St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-07-18

out even awaiting the arrival of the
provision expedition. 1t is thus seen
/ that the assault upon and reduction OF
! Fort Sumptcr were in no sense mat
ter Of selt.defencc on the part of the
assailants. They well knew that the
garrison in the Fort could by no pos
sibility commit aggression upon them.
They knew that they were expressly
notified that giving bread to the few
brave and hungry men Of the garri-
son was all that would be attempt
cd unless themselves, by resisting SO
much, should provoke more. They
knew that this Government desired to
keep the garrison in the Fort, not to
assail them, but merely to maintain
visible possession, and thus to- pre-
serve the Union from actual and i'm
mediate dissolution, trusting, as here
III before stated, to time, discussion,
and the ballot-box for final adjustment;
and they assailed and reduced the
fort for precisely the reverse object
to drive out the visible authority of
the Federal Union, and thus force it
to immediate dissolution. That this
was their object the Executive we'll un-
derstood and having said to them
in the Inaugural address, L" You can
have no conflict without being your
selves the aggresscrs," he took pains
not only 90 keep this declaration good,
but also to keep the case so far from
ingenious sophistry that the world
should not misunderstood it. By the
affair at Fort Suuiptor, with its sur
rounding circumstances, that point
was reached. Then and there, the
assailants of the Government, began
the conflict without gun in sight or
in expectancy to return their firing,
save only the few in the fort, sent to
that harbor years before for their own
protection, and still ready to give that
protection in whatever was loyal In
this act, discardng all else, they have
forced upon the country the distinct
issue of immediate dissolution or
+ blood, and this embraces more than the
fate of these United States. 1t pre-
scnts to the whole family Of man the
public or Democracy, a government OF
the people, the same people, can or can
! not maintain its territorial integrity
against its own domestic as well
as its foreign foes. 1t presents the
question whether discontentcd persons
too few in number to control the Ad-
ministration according to the organic
/ law III any case, can always upon the
pretenCcs made in this case or any
other pretcnces, or arbitrarily, without
any prctences, break up their govern
mcnt, and thus practically put an end
to free government upon the earth 1t
forces us to ask, is there in all Rcpub-
lies this Inherent and fatal weakness Z?
Must a government Of necessity be
too strong for the liberties Of the pco-
! Pile, or too weak to maintain its own
/ existence
SO viewing the issues, no choice
was left but to call out the war
power of the Government and SO
to resist the force employed for its de-
struction by force lorits preservation
! The call was made and the response
OF the country was most gratifying,
surprising in unanimity and spirit the
most sanguinc expectation. Yet none
of the States commonly called slave
States, except Delaware, gave regi-
mcnt through the regular State organ
iZation. A few regiments have been
organized within some Of those States
by individual enterprise, and received
| into the Government service of course.
The seeded States SO called, and to
which Texas had been Joined about
the time of the Inauguration, gave no
troops to the cause of the Union. The
border States, so called, were not uni
form i'll their action, some of them be-
ing almost for the Union, while in
others, as in Virginia, North Carolina,
Tennessee and Arkansas, the Union
sentiment was nearly represscd and
sIlenced. The course taken in Virgin
ia was the most remarkable, perhaps
the most important. A convention
elected by the people of that State to
consider this very question of disrup.
ting the Federal Union was in session
at the capital of Virginia when Fort
Sumpter fell. 70 this body the pco
pie had chosen large majority o
professed Union men. Almost imme
diately after the fall of Sumpter mum
bcrs of that ma ajority went over to the
original minority, and with them
adopted an ordinance for withdrawing
the State from this Union. Whether
this change was wrought by theii
great approval of the assault on Sump
ter, or their great resentment to the
, Governments resistance TO that as
sault, is not definitely known. Al
, though they submitted the ordinance
for ratification to a vote OF the people
to be taken somewhat more than {
month distant, the Convention ant
! Legislature, which was also in session
at the same time and place, with lead
: ing men of the State, immcdiatel,
: commenced acting as if the State wa
already out of the Union. They push
' ed military preparations vigorousl,
forward all over the State. The,
+ seized the United States armory a
, Harpers Ferry and the Navy Yard a
, Gosport near Norfolk. They received
! perhaps invited into their State, large
: bodies of troops, with their warlik'
: appointments, from the so called sc
5 ceded States. They formally entered
, into treaty with the SO called Con
, fcderate States, and sent members t,
t their Congress at Montgomery, an,
, finally they permitted the insnrreetion
: ary government to be transferred t,
: their capital at Richmond. The peo
1 pie Of Virginia have thus allowed
5 this giant insurrcction to make it
+ nest within their borders, and thi
: Government has no choice left but t
l. deal with it where it finds it, and i
: has the less to regret, as the loyal cit
= izens have, in due form, claimed it
/, protection. Those loyal citizens til,
+ Government is bound to recognize an,