Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-05-08
From the Pcndleton Messenger
General Wallace.

We have been kindly permitted by friend,
to make the following extract from Il letter
received by him short time since, from
General Wallace, on the subject of the course
to be pursued by South Carolina. Itspcaks
for itself, and needs no comment at our
hands General Wallace thinks as 4 freeman
should, and speaks rs statcman ought.
'In your letter of the 3lst nit. You ask
my views on our Federal relations
sin reply / have 10 say, that my opinions
have undergone no change from The begin
ming Of the controversy until now, We are
doomed if we remain in ihe Union, and am
for going out oft, BY the shoreSl road.
The highest aim. and the highest remedy,
is 4 Southern Confederacy. If we cannot
get this cooperation, | am for acting deci-
sireLy arithout it; and believing dissolution
of this Union inevitable, | am in favor Of
entering at once into an energetic system of
preparation, with the view to put the State
in position to resume and TO MAINTAIN her
independence, and to take her rank among the
nations of the earth, as a sepcrate and iadepen-
den! State. A State is respected in exact
proportion to its ability to defend its rights
with the sword.
sThe money appropriated at the last ses-
sion of the Legislature, would enable us, if
properly expended, to bring twenty thousand
men into the field, for we had seven thousand
muskets and eighty pieces of cannon before.
Every dollar Of this money should be spent
in the purchase of arms, and the Governor
ought to be able to report to the next session
of the Legislature" We hare t,cenly thou
sand muSketS and small arms, one hundred
and tscenty pieces Of Cannon, and ve can bring
tDenty thousand men into the. field al q moments
aoarning." This would look business like
war like if you will, and it would tell upon
the public mind in the State and abroad, for
it would look like we are in earnest 1t
would tell too, upon the Cabinet in Wash
inG;on. You will perceive, therefore. that
/ do not approve the building Of an Armory
nou. This is too slow, and we have not the
money to spare. This step should have been
reserved for more advanced stage Of our
progress. What we want now is to be pre-
pared at once, SO that we could say to the
Convention when it meets: icar comes Of
yo,r action, ace are prepared 10 meet H." If
the people will not act thus, my word for it;
they never will sccede If we giau conf
dcnce-if we command the respect of the
United States and of foreign nations, We
must show them that ace can and acW main
tain our independence. 1t is idle to close the
eyes to the fact, that without military power
we cannot maintain our independence. If
we would preserve peace-if would avoid
bloodshed, we must show that We are not to
be assailcd with impuuity, and that having
the sword we know how to wicll it.
yVn nnnht tn rhonca ornntc now nnt for
what they know, not because they can solve
n problem in Euclid, but for what they are
able to perform, in giving energy and effect
to the resources of the State, to prepare her
for a separate and Independent existence
My motto is then-,prepare, prepare, and
then act! with company if you can gctit, if
not then act aothout ii, for know no more
terrible doom than that which awaits US in
the Union, and to 60 oft of it cannot make
our condition any worse. and ii may be better"