Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1854-10-14
From the New York Mirror
LOVE OF

1t scarcely matters where a man is born,
whether amid the frost and snow Of Polar re.
gions, or in Southern climes where the verdure
of earth is perennial, he loves, and to the latest
hour of his life will love, his native land. 1t
may be bleak and inhospitable; its government
may be oppressive, still he cIings to the soil on
which was born with an unfalter;ng affection,
and whithersoever he may 60 in to other and
more beautiful countries, his memory in waking
hours and in dreams, wanders to his chiIdhood's
home-he loves it though it exiles him, and is
proud of its name and fame while its yoke sits
calling on his neck. Love of country is a life
implanted sentiment, belonging, alike, to the
rudest savage and the most polished civilized
man.
And it is a beautiful ordinance in our nature
that we are all pervaded by this sentiment.
From this springs the fraternity of race and
nation; the cohesion of individuals into com
m%unities, and the inclination of communities to
a "local habitation and a name" From this,
too, spring the strongest manifestation of bro
therhood-man caring first for himself, family
and kindred; then for the community and ma
ton to which he belongs. Through this iso-
late fraternity, man, rising in intelligence, ex-
tends the brotherhood of communities to the
human race. From this, too, springs patriot
ism, which, without a country endeared BY
peculiar associations to love and defend, would
not exist. If man was bound in mind and
heart to no particular spot of earth; if the birth
place, the hearths, the affairs, and the graves of
kindred were no bond, his sentiment, from first
to last, would be unmitigated selfshness, and
instead of meeting and defying danger by his
hearth and altar, he would fly to other spaces
of earth. He would be continually a wanderer
"a nomad-careless where he pitched his tent,
or where his grave was scooped.
And since this sent ment is so strong. so
essential, and so beautiful for the development
and brotherhood Of our common race, how
steadily intelligent peoples and nations should
strive to render their native lands-their coun-
Trustworthy of their love and praise. The |
Roman of to-day is abject and bowed down,
because his country is desecrated and shorn
Of the beauty and glory which inspire. the
conquering Iegions of the Caesars. He NAV
love his country as devotedly as did a Fabius
a Brutus, but it is not the love which springs
rom pride in her power. her virtue and her
greatness; it is rather a love compounded of
grief and pity that she has so degenerared.
The virtue and patriotism of people depend
much upon the condition of the country to
which they belong. 1t may be easy to-day
o impose letters upon the inheritors of the
eternal city" but the world could not e~nslave
Roman in the age of Coriolanus.
But the love ofcountry, simply, is not enough
o inspire the noblest patriotism; it must, to
Emulate the loftiest virtue and heroism, be a
born ofa just pride. Must be a love that
MI not permit a people TO forego the guar
ianship of their own soil, institutions and laws.
l love that will make them eternally vigilant
} the defence Of their own heartIs, affairs and
raves. A love, jealous as devoted, and rely
,g upon native hands and hearts, and not upon
auxiIiaries-upon Prntorian Guards.
people may be hospitable and give shelter
s they will, but the sword, the treasure and
ne laws of their land must not be placed in
hands of strangers. All history, in inerad-
able lines, is craven with warning to this
nd.