Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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[From the(JliarlcRlun Mercury.] SrEECU Of IIod. R. Haruwell Khctt. Delivered at tiiberniun Hull, April 7, 1851, at a meeting of the Southern Rights Association. Fellow Citizens : I :uu indebted, I presume, to the fact that 1 am hut lately from the seat of Government, tor the invitation 1 have received to address you this night, and fur the warm reception with which you have greeted me. You know my opinions, frankly expressed, on the past state of our affairs. Hut you wish to know whether I see anything in their present condition which lias cuangeu or moiiitieil those opinions. Gentlemen, I can teach you nothing, and I presume you desire lo hear nothing, of those wrongs, which have aroused within you the determination to redress yourselves. South Caroliua, in her Legislature, long since declared that, with respect to them, the argument was exhausted. She will no more reason with her sister States concerning ' them; and we, 1 think, need no more reason concerning them amongst ourselves. Our understandings are sufficiently informed. All we waut is the will, in the face of acknowledged wrongs, to right ourselves. It is on this point, and litis only, the mode of red reus, that I propose, in a very simple way, to submit to you a few brief considerations. Your last Legislature looked to two expedients for redress?secession from the Union in co-operation with other Southern States; and secession bv South Carolina alone.? With the exception of less than a halt dozen members, all the members of the Legislature were disunionists. Those who were in favor of disunion in concert with other Southern States limited their policy to the call of a Southern Congress. Those who, despairing of the co-operation of nnv other c. ? ' ?-?:? ' -> - ..^.'UIIPV, kvic III IU1UI Ul M'tOSIOIJ OV OOUlll Carolinir-uloue, supported the call of a State Convention. The latter prevailed by a large majority in the Senate, and their bill was ssoiit down to the ilouee calling a State Convention. It there failed for the want of a fsw votes necessary to give the two-thirds majority, required by the Constitution to call a Convention. On the other hand, the Southern Congress bill failed in the House, where it originated. As all aimed at the baiuo end, it was soon agreed to pass both measures. All desired a Southern Congress e. -J - - - :? ;? - --i i i > 1 IUI ruuicsn, II It COIIIII Ue OOiailKMl. '111110 would in :i very few months settle its practicability : whilst the call of a State Convention would put it in the power of South Carolina, in c;u>e her invitation for a Southern Congress should be declined by the other Souther:: Suites, to go out of the Union alone. A bill embodying both these measures passed both branches of the Legislature by an overivbelmning majority?far more than the two-thirds required by the Constitution to summon the people iu Convention. My friends, time, resistless time?the great discloser of our destinies?the iron instrument of Providence in working hisdecrces? lias settled at least one branch of this policy. Southern co-operation is at an end. The i Governor of your State, in obedience to your command, has sent to every Southern State your invitation to meet vou at * -...jjW'MV'f, in Alabama, to confer ou the wrongs we have . endured, and the dangers which environ the < South. All are silent, save one; but that 1 one has spoken for all. Virginia, who first counselled us by one Legislature, to resist ! the Wilinot Proviso or any kindred metis- I ure, at all hazards and to the ln>t extremity I ?Virginia, who, at a succeeding Legislature \ repeated this counsel, and drew after her tlu* : whole South in support?now, when the wrongs and outrages anticipated have been actually perpetrated, and the South, with i her institution of slavery, is excluded from i every foot of our Territories acquired from ? Mexico?Virginia succumbs. Nay, more: I she not only submits, but brings herself for- 1 ward to obtain the submission of others. I South fw.r i ui ioiiow uer lirst no- i ble lead, adopted h'-r brave resolves, word ? for word. There they stand on tho records of the State. No sophistry cat) expunge. ? them. Dishonor even cannot obliterate them, i They live, and must live forever a bright me- ! mortal of our consistency and firmness in | tho vindication of our rights, or a foul stain ( on our yet unblemished fame, and & con- I temptible burlesque on the sovereignty of ? the States. Virginia now leads the way to i submission. Excepting South Carolina, Mis- 1 sissippi alone seems capable of maintaining j the first high counsels of Virginia. Her j ]>eople certainly appear to be actuated bv a 1 .u*.. * - oeimw ui inw wrongs of the South, and 1 i n resolute will to redress them. But Mississippi is practically a land bound i Stale. She has no seaport suitable for