Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1879-11-21
"IMPERLALLSM."

w e 100 dearly cnerlsn tnoSe 10Steung 1nsu-
buttons for which our fathers laid down their |
lives and prosperity, and whenever the crisis |
comes which demands the same devoted,
adherence to constitutional |
liberty, which animated our revolutionary |
sires, their defendants will be true TO their |
patriotic teachings and heroic Example |
The post of danger will be theirs whenever |
these sacred rights are imperiled by either |
foreign or domestic foe The "price of lib |
erty is eternal vigilance" and the alarm
when danger threatens cannot be sounded |
too soon or too often. Like the watchful
shepherd in the valley guarding his flecks,
at the first indistinct rumbling of the com
ing avalanche carrying death and distruc-
ton in its wake, gives the signal of danger,
so should every patriotic journal in the land
light beacon fires.of danger to warn the
people of the coming storm along the hill
sides and the valleys, ere it strikes in all its
devastating fury and wrath the death-blow
to Republicanism. Rome in oil her ancient
splendor, affiuence and power boosted Of the
freedom and enlightenment of her laws and
institutions-her fleets spread over every sea,
her cities inhabited by a countless people, her
ports crowded with the argosies of every
nation, laden with the rich tributes to her
pride and supremacy, yet her people dazzled
by the military powers and brilliant achieve
ments of Caesar, lost their liberties and yield
ed their necks to the yoke Of tyranny and
oppression. Thus it has been in all nations
and ages-begnning with Democracy, the
people have in their folly and infatuations,
in their mad, unthinking love and devotion
to the successful military hero, yielding by
degrees to the encroachments of his per-
sonal ambition and lust of power, have
passed to absolute monarchy, or worse still,
military despotism. "Thrice did Caesar re-
fuse the crown" The blind, unstspecting
populace, beholding this evidence of seeming
virtue and modesty, bartered the priceless
heritage Of their sacred rights and liberties
for a state Of servitude and bondage. This
bold, INSCRIPTIONS man, throwing off the
mask of hypocrisy and deceit, declared him.
self dictator. The coup detaf was an accom-
plIshed fact and Rome was no longer Re-
public.
Let not the fire Of patriotism in the hearts
of our own people be consumed upon the
altar of Casarism. Let not its invidious APP
proaches destroy the spirit Of active resist
ance to its final establishment. Let not the
grandest, the greatest and the freest Repub-
lie upon which the sun ever shone-a coun-
try full of such splendid possibilities and
achievements for the advancement of civili-
cation and the enlightenment Of the world
be distracted and torn asunder by the con-
fiict of contending parties, wearied with
their own strife and discord, give an easy,
unobstructed way to the establishment of
astrong government" with all its train Of
attendant evils and miseries. Are the peo.
pie of the United States prepared for this
state of thingsP Are they willing to submit
to subversion of ourIorm of government
Ito see its fair fabric vanish before the APP
proach of imperial force and usurpationp
It is an easy matter to erect throne and
place thereon brute force and ignorance,
heged about by the minions of power and
oppression, and the fatal errors and blind
fanatiscim which made the thing possible, re-
acts upon the popular heart with the celebrity
of thought, changing slaves into heroes, and
xnan INTO -aaxnonaa w D canAa< srunra trr,
jealousy and unremittingly the sacred heri-
tage Of liberty and equality. Robespere
began life as an opponent of capital punish
ment, yet his appetite for human blood was
as uncomfortable as death ITSELF He reveled
| in the excess Of his crimes and atrocities.
In ordinary times the depravity and malig
nancy of his nature would have lain dor
ment-but the wild frenzy, excitement and
! fanaticisim of the hour hurried him on from
one act of cruelty to another until France
was drenched with the blood of her children.
The brave and virtuous, the pure, the beau
tiful and accomplished fell helpless victims
to the remorseless, Implying vindictiveness
of this human monster-the personal repre-
sentative of blood and murder-the active,
Inscriptions emissary Of revolutionary pol
icy. Under this cruel, terrible, unprecedent-
ed regime Of systematic crimes and villany,
the compendious ideas of Caligula were full
ly realized and enacted; that the rights, the
liberties and the laws Of the people had but
one neck, and to violate the freedom of
speech and elections gave death blow to
them all Thepeople made themselves sheep
and there were wolves TO eat them. All his
tory emphatically points this moral, that it
is far better 10 "suffer the ills we have than
| fly to those we know not Of" Let us take
timely warning by the fate Of other nations
both rich and powerful. Let not the brave
men who shed their blood TO preserve the
integrity of the Union, lone and indivisible,"
be duped by the rapacity and ambition Of
| partizan leaders; but speak out, in thunder
tones, in the might and majesty of their pre-
sence, with the scars Of battle upon them
with the light of dear bought victory still in
their eyes, marching under the old flag, the
stars still shining through its weather-stained,
mutilated folds shoulder to shoulder and heart
to heart, shout forth with united acclaim 10
the country and the world, their unfalter-
ing trust and devotion to constitutional gov
eminent and Republican institutions As
they consecrated their lives to crush out sla-
very so should they now with true and
loyal hearts and united hands, strike down
the common foe to common country,-and
with death-dealing quickness extinguish the
luminous, invidious spcck upon the political
horizen-slowly mounting In the heavens,
like the Napoleonic "star Of destiny" taking
shape and significance from the letter an"
TO strike terror to the hearts Of freemen and
"lead on TO fortune" Let not this great ma
ton yield up its life-principle, but live
TO perpetuate those grand fundamental rights
Of liberty and equality, and stand forever,
an enduring monument 10 American genius
and American civilization.
In making and getting up Presidential
booms, we arc in favor, first, last and all the
time, Of a statesman and civilian In prefer