Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1859-06-15

The recent efforts of the citizens of Sout
Carolina, backed by the State, promised a
that Mr.. Calhoun had desired and almost pre-
phesied. The spirit with which the Blu
Ridge Railroad was at first prosecuted, assure
its friends of its success; it lulled them int
too much confidence; they had no conception
Of the fearful grip with which a degradin
penury was about to seize upon the libera
spirit Of the State, and drag it down from it
wonted pre-eminence. I myself received let
tiers from the most distinguished citizens
South Carolina at the time, assuring me tina
all was safe; that the determination OF tn
people of the Atlantic seaboard to unite them
selves with the West was fixed fact, ant
that the interior or mountain districts wer'
with them. Under this conviction, our par
ish roads, the Savannah and the Northeastern
the one from the State, and the other from
the city of Charleston--receiVed handsome
contributions for their speedy completion; IL
fact, every thing promised steady onward
march in the prosecution of the grand feeder
which was to supply these lesser arteries witt
blood from the great heart Of the Union, the
valley of the Mississippi. But penury ap,
proaches stealthily; it is ashamed Of itself
that it should have been compelled to clutch
at pennies, when it should be spending pounds
At the last session of the Legislature, am
satisfied that it crept in when it was sup,
posed that the doors were closed. The mi
nority of your delegates, tellow-citizens, like
yourselves, were taken by surprise; they had
no intimation that the noble spirit Of daring,
Of determination, Of perseverance, of patience,
for which she was so celebrated, was gone
from her, and in it's stead craftiness, cum
ming, cupidity, carelessness of honesty and
of plighted faith, were creeping over the
character of the State-were degrading it to
the level of those mere expressions of ma
tionality which are down-trodden in our
daily history with disdain which should
make even South Carolina tremble. South
Carolina, claiming position on the Atlantic
seaboard, with her chief city the mistress OF
Western, Southern and Northern trade, the
lesser arteries of that city permeating every
parish adjacent to her, is the only South
Carolina that can claim nationality in this
our day of political Capitalization. But to
return to my legitimate object-the prestige
which John @. Calhoun gives to the Rabun
Gap or Blue Ridge Railroad, and to the point
Immediately before us. The real object which
he saw standing in the way Of its prosecution
was the fact that the county of Rabun, in
which that pass lay, was owned by Georgia,
and in that spirit of littleness which over
comes at times the councils of the peoples
representatives (he had too much confidence
in the people of Georgia to fear them,) a
passage through that county might be refused
US. So apprehensive was he on this score,
that, taking Gen. Gadsden with him, whilst
the excitement as to routes was ritest, he
made every effort to penetrate to the West
through our own territory, but in vain; and
hs even proposed, as de,nier resort, to pur-
chase the county of Rabun from the State Of
Georgia, that there should remain no obstacle
to the ultimate success of the great work.
See the foresight, the calculation, the fearless
application of means to ends in the true rep
resentative of the people. Mr.. Calhoun did
not live long enough to see the 3noble. .disin-
terestedness with which the State Of Georgia
granted to South Carolina the right of way
forever through the Rabun pass. He died
before our people, fellow-citizens, placed their
shoulders to the wheel in this herculean ua-
dertaking On his way to Washington, in
bis last illness, l visited him on this very sub
ject, but he was too surcharged with political
responsibility to divide his enfeebled powers.
"Sir," was the grand inquiry, have you
not followed Mr.. Clay in his tour through
the State of New York? Have you not
seen how he has aroused the people, the
yeomanry Of that immense State? 1t is i'll
politics, and not industry, that we must now
employ ourselves. go TO Washington to
contend with this awful excitement, threat
ening, fear me, the instant disruption of the
Union. You take up military engineering
instead of civil, and examine those weak
points in our seaboard, where the sovereign
States of the Conlederacy have given up to
the General Government certain slips OF land
for purposes of fertilization; We may want
to recover these before we employ oul selves
further with railroads." He did ward off
the political blow, but it cost him his life.
IIe never returned to the mountains Of South
Carolina any more, whence he could look
down and iearlessly direct her in her physl-
cal, intellectual and moral necessities. He
did not live to see the train which should
have passed daily, Ger this, by the door of
Fort Hill OIL its highway to the great, the
grand, the glorious Far West. 1t is the memo
ry Of John c. Calhoun, fellowcitizens Of
South Carolina, that must appeal to you on
behalf of your contribution to the great work
that passes by his door. 1t is monument
to his memory that will be real in its charac-
ter; which will be lasting; which will iden-
tify him with all enterprise, all future pros
perity, all the changes and vicissitudes of
time. On the contrary of all this, suffer not
this noble road to stop at his very door-to
break down at its first approach to that noun
tain gorge which looks down upon his very
house. This road, which owes itself to Caro-
lna's liberality, which has heretofore sus-
tanned itself upon Carolina's good faith, and
which now calls aloud upon Uarolina's hon.
asty, must net be suffered to degrade tae
memory Of Calhoun; to disparsge bis efforts
to belly bis confidence In the good sense OF
his own Carolina. Eellow'citiSens, arouse
from your lethargy. l have boldly come up
to my part; l have fearlessly stated those
facts which crown Mr.. Calhoun with all honor
for the very incipiency of conception, design
and execution in the great work before us.
You perform yours. Instruct your delegates
to come to the rescue of the private stock
holders, whom you encouraged to take hold
of the plough, and have now deserted; of
the private stockholders who are still engaged
on the work, and who will not, am conf
dent, allow dollar to remain in their treasu-
ry which has been pledged to the prosecution
Of this road; of the private stockholders
who, like you, are citizens, and not elector-
lied men, if may coin word upon so grave
an, occasion. Oh! that the electoral priVi-
leee; the palladium of our rights as freemen,
should cost us so dear-should metamorphose
q daring, generous, original, into. q fearful,
parsimonious agent. But, thanks be to the
founders of our constitution, the originals
can reverse the decisions of their agents, and
it is this that you are called upon to do. |
would even suggest that, upon the next fourth
of July, each and every District and Parish
Of the State send delegate to the Blue
Ridge Pass, and examine it for their people
in person. If they are satisfied that it be
the hand of Providence that has offered us
this boon, God speed it, with our instrument
taIitv. IF the Rabun Pass prove no prodigy