Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-05-22

and has given the north no stimulus
save that of plunder. Would a figh
pay them? We would welcome them
not to feast, but to hOspitable graves
and to a conquest which would be tC
them as bitter ashes" Could al
army and navy. numbering 10000, dc
, the work Half of them are sons Of
the south, and would rally to hel
standard; and even now an empty
treasury gapes at the president anC
his congress, and forbids the organi-
Zation of a northern army for pur-
poses Of conquest Suppose they dc
attempt to coerce; our condition In
the Union Is hopeless; and whatever
may be the dangers without. he would
If need be, "go alone-put his trust ir
God and fling the banner to the
breeze." Can 100000 freemen, upon
their own soil, defending their homes,
their wives and their children, their
all, be conquered? People have
changed masters, but never have a
people, once free and armed, been
brought again to the yoke. The god
dess Of liberty now wears a stern and
grim visaged" look; and at her
shrine a people must worship, "iron-
clad. bristling with steel and covered
with the dread panoply Of war;
The first tramp Of the hostile soldier
on the soil of North Carolina or Vir-
ginia. Georgia or Florida, would
strike fire from the very earth, and
consume the hosts that would thus
seek to pollute it. But it is said. the
contest will come by sea-by block
ade. We have no commerce. no ships,
to suffer- With our ports free, France
and England, in quest Of cotton with
which to uphold and support their mil
lions, would walk through such a
blockade las a giant strides through
the fiimsey meshes Of spider" The
blockade, besides, will furnish an
overt act" to those who so much de-
sire it. Every state in the South holds
and must defend the right Of peaceable
secession; and If the blockade cannot
be removed by us, we can at least man
a fleet Of boats and spill enough blood
in Charleston harbor to cement forever
the bands Of glorious Southern I'm
ion.
But however great the dangers Of re-
sistance, they cannot compare with the
terrible perils Of submission. Lincoln's
election is a decree Of emancipation.
Slavery cannot survive the four years
of an administration, whose over
whelming influences are concentrated
and brought to bear against 1t. We
shall have four millions Of slaves unac-
customed to liberty, unfit for self con-
troll, turned loose amongst us, to COM
nit horrid deeds Of murder, arson, rob-
berry, and every offense marked in the
nit and consent to fly from our native
land; or accept an equally dread alter
native and murder our own innocent.
peaceful and happy dependents. We
cannot obey laws enacted by foreign
power, and remain free; and we can
not consent to have amongst us horde
Of free negroes, filling every channel Of
occupation, meeting us at every effort,
sitting with us in the jury box, and
voting at the ballot box We must then
slay the negro, or ourselves be slain.
1t is not only a question Of slavery,
but Of honor Of freedom. Shall we
pause because of a love for the I'm
ion"? A Union formed 20 establish
justice, and yet establishing the most
unequal laws? A Union, formed for
Domestic tranquility, and yet giving us
such as John Brown and the Texas in
cendiaries can provide? 1t is bond
of servitude, and a freeman cannot
love" it.
Every man in the state will stand by
the old Palmetto. From the lowlands
to the mountains, the sentiment Of in
dependence pervadeS the people; and
IF there be a man in South Carolina
who has a heart that falters now, let
him tear it out; for it is ours flesh, and
deserves not to pulsate in the bosom Of
freeman" Colonel Chestnut closed
by saying, he knew that Old York
would be true-her hills and valleys are
now shouting the songs of liberty; and
would echo and re-ecLo the sentiment
with which he would leave them: Car
oIina, now and forever Secession!
Liberty!
Col. Isaac w. Hayne, our accom-
plshed Attorney General, was then in
troduced, and was received with
hearty round. native of York dis
trict, and endeared to her people by the
earliest recollections Of life, he had
come amongst them first Of all, because
he was solicitous that old York should
deport herself in this crisis in a man
ner becoming her spirit; her intelli-
gence and above all, her sacred men,
cries. He was no young Hotspur-had
passed the meridian Of life-had ever
been engaged in peaceful pursuits
never held or desired political office
neither sought nor wished promotion
had been a co-operationist in 1852, and
thought then and now that he was
right; but had calmly deliberated upon
the present aspect of affairs, and de-
libarately concluded that secession,
separate and alone if need be, is ne
cessity, the only road to safety and
honor. He agreed with Col. Chestnut
that the election Of Lincoln was not
cause; rather the occasion and justifi-
cation for action. He reviewed sue
cinctly yet very clearly the progress of
Northern hostility towards the South
the gradual acquisition Of supreme
power by the North: the Missouri
compromise, the Tariffs 1S23-4-7-S, the
California swindle, the Kansas out
RACES, and the elimination Of all these
wrongs and injuries in the election of
Lincoln-all conclusively showing that
we are to be ruled by foreign and
hostile people, and must resist or be
lost-resist now or never! The men of
the Revolution were similarly situated,
and resisted under wrongs and aggra-
g., 10