The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-07-02

ton OF such magnitude, and the char.
acter of the new government which
VIC are able to form, constitutes one
of the most important elements in
making up wise decision. In de-
terming this question, we are there
fore compelled to defer very much
to the wishes and opinions of those
whose cooperation is essential, to
render the new government adequate
to the necessity which calls it into
existence; and, should we postpone
our action, submit as It's called, we
submit only to the Judgment (preju-
diced if you plcase) of those whose
safety and interests ere identified
with our own. But here we are met.
with what is termed the argument of
despair, 1 call it so in no disrespect-
ful sense, for l know Of no argument
which more powerfully impels high
and generous spirits. Our ruin
draws on, this Federal Government
calling itself ours, labours to consum-
mate it. Other States will not CO.
operate with us. let us break out of
the Union at all hazards. I confess,
Mr.. President, that my sympathies
respond warmly to sentiments of this
kind; that they move me far more,
than all the prospects of honor, or
advantage. which are held out to us;
these it seems to me are delusive
my deliberate Judgment pronounccs
against them, but when I contem-
plate the great power which this
Government, because it is ours pos
sesses for our injury; when know
froln the past, and argue for the fu-
ture, how remorselcss is the zeal
which presses it onward to our ruin,
when / witness the blindness and
apathy of our Southern people, I am
constrained to struggle against an in
digration which wnnld prompt me to
rcnounq for my State the asaocia.
f.on .,iS:, oilers, and s1ian,iS ~ fst>,
alone. Blu. l remember that S5Tth
Carolina has been long kept apart
from party strifes, and has received
into her very heart the lessons of the
most sagacious Of modern Statesmen,
and if sine has thus acquired superior
intelligence she must also pay the
price of it in greater isolation, and
Cassandra like, have her prophetic
cnunciations of coming evil, treated
as the vain illusions of distcmpered
fancy. She must therefore strive to
initiate the noble forbearance of him,
whose courage and policy saved
Greece at its greatest need, but for
whom neithef his courage nor his
policy has gained a wider or purer
fame, than the unselfsh magnanimity
which prompted the speech become
an adage in all nations, "strike but
hear me-" Let us, then, manifest
noble confidence in our cause, and in
the courage and honesty of our
Southern Confcderates. If I be-
licvcd that this institution of slavery
were the ephemeral product of mans
avarice, or mans policy; ifI believed
that it was to be thrown aside as the
fluctuations of feeble philanthropy,
or the speculations a babbling philos.
ophy might dictate, I might despair
of the future; but it has deeper foun.
dations than mans will or Wit, and,
to my mind, indicates by its gradual,
silent, but decisive overthrow of all
opposition, its extending and
deepreaching fixedncss, a perma.
nencc and purpose which is of God.
And whilst | know that mans reason
is the highest instrument of Gods
government, and that, therefore, no
effort or precau,ion which prudence
dictates should be omitted, in a sense
less reliance upon his providence, yet
l acknowledge that l delight to be-.
hold through the interstices of inter.
vening clouds, the glittcring Of that
FURNISHED chain, by which he draws
on the destiny OF nations. And it
seems to me that we are under his
special guidance and protection when
we are manlully contending to guard
this, our Southern civilization, onr-
selves and our slaves, from the malice
and infatuetion of our enemies. Nor
let us dcspond too much with respect
to our contcderates in this eventful
struggle; every day casts brighter
light upon the true character of slave.
ry within tho Southern States; every
day decpcns the conviction among
US, that our wealth, our strength.
our very existence, is indissolubly in
terwovcn with its preservation. En-
tcrtaining tho opinion which / do, l
thank God that we would not, if we
could destroy this relation Of master
and slave; l thank Him still more,
that We could not, if We would, do
ourselves so great mischief. A
physical necessity keeps us ono na.
ton, a moral necessity keeps us dis