to elect Senators; but suppose they shotild think it a duty not to elect--where is thme powver to compel them ? If under force they are compelled to send Senators, it is not *Sec the Review of the~ great debate between Wz'.sBTrz and C.M.H~oUN, in the North American n-vi,. of their ftee electlon, and lf changes the Government. 'There can no law made without a Senate, and I .lly use this to shew how completely the, vernment is in the power of the States. e fact it is a Gov. ernment of States, and of no simple majority of people. Wherever rep the power in any dommunity to make or nd the organic law by which the community's kept together, there resides sovereignty. If the written constitution be the supreme aw of the land, the power that can make it r alter it is the supreme and sovereign poo of the land. I have shewn that the Sta one made the constitution and that they ne can alter or amend it, even so as to alte the whole Gov ernment itself, and if that not sovereign power, then I am at a loss conceive what can be. The truth is, the edral Govern ment has no sovereignty. It is an agent limited by specific grants of power made by the S s. The only thing that even appears to c tradiet this idea is the power given to punis reason. 'Trea son is an offence apinat S ereignty. But this power itself is limited bathe States who granted it; for they refused give the power to define treason, and have themselves de fined it in the very grant t4.punish it, and declared in what only it 1. consist, and have even laid down how it :all be proved. It shews they intended to gr 1t no sovereign ty, for they limit and define eiactly the power of the Government--even 14 treason. And the treason they define, is treason against the conjoined sovereignty of he States, not against the Government. Fgr it is "levying war" against the "United States" that consti tutes treason and nothing ,else does. As long as the States are unitej,'there can be no treason, but when they arp no longer uni ted ind sovereign power has bsolved them, there can be no treason, for It cannot exist against the Government. ll this shews that the government has o substantive powers: And that the comp et is a compact with co-States, and on a question involving the original powers of the co pact itself, if a State make an issue, it . not with the Federal Government but wthe co-States. And there Is no power gran in the com pact to the Government to. nforce obedi enee, but the States thems 'es must sit in judgment on the isstues e, and three fourths of the States can rm the power denied; for they alone can. d to or amend the constitution or affirm w, It is, to bInd a sovereign member of t . Confederady. Any power short of this is urpation and changes the whole genius theory of our system. The whole system" upon friend ly discussion, upon a corn mise-mfair al gument and truth, and a hearing and final decision by independ- d sovereign States with all their 'and poltical weight. In this poiit'o v w,dlid States are the Peers of each other. And if three-fourths decide against a sovereign State, then may arise the question of final secession-and if three-fouths, not only affirm the power, but grant force to the use of the government to carry out that affirmation, secession can then be adopted finally at the risk of the State. But if compulsion or force be used before this, it is lawless and the Government as sumes a power not granted and must end in despotism. The States of the confederacy in many points of view are the estates of the Realm. And on all vital questions involving the or ganic law by which they are united, their power must be recognized or there can be no real independence. There can be no political liberty unless these estates are fully and fairly consulted. Without this we have made no advance over Europe in civil liberty itself, to suit the issues of modern society. If oppression be intolerable, the lowest serf of Russia can appeal to arms and to revo lution, and so can the Turk-but this is no system of liberty. The European draws the sword and appeals to revolution to vindicate his liberties, bUt We @ijpeal to sovereign States with organized governments who shall give such authoritative declarations of the fundamental lawv as shall guard ahd protect our liberties, without an appeal to arms in the first instance. They made the constitution arnd can alter it. and they alone, in a great cmergency, enn reform and regenerate the action of the Feder at Government. This makes us a confedera: cy, as Contra-distinguished from a simple de mocracy, wthere the sense of States hals to be taken on sectional questions affecting the liberty of the parts. Without this, we have a central uinchecked Government under the control of a majority antagonist to us,lnstead of a confederated republic where the power of the head is niot inconlsistent wvith the liber tyv of the parts. This Is the original concep tionof our system, and a part of Its very eX istonee. Thit many oppose that the constitutIon itself hais created a common arbiter in the Supreme Court of the United States-in stead of the tribunal of the States. This is a great misceonception. ' In the clause con