Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-02-27
FOR THE ADVERTISER. e,..
To the People of Edge6eld.
NUMBER THREE.

NUMBER THREE.
l had thought, Fellow-Citizcns, to end
these communications with the last number.
If l should tire your patience, the purpose
of my labors will be entirely defeated. But
the trouble of writing, must be greater than
that of reading, even the commonest produc-
tons; so, am persuaded, that if l can un-
dergo the task, without any reward but your
good wishes, of presenting you, IN intelligi-
bic sketch of my views on the deplorablc
condition of our affairs, you will certainly
me by reading them, and by spar
ing the pains to take counsel with me on the
best mode of obtaining redress.
A dark mantle hangs over our future, and
it is not the worst sign of the times, that the
Southern States are disinclined to confedera-
ted action. Even in South Carolina, there is
discoverable, I fear, the germs of party,
organized to distract her counscls, and to
battle the efforts of those agood men and
true" who have placed her in an attitude,
where she can command the respect if not
the lore of other sovereign powers. Men
who feed at the same boards with ourselves,
and are nourished by the bounty of the same
generous soil, are endeavoring to defeat the
patriotic action of your legislature, by pro.
claiming the utter inability of the State to
protect itself, and its great unpreparcdness
for State of hostilitics, if the government
should choose to force that issue upon her.
In my humble opinion that alternative will
not be presented. But if it should be, We
are ready to meet it. A freeman is ever
armed in The defence Of lis liberties, and no
condition of affairs can discharge him from
his obligations to protect them with both
property and life.
Suffer me in this last address, to enlarge
on the state of our preparations.
This crisis seems to have called forth
from their dusty chambers, and hidden
reccsscs of obscurity, men of every charac-
ter and every description, who come forward
and offer their services to direct the helm of
State. 1t is not a professor of Greek and
Latin, that we need in this emergency, to
steer US through our trials and direct us to
safety and honor. No! Let the Pedagogue
stick to his Synonymes, his roots Of verbs,
and conjugations and derivations.-Wc want
men skilled in another war than a war of
words. Prudence is virtue that we very
much rely on, but such is the infirmity of our
nature, that the prudence of the very aged is
apt to degenerate into inefficiency. We want
no counsel from men whose terrors present
to their minds nothing but hidcous monsters
and lions in our path. If we are prepared,
in spirit-in mind and heart, for the duty be-
fore US, we are prepared in every other way.
If then we clearly see the position, we, of
right, ought to take, and if "honor pricks us
on" why should We not proceed, at once to
occupy it? The opponents Of State action,
say, that we are not prepared for such step;
'anulnar IN the ecourse,nf n few years. if Me
will just wait patiently, we will not only be
better prepared than we now are, but our
cause will bo more thoroughly understood by
the other Southern States, whose interest, by
that time will COMPEL them to feel and de-
fcnd it. My God! will you tell man to
wait for succor, when relentless serpent is
encircling him with its folds-tell him to
wait for the other inhabitants of the endan-
gered city, when the flames are mounting the
walls of his own domicil, the shelter of his
wife and his innocent babes. No! perish
such thought forever If we have cause,
let US 60 bravely on, and God and our good
angels protect US!
We will be much truer patriots, and much
braver soldiers, | have no doubt, after we
have been stepped in the mire of disgrace, for
fifteen or twenty years more of our short ex-
istencc. 1t is quite true, suppose, that a
tame submission to insult and outrage, for an
ordinary life time, will quicken our sensbili-
ties, and better fit US for the assertion of our
rights and the preservation of our honor.
But are we not making this preparation so
loudly spoken Of! Shall we not shortly hear
the "note of preparation" and the rattle of
armor sounding through the State, from the
mountains to the sea! Would we be any
better prepared to fight, in whole century,
If we never made an issue? When shall we
be prepared, if the insults which are heaped
upon us by the North, in arrogantly claiming
our property, to which she has not the shadow
of right, and in excluding US from all share
in government We are bound to obey, cam
not stir us to begin separation, and to apply
the rightful remedy brought to our hands by
our venerated fathers?
Whenever our State is insulted, and we
are called upon and proceed to vindicate her
honor, we can hear nothing rung in our ears,
but that dastardly cry, eve are unpreparcd
for war-wait till we are prepared 1t is
the language of timidity or dcusion, not to
apply stronger term, and if we waited till
its authors were prepared, we would wait till
the Judgment day. When brave man is