Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-08-14

only mode by which we can exercise 4
veto power upon the Federal Govern
ment. The veto power should have been
left with the States by the express terms
of the Constitution itself, where alone
safe depository oft can be found. 1t be,
comes, therefore, question OF the last
Importance, that the right of secession
should be established and acknowledged,
and were there no other question now be-
fore the people Of the South than this
alone, it would be incumbent upon them
to obtain clear and distinct recognition
of this right. How are we to obtain this
recogn!tion9 There is no way to obtain
it but to resort to the act of secessfon.-
Until we shall have seeded from the
Union, we can obtain no recognition OF
the right to secede. Once out Of the
Union, by the act of secession--havIng
resumed that sovereignty which is now
denied us, our voice will be respected,
and until then it never will be. We viii
then be in condition to make terms if we
desire it; and even if we desire to save
the Union, this is the only mode by which
it can be done.
Let us suppose that South Carolina
has seeded from the Union. If the
General Government resort to coer-
cion, and South Carolina is subdued,
there is an end forever of State sovereignty
on this continent. By that act alone, the
character of the Government will be dis.
closed. and it becomes at once, to all IN
tents and purposes, a consolidated em-
pie. If State sovereignty be thus crush
ed in the case of South Carolina, in our
fate every Southern State may read their
own. What State south Of us would
ever seek to defend themselves in any
way against the tyranny of the General
Government after s. Carolina has been
subiugated 2-When that time shall ar
rive, the phantom of a Confcderated Re-
public of independent States will disap-
pear forever, and we will be under the
iron rule of remorseless despotisn. DO
any suppose that the people of South
Carolina are sufficiently blinded not to
see this? Whenever therefore, South
Carolina shall make the practica! issue Of
secession, the. States south Of US, in order
t. save Themselves from these dire calani
tiles, will be compelled to cooperate with
her; they can't escape it. If he we:e
told, therefore, that he must wait for co.
operation, he would answer, the only
mode to guaranty that cooperation is to
"act"-to make practical issue--anC
if we do not obtain cooperation then, all
past history is fiction. IT is clear, from
these propositions, that the secession Of a
single State, must, in the very nature o.
things, either effect reform in the Gene
raj Government, by placing it in the
power Of a State to check its tyranny by
exercising the veto of secession, or dis,
solve the Union; and the Union once
dissolved, Southern Confederacy is in
evitablc. Let us not then hide from oul
selves the important fact that South
Carolina holds in her hands the power to
destroy the Union. He had no fears o
her being subjugatcd. The States hay.
ing like interests with-her cannot--wil
not-darc not permit her to fight the grea
battle of Southern Rights alone In his
Judgment, the prevailing ideas in reference
to the cooperation which is sought, are
not well founded. How did the colonies
in 1776 obtain cooperation with ono
another in resisting British aggression
Was the Union formed before the revolu
ton begun9 Certainly not. The battle
of Bunker Hill was fought by the Militia
of Massachusetts, under command o
Col. Prescott, Militia Colonel. The
commission he held was from the colony
Massachusetts, and not from the Unitet
States. The regiment he commanded
was not called out by the authority OF tn
United States, but by the authority o
the colony of Massachusetts,. The con
flict was thus begun by single colony
without cooperation. How did she OBJ
tain it2 The sound of the guns of Bun
ker Hill had scarce passed away, before
+ South Carolina rushed to arms to co.opc
ratio with Massachusetts in common
cause which involved the fate Of both
and the first victory OF the revolution wa
won upon Snllivan's Island, against
powerful British fleet, by a regiment o
South Caralina militia under the com
mand of a militia Colonel, and under tn
sole authority of the colony of Soutl
Carolina. When these events occurred
there was no Union-the blood that wa
she'd at Bunker Hill and at Fort Moultri
brought about, and that speedily a Uaio
of all the colonies.
And Washington was not commander
: in.chief when the Union was formed
The Union Of which we now hear S
much, was the legitimate result of sepal
: ate State action, and Washington place
at the head of an army raised after tn
war began. This is lesson which histG
!. ry teaches us-let US not lack the resolu
ton to profit by it.
1t is the part Of wisdom, when a Stat
is called upon to consider the great ques
ton of change of her fundamental ir
: stitutions to ask the question, what she
n 81 r.,;,, IN tI,o o,o 1,onl o,d loco ON III