Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1860-03-24
PolBTSloAl,.
SPEECH OF HON, .. D, AsHmoRE,

GSr. AShGOfc SIlu {;
Mr.. CMrmNn: 1t has neither been nv
wish nIr my purpose to engage in elaborate
discussion. My. exp iricnco. has ttught me
that II Is not those who engage most ireaaent-
~ ia discussion, or who are most apt to indusc
IN philosophical or abstract pripciplcs, u;cc.
spun theories, aad phiiapthvopical seutimcn-
t'I,tIas, that are slwhys foand uost useful ia
;l6crative assemblies. itis rather ehc nrac-
at'l man, WHO, with quick pccepten, ready
Ingenuity aud salient wit, 'seizcs. upon tho
strJng polncs Of casc, and M ,kcs tifem sub.
serve the practical purposes of i;te by moldine
measures and policies, based upon ,ivngissu
and correct principles, to the necessities Of
the times and of the age in which he live,
do not wish to bc understood, however. chat
| am one of those who ignore corrccttbeorics
Tie oae'is as necessary to the other ms the
sun is to the day. / only mean to saw thnt
leaving questions Of philosophy, philanthropy
and theories, to Others, mine is, and has ever
been, the sphere of practical duty. have
regretted, sir for many years past, that the
ail-absorbing and exciting subject of slavery
could not be, or had not been, excluded from
discussion III the halls OF the Federal Con.
gress These regrets are now of no avail
Inc question is upon us, aud is absorbing all
others. We have got to grappe with it, and
TO reduce 1T to II practical and satisfactory set
tleneat III the Union, or it is to prove the
breaker upon which the ship Of State will be
Shattered into thousand fragments.
Can such settlement of so momcntous, a
question be effected in the Union and the
rightsin eqnotics of all the States be pre-
served undor the existing Constitution i
confess, AIR. Chairman, that [ have lived To
reach that point i'll the history of our country
when SOC butlittlo hopes of that The rad
lcai differences OF opinion that exist between
the Northern and Southern people on this ex-
citing subject have reached point that has
Drought out'and developed the angry passions
OF ooth sides to such an oxtcnt that each views
the opinions and sentiments of the other ms
mere eXaggerations, in which there is little
sincerity aud less honesty.
D1signlng politicinns, hypocritcal p,,ian
thropists, coptemptible de,nngoyucs corrunt
sppis-scekcrs, with their hosts of unscrupu
lous partisans, on all sides, have succeeded in
eN%pcratiny parties and sections until there
is no longer particle of confidence or hurmo
ny between them. ASA Southern man have
looked. upon this growing distrust, this alien
alton, this antagonsM of fecling and sentI-
ment, with the darkest forebodiNrs for the
future ot this country. For years y, ,ist / have
lndulSed the hope that some combination of
fortuitous circumstances would arrest this
condition of things But, sir, have been
most sadly and seriously disappointed; and
now, IN view OF the above facts, the pregnant
question arises, whose fault is it [ must
confess that my intellect is too obtuse to rer.
eelye that the people of the South have ever
demanded, or donow demand, aught more
than their constitutional rights on the subject
OF slavery turn to the Constitution OF nv
country, and.l lind in,its preamble that it was
created :. to establish justice aud secure do,
mcstic tranquility"
lnSectlon two. article one, of that nstru-
ment, iipd slavery recognized, and repre-.
sentation provided for ON this very floor, by
allowing five slaves to be enumerated and
counted for the purpose of representations as
eqt'l to three white person,
In section nine, article. one, / find the i'm.
poortation OF African slaves to be prohibited
after the year 1898, thereby recognizing the
rights OF the States to import then up to that
period OF time. On-t6is subject / shall have
more to sayhercafter &
But, stronger still, in the shape of q conssi
tntlonaI recognition of slavery, find in sec
ton second, article four, the provision rcqui-
ring the people OF one State to deliver up
fugitive slave, 'op the claim of the party to
whom such service or labor may be DUE to,
the citizen or citizens of another State.
Mr.. Chairman j need not psk any one, here
or elsewhere, who is'at adj familiar with the
current of cvents during tho last twenty five
years butmorc particG', ,rly with those Of the
last ten years, whether an, nie of etiloso pro-
vlsloas0f the Constitutions has ancn compiled
wtbnRd cfsfied outin good Rdth'k the peo.
pie OF the NorthS Co tha contrary. t.,4y
have each and all been, violated almost dali
by the action of the States Of, the North, in
their Legislative bodiesand in their conven-
tions. and by the people, in their primary
neetings, in their schools and colleges, in |
their pplpits, and by their mobs, until at last
their violation of tbeSightsof of the South has !
eliminated in an attack by a body of fbanditti |
on the people of a sovereign State, and in the ,
commission;of the thtca highest grimes known
TO the laws,ef the land --the .perpetration. of |
nugder, insnrrection, ard treason.
Thas this extraordinary attempt to snbyert
che institutions of the South and free the |
slaves OF che South was the Legitimate result
OF the teacfmg of She people of the North, / |
thin ksno saie or reasonable man can for one !
moment doubt.
The different elements OF opposition to |
slavery throughout tIie, entire North have at
last assumed a Distinctive political sorganiza- ]
f5en. and thab organization, with the eedue- ,
tise ,title,0f IS Republican, is, at disarmament
shaping Che policy that is to,uudernine; sap,
md tletray, atficss fesisted, the very Foit,idl
Oil ns Is our social polity, Of the Fights of the
fEat, ~ "a sh, M, ~. a A,.lT. . ~ ~ ~