The American Union SpeakerPhilbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
General
The American Union Speaker
Philbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
Recitations
What, sir, was the conduct of the South during the Revolution? Sir, I honor
New England for her conduct in that glorious struggle; but great as is the
praise which belongs to her, I think at least equal honor is due to the
South. They espoused the cause of their brethren with generous zeal which
did not suffer them to stop to calculate their interest in the dispute.
Favorites of the mother country, possessed of neither ships nor seamen to
create commercial rivalship, they might have found in their situation a
guaranty that their trade would be forever fostered and protected by Great
Britain. But trampling on all considerations, either of interest or of
safety; they rushed into the conflict, and fighting for principle, perilled
all in the sacred cause for freedom. Never was there exhibited in the
history of the world, higher examples of noble daring, dreadful suffering,
and heroic endurance, than by the Whigs of Carolina during that Revolution.
The whole State, from the mountain to the sea, was overrun by an
overwhelming force of the enemy. The fruits of industry perished on the
spot where they were produced, or were consumed by the foe. The "plains of
Carolina" drank up the most precious blood of her citizens,--black and
smoking ruins marked the places which had been the habitations of her
children! Driven from their homes into the gloomy and almost impenetrable
swamps, even there the spirit of liberty survived, and South Carolina,
sustained by the example of her Sumters and her Marions, proved by her
conduct, that though her soil might be overrun, the spirit of her people
was invincible.
R. Y. Hayne.
LXII.
INCOMPETENCY OF PARLIAMENT TO PASS THE UNION BILL.
Sir,--I, in the most express terms, deny the competency of Parliament to
abolish the Legislature of Ireland. I warn you, do not dare to lay your
hand on the Constitution.--I tell you that if, circumstanced as you are,
you pass an act which surrenders the government of Ireland to the English
Parliament, it will be a nullity and that no man in Ireland will be bound
to obey it. I make the assertion deliberately,--I repeat it and I call on
any man who hears me, to take down my words;--you have not been elected for
this purpose,--you are appointed to act under the Constitution, not to
alter it,--you are appointed to exercise the functions of legislators, and
not to transfer them,--and if you do so, your act is a dissolution of the
government,--you resolve society into its original elements, and no man in
the land is bound to obey you.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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