fering jurisdiction upon the Court, the won dlerfull wisdom of the instrument is illus trated as wvell as in every other clause. The words nre,''the judiciaml power shall extenid to all eases in Law and Equity, arising under this the constitutioni. the laws of the land and treaties &e." An amnendment to the constitutlion, made at thme instance of Georgia, also prohibits a State being sued. Those who drew this clauise were lawyers and well understood the legal language they used. "Caises in Law and Equity," are such as can be made up by pleadings where tihe rights of meinn and tum are involved, where indi viditals can appear-wvhera mere rights of property can be decided. But where a State makes an issue in her sovereign capacity on the compact itself--It is a high p)olitical ques tion, beyond the pleadings to be made tiii by individ uals. WVhen a State secedes or chooses to releaise her citizens from the obligations of the federal constitution, lher citizens enn no longer be reached by federal power in any form. 'The State cannotlie sued,for it Is express ly prohibited, and when sheniaies an issue. it is political aind not "in Lawv or Equity." The very nature of the issun is the reverse of any thing in "Law and Equity." There is no fo'rced construction that can give jurisdie tion. To do so,- would pervercnthe-- whole rronius of the Conrt and make it mmrn titan a 'Star' Chamber Court ever was. True, politi eal opinions of individuals and even of cor porations were brought under the jurisdiction of the old 'Star' Chamber Court, but sover eign States were never brought there. No! there is no umpire. The sovereign States themselves are the judges in the last resort, and from the nature of things there can be no other judges compatible with sovereignty. The power to interfere and check in extreme & vital cases,involving the liberty of the state, is inherent in the nature of the compact itself. Without this we have made no advance in the system of regulated liberty. It is the great distinctive feature of American freedom.-It is the great fundamental law of the Ameri can compact, without which we are under a consolidated despotism, one, from which we will have to march sword in hand and through the perils of revolution. Under the recognition of this great fundamental right belonging to the States, there can be peace and no revolution. A fair adjustment and new understanding of the compact may yet give life to the confederacy. But without it our doom is fixed-.the hand writing is upon the wall, and we have no alternative, but an appeal to arms and the God cf battles. But the right of a State to secede or inter pose was not questioned by the republican party of old. The Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798, drawn by Jefferson and Madison, expressly laid down the doctrine boldly and ably, and it was universally re cognized by the republican party from that day until now. Virginia did actually inter pose and declare the alien and sedition laws of no force, null and void within her territo ries-and empowered the Legislature to cars ry it out. The Government was checked and controlled, and a civil revolution was brought about. If those who enacted these laws had held power and perserveed in enforcing them, the Union would then have been dissolved. But State interposition made the issue palpa ble and they were overthrown. The right to withdraw or secede is not left to inference, although clear from the very nature of the compact and of sovereignty in the States. But New York, in the conditions upon which she ratified, expressly declared that the 'powers of Government may be reassumed by the people whensoever it shall become necessary for their happiness.'Virginia did the same except using the words, "when soever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression." Rhode kland did the same. Those were the conditions these States expressly annexed, and if it was a right they expressly reserved, if it avails any thing, it accrues equally to all; for it was rati fied by equals and no one could retain a power whhic each and all did not have alike. But it does not require that the right should be secured <in totidem.rerbis. It belongs to the existence and independence of a State and cannot be limited or circumscribed by aty patchment On earth. But it is said this would make the Union a rope of sand. So it was said in old time s th-it trial by jury would be a seri ous clog to an efficient government. To as sert that It Was necessary to obtain the ver dict of twelve men, before you cotild convict a State criminal, would embarrass Govern ment and ministers of state could not get along with powers. All free Governments are full of checks. It is the checks that make liberty. Despotism has no cheeks. Sn far from the interposition of States on vital local Interests making the Union too weak, it is the only thing that can save the Union. With out this, in so extensive a country with such variety of interests, its dissolution is as in evitable as destiny. IIeretoforo the difference in our social and domestic institutions and our almost distinct ordei's of civilization, have not been so deeply