Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1850-10-19
Patriotic and k!FoNs7elat.

Oliver p. Baldwin senior editor Of the Rich
mond Republican, delivered in that city, on the
10th of August, 4 eulogy upon the life ant
character of Gen. Zachary Taylor. pamphlet
copy of which has been kindly sent to us. We
publish the closing paragraphs:
Il know that the hour is dark, that sectional
passions are aroused, and that the future seems
pregnant with disastrous results. But let us
not even permit ourselves to dream OF such an
event as the dissolution of the American Uni
on. Fratcrnal love, forbearance, reason, can
save it, when even wisdom and eloquence
would be of no avail Let the eyes of each sec
ton be no longer blind to the virtues and open
to the faults of others. The Frenchman may
rise against his Government, the Hungarian
may seek to throw off the thraldom of Austria ;
the Polander may struggle to regain his n;l-
| tionaty; but if we permit the Union TO perish
until every constitutional and traternal remedy
| has been exhausted, we shall present the first
example in The worlds history or q people who
were rebels against themselves who were sa-
tated with the sweets of liberty, sick of peace
and wcaried with prosperity. Never have 4
people been blessed with such blessings as we
have enjoyed under this Union; never have a
people been cursed with such curses as will
follow its dissolution. Surely it cannot be
that all our endowments of civil and religious
liberty, Of peace and plenty are to be sacrificed
by the madness Of a few men who make war
alike upon the Bible and the Constitution and
who wonld involve i'll the same ruin the shrine
of religion and the ark of liberty. Surely it
cannot be that as Europe is slowly advancing
in rational freedom by the light of our exam
pie, we should, with our own hands, extIngush
the beacon fires which guides q world on Its
weary way. Did your footsteps ever wander
in a foreign land Doubtless, many grand
and impre ssiye object you there beEeld, hal,
lowed by the moss of antiquity, and wreathed
with thousand beautiful associations. Be-
meath the solemn shades of Westminster Ab-
bey on the immorta! field of Waterloo, at the
foot of St Peters massive pile, upon the plains
veneration Of genius, learning, piety and vaor.
wealth and greatness, Of power and pomp-but,
tell me, among them all, did you ever behold
sight that stirred the deep fountains of your
heart, and sent the blood boiling with proud
emotion through every vein, as when, upon
some lonely sea, YOU met one OF your national
vessels, the stars and stripes of your country
uoNiu9 HtSlN out WI Wv iio"Hh'S o''e'NAJ
and the mountain wave!
s.And shall The time ever arrive when you
must travel through the world and meet no
more that flag; when neither on sea nor shore
shall its meteor glories' fall upon the wander
erer's eye; when the American shall pass
through the world worse than an orphan, man
without country! Must | ever be condemned
to feel that the national structure in which |
dwell is not the one which was built by the
apostles of American freedom and cemented by
the blood Of its martyrs; not the one of which
Washington laid the corner stone, but OF which
Jefferson and Madison were among the chief
architects-not the one which was illumined
bv the wisdom Of Marshall, and echoed the
tbunders of Henry's eloquence; not the First
Temple, which stood upon the Mount Zion of
our American Israel, its magnificent altar
cleaning through clouds of patriotic incense,
and the heaven-enkindled fire of freedom burn-
ing upon its shrine-no, not this temple, but
some humble edifce without an altar or a
priest, like that in which the disconsolate Jew
mourns his lost Jerusalem, and hanging his
harp upon the willow, excIaims, How can sing
the Lords song in strange land? And must
I not only give up my portion in the flag
and history of my country, but must yield
my ioterest in any of the consecrated spots OF
this loved Republic! Must stand on Bunker
Hill and Lexington, and be known as for
eigner? Must the man of the North press the
sod of Mount Vernon, and mournfully exc'aim,
This is no longer my country!' Must the world
Hnquish its only rally ground of free prnc-
Giles? A voice rises from the oppressed mil
ios of fEurope-Take not away from us our
on. city of refuge! From dungeon vaults,
androm the ashes of holy martyrs, comes
cry-)estroy not the only home of religious
libert. From the ruins of ancient republics,
melaneoly notes of warning float on every
breeze. From the battlemenfs of Heaven, the
spirits four fathers bend in solicitude, and
mourn, grief can enter Heaven, that they
have no hman tongue to arrest our mad ca
reer"