University of South Carolina Libraries
' \ ' - " ' }'-' : : -. '. V'-'V; ;".' ( ;v-.-'4t'-^1 ' " .. " . ' ,'i . ' ' " " * " y?s '. '' ' ' ;' ' *" ' '' ' ' ' - " ' _ *: " ''':: - . ???? - in - ." "[SEWSEiflES.] VOI,. II. CAMDEN, SOUTH CAROLINA, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1841. NO.39. GOVERNOR'S MESSAGE, NO. 1. j.. Executive Department, ) ^ Colombia, Nov-23, 1811. \ follow Citizen? of the Senate and House of Representatives: I congratulate you on the recurrence of this occasion of assembling in the service *of your constituents, under circumstances as auspicious to the useful discharge of .VoUr duties, as I trust they will he conducive to the harmony of your deliberations. While, in the general hf?aIth of our 'citizens, and the abundancp of the harvest, i niMinl beneficent Ve have experience.! mc ? distribution of the blessings of an . overruling Providence, we have not less cause for congratulation in the reviving prosperity of our people. from the Unexampled deipressoui and embarrassment of the times.. Already has credit began to regain confi. deuce ami stability?capital to seek permanent investments?commerce to pursue its accustomed channels?property to resume a fixed and reasonable value?and the energy and enterprise of our people to embark with new and invigorated hope, in its various employments, and pursuits. Not the least gratifying reflection mining from these cheering auguries of our condition, is derived from the consciousness that they are the results, not of any pampering patronage of the Goverment ?not of the artificial stimulants of Legislative aids or interference?but of a wise a lit! vigilant economy in the people, awakened bv the disastrous experience of the pnst, to improve the permanent and enduring sources of their prosperity. If some of the lingering effects ofthe late derangement in the monetary affairs of our country are still painfully experienced, in the reduced value of property,?diminished as it must be from the inflated standard of a depreciated and expanded currency?or in the difficulty of discharging debts, incurred in the flood-tide of extravagant prices, and a redundant circulation?they are to be regarded as the unavoidable consequences of former errors and delusions, and perhaps the surest indications of a progressive state of convalescence and improvement. Nor have we less cause to exult in the hope, that our Government may now be regarded, as having passed in security, through the most trying and difficult exigencies, that ever tried its virtue, or tested its stability. In the events of a single year, the sudden ascen fancy of a party, actuated by a high wrought enthusiasm?impelled by the disasters of the times to seek relief in change, and rashly imputing them to the conduct of our Rulers?1seemed to threaten the subversion of the well-estabiished principles of '9S and *99, and of the republican policy of the Government, as well as the overthrow the exponents, by whom they were administered. But a few weeks ex perience of power, have as suddenly disbanded, dissipated, and resolved this magnificent array of party power and organization into its distinct and original elements. The deliberations of the late Session of Congress have dispelled lite delusion of party-zeal and fervor. Its impracticable expedients and distracted councils have I trust, again gathered and assembled the Republican p irtion oflho nation, in th ? unity and strength oCone fold, and one conviction. And if the great measure of "deliverance and liberty," important as we still regard it to the faithful as well as equitable administration of the financial affairs of the country, has been repealed, inform and in name, we have still the unquestionable assurance ofitsfinaI success, in the overruling necessity resulting from the signal failure of every other substitute or device. Among these abortive expedients, none was regarded with more intense and absorbing solicitude, than the proposition to re-establish a National Bank. On no occasion has the exercise <>f the conservative power vested in the Federal Executive, been received with warmer approbation hi.- the neonle of ihis Slate: or been more ?J f I? wisely ami fortunately interp?