The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1852-04-06
Z. 8. cur GA Il sag.ss 10.


q to tic question, and twosthirds of.the
q new Leglslat lre must also vote for
q the change. sButssI sla,l not dwell
on, tiils point.3 s3 a7tt., s
/; eiHhe CuWen;ien4 4hastbe FIRE it the
livery simple task, of,set,ing. forth the
4 true reason wbyfit ought not to sc,
d 3cede, under lie existing state of o;piiil.
i ions at home, in theiotler South.
4 icrns States There 'willsbe.no s,noed
OF resortlnS to licticn, ,itscan dc, more
], than tliis: 1t can3submitstoth the pco.
pie! !ofthef SoutMthereasons why,swc
thipknthcy oilglit provide for .lheis,
separate existence AID Independence;
i Tie other States will never, seccde
EXCEPT upon their, own iconyictions Of
what is sound p,iicy, They will
never admit that South Carolina i IS
tic lclibcratire aid LesiSlatiye,til le.
par'meilt@of Of Tie. South, ,anH 1aif8the
ioth.er States tley llsceutive,y .Neiao
not arrosase this TO yourselves, \ md
let lts spare nIo pains, to i show that
We 40 not, We only deny 70 other
States superiority over ourselves :
Bit tie Contention Scan ,,o still
more; it cai do o2what greatly needs
to be done; anil What none other can'
do; it can. place the people ofi3tlsel
Stateawherot thcs Legislature found.
them'iu November 1850 q, From tile
time the Convention was first called,
considering the circumstances !. and
terms Of TIC, call, it was manifest That
without some new aggression, the
State would be isolated, ana tie
Soutllern Rights party, get III its III
fancy in the other States, would BIZ
repressed7 and sufocatedti But tile
idea SOON suggested itself .that the
Convention might be useful in restor.,
ing harmonyto to the South. In my,
fist public communication, 4 / indica..
ted this as the proper Office Of the,
Convention. Had theSlast Iicgisla.
ture refused to fix a.s ssl as5r lie
GoaYensi0ti te, III d i
slaSiis
reverence habitualiy felt for The rc.
cognizel soycreis authority; to the
legal opinisns Of the most eminent
men Of The State, living and dead.
Such a course would have laid
the foundation for strife and conten.
tioa and the reign of faction ifo5r
the next. ten years. And in this
contest, what would have been )ttlle
predicamcnt Of those who, having ad,
viscd or acquiesced in the call Of the
Convention, should have turned a.
bout to dishonor and stranglei,
What? l*- f.t
There is no danger of tho Con.
vention doing an absurd act, with
such responsibilities resting upon it.
There never was any danger. When
in May, 1851, both parties found it
necessary to disavow immediate
scccssion," il was plain to me that
secession was dead. TLis was the
true, the only reliable test. Tie
proposition Of future speculative
secession was lit only to produce
delusion. Pit off the day as long as
you might, it would have to come at
las:; and when it should come, the
question would then be ':inlncdiatc
secession And those who rcpudia.
ted it in May, 1851, could not reas-
onably be expected, after cooling
process of twelve months, to be in
favor Of it in May 1862.
In my opinion, the Convention was
called under a misapprchension Of
the views and wishes Of our friends
in other States. 1t was supposed BY
many concerned, that they desired
US to act promptly and decisiyely.
It was feared, that except we did SO,
we should fall behind cul friends and
drag them down. The authors Of
this delusion bear a wcighty rcspon-
siblity. But the Legislature having
instituted action with the confident
expectation in the minds of many
that cooperation would be secured,
the State will not suffer disgrace in
declining to sccedc without cooper
alton, aud against all hope of, any
support from abroad. With perfect
unanimity, and, as no body doubts,
with the perfect good faith, she
marched up to The limo of resistance:
and the responsibility ofnonaction is
a thousand times more with the other
States than with South Carolina.
There is no disgrace ir South Car
olina declining to assume the cx-
elusive control of a vast question in
which fourteen other much larger
States have an identical and equal
| interest with herself. No one dis
putes that in a legal sense, the in
stitation of slavery within the State,
| is local and distinct from the same
institution in any other State, and
! A. 4 Il