Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1861-03-16
/ opinions Of the y,sas
)N LINcoTN's INAUoURAb ADDREss.

IHc OHutiSStou heTcufy commons on the
inaugural with great severity. and closes q
long article as follows:
But still we would say to our people, for the
present, keep cool and bdc- your time. The
honor of this State is no further involved in
! this matter, (the possession of Fort Sumter,
&c.) 1t has been transferred to the shoul-
ders of the government of the Confederate
States of America. Whether wisely or not, it
is now too late to discuss. Our course is one
entirely of policy and war strategy We do
not profess to be accurately cognizant of the
plans of President Davis. If there is to be
war, there must be a plan and a policy for the
campaign. These must originate from the
heads of the government We have now no.
thing to lose by time--overything to gain
War six weeks ago might have placed Virsi
, MIA now by our side. War would have beer
in the name of the State of South Carolina.
The glory, prestige and historic fame, would
have been hers. 1t is no longer so. The
blood will be hers, but little of the profit
That blood, however, her people are STILL as
they have ever b. en-, willing generously to
shed Nor will any foreign foe unmoested
cross her border by sea or land Beyond this
policy and strategy must rule the action of the
general government at Montgomery Their
decision with regard to this harbor will be car
ricd out by the troops of Carolina
That President Lincoln will attempt to col
lcct revenue off the bar is now beyond a ques-
ton. What then? Here lies the oues-
tion in which alone this State is directly con
ccrned. What course then to be pursued
by the Southern government? There arc but
two open The Que, immediate attack upon
Fort Sumter; the other, to bcsiegc and starvo
out the fortress. To attack the fort will not
l .f
What then will be gained 1t is question
To declare martial Law over the whole har-
Dor, including both shores and the wharves of
the city, prohibiting all approach to Fort Sum
ter by night or by day, excluding from it all
supplies of any description, and all informa-
tion or communication to its inmates, may be
the policy decided upon. Salt meat and warm
weather may most effectually do our work for
us. To reinforce Fort Sumter is now only to
hasten the period of starvation For no ship
of war can enter our harbor and land supplies.
Should she succeed in rpnniDg to the fort, she
viii be under the constant fire of three or four
batteries within telling and destructive. dis
tancc. She must be quickly destroyed In
the meantime our ships, or ships ladencd with
our goods for foreign ports, may continue their
course as usual Even should blockade be
declared, it can i'll no way interfere with the
cgrcss and ingrcsS of neutral bottoms in their
ordinary avocations of trade. A duty nav
doubtless for the present be collected on such
imports as arrive here directly from abroad.
OF this reckoning must be made in the cal.
culation of costs, pro and con. A few months
must settle the whole question And the t,-
king of Fort Sumter immediately cannot, as
far as we can perceive, hasten that period =
We will be little further when we have finish
ed than when We beguu-minus some valua-
BILE lives.
The above calculations are, of course, based
upon the supposition that matters inside the
harbor remain in statu quo. A belligerent
attitude on the part of Fort Sumter must at
once precipitatc war, and the fort must be ia
ken in selfprotcction.
In throwing out the above suggestions, VIC
do not undertake to advise those much more
competent to deal with the emergency than
we can be. They are advanced simply as
thoughts that have occurred to us in weigh
ing and balancing the issues now before us
We let them go for what they may be worth
The proper authorities will decide uy,n the
course that will seem best to them, and we
will be entirely satisfied to assist in its cxccu-
ton, whatever it may be.
We shall soon learn what are the plans of
President Davis. They will probably be de-
cided by the future action of Lincoln
The Courier of the same city has long ed.
itorial comment, closing with the following
patriotic paragraphs;
We have too mlch faith in our race and
history, and in tic lessons of our fathers, and
of the founders of Anglo, American liberties
to believe that this inaugural can be accepted
as the sense of the American people, North OIL
South. If it means anything, deviating from
the lamcntably anomalous and pitiablc condi
tion which marked the expiring weeks of the
preceding administration, it means war to the
extent of President Lincoln's powers or inAu.
encc. 1t is our wiSest and best policy to ac-
ccpt it as a declaration of war, and to await
only for our own opportunities of meeting that
issue which, before heaven and earth, we can
! proclaim was not of our seeking. The sons of
the South will read, judge, and act for them
selves, their sircs and their postcrity, and they
must act soon.
! The men who went to war against pream-
| bic, and those who went to war for the rights
of scameti without owning ship, and the men
who marked Bucna Vista and Contreras and
Chapultepec, in the list of great battles, are
prepared to do and suffer much in defence OF
search of honor, but they are not prepared fol
that most vulgar, irresponsible and odious OF
all governments, the absolutism Of an accidcn
tai majority-and that is the result of Mr
Lncon's inaugural if acted out in the shap
| ing of POLITICAL destiny We believe that
large portion of the North will not suffer sucl