Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-06-06
wealthy matrimonial alliance. Imagine this

The trouble the mother country has to-day
will, Ireland would be u paradisaic condi-
tion compared with the trouble she would
have with us. England and the United
States make excellent neighbors, but the
two families are too large olive in the same
house. What a godsend that We should
have parted, and parted long ago! But !
can think of no otherwayi in which we could
have possibly achieved American indepen-
dence. George III, the half crazy King,
wouldnot have let us go. Lord North ms
Prime Minister, would not have let us go.
Gen. Lord CORVALLIS would not have let US
go. although after Yorktown he was glad
enough to have us let him go. Lexington
and Bunker Hill. and Monmouth. and Tren-
ton, and Valley Forge We're proofs positive
that they were not willing to let us go. ANY
committee of Americans going across tne
ocean to see what could have been done
would have found no better accommodations
| than London Tower. The only way 1t could
have been done was by the sword, your
Observation-Disclosures sword. Jefferson $ pen
could write the Declaration of lndepen-
dence. but only Washington's sword could
have achieved it. and the other swords
bathed in Heaven.
so now the sword has its uses, although
it is Il sheathed sword. There is not an
armory in Brooklyn, OF New York. or Phila-
delphia. or Chicago, or Charleston, or New
Orleans. or any American city, that could
be spared. We have in all our American
cities Il rufitan population, who, though
tlcS tIe Slllill III luiIibcl, t'ulpulSN Nlll
the good population. would again and again
make rough and stormy times ii. back of
our mayors and common councils and po-
lice, there We're not in the armorles and ar
cnals some keen steel which. If brought
into play, would make quick work with
mobocracy. There arc i'm every great COM
munity unprincipled men. who like Il row
on a large scale. and they heat themselves
with sour mash and old rye and other de-
coctions, enriched with blue vitriol. potash.
ft1rnnyffnn tInrr of lnu1 nri. p.iJ
logwood, strychnine, night shade, and other
precious ingredients, and take down Il
whole glass with II resounding All" OF
satisfaction. When they get that stuff i'll
them and the blue vitriol collides With the
potash. and the turpcntine with the sui
phuric acid. the victims are ready for any
thing but order and dccency and good gov
eminent. Again and again. in our Ameri-
can cities, has the necessity Of home guards
been demonstrated.
You remember how, when the soldiers
We're all away to the war in 1864, what
conflagrations were kindled in the streets
of New York. and what negroes were hung.
Some of you remember the great riots in
just for the opportunity of uproar and de-
spoliation. In 1S49 a hiss at Il theater
would have resulted in New York City be-
ing demolished had it not been for the citi-
zen soldiery. Because Of an insult which
tho American actor, Edwin Forrest. had re-
ceived in England from the friends of Mr..
Macready, the English actor, when the lat
ter appeared in New York, in Macbeth"
the distinguished Englishman was Kissed
and mohbed. the walls of the city having
been placarded with the announcement:
Shall Americans OF English rule in this
city," Streets were filled with a crowd in
sane with passion. The riot act was read.
but it only evoked louder yclls and heavier
VolleyS of stones, and the whole city was
threatened with violence and assassina-
ton.
But the Seventh Regiment. under Gen.
Duryea, marched through Broadway, pre-
ceded by MOUNTED troops, and at the COM
mand: Fire! Guards! Fire!" the mob
scattered, and New York was saved. What
would have become of Chicago, two or
three years ago, when the police lay dead
in the streets. had not the sharp command
OF military officers been given? Do not
charge such scenes upon American institu-
tions. They are as old as the Ephesian
mob that howled for two hours in Paurs
time about the theater, mid the ruins OF
which l stood last January. They We're
witnessed in 1915 in London, when the
weayers paraded the streets and entered
buildings to destroy the machinery of those
who, because of their new cnventions,
could undersell the rest. They were wit
messed in 1881 at the trial of Lord George
Gordon. when there was Il religious riot.
Again, in l5l9, whenthe rabble cried. Down
with the Presbyterians! Down with the
meeting houses!' There always have been,
and always will be. in great communities, a
class OF people that canno govern them
selves and which ordinary means cannot
govern, and there are eNigencies which
nothing but the sword can meet. Aye, the
militia are the very last regiments that il
will be safe to diSband.
Arbitrament will take the place of war be-
tween nation and nation, and %nationa.
armies will disband as Il consequence. ant
the time will come-God hasten it!-whcr
there will be no need of an American army
or navy. or Il Russian army or navy. But
some time after that cities will have to KEEP
their nrmories, and arsenals, and vel
drilled militia. because until the millennia
t day there will be populations with whom
arbitrament will be as impossible as treaty
!, with a cavern Of hyenas or IL jungle Of
snakes. These men who rob stores and give
+, garroter's hug. and nrn",l about the wharves
/ at midnight, and rattle the dice in gambling
| hells. and go armed with pistol or dirk. will
: refrain from disturbance Of the public peace
lust in proportion as they realize that tho
militia OF a city. instead of being an awk.
ward squad. and in danger of shooting each
) other by mistake, or losing their own life
| by looking dow into the gun barrel to SEE
If it is loaded, or getting the ramrod fast il
: their boot leg, are prompt as the sunrise
| keen as the north wind, potent as a thunder.
bolt. and accurate, and regular, and dis.
%ciplinedin their movement as the planetar,
} system.
Well done. then. | say to the legislatures
: and Governors. and Mayors, M all officials
who decide upon larger armories and bet.
ter places for drill and more generous equip.
ment for the militia. The sooner the SWORD
: can safely go back to the %scabbard to sta,
there. the better; but until the hilt cl;ulgs
: against the case in that final Judgment, lei
i the sword be kept free from rust: sharp al
: along the edge. and its point like IA needle
l and the handle polished, not only by the
d chamois of the regimcntal servans. but b,
the hand of brave and patriotic officers
!. always ready to do their full duty. Sucl
swords are not bathed in impetuosity, o.
L ba,hed in cruelty. or bathcd in oppression
, or hathed in outrage, but bathedin Heaven
( Bat the sword is doomed. There is on,
word thai needs to be written in ever,
throne room. in every Wal office, in ever,
. navy yard. in every national council. Tha,
word is Disarmament, But no govGrnmcn
can afford TO throw its sword away until al
the great governments have agreed to d,
: the same. Through the influence of the re
cent convention Of North and South Amcri
can governments at Washington, unt
: through the peace convention to be hcl,
: next July in LOndon and other movement.
i'll which prime ministers. and kings, AN,
q queens, and s%ultans, and czars shall tax,
G part. all civilized nations will come to dis
armament. and il IL few barbarian races de