Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-05-05

ocratic party. because that is the only party
in the country that we can look to for any
aid in maintaining our rights in the Union
! trusS therefore, that our deliberations mar
AID IN promotiug the success OF that party,
and, in doing thas, 1hut &c may Ec able 10
preserve the Constitution, TO prcscrtc our
institutions, and to hand down to our poster
ity the rich jewel that we have Inherited
from our ancestors. Applause
resolution, returning thanks to Col. OuR
for tho manner in which he had presided
over the Convention, having been passed, hc
said
Gentlemen of the Convention 1t is pcr-
hars proper that | should make a response
to the resolution which YOU haze been
pleased to adopt in COMMUNICATION of my
course as your presiding officer. | have
already, upon two occasions since this body
assembled, been under the necessity
pleasant duty--of returning to you my OBJ
legations for favors twice conferred. Again
am called up for the same purpose, aud
may say to you now, truthfully, that | am
painfully impressed with a sense Of the obi
cations which ] owe to the members of this
| body. For many years gentlemen, was
engaged in the active strife of political life
During the progress of those years it was
in collision with personal friends Alicna-
alton and arrangements occurred The
! friendship of many with whom set out in
life ON the most intimate terms was turned
into bitterness. [ found public life, there
! fore, anything else but agreeable to INC.
But, gentlemen, in the performance Of my
| public duties upon all occasions, wherever my
conviction OF duty led me, in every capacity
III which have been called upon to act |
! nave never fClt St Sc of fear. | have never
| shuddcred at the responsibility Which duty
devolvcd upon me. (Applausc,) A year ago
l mace up my mind voluntarily to retire to
/ private life. There wcre,thosc who were near
| to me by all the ties of kindred and affection
whose welfare required my presence | was
! tired OF the turmoil and strife which pu ,lic
/ life cntaiIcd upon me; and in going back 70
rctiracy did 50 with an honest and fixed de-
termination never again to seek political pc
sitlon. | am here now rs a drlcgatc-an
| humble delegate from the district in which
have been born aud rcarcd-siuply because.
rs citizen Of this great republic, / feel the
Importance of the issues which are about be
/ ing prccipitated upon us | think that ]
! know tho Importance of these issues ] think
that | know that, for veal or for woe, as |
said to you yesterday evening, the issues that
are now originating, must lie decided, and dc
cdcd at an early day. am one of those who
havo bclicvcd-and every year that | have
lived my convictions on the subject have
strcngthcncd-l am ono Of those who have
! believed, and who now believe, that this great
! Government, which was handed down to us
! by the noblest ancestors that any people ever
had, Is yet worth preserving; and ii it can
| be preserved in unison with our rights, with
! our interests and with our honor, so help me
! God, my hand shall never bc raised to strike it
down. (Grent applausc.)
| | have, Tor some time past, been painfullv
impressed gentlemen of the Convention, with
the aspect of public affairs; and as time has
rolled on, confess that my apprchcnsions have
not subsidized on the contrary, the tendency
has been to increase and magnify them. But
| yet believe that, whore there is so much at
stake, where it is 80 manifcstly to the inter
cstS of all sections of this great Confedcracv-
! enough, and patriotism enough, in the bo
SONS OF our brethren of the North and West.
to stay their tanatical hands, and to restore
peace and harmony in this union (Applausc J
Let any one cast his eye over the States of
this Confcdcracy; let him take map, and at
tempt to trace the lines where division is to
take p'avc, i 2;vigiCr co:"c. Wherc are tho
lines to run? Are you to cut the mountains?
Are you to cut the Mississippi? Is the line
to be longitudinal or latitudina-and if lati.
tudital line, where is it to strike? no will
| you cut of and who will you take in? How
many different Contcdcracics arc you to form ?
! What is to be the Gate of these Confcdpraccs ?
1t is true, gentlemen that we assume TO our
selves, and sNppose truthtully, that ours is
/ n superior race to Cur nciuhbors of the Rcnuh