“ [65] fire is a vile traitor. The rebels have chosen war. They have done their best to slay a loyal garrison. Without a single cause of complaint, they have turned their arms against the Union and against the lives of loyal citizens. From to-day dates the extermination of treason from the land. The people will not rest, the nation will not be satisfied, while a traitor is left in arms.
”Evening Post.
“ It is too late now for concession or compromise; government or anarchy is the only alternative left to us. Forbearance has been useless, and has been construed into evidence of fear or feebleness. It has also excited the cupidity of the rebels, and fostered their aggressive designs. It is no longer with them the assertion of the mere right of secession or separation from the Union. Their avowed purpose is the overthrow of Constitutional Government. With men thus minded it is useless to reason. No compromises will satisfy them; no concessions arrest their anarchical and wicked purposes. They, a small minority of the people, demand that the majority must recognize them as masters, and give up every thing to them — the archives and property and administration of the Government, our Constitution, our flag, our laws, our free institutions — all that, as freemen, is dear to us. To such a demand, freemen, lovers of constitutional government and constitutional rights, can make but one answer. And when the rebel minority that make it try to enforce it by the cannon and the sword, to the cannon and the sword the loyal majority must of necessity also make their appeal, and will do it., The majority have never sought, have never desired — nay, they have studiously avoided — a resort to war. It has been forced upon them. In honor, and in self-defence, they cannot refuse the alternative.
”Commercial Advertiser.
“ A few words more — as to what we think the President should do, (and the words are more valuable from an opponent than if from a friend,) because acts thus advised by an opponent cannot be complained of, if adopted. First: Not another mail should be sent to South Carolina. Twice has our flag been fired upon there, without direct or immediate, overwhelming necessity, and South Carolinians, by their own act, cease to be our countrymen. Second: Not another gun, cannon, revolver, or pound of powder should be permitted to go to the seceding States. The President of the United States, through his revenue officers, should instantly estop their exportation, and States should stop their inter-transit trade. Third: The Port of Charleston ought to be instantly blockaded. There may be no law for it, but South Carolina has put herself out of the protection of any law of ours. She does not respect us, and we cannot be expected to respect her.
”N. Y. Express.
“ “Take your places in line.” The American flag trails in the dust. There is from this hour no longer any middle or neutral ground to occupy. All party lines cease. Democrats, Whigs, Americans, Republicans, and Union men, all merge into one or two parties — patriots or traitors. For ourselves, we are not prepared for either or any form of government which the imagination might suggest as possible or probable to follow in the wake of a republic. We are for the Government as handed down to us by our fathers. It was consecrated in blood, and given to us as a sacred legacy. It is ours to live by, and, by the blessing of God, it shall be ours to die by. We will have it and none other. We have no political feuds or animosities to avenge; we know no cause save to wipe an insult from our flag, and to defend and maintain an assailed Government and a violated Constitution. We care not who is President, or what political party is in power, so long as they support the honor and the flag of our country, we are with them; those who are not are against us, against our flag, and against our Government. “Take your places in line.”
”Philadelphia Enquirer.
“ Henceforth each man, high and low, must take his position as a patriot or a traitor — as a foe or a friend of his country — as a supporter of the flag of the stars and stripes or of the rebel banner. All doubts and hesitation must be thrown to the winds; and with the history of the past spread before us, we must choose between maintaining the noble fabric that was reared by our wise and brave ancestors, under which we have enjoyed so much liberty and happiness, and openly joining the rash, reckless, despotic, cruel, and villanous band of conspirators, who have formed a deep-laid and desperate plot for its destruction. The contest which is impending will doubtless be attended with many horrors, but all the facts show that it has been forced upon us as a last resort; and war is not the worst of evils. Since the startling events of the last five months have been succeeded by a brutal bombardment of a fort erected at vast expense for the defence of Charleston harbor, which would have been peaceably evacuated if the rebels had not insisted upon the utter humiliation of the Government; and since the Secretary of War of the Southern Confederacy has threatened to capture Washington, and even to invade the Northern States, while a formal declaration of hostilities is about to be made by the Confederate Congress,--we should be wanting in every element of manhood, be perpetually disgraced in the eyes of the world, and lose all self-respect, if we did not arouse to determined action to re-assert the outraged dignity of the nation.
”Phila. Press.
“ In this lamentable condition of affairs, what is the duty of the Administration? We know not what course it has marked out for itself, or what sufficient preparations are made by it to hold its position securely in Washington. The Administration ought to be best advised of its danger and what is required of it in this emergency, and possibly has taken measures which it may deem sufficient for its security. It has sounded the military of the States which can be depended upon for defence, and has got offers of aid. But this force ought at once to be called into the service of the United States, and hurried on to Washington city as if an attack were certain every moment. Fifty thousand volunteers should be called into the service of the National Government, and be so placed that they could, under any circumstances, be within a few hours' reach of the capital. Ten thousand of them should be placed in that city, whether Maryland and Virginia like it or not. A proclamation should be issued calling upon all the Union men of the country, North and South, to hold themselves in
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