Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1862-07-08
The National Anniversary.

The occurrence of our National Anniyer
sary awakens thoughts of q solemn ctaracs
ter.
Our nation once recognized as the land
OF the free and the asylum of the oppressed
Of every cline, We fear, can be called so no
more. Peace, prosperity, and happiness
no longer bless US as a people The Unicn
OF States has ruthlessly been rent ssunder,
aud war. terrible and devastating, dsrkens
the political ho:izjD.
Instead Of the glad shouts IF thirty mill
lions of free and happy people greeting the
rising sun Of the Fourth of July. 1862, de-
monstrations Of an entirely different nature
are witnessed. The tread Of mighty hos
tile armes-the movement of artillery
the roar Of cannon-the peals of smaller
arms-lhe crash Of steel-and the groaus
Of the dying come to US borne en- every
breeze from the fair plains Of the sunny
South. In nearly one half of what was
once Union of power and greatness, the
like of which, we fear, the world will never
see again, in ;lace of the time onored
Fourth Of July Celebration-the procession
and rejoicings-naught is heard but the
death conflict, and naught seen but devas-
taticn and gigantic preparations for the
bloody struggle.
How sad the prospect for the future, and
how appalling the deeds of the present.
The approach of the Anniversary of our
National Independence, therefore, instead
cleansing our hearts to leap with joy, and
thankiulness. presses upon US reflections
the most painful and solemn. Indeed it
almost seems to US, when we take into az
count the present condition Of our unfortu-
nate country, and the horrors of the unnat.
ural war that is raging, that it would have
been as we'll that the Revolution had never
been fought, or the blood of patriots had
| not beer shed to purchase our inderon-
| dense. Better, perhaps, far better, would il
have been, judging from present indica-
tions, that our States had remained as colo
MES of Great Britain.
We may be ridiculed for thus expressing
our sad reflections on the occasion of our
National Anniversary, but we could moi
| speak otherwise and tell the truth As
painful and unwelcome az be the facts, it il
our solemn duty to look them in the face
We could not Danish thoughts of sadness il
we were to make the effort. The eviden-
ces of ruin are too widespread for that.
However fortunate our Government ma '
be in putting down the rebellion, and bow.
ever successful in destroying and conquer
ing the rebels, the good old days of the
Republic will return to US no more. They
! are gone-gone forever.
The occasion, then, is more ft to be Oh
served as day Of sorrow and humiliation
than Of rejoicing and gladness.
And when we call to mind that all ouI
present national calamit, Is have been forced
upon by the folly and madness of rarti-
Fans, North snd South, our sorrow is mixed
with Indignation. The Summers, the Will
sons, the Lovejnys, the Greeleys, assisted
by their co workers in treason at the South
have at last succeeded in turing eur Ma
tional Anniversary into a day of morning
The world will hold them ard their follow.
ers responsible for destroying the best gov
eminent ever given to man.