The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1862-01-22
COMMUNICATIONS.
IFoR TIE LANCASTER LEDGyR.1
No. w.

NO. ~.
When the military power Of the South,
.ern people shall have been classified, and
arayed under officers, commissioned by
the Confederate Government, and the
States respectively the great problem
Of procuring arms for the entire force, and
providing subsistence and transportation :;
b,sides supplying its waste; and renewing
Its numbers from time TO time must be
solved. This is more difficult than its
mere organization for no spasmodc
enthusiasm, nor violent courage, nor in
dividual generosity, can maintain endur
lag efficiency. There must be son
general uniform system, whose principles
are solid, consistent. With the character
OF our institutions, and proporliona.e to
the necessities of Our position.
The very existence Of the Southern
States is involved in the successful issue
of the war, and on that depends the lives,
liberty, aud property of all descriptions,
of every one Of the people Of these States.
The power which each sovereign State
necessarily and therefore rightfuIIy has to
command the personal services of every
soldier in its domain, even unto death :;
applies with greater force to the labour
of every other citizen, and to the proper
ty Of all sorts, which they as individuals,
or bodies corporate, possess, under the
protection Of the laws Of the State
What kind Of patriotism is that which
pours out the blood Of the brave, vet
.cnstFers and trades with its sovereign, for
the means of independence
That independence is essential to the
freedom Of the people, and both depend
on the supremacy Of their sovereignty
The instincts of nature teach the law Of
self preservation, which justifes the de
ssruction of every material object of pro
perty inconsistent with its exercise. In
the unity of State is merged all the dis
tinctions of private right whether of per
sons or things. Naked We came into the
world aud naked we leave it {: and as
with man. so with States.
If sovereignty, freedom and indepen
dence, are as essential TO the sound life
OF States, as reason, freewill, and the
power of action are to man, then let us,
at once, and heartily, realize the truth,
shat our lives, our la5our and our proper
ty, are only Of value while the integrity
Of the State is preserved. Patriotism
resting On this solid truth, and its consci
BUSINESS in every citizen, will inspire a
greater devotion to our cause, than ali
other motives or passions combined. To
be effective it must pervade the whole
people, and fuse into one mass the entire
power Of the country. This will enob!e
the spirit of every one, and give digni
ty to poverty Itself The slave at his task
the matron at her spinning wheel, the
child who gives up bis toys, and totes
wood and water for the fatherless
hearth and board, are all serving the
State and every act Of self denial which
The most rigid economy prescribes, will
bring the same reward which animates
the heroism Of the General and his SOL
diers in the well fought battle-the con
sciousness of duty done.
It is under this convictiop,on this truth,
and with this spirit, emanating tberefrom
that those who exercise the functions oI
government, must organize :he entire
force Of the country, and develope its re.
sources; and that those, who have con.
fded to them those functions, must obey
and cooperate.