Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-06-11

y
table; his maps were spread 0t before him;
with pencil aud scale in ham he had ira
ced anindclblo line diagonaNy across the
Union, aad theu examining itsWack, cried
out, Il knew it; there is yourgOp; there
is the great pass there the mountains re-
cede, the one from the other, as though
they invited the States of this great con-
fcderacy to pass and rcpass them. And
you say that it is available for milroad.-
A railroad from northwest to southeast-a
diagonal rCad-wll give to our scaboard
all that is southwest of that line, aud much
that is northeast; it will compete with tho
northern markets even at the gates of Gin
cinnoti. We may fail, sir, in our endcav-
ors now, but the result must come, and our
industrial independence be secured by this
boon of Proyidcncc-th incxplicable pass,
through n mighty range of mountains, un-
less for some great mortal purpose, such as
is now proposed" We did fail then
The vote of Central Georgia prevailed at
the noXt session of the Legislature and
the route by the dctour of the Blue Ridge,
or the Western and Atlantic Railroad to
Chattanooga, was opened by that State =
But while Mr.. Calhoun took the utmost in
tcrcst in that work, of which he was CON
siantly advised during its prosecution. he
never gave up the llabun pass. He never
regarded the two roads as sconaicting. The
one was traverse, the other diagonal; the
one aimed ut southern production, thc'oth-
cr northern. The concentration of these
two productions upon our seaboard was to
achieve the independence to which have
alluded The recent efforts Of the citizens
OF South Carolina backed by tho State,
promised all that Mr., Calhoun had desired
and almost prophcsied The spirit with
which the Blue Ridge Railroad was ut first
prosecuted, assured its friends of it's sue
cess; it lulcd them into much confidence
they had no conception of the fearful grip
with which degrading pcnury was abo
to sclzc upon the liberal spirit of the State,
and drag it down from its wonted pre.cm-
incncc. myself received letters from the
most distinguished citizens of South Caro-
lima at the time. assuring me that all was
safe; that the determination Of the people
OF the AtlG' tic seaboard to unite them
selves with tho West was a fixed fact, and
that the interior or mountain districts were
with them. Under this conviction, our
parish roads, the Savannah and the North
other from the city of Charlcston-rccci-
we'd handsome contributions for their spec.
dy completion; in fact, every thing nrom-
iscd Il steady onward march in the prose-
cutlon of the grand feeder which was to
supply these lesser arteries with blood from
the great heart Of the Union, the valley Of
the Mississippi. But pcnury approaches
stcalthiiy; it il ashamed Of itself, that it
should have been compelled to clutch at
pennies, whenit should be spending pounds.
At the last session Of the Legislature, am
satisfied that it crcpt in when it was suppo-
Scd that the doors were closed The mi
nority of your delegates, fclowcitzens.
like yourselves, were taken by surprise;
they had had no ntimution that the noble
spirit of daring, of determination, of per-
severance, of patience, for which she was
cclct,r ted, WAS gone from her, and in lis
stead crattincss, cunning, n cupidity, II
carcessncss of honesty and of pliyhtcd
faith, were creeping over the character of
the Statc--werc degrading it to the level
of those mere expressions of nationality
which are down-troddcn in our daily histo.
ry within dsdain which should make even
South Carolina. trouble. South Carolina.
N'"iinIiS PoslliOl on tIlc tACllntlC Scab0ard,
with her chief city the mistress of Wcs-
tern, Southern and Northern trade, the
lesser arteries of that city pcrncating every
parish adjacent to her, is the only Sout.
Carolina that can claim nationality in this
our day of political centralizatiou But to
return to my Legitimate object-thc pres
tlSe which John G. Calhoun gives to the
Rabun Gap or Blue Ridge Railroad, and
to the point Immediately before us. Th.
only 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 spir
it of littlcncss which ovcrcomes at times
the councils of the peoples representative
Che had too much conifdencein the pcople
of Georgia to fear thcm,) passage through
that county might be refused us. So ap-
prehcnsiye was he on this score, that, ia
king Gen. Gadsden with him, whilst the
excitement as to routes was rifcst he made
every effortto penetrate, to the West through
our own territory, but ia vaiir ;'und he even
proposed, as dernier resort, to purchase
the county of Rabun from the State of
Georgia, that there should remain no OBJ
staclc to the ultimate success of the great
work. See the foresight, tho calculation,
tlie fearless application of means to ends
i'm the true representative Of the People
MIR. Calhoun did not live long enough to
see the noble disintcrtstcdnes with which
the State of Georgia granted to South Car
olna tho right of way forever through tho
j (sl, ,.r,.,, II, j, l.