The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-02-25
@,.aAs. s5scss.a- sssl.ras 49,. -
Letter from senator Perry, OF south
~ rCaroIiua..

Letter from senator Perry, Of sou.l,
I'd gCaroIina.. .
10 Me Editors Of tie National I,,teuioence,.:
my credentials % United States Senator
from the State Of South Carolina were nre.
sensed, the other day, TO. the Senate by
the Hon. Revcrdy Johnson, Of MARYLAND.
and laid on the table. It is not likely thai
any representative from South Carolina
wih be heard-in either House for some time
70 come. In the meantime, questions Of
vi1si Importance to her interests, honor
taao 1hu wenare Will be before the Senate. /
ehersrore ask permission of you to say q
Word, through your paper, in behalf of the
State which I was efected to represent.
But, first, Messrs. Editors, let me say a
Word In reference to myself, SO that nv
true position toward the State may be
Known, ana what | say my behalf pro-
perry judged of. My whole political life.
for more than the third Of century past
mas been spent in defence Of the mainte-
nance OF the Federal Union, and in oppos-
ing the popular doctrines OF nullification.
accession and disunion in my native State.
NO man IN America regretted more deeply
than did the fatal secession of South g.
rolina, i'll 1860. I had been brought up.
from my childhood, i'll the school Of WASH
ington's Farewell Address, and 1 believed,
most religiously, all the great truths there
IN set forth. The terrible consequences
OF dlsunlon were ever present in my mind,
and never ceased to warn my fellow-citi-
zen zens o OF them. | remember telling them
that their secession would prove the death
kneil OF slavery, the estab1is' ent Of a
military despotism in the Southern States.
Both events have occurred. but hope the
latter is only temporary
Much Is to be said in exteRuation OF the
course pursued by South Carolina. The
people had been taught by their greatest
Statesmen, and educated in the belief that
o sovereign State had the right peaceably
to secede from the Federal Union. How
ever grossly mistaken, they were sincere
IN this belief, as sincere, as they were in
their belief Of the Christian religion None
can doubt it who knows, as do, their ho-
nest devotion to principle, on all occasions
and under all circumstances. It does some
times happen in politics, as in religion,
that the more absurd and paradoxicaI the
proposition, the stronger becomes the
faith OF the believer. In illustration of
this question, I might refer to the present
equality OF the negro and White race.
The people OF South Carolina thought,
too, that there was determination on the
part Of the Northern States to Interfere
with their domestic institutions, and abo-
lsh slavery by Congressional legislation.
They saw in the election Of President Lin
coin the example Of a sectional majority
over the South. I did all that I could to
disabuse the public mind of these appre-
tensions. reminded them that a large
majority Of the Republican members of
Congress had declared by resolution that
they had no Constitutional right to inter-
fere with slavery in the States, and no dis
position to ao 80 if they had. said that
President Lincoln had been elected bv a
majority of the votes polled in the United
States; that there was majority Of the
members in both Houses of Congress op-
posed to him, with majority Of the Su-
prone Court, and he was, therefore, pow
eriess In the administration Of the Govern
ment. But when the Southern members
withdrew, they placed him and his party
in power.
The people of South Carolina further
believed that it was the interest Of the
North and the South, as they could not
1--we tremendously together, to separate,
and form two independent nations. They
tional strife ever since the formation Of
their Government. They did believe that
the two sections could live peaceably and
happily, as neighbors. under different Go
vernments, whilst they could not, as one
people, under the same Government. For
this opinion, which was sincerely enter
tanned by them, I thought and told them
that they ignored all history, as we'll as the
character and circumstances Of the Ame-
rican people,.
They thought, too, that they were iusti
fed in taking this step by that great prin-
ciple embodied in the American Declara-
ton OF Independence, deemed sacred to
vernment, which declared that every
people had an inalienable right to self
government, and the right to change their
form of Government when they saw
proper: 1t was on this principle that their
forefathers had separated from Great Bri-
tain. They were in hopes, ar a large ma
lority OF them did verify believe, that the
Northern States would let them depart in
peace, and try their experiment. of a
Southern Confederacy, rather than involve
the country in cruel, bloody and unnatu-
raj war to enforce an unwilling political
alliance. II they could have foreseen the
horrible results of secession in the desola-
ton OF their country, the abolition of
slavery, the destruction OF their property,
. four years war, and the sacrifice Of 2O0,-
OoO Southern lives, no sane South Carroll
man would have thought of, much less ad-
vocated, such a doctrine; and it is hardly
probable that il the Northern people could
have foreseen the loss 500, 600 OF their
fellow-creatures, and the increase of their
national debt to more than 50, 600, 900. 600.
that they would have been willing to have
paid this horrible price as Christian and
civilized people for the sake of living
uuder the same Government with the
Southern States.
Under these circumstances, the people of
South Carolina, with those of ten other
States, did secede from the Federal Union
and establish a National Confederacy. Gal
lantly and heroicaliy they fought for that
nationality, and maintained it for four
long bloody years, against the gigantic
armies which were hurled against them.
They made herculean efforts and heart
rending sacrifices in its defence, which will
live in history with the most renowned
achievements Of Greece or Rome In the
end their strength and resources were ex-
hausted, and they were overwhelmed by
numbers, conquered and subdued Brave
and honorable, they have accented the