Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-01-26
Tennessee.

we nave now 10 consider tue case OF the
important State of Tennessee the last of the
Southern States Up to the present juncture,
that State has been regarded as the most con-
scrvative State in the Union. Mr.. Bell, the
embodiment of the Union sentiment at the
South in the late Presidential election, hailo
from Tennessee. But what is the condition
of that State now? The answer will be
found in the calm, dgnifed and powerful
message of her Governor to the Legislature.
now in extra session, which we print in anoth,
er part of this days Herald. In this argu-
mentative but determined document, which
we commend to the pcrusal of every Northern
man, the Republican party, unless they are
struck with what the purtans would call ' iu.
dicial blindness" must see in large and lcgi-
bic characters the doom of tho Union, unless
the most ample concessions are made 10 the
demands of justice. For if Tennessee fails
the North, as rallying point for the Union,
where else in the South is she to look for help
or hope Let any dispassionatc Northcrm
man read the indictment against the North
ern States by the Governor Of Tennessee, and
then say whether tho South is not wrongcd
and aggrlcved, and whether, if her wrongs
arc not rcdrcsscd, she ought to remain i'm
a Union which is but the union of the
shark with its prcyY AS to the course Ten
nesscc means to pursue, if we are to take the
message OF her Governor as any indications
there cannot be shadow of doubt. He saws
Z" to cvadc the issue forced upon them at this
time, without the fullest security for their
rights, would be fatal to the institution of
slavery forever" He " has no doubt rs to
the necessity and propricty of calling State
Convention" and Convention will be call
cd, and the chances are one hundred to one
that that Convention will declare Tennessee
out of the Union. He euumeratcs some excel
lent amendments to the Constitution as abso
lutcy necessary for the restoration of AMIGA
bic relations, and on the part of the State con.
fidcntly expresses its determination to assert
and maintain its equality in the Union or it's
Independence out of it." He likewise de.
clares that Tennessee will never submit to CO.
crcion by the Federal power of any scccding
State, for that would be ga Union not Of con
sent, but of force; Union not Of EQUALS
but of the victors and of the vanquished -
Md this is the unanimous resolve of all the
Southern States. The military force of Ten
nessce is 10000 men, and the Governor re-
commcmds the purchase of more arms and
thorough and efficient arming of the State
This message is the most decisive and sig
nliicant sign of the times we have yet obscrv-
ed at the South. 1t shows that whatever
Union sentiment existed in the Southern
States heretofore is now cXtinguishcd, and
that the secession movement is sweeping all
before it like an avalanche. The North
would not believe the South was in earnest
till now it is almost too late to arrest the pro-
grcSs of the revolution 1t contcnted itself
with dcnouncing the scccssionists as traitors
and rebels, which only accelerated their ac-
tirn Ia. II I
the people of these States, when they were
colonies, rebels and traitors; but the dcnun-
ciation did not stop their career Had he
yielded to their Just demands and shed no
blood he might have preserved his provinces.
If, before the end of the next month the
rights of the South are not conceded, fifteen
States will be lost to the Confedcracy before
the 4th of March, and any attempt at cocr-
cion will only hasten the catastrophe Full
justice to the South, promptly rendered, or
the pcaccablc separation of fifteen States, and
the formation of Southern Confcdcmcy, or
the drcld alternative Of bloody civil war,
are the only possible solutions of the dark
problem which agitatns the whole American
people, from Passamaquoddy to the Rio
Grlndc.
MR. SEwARDs $ SpEEcH.-Thc great speech
of Seward does not seem to satisfy anybody.
1t drives off the utras of his own party,
while, in reality, it comedies nothing. The
Washington SiuieS, in II notice of the speech,
says:
After an extensive prelude of gencrali-
ties, the Senator avowcd himself in favor of:
l. The repeal of all personal liberty bills con.
travcning the Constitution. 2. As slavery
in the States ought to be left to the States,
he is willing to amend the Constitution so
Congress can never abolish slavery in the
States. 3. While believing that Congress has
unqucstionablc authority to lcgislatc upon
slavery in the Territories, yet the exercise of
that power is to be determined upon practical
grounds. A. He was willing to accept the
propositions introduced by Senator Rice,
making two States OF the existing Territories
-onc South @nd the other North of 36 deg.
30 min. g. He was willing to make laws to
arrest John Brown raids and 6, was in favor
of two Pacific railroads, one of which shall
connect the ports around the mouths of the
Mississippi, and the other the towns on 'hc
Missouri and the Lakes with the harbors on
our western coastS.
w hen ccccntlc movements of disunion
had come to an end-whcn peace and harmo-
ny shall have returned, and equanimity
rcigncd in the public mind, then, and not till
then, would he advise consultation as to what
amendments were necessary to the national
organic law.