>se?l, to arrest the most dangerous, ami obnoxious, of nil the premeditated violations of the Constitution. _ Of all the great measures of national policy, productive of the bit lerest contention among the great parties of this union and which lias always and justly been rgearded as f-aughl wi.li the. most powerful influences (for good or for evil.) on our political institutions, the establishment of a National Bank, is certain, ly the most obvious and important, if such has been the experience of the conntry, in the primitive and purer ages of the Republic, under the regulations of a Bank, arising out of the embarrassments of the^r.sf war. and the exigencies of the last?of comparitively limited capital, and directed by the wisest and ablest officers ?what were we to anticipate from an institution organized as the instrument of a party then in power?operating amidst the ruins of a disordmed currency, and the wreck, weakness, and dismay, of State k. and local institutions. The expiring struggles ofthe late United Stales B^ok to perpetuate its existence against the fiat of the people, and the constituted authorities oi the country, are recent in the recollection of all of us, and form an important epoch in the history of our Government. Doubt4 fill as that contest must he admitted t" ^ have been, waged even as it was against '< an Administration, perlnps the most efli- ? cient and energetic that has ever conlroll- d ed the destmes of this nation, what were ll we to anticipate, when our Rulers them- l' selves should have become its allies, its l' party, or its pageants. In this view, it 11 would have changed the character of our IGovernmenf, become part of our political c institutions, and consummated the greatest P of all the deprecated evils that could befall c a country?"the union of purse and sword, l' in the Federal head"?or worse, in the M hands of a Federal party. Well may '' such an institution be supposed to have b had the power to regulate the currency; but it would have been witli the iron rule of ii despotism?restraining all interests, ah- 0 sorbing all capital, meastiiiug all profits, c overpowering all competition, and attract- r ing the wealth and prosperity of every h other portion of the union, to the centre of 'I its operations. i< It was an honest confession, of one of the ab'ect presiding officers of the late Uni- c ted States Bank, before a committee ap- r pointed by Congress to investigate its af- (| fairs, that it was at any time within its pow- y er to crush State and local institutions!? |; What an appalling fact for the contempla- (j lion of the Sovereign Slates of the Union! ,| What a prophetic warning to the institu- p lions chartered by their nuth itity! The a institutions of the country to he uprooted i and erased at the bidding of a heartless, v soul-less.cent, per cent, calculating cor- (| j)oratifin! The rights of the Slates, and c the liberties of the people, to be subjected e to the dominion of a sordid monied An- t tocracy! And yet, such is the supremacy f over law, liberty, and the constitution, to r which such an institution would inevitably t have attained. Encroachments upon the i liberties of the people, in other times and j nations, were to be apprehended from the \ , swords of conquerers, and the usurpations | i of ambit ous rulers; but experience has i shown that in our own age and country, r . the strongest contests to maintain consti- j , tutionai, and even sovereign rights, have < been waged against an ambitious money j power, in all its various forms, of Bmk r monopolies, and protectee tariffs. Well r " . . 1 . .1. _ tnereiore, may we congratulate me conn- r try, on having escaped the ambitions pre- t tensions of an institution which after im- i perionsly dictating the humiliating duly r to the Federal Executive, of violating his ( constitutional obligations, now threatens, < through the vengeance of n disappointed ( party, the rash and iniquitous retribution of abolishing the most useful and conser- g vative, of all the prerogatives of his de- j partment. t The revisi ?n of the duties on imports, jl justly regarded by the people of this State z with a solicitude proportioned to the bur-| dpns which the Protective Policy hashith-1c erto imposed on thi m, has been made, nei-1 ther in that spirit of equity, .or of compio- ir misc, which we had just reason to antici- 1 pale, from the pi incipies and concessions i f of the Act of'33. The history of the op-i ' position of this Slate, to a Tariff for pro-js lection, can neither be obliterated or for-ir gotten. And the high considerations r which actuated her, i? consenting to corn-/ promise her interests, for a term ol years, ^ to the peace and saftty of the Union, i' should be a warning, as well as an induce, i ment, to respect her rights, as well as her ^ forheara ce. While the