The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1851-07-09
= Substance of the Remarks of
HON. WILLIAM F. COLCOCk,

6up6LauC0 Oh L00 SA6InaIAb Oh
HON. WILLIAM F. COLCOCK,
Delivered before the Convention Of South.
ern Rights Associations, assembled In the
Military Hall, Charleston, s. C., May
z, 1851.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the Con-
eention: If a stranger should enter this Hall,
and see this unusually large assemblage OF
citizens from all parts of the State, composed,
ut is in great degree, of her wealth, in
telligcnce and influence, he would at once
come to the conclusion that some subject far
beyond the circle of ordinary topics had
brought them together. !,
A short time since, a member of one of
your local Associations rises in his place and
offers a resolution, proposing that general
Convention of all the Associations in the
State should be held in this city, for the pur-
pose Of consultation and cooperation.
In answer to this call, thus unobtrusively
made, and without concert or excitement of
any kind, / find you leaving your homes at
this busy season of the year, and at much
expense and Inconvenience, assembled here
to-day to the number of near FIVE hundred
delegates.
This must afford to every one the most
convincing proof Of the earnestness and sin
cerity OF your purposes, and Of the deep and
absorbing interest of the subject which brings
you together. =
am aware that some of our friends,
whose judgment highly respect, are of
opinion that the action of this body should
be confined strictly and solely to the objects
and purposes prescribed in the Constitutions
Of our Associations, and that weshould care
fully abstain from the expression of any
opinions which might have tend ncy to
forestall the action of the Constitutional
Convention which has been recently elected,
and into whose hands the safety of the State
has been committed. Whilst am free to
confess that these views may have been urged
in the first instance with much propriety
against the call of this Convention, still l
must be permitted to say that it is expecting
too much of a popular assembly like this,
under the circumstances which now surround
us, to. tread this narrow path without touch
ing those great questions which lie on either
side of it, and which now fill the hearts and
minds Of our whole people.
For one, therefore, do not regret that
1.-The questions which are presented by the
Report and Resolutions now before US, have
been presented for our consideration.
regard this as family council, as
meeting of friends, bound together by the
indissoluble ties of common destiny, and
we should conduct our deliberations here,
and our discussions hereafter, with that fair
mesa, candor and good temper, which are
due alike to our own characters. and to the
interest of our State. for whose welfare /
know we all feel an equal and an ardent de-
votion. 81.
In entering on the discussion of the ques-
tons before US, the first thing that strikes the
mind is the almost entire unanimity of opin-
ion which pervades this body, and indeed
the whole State, upon the subject Of disso-
luton Of our present form of Government.
! feel myself justified in saying that it is the
universal, deliberate, and we'll considered
Judgment of the people Of South Carolina,
that the Government under which we are
living, as now administered, is destructive of
theiErighta, property and safety; and that
having no hope of reform, they are under
che solemn obligations of duty to themselves
and TO their children, to seek for security and
pt6tsehon under some other form of Gov
.:efnmept, Am I;wrong in this assertion, or
Sdhs Estate the Propositions in terms that are
toostfongl II am in error, then it would
bes sdts fSrmsto say another word, as this is
8the postulate Of all the argument expect
to 66sky md il it be not true, admit in ad.
sxancet that my conclusions will be false.
III The usprpations of this Government
isitseptire dspartura from its original pur.
Sn6ss md design it its hoatility to our in
sas0ns If Its unjust and unequal admin
SifS don ii, short. if its utter ungostbiness