The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1860-12-12
Especial Dispatch to the Charleston Courier. ]
Great Meeting at the Capitol.
SPEECH OF HON. +. w. PICKENs-

Great Meeting at the Capitol.
SPEECH OF HON. F. W. PICKENs.
COLUMBIA, Nov. 3O.-An immense and
Enthusiastic audience assembled in the
Hall Of tho Capitol to night, to hear the
address Of the Hon. f, w. Pickens, late
Minister TO Russia, and one Of the most
brilliant intelects OF the State. His speech
was an eloquent vindicatiou Of the exa!t.
ed position OF South Carolina, and glow
ing tribute to the cause Of State Rights
and State Sovereignty.
lie said we were on the eve of great
sveLu. He would speak with a heart as
( loyal and devoted to South Carolina as
ever beat for her honor and welfare. He
tnen alluded, in forcib'e terms, to what
was calculated to mislead many of the
true sons OF the South--a topic recently
discussed by distinguished statesman
OF Georgia, that we should wait some
overt act Of the incoming Administrations;
that the President having been elected
! by the forms Of the Constitution, we were
! bound to submit until that act was com
! mitted.
That overt act he regarded as already
commltted, and it WAS vain, light and tri
vial 10 wait for the President elect 10 com
mt an act, when it was the great act OF
the American people in their sovereign ca
| pacity at The polls. The ballot box was
| The power which could make new gov.
ernmcnt or unmake an old, and which
could perpetra,e revolution under the
forms OF Republic.
The speaker spoke of the Electoral Col
Iege bavlng been perverted from the
original intention Of the framers Of the
Constitution, which WAS to remove from
popular pref udce and passion the choice
Of President and Vice President. This
WAS What MADISON considered the great
vital point upon which forme- Republics
had split. Another clause Of the Consti.
tuition was that the President and Vice
President should not he from one State.
Vital changes had taken place in the eI,
"ctIon Of the Chief Magistrate, and in
their sezing upon the powers Of Govern.
nent While preserving only its forms.
lhe Speaker alluded to the Roman
liepuLIic, Of CESAR having planted the
Imperial STANDARD, but still preserving
forms. He alluded to NAPoLEoN the
Third submitting TO the people the change
made on his assumption of power under
Republican form, and the sanction of the
elective franchise. He alluded TO the
change Of platform, and the language OF
LINCOLN III 1888, when he declared that
n house divided against itself could no,
stand, aid that he did not believe that
this Government was to take from Vir
g1nia, which was the predominant State,
The power Of making the President and
Wee President. How much more reason
then. was there IN not choosing from the
same section, whose principles were at
war with the vital principles OF another
section. BY sectionalism the North, in
warrng upon the rights Of the South,
had openly avowed their hostility and
their desl-n to secure absolute power, and
had thus violated the spirit aud inten, Of
that clause in tie Constitution, which
meant the person chosen President should
represent the interests Of the confederated
States, and preside over the whole Union
to do justice to each and every part.
II was notorious fact in the history
OF Republics that all could not endure
permanently half Slave and half free.-
lie alluded to The declaration Of SEWARD,
Of the "nrepressibIe conflict" that it was
impossible for the Union TO be free and
siaNe-that either slaves would cultivate
The soil Of Massachusetts, or that white
agricuturists would till the field now cul
tivated 10y slaves. These were the senti
menss Of their philosophical statement
The speaker spoke Of the Banks, and
said they must come to the assistance of
the people. The speaker spoke eloquent
y Of the wrongs the South had endured.
The Black Republican party now wished
TO make the slaves The equal Of their
masters, or 10 extermnats those masters
in the red blood of an insurrectlon. His
advice was to he prepared for whatever
might come-peace or war, and for South
! Carolina to take her destinies 10 her own
hands. He showed that to secede each
State must act separately. 1t WAS in :he
nature Of sovereign 10 act in a sover.
egn capacity. lie had come home pre-
pared TO pledge all that he was and all
he had to maintain the honor, glory and
independence Of his native State.
The honorable gentleman closed amid
great applause.