felt, because we have had a sparse population. But as popu lation increases and becomes pressed down into its different classifications, and grows dense-then these differences will be deeply felt and the conflict will grow .i.ore deadly. Nothing can save us but the recognized power of the States. What has aided in keeping thuis Union together heretofore has been the fear of Europeani Interference if we should separate. Fragments of the con federacy might be subsidized or conquered by European powers wvith monarchical insti tutions and thus monarchy might be rein stated here. This was the great fear in the early days of our Repitblid. But the laist few years have dispelled all suieh fear.3. It is nowv apparent that European monarchies can scarcely maintain themselves at home. The convu.ions of the last few years camne neait overthlrowing their own Govcrnnients, and the day is now past when there is any danger from Europecati Interference in American Governments. WASHINGTON's farewell ad dress, whzith has been so often quoted by dent agogues, was drawn in reference to thme state of the world at that timne.We wei'e then,ecom paratively seaking, hiut a hatndfiul of people. We had but recently come otnt of a bloody struggle with Great BritaIn. There was deep prejudice to our institutions in Europe. And the great dread with us was, that we might be re-conquered or portions might become subsidised. United we could defend muurselves and divided we wvould be ruIned, To keep us together so as to defend ourselves from Europe, was the great object of WVasaIUX TOx's address. It was suited to thme day in which it was delivered. We have noW yassed from a weak to a powerful p~eople. The ad dress was to rally us against Foreign powver, but never contemplated oiie powerful section of the Republic combining so as to insult and degtrade nearly one half of the States of the Rlepublie. It is totally inapplicable to the present state of the wvorld and to our country. We are now alive to other dangers thtan die union, and the dormant powvers of thme States may be called ont to their fullest dlevelope meat adeording to the genius of our system, without at all runing into the dangers that WasntsC-roN dreaded from Euiropean inter ference. We aire now strong enough to develope the true nature of our Gove~rnent fully, and as it might have been too weaik at first to cucouniter the power of Europe, true patriotism then required a cordial UnIon to support it. But, if in its progress, it becomes too powerful at the centre for thle indepen dence of the parts, then true patriotism would require a checking power, and that the Stamtes should be raised up to assert their original rigbtsannd independene,. so as to fore back the Government itself into a channel com patible with regulated and enlightened liber ty. It is vile demagogueirm to quote tb great WAsHIGTo:'s farewell address as np plicable to the present state of the country those who expect to save the Union by simpl1 doing that, without reforming the Govern ment first, hug to thtmselves a fatal delusion Fellow citizens! we now come to investi gate our present position as a State, and ti state fairly what may be our particular dut in the present emergency. I was of.posed to the call of the Conven tion under existing circumstances, and par ticularly opposed to the meeting of the con. vention being so long after the election. thought it would give a pretext for division amongst our own people. I thought il dangerous to repose the sovereign power o; the State, even extending to life and property in its results, in so small a body of men ai constitute that Convention, for so long s time in advance. The great strength of it con, vettlon consists in coming fresh from the people, and the people themselves deciding all great questions in advance. I thought there was danger of confusion and feared final imbecility. I therefore would have pre. fered the election of the Convention to takt place in October next, instead of'February last. But now that we are in Convention I am for going through. I am against stand. ing still or taking any step backwards. True the issues may somewhat change by next Spring when the Convention meets. Nebo questions may arise that may vary the pros pect of atfairs. Allow me to say, with defer. ence to others, that the great danger now is not rashness, but division and imbecility The danger is that we will sink under the pressure brought to bear on us. I fear, that if we pass this crisis without doing something, the country will sink. The spirit of our pee. ple will die away. If we permit this accumu. lation of all power in the Federal hands under the diutation of Northern fanaticism, North ern prejudice and Northern interests, we will be worn out :nd prostrated, and finally quail before de:spotism. Our young men will sink-They will begin to worship Northern power, nnd become in different to their own country. They will bow down before a magnificent Government where liberty will be absorbed in the extend ed rays of patronage "They will crook the pregnant hinges of the knee Where thrift may fellow fawning." Our very women will comtemn and des pise us as a