Daily national Democrat., 1861-05-16
Massachusetts, and the War OF 1912.

] "NtA anu tllVHLt--ltib ioluIt whose SOIL Is Ntl
rich with the blood of revolutionary heroes
the glorious old Commonwealth Of Massachu
sets has fallen under the displeasure of the
Marysyille Express. The writer in the Tx
/ press cannot endure the war spirit which has
filed the people of the old Bay State, and
sent her brave sons into Maryland, Virginia
and the District of Columbia, with arms in
their hands, and determination in their
| hearts that the Union which their fathers
made 80 many sacrifices towards establishing,
shall not fall a victim to the consuming am
bltion and the dabolical hatred OF the fanat-
les who follow the starving fortunes OF that
modern Jack Cade--Jel.erson Davis. He
ieigna surprise that such a martial feeling
should be possible, among the peaceful,
perhaps he would like to say timid, peo
pie Of that State. "When," he asks,
chusett5Y A greater man than he once cs-
sayed to belittle the mother Of the New Eng
land states, 1t was Robert y. uayne, Of
South Carolina. But she had a son who
could defend her, and the great Webster in
words both historical and prophetic thus re
plied
Mr.. President, ] shall enter on no encomi-
um upon Massachusetts--she needs none.--
There she is-behold her and iudgo for your
selves. There i3 her history-the world
knows it by heart. The past at least is Sc
cure There is Boston and Concord, and
Lexington and Bunker Hill; and there they
will remain forever The bones of her sons
fallen in the great struggle for independence
now lie mingled with the soil Of every State
from New England to Georgia; and there
they will lie forever And, sir, where Amer
lean liberty raised its first voice, and where
! its youth was Hurtured and sustained, there
1T still lives, i'll the strength of its manhood
and full Of its original spirit. If discord and
/ disunion shall wound it, if party strife and
| blind ambition shall hawk at and tear it; if
| folly and madness, if uncasiness under sau-
| tary and necessary restraint, shall succeed to
separate it from that Union by which It's ex-
istence is made sure,-it will stand, in the
end, by the side Of that cradle in which its
infancy was rocked; it will stretch forth its
arm, with Whatever vigor it may still retain
over the friends who gather round it, and it
will fall at last if fall it must amidst the
proudest monuments of its own glory, and on
the very spot Of its origin
Massachusetts is grandly fulfilling this sub
lime prophecy. "Party strife and blind am
biton" now hawk at and tear the liberties
of America, and Massachusetts, stretches forth |
her arm with whatever vigor it may re.
toin"-and thank God it is greater than ever
to save and defend. The American who
sees cause to find fault with her loyalty, is
not worthy to unloose the latchct of the
shoe of the humblest of those citizens who
compose the brave Massachusetts regiments
But it's with the war of 1872 that the EX-
press writer seems most familiar. He had
heard something about the opposition TO that
war which was manifested in New England,
and he straightway charges that Massachu-
sets contributed no aid for its prosecution,
and that on the contrary she plotted to
"brcak up the Government" The charge
Of an attempt by Massachusetts to break
no particle Of foundation in fact 1t is
not worth even n simple denial. Let
Us see if it is indeed, true that during that
war "Mlssachusett3 refused to aid the Coy
ornmcnt" Let US see if the only heroes of
the war Of 1912 were those who fled from
Bladensburgh, and whether the men of Mas
sachusetts did no fighting. The war of 1912
was almost exclusively a naval war. The
hardy seamcn of New England were the
main dependence of the country, and they
were not found wanting. Every town on
Cape Cod, and in Massachusetts, Bay, sent
gallant men to lay down their lives in de-
fense Of the Flag. What Mr.. Lownde5 had
told South Carolina Convention came true,
that "the Navy so necessary was to come
from the Northern and not the Southern |
States" The fisheries of New England had
indeed been the nursery for our seamen, and |
the very calling they pursued was guaranty |
sufficient that they would know no fear. 1t |
is recorded that at the close of the Revolu-
ton there were more than thirteen hundred
widows and fathcrless children in the little
mackerel-c catching Massachusetts town of
MarIlehead, and that at the close of the last
war with England, more than five hundred
citizens of the same little town were released
from one English prison The men who had
brayed the IMPLYING storms which frequent
the coast Of New Foundland, were as prompt
and as much at home fighting for the honor
of their country on the decks of a mNn-of
war, as they We're in times of peace, when
casting their lines for cod and mackerel The
man who says that Massachusetts, refused to
aid in fighting the battles of 16l2-l5, gets
his information from political text books
wherein a State is charged with what po-
litical party may do. Information from
more reliable channels would have told the
Express that without our fishermen, we
could hardly have manned frigate or cap
tured one during the war" In peace times
the Navy is not overburdened with these
brave but unamLitious men. They present |
but few candidates for midshpmen's commits |
sions, prclerring the tarpaulin to the cap cir
clcd with gilt, and the hook and line to all |
other implements. But when the country |
wants men to help American vessels fight
their way through every sea, no enemy of
Massachusetts will ever be gratiGed with
seeing her sons laggard, or lacking in cour-
age. During the war of 1912 they had their
full share in the glory of capturing $500
sails of British vessels (mounting, in the ag-
gregate, more than 5000 guns) among them