26
THE BATTALION.
they be headed by the bold and dangerous spirits which rise
up in troubled and evil times from the dark low depths of the
surface, to plant and execute desperate deeds of violence.
These are practical communists, the system of commun
ism favors them, they have nothing to loose, no home, no
goods providently laid up and any change is for them an im-
provement.
That America today is teeming with such like characters
who will dispute? That outbreaks such as have been por
trayed have occurred |in our own day who can deny? It is
only a matter of time when an upheaval will follow.
The smouldering flames of discord and rebellion only
await a favorable opportunity, and when they shall have
reached adequate proportions, wo to America the guiding
star of this enlightened century.
Then will the sons and daughters of Columbia, the home
of the brave and the fr^e, realize what now they are prone
to discredit, the Signs of the times tend towards dissolution
and bid fair to sink our common birthright into the putrid
sloueh of monarchy.
Just and wise government is essential for perfect union,
peace and prosperity in the social community.
The justice and wisdom of the government are really the
justice and wisdom of ruler and of the laws.
The proverbs of making enumerate the truth learned by
general experience that the character of a nation, as good or
bad, depends for its formation to a greater of less extent on
the head that rules and directs its citizens.
This is but natural, for the ruler is perpetually exhibited
to the people in the laws by which he is positively controll
ing or influencing the daily actions of the country.
Experience proves the truth, and it is also conformable
to reason that the ruler who ordinarily follows an equitable
medium between opposite extremes of rigor and laxism in