The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1861-12-25

bu,es OF every people; and have again
combined, to sustain each other. Our
/ Confederacy may have too much resem
I blance to the old Union; but certainly
/ it has not its most odious and deceptive
features. The political condition Of peo
/ pie, AS OF Individuals, is necessarily OF
slow growth. We are taught bv expe
rieuce, and wisdom comes by the correc.
tion of errors.
1t seems TO be the infatuation of mod.
ern times to regard "the power to borrow
money" as grea. preroga,ive of States ;
while every days experience confirms the
sagacilv of the counsel.
"Neithcr borrower nor a lender be
For loan oft loses both itself and friend
And borrowing dulls the edge of huSbandry."
! The ancient Confederation was estab-
lished, mainly, for defence against the
British Crown; and its only feature Of
consolidation was in lis army. The esr
sential unity Of military organization re.
| quired one Commander Chief. Beyond
that there was no political union, in the
person Of one man.
However, the present is no time for
critical analysis of the features Of our Dot
litical organization. Our existence, as
Sovereign States, is at stake and every
Southern man should deeply ponder on
this great truth that any form OF gov.
ernment for people, who are indepen
dent of the rule of the stranger, is better
than suIjugation. With time and pa.
tIence, free people can work out their
proper government as all substances,
in solution, gradually chrystalize into their
natural forms. We must have conf
dent faith in our just cause, and with UNI
fading hope, work s,renuously, for our
salvation. The kingdom Of Heaven is
gained by violence" and, if need be, 1--WE
must sell all that we have" and "walk
through the valley of the shadow of
death" as we follow the Standard Of
Southern Independence.
The assertion Of independence is nei.
ther more nor less than declaration, TO
all the world, that We are sufficient for
our own defence. We may, to a certain
extent, have INDUCED hopes of foreign
assistonce and too anxiously looked to
France and England for sympathy and
aid. Both Of those nations have shown
tendency to imperial power. The fer
mer may have discerned that if our Union
had continued, we would have drif,ed to
consolidation and empire and the fear.
ful example of American republicanism,
would no longer have been an incubus
on the secure sleep Ct its despotic Empe-
ror. The rulers Of England trusted to
the sympathy Of the American nation,
as a check to the ambition of their "Au-
gust ally; and they nigh. prefer the
imperial power or the Union, controlled
oy the North, whose money centre was
London,-where mammon rules AS the
God Of the British and Yankee people,
rather than the vigorous confederacy Of
republican States whose maxim should
be that Of Washington, "entangIing ALI
ances with none" Yet, nevertheless, the
material Interests os those nations, so in
,imately connected with our trade; and
The republican elements among them,
may, to some extent, sooner or later, con.
troll the policy of their Courts.
Let us then show that we understand
our position, and solicit no aid from 9th
ers. Let us borrow nothing; nor amuse
ourselves with speculating on the prCba
bIIties CT the future destiny of our enc,
mics; nor abate our exertions; nor limit
our self sacrifices, by any consideration,
except the necessity our entire devotion
to our cause. Let us not forget or dis
honor the magnanimous notices Of .he
State dunn spiro spero ;-animis opi,
busq"e paraH. With this spirit lie, lis
go TO the work before us.
The people Of the Confederate States
are organized 2nder complex system,
composed Of two governments each su
preme in its own sphere, and acting, and
reacting upon each other, in the relations
Of those spheres. Hence they are not
independent OF each other and there
fore the States have, to some extent, di
minished their actual independence. So
far as this may unite them. for the pur
poses Of the war, it is, perhaps, not ob.
jectionable. Practical wisdom requires
us to recognize facts; and conform faith.
fully t. the Institutions which exist. /,
matters little, at the present time, wheth
er our system be theoretically perfect, or
not the unanimous temper, and patriot
ism of the ppOnle vil, insensihly p,oniJ