Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-06-05

| GOVeTIltucHI purity Ill any kotdte Ia tic Oiioi
Let it be proclaimed that he and an abolition
cohort are now at work in our noble Com
monwealth. The unceasing vigience of tn
people alone can detect the numerous scheme
designed to entrap them. Already, in on
of the upper Districts has the programme o
operation been developed. Substantially,
is to divide and conquer US, as was said yes
terday by my friend from Prince Williams
(Hon. w. F. Colcock.) In the district jus
alluded to, it has been unblushingly pro
mulged, that our present contest with tht
North is for the sole purpose of maintaining
the rights of the shareholders of the Parishe:
and few of the Districts of the States
This is a false and wicked allegation. Its
obvious aim is to array against each other, as
sections, the up-country and low-country
thereby .diycrting your attention from the
common enemy to matter about which
there never has been and never can be n Sc
rious dispute In filrtherance of the same
malicious end, have been assured that, at
the next meeting of the Legislature, the pro-
position for electing electors for President
and Vice President of the United States by
the people, to which, it has long been known,
we Of the low-country are opposed, will again
be submitted for consideration. When we
have fought the great battle in which we are
engaged, requiring, as it does, our undivided
strength, it will be quite time enough to dis
cuss matters of local interest.
Further-he takes very contracted view
of the subject, who supposes that the pre-
servation of the existence of our peculiar in
stitutions is the only cause of our present
excitement. Another and higher subject
demands our attention. It'll whether this is
a Republic or Consolidated Government;
whether we live under a Constitutional Con-
federacy, or the States are mere dependents
of great central head.
If the Federal Government be the final
Judge of its own acts, and it can enforce its
DEGREES at the point of the bayonet-powers
which both the Legislative and Executive
Departments openly claim-then the Com
pact to which Butler, Rutledge and the Pinck-
neys affixed their names in behalf of South
Carolina, is no longer in operation-then its
discretion and not the Constitution is the
measure of the powers Of. Congress. Al
though ultimately, emancipation in some
form that body hopes to effect; yet, it would
not, if it could, accomplish that object at this
time. Its frecsoil supporters love the fruits
of our industry too well for that They will
struggle hard to keep US in the Union. Our
lot, if the submission doctrine prevail, is
hereafter to be.overseers of our own planta.
tions for their. benefit present ptr-
pose4 admitted by the South to be insuffi-;
Gent for resiistance is TO- preserve
luader ion no Ell
ment and plundef W
ing the aid Of the South to redress past griev-
ances, the duties on imports will at frst;be
slightly, then heavily intfeased-the Federal
treasury annually emptied into Northern
pockets-grand projects of internal improve
ment prosecuted-the public lands divided
among the States hostile to our institutions,
with exceptions enough to appease the appe-
tite of the malcontents of the opposing sec
ton; in fine, no device will remain unresort-
ed to, that, while creating no serious discon-
tent at the South, might tend to isolate South
Carolina and paralize the patriotic ardor OF
her people.
Ihave thus. Mr.. President, unfolded my
reasons against Improbable delay in the i'm
portant issue before the country. If it be
true, as every speaker in this body and every
public man in our community has asserted,
that the Southern members Of this Confede-
racy have virtually been deprived of their
sovereignty, and by the usurpations of their
common agent they have irreyocably lost
their position of equality in the Union that
we are degraded people, and have submit
ted to wrongs to which the history OF Re-
publics furnish no parallel. If have sue
ccssfully demonstrated my two propositions,
that the Southern States are, measurely; es-
topped from any future attempts at resist;
ance, and that for the destruction of our
slave institutions no further aggression; by
Congress- need be attempted, then this State,
at the meeting of her Convention; will have
to respond to the solemn interrogatory,
whether or not she holds her destiny in her
own hands; whether unaided, she shall un-
furl the banner Of secession, or candidly ad-
NIT her inability successfully to cope with
her oppressors. We shall be obliged fear
lessly to meet the issue. The Convention
cannot finally adjourn until our noble Com
monwealth RECEIVERS her rights in the Union,
or takes her station among the nations of
the world.
1t is often asked, why South Carolina has
always been prominent on questions invol-
wing Southern and State rights-the answer
is at hand. Because she is more deeply in
terested in the maintenance of Southern in
stitutiops than any other State-her slave
population exceeding the white by about
7s.oOO persons, or more than one fourth; be-
cause she is not only strictly an agricultural
community, but her people cultivate the same
staple commodity, for the production ofwhich
the aid of the African is indispensable. Every
planter or farmer, therefore who can afford
to buy slave, is the owner of one; because
in n very remarkable degree we are homo.
generous people-except in places of trade
our population is unmixed; lastly, because
our statesmen in Congress and at home, as
the only certain means of insuring the politi
cal well-being of the State, the security Of
her institutions, and the perpetuity of the
constitutional compact, have steadily resisted
every attempt to enlarge the Jurisdiction Of
the departments of the Federal Government
and increase the centripetal tendency of the
members of the confederation. For these
reasons, our State has on all occasions ex
hibited an unanimity rarely cquallcd, on ques
tions of high political import.
It is admitted by every one that, in per
haps this our final struggle for State rs wei
rs Southern rights, cooperation is emlnenti!
desirable To obtain it, there is nevertheless
point beyoud which it would be impolitic, j
not dangerous to 60. South Carolina, in re