Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-07-24
Qolitieal
SPEECH OF
EoM. F. W. PIGKEMS,

Delivered al EagefeM c. H., July Z, 1851
Mr.. CHA1RmAsl FELLOW ClT1zESs:-l
return YOU my sincere thanks for the kind
manner in which you are pleased to receive
suc-It is far. more than | had right to
expect.
It is with the utmost reluctance that am
induced to trespass upon you at the present
time. assure you in great sincerity that upon
no previous occasion of my life. have [ risen
to speak more reluctantly or under feelings of
deeper embarrassment and anxiety for the
future. thank God that have been able,
for the last few years, to withdraw myself
entirely from all the bitter conflicts of party
feeling. 1t was my lot, when very young,
to have been thrown into many angry COLI
tests in the excited party warfare of the
day. I know that have said many things,
which perhaps in cooler moments | might
have wished unsaid. But removed, as
have been, for years, from all act!vc strug-
giles in politics, | can truly say that what
ever harshness may have been generated by
collision, I, at present, feel not liagering
sentiment of unkindncss towards any
party or any men, with whom it has
ever been my lot to come in conflict
through the past scenes Of life. l never
wish again to mingle in the bitter, and, for tire
most part, heartless struggles Of politics. /
have enough, in the endearments of home, to
give contentment to the heart of any man.
But, gentlemen, we are on the eve of mighty
events. And the emergency of the country
rises superior to all parties or all party con-
tests. Entitled to an inheritance, transmitted
through treason and revolution, would be
untrue to those from whom claim my ori-
Gin, and prove myself but bastard, if |
could hesitate to risk that Inheritance and
aife itself, if necessary, in defence Of the an
cient liberties and independence Of South
Carolina.
If We expect to 60 through the present
controversy successfully, the very first thing
to be done, is to produce union, concert Of
action, cordial and kind feelings at home, in
svery citizen of the State and between all
classes and all parties. We must forgive and
forget the past-wc must come together as
brethren of one family-we must bury all
feelings in consecrated and holy devotion
to the State, and nothing but her true honor
and interests. Division st home will be fatal
to South Caroina-and through her to
Southern Independence. All know that to
divide South Carolina is to paralyze her arm,
and to make her imbecile is to destroy all
hopes OF Southern cooperation or Southern
resistance. Our strength has heretofore con-
sisted in our union, and this has made US q
fit basis to commence Southern resistance.
We are small Statc.and have been isolated
by detraction and abuse. The minions of
Federal power and the tools of Northern ag-
gression have singicd us out for their con-
slant denuniation, because they we'll knew
we stood in theie way and were their main
difficulty in pcrpctrating schemes of plunder
and usurpation. If we become united, they
become bitter. If we become divided, our
deadly enemies begin to e2ult. and fawn upon
and fiattcr those who make the division.
stand here untrammeled, to speak the
unbiased dictates of my heart and the con-
victions of my judgement, and beg and en-
treat that there will be no party divisions in
South Carolina, and that we will give and
take, and if we differ,w shall differ as friends
and rs brothers, with no hard or unkind as
PERSONS whatever The day Of trial is COM
ing, and let no man suppose we are to 60
through without difficulty and without dam
gers. Commercial credit is sensitive and
breads convulsion; banking capital is also
sensitive, and to the amount of millions will
be deeply felt in any movement calculated to
shake society. But if the people Of the
State, with all the interests of the State, be
united and we move with judgement and
standing upon our chartered rights
as fixed in the compact and deducibc from
the history Of the Confedcracy-we can do
hot Ia II 4
we can save ourselves by joint cooperation
with our sister States OF the South, if pos
sible to be obtained by prudence and conciI-
iation-but If all hope of Incorporation be lost
and we should be driven to the last sad
alternative, if VIC are cordially united at
home,we can sare ourselves alone.
Fellow Citizens The great struggle in
modern times is for separate communities to
preserve their separate independence. The
tion, where one consolidated public opinion
is to govern absolutely. The press, steam
power, and electric communication all tend to
concentrate one united public opinion and
public feeling, without reference to different
local interests. Local feelings and local
rights are all absorbed in one general vor-
tex.
Formerly the great struggle in the world
was, to protect and secure The personal or
individual rights of man. The contests for
liberty were all confined to securing person.
al rights. But we have long since passed
that point in the progress of civil liberty.
Magma Charta-trial by yiury-and the haJeas
corpus, have all secured mere personal lib
crty at least to every Engiishman and Amer
lean.
But the struggle, now is to preserve the in
dependence of separate communities. 1t is
far moro difficult and requires far more
philosophical constitution of society. For
one community to be subject to the control
or public opinion of another community, if
carried out in the power of Government, is
political dcspotism. Magma Charta and its
principles have secured personal rights, and
Confederacy of separate Independent States,
with power in the parts to prevent themselves
from being absorbed by the central head,
will secure political liberty. English writer's
and English statesmen have exhausted the
subject of personal liberty, but being COM
pact small territory, with no distinct and
sectional interests, entirely consolidated in
interest and feeling, they have had no great
occasion to investigate the still higher thco-