Independent Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1842-1844, 1842-10-15

descendants of revolutionary sires, the
blood of such must be thin and poor indeed,
and unfit Ia be shed upon "A soil once .ich
and classic, and rendered so by the mag.
unanimous daring OF its earliest settlers
Assuming the number of militia reported
nv the State Of South Carolina, To the
| United States, on which the State quota
of arms is drawn from the government, as
Il standard Tor the Union, and Inc aggre-
gate OF oil the States, reaches the vast null
titude If three millions and upwards, OF
transferring able bodied treemen. AS
suning the similar return, and for SINH
lar purposes, of Massachusetts, the mother
OF American independence, but where,
from various and invalid causes, the militia
system is somewhat in disrepute, and not
fully enforced, and we shall find upon that
standard, military force, in the Union
comprising more than tiDo millions. Tax
ing the reports of Maine, which, though
frontier State, has neglected its militia,
and The result gives us about a about a
million and haLf The medium furnish
ed by the official reports of these three
States, which supply high, all average,
and low standard for such an estimate,
shows beyond question, that the repub-
lie can command in all Its righteous pur'
poses, military force OF more than too
millions of hardy and indomItable soldiers
ID force much greater than any other ma
ton under heaven ever dared to trust with
arms in their hands. Here is the person
mel Of our military ability as nation.
We now proceed to exhbi, some of the
incomplete details OF our resources IN the
material Of defensive war, and we shall
then pause, leaving the discussion Of our
second topic, for another and subsequent
paper. In resortlng to facts to display some
of the varieties and extent of our armd-
monts, it is necessary to use such data, as
were supplied to Congress in l934-slnce
which valuable additions ha, c been made
to our munitions in every department,
AT that time, there were in the charge
of the army, ia brass cann'n 81 brass
hrwilzerS, D hrisS mortars, 3,7lo iron
guns--In,s t of tn Sc last OF heavy metal,
I
siege cam N, of Is, "A, 81 and 4! FOUNDER
allure ;--35j iron huwitz r., 66 iron
m,rtars, most or all of which are heavy
.ee.rnasi, adapted 10 protect IL shell Of 10
inches diameter, and weighing neiriy 100
pu .nds 565 field carriages, 80 calss'ns,
81 seige and garrison carrrges; l53 sea
coast and easement carriages 4oO,0oO
cannon balls 3S, 900 bomb-shels Co.,
900 pounds of grape and cannisler shot;
100000 strapped shot, CANISTER, &c;
10000 muske's; 10000 rifles; 10000
pistols; 1000 carbines; $4,000 swords and
sabres; 500 tons powder; 5000 cannon
cartridges; 5 ID millions cartridges Tor
small arms; 200 tons of bullets and buck.
shot; II millions of flints; 200 tons re
fined nilre, to which much larger guam
tity is since added; 100 tons birthstone, to
which also there is since a large addition; ;
1900 tons of lead, and vast quantity ot
implements, and equipments, adapted To
the service of The different arms, as artil-
lery, cavalry, and infantry. To all these
items of nun tons, must be remembered,
that considerable additions have been made
during the last eight years; az, during the
last year, (lS4l,) among the artic' es added
to the stock, were he following IA lron
field cannon so brass field cannon; 3l60
m,Iskets; $3.50 rifles; 1000 carblnes ;
1900 pistols; 1900 artillery swords; and
numerous other supplies. The annual
product of the two national arm)ries,
(Springield, and Iarpers Ferry,) is equal
to 25 or 10000 mlskets, so that in the
past eight years, more than 100000 of
them are to be added to the stock OF $780,
600 reported on hand in 1891. 1t need
i be f,rg'tten in this cOnnexion, ;hat the
quantity OF imperishable munitions in the
hands of the separate State authorities, is
very nearly equal in every particular. to
what is held by the Federal Government
The stock held by the United States is
valued at more than fifteen millions of dol
lars--and the accumulatIons arc steadily
progressing under The auspices of every
wise and statesmanlike administration that
Yields the dcsti lies OF the republic.
Snperadded TO all these resources Of ma
terial, specified or referred to, as secured
in the arsenals of the United States, an
of the different States, it may be fairly es-
,imated, that there are in the hands OF the
militia, and sportsmen, at least half a mil
li,n mnskeis, rifles, carbines and shot guns,
(all of them to be counted as useful in any
emerpency,) which are private property.
Leaving all these out of the account, and
il is here demonstrated, that We have the
means to arm efficiently, and are able I"
bring promptly into the field for any de-
fensive operation, more than million Of
soldiers, depending on the res mrces with
which, happily we are already furnished.
j A nd L. mi ihic & snhi eel of aYnllnliln.