Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1850-06-14
MIR. WEBSTER.

The position which this gentleman is
found occupying at the present time is
certainly very unenviable; having con-
science moderately tender, and which,
refusing to sanction the higher law"
has occasionally found utterance, as con-
science always will, in some noble words,
he is scourged at will by the ruthless and
Implying faction, of which he is the un-
happy servant; and while he would do
us some justice, and vindicatc his own
great name, he is forced by his masters
to become the champion of men, and the
instrument of principles he must, and
does affect to despise.
No one, upon the reading of Mr.. Web
ster's great speech, could have, for one
moment, supposed chat he would ever
have given to the country such Fugi.
tive Slave Bill as he has lately oduced
in the Senate.
The man who, after reading this speech,
could have imagined Mr.. Webster capa-
bic OF so great an enormity, would have
regarded MS miserable skeptic, hav
ing no faith in human virtue, and had he
given words to the imaginalions of his
heart, the whole country would have
cried uno uoce, ''shamc on your base de-
troot;oppt IT,. ,,Lo Gould koI;.,.> A.,
the man who saw so clearly the owners
constitutional right to reclaim his fugi.
tive slave,and who so forcibly enjoined the
strong moral obligation, which is con-
stantly resting on the people of free
States, TO restore these fugiives, and to
bring their purloiners to justice, could
ever, by any self-contrc', so blunt his
moral senses MS to bring himself to coun-
tenance, still less to conceive. and in his.
place in the Senate to Introduce, Bill
which renders the exercise of this clear
and unmistakeable right an impossibility.
and which shifts the discharge of this
solemn obligation into the hands of men,
who do not recognize lis existence, and
who openly and boldly avow their deter
mination never torcgard it.
Mr.. Webster said, al tread no step
backwards" those were noble words.
and nobly were they spoken; but, alas,
for the weakness and imperfections of hu-
manity, it is much easier TO talk beauti-
fully than to act firmly, "doing justice to
all men," and Mr. Webster has taken, and
rapidly taken. huge strides that have
borne him backward and still farther
backward into the distance from his
former position. uniilhe is almost lost in
the dim obscure.
Mr.. Webster's movements have, been
watched by the South with intense inter-
est. because he is known to be the faith
full index of the most respectable and
powerful of the Free-soil party; and
therefore the position he assumed in re-
guard to fugitive slaves. in the speech re-
ferr:d 10, was hailed by the South MS an
indication Of returning sense of justice
on the part of the North, but subsequent
events have shown how far we were mis-
taken, and that. instead of his words be-
ing just expose of the sentiments of his
friends, he had assumed moments inde-
pendence and was then acting ,0ithoui
authority. His masters have since spo-
ken and he has "heard and been afraid .
Mr. Webster's bill may be regarded as
another clear indication of the uualteiable
determination Of Free-soilers, never to
settle these questions until we have yield
ed all they have the audacity to demand,
and to cease harrassing only when they
have destroyed us.
NORTHERN ENTERPRISE SUPPORTED
BY SOUTHERN PATRONAGE.
We have frequently heard men asking
such questions as these: Why is North
ern enterprise more successful than
Cos,thar,9 ,yhx, ara NIo,tl..,,..x 49,. T., q