Mississippi palladium. [volume] (Holly Springs, Miss.) 1851-1852, 1852-01-15

edge, are already not unknown to you.
Permit me to make some humble re-
marks upon the question of national
ities,'' which play such an important.
and. dare say such miSchieyous part
in the destinies of Europe. | say mis-
Echievons, because no word was ever
SO much misrepresented or mistaken,
as the word "nationality," so that it
would be indeed great benefit TO hu-
manity could succeed to contribute
something to the rectification of this
I idea, the Misrepresentation of which
became the most mischievous instru-
ment in the hands of absolntism against
| the spirit OF liberty.
/ Let me ask you, gentlemen, are you,
the people of the United States, ma
ton or not? Have you national gov
ernment or notl Have you9 You
answer yes; and vet you, the people
OF the United States, are not OF one
blood, and speak not one language
Millions of you speak English, others
French, others German, others Italian,
Others Spanish, others Danish, and sew
eral Indian dialects-and yet you are
a nation. And your government, even
, the government Of pour single States,
nay the municipal governments of your
different cities, are not legisla:ing and
governing, and administering in all and
every language spoken in your Union,
!; in the respective States and in the re-
spective cities themselves-and yet you
!. have National government. Now
, suppose that one part of the people of
, the United States struck by a curse
, like that with which the builders of Ba-
bel were once struck, should at once
t rise and say" The Union in which
: we live is an oppress sion to US. Our
laws, our institutions, our State and
: city governments, our very freedom, is
an oppr ession to us What is Union
to US! what rights? what laws? what
| freedom (! what history? what geogra-
| phyl what community of interests
: They are all nothing. Language-that
is all. Let us divide the Union divide
the States; divide the very cities. Let
| US divide the whole territory, by and
} according to languages, and then let
: the people of every language live dis
f tinct, and form each separate State.
' Because every nation has right to ma
= tional life, and to US language is the ma
tion--nothing else; and your Union,
} your rights, your laws and your free
j dom itself, though common to us, is an
/, oppression to us, because language is
: the only basis upon which States must
f be founded. Everything else is tyran.
: n.y." What would you say of such
: reasoningl What would become oi
4 your great Union! What of youl
t Constitution-ths glorious legacy O
t your greatest men--those immorta
J, stars on mankind's moral canopy
; What would become of your country
e itself, whence the spirit of freedom
t spreadsits rising wings, and rising hope
: clears up the future of humanity
What would become of this grand
f mighty complex of your republic,
d should it ever be attacked in its consis-
;. tency by the furious hands of the IA
. naticism of Language.
!. Where now she wanders and walks
: among the rising temples OF human
0 happiness, she soon would tread upon
S the ruins of liberty, mourning over the
0 fragility of human hopes. Happy art
S thou free nation of America, that thou
hast founded thy house upon the only
: solid basis of a national liberty. Lib
q erty A principle steady like. the
e world, eternal like the truth, and uni.
:, versal fol every climate, for every
! time, like providence. Thou hast nc
n tyrants among thee to throw the apple
e OF Eros in thy Union. Thou hast nc
I tyrants among thee to raise the fury o.
hatred in thy national family-hatred
: of nations, that curse of humanity, thai
n venomous instrument of despotism
+ What glorious sight it is to see the
oppressed of SO many different ceun
e tries, different languages, history and
habits, wandering to thy shores, and
Q becoming members of thy great nation
k regenerated by the principles of com
: mon liberty. Would / could do tht
d same, but cannot, because love my
/ native land, inexpressibly, boundless
: fervently. | love it more than life
e more than happiness; ! love it more il
$ its gloomy sufferings than | would il
h its proudest, happiest days.
IS What makes a nation! Is it the Ian
II guage only! Then there is no great
?, no powerful nation on earth, becaus,
I there is no moderately large countr,
: in the world, whose population is coun
: ted by millions, where you would no
/ find several languages spoken. No!i
; is not language only which makes ;
h nation. Community of interests, com
'I munity of history, communities 0
I rights and duties, but chiefly communi
L ty of institutions of a population
y which though perhaps different ii
u tongue, and belonging to different ra
II ces, is bound together by its daily in
n tercouse in their towns, the centres 0
e their homely commerce and homel,
u industry, the very mountain ranges
n and system of rivers and streams, tn,
n soil, the dust of which is mingled witt
o the ashes of those ancestors who biee
IS on the same field, for the same inter
IS est-the common inheritance of glor,
n and of woe, the community of laws
tie of institutions, tie Of common free