The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1845-02-05

ter, air, and lays up in future ages, the ma
.erials of fertility for plants of nobler growth
The love of country, with all the reyerentia
sympathies it implies, is among the strongest
impulses in every rightly constituted mind
and next TO self-respect, is the most impor.
tant ingredient in the character of a virtuous
man. The mental eye unlike the natural
magnifes objects as they recede, and every
true man cherishes for his ancestry an affec-
tionaie Partially, that leads him to see in
them the virtues of the golden, combined with
the wisdom of the iron age. 1t is in this
! feeling. that we find the root Of true consev-
dtism, and, every moment, whether retrogade
or progressive, which wars with their sacred
impulse, is not unwise merely, but unnatural
| unchristian, criminal.
It's TO the want of an intelligent national
pride-the universal solvent which melrs and
combines into a harmonious whole the 9TH
erwise discordant traits of individual and To-
cal feeling-that we must ascrbe the non
existence of 4 well-dehned and consistent A
merican character. We have abundance of
inflated complacency in the present abund-
ancc Of boaslful expectation in respect 10 the
future, but too little of sympathetic and rev.
erent regard for glorious past, withcu, " hich
neither this present nor that future had been
possible.
This is partly the effect Of diversity of
origin, local interests and political rela-
tons. under 4 fedratiye system, but its
real source lies deeper, and its REQ; may
be found in one of cur proudest charac-
teristics. 1t is proper to call free people,
and emine ntly to that family Of nations
to which we belong, to love abstract truth
beyond material symbols, to follow the
spirit instead of adhering 10 the form, and
to bow 10 the principle, rather than to
worship its visible manifestation. But
honorable and noble as this propensity is,
1t is not without its dangers. In seeking
for abstract truth, we are prone to over
look the conditions which limit its prac-
tical application, and to forget, that in the
moral and the political, as well as the
physical world, the deductions of science
can never be strictly realized in practice.
Nor is this the on'y, or even the greatest
danger, to which the trait in question ex-
poses us.
Doctrines tied to no forms, connected with
no localities, relying on no authority but i'll
diyidual reason, attracting no sacredness to
aught cognizable by the senses, or more east
" overthrow, than when they assume the
shape of belief, entrenched behind the bull
warks Of form. prejudice and opinion. In
Europe, where every rock has ITS name, every
landscape IFS history, the love Of country and
its Institutions is at once strengthened by thou
sands of venerable associations, and narrowed
10 the humble shape rather of attachment to
localities. than of enlightened and expanded
patriotism. But with us, who have no dim
traditions, no hoary fables. to give not indi-
vidualIy only, but almost life, TO plain and
and mountain, and rock and river, patriotism.
though larger, nobler and more intellectual
sentiment, is yet less tenacious impulse. j;
is therefore duty most solemnly incumbent
on every man who prizes institutions depend
ent like ours upon an ADLER security than a
sound public opinion, and who feels himself
competent TO appreciate the grounds upon
which they are built. To exert that -cne talent
which is death to gnide.' in maintaining. de-
pending aud popularizing their principles
Our American liberties are meuaced. not on
" by apathy and ignorance, but we have too
many proofs of the existence, even among !
ourselves, of a determined hostility 10 the car !
dinaI principles on which they rest. nor let |
any deny the approach of danger, because |
as vet he hears not the din, and sees not the |
smoke of the encounter. The earthquake, |
which upheaves mountains, and the tempest, |
that scatters an armada are invisible forces, |
bot there are tokens whereby wise men fore
see the shock. Such indications of danger 10 /
our dearest interests we may 6nd among 4
class of our own citizens, who z lOry IN truck 1
ling submission to European teachings, m 1
our unnatural alienation from all that is great /
and good, and reverend in cur history. IN .
diguifed affectation Of supercllious contempt /
for every manifestation of conscious Amerl-
can pride, in a wrong headed perversity. that
loves to dwell on the dark side OF our nation
al character, clothed in the livery Of anxious
fear, of an alien heart, and ieisns to tremble
for the stability of those institutions which
il is doing its utuTos TO undermine. We have
too much of that blind zeal Of The pupIl.which
outruns the precepts Of its foreign teachers,
too mach of that questionable Pro;estantIsm-
that trembles with sympathetic fear when you
attack the corruptions Of Popery,too much oil
that craven and tratorous spirit that's asham-
ed of its birth place murmurs against the
Providence which appointed its faiherland'
and grieyes, because it is only through the |
PILGRIMS thatit can trace its lineage 10 their
titled and mitered oppressors. Nay more
than this Sons of New England have dared
to insult the memory, and blaspheme the God /
OF their fathers, by denying to that congrega- :
ton which He gathered in the wilderness the /
name and attributes OF Christian Church.
1t NAV in indeed be doubted whether it be .
possible now to construct harmouioustyp !
of national American character out Of the dis /
cordant materials which have been assembled I
and which an unwise and short sighted policy /
suffers to be kept in perpetual fermentation, |
by the infusion, not of new ingredients only, |
but Of hostile elements. A nation, like an or
ganic being, must grow not by accretion, but |
by aeyelopement and should receive into its 4
system nothing incapable DISSEMINATION. But
from this and many other influences pernic- |
ious to the symmetry OF our national charac-
ter, New England is,happily,in great meas
ure, exempt. / arrogate not for her mo-
nopaly Of all the excellences of American
genius. nor do insist that she is the sole de-
pository of the vital principles Of American
life. but her population is homogeneous IN lis
origin, her component parts harmonious IN
their organization, and she possesses the nni-
" of character that belongs to aPeopie winch
owes its aggregate existence TO one great end
the noblest end that eau inspire social map
e ;r,I and rplIpIOuS liberty.