The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1861-07-06

very failures OF humanity.
How EORd, then, the hope, how dearer
the fruition, that here, at length, the weary
march Of humanity had won the firmer
ground, and civilization and freedom their
last and highest conquest.
To day the question comes-is the past
fraud, a drlu>ion, = cheat! do you
propose to hold the holocaust Of treason?
and in its lurid flames to burn that small
volume Of hut cighty-five pages, marked
American History"
Reason has Iled-ChaOs has come
Chance is King. Nations look on in star.
tied awe, while the galnesters of ambition,
gathered under the black banners Of re-
belliOn, in the shadow Of Mount Vernon,
prepare to play their last card upon the
tombstone Of Washington.
1t is narrated Of the great hero Of Ira
lnlgnr, when the hostile ships were about
to strike their flags, and the ocean was
lNbakcn with terrible storm, he was lifted
from the deck Of his fame, and, compre-
bending the currents OF the battle in one
living look. his last order was, Anchor,
| Hardy, anchor !"
Our Trafalgar has been fought and won
every foreign flag is struck-the prizes
Of freedom are drifting yet upon a stormy
ocean. Would you secure the trophies Of
the fight? Anchor ny the Constitution.
1t has not been reserved for our dAv to
invent treason or tn grow traitors. They
come Of an ancient stock-tacy crop out
through al! time. In philosophy they
have acclaimed the stole and lived the
epicure; in politics, they have conquered
in the name Of the people. and taken the
purple; in religion, they have miaiStered
at holy affairs, and stolen she widows
mite.
What land but has had it's crises? what
nation but has had its traitors? You can
run history back to Adam by the Iiae Of
its gIbbetS.
DO you expect to be absolved from the
responsibility of national existence? Do
you exp ct I" move along the currents "f
history, amid the fotila Of nations. with
PalinuruS beguiled to kleepi with no
work TO do, no questions 10 settle? Does
the bloc ofthc Revolution 60 for nought
Why did the halfclad soldiers stand
guard, with ShorlcSS feet and Khivcring
limbs, through the long dark nights at
Valley ForgeP do you remember the
passage at Trenton, the wintry Hudson,
the Heights Of Morri>town, and the fro.
Zen bay. But, far back from the glare of
grand events do you remember lrc By
paths Of our h.Atrryy where myriad deeds
were done that had rendered illms;I in,I>
'revcr the Roman mother or the Spartan
son. but which. on the pages Of our his
tory, are lost in the iuxuiiancc Of hero.
ism. Do y"u remember the poor widow.
who. day and night for more than seven
years, kept the ceaSeleSS fire upon her
hearth, mud the pot boiling, lest some
struggling. wounded soldier of free.
dom should pas, her door. without n cup
t" cheer? DO you remember that lad Of
fifteen. who crcpt out at night upon the
wintry bay, in n fishing boat. 10 watch
the movements of a British ship; aud
alone. f,uzc I" death, with his youthful
and heroic eyes perring through SHOW.
storm! Do y0u remember the trades de.
s;royCd, the occupations broken np. the
homes drs"latcd, The private fortunes
poured nut, like wnter1 An! We nrr fond
"fmagnifying Greece and clarifying R"me
! We Thrill at the retreat Of the Ten Thou.
sand, or the triulnphnl march ii C0>ar's
loSions-but the handful Of American sol.
iiery, starved. fioz.n aud unpaid, thr"ugh
the varying successes and defeats of
weary war. are the heroes of all history.
To-day their spirits hover over their ol 2
battle fields Of fame: to-day their spirit
tramp is Oh the gathering winds: to day
they follow their sons to Freedoms latest
fields: tp day, above the clouds Of pass
ion and thr storms Of treason. they gather,
in spirit regiments. around that holy flag
which Washington unfnrlcd.
Sevcnty-two years only have passed
sirco the adoption Of the Federal Consti.
tuition. Seventy-two years Of Cnn>ti;u
tional freedom scarcely more than the
allotment of individual life; and, in the
life time Of Nation, not an hour. Think
Of the long, dark. Shadnwy ages through
which the Egyptian toiled, the Assyrian
warred, the Babylonian builitd! 1t was
a thousand years from the letters Of Cad.
mus to the phIiiprics Of DemnAthenes;
between Rnmu!u>, the hunter on the red
hills "f the Tiber. and Alaric, the Goth.
II, then. History hath given her ages to
darkness, and her centuries to oppression.
it is for yon to say how Ear her-trar.
stained and toll worn record may vet be-
illuminated by the Aplcndors Of Consti
tutinnsl freedom.
Look. for n moment. at the allot.
mcnt Of national territory. Greece. whose
various brains have throncd her in the
Senate hall Of NationS-wAoSe history
streams in luminous record down the
pathway Of age&-had territory less in
length than from San Francisco to San
Diego, and a breadth less than that
covered by the base of the Rocky
Mountains. Italy is less than Califor-
MIA; and ancient Sparta less than Fl
Dorado county; for God Almighty, when
he lifted the curtains from the Western
world, and called our people into being,
carved out continent for their home
walled it on the North with solid ice, and
rolled it South to tropic seas, and poured
two oceans round it.
II the leStnicS Of this land are betray.
ed-if Folly rules the Council and the
Camp. and Treason wins the hour the
hand Of the Recording Angel will tremble
in its wrath, aud the Universe will darken
at the frown Of an avenSing God.
Among the ancient Egyptians no man
was permitted to borrow money without
pawning to the creditor the embaImcd
body Of his father, which each Egyptian
kept in his own house with revtrential
care. Not to redeem SO sacred pledge
was impionS aud Infamous and to him
who failed to do it, aud died. no funeral
honorS could be paid. fearless and dis.
honorcd, he went to a death Of shame.
We have borrowed Of the great credit.
or. Time, and are in debt. We are in
debt to the Past We are in debt to the
Heroes who have planned and the Martyrs
who have died, in distant ages and in Va.
rying climes, to advance the standard Of
Humanity. We are in debt to the gene
raj hope Of many Nations We are in
debt to the prayers and tears of all ages.
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