The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-05-16
Extract from Gov. vance's Speech at the
Greensboro Convention.

We are confident that the annexed extract
from the eloquent speech of Hon. q. B. Vance,
delivered at the State Convention OF North
Carolina on the 1st of May, will prove accep-
table to our readers. His reputation as an ora
tor is fully sustained in this speech, which we
find reported in the Charlotte Daily Despatch ::
History gives many examples of people who
have thrown off foreign Joke, but who were
not able to preserve tie Liberties which they
had achieved, because they were not able when
| the strife vas over to surround them with the
safeguards necessary for their protection IN
times of peace. The encroachments upon civil
liberty in the days of our ancestors, led them
by constitutional enactments to guard those
liberties py certain muniments, such as the
ha6eas corpus, the freedom of the press, the
right of trial by jury, and the right OF repre-.
sentation according to taxation, every one OF
which rights was held to be an element OF the
life and liberty of every subject. Our liberties
cannot be invaded until these rights are over
thrown or denied. How could our dlstln-
guished chairman have been treated with such
indignity if this writ of haoeas corpus had not
been trampled upon2 How could the citizens
of YOUR State have been thrust into hateful
dungeons if the liberty of the press had been
denied? How could your property have been
stolen and the credit of your State ruined by
fraudulent taxation, if the people had been al
lowed the right of representation according to
taxation? How could they be branding the
names of your honorable countrymen with in
fanny and incarcerating them without legal pro-
cess, if they had not denied them the right OF
trial by jury? Your liberties could not be de-
stroyed without first destroying the muniments.
The idea seems to prevail that what we most
need in the South is wealth-developmen OF
our resources, &c. The papers are full OF 1t,
the public speeches TEEN with it. Every lean
hungry Yankee that comes down here begins
to talk of developing this and developing that.
You ought to have railroads, and they have
tried to develop us by their railroad bills
Laughter. And they have done it, haven't
tbeyf Repeated laug ghter. You might make
the whole land full of railroads, but they will
not make our condition much better. Our
people will nol all believe this, but my dear un-
conuerted friends, laughter it is liberty we
want and railroads are not liberty.
visited the great Northwest lately and be-
held its wealth and progress, and found it very
great indeed But amid it all, the old fash
toned ideas of liberty and constitutional gov
ernment were fast fading out before the ad-
vances of Capitalization to which they all
seemed resigned The accumulation of riches
absorbs every other idea. But tell you that
no amount of wealth, no height of perfection
in the arts and sciences, no degree of national
glory or extent of empire can compensate for
| the loss or disregard of those principles which
guard our rights and liberties.
4 The history of the world confirms this truth.
THE Egyptians and Assyrians exceeded US in
their magnificent arts, but they were the yerlest
slaves the world ever saw. The Hun excelled
1 hut bav
barbarians. The Romans far surpassed US in
extent of empire and national glory, but they
were only free whilst they were poor. In the
pride of their greatness and magni6cence they
lost sight of their liberties and sunk into ruin
and decay. Roman liberty was born and -four
ished in the novels of the Latian hills, it per-
ished in the palaces of the Cesars. The Tar
tars we're set of fiends and witches, outcasts
from society, vet they were mighty in military
achievements. Mighty towns, empires, states
and countries fell before their victorious march.
This tendency to develope may be tendency
to ruin-a tendency to despotsm and slavery.
The things we have to do are not to pile up
great works of art, not tc build miles OF rail-
roads and magnificent palaces OF luxury, but
to preserve these muniments of our liberties by
which the humblest man of our country shall
not have O. single footstep impeded in his la
| >
| invaded without due process of law. All the
use we have for armies and navies is to uphold
the authority of civil law. The ships of war
and troops of soldiers should be used, end only
used to preserve these requirements of liberty
TO say to the arresting officer, you shall not
nut this man in q dungeon without due process
of law-to subject them to the writ Of ha6cas
corpus. If you neglect these rights, or if you
suffer them to be invaded with impunity or
without protest, you may despair of liberty.
| was almost in despair of the liberties OF
this country, when I saw the people OF the
North calmly surrendering principles IN their
blind hatred of the South; and if you dared to
raise your voice in their defense it was stihed
hv fresh cries of treason, and even the Presi-
dent of the United States was threatened with
impeachment because he dared to hold that it
was not in the legislative power of the govern
ment to override the judicial and executive au-
thority. l confess was almost in despair,
but, thank God, there is a rift in the cloud that
oyerspreads this down-trodden country.
thank God that out of the bosom of this party
itself such men as Trumbull, Schurz, Greeley
and others have had their eyes open to its
strides toward despotiSm, and are rising in their
might to contend for the first principles of civil
liberty. Judgment must begin at the house OF
God, When we were powerless judgment be-
gan there. You and | could not appeal to
Them for we had a record of treason and re-
bellion that was odious to them. Numbers of
these great men are rising up. The God of day
begins to herald his approach If wise and
nrTtlent in the exercise and maintenance of our
rights we may yet rejoice in hope of the glory
of victory.
1t is always pleasant to receive returning con-
verts, but no pen can express nor tongues COM
bined can tell the doom that awaits those trail
tors and oppressors who have been Jealous in
heaping infamy and outrage upon their coun,
trymen. Applause. And when that day of
redemption shall dawn, hope we shall all be
able to say, ~ faltered not in the hour of trial"
I am in this matter a believer in the final per-
severance of the saints. When liberty does
come to u.s. it will come with strength and pow
ar and come to stay.