government is f acknowledged to bp disembarrassed of ( d? bt, and manufacturing interests pet haps 1 i the len^Liirinrnssed and the most prosper- ( j oils of any in the Union, the renewal of a 8 policy hy indirect means, which is now,8 universally admitted to bear unequally upon the productive industry of cliff* rent K portions of the Union, is a inost flagrant 1 abuse of power. as well as a most wanton \8 violation of faith. The living generation ' who were the witnesses of the struggles 1 and pledges in the late contest for her con- f stilutionnl rights, have not yet passed 1 away,?The monuments of the limes have ^ not yet perished,?the very altars conse-'1 crated by her vows, still stand before its?!' preparations (or defence,are still in reacli- r ness and requisition,?the age, its records,'1 and recollections, have scaicely become a| 1 part of history, before the very burdens c and oppressions which they were intended to resist, are renewed wtin a snumei'it iu- fidelity, which seeks neither pretext or 1 justification. A home valuation, cash dtt- ^ ties, and an unreasonable and exorbitant F revenue of more than thirty millions, it is 1 believed arc little less onerous in amount 1 or tinconstiiutto.ini in effect, than the enor- 1 ntous forty per cent, dtities which the }| sovereignly of this State was so 6ternly in- 11 terposed ti? resist. And if upon the j<rin- ^ clple of uli protective duties, they ure des- " lined to increase'to on extent and enormi- 11 ty to which our experience of the past, as ^ well as the tendency of the times, most r emphatically for bod eg, then it will he for r you to say, whether South Carolina has so c fallen, from Iter high eminence of sov- n ereignlv and independence, as it) admit by a silent acquiescence in these wrongs and V grievances, that there is no "mode, no " remedy, no measure of redress." If she 1 was sufficient fhen for the emergency, she is doubly adequate and fortified now in the l i union and strength of all her citizens to t meet aggressions upon her rights, come l ijfgy. - . ' ^ * ** :om what source they miy. Nor is it i ;ss becoming the dignity anil character i f a free Stale, in assuming a position of i efence which she is resolved to maintain, i ;> manifest a due and timely regard for all I ie means and appliances of rendering I hat position, as strong and impregnable t i fact, as it is in equity, and in argument, i )isregar.ling all theories, that so often < onf'Und the convictions of the best and | uresl minds, and resorting to the resour- I es which she can so amply command < lirough her organized government, and i /itil which God and the Pnnnln h.iun pn. I owed her citizens, would hot be invinci- l >ly united in her defence. 1 Another topic, of not lest# importance | i itself, or of deep moment to the citizens f this State, is the act distributing the pro- < eeds of the public lands. As n source of I evenue which it is proposed to abstract, t the very instant when the Federal i freasurv is said to require to be replen- ' shed, it would sepm like wantonly seek- 1 ng a pretext to increase taxation. But I onsidercd in any point of view, it can be ' egarded in tin other light than that of a 1 istribution of the public revenue. In one I ear, during a previous administration, the t iroceeds of the sales of public lards, pro- ' need a revenue of upwards of twenty nillions?a maximum to which, in more irosjierons limes, it would possibly again Haiti. Its average may even now be esimated at five millions, which, if annually rithdrawn from the Treasury, leaves that leficieucy at least to be supplied by inreused duties on imports. That the government can exercise the power of taxaion to raise revenue for distribution, is a irinriple I prestimp, which this State is tot prepared to admit Undprlhe opera- 1 ion of the various pre-emption laws, and 1 he frequent reductions in the price of > >ublic lands, those very States which vere the lai gest contributors t<? the "Pub-' 1 ic Domain" or whose "blood and t'eastre" were most lavishly expended to acpiire it, have at the same time been suhecled to the greatest sacrifices, in the emigration of their citizens, ami in the diminshed value of their products, reduced by in unequal competition with the more thundanland teeming resources ?