trans- * atlautic commerce. The depth of water on i her bar docs not exceed six feet. For this 1 reason, if for no other, she cannot secede i from the Union without her coterminous i States. If she secedes without Louisiana or < Alabama, receiving all her supplies of for eign commerce through them, bha wmil/l M?t oe tn the Union, bo Far as the taxes lev- 11 ied on her foreign commerce by the general 11 government are concerned. The citizens i consuming the goods imported from foreign i nations, would pay. in their consumption, i the taxes levied on them in the ports of oth- ' er States. Miaeiasippi would thus he not < practically independent?not independent in < that greatest function of all government, the i greatest test of liberty with our Anglo-Sax- t on race?the imposition of taxes. She will, 1 therefore, not go out of the Union with us. < Co operation with her in a measure of se- < cpacton is out of the question, and probably t i?$? better for us that sttfiikould not go oat i Union along with us. In the Union ) ^fttt haV* * mmrtatn ?< ?*? ir _ .uuwjuoe on tb? otb2^ 'vjj piberD State*, winch we, out of it, would 4 X " ' Our {tad object in beyond tin- < d|ra>rte eceasion ; sod we will want State* i *4k<i?Wll m out oi the Union, to bring on ' that object to. its accomplishment, "With the failure of Mi?ftiuipppi to give us her co ( oj>eration, ends all Southern co-operation: t k&P too Southern Congress will meet. Our fen- \ 'terBoutbero StaWe decline our solicitation t to meet tw |n courwel. ? Tbey tell us plainly, 1 io'declining our hurij^ido, u we will not Or 1 Wn -cwxnotTrid you; UjflffiiHJPf your own dea- ( wL tVN<r ' J^uroty if WtoQw glove on nlone to I > .'fljg^our ot 1 gard to their position Las required us to do. Wo liavo implored them to lead us. We have implored them to co-ope rate with ua. They will do neither, afu r pledging them- | selves to do both. Nor/, then, that we take our fate into our own hands, are we not entitled to their sympathy?their hearty good wishes for our suecos ? For my part, if they give us these, it is all 1 would desire in the present state of things in the South. A Southern Congress now would be our ruin. With Virginia, Maryland, Kenttieky, Missouri, Tennessee?in such h Congress, what would be its counsel I Submission : submission for themselves, submission for us ; and should we in disgust retire from the Congress we ourselves had invoked, or east their counsels under our feet, might we not excite the resentment and alienation of our sister Southern Suites composing it? I rejoice therefore that no Southern Congress will meet; for no Southern Congress can meet to redress the wrongs of the South. Alono we must move; and alone it is best for us to move, in the present condition of tilings.? So fatal would be the tendency of a Southern Congress that I should not beat all surprised if, before long, one is gotten up by the administration at Washington, or is proposed to us by the most thorough submission States. General Jackson's cabinet, it is now know nwas the author ot Mr. Watkins Leigh's mission to South Carolina, in 1833. Tlie General held out nothing but the most defying threats to us, as the administration now affects to do; while his secret fears were displayed in his secret instigation of this mission, to bring us to acquiescence in the tariff compromise. Stranger things than these mav take place, if South Carolina seeedes from the Union. Jlowever matters may havu stood formerly, the only alternative now presented to us is submission or secession, by South Carolina alone. Now, :ls we have been for secession by South Carolina alone, heartily labored with our friends who were in favor of the eo-oporation of other Southern States, since their policy ha* become impracticable, ought they not to jr-iu us in the last and only meusure of redress that is left ? They may have doubts of its success, as we have had of their policy; but, with their consciousness of the wrongs of the South, and the dangers which environ us, utid their high regard for the honor of our State, can they couusel us to submission ? "Will they any longer divide from us, and spread weakness throughout our counsels i Will they not rather join us, and i ? .iiuiui >r im us uuu urave auu uiuiea etlort for redress and independence, by the secession of South Carolina alone from the Union ? They must and will soon be with us. They cannot joiu the Union party which is soon to arise in South Carolina. Secession, then?secession by'South Carolina alone?is to be our policy. Let us look it fairly in the face, and try to estimate i(? probable consequences. Probability is all which exists for us justly in the future. Certainty is in the past and present only. In the first place, in seceding from the Union, we would declare free-trade absolutely as it now exists with nil the States south of the Potomac and Ohio liners. There would be no change whatever, so