Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1858-11-11

OF carrying the alienation biennial elections
as she has just done-always leaving it Il
the democracy to carry that which makes the
President.
But I am making mere assertions. ALLOW
me, then, to refer to facts to show the past
power of the South in this Union, and the
present state of the great questions in which
she is most deeply interested. When, thirty
years ago, We began this arduous conflict fol
the Constitutional reform of tbisgovernment
and the security of the South, the South her,
self was thoroughly divided. The tariff, the
bank, the internal Improvement system, nay,
even abolition itself, all had the sanction Of
large number of our most prominent south
ern men. If they did not all originate, they
were all resuscitated, in that era of infatua.
ton, when q southern Pesident proclaimed
that we were "all Federalists, all Republi.
cans" when Southern statesmen sneered at
State rights, and the constitution became for
a time dead letter.
The Tariff of 1928 levied average duties
of more than forty per cent on all our i'm
ports. By the tariff of 1857 the average of
duties was reduced below twenty per cent.
We have accomplished that much and be,
sides the principle Of free trade is pretty gen.
orally conceded now throughout the Union.
1t cannot be denied that this is a great sue
cess. think the duties should be reduced
still lower; and particularly that the discrim.
nations against the agricultural interests
should be abolished. But it is supposed that
there will be demand for their increase at
the next session. If so, it will of course be
resisted, and I trust successfully. Free-trade
is the test, the touch stone of free-govern-
meut, as monopoly is of despotism. have
no hesitation in saying that the plantation
States should discard any government that
made protective tariff its policy. They
should not submit to pay tribute for the sup
port of any other industrial system than their
own, much less to make good the bubble
speculations of any other section Of the Union.
Unequal taxation is, after all, what we have
most to fear in this Union, and against that
we must be always ready to adopt the most
decisive measures.
The internal improvement system was in
full vigor in 1928. Inaugurated also by
Southern men, it absorbed all the surplus of
the treasury, and being in its nature unlimi-
ted, it was capable of absorbing all the rev.
epue that could be exorted by the highest
possible tariff. That too, if not destroyed,
has been checked and crippled by Southern
action. 1t is true that it still appears annu.
ally in Congress-but the once naughty brig.
and is now little more than a sturdy beggar.
We had then, also, in full operation a
Bank of the United States, with branches in
all our principal cities. 1t received and
specuIated on al the revenues Of the govern.
meut, and controlled and concentrated iuthe
North all the exchanges, thus leVyhg per
centage upon every commercial transaction
of the South. That has been annihilated
1t sleeps the sleep that knows no waking
But let me say that the system which it es-
tablished still exists. Despite Of its destruc-
ton by the federal government, and the col.
lection of the revenue in specie, our ex-
changes still centre in the North, and our
otherwise stable industry is still compelled
to participate more or less in all the reckless
speculations of that fanatical in love of mou-
ey than even in its devotion to negroes. But
this is self imposed vassalage. Through the
which our Southern Legislatures
have granted to our innumerable banks, We
are made tributary to New York, which is
itself tributa 2 to London, the great world
centre of exchanges in our age. Thus, by
our own acts, VIC pay double tribute, though
nearly all the trade of the United States
with England is based on Southern products.
Thus has the South, by her energy and
ability, disposed of the capital grievances
against which she protested, with almost half
her public men against her, in 1928. Du-
ring this time our opponents have twice
wrested the government from us, and iDhict-
ed other injuries, but they were soon strip
ped of their power and their acts repealed.
Only four times since the organization Of
this government has the North had posses
sion of it, and in each case for only one
term. The North has never united long on
any policy. The injuries inflicted on the
South have been mainly inflicted by her own
ambitious, factious and divided public men,
and our history proves that no man and no
measure yet been strong enough to stand
against the South when united. believe
none ever will.
But it is thought. that the abolitionists'
still credited by some of this
country, that they will inevitably get the
power of this government permanently into
their hands, and, backed by the opinion of
the world, use it for our destruction is prob
able. Let US consider what are the facts
From the time that the wise and good Las
Casas first introduced into America the in
stitution of African slavery-I say institu-
tion, because it is the oldest that exists, and
will, believe, survive all others that now
flourishes-it has had its enemies. For a
long while they were chiefly men of peculiar
and eccentric religious notions. Their first
practical and political success arose from the
convulsions of the French revolution, which
lost to that empire its best colony. Next
came the prohibition of the slave trade-the
excitement of the Missouri Compromise in
this country, and then the deliberate eman-
cipation of the slaves in their colonies by