Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1851-05-03
From the Pendleton Messenger, lst inst.
General Wallace.

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We have been kindly permitted
by a friend, to make the following ex
tract from letter received by him a
short time since, from General Wal
lace, on the subject of the course TO
be pursued by South Carolina. II
speaks for itself, and needs no com
ments at our hands. Gen. Wallace
thinks as freeman should, and
speaks as a statesman ought,
In your letter of the 3Ist ult you
ask my views OH Federal relations.
In reply have to say, that nv
opinions have underwent no change
from the beginning of the controv6r-
sy until now. We are doomed if we
remain IN the Union, and ] am Tor
going out of it, by the shortest road.
The highest ann, and the highest
remedy, is Southern Confederacy.
live cannot get this cooperation,
lam for acting declsiyely without il;
and believing dissolution of the
Union inevitable, / am in favor ofen-
terlng at once into an energetic sys-
tenn of preparation, with a view to
put the State in position to resume
and TO maintain her independence,
and to take her rank among the ma
tlons of the earth, as a separate and
independent State, A State is re-
spected in exact proportion TO it's abiI-
lty TO defend IFS rights with the sword.
'lhe money appropriated at the
last session 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 ofcannon
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 Legisl,,ture-'We haze twentv
thousand muSkets and small arms, one
h"mdred andt0cnty pieces Of cannon
and t,e can bring tttenty thousand men
INTO the field ut a moment scdraing.'
This would look business like-war-
like if you will, and it would tell up-
on the public mind in tho State and
abroad, for it would look like we are
IN earnest. 1t would tell loo, upon
the Cabinet in Washington. You
will perceive, therefore, that / do not
approve the building of an armorv
now. This is too slow, and we have
not the money to spare. This step
should have beensreseryed for more
advanced stage of our progross.-
what we want nowis to be prepared
at once, SO that we could say to the
Convention when it meets: Fwar
comes OF your action ne are prepured.
TO meet It, If the people will not act
thus, my word for it, they never will
Secede. If we gam conhdence-if
we command the respect of the Uni
ted States and of foreign nations, e
must show them that we can and
VIII maintain our independence. 1t
is idle to close the eyes to the fact,
that without military power we can.
not maintain our Independence. If
we would preserve peace-if we
would avoid bloodshed, we must
show t at we are not 10 be assaicd
with lmpunity, and that having the
sword we know how to WELD it.
We ought to choose agents now,
not for what they know, not because
they can solve a problem in Euclid,
but for what they are able to perform,
IN giving energy and effect to the re-
sources OF the State, to prepare her
for a separate and independent exis-
tence.
My motto is then-prepare, pre-
pare, and then act! With companv
lfyou Can get it; if not then act ,oitR-
out it, for know no more terrible
doom than that which awaits us in
the Union, and to go out of it cannot
make our condition any worse, and 1t
may be better y
a Florida planter, at the concIu.
sion of a letter of business, writes TO
us as follows:
Send the Mercury ON. I beliove
IN Its doctrines, and hope to see the
day when South Carolina will re.
leYe herself from the odium and dis.
grace under which the Southern
States are now living, and if yom
need help, sound the tocsin, and 9Inn-
dreds and thousand will flock 10 her
standard from ihe surrounding States
Men and money will be forthcomin0
to the extent of vour necaoe;t;oo