far i as our net ion is concerned, in any of there j lations we now hold towards those States. All their productions?cotton. whe;it, tobacco, live stock, will enter our Slate lis heretofore, free of all charge or duly whatever. With respect totlie productions of the other States now in the Union, and all foreign nations, we would lay a small duty on importations not exceeding ten percent. ad valorem, (seven per cent, was the first duty laid by our inc estors in putting the present Government into operation, with a heavy war debt to discharge.) Thirty per cent. i6 the duty now exacted by th? general government in <11 the porta of the United States on the :hief articles of importation. Our duly of ten per cent, will thus bo twenty per cent, less than the duty exacted in the ports of .he Union. The effect must be that goods n Charleston must bo twenty per cent, cheap>r than iu the ports of the United States, l'o the agricultural interest of the Stale, no i ane can doubt the benefit. Our planters ind farmers, and all other consumers in tho i State, must be supplied with goods .twenty < per cent, cheaper than tboy have heretofore i obtained them. It is clear, therefore, that 1 to the great mass of the people of South i [Jarolina, socession, under such circumstances < must bo advantageous. Property of all i kinds must be more valuable, because more ' profitable in South Carolina than where the 1 greater burdens exist. There is but one in- i Lereat which may be injuriously affected, nnd 1 lhat is the mercantile interest. Trade is 1 very timid. It is liable to panics; and when 1 confidence is unimpaired it is not easv to 1 change the channels of commerce, without < some loss, Although that change may be i from less to more profitable clianncls. Our i merchants will have to change their impor- ? Lations from New York and Boston to Liv- I orpool and Havre, but they will have their 1 goods twenty per cent, cheaper than in the < ports of the United States. The merchants j in the interior of out own State will have < no inducement to goto New York, as they 1 now do, to lay in their supplies. They will i make their purchases iu Charleston. Here i in a certain demand on the commerce of i Charleston, which doet not now exist. And i out of our State, will not the merchants of i e?-.~ *? oMtw, ior mo tame cause, pursue the i tame policy? So far as oar importations 4 from those States are concerned, we would < be exactly as we now are. The only differ- < ence in our irade will be, that our merchants 1 will be able to offer to those who send us 1 their productions from other States their 1 wppliee twenty per cent cheaper than here- i tofcre. Will this interrupt their trtide t < ffce Moftberu msnu&cturert and prodnoers, < far whose bevsftt the high disertmittating do- < tie* inth* present tariff*! the United States 1 : people of Georgia and North OaroKna, and 1 the other Southern States, the collection of, -i the thirty per cent, duly they have fatter v| th& Oenorsl 1S " ? _^..?u?ui. on every Soptberp f xmsumer for their benefit. They nowoon- -? irol the General Government, ana 1 mppfre I irill endeavor, by their custom tibttsa offtanfc, 3 "O prevent the people of ottyef ?9(*faA]p9> ? juyingfrora us. But all such effort wity fsTL, ? idIoau human nature shall : be aunwlfomlyt\ itwinged by our eoessio?< Ift tfce a jpt^thern StWea, tbo pfc&etit W sj pltf? is utterly unconstitutional. It is only j I an expedient by which tribute? is exacted | | from the South by the North. But, indo- ! ; peudeutly of tins, Hamburg lies opposite to i Augusta, I'urysburg is not far from Savan- ' nah, whilst we have a common right to navigate the Savannah and Pee Dee rivers, from thoir borders to to their mouths. Our trade with North Carolina is chiefly carried on by wagons. IJow long will custom house olliccrs on our North Carolina frontier continue to seize the wagons of our North Carolina farmers and wagoners on their return from South Carolina with their usual supplies? llow will the people of Georgia submit to a standing army of tax collcctors on their side of the Savannah river, spving, j j seizing, fighting them, to enforce the eollccj tion of duties their abolition brethren of the I North have laid upon them ? We will have I llOtllillo* to ili? vvitli iliriiifr .?