Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-12-01
Peace or War the Issue Now.

-NhuIcW H. H. lawson, a recent Dell Flee
tor in Alabama, in Il letter to the Charleston
Ncr"'Y, thus lorcbly presents the issue now
before the people of the Southern States:
Within the next thirty days see there
arc to be delegates elected in several Southern
States to State Conventions, and from the tone
of the Southern press perceive that the issue
1T is proposed to submit to the people who arc
to elect the delegates, is " Union -" Dis.
union. his is grave error. No such is.
sue will, in fact, be before them, and they
ought to know it. The true issue will be
Peace -" War" If the Southern people
elect secession delegates to their State Con
vcntions, they will then assert, according to
the forms OF law, an uuqucstionube constitu-
tional right. The North will see we arc ter
nbly iii earnest, and respect our wishes and
rights in the premises. Then we will be per.
mittcd to withdraw in peace, and that great
idea, native to tho manor born =" on our con.
tincnt--sclt-g t-govarnmcnt-may yet survive to
bless unborn millions. But if the Southern
people vote down the policy of secession then
they will only prevent sccession-not lcvou-
tion-and revolution will inevitably follow.
speedily follow; and then the brigh. star of
solfgovernment, in the genial cfulgcncc of
which people without rival in power and
happiness upon earth has baskcd for over three
quarters of a century, must go downIamid
gloom ard blood have said, if SECESSION be
rejected, revolution will be inevitaMc. Rev.
'3lution never was the offspring Of the ballot
box or,egishtion, It'is heNegitinvttte- issue n
of action and and one man @ity aud can start
revolution now against which the gates of hell
can never prevail, and he may be a homeless
and friendIcss wretch if you please. 1t was
that man who threw the first box of tea over
board in Boston harbor, who commenced the
American Revolution, the results of which are
history now. Yet his name, neither history
nor tradition has preserved; and albeit the
actor is forgotten, the action will never be-
When the late lamentcd Brooks cancd that
rhetorical blackguard, Sumner, it was all that
the conservative influence of the North could
do to prevent then descent upon Washington
City. The excitement now is running much
higher than it was then, ard consequences
more fatal and fearful might proceed from a
minor cause and that there are ten thousand
men at the South resolved that Lincoln shall
never reign over the States in which they re-
side, no man living at the South can for one
to start a revolution if the South votes against
secession, is F rpose so generally understood
to be firmly fixed, that t" doubt it would be
insanity; and when the frs. blast of bugle
is heard "on the tented fed or embattlcd
plain" the motto of Decatur wll burn in the
heart and on the lip of every true son of the
South" am for my country, if she is right
right or wrong, my country" and his sec
ton will be his country. ask you then, sir,
is not peace or war the true and only issue to
be submitted to the people? Now, those who
want peace have only to vote for secession
and if enough of them vote for it, they will
get it. Those who want war have only to
vote against secession, and if enough of them
do it, war they will get, and enough of it, too,
to gloot the appctites of the most ravenous and
blood thirsty"
SELF KNowLEDoE.-I know not how
strong others may be in spirit, but confess /
cannot be as holy as some profess to be; for
God, | feel no Christ, no spirit of joy. But
if mediate on any portion of Holy Writ,
it shines and burns in my heart, SO that | OBJ
tain good courage and another mind. The
cause is thus We all discover that our minds
aud thoughts are so unsteady, that though VIC
desire to pray earnestly, or mediate on God
without His Word, our thoughts scatter in a
thousand forms ere we are aware of it. Let
any one try how long he can rest on any one
idea he proposes to himself, or take one hour,
and now, il he will, tell me all his thoughts.
| am rure he will be ashamed before himself,
and afraid to say what ideas have passed
through his head, lest he be taken for mad
dog, and be chained. This is my case, tho
engaged IN serious thought -Lather.