Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-03-23
WAROLS U1W. .
Vindication of South Carolina in the Vir
ginia Convention.

Morton, OF Orange County:
say, then, this question must bc,scttlcd
You have said so; the country has said So
1t is the peace of the world that we call for
How can the question be settled? My friend
from Bedford Mr. Goggin) referred to Ma
tonal Convention. If hat National Conven-
ton had been held in time We might, per-
haps, have had some hope from such source
Who is to blame that there was not such a
National Convention? Can it be said that
the much-abused little State, South Carolina,
which this day l honor as much as do the
heroes of Thermopyle, is to blame? No;
that gallant little State cannot be complained
of, for when you were invaded here and your
soil was bathed in Virginia blood, and you,
(turning to Governor Viso,) like true man,
led the hosts of Virginia to repcl the inva-
der, however you may have received the ecu
sure OF some, do say every lady of Virginia
paid you her need of applause, and rendered
to you personally my thanks and my approba-
tion-when Virginia was invaded and YOU
were in the Gubcrnatorial chair, South Caro-
hna sent her Commissioner here to sympa-
thzc with Virginia, to make the grievance a
common cause, and to invite cooperation in
devsing measures for future security Mis-
sissipp did the same. And how were they
received and how were they treated? They
were treated kindly, as gentlemen You re-
ccived them cordially as the Executive of the
State. But the Legislature, after the most
powerful and thrilling appeals almost that
think L ever heard, the Legislature of Virgin
la determined that she could take care of her
self, and that each sovereign State could take
care of itself. And after South Carolina had
thus been turned away from the door Of Vir
ginia, and the time had come when she (South
.,.,N FN1k II,.,kl l.
were Observation-Disclosures she took the respon-
sibility of an independent sovereign State,
she is denounced upon this floor for rashncss,
for indiscretion, for want of Difference, that
she did not invite Virginia to further
council
say, sir, judging of nations by men,
there is not man who has brought forward
this mplant-ncluding my gallant friend
from Rockbridge, (Mr. NIore,) if he was in
his seat-but would have cut his right arm
off If, in common danger, he had appealed
to common friend to unite against common
enemy, and he had told him coldly, will
take care of myseIf-you take care of your
self. When the danger came he would re-
collect that, and hewoud have hazardcd his
life before he would have invited that friend
to mutual council for mutual protection
again. SO that while my friend from Bed
ford complains, let him complain of the right
source. Do not complain of gallant South
Carolina and Mississippi, but complain of
Virginia If there is blame to rest any
where, then denounce Virgina-dcnounc
your Legislature. l am casting no censure
upon those who took different course.
told many of them at the time, " you are act
ing unwisey, and you will bring about the
very thing that you wish to avoid" They
were very adverse to going into Southern
council, because if they went into Southern
council, they were fearful that the action of
South Carolina, and of other States, would
result in dissolution of the Union | be-
lieved then, and believe now, that if Vir-
gina had taken her stand in that Southern
council, she would have had the same inAu-
ence then that she did have in the times of
the Revolution. Had Virginia, however
much they might have differed from her,
looking to her ancient fame looking to her
great material interest; looking to her posi-
tion; had-Virgina taken the stand which pa
would have yielded, and other Southern
Virginia. But Virginia rejected the offer,
and the crisis came.
After the election of Mr.. Lincoln it was
believed by the Southern States that there
would not be time to organize a Southern
Conference to take definite action so as to
meet the crisis by the 4th of March and
appeal with candor to my friend from Bedford,
eMre Goggin,) it in the month of October
or the month Of September, there should have
been an appeal from South Carolina to Vir-
ginia to go into a conference, whether she
would not have received the same answer p
No, sir South Carolina has done her part to
preserve the Union. And if Virginia had
exerted herself as South Carolina has, and
had been as sensitive to Southern rights and
Southern wrongs as South Carolina has been,
TINS Convention would not have been to-day
in deliberation
But Mr.. President, whilst am upon that
subject, / will do further justice to South
Carolina, do not know whether heard
upon this floor that she acted cowardly in 60
Ing out alone; bat { have heard it often in
the country, ii not here. And / have often
replied to an imputation of that kind in this
way: NIB would show a very gallant man
who would go TO South Carolina and proclaim
that before South Caroinians." Whilst
have seen many of my fellow citizens froma all
the States of tho Soutb and Of the North,