Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-04-20
STATE Convention.


tee to call the Convention together, in case of
the death or disability Of the President.
would consist of 1Iessrs. DunkiD, ID. l..
Wardaw, Barnwell, Rhett, and Harlee.
Mr., Inglis said the resolution of Mr., With
ers, in regard to the fllinc of any vacancies
! which might occur in the representation at
/ Montgomery, ought 10 be passed before the
| Convention adjourDs. The resolution was
read as follows:
| Resoirea, That in case vacancy shall
arise, from any cause, in the delegation from
! this State to the Congress of the Confederate
I States of America, the Governor be- and he
. is hereby, authorized to supply such vacancy.
Mr.. Ingis moved to substitute the words
% President of the Convention for 50 Cover
nor of the State"
Mr., Pope believed this subject could be
more satisfactorily disposed of in secret scs.
sion, and therefore moved that the Conven-
ton sit with closed doors which motion was
agreed to.
The President of the Convention, in re-
sponsc to a complimentary resolution, deliver
ed the following parting address
GcnHen,"acf me Conycntion When first
called upon, by your kindness, to preside over
the gravest, the ablest, and the most courte-
Gus BODY of gentlemen with whom | have
ever been associated ina political life extend
ing now to more than twenty five years, | was
greatly overcome by your confidence for
compliment as unexpected as, | felt. it was
unmcrited, and now | am willing to construe
this renewed expression of your kindness in
to tribute to good intentions, rather than to
good deeds.
BY your acts, during the twenty DAYS of
your first sessions. you have added more than
one page to history which will sur ive-for
men will love to look on the opening Incl
dents of a revolution, conducted with dig
nifty, calmncsS, propricty, and an indcxblc
pursuit of right, which has few examples in
past times.
Within the brief interval of less than three
months between your frat session and this,
many striking incidents have been crowded.
which might also become history but the
doubts, fears, struggles, anxictics and hopes
deferred and then the gradual increase of
confidence from increased strength and re-
sources, arc only fully known to the few who
acted the chief part in the trying scenes of
this winter; and they, if they could, proba-
bly, will not write its history
J This revolution, so far has been bloodlcss.
| What glorious consummation it would have
been What triumph of civilization aud
Christianity, if the great principles involved
in this movement could have been successfully
achieved without shedding a single drop of
human blood But now it seems to be 9th
crwisc. While | am ct speaking, hostile
fleet is said to be approaching our shores, and
before the coming night closes over us.
the sands of Morris Island may be stained
with the best blood of our people May God
show the right
l congratulate you gentlemen, at the close
of your lIbors, on the adoption of Ccnstitu-
tlon which, trust, will be found little less
than perfect. There are, ! admit, clauses
and omissions which render it much less ac-
ccptablc to me, but [ am far from attaching
MS great Importance to any written Constitu-
tion rs many appear to do Written Const-
tutIons are but as landmarks to point out the
route to be followed; and al experience of
the past most clearly demonstrates that Gov
crnmcnt will be just suited to the capacities,
genius and character of n people, and it will
be either free or despotic, as the people them
selves will be found to deserve the one form
or the other. Why, it may be asked is it,,
that the civilization of the Eastern nations of
the Semitic race has been so unproductiyc of
results beneficial to cOntemporancous or subsc.
quent times that we hold of them no liter
aturc, no law, no principle of government or
social amcliOration 1t is because their eov-
crnment was stern despotism, which inter
posed an immeasurable distance between the
throne and the people; and, it may be added
because their religion WAS gloomy and de-
grading superstition, which bowed down to
the creature instead of to tn Creator -
| Where is the British Constiu o. written p
Not on paper, but in the tradit ors and mem
orlcs OF the dominant portion f a race who
| through thousand years of trial and suffer
ing, yindicated their rights to liberal Gov
| crnmcnt. Where is the Constitution of the
| French to be found? Not in the Jacobin
clubs, nor in the romancsquc rcverics of
Nergniaud, Madame RoaDd and Brissot de
Warville; not in the Three Days of July"
nor in the funciful theories of Iamartine, and
in his impracticablc doctrines of " Liberty
Equality and Fraternity but in the will of
an absolute monarch, who preserves order
and retains insurrecton by half n million of
armed men. Where did Black, Republican
ism get its teachings? Not from the Con
stltution of the United States, but from the
doctrines of higher law" and an ire
prcssible conflict"
If, therefore, we are wisc-if We are viItn
| ous--if we arc true to ourselves the Consti-
tuition which wc have adopted will last for
generations to come. If we are ot, no writ
ten Constitution, however guarded, will avail
US long.
Permit me now, gcntlcmcn, at this parting
inoment--and We part at a moment of uncon.
jecturable cyents-to offer to each of you my
best wishes for your nrcsent and future ,yol