Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-02-09
Shgri;t ultural and Mechanical Collage,

the subject Of the "Aericultural and Me
chanical College" and its location The let
ter is addressed to the Pendlcton Farmer,
Society:
You have do,fc INC the honor to rcoucs,
my views upun the disposition of the fund
donated by the United States to the State Of
South Carolina, for the " establishment Of M
Agricultural and Mechanical College," The
gitt is for specific purposes, and evidently in.
tchdrd to create All institution Sui 1cncyisond
| different from any other institution in opcra.
ton Otherwise it would have been men
toned to cndow College, or the University
OF South Carolina. The Catholics, Prcsby.
ter'ans, or other sect, might claim that dona.
ton for any school with equal propricty.
From Conversations. in my presence, upon
the subject, prior to the meeting of the lie.
g's'atnrc, it was evident " that if there was
money to be expended in the State in any
form, it would go to Columbia, perish the
State, but benefit Columbia"
Judging from the tenor of tho Message. bv
his Excellcncy, Governor Orr, it would an
pear to be forcgonc conclusion, that the
muniiccnt donation by the Government for
specific Pn'pose, under some latitudinarian
construction, is to be cngraitcd upon the Uni
'cISlty ol lulumUla
1T that should be the final determination of
the Legislature, should look upon the dona.
ton as lost to the intention, and a most un.
fortunate application. I am in favor of ud-
yanclng civilization. I do not deny that the
College at Columbia, has had important inAu.
ness in her particular spksaFEc YES Stthts aqa
others rs essential, in my opinion, now to
which she may not reach.
But 1t is not my intention to scrutnize the
past or to institute = comparison between
what has been, or might have been. The
question before us, what is our latitude and
longitude? Having fixed that point, We
shall be able to decide upon our future course.
The State of South. Carolina is, at this
tine, as near ruined as she well can be-
With much land, once rich, made 80 poor
that it will scarcc pay the expense of cultiva-
ton. Much that is unrccamed, and her
natural resources generally undcvcopcd Her
people in starving condition, without bread
at home, Or the means to bringit from abroad.
The resources Of the people represent the re-
sources of the State. We have some blood,
some hone, some sincw left but even that is
leaving the country in despair. We might
pause here, and ask the question, what innu-
cnccs, or causes have brought people, once
so blcst, SO prosperous to condition of
wrctchcdncss, almost, if not quite nnparalcl-
| ed in history. With natural gifts unrivnllcd,
the dcspoiling hand Of man appears to have
| destroyed every resource upon which it was
| placed. What has been given for use, has
been abused, all save the bright sun, and wa.
ter course, (and they have been made the
fruitful source of disease, our llarbors and
mineral wealth which we could not destroy
remain to us without the ability, either pccu
mary or mental to make them useful
In my knowledge there was not people
on earth who possessed richer inheritance
higher destiny, land upon which God hue
concentrated more care, than this that is now
destitute. This cannot be controvcrtcd, il
the face of that rapid material, prosperity
which characterized the operations Of he
citizens before the war, and no doubt there
are many who will say that the war causct
all our ruin. Upon that point we may no
deceive ourselves. That the war hastcnc,
the present crisis, can not be doubted 1t i
questionable in Gods ordinances, whcthc
the severe chastiscmcnt was not sent as
future benefit, if not to US, to our descend
ants When a nation enters into war, sh'
wants ability, and as much of it as she need
at command. That was denied us 1t wa
MOTTO be found in our midst. 10 men ran
was given, and rank was called into service
aud rank failed, failed lamcntably. Go
} forbid that [ should be misunderstood, Q
cast shadow of course upon our braye heroe
of tho volunteer army. We had bone an
sinew, and freely did it shed its blood, bu
5 that was limited.
: However praiscworthy the efforts whic
we made to supply our wants, it was 500
9 found out that the requirements Of the cour
y try was at fault, the particular knowledge I
t develope the natural resources, we did nj
Q possess, and even if we had the knowledge
it would have been as certainly proved, tn,
establishments for creating the wants Of