Semi-weekly Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1851-1852, 1851-11-14
Meeting of the Central Southern Rights Ass0-
ciation--Position of the State.

to have taken place here on last hionuay. a
mong the measures provided at the meeting in
Charleston was the following:
"Resolped, That the Central Southern Rights
Association of South Carolina do consist here
after of delegates appointed by the several
District Associations, in the proportion OF
twice as many delegates as the number of
Senators and Representatives to which each
election district is entitled; and that it meet
semi-annually, at such place as may be desig-
mated by the presiding otficer-the present del
egates continuing members until new ap.
pointmeut by the several district associations"
The semi.ann limitation prescribed in the
above would seem to have been intended to be
modified in some degree by the discretion OF
the presiding officer of designating the place
Of meeting, else the time would have been spe-
officially, instead of periodically, appointed.
Neither is it usual or necessary to give that
strict construction of day or hour to llml-
tation which was obviously intended for a
term only.
In the astounding results of the late cleo
tions, there is every reason to defer our deliber'
ations for the developmcnts-wh we think
the events of few weeks must make-ol the
course our opponents, rs well as our o'rn d"''es
and obligations to the State. We believe that
the warnest as we'll as the wisest among US
have concurred in this view. If we pause,
however, it is but to act with dellbcratlon, aud
to re- engage in our patriotic duties with renew
ed zeal and energy More than seventeen
thousand Of the voters OF South Carolina,
in despite of the horrors of "war, pestllence,
and famine that were predicted to follow in
its wake, have solemuly and deliberately endors-
ed secession as the true and only State remedy
There is nothing in such result surely to dis
courage our hopes for the future, much less to
damp the ardor or deter sense of duty IN those
who have so gallanty breasted the storm of
the late contest, amidst all the threats and ban.
dshmeht that power, gold, and rhetoric" could
array.
Justice, too, to our opponents demands a tenl-
porary suspension of operations. We must
know their course, in fact, before our own can
be made clear to US. They have promised
much to the people, and doubtless in many i'll
stances with unfeigned sincerity. They have
made pledges, in short, which they must re-
deem. They were ready to profler as they
said, better remedy than secession. Its
well therefore to allow them the leisure and
reflection of a few weeks to suggestt it. The re-
sultperhaps may induce them to lead where they
would not follop-if so, we are friends, and not
opponents. Perhaps, like the Apostle to the
Gentiles, they may begin to preach the cause
they have heretofore persccuted-lf so we be.
lieve and labor with them. Nor IS this at oil
improbable. They have never yet pretended
or dared to abandon, before the people, the idea
of resistance to past and present aggrcsssonS
They asked only that the State might not be
"precipitated" into secession. They rcpeled
the "term of submission scorned the
charge of "denyng the right or the ultimate
expediency perhaps of secession, but asked on,
" to be allowed to supersede it by a better and
speedier, but as yet undvnlged, remdy.
fin all this they were sincere, few weeks,
time is surely necessary to disencumber them
of the strange allies and discordant materials
with which they have been aided in the victory.
The submissionists of Greenve,, of Charles
ton, of Hamburg, and such exhibitions as the
yelling abolition procession in Cheraw these
surely, are no weak or managebie elements
and yet these must certainly be expurSated'
from confidence of any party which claims to
control the destinies of South Carolina,
Powerful ast they doubtless have beento check
the spirit of the people, exasperated by every
wrong and mpelled by every motive to con.
test for their ri ghts and institutions, yet they are
powerless, we fear for the "good' they have
promised and even for the redemption of the
pledges they have given. Will they be allowed
by their own party to convoke the convention
which they have provided to assemble, with SO
much deliberation, at the last session OF the
Legislature? Will they disband their troops,
abolish their armories reduce the present rate OF
taxation, or hopelessly abandon their military
preparations? Or will they have the Inagna.
nimity to acknowledge that secession, ultimate
or immediate, is the true, the only, the indis-
pensable, ay, and the peaceful remedy!
To know the course Of our opponents on all
these questions is necessary, both 70 the per-
formance of our own duty well and to the pres
ervation of our consistency; we would not do the
State the wrong, nor would we do our oppo-
nents the iniustice-we would not do the sub
missionists of the State the favor OF toisting
these latter into party power, confidence, or
patronage, by an indiscreet forestalling OF, or
an indiscriminate opposition to, their "as yet
undivulged measure ofresstance. We will en-.
deavor to do our duty to South Carolina, and
nothing more nor less. If they lead i'll our dl-
rection, we will follow theny if they dlverge,
our conscience and our principles forbid us TO
follow.
In this view, we have heartily concurred in
the postponement of the meeting OF our Central