Year: 1864

livered in the Secession Convention o
Grorgia in January, 1861:


This step secession, once taken, car
never be recalled and all the banefu
consequences that must follow will res
on the convention for all coming time
When We and our posterity shall see oul
lovely South desolated by the demon o
war, which this act of yours will inevlta
bly, in, lite and call forth when our greer
fields of waving harvests shall be trodder
down by the murderous sodlery and fiery
car Of war sweeping over our land, oul
. temples OF justice laid in ashes, all the
horrors and dcsolations of war upon US
who but this convention will be held
responsible for it, and who but he tina,
shall give his vote for this unwise and
ill-timed measure shall be held to strict
account for this suicidal act by the pre-.
sent generation, and probably cursed and
cxecrated by posterity in all coming time.
for the wide and desolating ruin that will
inevitably follow this act you now propose
to perpetrate


Pause, | entreat you, and consider for
u moment what reason you can give that
will even satisfy yourselves in calmer
moments, what reasons you can give to
your fellow-sutferers in the calamity that
1t will bring. What reasons can you give
to the nations of the earth to justify it
They will be the calm and deliberate
judges in the case !; and to what cause, or
one overt act, can you point on which to
rest the plea of justification What
right has the North assaied What iu-
terest of the South has been invaded =?
What justice has been denied, or what
claim, founded in justice and right, has
been withheld2 Can any of you to-day
name one governmental act Of wrong de-
IliberateIy and purposely done by the gov
ernment at Washington, of which the
South has right to complain? | chal-
lenge the answer.


On the other hand, let me show thc
facts Of which | wish you to judge. l
will only state facts which are clear aud
undeniable, and which now stand as re-
cords authentic in the history of our
country. When we of the South deman-
ded the slave trade, or the importation 0!
Africans for the cultivation Of our lands,
did they not yield the right for twenty
years When we asked for three-itths
representation in Congress for our slaves,
was it not granted =? When we demand
ed the return Of any fugitive from justice,
or the recovery of those persons owing
labor or allegiance, was it not incorporat-
ed in the Constitution, and again ratified
and strengthened in the Fugitive Slave
law of 1850? When we asked that more
territory should be added that we might
spread the Institution Of slavery, have
they not yielded to our demands in CIV
ing Louisiana, Florida and Tcxas, out Of
which four States have been carved, aud
ample territory for four more to be added
in due time, if you, by this unwise and
impoitic act, do not destroy this hope,
and perhaps by it lose all, and have your
last slave wrenched from you by stern
military rule, as South America and
Mexico were. or by the yindictiye decree
Of universal emancipation, which may
reasonably be expected to follow?


But what haze we to gain by this pro-
posed change of our relation to the gem
eral government We have always had
the control of it, and can yet, if We re-
main in it, and are united as we have
been. We have had a majority Of the
Presidents chosen from the South, as well
as the control and management Of most
of those chosen from the North. We
have had sixty years Of Southern Presi-
dents to their twenty-tour, thus controll-
ing the executive department. So OF the
Judges of tho Supreme Court, we have
had eighteen from the South, and but
eleven from the North. Although nearly
four.ftths of the judicial business has
arisen i'll the free States, yet majority
Of the Court has always been from the
South. This we have required SO as to
guard against any Interpretation Of the
Constitution uutavorable to us. La like
manner we have been equally watchtul
to guard our interests in the Legislative
branch of government. In choosing the
presiding Presidents (pro. tenn OF the
Senate, we have had tweuty-our to their
eleven. Speakers Of the House we have
had twenty.three and they twelve. While
the majority Of representatives., from
their greater population, have always
been from the North, yet We have 50
generally secured the speaker, because he,
to great extent, shapes and controls the
legislation Of the country.


Nor have we had less control in every
other department Of the general govern
ment. Of Attorney Generals We have
had fourteen, while the North have had
but FIVE. OF Foreign Ministers We have
had eighty-six, and they had but fifty
four. While taree-tourths Of the pusi-
ness which demands diplomatic agents
abroad is clearly from the free States,
from their greater commercial interest,
yet we have had the principal embassies,
so as to secure the worlds markets for
our cotton, tobacco and sugar on the best
possible terms. We have had a vast ma
jority of the higher officers of both army
and navy, while a larger proportion OF
the soldiers and sailors were drawn from
the North. Equally so Of clerks, audi
tors and comptrolers filling the Executive
department the record shows for the
last fifty years that Of the three thous-
and thus employed, We have had more
than two-thirds of the same. while we