Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-06-02
Letter from J. II. Hammond.
8E@XlNDEH IT., SryrnE!

-hASHiNdfON, May lo,' lSoIS----ljeaf OFT:
| have received thepolitc invitation of your
Committcc to attend public meeting in
Charleston on the 18th ilistapt, aud to ad
dress it, 1t would be very pleasant to me to
be with you. But while so fatiguing trip
would be a severe tax GU my not vigorous
hca'' /, should neglect my duties here, at
time when they are becoming very important;
aud can, ina very few lines say to you al
that | could say at your meeting, to attend
which would have to travel twelve hundred
miles and lose ten days from the Senate.
Practical craftsmanship consists il taking
the best next step. Honor, honesty and phi
losophic craftsmanship require that step
should be taken OH broad line of policy, ba-
scd upon und and comprehensive principles.
In my oph.ion the next step which all the
States whose delegates seeded from the late
Convention i'll your city should take, and arc
in fact bound ia donor to take, is to appoint
delegates TO meet in ConNcpton at Richmond,
on the d''y appointed by tho seeding dele
cations.
At this critical time, with events deeply af-
fceting any opinions any one may entertain os
to what that ConvcDtiou should do crowding
rapidly upon us, think that those delegates
should be chosen from among the ablcst and
most reliable men Of each State, and that they
should be clothed with cmplc and almost nn-
limited discretionary powers. The only in,
structon | would give them would be, that
they should take care that these States should
receive no dutrimcht 1t mil ght not be improp-
cr to commission them us del gates to any 9th
or Convention wbich these tines may bring
forth, and which, in their Judgment, they
might scc fit to unite with.
Whilst the broadcst and pcrhapS trucst rol-
icy Of the whole country is to maintain the
union of all the States, under the Federal
Constitution, it is undoubtedly a wise policy
to maintain such a union of the slavchoiiing
States aud other Immediate ncigbbors but
it is essential that the eight seeding Cotton.
States should be kept together in the closest
bonds of union aud good feeling. With their
large territorial area their present and grow
lug population, and tleir surplus productions,
eagerly sought after innearly every market in
the world, and commanding annually two hun
drcd millions of dollars in specie, they would,
If organized by themselves under our present
Federal Constitution, constitute a Rcpnblic
that would ut once command the respect of
every civilized qower They havc s,ihStan-
tlal basis on which they may stand, whoever
might fall
1t is, therefore, their policy, and any other
would be suicidal, to maintain with each other
ata!l times and in every crisis, the most init
mate and iratcrnal association. They should
then, as | have said, meet, according to APP
pointmcnt, at Richmond, represented by their
best men, invested with almost all power
Such mecting do not think, would have
any tendency towards bringing about the dis
union of the United ST. IS / believe its eff.
feet would be precisely the reverse A large
majority of thcpeoplo of the non slaycholding
States, misguided by ambitious and fanatical
leaders, seem bent on our dcstrfctioa, igno-
rant that it Involves their p@n That it does,
it is in vain to argue to them. They are told
anc believe that we are weak; andin the face
of the fact that We have been STRONG enough
TO control this Government eyer since it was
established, and TO make the country all that
1T IL, they have been made TO believe that the
South dare not face the North on any decisive
fcld-in short, on the issue of disunion
And that issue is what, it. seems to me, they,
are now pressing kccniY on us. in Congress
and everywhere. We must meet it, and meet
it now. And, in my opinion, the way to meet
it is, not by Wild resolves of Legislatures or
Conventions, by absurd bravados of mewspa-
per editors, or by the reckless defamation of
travelling orators; but by the calm, noisclcss,
yet stern asscmblagc at Richmond of the best
men OF the seeding Statcs--bctter perhaps
OF all tho Sttes-who shall, snying little,
threatening nothing, exacting less even than
our rights, aud only what we must demand
for the present, without, of course sacrificing
the future, leaning always, without paltering
with principle, towards the conservation of
this Union--so act us to show that we ask no.
thing and fear nothing. What that precise
action should be | do not now pretend to say
1t depends on the developments of the next.
few weeks. No one, and least of all, our del.
cgates to Richmond, should be trammelled by
being required to prophecy. Whst the time
demands OF the whole country. of theDemo-
cratic party Of the South above all, of tile
eight seeding Cotton States----is representa-
tive men, invested with full authority to meet
the crisis.
In conclusion, permit me to say that / not
only do not despair, but entertain not a fee
ling of dependency. Come what may, with
our surplus productions of Cotton, Rice, Su-
gar, etc, and our substructurc of black slaves,
We are safe against all the Vaccinations of
political intringuers from abroad, and our de-
magogucs at home.
have the honor to be, Il
With the utmost respect
Your obedient servant,
j. ii. HAMMOND.