Litchfield enquirer., 1855-01-25
Every Description of
JoB.P r I N = I n q,
NEATLY AND PROMPTLY EXECUTED AT THIS OFFICE
IIEROISM.

IEROISM.
There is that heroism which appeals
strongly to our sensibiliies, which capti-
Yates the imagination, and takes with it the
popular heart But what is heroismi What
is il in its noblest, most divine, most pure
exercise! The kings Of the earth would
make their subjects believe it is physical
military daring. So they have employed
their bards to sing and historians to record
such exploits, and perpetuated the memory
thereof in marble and oil. So if man kill
ed .one man, il might indeed be murder; but
when he had killed million, he was hero.
Peace, we are told, is unheroic it is stag
nant, tame, corrupting. "a subtle poison"
in the language Of Mr.. Allison, debases
the public mind at such time. Peace ex-
hibits, indeed, an enchanting prospect; but
beneath that smiling surface are to be found
the rankest and most dangerous passions Of
the human heart" The commissions of war
shake up and renova.e this state Of things;
war is sort of subsoil blowing; it is the
refner's fire and fuler's soap it is the
thunderstorm that settles the dust, land clears
the sutrness Of hot day.
| am obliged to say there is more hcroism,
more gallant daring, more generosity and
ihdiiiIHcsss III ouo Jcai VI ptaSc, 'hdii III
whole ages Of war. | mean that there is
more strict, undoubtcd. legitimate herosm
in our steamship and railroad enterprises,
in our cotton mills and saw mills, in our
scythe factories and starch-'actofies, in our
securing the ocean for whales, and oxcava-
ting the earth for its ores, and similar things,
than in the battles of century. There was
more heroism in John Jacob Astor's attempt
TO found a colony in Oregon in 1919, than
in the war that broke it up; more in De
Witt Clinton, who about the same time
started the project of the Erie Canal, than
in the same war that broke that up; more
in Whitney who would give us a railroad
to the Pacifc-moro graphing with difficult
ties, more ior,tude in peril, more GOODNESS
in the midst of assault, than in Leondas
or Odin. l mean at least to say, that the
greatest qualities of the human mind which,
it may be, war sometimes developes, exists
in full force in peace.
There 10 need of heroes at the present
moment. America has need of them, and
the Kingdom of God has need Of them ; he
roes, not Of brute force but Of ideas; not Of
wuste and ruin, but Of reconstruction; not
ofcarnage and rapine, but Of virtuous action.
The old race of heroes is becoming extinct,
and a new one is rising; old notions Of strife
and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT are supplanted by new
ones Of peace and prosperity; outward ex-
citement and passion yield TO inward enter
prise and energy. We want not heroes in
epaulets, but in pepper and salt; not those
Of the sword, but Of the plough, the loom
and the anvil Wewant heroes oft river
md the forest, Of the field and the ocean,
of the pulpit and the forum, of the ballo,-box
and the Senate-chamber.
Hang up the old musket and the kettle
drum. The lightnings of heaven are arm
ing for us and recruits from the impalpable
air, on the pathway Of the telegraph, are
ready to run round the world in behalf Of
the great cause Of liberty and virtue
Steam, with all its ponderous agencies,
comes up from the fountains of water, and
asks to be enlisted for God and the right.
The press, like the rising sun, waits TO ir-
Iadiate the brightness of our thought, the
gladness Of our love, the wonders of our
genius.
Hang up the musket and the kettle-drum.
Take the spade aud tho drill, and the noun
tains fly away at your approach, the valleys
are filled up, and a way, ahighway is made
for our CODA railway is made for our
wives and children, and our mothers aud
fathers, our brothers and sisters, the world
over.
In ancient times, the French had BAN
ner, called the Oridamme, or Golden Flame,
which was used only on august occasions,
and when the Christians went to war with
the ln6dels. TWAS great banner, wrought
of silk and garnished with gold, and bear
ing in its centre white cross and when
il was unfurled to the breeze, it glistrned
like the auroral lights.
The sacred Oritlamme Of America, O We
young men, unfurl! the banner of progress,
the banner Of universal brotherhood gold
en- flaming banner, white cross banner, a
hammer Of beauty and delight! unfurl it to
the admiration of all people, gather your
forces around it, carry it at the head OF your
ranks go forth under it to the conquests Of
sin, error, vice and iniquity, oppression and
injustice let it stream above your civil pro-
cessions, let its golden light CLEAN upon
your homes and fields; plant it upon the
top of American destiny; and the world
hope; let il catch the eye Of posteri,y; leI
it greet the heavens, let it bless the earth.
Be heroes, and, il need be, martyrs under
il, the OriAamme, the Golden Banner, the
Whine cross banner, nail it 10 the mast Of
the highest enterprise and hottest endsavor
and, II you must perish, perish with thai
waving triumphantly over you,"