The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1860-12-21
The Why and the wberefore..

Attention is invited to the following
speech ofex-Governor Adams, of South
Carolina, recently delivered at Columbia
;. in that State:
Ex-Governor Adams said that he priced
the honor just conferred upon him more
highly thar all the honors heretofore
hcaped upon him by his constituents
Lowndes who opposed the Union, in his
dying moments said he wanted no other
epitaph than, "ITere lies the man who
vAppposed the Union. because it was fatal
his country" Hefthe speaker want.
I'll no prouder inscription thar. "IIere
les one who sigred the Ordinance OF
Secession from that Union" The Abo.
lionists were our best friends. Thank
God for what they have already done
and for the inestimable blessing they
were about to confer, they were entitled TO
our warmest gratitude. Laughter.1 Their
assaults have been unceasing but all for
our good. They have organized them
selves into great geographical party
by so doing, they have furnished us with
n justification for dissolvng our connec-
ton with them. IF, to morrow morning.
they repealed every anti-slavery law, and
said they would never whisper the word
NEGRO" again, he would still cut loose
his connection with them. Applause |
The climate the soil, and the habits OF
the people rendered it unsafe for Maine
and Texas to be under the same Govern
ment The idea of our fathers that re-
presentation was the bulwark of protec-
ton for the Union, had proved a ialacy,
II ninety Southern men. were they all
Calhouns in intellect, would not weigh
against one hundred and forty of the
Lovejoys and the IIickmans. Our an
cestors made a sad blunder when they
went into partnership with the Pilgrim
Fathers, who came across the ocean in
search of federation, but became the most
relentless prosecutors in the world
They threw the tea overheard but they
did it like thieves. wearing the guise of
Indians, and knowing that no indictment
would lay against them. Laughter 1t
was true, the Revolutionary war COM
menccd then; but the biggest part of
the Revolutionary war was fought at the
South. after Washington took charge of
the army. Their courage, like Bob
Acres, oozed out at their fingers ends
Laughter. In 1912, when the South
had undertaken to protect Yankee sea-
men, they burned blue lights on their
coast-and in the Mexican War they
furnished precious little blood. He
would not go into the history of the tariff
and show how it swindled the South but
the pension system was adopted thirty or
forty years after the Revolution, when it
was supposed that most of the old sol
diers were dead, and New England i'm
aediately turned out more soldier-ciaim-
ants than were enrolled in the whole
Revolutionary Army. Laughter. They
are very smart, and can demonstrate that
the higher the tax the cheaper the ar
ticle. Next they will attempt to demon
stratc that the lower the price OF cotton
the better for US, because it will teach US
economy, which is one of the cardinal
virtues. Laughter. He was not going
TO discuss secession. for everybody was
for it, from Dan to Beersheba, and in
few days it will be fixed fact. He did
not understand the position of Mr.. Blu
chanan, but he supposed he was like Sell
don, who, when asked how he was on the
bank question, said. he 'stood between
Nick Biddle and Calhoun" Laughter.
Ii secession brought peace, he hoped we
would enjoy its Introduction; but if it
brought war, we were the most unfortu-
nate people on earth. for we had not
bread and meat enough to feed the peo-
pie who would come here to help us to
tislt, our battles. Laughter and APP
u.
come of it; and, if they wanted our
blood, invite them to the banquet
Throw away the scabbard and let them
understand we Will neither give nor ask
quarter. Applause. They might over
run the country, but if we were anima-
ted by the spirit of our iorefathers, the
s~anps ,1hich protected Marion ,cGrG here get
anil tic sol gro,0S as g0od potatoes now as then.
Applause He did not have much con-
tilence in Virginia, because she resused
to treat with the Commissioner of South
Carolina. 1t was just as hard to turn n
Nirginian as a Louisiana sugar planter
If she would secede, then he would list
en- to her. In conclusion, he said that
on the seventeenth, eighteenth or nine
tuenth, he did not know which, but as
soon as the ordinance could be drawn,
lie would vote to secede, and stay in Sc
cession, ill doomsday. Loud applause.
Ex-Governor Adams, of South Carolina,
and Long John Wentworth, of Illinois,
evidently belong to the same school,
though on opposite sides Of the question.
OLD Buck REPENTANT.-A Washington
dispatch to the Philadelphia Press dec.
III says:
There is TO doubt that the President
feels the awful responsibility now devolv-
ing upon him, and begins to look with
distrust upon his old advisers. have it
from good source that he was visited
last night by Senators Slidell and Gwin,
and that they had not long been in con-
ference before Mr.. Buchanan expressed
his belief that they were both disunion-
lists, and that he greatly regretted that
he had ever been governed by their adj
vice. He also expressed the opinion that
Douglas was right in the position he had
taken on the Lecompton question, and
his mistake had been in quarrelng with,
for he was patriot, and loved his coun-
try. The two Senators left in anger.
gY- The Mobile Advertiser publishes q
letter from Hon. John A. Campbell, Of
the U. S. Supreme Bench. in which he
counsels conference of all the South
ern States. He says he has no sympathy
with those who would precipitate Ala
bama, or any other State, into, conse
quences that cannot fail, under any cir
curastanees, to produce disaster and dis
tress-he has no desire to force reluctant
or unwilling States to link their destiniei
with his, as desperate choice between
opposing dangers. lie adds
To council of Southern statesmen
chosen in all OF most of the Slave States
would submit the duty of preparing the
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