> ...0 ? - *tj "'e Vl "cr"c,,,o* Vl' : our side of the river we will have ease and peace. No controversy with the people of Georgia?no controversy with the General Government or its officers. We have goods to sell twenty per cent, cheaper than they J can be obtained in New York, or in any port in the Union?that is all. We wiil neither force other people to buy them nor enter other States to sell them. The trade, if it exists, will be at the option of those who think proper to come tons and buy our goods. Relations of entire amity and of mutual benefit, not of hostility or injur}', l will thus exist between us and the Southern Status. I am inclined to think the trade of our merchants, under smh circumstances, will not become quite extinguished. I am inclined to think that the same state of things which now exists on our Canada frontier. under the skilful address of our Yankee friends, will nlso prevail along the frontiers of South Carolina. Twenty per cent, will not stop goods 011 an imnginary frontier. It gives immense activity to bales and boxes, as well a; to men's wits. It will not destroy our merchants. It will make our trade pretty nearly as free in going out as in entering our State. This is Certainly the opinion of the merchants in our Northern cities. They therefore look upon the secession of South Carolina from the Union with alarm and terror, anticipating the loss of the whole import trade, which is occasioned by South em piouucuons. Jt will come to u?, the}' say. I think they are right; for however fallacious their judgments may be on other subjects, in matters of money they are as neur infallibility as human beings can be. Wo must gain what they lose, and our commerce will prosper bej'ond overy other interest in the State. Charleston, the emporium of this commerce, must especially arise in prosperity. Every householder, every mechanic, every laborer, will feel the impulse which new demands for labor and capital mu?L produce; whilst wo will demonstrate ~?u ?; * hf >uu nuiw niiui nueny ana just government can do for a people. "All this seems very fair and clear," I think I hear an old merchant say, " but what of that blockade 1 If enforced against us, we will not be able to buy, much less to sell." I answer?The blockade is a humbug. It would probably be better for us if it should turn out a reality ; but as things are, 1 am compelled to say, from a regard to truth, tliat 1 believe it to be au unmitigated humbug. Blockade is war. If we secede from the Union, we will secede during the sitting of the next Congress. Congress alono can declare war. Congress must vote the supplies, and authorize the use of the army and navy against us. One of two alternatives Congress must choose: lotus go peaceably out of the Union, or tight us. 1 believe every body gives us the very common credit of not being very great laggards at fighting. If war is made upon us, we will tight. On land or sea, we will tight; and if any one sup- < poses that war in any form can be made un i South Carolina without righting, he is not < worth reasoning with. Where there is a I will there is a way, in war as in other things, i Wo will tight?tight long; awl, if necessary, I trust we will tight everlastingly, in de- < fence of the sovereignty of our State, and < i>f our dearest rights, liberties and institution. < What can the Northern people gain in such I ii contest, hut inevitable defeat and disaster? < Give theni all they can possibly expect to < Accomplish. Suppose that they are not em- i broiled with other nations, for lawlessly in- i torrupting a commerce as much theirs ns < aura, <md that we are at last vanquished and ] subdued?will that preserve the Union ? < l'hey may have a province held in subjection i by military force, but can they make us, < Against our will, a State of the Union ? Can i they force ns to elect Senators or Repreeen- < Latives to Congress ? By our secession, the < Union is dissolved, nnd will stand dissolved I by our mere non-action. But if this policy 1 _>r coercion is pursued, will disunion be lim- 1 ited to South Carolina alone? Does any i man believe that the General Government ] win carry on a war against a Southern State ? for exercising her right of seccding from the LJnion in defence of her liberties and inBtitu- ( lions, and that no other Southern State will I ioin her In the contest? The right of se- < Mission is the right of all. Surrender it, and t '.lie States are no longer sovereignties. They 1 not parties to the constitutional com- < pact; but mere provinces of one vast consol- i [dated empire, under the absolute sway of < be free States in the North, through the r majority in Congress. The Southern States c trill have no defence, either in the Union or ( >ut of the Union, to stay the strong hand f >f usurpation and abolition, growing stronger ? jvery day ; and if they suffer South Caroli- t ja to be subjugated by the sword, her doom c "Dust soon be theirs, with the increased fe t 'ocity they will have inspired io onr success- ? bl foes. I do not oonsider it to be a mutter 1 >f doubt, that if the free States use the Geo- i >ral Government to make war on South Car- ? >laa, and she fight* as. becomes her ancient * enown, a Southern Confederacy is as sure ? o come as the succeeding year. The North- si inj people, as well ss toe Geuersl Govern- v neat* know that ibis will be the result, as *ell as we do; and therefore I bare no ex- c that any bill will ever pass Con- p frees, to eOWce South Carolina from going a the Paioo. Jfoaoch