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

u"Se suppolteul IL IN three peTllOuS
wars with our blood and with our
treasure--we have made It rich and
strong by endowments Of both land
and money; we have given it terrific
ries vastcr (ty half) than its origin.
al limits; and it has not only lavishly
distributed them to others, to our ut,
ter and special exclusion, but con.
verted them into dens and places of
refuge for our plundered property.
We have paid more than two.thirds
Of its enormous debts, incurred not
only against our remonstrance and
our counsels, but by system of pro-
fligacy, corruption and extravaganza,
that might we'll justify the most
scrupulous honor in repudiating; we
have contributed more than two
thirds to lis forty millions of revenue;
we have betrayed all its lavish ex-
pcnditures, even while condemning
and reprobating them; We have sub.
mltted to taxation, while her very
proceeds are even now as once be.
fore, appropriated to arm myrmidons
and prepare fortrcsses for our en-
slavement and destruction; we have
borne this onerous and unequal bur.
den from the profits Of our slave
labor, and. satiatcd with taxing, they
now threaten to take away. and, like
Pharaoh Of old, deprive US of the
straw, while they still demand the
same tale of brick; and yet we still
cling tc union with them. Still we
clasp, we feed, we pamper, and
nestle in the warm bosoms, and nur-
ture with the generous blood of these
sovereign States, the migrate, the
monster, and the parricide. Yes,
still we hug the chain: still we kiss
the rod: still we suffer, endure; and
yet we cherish, and fondle, and con-
fidc in it. Yes:
"Ihongh monster Of such hideous micn,
as 10 he hated, needs but 10 be seen:
Bnt seen too oft, familiar with its face.
we first endure, then pity, then embrace"
Is it not we'll to pause in this pro.
cllyltY to the contamination of our
ruin Is it not well 70 consider the
peril of submission, OF acouiesccnce
in wrongs and cxactions like these?
Is it not we'll to reflect (eyen in its
worse sspoct) whether we should
bear the intolcrable ills We have, or
resolutely rush to end them?
How stands the matter between us
and this confederacy? What are our
relations, what arc our rights; what
are our duties and what is our re.
dress?
For the purposes of common dc.
fence and general welfare only we
consented to institute this govern
ment by written compact with the
other sovereigns Of this Union, and
by which each of the parties reserved
to itself the right Of secession hereaf-
ter, by virtue Of the same authority
by which they acccded to it then.
To guard against constructive power,
itspecitically stated that all powers
not granted in the Constitution we're
reserved to the States.
The government, therefore, can
possess or exercise no power which it
has not derived from that compact;
aud is, by the reservation Of all other
powers to the S.ates,' as expressly
prohibited, as it would seem, from
substituting its own construction of
the constitution for the constitution
itself.
But how comports its practice
with these clear and obvious rcstric.
tons on its authority? Why, when
we claim the intcrposi,ion Of the con.
stltution against the operation Of
bounty and protective laws, we are
constructiycly pointed to the caption
OF an act under the acknowledged
gulsc OF revenue system. When
we appeal from this scll:constituted
decision, the army and the navy Of
the Union are invoked to be The stern
aroiters and interpreters OF constitu
tional law--when to every eye and
to every understanding the govern.
ment has abandoned itself and all its
great political behes,s, to the direc.
ton of lanatical and freesoil party
when that party has avowed its OBJ
legation and its purpose to extirpate
the national sin Of slavery has been
excluded, and the slave trade has
been abolished, in the Common do.
main of the North and South, when
VIC have been divested of our terrific.
ries, when our institutions are threat
ened to bo SWEPT away by the ire.
sislble torrent Of q universal spirit of
emancipation, and when in Wow of
these wrongs and perils, and after
having exhausted every other oxpedi.
ent, We ask to retire from the con
federaoy, (lcaving all these acquisi.
tions which we had contributed, as
r,.ol a ,sn~, oAlnx k.a.ll..