>f those lew and fertile regions, which their enerprise and indnstry have been seduced , tnd abstracted to cultivate, to the waste 1 ind abandonment of their own. It was Miough to have b me all this with palmitic devotion to the interests of our comnon country; but when it is proposed to livrrt that domain from the sacred purpoies for which it w is ceded, to afford a iretexl for additional burdens and tnxuiun on one class of industry, to give proection and bounty to another, it assumes i character of the highest injustice, as veil as the most palpable infraction of ^institutional principles. But the most dangerous, as well as the lmsl humiliating effect of this measure, is he condition of dependency, to which it educes the States, upon the bounty and lenefaetion of the government?existing is they would, in the relation of subsidiaries upon the profits of their own estate? eceiving its charity, doled nut from their iwn \veulth, and subdued to a slate of lornage, servility, and compliance* bv iribes, stolen anil lavished from their own i iraaiu y. n in/k u? uc irgiii'irw as i??c irst step to the assumption of Slate, Ipbls?designed to consummate a cunsnliI lion ol interests, obliterating all distincimis of sovereignty, or piide of Intlepenlence, and tending to concentrate Empire tnd Dominion ovcrlhe rights of the States, mil the liberties of the people? 1 trust however, that the spirit of reform, vhich has been so powerfully evoked by he errors of the late session of Congress, ind so decidedly manifested in lite results >fthe late popular elections throughout h'-Union, will prevent the spoils and donder of this system, from ever soiling he Treasury, or contaminating the cof?TS of a single State in the Union. Let is pause, at le.ast lor a moment, in the tope, that the correct principles and high noiives of an unhoughl, unierrified, and ncorrnptihle Democracy are operating Imir euro ntwl ctilnfnrt/ indiinttrpQ r?n tho :ouncils and measures of Government. Among oilier Resolution*, which, as the ifficial communication of a sister Slate, it s my di.tyto submit to a co-ordinate iranch oi ihe government of this, is one imposing to alter the Constitution, to limt the eligibility > ( the Federal Executive o one term of office. The experience of his State furnishes no reasons for such I ri innovation upon the long established i isnge and principles of the government, i cannot conceive that it can be productive i f any other effects than to increase the t isually over-wrought excitement of the | 'residential canvass?to render its recur- < encc more frequent?to disconnect the ] elutions of sympathy between the FiXe- ; utive and his consiituents?to divest him i f the most p nverfiij motives to regard , he will or to merit the approbation of the < icople?and to make him the instrument . f it party, in minister to its purposes, and : o pander to its lust of domination. < In all the history of our government, he influence of the Execulsve power, to i nodify its action on the reserved rights of < ho Stules, has been of a conservative, I ' ' ' .r . ather than of an aggressive character. More thajn twice has i-. been interposed t?? escue life people from the (lomiiiatioii and tbuscs of a National B ink. It was in defence of our rights and our institutions, :hat the deteruiination of a late Executive :o refuse his constitutional sanction to. the lbolition of slavery in any of its forms, was so fearlessly avowed; and this State, 1 presume, can have no interest or motive to remove the few salutary checks and ?mbarrussniftnts to the so often unjust and inconsiderate legislation of a majority in Congress, and to induce it to war against the dignity and prerogatives of a department, the weakest and most conservative, perhaps i" the government. I also submit for the serious consideration of the Legislature, a copy of the communication of the Governor of Virginia, on the proceedings of the General Assembly of that State, on the subject of her late controversy with Netv York; and Reports and Resolutions from the Stale of Alabama, responding to to the views and declarations so solemnly announced by this State, on questions deep ly involving the right of property, and the security of the domestic'institutions of the 3 'Uili. Bound by every consideration of luty, of interest, of honor, and of equity, to repel so flagrant a disregard of the rights if a sister Stale, we s ould always be ready and prompt to redeem the pledge if our alliance to a cause with which our rights are so intimately identified. Relations of amity cannot be better preserved even between separate nations, in which the rig ts of property are not regarded as they exist, under trie respective laws of each; much less can sovereign Slates be l?ermdiier.ily allied in a bond