The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-02
A QUESTION OF IDENTITY
Sentiment as to the Old VarshiD Con
stitutinn Not Dead i'm the Land.

Is it, or is it not, 4tOld Ironsideso'
Secretary Of War Bonaparte a 1t is
not, while the editors and the orators,
Ipalpitating with patriotism. scourge
Mr. Bonaparte for ever suggesting
the destruction of the Constitution
or "Old Ironsides," as Holmes has i'm
mortalized the old ship.
There lies a useless old hulk. whose
existence millions had forgotten. till
Mr.. B~onaparate innocently called upon
himself the invective of pen and voice.
The secretary says the hulk is not
the ship that captured the Guerrero
and Won undying renown. He con-
Icedes that part Of the material OF the
old Constitution" is built into the
old hulk and suggests that this, So
far recognizable, he secured and built
into a third Constitution" of modern
armament, poo-pooing the idea OF
building, at a cost of many thousand
dollars another ship On the lines of
the antedated Constitution"
To be sure no fault could be found
with this suggestion, but Mr.. Bona
parte was SO unfortunate as to sug-
1871 CLIIo vi dIopOcIA< I'll
the hulk, viz, by using it as a target
for the North Atlantic feet. 1t was
this suggestion, we presume, that
Iaroused the ire of his critics and set
the Congress halls to resounding with
10. w. Holmes famous poem, writ
ten in 1880, when another secretary OF
the navy had advised destruction of
the old ship:
IAy, tear her tattered ensign down.
Long has it waved Or high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky.
Beneath it rung the battle shout
And burst the lannon's roar
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more,
Her deck, once red with heroes blood
Where knelt the v%anquished foe.
when winds were h%urrying DER the
flood.
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the seal
lOh, better hat her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail.
And give her to the god Of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
Were there no question of identity
there could be no two thoughts about
the disposition of the famous, but ex-
|pensively retained frigate; as one man
the nation would demand its preserya.
|tion. But we'll does this writer recall
youthful arguments as to the identity
lof a barlow" the original of which
had first lost it's blade, and then the
NEW blade the old taking until itself
la new handle. One boy could never
%Iconsent to it's being the same knife.
and his interest in "Old Ironsides' is
seriously diminished by the knowledge
that it retains only a snail proportion
lof the wood and iron that was bat
TERED by English balls, and which, in
sweeping broadsides, hurled destruction
into the enemy's cruisers, fr1gates and
linen of war. 20.
But to know that a new "Constitu-
Ition" were raging the seas, bearing
in it's body the hallowed material OF
THE original, and, above the turrets OF
1.-THE modern battleship and the direfu
lten-inch guns, and, below, the arma-
lment of steel and within the monster
|engines while for and aft the men OF
manila or Santiago with practiced eye
land steady hand and hearts bold and
true, manned the ship-there were an
I"Old I~ronsides" that would make pa
~ltriotic hearts throb and Americas enc
Imies Quake!-Exchange.
Quite Too Bad.
America has been harshly criticised