The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-03-18

lima will be unable to read and write. Thus
| have we broadly sown the seeds Of public edu
| cation, and thus shall we, in no distant time
reap the rich harvest Of public virtue: Crime
and ignorance are inseparable com panons. we
have stricken heavy blow at both, and may
elevation of all our people to social, poltlca
| and religious eminence, to which, under the
former constitution and laws Of the State, they
| had never attained.
Here, too. We have obnterateafe m our politi.
cal system, that most pernieious neresy of State
sovereignty-a heresy which, for nearly half
century, taught by our leaders had, like an
ignis f.lttis, led the people of South Carolina
on more than one occasion to the brink OF re.
bellion, until there arose at length, as neces.
sary result of this doctrine, one of the most
fratricidal wars that the world ever saw. The
theory of q divided allegiance, and Of SOW
ereignty within sovereignty, alike incongru-
GUS with all the principles of political science,
and with the system Of national powers estab-
lished by our fathers, has received from you a
death blow. No longer, if the constitution you
have adopted should be ratified by the people,
will there be any danger Of future rebellion,
| in which the glorious flag Of tur common
country-a flag which has 60 otter ''braved the
battle and the breeze"-shal be treated by a
portion Of the nation with insult, and for it an
ensign be substituted, consecrated by no ma
OF disruptured Confederacy. II establishing
this principle Of permanent allegiance to the
national government, you have thrown a pro-
lection around the national life for the future,
and you have justified the acts OF those Union
men who, in the midst of q widespread and
threatening rebellion, nobly stood by the doc
trine you have announced, and would not ac-
knowledge that the State, however much they
loved it as their home, could supp!ant in their
affections the nation rom which they received
protection.
I speak not of these as parts of the results
OF our labors in any spirit Of acrilnony towards
those who have heretofore neglected these
great duties Of legislators; for would desire
to bury the past in that oblivion which best
BELTS it, or to hold it only as a bacon light to
warn US from its follies and its perils in the
future; but because as stewards Of great
trust, we have right to show to our consttu-
ents how we have discharged the duties Of the
stewardship which they had coniided to us.
To the people OF South Carolina we submit
the constitution which we were instructed to
frame, in the confident expecta lion that its
manifest superiority over all ether constitu-
tions BY which this Commonwealth has hith-
erto been governed will secure ftrit a triumph
ant ratification. We do not Claim for ourselves
pre-eminence of wisdom or virtue, but We do
claim that we have followed IN the progressive
advancement Of the age, that we have been
bold enough, and honest enough, and wise
enough to trample obsolete and unworthy pre-
judices under foot and thus have been enabled
with impartial legislation to provide for the
civil and political interests Of all men OF every
rank, station or race within the borders Of our
beloved State.
But the painful moment Of separation has
arrived, and that word which trends always
dread to hear has to be pronounced. Asso-
ciates. I bid you an affectionate farewell, and
wishing you all safe and happy return to
with the resolution of the house, declare the
Constitutional Convention Of South Carolina to
be adjourned sine die.