of union, under the. same laws, government and constitution, where fugitives from the justice, plunderers of the property, and violators of the laws of one find refuge and impunity under the sanction of the constituted allthoriiies of the other. No wrong is more readily resented by nations?no injustice can more deeply stain the faith or more essentially impair the friendlv and intimate relations of confederated States- It would he a reproach to the character o( our limitations, il claims which are recognized and reciprocated b>" the comity and justice of all civilized nations, should be scornfully refused and contemned by states federated under the same laws and constitution. If obligations of the constitution, which require one stale to deliver, on demaud, fugitives from the justice of another, are to be disregarded,?our institutions assailed, ? the plunderers of our property encouraged and protected.?'hen must we regard lite perpetrator of these aggressions, '' io matter by whom c mmitte l." as a fut to our rights and an enemy to our peace. Whether the wrong in ibis case has b'-en (lone to Virginia <<r South Carolina, the principle is l ie same, the interest involved common to both, and the responsibility of protecting them should equally devolve on every state in the Union, in which justice exprriscs dominion, or similar inunions exist. Persisting in such a course of unpr ivoked hostility to the institution? of the South, New York can only b -regarded in the light of any other aggressing power?in peace friends, but enemies in war. The adoption in all such instances, i- _ ... r _.l a .U?. ( I H similar cnurs" ?>i vnjuanre in iuhi which the state of Virginia has instituted, would perhaps bp a wise arid salutary precaution, to prevent the recurrence of similar aggressions upon the rights arid property of our own citizens ami institutions We ought, upon' every principle of equity and of interest, to make common cause with anv state whose rights and institutions are thus wantonly violated and assailed. The position which it may bpcome this state to assume, on any of the important questions presented, would spent to suggest the importance and necessity of cultivating ami improving her means of safe ty and defence. It would he mere mockery to vaunt of rights, liberty or sovereignty, without the spirit, ability or resources to defend them. It would be better at once to endure threat ned or impending ills, tiring"rnvated by opposition, than by unmeaning denunciations and impotent exliioilioiis of resistance, to provoke and increase their bitterness. Prohibited both by the character of our institutions, and the restrictions of the constitution, from resorting to oilier means of cultivating our military resources than through that of u well trained and organized militia, it should he cherished to the highest slate of perfection, and with a pride and assiduity to maUe it the most efficient, as it is the only means of defending the rights, the honor, ind sovereignty of the Slate. The improvement in which it so rapidly progress id, under the influence of the late Brigade Encampments,'offers the highest encourigement to the continuance of your patronage, as wpII as the happiest illustration if the beneficial effects of the mode in which it has hitherto been conferred. Aslemblcd in these Normal Schools "f drill itit! tuition where a patriotic emulation was excited?where knowledge was imparted and received, under the critics of the most improved and accomplished officer?where such favorable opportunities were afforded for discriminating the Qualifications, both yt ' ' We. - * ..7 j. ; , r?:?- .. . of the soldier and the cittzea-r*arnii wrtere ihat martin) pride .mil feeling was a'cqUrr< <!, which is the- best, perhaps, the ontij-: foundation of an elevated patriotism, combiningso many motives, stimulants, advan;agcs ami incentives, it is not surprising thai from its results I should be able; to' stive you the gratifying assurance that our militia now comprises iu its organization, i i-idsb ??i umuns him?bc iviiuivicu^q aim accomplishments would do credit to any age, or service, or country^ With suclt inducements before us, it is^deeply to be " regretted that an experiment producti ve of so?many advantages and improvements, . without any detracting consequences what~ ever, should have been so prematurely abandoned. \ ; Already are the effects of that abandon-, ment visible, fn the waning enthusiasm of the service, and'the resignation of some of our ablest officers, from a conscientious regret and despondence, for the future use* A- < fulness and efficiency of thejr exertions.? 