Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1867-11-14

jounment. II. ..r,S. -,
| Judge Inglis, from the Committee on Business,
reported two papers-one IN address to the people
of the State, the other aremonsTance setting forth
existing evils. 4 IL
Both papers were read tothe Convention, and on
motion Of A. A. Gilbert, Esq, Of Sumter, taken up
in the order in which they were read.
Ex-Governor Perry moved that the address be
adopted. The President Of the Convention, re-
signing the chair to Hon. W. +. DeSaussure, op-
posed the motion, on the ground that it was mex;
pedient at the present time tor the State TO take
any action. He thought the document ably pre-
feyed that it might do more harm than good. cfi
Ex-Governor Perry replied, and the debate be:
came general. Messrs Reynolds and Gilbert, Of
Sumter, Hamilton, of Chester, and McMaster, Of
Columbia, took sides with General Chestnut. They
were opposed by Messrs. Blanding, Townes, Ray,
Addison, Pope, Judge Aldrich, Judge 1ngis and
General Hampton.
The address was finally adopted unanimously,
and about five o'clock after passing vote thanks
to General Chestnut for the admirable manner In
which he presided over the deberation Of the body,
and to the superintendent of Nckerson's Hotel tor
his courtesy in providing 30 convenient and pleas,
ant place of meeting, the Convention adjourned
sine de- f".. ..
The following is the address adopted by the Con-
yention; which, we learn, was prepared by Hon.
Joseph Daniel Pope, of Beaufort: .... q.
To the People of South Carolina:
FELLOW CITIZENS In times of great public
danger, the instinct of selfpreservation prompts
people to assemble and confer together upon the
issues that the stern logic Of events forces upon
their attention. The citizens Of South Carolina
stand, to-day, in this position, 1t becomes our
duty, therefore, to take counsel together, and to
announce our conclusions temperately, but firmly
and fearlessly to the public.
In performing this duty, we shall avoid all terms
of animadversion upon men, parties or sections
The vice of misrepresentation and detractlon has
become the order Of the day, and both North and
South have suffered from the evils which had their
origin in this fruitful source of mischief. The
Northern people, flushed with victory, have not
been soictous to ascertain the temper Of the South
err mind; and the Southern people, crushed by
the loss of their cause and their most cherished
hopes, have been alike Indifferent to events for
which they do not feel themselves responsible, and
over which they have not the power Of control
In the meantime, wicked and designing men, both
at the North and at the South, have not been
wanting, to keep alive the fires of sectional hate,
until now they threatened to involve the whole
country in misrule and anarchy. .'n., .-...
OF the late war; it is not our purpose now to
speak-thes sangunary fact will lstand forth in the his
tory of these American States. Our duty now is
with present evils, and their future consequences
The emancipation policy of the Government was
and is the great fountain head from which springs
and will continue to spring, the thousand evils by
which we are environed. -..-. .....-r. ..--
What but disaster could follow in the footsteps
of the hasty and inconsiderate policy, by which A.
OOO,O 900 of slaves, without education and without
the least preparation for the change, were turned
adrft from the discipline and terested care Of the
master, to provide for themselves. Must it not be
selfeyident to any thinking man, no matter what
his prejudices, that nothing he can now propose
will be able to convert an idle rowing thriftless
free negro population into the steady, healthy, la
boring population that we formerly employed in
our fields at the South. But gloomy as the pros
pect may be, the people at the South must regard
this disastrous result as now fixed and settled be-
yond recall. Slavery is at an end We do not
propose that what has been done should be undone;
but we do propose to show that with the present
free negro labor, the industrial resources of the
South are in no condition to contribute to the pros
perity of the country. It is the part ofwisdom to
look our misfortunes in the face. We should not
deceive ourselves, either at the North, or at the
South. Three years of experience BY both Nor
them and Southern men attest the fsct that the
cultivation of both nice and eotton-the great