The Council Bluffs nonpareil. [volume] (Council Bluffs [Iowa]) 1857-1867, 1861-07-13

/ tueFc WDHlu De no eunrt 20 throw IN U En-
arms or ammunition without further notice
or in case of an attack upos the rors. Th;
notice was accordingly given, xhereupe,
the Fort was attacked bombarded TO It's fall
without even awaiting the arrival Of tn
| provisioning expedition.
IL Is thus seen that the assault upon ant
/ the reduction Of Fort Sumter was 10 no sens,
matter Of seif-defenee on the part of IA,
assailants. They well knew that the garri.
son in the fort could by no possibility com
init aggression on them. They knew the,
were expressly bottled that the giving OF
bread 20 The few brave and hungry men oil
the garrison was all which would on tba,
| occasion be attempted, unless themselye es
/ by resisting so much should provoke more
They knew that the Government desired "a
keep the garrison in the fort, no: to assail
them, but to merely maintain visible pos.
session, and thus TO preserve the Union
from actual and immediate dissolu ion,
trusting as herein before stated, 10 time,
discussion, and the ballot box, for fnal ad.
lustment, and they assailed and reduced the
fort for precisely the reverse obiect-to
drive out the visible authority of the Fed
fIsrai Union, and thus forced It to immediate
dissolution. That this was their object, the
Executive well understood, and having said
TO them in the inaugural address, you can
have no conflict without beng yourselves
the aggressors, he took pains not oniv to
Keep this declaration good, but also kept
the issue so free from the power of irgeni-
Gus sophistry as that the world should not
be able to misunderstand it BY the affair at
Fort Sumter with its surrounding oircura-
StHuens
and there by the assailants Of the Govern
ment began the conflict Of arms, without
anything in right or in expectancy to re-
turn their fire, save only the few in the for.
sent to that harbor years before for their
own protection, and still ready to give that
protection in whatever was lawful. In this
act, diseardng all else, :hay nave forced
upon the country the destructive issue, i'm
mediate dissolution or blood asd this issue
embraces more than the fate of these United
States. IT presents to the whole family of
man the question, whether a Constitutional
Republic or Demoeracy-a Government of
the people by the same peop!e-can or can.
not maintain its territorial integrity against
its own domestic foes. Ii presents tho oues-
lion whether disseminated individuals, too
few n, number to control administration
according rs organic law, in any case, and
always upon the ..,retenees, made in this
case or on any other prete.7 srbitrariiy,
W.T. ,s"at any pretence, break up - elr GOV
.rnment. nd thus practically put an emu -
free goyernms 2oon the earth. 1t forces
,s to ask, is there in all republics this in
Deren, and fatal weakness? Must a gov
Of necessity be too strong for the
liberties of our people, too weak to main
tain its own existence. So viewing the
issue, no chance was left but to call out the
war power of the Government, and so to
resist force employed for its distraction, by
force for it's preservation. The call was
made, and the response of the country was
mos gratifying surprising in unanimity
and spirit the most sanguine expectations
vet none of the States commonly called
Siave States, except Delaware, gave n reg
imant through regular State organization.
4 few regiments have been organised
within some other of those States by indl-
vidual enterprise, and received into the
Government service. OF course the sece
ded States, so called, and to which Texas
had been joined about the time Of the in
auguration, gave no troops TO the cause of
the Union. The border States, so called.
were not uniform in their action, some OF
them beng almost for the Union while in
others, us Virginia, North Carolina, Ten
nessee and Arkansas, the Union sentiment
was nearly Tepressed aud silenced. The
course taken in Virginia was the most re-
markable, perhaps the most important. A
convention elected By the State to consider
this very question of oisrupting the Federal
Union vas in session at the Capital of Vir.
ginia when Fort Sunter fell. To this body
thc people had chosen a large majority of
prafessed Union men. Almost INN ediatelv
after the fall Of Sumter many members Of
that majority went over to the original dis
union minority. and with them adopted an
ordinance for Withdrawing the State from
the Union. Whether this change was
wrought BIZ their approval Of tne assault
upon Sumter, or the great resentment at
the Governments resistance to that assault,
is not definitely known. Although they
submitted the ordinance for ths ratification
to a vote of the people, to be taken on a
dav then somewhat more than month dis
tant, the Convention aud the Legislature,
which was also in session at the same time
and place, with leading men of the State
not members of either body, commenced
acting a. if the State were even already out
of the Union. They pushed military prep
aratious vigorously forward all over the
State. They seized the United States Ar
mory at Harper's Ferry, and the Navy Yard
nj Gosport, near Norfolk: they received,
perhaps invited into their State, large
hordes Of armed troops, with their warlike
aupoin.ments, from the so called seeded
States; they formally entered into treaty
Of temporary alliance and cooperation with
the so-eslEed Conf ederate States, and sent
members to their Congress at Montgomery !;
and anally they permitted the iusurrecton-
arv voyernment to be transferred to their
capitai at Richmond. The people Of V,r-
e,nia have thus allowed this giant insurrec-
ton to make its nest within her borders,
and this Govsrnment has no choice left but
10 deal with it were !. hnds IL; and it has
the less regret as the loyal citizens have in
due form claimed iss protection. Those
loval citizens this Government 10 bound to
recognise and protect, as beng Virginia.
In the border States 90 called, but fact
the Middle States, there are those who favor
a policy which they call armed neutrality,
that is. an arming of those States to prevent
tn. Union forces passing one way, or the
pisaniou the other over their soil. This
would be disuniou completed; ngarahveiy
! snsasius. !, wanid be the building OF an i'm.
pa..ahls wall along the line OF separation.
/ and vet net quite an impossible one, for,
under the gulss of neutrality, it would sis
the hands Of the Union men and freely pas:
supplies from among them TO the insurree-
,iani.ts. whtca i, could do "a an open enemy
/ Al a stroke il would take all the trouble OF
the hands Of Secession, except only vhs
prseasis from the external blockade. i
woaId do for the disunionists that which oi
ALI things they most desire. feed them well
and give them disnnion without a s'ruggi'
OF their own. Is recognizes no haesIty &
the Constitution: DO OBJ igatian 10 maIataii
4 Union and while very many Who have Ia
.ared IL. are doubtless LOYAL, II - nevssshe
less, very injurious in edses. Reear'lng .
IN. .esisu Of the Government, msv b.