Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-05-15
ADDRESS,,

From Ike Delegates ef the Southern RightS
associations Of Somk CaroIina, assembled
in Charleston, 10 the Southern RightS As
sociatioms Of the other Southern States.
Having met to take counsel together, and
having agreed upon that course which VIC
think it right and necessary to pursue, we
wish to lay before you the considerations by
which we have been governed, with that
frankncss which our respect for you. and our
desire to merit your good opinion, require.
We regard the position of the Southern
States in this Contedcracy, as degraded and
ruinous. The manifest tendency of those
systematic aggrcssions which they have suf-
fcrcd for many yc"rS past, is to subvert the
institution of slavery. If those acts of hos
tile domination, which have been rendered
more Insulting by mockery of language, un-
der the term Of Compromise, were final in
their nature, and were not to be followed by
any further aggrcssions, we should still re-
gard them rs outragcs, to which sovereign
States, possessing the spirit of freedom, ought
ncver to submit But those measures only
form part Of u system, gradually commenced,
steadily carried forward, gathering strength
from development, and proceeding with fatal
liion of negro-slavery in the Southern States,
and The lowering of the free white popula-
lion Of the South to the same level with that
agrarian rabble, which already strong and
dangerous, seems destined, before very long,
to be the controlling power in the Northern
Stiles. We sec 10 remedy and no safety
for the South in the present Union. But We
know that in this we differ from very many
citizens of the other Southern States, spiri,-
I'd and intelligent, having the same interests,
and suffering under the same wrongs with
ourselves, and who cherish the hope that the
rights of the South may be vindicatcd and Sc
cured without dissolving the existing Confed-
cracy In this difference, it does not become
US to assume to dictate, and we hope to stand
free from that charge. Up to this tmc the
citizens of So. Ca, aware that peculiarly of
political position, arising from past events,
rendered Il certain reserve on their part pru-
dent and proper, have studiously avoided
everything which might look like assuming
the lead in the defence of Southern Rights.
They desired to act, because they believed
that safety and honor required action: but
they hoped that they might find leaders in
other States, whom they might follow in de-
fence Of the common cause. When the
ancient Commonwealth of Virginia. The prop
or leader of the South, declared her determi-
nation to resist, at all hazards and to the last
extremity hostile measures then threatened,
South Carolina, with all alacrity, stood ready
to support Virginia in carrying out her high
resolution. When Gecrgia-whose former
resistance TO Federal usurpaiion, under her
heroic statesman, TRoUP, gave promise of
nnfnchng irmness in any contest in which
she might cngage-procaimed her de!ermi-
nation TO make Il stand for the rights of the
South, South Carolina rcjoiccd ut the pros
pect of rallying under the banner of GcOr-
gia. And when her young and gallant sister.
Mississippi, proposed the wise measure of 4
Southern Convention, for the purpose Of en-
deavoring to uaitc the Southern States III
maintaining their constitutional rights, and
at the same time, preserving, if possible, the
existing Union, South Carolina heartily en-
tered into the measure; and she has carried
out tie recommendation of the Convention
so assembled at the instance of Mississippi,
by providing for the election Of Delegates to
a Southern Congress, to whose meeting she
still looks with anxious interest.
In these proceedings. we think that the
citizens Of South Carolina have evinccd all
proper anxiety toanvoid the appearance ofar-
rogancc or dctaion, to act in concert with
the citizens Of the other Southern States.
and TO do nothing separately or prccipitatcy.
AND now, strongl ly MS we have expressed our
belief that there is no hope for the South in
the existing Union, we are prepared to give
a trial, fairly in good faith, to any eff.cfual
plan which may be proposed by any sister
State Of the South, for obtaining redress for
the past and security for the future, without
a dissolution of the existing Union, if there
be a possibility of such consummaton.
But We find ourselves forced to consider
the ulterior question, what are we to do, if