bill, 1 am satis* ft ted, could haveawsed the last Senate of it be t^nited States. W1H Rhode Is)*ad,the o ?t State tA AniAi- Ai * ? rwfc?ii ar*>bej in the UnK>?. wittaift it, feat a] Mgfe oil DMiiwoy* ? Could "tb??rg?ff " ' western Democrats, whoso lately maintained that the right of self-government was so sacred in a people, that the emigrants in California had a right to set up a government for themselves throughout that whole magnificent region, although owning not a foot of the soil, deny to the people of South Carolina the right they thus accorded to the people of California, and force on them a Government they have repudiated ? Could the Northeastern Democrats, resting on the limitations of the constitution, as tiieir great j lender (Mr. Woodbury) lias so long and so ; faithfully done, find any wai.-aut in the Constitution to coerce a State! IIow many .Senators from the South aro prepared to try j the strength of the General Government in coercing a Southern State to remain in the Utiion'{ There may bo two, and you will not tind it difficult to name them. My friends, 1 am satisfied that if South Carolina thinks proper to go out of the Union, she will go without a single hostile gun bej ing fired, or a single tombstone being erectI e<i to tell a tale of martyrdom. On expressj ing such conviction to a distinguished officer | of our State, immediately oil my return from Washington, he exclaimed?"No fighting! I well, that is the worst news 1 have heard for I a long time! IIow in the name of heaven are we to get the Southern Confederacj' ?" I answered, " By just government and a superior liberty." No. You will have 110 fighting, and I rejoice that the responsibility is not with us, whether we shall have it or not. We will have no fighting, not because you are loved, nor from any principle which restrains from shedding your blood. You are hated, no doubt, quite enough to bring 011 you any calamity which unscrupulous power, avarice or fanaticism can inflict. But there is policy in power. There is policy in avarice. There is policy in fanaticism; and all these perceive, that to attempt to coerce South Carolina in any way, is to secure their own defeat, and our speedy deliverance from their degrading thraldom. They acquiesce only in the necessity of things. That this is the policy determined now in Congress may perhaps be stronger inferred from two facts?the army bill, proposing a considerable increase of the army, and the fortification bill, both failed in the House of Representatives at the close of the last session by large majorities. The election of South Carolina to her convention had then distinctly indicated her future course. But 1 have heard it said the General Government Will not blockade ll? PTitir#lr ; -V will only have a flouting custom house in their ships of war off our coast, or exact the duties under the cr.nnon of the forts in our harbor. I wish to meet all objections. By this scheme of interfering with our commerce it is not, in the first place, easy to perceive how duties can be collected on a whole cargo in bulk in the bold of a ship. To collect the duties the ship must be unloaded, the goods be seen, to be appraised, or seized if falsely invoiced, or not entered at all, to evade the duties. All of our custom bouse !(iws to prevent smuggling and the 1 evasion of duties are based on the irnposi- ? bility of collecting duties on goods in bulk > in the hold of a ship. If it is the establish- i cd law that papers, without the inspection i of goods, or a captain's statement of what < his ship contains, are to be the only proof of importations into Charleston, and the on- J Iv criterion of the duties to be collected, the '< collection of duties will soon become a farce. ? ?:n ?:?ii- ? . viMMivotuii w?n piffut/U'miy i)e a ireo port.? * Evun ten per cent, duties will hardly be lev- : ied on our importa. But the true answer to ' this mode of interfering with our commerce ' is, that it will be war. In seceding from the t Union, South Carolina will exerciso a right t which she, at least, deems unquestionable.? ' When she has dissolved her union with her ? L-o-Stales, she puts tin end to her copartner- f ship with them?she puts an end to their i common agent, the General Government-, so * Tar as she is concerned. So long as the Uuion between them lasts, their common agent, 5 with her cousent, aud by no other means, ' discharges the duties which, by the compact ( jt fie Constitution, she has agreed it shall a discharge. But with our separation from 1 Lhe Union goes ail our relations with the > jther States of the Union. They are for- < sign nations, e.xnctfv on the same footing ( is Great Britaiu oT^Vance Their Govern < inent has no more right to interfere with our c xunmerco than the Government of Great a Britain or France. For either of these Gov- i jrnuients to attempt to collect taxes out of c as by forcibly controlling our commerce