The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-07-29

ofour ancestors Is before, us 10 ihi.
tate. They stopped not Is ic;ialsalats
the cost Of liberty, they were seduced
by; I'D Establishments, they listened To-
no compromises, they thought not Of
their weakness, they asked not iftho
enemy was strong. The right Of rep.
Presentation, Iand hot Of the pfetext
ofit) full, ample, Ind adequate rep
Fascination, and nothing less, would
they have.
And nov, fellow citizens, could
they burst the cerements of the
grave, and their venerated dust be
again rs.ansmated id the same patri.
otto embodiment, conld they now
join in solemn conclavo to deliberate
on the sad omens which otershndow
Southern rights and Institutions, what
3would be their counsel? Beholding
in ainazement, as they would, the
Constitution violated, the South plum
dered of its rights, deprived Of its
guarantees and despoiled of it's terri
tory, the federal equality Of tho
States destroyed, representation re-
duced to d mere pretext for sectional
oppression, taxation, endless, exhaust.
less and unequal taxation, ten times
more onerous than the three pence
per pound upon tea, our domestic
institutions cIumbling, and the very
slaves they had purchased liberated
by those who received the compen.
sation and guaranteed the title deed,
beholding these things, I say, would
they ask if Virginia, like Achilles,
was arming in her tent? Would they
4supplicate reluctant allies? Would
they abandon their rights and insti-
tutions because others would not de-
fend theirs? Would they wait, SER
vilcly wait, for vain and hopeless
cooperation? Would they ask if
Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter were
well garrisoned with troops and mu-
.nitions of war? Would they not
rather proudly tell you that, with ten
times the means to capture with
which they once defended it, it in
spires their counsels with neither
fear nor hope, nor interposes O
feathers consideration to the great
behest of duty? Would they refer
you to a floating Custom House, a
Federal blockade, or the fortunes Of
Charleston paling under the blushing
prosperity of Savannah? Why, they
would tell you that these things we're
tried in their day, and were the most
impotent of all the measures Of British
retaliation; that, in the very initiative
OF the revolution, Boston was blocka-
ded, and Salem made sport of en-.
try tor the very purpose of destroy.
ing her commerce. How do thoy
stand now? One, the most elegant
and magnificent Of American cities !;
and the other still an inconsiderable
And unexpanding village seaport.
Would they listen with patience
while you recounted the cost, or sug-
igested the inquiry whether Q State
-could maintain the expense OF sap
arate independence? Would they not
interrupts you with the reply, that
South Carolina was once free, se2ar.
ate and independent, and far more
prosperous, and perhaps more patri.
otto than now3 That even after the
adoption of the Constitution, two of
the sovcreigns of this Union refused
to concur in it, and continued in their
state of voluntary exclusion to enjoy
the same peace, rights and tranquil.
ty as now. That even Texas, young
and intantile as she was, lived for
more than ten years without this
Union, free, happy and independent,
land perhaps less corrupted than she
has been;) associating on terms of
equality with foreign nations; nego-
tlating treaties with England; dicta
ting terms to Mexico, and, instead of
being coerccd by blockades and the
collection of duties in the port of
Galveston, this Federal Union was
supplicating her with bribe of fif.
teen millions in one hand, and Ca
since. violated) pledge to guarantee
her alledged limits in the other.
They would tell You, fellow. citizens,
that there was no blockade that could
be Instituted that would moi in eyery
aspect of it be an &C, of belligerency,
TO which the constitutional sanction"
Of Congress had to be obtained, whcI,.
er as applied 10 port Of This Union or
OF any other country that no such
measure TO crush tho institutions of a
Southern State could be introduced in
the Senate Of the United States, with.
ont awakening The very instincts of
sovereignty, in every Southern State at
Feast, 10 repel and rebnke it; tha, if
blockade is inciden. 10 separate seces.
sion, il is no less so to co.operation-
with this difference only, that the whole
Southern coast would then be besieped