degenerate race, and they will look to ot hers for Protection. The first evi denee-of the corruption and ea of a peo ple, is that the women begin to J .isr f eigners. If the men become cowardly and luxurious, the women begin to look to others for tha't'tnanliniss which they so ie0id. mire. Snch was the case in Mexico and such will be the case in every country where the men want spirit to defend their rights. I know that the great chattered rights and in dependence of my State are in danger-I feel that we are aL degraded people if we do not rise. I desire co-operation with our sister States of the South-I will wait to the very last while there is hope-I Will yield every emotion of pride and every thing, but a sacri flee of principle, to proenre co-operation. But it may become our sacred dity to act alone and if so, we must walk the plank alone like men, although that plank may lead over a gulf of frightful dangers. If it be a right to secede-it Is a perfect riglht and belongs as munch to one State as to :all. It is a right in eident to sovereignty. And the denial of that right by the constituted authorities would make it an imperious duty to exercise it. If this be the issue, the sooner we test the ques tion of the unlimited powers of the Federal Government, the better. But the gentleman (Capt. l3nbors.) has quoted from a speech of rnine delivered in Spartnnbtirg last August, utging co-operation and joint action with the South. I do so now. but he must recollect. hat speech was delivered under totally iifierer.t circumstances from the present. It ~vas delivered before the second meeting of heu Nashv~ille Convention when we were ne mzlly in consultation with our Southern brethren. It was delivered before the elee ion and nieeting of the Georgiat state Con :ention,-before the iieeting of the Virginia [legislature, before the extra session of the ~Iississippi Legislature-and before our wn Legislature had met or done any thing. [ feared that we might become isolated at hat time. But all these things have taken lace and we exhausted every thiug in trying .0 produce co-operation-and we are nowv 'ree to take our ownm course, exercising our aest judgment for the wecllfa~re of all. The gentleman wvill see,in that very speech [ansk if others should give way and we should all in: co-operatlon-tvhat then will South Sarolina do?1 I said then "she dare not sub ni-t finally.? Let others do as they will,she vas bound, (not by any commital,for a State s not conmitted to herself-and only com nitted when acting with others,) to go .hrough. I used this language-"wvhat thers' may do nec cannot say, but I trust I nay be0 exceused for saying, ?Ce cannot--we lThse not submit finally,'If we do, the mighty ipirits that sleep under the plains of the Cow )ens and Eutaws would turn in their graves vith scorn nnd indignation for their degene rate sons." The very speech from wih thme entleman quoted containas this language. I was for concert and co-operation, but I iever dresnmed that we wtere to fold our arms mud wait forever. I was for waiting and do ng all that reasonable men could do to pro luce co'ncrt and .unanimnity in the States, but never conceived the idda, that in no emner ;ency, should we he forced to act alone. In the first Neshville Convention, I took the ground that decided amnd concerted netion of the leading Sousthern States would pre serve oulr rights and th~e Union too.T The States. if the:y hard then united firmly and temperately, could hatve made an authorita tive declaration of their rights uder the Constitution, and it would have been equiva lent to a bill of Rights ini all time to come. If Virginia had tnlken the lead in this matter. our rinhts wouldl have been preserved and the Union too. I said then, that withont this, the Stat es would bie driven to separate ac tion, and this wvould bring on a convulsion and in all hunman probability disunion. I saw it them and I -e it now. Virginia and Geor - gia Permitted the occasint to pass, by which - they might have saved the Constitutfon and 3 avoided a convulsion. Those two States act - ing together then, could have controlled the South and dictated terms. They have passed r it by and we now must make our own issue j and save our own liberties. We Wet-e the first State to put forth a.. written Cobstittid tion and form a government independent' of Great Britain, even before the joint declara r tion of Independence, and we also as a State won a glorious victory before that declara. - tion. And, if we are true to ourselves, we - can stand alone again. I do not stop to isk the question. whether, we will have rendittin' of fugitive slaves secured perfectly, or whethi or it will affect the value of that .species-of property and its profits, if we move alone I scorn and despise this small view of a great question. It is a question of chartered rights -of Constitutional liberty and rises far above these small views. If they have a right to say that you shall not go beyond a certain line with your slaves, they have a right to say you shall not go with any other species of property. If they had declared in so many words that the pea ple of Mississippi, of Alabama, of