t >11 the high seas or in our harbors, is notli- ^ ng more or Jess than levying military r contributions on us?making war. Of e course we will be compelled to tight with all f< :he means in our power, and with all the nl- 1 ies we can command. We must storm the 1 brts if we can where this aggression is car- * icd on, and capture the ships of war em- n jloyed against us. It will be war on all t iide??war in the South to subject the Sotith, s vntcD will only end in n Southern Confed- u sracy or the utter extinction of South Caro- e ina as a State. If the Government holds t >n to our forts merely as property belonging fc o the United States, it may be a question a whether we ought not pay for any property I) >ur co-States, through tho General Govern- >i nent might own in South Carolina. But in p loing this the account must be opened all a ound with our sister States. It will be up- T >n thein to show that the property in South si Carolina excecds our due proportion of ex- it wnditure from the Treasury of the United tl Mates, when ooinpared witli the ezpendi- tl ure which has taken place in the other States U if the Union. The public lands must also * brought into that account, with nur mw ti md tlie public buildings io Washington.? p ilie d?bt for the war and purchase of Cali- ? aruia should be dtibted exclusively to the ai ree states, since they have appropriated the 01 rbole of it to themselves. At all events, b re will honestly and fairly meet any propo- si ition to adjust anv pecuniary liabilities our rithdrawal from the Union may involve. a But war caaoele all obligations, Jf they boose it, we mast accept of it But I re- it eat, I do not believe that war of any kind b< rill follow as a consequence of oar secession re om the Union, because war cannot prerapt w , and will 00J7 lead to ? wider disruption to f the Unioaf H< Will befcr easier indeed, ?e i my opinion, to .get out of the Union than- w > it- You pee the vM^mpent w Iready made in VJrgiai^tokeep jjsj?i?*i If Mw^flprtX a^ UnHip..:; <M> -.*#?*netits ty il) h?.mttU)pM IP* we,*r%^t &jtlo er. duce our rot tiro. Missions from our-eie- Us ter Southern States?concessions, with lavish professions of regard from the Northern ! States?abolition cowering for the while? ! slavery agitation suppressed in Congress? j tariff and internal iuiprovcinent apparently : abandoned?in short, every thing will Iw done to conciliate the Southern States, and keep lhein from going with us out of the | Union. In the meantime our separation j from the Union will be made as harassing as possible by the operations of the General Govcruinent, to foster discontent in South Carolina, and defeat the advantages which will naturally arise from our separation.? This will be our real time of trial. To hold on firmly to our iturnose. of an untira to dress for the past and security for llie future, or to keep out of the Union forever, will task nil our fortitude and energy. Let tliein otter to us the Constitution of tlie United States, with that equality of rights and privileges all its spirit breathes; equality in Congress, where the disparaging and insulting agitation of the subject of slavery shall no more enter forever; equality in taxation, without discriminations in favor of one pursuit of industry at the expense of another; equality in the expenditure of the taxes, by limiting appropriations to the objects expressly specified in the Constitution ; equality in our territories, at least as far as thirty-six degrees thirty minutes North latitude can bestow it, from our Indian Territories to the Pacific ocean ; let them ofter to us these, and all these, secured to us by new nnd distinct iruarantees in the Ooiiatitiiiinn and we will listen to imitations to return into the Union. To nil else we should turn n deaf but respectful ear. Those are now ours, by right, under the Constitution of the United States. The free States have despoiled us of them. If they wish such a Union as the Constitution establishes and their faith pledged them to observe, they can have it, if they will propose it. Any other it would be insult to offer. Voluntarily to go back into degrading inferiority and bondiige, will be more infamous than to have endured it under the stealthy usurpations of the Northern States. Disunion, and disunion forever, or all our rights, should be our fixed and unalterable determination. Fear is a very unreasonable passion?often the more unreasonable when there is least to apprehend. We have alarmists from fear of war; but as the prospect of war disappears, we have greater alarmists for fear of peace. To the imaginations of some, nothing is so terrible as to be unmolested? to be let alone bv the General Government. If it fights lis, thus is a terror by no means to be encountered; bnt then we will have company. But not to fight us is a still greater terror. It is to leave us alone, without company; and what mortal man ean face such a catastrophe. Why, gentlemen, I have thought that 44 laisscz nous /aire"? (let us alone) was the grand piincipleof free trade, for which wo have been contending for the last thirty years. I have thought that to be let alone, was the grand principle of all free government. Justice from without, against the aggressions or wrongs of I foreign nations?justice within, between man I and man?prevention merely, this is the I righteous and limited aim of nil free gov- ! jrnment! As to all else, let us alone.? i What have we been asking, ns to all the '< Treat measures of aggression, which have < it length rendered the General Government 1 to longer endurable to free men, but 'let us i done.