St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-05-02
st. Charles City, Iowa, May 2, 1861.
Then and Now.

Hell anu NUW.
The 10th of April IT'S, is day
ever memorable in the annals of his
tory. Eighty-six years ago a handful
of patriots laid down their lives on
the plains of Concord and Lexington
in defence of liberty. By their patri-
otism and self-sacrifice, they inaugu-
rated course of events which gave
the American colonies place among
the nations Of the earth, and estab.
lishcd constitutional freedom and re-
publican law. Under the benign in
fluence Of the charter which they
won with their blood and their lives,
this people have increased from three
TO thirty-fve millions. To the en-
blcm Of its authority, (the stars and
stripes our citizens at home or
abroad, among civilized nations or in
savage lands, have never appealed
for protection in vain. 1t has been at
once blessing and a defence. The
world has felt its power only for good
never for evil All the nations have
felt its regcnerating and vivifying in
1ncnce. 1t has been always a pillar
Of fire by night and cloud by day,
leading the human race toward the
promises of transcendant future.
But now we behold conspirators,
who have enjoyed the highest honors
and noblcst blessings of the charter
bequeathed to US by our fathers, with
reckless daring-with a madness
unparalleled, taking up arms to sub
vert and destroy the Government.
Having done this, company of Massa-
chusetts men now, as in rs, hasten
to the defence of the sacred cause of
liberty, and on the 10th day of April,
1861, the seth anniversary of the
Lexington massacre, three of their
number were brutally murdered in the
streets of Baltimore Their deaths
must and will be avenged.
Let us not lose sight of the issue.
1t is the avowed purpose of these
bandit rebels to annihlatc the great
principle of republican law, and make
self-government failure. For this
they have stolen forts, arsenals, ships,
dockyards, mints, bullion and public
funds, violated their solemn oaths,
perjured themselves before God and
man, inaugurated war, and threaten
to let loose frecbooters and pirates to
prey upon the property of loyal citi-
zens. They have taken the offensive.
They fire upon ships, beleaguer forts,
refuse excavations, demand humiliat.
ing surrenders, threaten with official
bombast and braggadocio to conquer
and subjugatc those who love the dear
blood-bought blessing bcqueathcd by
their fathers. Their proposed govern
ment is OF the sword and bayonct of
the few over the voiceless many. On
the other hand, it is the aim of the
government Of the United States to
uphold and perpetuate the Constitu-
tion--to defend what remains, recover
what has been lost-to restore things
as they were
If the Constitution is worth preserv-
ing, let there be no halfway work on
the part of the people. We are to
deal with the conspirators as we do
with the midnight robber. Let the
laws, in their purity, equity and
righteousness, be enforced with q
strong arm, with shot and shell. with
the bayonet and sword, wherever con-
spirators and pirates are leagued
against it. This is the voice of the
descendants of those sires, who, in the
gray morning light of the 10Th of
April, 1775, died for their country.
Let the remembrance of their dying
devotion thrill our hearts to stand to
the last by the Constitution, and hand
it to our posterity unimpaired.