Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-06-09

pie. Eli up the BIRTHS channel, and make IT.
plain, and would that make an Englishman q
FsenchmAns Bridge over the Danube, and viii
that chsngs an AUSTRIAN into Turk These dis
tinctSons Iie too deep 70 be blotted out by mere
change Of place or climate.
They are Impressed upon the whole man--upon
his mind--his hesrt-his body Nations have q
peculiar character Is truly as northumberland Ian
guage, customs, manners. institutions all proclaim
the power OF national life. The inspired record
that "God divided 70 the nafions their inherit
ance." clearly reveals his purpose that peoples
should be preserved distinct that the peculiar char
acteristics of each might be fully developed, and
thus all that Is good and noble in humanity be
brought 20 light As in the family circle, there Is
manifested in the highest degree depth and disin-
terestedness Of affection-purity and earnestness
OF love, 30 In the nation VIC find corresponding
strength and fervor Of patriotism spirit Of de-
votion and selfsacrfce.
The noblest virtues which can adorn humanity
are the natural fruit Of vigorous national lifs
Never has there been nation that has distinguish
ed itself by Its lofty deeds that has been the fruit
full mother of great men, that has not cherished In
high degree the spirit of nationality Where was
this spirit ever more intense than among the He
brew nationf The chosen people What people
was ever more strongly national than the Greeks,
or labored more earnestly to develope the richness
of the national mindf And how brilliant is her
history! How full Of illastrious names arc her
brief annals In the days Of her prosperity and
power Thus was II with Rome, and thus has Il
been with every nation that has exerted any i'm.
portant influence upon the destinies Of the world.
They have all labored, not to extinguish or sup
press but to awaken, and preserve, and strengthen
national spirit and to culture to its highest per-
lection the national genius.
In view OF these truths II seems strange to be
told that we are carefully to put away all that Is
distinctive, and repress to the utmost every senti-
ment Of nationality. No, sir; If we wish to emas-
culate and degrade the nation, and unfit 1t to play
any distinguished and noble part in the worlds
history--if We wish its sons to be commonplace
and ignobie men, we cannot more effactually &C.
complish it than by supprcssng the growth Of ma
tional sentiment. If our Republic has done any.
thing worthy Of historic record-if her children
have any claims to renown, 1t is because she has
given free scope to her native energies, and made
her institutions to bear the impress of her peculiar
genius. She has not been the timid and feeble
imitator Of other States. She has marked out
and pursued path Of her own--and her sons
have been mighty men in the earth, because filed
and animated with true American spirit
And, sir, il as people we are to have an honor
able and glorious future, it must DO by permitting
that principle Of life which constitutes nationality,
to have the frcest scope. The healthy growth OF
nations as truly ~ of individuals, is from within
outward. 1t Is only the process of unfolding what
lies hidden In the germ. The growth Of people,
70 be in harmony and strength and beauty must
be chiefly organic, like the growth of stately
tree, striking its roots downwards deep into the
EARTH and deriving thence nourishmentand strength
for the growing trunk and spreading branches, and
binding all its parts together by the power Of
common life. How absurd, how ridiculous would
1t be to nail slabs around sapling, and call It a
tree, and the slab enlargement growth; and
equally absurd is it to bring alien masses Of men
together into = e same territory, and call them q
nation.
There must be an internal principle Of affinity
an internal power OF coheson-or you have only
mob, not nation. A sand heap Is not a rock
SO a vast multitudelof men, brought into juxtapo-
sition by accident is not nation. A nation Is
living unity--the parts Of which are all bound to-
gcther by the law of a common life. No graft will
bear fruit, except the sap from the root flow
through its veins-otherwise il will be a dead
branch, shaken off in the blast of the first tempest
So II Is with every man who is Joined to a nation.
II he do not partake Of its life, and drink into its
spirit, he is but dead branch, and If you multiply
these by hundreds Of thousands, they will add no
thing to the fruitfulness strength or permanent
cy Of the nation that receives them. Whatever
there 10 exalted and noble In national character
whatever there is of courage and strength and
lofty patriotism; whatever there is OF goodness
and grandeur in our institutions, has not been
brought to US from without
In this way you may perhaps increase our riches
and our numbers, but you cannot give love of
country and patriotic zeal. You cannot import
national virtues as you import bales Of goods
These must be native TO the soil-the offspring Of
the national heart-the developments Of an in
ward national life Let us then, sir, cultivate q
national spirit. II has been from the beginning,
strong In the hearts Of this nation although OF late
il has seemed TO slumber. But notwithstanding
all the influences that have tended to make our
land like Noahs ark, full Of all kinds, we are
nation still
We disown the thought, that we are only con-
fused and heterogeneous mass of men--the debris
Of all lands, like bundle of dried sticks bound
together by no living tie; we are one people; we
have past we have a history; we are bound
together by the ties of common ancestry; We
have fathers whose memories we honor, in whose
deeds we glory we feel ourselves to be links In
living, ever growing chain, along which II Is pleas
ant for the heart to ascend into the sacred past,
and to go downwards In joyful hope to a future
that Is no alien. This Ia our native land, halowed
by the ashes Of our sires, containing all that We
most love.
Other lands may be dearer to their children
Be Il so; but be so dear to Us as this, for
II Is embalmed In the memories OF childhood; 10
Il have given our youthful affections and 70 Il
have we consecrated the strength of our maturer
age. II Il were ever poor and barren and OBJ
scure, Ii Is ennobled In eyes--ii u gofifed 10
our imagination-it Il dear TO our hearts, because
ID Is our native land.
Lives there man with soul so dead,
Who never TO himself hath said,
This Is my own, my native lsndyn
Let men talk a. they win about the attractions
and beauties Of cosmopolitanism and universal
brotherhood, that man whose heart goes not out
with peculiar strength Of affection towards the
land that gave him birth, towards the grounds no
trod in childhood, the old roof tree--who loves
not to go back and revive the early scenes, and
Awaken the echoes that start
When memory playsan old tune on the heart"
Is devoid Of the noblest sensibtes Of our nature.
Patriotism TO him Ia word without meaning, and
love of country sentiment alien to his soul.
The speaker then branched off extemporaneously
on the subject Of Religious Liberty, and cared not
whether the Pope controlled his subject temporar-
ly, but was satisfied that he controlled their con-
science, which was sufficient for him or any Amer-
can to know The speaker was vociferously APP
plauded throughout the delivery Of his speech.
The States were then called, when Virginia was
responded IN nv