* Let us nlono on the tariff. Let us I done on internal improvements. Let us ; none with respect to our institution of slave- t y. Keep to tho simple purpose of preven- I ion, for which you were created, and pro- i ect us against foreign nations. Sui:h lmve t >een our demands. They are not heeded; s md we cast off a tyranny which, like the < 'rogs of Egypt, has come up into our Jio&scs i uid our bedchambers, and the Louses of onr \ lervants. t And now, shall we fear being rid of it? i >hall we tremble at being let alone ? Are i ffe afraid of ouraelves ? -or are wc incapable : >f ruling ourselves? If go, it is sheer non- J lens^ofcispire to liberty or independence, t L?et us submit at once, without murmurs and I vithout efforts for deliverance, to bo the col- 1 inies we are in reality. Blot out the t >roud motto from our arms, and let our flag, < >nce free, never more greet the sun. If our i muniicft think proper, let them lay in waste t i thousand miles around us. Let them make t South Carolina an island on the continent? 1 ..?V r ' ? iikuii lurvver irom ail sympathy or associa- a ion with any other St?tc in the Union, t iVho will suffer most by this policy ? To v each us, the dagger must pass through oth- f irs. The great world of commerce is beore us, over the broad Atlantic. We can ive, and if we can live free it is enough, o Jitter any fate than the slow torturing death a rhicb awaits us in submission. If our l< leighboring States choose this death, and hink proper to Jet the General Government n top up the channels of their commerce with v is, let them do it. If they have not had nough of its interference in their affairs, t< liey can take it still nearer home to their msiness and bosoms, although tainted with i> bolitionism itself. But I believe in the Tevalence of no such oolier. Snntl? na. in the heart of tlie Smith, cannot be ermanently isolated from thorn in |?olicy, &< n she cannot be in interest and institutions, 'he General Government may make some b pas modic efforts to produce this result; but ' we stand still and tirin, they will foil, as a le passions of the present give way before ie mighty tide of interest which must sweep le Soutk together. d But secession will nol only bring us isola- li on in the South, but heavy burdens in the w ersonal military services we must render, p nd the iucreasfid taxes we must pay. We lc re to live in military bopts, with knapsacks tc n our backs, and have costly foreign em- lil assies, and a standing army and navy to tl Ipport. D< It it n/sf fii? ?? *-*? * *' " ' ' 1 ' * mw? hvkuuiu iv wuui.vqe oobi ot w freegovefpmeut, Let it cost wW it may * -life ltoelf?they wilt be prepared to pay iw , But free governments shoald certainly I the cheapest, because most just Atid rtioet poipible U> the people. I aee no reason m hy ftoqth Carolina tkottld be an eaeeption jne ?this general trutk Awiirrring U> ow- ttl Irea the eondost of oar tereign relating III HI, dovhtld*e? add. something to bur & *Mh Afcrifan nwaaipn may occasional1 be aMrnmrfy bwt there will ao eeowai- i( fcw^yggjr. tit tioiiB, entangling alliances wi Our productions and commerce wil^^^cal to the interests of nil nations to do Us justice,and secure us peace. If nuy nation offeuds or wrongs us, wo have a powerful means of redress ur retaliation, by shutting them out of our commerce, and thus adding to the prosperity of other and rival nations at their expense. Navies we do not want; for wd ./ have no shipping on the ocean to protect.? * ' Not one bag of cotton in fifty, when it leaves our ports, belongs to our citizens. It beI........ ?? ~e ? - ' - iw.i^r. iu iiiv; tlll/A-ll? UI OlIKT IIUUODS, nnU Hues oil the ocean under their flags; and uiftier the same flags nil produce belonging tc our citizcns cm easily reach foreign |?orts/ We want no standing army beyond what i will be necessary to man the forte of ouK harbor. Wo intend to assail or harass no* one oil our borders. The advantages we will enjoy by our extrication from the oppressions and dangers of the general gov-, eminent we will freely impart to others ; and will expect to v/in that friendliness and confidence which all good offices should inspire.liut to meet the extraordinary expenses to' which we will be subjected, how great will be our additional resources through the cus* toins! How great too will be the benefit,' especially to the city of Charleston, of expending all the taxos thus raised within 0111' own State, Hinongst our own people ! Tho' ~f w i.:? ? - vnj ui tt his wen us an ine great Noithern cities, nrc standing monuments oi what the mere expenditure of money amongst a people can do tor their enrichment. Thefty on the Potomac, is ft Inige increasing eily,* of fifty thousand inhabitants, where, a fe\V _ -years ago there was an old field. -It is a mere consumer, and exports not a dollar'* worth of produce. I think the additional means secession will secure us, will more than meet tho additional expenses we must incur by our independency. I have thus, fellow-citizen*, endeavored briefly to lay before you the probable consequences of the secession of South Carolinrt from the Union. I have argued the question of secession, as if it was a final separation from all the States of the South. Hut is this a correct method of arguing this ques ti<?n? If our cause is tlio cause of the whole South?at least of the cotton region of the South?will not the South in due time perceive the truth ? If in origin, pursuits, and institutions we are one, how long will we remain apart, through the influence of those who have wronged and degraded us, and who now threaten our utter ruin in the overthrow of our institutions? Will they prefer a union with the free States, with inferiority and colonial independence ; or a uuion with us, equality and independence ? Safety and honor are on the one haDd, danger and degradation on the other. Increasing power and respectability among the nations of the earth, whose prosperity we will hold in the hollow of our hands; or increasing weakness, with a Government un der whose prestige they and their institutions become the scoff of nations. These are the alternatives, which truth and experience must present to all impartial mind* in the South. Where must thej' ultimately Ipjlfl- lll?1j?ea fn o ????m? !.-? C *?- * " WV ? UIIIUII Ml tliu UllUlIl I II iouth Carolina secedes from tlio Uliio.?, mid remains an independent State for five years, \ Southern Confederacy must be the resultt jr the South will have enforced those guarantees which will give her that pafety, liberty, md equality to which she is entitled. 1 have >een battling in this cause tor twenty-five fears, and have now but a few more years x> give to your servico. I long to see it setled. As a citizen of South Carolina I tlenand that she makes mo froe. Let her determine, now, and forever, the fato of iter oils. My counsel is eceede from the Union )f these United States. "At every hazard, md to the last extremity," secede. If I ,vas now about to draw my last breath, witli hat breath I would exhort you to secede r uul above all, my friends, let us be uuiteu n secession. Our disunion will alone tempt in effort of coercion. Our disunion can ilone bring us defeat. Let us be charitable o each oilier, and hold every man to be :i jrother, who a-jrees with lis as to the wroncs * ~ voire have endured, and is intent on redressing hem. When the Stnte Convention ?h;ifi letormine on the mode of redress?-when it vithdrawa this State from the Union, all hese will be with us; and in their generous ivalry for the maintenance of the honor and iberty of South Carolina, they will perhapb urpass t? all in patriotic energy and uscfuN >efs. Unite; and unite in seceaeion, and villi God's blessing, redemption is at band i>r us and ours. What 1 would do.?If I were possessed >f the most valuable things in the world, * nd was about to will them away, the fol- \ jwing would be my plau of distribution: I would will to the world (and the rest of aankiud) truth and friendship, whioli are ery scarce. 1 would give an additional portion of trvtk > lawyers, traders and merchants. 1 would give to physicians, skill aud learo,gt' .. - : x wuuiu give me printers their pay. To gqssipping women short to'igue?. jn. To youug aprouta or dandies, connytt miv, little cash and bard labor. To old maids, smooth laces and good buaands. ' ' . To old bachelors, love for virtue, children* nd wives. -? . Whistuno.?A clergyman Iri 8cot1andJ esired bis liearers never to calf one another ajra, but when any one said anything that as not true, to whistle. Qfee Sunday ho reached a sermon on the parable m the >aves and fishes; and bciflg at a how > explain it, he said the loaves v>e?? not ke those now-a-davs; they were tAUfr'** ' _ LIU- ?- -? r te nun in CMotlond. He bud sCftrtoty fit- fi tranced Ike Vrofdft, vfea 1m hwitf a tfttol > v J witartV that," and be, catta^af ' irl*^ "* eJ-.i-r' .ff rub * ft ? I, Will*-MeDboaU,-4h?-W||tfP// " W?d,W%, what ?$eotk?ft -featA* iMP.o ,??i la c?4-;u ?>UM ".Now* OMMilir Jebttf oaly I M? ?Ul KI(i!Of ??M3 UtJ M WHktl VOWUiWWl'iMP lo MiUo? ?owfi MjteugpDhr - i _A .