The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1860-11-22
speech OF the Hon. 1,. %. .sne,t.

speech OF the Hon. u. q. E,hctt.
:Atler the unanimous passage Of he BIZ caiing a
Convention Of South Cur0iind, 10 secsde from
che Union. DetiVered az C0iuhJid, No0cm6er
10th, 1860.
Mr. Rhctt, after repeated calls, arose
aiR;ds. tremendous applause, and said:
1t ispw late, but will answer to your
call, ny friends IThe audience here in
terrupted with three cheers for Rhctt
After quiet was restored, Mr. Rhc:t re-.
sumed: There exists Il great mistake, lcl-
lowe tizcns, in supposng that the people of
the United States are, or ever have been,
one people. On the contrary, never did
the sun sun shine on two people SO thor
oug ,ly distinct us the people of the North
and OF the South They differ not oniy
In their institutions and social organization,
but their characteristics are alto ;cthcr pc
cu)ar and distinct. TO illustrate this fact,
now that the Union is Dissolved, (!or the
Union is dissolved (Apphuse. We may
put that down rs certa.n-tAe U.ion is
certainly dissolvcl). [Greut applause 10
iilust.asc this fact, r~pcat, now that the
Unioa. is dissolved, let Us rccur to the past
hiSNOi VI sSNN't!iS' uS IL ~ StCstI alS-
sue upon which the diiTe cnce OF the North
and South was apparent, was upon the
question OF the alien and seditiun laws
John Adams was then PiesilcAt, aud the
North passed Il law, thltanv one who should
speak 0nl write disr2Sp specially oI the Pres
ident of the United States sbOull be pun
ishcl, and pay the penalty of 500 for his
offence. This law the South resisted
Southern men said that it was an invasion
OF the rights OF irccmcn and ui' the cOnsti-
tuition. which guaranteed. as one OF our b.
critics, the preservation OF a free press
They said that free institutions could not
live, except where there WAS Il free press
This WAS the first great difference between
the Northern and Southern sections OF che
Union.
Then came the war Of iSl2-a war for
Northern interests and Northern shipping
"a war for the honor Of the North--a war
spriuging up out of the bel!igorent state OF
Europe. You all know that it was called
the Second War of Independence, anl that
1t was led on by your great Calhoun and
Heary Clay-both Southern men. What
was the conduct Of the North &! Why, be-
caused it stopped their making money for
a little while, they denounced the Govern
ment, and had the war continued six
months longer, they would have dissolved
the Union. Here, then, WAS Il war for
Northern interests and Northern honor,
and yet, because they didn't make US much
money as before, they denounced it and
would have destroyed the Urion They
are Il people, fellow citizens, wholly devoted
to seli-intcrest and the pursuit of gain
trust | am not firing you. [Crie, OF ''go
on! go on = Well, then, what next?
The war of 1872 passed of; aud then
came the tariff question. During the bel
hgerent state OF Europe, the ships of the
North did much OF the carrying trade OF
Europe; but, after the peace. they were
thrown out Of employment, What was to
be done? ? They solved The question by
determining to live or us-to become the
carriers for the South. 80 they passed
laws that none OF the carrying trade of this
country should be done by foreign ships,
and passed the tariff Of 1916. Now my
friends, though NJ. Calhoun has been
much blamed for supporting the tariff OF
1916, dor he voted for it, he has been
blamed unjusty. The tariff of 1916 was
not protective tariff; it was tariff to
pay the expenses of the war IL never
was designed as protective tariff Be
sides, 1t was progressively decreasing tar
iii, to be lessened in 1918, and aga in
1870, and so on. But, when 1918 came.
what did the North do? They refused to
lessen the tariff. In 1920, what did thy
do? They again refused to lessen it, They
did morc-thcy increased it. They in
creased it in 1924, and again in ISIS :;
until little South Carolina, groaning under
the intolerablc weight of oppression, nul-
lifted the law of Congress. You all know
the history of those times, and how the
farR difficulty was settled in 1898. What
next! Ther' arose in the North the idea
oi sectional domination. To accomplish
this, two things were ncccss ry: 10 in
crease the number If free Stat, ;, to Get the
in both branches Of Congress. and
then to unite the North against the South.
They had tried to unite the free States
against the slave States upon the tariff.
But the great Northwest, being an a"ricul.
fural people like ourselves, had interest.
ldentieal with our own, and they failed.
railing, then, to accomplish their tyranni- |
cal purpose through unjust tariffs, what
were they to do! They decided to . tate
the slavery question. John Quincy Adams
commenced it. They first approached the
question through the insidious prctcxt of
the right of petition They commenced
to pour abolition petitions into Congress-
Some of the Southern men saw thcjr de-. /
sign. | thought saw it, and advised r,.
slstancc. But other Southern men did not
see 1t, and thought that it was mere
question of the right of petition, and 50
they succeeded. Then came the Mcxican
war And so settled was their purpose to
increase the number of non-slaveholdno
States, and tnally subjugate the South,
that they annexed to the very first war
appropriation the condition that all terri.
tory acquired by tie common blood and