Georgia and of South Carolina, shall not go above a certain line into any of the public Territories - of the Union-if they had named these'States' the insult and degradation would have beefs so palpable,that an army of Southern soldiers' would have taken the field at once to avenge the wrong And yet they have done preciselt the same thing in effect. If they have a right to exclude you with your slaves,they have the right to exclude you as citizens of the States named. As far as constitutional power is. concerned in government, the ingenuity of man cannot show why they should have the' power in one instance and not in the other. If they can put the citizens, holding slavesin certain states,under the ban of the eonfederac they can put the States themselves by natne and the citizens as citizens. The Constitu tion declares that" the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and inniani ties of citizens in the several States." And yet the government openly asserts that that the citizens of near half the States of this Union, shall not be allowed to go above a certain line with the privileges of their pro' perty, but shall disposses themselves of the most valuable part of that property before they can claim equality, in privileges, with the citizens of Ohioor Massachusetts. They make a Compromise line of 36* 30" when it: suits them to seize half the territory of Leia isiana, and then, instead of carrying out that' line in good faith, as it was intended, in spirit' ..substance to the Pacific, when it suits them_, a territory below it, th. e so without remn a their plighted faith? Are we to lie cireim scribed at their. pleasure? Are we ttj be encircled -in. great penitentiary ivalls by our masters and our-keepers? Merciful God I are we born slaves or are we born freemen? Are the descendants of Cavaliers to let the swords of their forefath ers hang around them, in their halls, to rust forever? Do they dread to draw them, he cause forsooth a nation of Yankee shoe-ma kers may let drive at them with their awls, or a nation of weavers may threaten to raise their shuttles :ind spindles? Mr. Chairman ! the final result 'f all these measures is to abolish slavery in the States, or to render it valueless. and thus to force those who own them to abandon the country or perish in its ruins. To establish the truth of this--bear with me while I go back and trace the history of events particularly for the last twenty-five years. Look first at its rise and progress in England. When Wild berforce first proclaimed his doctrines of emancipation for the Briti.<h West India Is lands, he had few or no followers, and I be lieve he was mobbed in thelstreets of Liver pool, or at least treated with great indignity. Th''le productions of tho.ie Islands :ind slave labour were then of great importance to England, and the movemneht wvas looked upon as a direct blow at her prosperity afid comi mercial wealth. The proposition roi emanci pation was scouted,aind received but slender support in the Brtish Parliament for years. And yet Wilberfo.:ce lived to see the day wvhen he bore down the common sense and talent of England by utad fanaticism and wild phiilanthrophy. The deed wvas consummated against the judgment of the thinking classes. And the Prime Minister of England, in the. same speech, by wvhich he carried the Eman cipation Bill, congratulated the country that he would thereby finally be enabled to with draw troops from those West India stations and station them in Ireland !! Emancipate the black man of the West Indies and station British bayonets to keep in slavery the White man of Ireland! WVhat a comment upon British Philanthropy ! And what ha~s been the result ? Ireland under the British bayonet-. in chains and perishing with starvation. The WVest Indies free, yet poor-miserable -wvretched, in degradation and ruin. And this is what the wor!d called humanity ! The movements for emancipation in France and England were then transferred to the United States. And as shoi-t time ago, as 1834 and '35, when I first entered Congress, it was talked of as belonging to a few ob scure fanatics who were considered madmen and utterly unworthy of all kind of notice. They were merely laughed at. In*1836 they began to send in petitions quite frequently to abolish slavery in the District of Colum bia, &c. Gen. Hammond and myself, ,al though very young members, at that time, made the question of reception .on those pe tit ions. It produced geat excitement, and it was thought even by Southern members that we were ultra and extravagant in our views. I recollect well, in a speech I then delivered, denyinig the Constitutional rigtht of the Government to abolish slavery in the Dis trIct of Columbia without the consent of Virginia and Maryland. I said that there was danner from this party of abolitionism, and th~atthe day would come when they would hold( the balance of power, and overrun both parties at the North and endanger the exist ence of this Union. I was pronounced a madman and it was gra.vely put forth in a New York paper that I ought to be e1elle the Ihouse of Representatives for sneh son: timents. A larenimainrity even of Southern