Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-08-07
4)olitieaf..
Speech of Mr.. John P. Richardson Jr.

We have received a pamphlet copy O.
this address, which was delivered III
Clarendon, on the 4th of July last. 1t is
in a high degree, creditable to its youth.
full author, and gives token of future use
fulness and distinction. It's tone is glow.
ingly patriotic-and VIC regard it as a
true index to the spirit of "Young Caro-.
lima" We would be glad to publish ii
in full, for the advantage not only Of
young, but of old Edgeield.-T'he pre-
arrangements of our paper, however, for.
bid. We find room below, for the con-
Guiding portion.
Happily then, repeat, the example Of
our ancestors before US to initiate. They
stopped not to calculate the cost of iber-
ty--they yielded to no threats-they sub;
mitted to no coercion-they were seduccd
by no blandishments-they listened to no
compromises-they thought not of their
weakness-they asked not i the enemy
was strong. The right of representation
-(and not the pretext of it) full, ample,
and adequate representation, and nothing
less, would they have.
And now, fellow. citizens, could they
burst the ccrcmcnts Of the grave, and
their vcncrated dust be again nFre-animated
in the same patriotic embodiment-could
they now join in solemn conclavc to de-
liberate on the sad omens which over
shadow Southern Rights and institutions,
which woald be their counsel? Behold
ing in amazcment, as they would, the
Constitution violated, the South plundercd
of its rights, deprived of its guarantees and
despoiled of its territory, the federal
equality of the States destroyed, repre5en-
tation reduced to mere pretcxt for Sec
tional oppression, taxationTendless, cx-
haus:lcss and unequal taxatioa-ten times
moro onerous than the three pence per
pound upon tea, our domcstie institutions
crumbling, and the very slages they had
purchased liberated by those8,yho receiy-
ed the compensation and gnaEan ntied The
title edret-Bciiofid'i,ig these tafigs, sHy,
would they ask if Virginia, like Achilles,
was arming in her tent? Would they
suppicate reluctant allies? Would they
abandon their rights and Institutions be-
cause others would not defend theirs
Would they wait, servilely wait, for avain
and hopeless cooperation Would they
ask if Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter
were we'll garrisoned with troops and
munitions of war! Would they not rather
proudly tell you that, with ten times the
means to capture with which they once
defended it, it inspires their counscls with
neither fear nor hope, nor interposes a
feathers consideration to the great behest
Of duty? Would they refer you to float
ing Custom House, II Federal blockade,
or the fortunes of Charleston paling un-
der the bluslling prosperity Of Savannah
Why, they would tell you that these things
were tried in thcir day, and were the
most impotent of all the measures OF
British retaliation; that, in the very in.
itiativo Of the revolution, Boston was
blockaded, and Salem made Il sport ol
entry" for the very purpose of destroying
her commerce. How do they stand now
One, the most elegant and magnificent 0!
American cities; and the other still an
inconsitlcrablc and uncxpanding village
seaport. Would they listen with patience
while you rccounted the cost, or suggest.
cd the inquiry whether State could
maintain the expense Of a separate indie.
pendence? Would they not interrupt
you with the reply, that South Caroline
was once free, separate and independent
and far more prosperous, and perhaps
more patriotic than now? That even
after the adoption of the Constitution
two Of the sovereigns of this Union relus
ed 10 concur in it, and continued in their
state Of voluntary exclusion 10 enjoy the
same peace, rights and tranquility as now
That even Texas, young and inlantilc Il:
she was, lived for more than ten year:
without this Union, free, happy aud indie
pendent, land perhaps less corrupted than
she has bcen;} associating on terms o
equality with foreign nations; negotiating
treaties with England; dictating terms tc
Mexico, and, instead of being cocrced by
blockadcs and the collection Of duties il
the port of Galveston, this Federal Unior
was supplicating her with a bribe of fit
teen millions in one hand, and "a sine;
violated) pledge to guarantee her terrific
ry to the full extent of her alleged limit
in the other.
They would tell you, fellow. citizens
that there was no blockade that could b'
instituted that would not in every as
pect of it be an act of bellgerency, tt
which the "constitutionai sanction" o
Congress had to he obtained, whether a
applied to port Of this Union Or of an,
other country; that no such measure tt
crush the institutions of a Southern Stat
could be introduced in the Senate of th
United States, without awakening tn
very instincts of sovereignty, in ever.
Southern State at least, to repel and re
} buke it; that if blockade is incident t.
separate secession, it is no less so to co
opcration--with this difference only, tia
; the whole Southern coast would then b
Ibesieged and bcleagured, without OH