St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-07-08

ligious organizations till wrong shall be right
cd, evil eradicated and corruption banished.
James jackson, Esq, responded:
Naturally an cgotistical people, this
is the day that we Americans use to
give vent to the years accumulation
of national egotism and self-compla-
cency. We hoist our flag to some
lofty position where our eyes may
catch its wavy folds as they float to
and fro in the summer breeze. We
have read to us, that second Gospel of
Freedom, the Declaration of Inde-
pendencc. We select orators, who
with beautiful language, fowcry
rhetoric, and red hot logic, laud our
institutions, exalt our national charac-
ter, and set the torch to our rampant
patriotism, till from one end of the
land to the other, above the rattle Of
fire crackers, the report of arms and
the thunder of .iubilant cannon, may
be heard, the nasal twang of the
Yankee, the broad accent of the
Hoosicr, the drawl of the Southcrncr,
the coarse tones Of the ignorant, and
the polished cnunciation of the scholar
that intcrrogative phrase of an excited
sclf.conceit: "Ain't zee, the American
people, some particular pumpkins - And,
Mr.. President, were the event sug-
gestivc of nothing better were there
nothing of greater Importance called
to mind by the recurrence of the
nations birth day had we maintained
inviolatc the institutions and princi-
Piles handed down to us had we not in
a measure lost that integrity and dis
intcrestedness of character bequeatIlcd
us by the Great Departed, were there
no stains upon the fair fame of our be-
loved country tloated our flag the
same unspotted sheet as at the mast
head of the Constitution, or above the
cotton Notifications of New Orleans :;
we might with some show of propri-
ETY. use this day to magnify our
Office" as citizens of a great republic
This nation is like unto a traveller
upon one of our vast undulating
prairics where the foot of man never
trod before, no track to guide her. no
thing but the compass of principle, the
sun of freedom, and the stars Of virtue
and wisdom to direct her course and
these Fourths of July arc the high hill
tops where she may pause in her
onward career, and looking back to
the point from where she started asccr-
tain how much she has varied from
her true course, correct her bearings
and again resume her journey wiser
and better for the view What then
is the spectacle that presents itself to
, our view as from this stand point of
to-day we cast our eyes back over the
history of the past few years Where
, is that devoted patriotism that would
cause as to pledge our lives our
, fortunes and our sacred honors" in
doubtful contest for an abstract
: principle? The god of mammon and
selt-intcrcst ovcrrides our patriotism
rough shod, and what it'll. love OF
, country we have, seems fast dcgcn'
Grating into partizanship.
JUDGED, 10y using political parties as
, mere means whereby certain princi
Piles arc to be propagated and cstab
lishcd, VIC cXalt these inanimatc or
CARNATIONS into things to be idolizcd
and worshipped, till to-day among
party men, an administrative fiat is
, considered more binding than com
mandment of the Decaloguc, and a
plank in a party platform Of more im
The memorable words of Gen. Read
to the British commissioners, "Poor as
l am, the king of Great Britain is not
rich enough to buy me-" may be taken
as an exponent of the incorruptibility
that characterized our forcfathers :
and yet with us today, State Legisla-
lures can be bought Nth a fer champagne
suPpers! British gold SWAPS the pen
duium Of tariff between free trade and
protection at pleasure, and admins
trativc fayors are disposed of to the
highest bidders in party zeal and phi
ability.
Men of America +! is it not time to
pause awhile in this strain of self
laudation, and ask ourselves how
long this government can stagger on
under this load of vice and corruption !?
Has history no lessons by which we
may profit Corruption Slapped the
foundations of Greece and she who
had shattered the gigantic Persian
Empire fell an easy prey to Philip of
Macedon. By luxury and corruption
Rome sank from the mastery of the
world to be sacked and plundered by
barbarians, and history has fearful
lessons of nations that fell from grand
eur and power simply by the force of
internal corruption.
But we pause in this enumeration of
grievous departures from the course
which our nation should pursue, to
seek the remedy and it must
consist in thorough reform of our
social and political organization.
We must dry up this stream of cor
ruption that has for the past few
years dashed its turbid tide through
the sluiccs of government, washing
away every vestige of honor, integri-
ty or greatness We must care more
for our country and less for our
parties, and each man must make it
his individual duty to sec to it that
no one is elected to office who is not
thoroughly honest, and who will not
carry out, without fear or favor the
laws of his country and the regula-
tons of society. The people need to
be awaked from their lethargic sleep.
Let us then kindle the bonfires of agi-
tation upon every hilltop till this
miasmatic moral atmosphere that sur
rounds us is purified of its disease and
corruption. Then, when we have
brought back the nation to the track
of virtue and integrity, from which it
has so widely departed-whcn in the
language of the toast, wrong is
righted, evil eradicated, and corrup-
ton banished," may we indulge with
out improperly in the national habit
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