Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-07-10
VOL. XyI.--NO. rs

strike not yet; wait little longer, and re-
newed assaults will soon be, committed
against you, and then you may rise up in the
strength and majesty of an outraged people,
and hurl your oppressors to the earth." On
the contrary, they are telling them that the
Compromise isa solemn league and cove
nant-a final, permanent, Iinyiolabe settle
ment OF the slavery question, and of all other
matters in dispute between the North and
the South. That hereafter the South will
have all her rights conceded, her feelings re-
spected, and her institutions preserved. This
is the delusion which they are -practicine on
a generous and confding people. But ietn
sovereign State withdraw from this Union.
let the right of secession, that aright inesti-
mable to us, and formidable to tyrants, only,n
be brought up for solemn and for final iude-
ment, and how soon will all other issues
"pale their Intellectual fires Z, ,,,.....f
Mr.. President, sometimes fear that both
the right of secession and the importance of
the measure when adopted are underrated.-
To my mind this right is of peculiar and in
calculable value to every member of Sec
tional minority of Confederated States. To
us, who are, as our senior Senator SAYS,
sproscribed political communities,;' it is the
last anchor of hope-the; last shield of our
defence. Sectional majorities need no such
protection. They can always take careoof
themselves, and hence they seldom seek or
permit amendments to Constitutions, for
they can always take more by usurpation
than they can obtain by amendment. In nv
judgment secession will never be resorted to
except in defence of the institution of slave.
ry. All other subjects Of difference may! be
adjusted without appealing to this remedy
If this Government, the creature of the
States, formed chiefly to take care of our
external relations, can deny this right and by
the mere power of it's arm hold a sovereign
State to this Union, like a victim 10 the stake,
then the sooner we knowit the better. 1t is
surely high time, at the end of seventy years,
to know the form of Government, under
which we are living. Let no one suppose
that the secession of South Carolina can bc
looked upon with indifference anywhere.-
Politicians and yernal presses may dcnounce
and deride it: but it will stand forth before
the world as most impressive event. The
great popular heart of the South will be
moved to its inmost recess. Stripped of all
the disguiscs with which false issues NAV
surround it; the naked fact will be presented
10 the people that South Cardinal, inaIie.e
her choice between slavery and the UniolI,i
That, nurtured in the doctrines of Virginia,
stimulated by the doctrines sof; Georgia, en-
couraged by the example of Mississippi, and
sustained BY the love of Alabama, she has
planted herself in the pathway of the Aboli-
tionists, and resolved to defend her institu-
tons sat every hazard and to the last cy-
tremity." A spectacle like this, by every
law and instinct of our nature, must com.
mand the sympathy and respect of every
free people. Our sister States may say that
we are rash, that we are precipitate but, if
they themselves have fixed a limit to their
forbcarance, can they say that we are without
Justification, or that our cause is unworthy of
success? A new issue will be presented
1t must be met and decided. A RIGHT as dear
to them rs to US is at stake. 1t will be the
first struggle in that conflict which, all ad-
nit, must sooner or later take place between
abolition and slavery. The manner in which
the contest is begun, whether by too hasty q
movement on the right. the centre or the left,
will soon be forgotten, and all hearts will be
turned to the great issues involved. Yes
sir, be assured that the secession of single
State of this Union will bring up for judg-
ment the mghtiest questions of modern
age. Statesmen, sir, not venal politicians,
not hircling presses, not pensioned libclcrs,
but statesmen will find materials for the en-
ercise of their highest intellisence-thcir
profoundcst wisdom.
Rut IF 7 nm, etiIl fo1J H., 49,. c...J ~
they cannot concur in these views-that thew
cannot believe in the sympathy of the South
ern States, then submit that my arguments
against cooperation before secession arc as
potent as theirs against cooperation after
wards, and that if ncithcris to be obtained,
and South Carolina cannot maintain her
separate existence as they also contend, then
submission, hopeless, helpless, abject submis-
sion is the doom of the South.
But, again, it is asked why should South
Carolina be further in advance than the other
States. This is attributable to several eau
ses. 1t must be remembered that from our
earliest history, South Carolina has been one
OF the strongest pro-slavery States in the
Union. The history of the Congress of tic
Confederation, and of the Convention which
formed our present Constitution, affords
abundant proof of this fact--she is now
therefore where she has always been. And
this is one cause of the peculiar hatred al
ways exhibited towards her BY the Ab.ii-
tionists, and why they would rather see
slavery crushed through her than any other
State.
Again: She has larger slave population
in proportion to her white than anv other
State. But the chief cause for this state of
forwardness on the part of South Carolina is
the entire absence Of party division within
her borders. This gives her an advantage
over her sister States, and is not set up as {.
title to superior merit. Not at all. Every
one knows how party divisions and party con-
tests color and control all questions. In our
sister States the people have been drawn
away from the calm and unbiased consdcra-
ton Of great Federal questions, and have
been engaged in eager strife for party asccn-
dancy. But with US there has always been Il
"unity of sentiment" which has enhpatical-
ly constituted us one people," Hence we
have been able to look at these great qucs-
tions through a clearer and more correct me-
dium, and in this way the popular mind has
been sooner informed and sooner set in mo
ton. But South Carolina has manifested no
disposition to aspire to the leadership of the
South. Let the records of her legislation
for the past fifteen years DO searched, and it
fl,o{e ~, .ol,1