The Political Life and Services of the Hon. R. Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1859. Excerpt: ... SPEECH OF HON. R. B. RHETT, DELIVERED AT GRAHAMVILLE, S. C, JULY 4tli, 1859. Fellow-citizens, --I come, at your request, to communicate my views of public affairs. In doing so, I recognize at once a right and a duty--a right on your part to know my opinions, and a duty on my part to put them before you. I served in the House of Representatives and Senate of the United States, at fourteen sessions of Congress. During this period, I was at one time alone amongst the public men of South Carolina; and at other times I have been in a minority in the State. Yet, for this whole term, you gave me all you had to bestow. More grateful than the loud acclaims of triumph, you ever accorded to me your sympathy, your confidence, your support. Time has gone on, working out its mighty changes. The great actors with whom I once played on the stage of life's drama, are now heard no more. Calhoun, McDuffie, Hayne, Hamilton, Taylor, Miller, Turnbull, with whom I counselled upon first entrance into public life, have passed hence to their last account. They died without seeing the consummation of their anxious labors. The peace and safety of the South had not been assured. They have left us still an inheritance of difficulty and danger. But they have also left us a precious legacy of their brave examples. They stood forth the intrepid defenders of the rights and honor of their section. That equality of State and section for which they contended, and which they disdained to surrender, has, in our hands, practically fallen to the earth. You, it is true, have done all in your power to avert this result. If we must now struggle, feebler in comparison, on lower ground and with a weaker moral power, against an increasing northern predominance and audacity, it has been in spite of the ...