Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1867-08-31
Hon. B. H. Hills Speech concluded.

say tho Constitution is dead Go,oh, with
your work Of ruin, yc hell.born rioters In sa-
ored things .butren,embor for all these things
the people will call you to Judgment. Pro
longod applause All whit an issue you
have made for yourselves Succeed, and YOU
destroy the Constitution, Fail and you have
covered tho land with mourning. Succeed,
and you bring ruin on yourselves aud all the
country! Fail, and you bring infamy upon
yourselves aud all your doludcd followers l.
Succeed, and you are tho perjured ass;ssins of
liberty Fail, and you arc defeated, dospised
traitors forever. Yc who aspire to be Radi-
cal Governors and Judges in Georgia. 81
paint before. you this day your destiny. run
bounded applausc1 You are but towards
and knavcs, and the time will como when YOU
will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall
on you and tho darkness to hide you from an
outraged people [Applause.] ]
Docs it do you good to tramplc on the Con
stitution---dcccivo the negroes and ruin the
country? 1T may be sweet now, but I tell
you the sulphurous fires Of public infamy will
never be quenchcd on your spirits rAp-
plause.] | pity ycu from my soul Would
that the time had never como when had to
etaud upon Gcorgia's soil and thus talk to
Georgian's. A struggle is coming. II may
DO q long and bloody one, and you who advo.
cato this wicked scheme will perish in it, un-
Hess the people now arouse and check its con
summation Let every true law loving man
rally at once to the standard of the Constitu-
tion Of his country. Applause. Come.
DO not abandon your rights. Defend thom.
Talk for them, and if need be, before God
and the country, fight and die for them En-
thusiastic and prolonged applause Do not
talk or think of secession or disunion, but
come up to the good old platform of our faith
'ers--the Constitution Let all, North and
South, come and swear before God that we
will abide by it in good faith, and oppose ev-
crything that violates it. :. lie man who loves
tho Constitution now and is willing to live and
die for it, is my friend and brother though
he come from the frozen peak of Mount Wash
ington; and the man who is for trampling
upon it is my enomy, and shall hold him so,
though he come from the sunny cline of the
orange aud the cotton bloom. That is my
issue.
y! how sorry creature is the man who
cannot stand up Tor the truth, when the coun-
try Is in danger. There never was such an
opportunity as now exists for man to show
of what stuff he is made. How can you 90
about the street and say, can is wrong, but
cannot help !" You want courage my
friend You are a coward ! You lack cour-
age to tell tho truth and would sell your birth
right for temporary mess Of pottage, even
for little bit Of y judgeslip or bureau
officers place.
But some one says: {" "Iow will you resist
itW will resist it first by not approving it.
If everybody would do that it would be cflco-
tualy resisted so far as we are concerned -
But the SO, o,callcd Congress has provided
cover for itself i'll advance, under which to
hide from the odium attaching to this scheme
1t has provided that you can vote either for
or against convention and again vote for or
against whatever constitution it may frame
1t is sought to make as responsible for what
ever may be the consequences, and relieve
alarmed at the results, they will say, "We
did not do this wo only gave you a chance
and you did it,"
But if we defeat this, it is said, military
rule will continue. Ccrtainly-until wicked
mon shall be driven from power. But let it
be so. General Pope seems to be gentle
man, and [ infinitely prefer his rule to the
rule of such men as you will get under this
scheme. Besides, the new government, if in
augurated, will not be able to live day with
out military protection. 1t is safer to be gov
crncd by power than by trcachery.
Perhaps you will think [ have overdrawn
thepicturc of the fearful consequences Of ao
cepting this scheme recollcot an incident
which occurred over six years ago, when
was urging tho people of Georgia not to Sc
cede, because the country would thereby fall
into the hands of Radicals, and predicted war
and its attendant suffcrings as the result
though then deemed visionary. I would be
almost ashamed now to read my remarks of
that day-my picture W ,uld bo so tame and
so far short Of the dreadful reality that has
followed. A very prominent gentleman re-
piled to me, urging that there would be no
war, and to prov it, he read an article from
Horace Grecley's tTribuno" and old Ben.
Wade's speech, declaring the South had
right to secedc, and if she chose to exercise
that right, they should be allowed to do so in
peace. Flo then said that Greeley and Wade
were better friends Of tho South than I, who
was born here, for was trying to frighten
the Southern people from the exercise of IA
right which they conceded, aud they were
representative men Of their party What
could / say in reply I could only tell him
the truth--that these men only desired to en-
courage the South to disunion for thoir5wiok.
edpurposes to destroy the Constitution and
that great government could not be dissolved
without blood and what have Greeley and
Wade done since that time ! and now advise
you to reject this scheme Of force, fraud and
doceit which Congress has devised. If yon,
IF .yo,,r nil ~, "a IL. -,