The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-09-23
Poll TICAL,
Extracts from the Letter of the
HON. JOHN TOWNSEND.
BLACK HALL, July 20, 1851.

O~ o"A N'Ho'SSo, Ill lllC COiupli-
ment you intended me by your invi-
tation of the 10Th inst, (just re.
ceived this day,) to be present at a
meeting Of the citizens of Charles
ton to be held this evening. Many
circumstances conspirc, independent
OF the accident which has delayed
the receipt Of your letter, to prevent
me from attending. My sympathies
are, however, all with you, in the
objects which you have in view: Of
procuring an expression of opinion
=" favorable to cooperation, for the
purpose of resistance, and opposed
to separate State action, under exist.
ing circumstance" )" and 1 regret
that | cannot participate with you in
the duty which is now imposed on
every true son of South Carolina, of
cndeavoring to undo the mischief
which has been inflicted upon her by
the Southern Rights Convention
which met in your city in May.
The meeting Of that unfortunate
body has been followed by but one
solitary benefit-and that is, the
awakening the attention of the pco
pie to the dangerous schemes which
were started by certain reckless men,
but which were then, for the first
time, seriously y threatened. This
brought about discussion an exami.
nation into the consequences of those
schemes meetings of the people
(such as you are about to have) to
express their opinions, and finally the
condemnation Of those measures
as | confidently believe they will be,
wherever they are seriously exam.
ined, and without prejudice, or rank,
or passion
With the exception of this solitary
S benefit, which we may suppose the
authors Of these measures little cal
culatcd on, and less desired, all the
other action Of that Convention has
resulted in evil to the State, and da.
mage to the Southern cause.
It met, finding a people unitca be-
yond all parallel, both as to their
sense Of grievances which we've to be
redresscd, and as to their determined
resolution to resist them, by every
practical measure which promised to
be successful. It was in session four
brief days, and contrivcd during that
time to SOW the seeds of bitter divis.
ions, to ALLEVIATE friends, to create
parties, and send distraction into our
Southern camp. When it met,
1T was surrounded by a people
who general y-if not universally
approved, and we're preparing to car
ry out the prudent and dignifed
course marked out by the Legislature,
and recommended by the sage coun-
cells of our most cherished and trust
ed statesmen, to secure Southern
Cooperation, and the advantages Of
a Southern Congress.
1t adjourned after having virtually
substituted, in place of these, the
rash and suicidal scheme of separate
secession which they knew, for they
had been duly warned) to be deeply
objected to by a large and influential
portion Of their fellow citizens.
These warnings we're, however, disrc-
gardcd; the honest and well founded
convictions of their citizens,
that their measures would prove
ruinous to them, to the State, and to
the cause of Southern Rights, we're
treated with contempt, and those
who entertained them were dc.
nounced and sneercd at, as "sub-
3AsAmissionists," =" traitors" and COW.
ssdas." And since then, instead of
ssszlse and reflection, and review of
s5eir measure, separate secession is
pushed onward by them, with an in.
aempcrate and eager zeal, which
plainly admonish us that our doom is
fixed, and that calamity certain, if
the people do not take the matter in.
to their own hands, as you arc now
about to do in Charleston, and avert
it before it becomes past remedy.
Perhaps q greater deception Ct
will not say f"aud) was never prac.
tised upon any people than was per.
pc:ratcd upon the unsaspecting citi
zcns of South Carolina, by the orga,
nization first, and the doings after.
wards, Of the Southern Rights Con
vcntion, which met in Charleston in
May. Orsanlz,d, as it was under.
stood to BE-, on tho principle Of two
delegates for every Senator and re.
preventative which each election dis.
trict was entitled to, some separate