'y'. Such Indications as these should be regar* tied as a solemn invocation to restore a sys* lein from which the Stale has derived suchf important benefits. Confined perhaps as those encampments should be. to commissioned offices.?, it is not to "be presumed that any officer would be so insensible to*-"" the honorable pride of his voralion, or to ^ ' the confidence which the State "rephsee^ in his courage and fidelity;" as to regret'the privations and inconvenience jpf five"day*', camp service, to len/ji tliPlirt.of defending his country and his institutions. With some slight and salutary modifications of the law hy which they were regulated, It: is confidently hoped that they may he made the school of correct morals, as well as of . ' patriotism and military discipline. With the alteration or addition of such o-ovia* ous as may promote this desirable object* the bill under the consideration of the Le* gislature at its last session, in Decembers ^ snd revised hy the Adjutant General, with the acrou panying report, is respectfully referred to your consideration. Amidaf/ the portents of the time-the per}! * " that every where surround? our -domestic institutions, the emergency that may call upon us to vindicate our rights and princi* pies?I cannot but again and most serious* ly invoke your attention to that organize* lion ofour military resources anddefences, without a regard to uhirh, nn state action r can be efficient, and the assertion of sore* 1 reiguty, itself be but a bye-word and re* proach, without dignity, and without effect. The contingency of a National War>; 1 (remote and distant I trust it still is,) can* not be overlooked, among the numerous ! other inducements to improve our military 1 resources. The mott exposed, perhaps* as we are, to its ravages from the neglect* ed condition of ourcoast?the greatest suf* 1 ferers, from the burdens which., its erpen* ses are destined to impose?no matter ' ' how provoked or originating, whether by." the ambition of one power, or the officious ' border aggressions of the other,?there " can be I am sure, no selfish or ignoble con* siilerations, that would ever restrain the. most generous contributions upon the part 1 nf this Slate, of treasure or of arms, to save . C L the national nonor irom larmsn or uio? grace. 1 By an act of the Legislature, in Decern* 1 ber, last, the duty was devolved upon this 1 department, of proposing the acceptance 1 of ihe several Banking InstitutioiiB of this " State, an Act to amend their Charters, ' with a view to prevent the future suspen' sion of specie payments. The Bank of* the Stale, I he South Western Rail Road Bank, the Union Bank, and the Planters' and Mechanics' Bunk, with a commenda*. ' ble desire-to conform to the wishes Rnd objects of the State, have, in good faith* arid sincerity, accepted its provisions. ? In executing the instruction; of the Le* . gislattire, in that spirit of mildness and for* ben ranee in which I am sure they were conceived, I deemed it proper to overlook the delay of a few weeks, after the precise period fixed by iaw, for the acceptance of the two latter institutions; apprised aa I was that it had arisen from unavoidable rircunislanres, and not from a wiriui neg* lector refusal to comply with the requisilions of the law. -V* It is due to the high character which these institutions have hitherto sustained* and I am sure reflects no injustice upon ihe motives of the Legislature, to state that the ol>ject of this enactment was to nrevfctit anticipated evils, rather tlian to punish past </r existing abuses. The Federal Government having, in the exercise of a wise and sound,po|icv, abandoned that control over thp currency which it had hitherto usurped, the necessity of a stricter supervision over the monetary afI'airs of this Stale, had become more obligatory upon those, to whom the people have entrusted the power of regulating them. In sucba state, nf things, it could not I.- -' -"""-I ?" nnnei.pMAI'V or ofHcioUS lit: urvuirii u j . act of.minion, upon (lie pr?11 of'this State,, if she resorted to all the ordinary and legitimate menns-of rendering her own Currency, sound, safe. adequate, and siable.? The exercise of these-roenns she has hitherto delegated, in a great (and perhaps an imprudentj extent, to her Banking institutions, by tiie extraordinary privileges and immunities with which she has endowed * ji if - ' 'C''-'*-' a> ' .b *:* 'j*: ' ' m V