Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-05-04
! lsersnade % V|os;p president Stephens.

NUMBER OF Cltizens cQngregated In front of the
Exchange Hotel, with tho First Regiment
band, and serenadcd tho, Honorable Alexando,
III. Stephens, Vice President Of the Confedor
ate States OF America. grhe distinguished
! gentleman was introduced tho throng by
Mayor Mayo, and received Yithhearty cheers
In response, Mr.. Stephens; returned his &C.
acknowledgements for tho warmth of tho person.
al greeting, and his most profound thanks fo1
it MS the representative Of the lConfoderate
States, Hespoke of tho rejoicing the seces.
sion Of Virginia Ind caused among her South.
orr. sisters. Her people would feel justified
it they; could hear it rs he had He would
not speak Of the States who were out, but
those who zero in. North Carolina was out.
and did not know exactly how she got out
The. fires that wero blazing here he had seen
| all along his track from Montgomery to Rich.
mond! At Wilmington; North Carolina, lie
had counted, on one street, twenty flags of tho
Confederate States. 81, E.eSotts 4 ~
Tho neWs from Tennessee was equally
checring--thcrc tho mountains were on fire.
Some of tho States still hesitatcd, but soou all
would be in. Tennessee was no longer in tho
late Union. She was out by resolutions of
her popular assemblies, in Momphis and other
cities. Kcntucky would soon be out. Her
people were moving. Missouri-who could
doubt the stand she would take, when her
Governor, in reply to Lincoln insolont proc
lamation, had said, /" You shall have'no troops
for the furtherancc of your illegal, unchristian
aud diaDolioal schemes" !" Missouri will soon
add another star to tho Southern galaxy
Where Maryland is, you all know. The first
Southern blood had been shed on her soil, and
Virginia would never stand idly by and see
her citizens shot down. The cause of Balti
more was tho cause of the whole South He
said tho cause we were engaged in was that
which attached people to the old Constitution
OF the late United States-it was the oause of
civil, religious and constitutional liberty
Many of us looked at that Constitution as the
anchor of safety. In Georgia, the people had
been attached to the previous Union, but tho
Constitution which governed it was framed
by Southern talent and understanding. AS
saults had been mado on it ever since it was
establishcdv-latcly, a latitudinous construc-
tlon had been made by the North, while we
of the South sought to ointerprit it as it was
advocating strict construction State rights, the
rights of the people to rule, etc. He spoke
of oil tho fifteen Southern States as adyocating
this construction. To violate tho principles
of the Constitution was to initiate revolution
and the Northern States had done this.
The Constitution framed at Montgomery
discarded tho obsolete ideas Of the old Consti-
tuition, but had preserved its better portion,
with some notifications, suggested by the OK
pcrience of tho past, and it had been udoptcd
ny tho Confederate States, who would stand
to it, The old Constitution had been made
an engine of power to crush out liberty; that
OF the Confederate States, to preserve it. Tho
old Constitution was improved in our hands,
and those living under it had, like the Pho
nix, risen from the ashes. Tho revolution
lately begun did not affect alone property, but
liberty. He alluded to Lincoln's call for
10000 volunteers and said hc could find no
authority in the old Constitution for such
tlagrant abuse of power. His second procla.
nation had stigmatizcd as pirates all who sailed
i'll letters of marque this was also in violation
of the Constitution, which alone gave Con
grcss that power. What had the friends of
liberty to hope for? beginning in usurpa
ton, where would he end? You were, how
ever, said he, no longer under the rule of this
tyrant. With strong arms and stout hearts
you have now resolved to stand in defence of
liberty. The Confederate States had but as
serted their rights. They believed that their
rulers derived their just powers from the con-
sent of the governed No one had right 40
deny the existence of the sovereign right of
secession. Our people did not want to med.
die with tho Northern Statcs-only wanted
the latter to let them alone. When did Vir-
ginia ever ask the assistance of tho General
Government?
If there is sin in our institutions, we bear
the blamc--and will stand acquitted by natu-
raj law, and the higher law of the CREATOR
We stand upon the law of God and Nature.
The Southern States did not wish a resort to
aims after secession. Mr. Stephens alluded
to negotiations between Major Anderson and
the authorities Of the Confederate States. to
demonstrate the proposition. History, he
said, if rightly written, would acquit us of
desire to shed our brothers. blood.
The law of necessity and of right compelled
us to act as we did. He had reason to be-
lievc that the Creator smiled on il. The Fed
erni flag was takon down without the loss of
single life. He believed that Providence
would be with us and bless us to the ond We
had appealed to tic God of Battles for tho
justness of our cause. Madness and folly
ruled at Washington. Had it not have been
so, several of the States would have been in
the old Union for year to come. "Thc gods
tirst made mad those they would dcstroy''-
Maryland would join us, and maybe, Gro long
the principles that Washington fought for
might be again administered in the city that
bore his name. Every son of the South, from
the Potomac to the Rio Grando, should raly
to tho support of Maryland. If Lipcoln quits
Washington as ignominiously as ho entered it.,
Gods will will have been accomplished. The
| argument was now exhausted Re nrcnorcd