Exeunt Administration [pp. 81]

THE HORRORS OF " SEPTEMBER," 1792.
Ask the thundering Danton, ask the
subtle Robespierre, ask the bloody
MIarrat, ask all the tyrants of the
French reign of terror, if necessity was
not the only plea they made for the
suspension of the laws and the destruction of liberty I
Ask the twelve thousand innocent
men who were butchered on the 2d of
September, if it was not necessity which
did the deed I
Ask all history, from the burning of
Rome, the destruction of the cities of
Greece, and the enslavement of Sicily.
Ask St. Bartholemew, ask the dungeons of the inquisition, ask hell itself! and see what answer you get
about necessity! O0, the devil made
that word to cheat the people out of
their liberty I
We entreat our countrymen to remember the bloody days of "Septenmber" remember all the murders and
agonies of the Reign of Terror-remember that all these deeds of tyranny began in a few illegal arrests,
which the people permitted because
they were told it was "nececssary!"
And remember all these horrors were
enacted only seventy years ago in the
most civilized nation in the world I
Remember Robespierre I Remember
"September I"
EXEUNT ADMINISTRATION.
T&mw God! at length the bloody farce is o'er,
The shoddy puppets strut in state no more;
At last, without a plaudit, quit the stage,
The whole vile pack amid the people's rage.
Chase and Abe Lincoln, faltering, head the band,
Stanton leads Seward by the filial hand;
Van Buren and Jim Brady take to flight,
Drop the black poppy-re-assume the white;
Poor Forney grasps no more the subtle pen,
To show Old Abe how four and four make ten,
Or to subtract six dozen from a scoreHis talents sleep where Arnold's slept before.
Poor Greeley, with his shuffling pace, attends
The mournful exit of his hapless friends;
And Raymond, with his occupation gone,
Sits with Park Godwin by the way, forlorn.
Rest their vile shades! may dark oblivion hide
The knaves who built on human woe their pride!
Or, if surviving in historic page,
Their mem'ry must endure from age to age,
With just posterity be this their fateTo meet contempt-too impotent for hate I
ls64.]