True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-04-05

80
old, in the market-places Of the people
II is with US no new-fangled doctrine; no
latter-day article Of faith; no eleventh.
hour plank in the platform; no modern
shibboleth on the brink Of victory.
We rejoice, yea, and we will rejoice, in
the onward march of thatgreat sentiment,
let whowil embrace it, and let who will
oppose. There it stands, in all its original
grandeur and beauty. The tinsel of fat
terry and the insignia of power cannot add
one cubit to its glorious stature; nor can
slander and envy, malice and revenge, mar
its fair proportions, nor move it from its
deep foundations AS Americans, all our
dearest memories of the past, all our best
enjoyments of the present, all our cherish
ed hopes of the future, are garnered up in
this. The sons of America are fit to rule
their own country and by the help of AL
mighty God, they will rule it to the end Of
time. ff
-"Tell our invaders this; and tell them too
We seek no change; and least Of all, such change
As they would bring US"
The sentiment we thus advocate is en-
shrined at the foundations of our Union.
1t is ingrafted with the sovereignty of the
states. 1t will forever keep foreign inter-
meddlers from damaging the governing
powers of this continent. The spirit that
guides it will preserve inyiolate all our
treaties with other nations, and thereby
prevent all lawless expeditions, and too
great expansion of our territory. Actua-
ted by this sentiment, the church and the
state must forever be kept asunder; while
none but those who have personal probity,
as we'll as intelligence, can control the
councils of the nation. The sacred vol
ume, without note or comment, will speak
its sweet words of instructions and warn
ing within the walls of the school room,
where the children of the rich and the
poor meet together on equal terms. The
ballot box, the grand palladium of our lib
critics, will be guarded from the profane
touch of ignorance, bribery, and corrup-
ton; the foreign pauper and alien crimi-
nal cannot burden our poorhouses with tax
es, and fill our prison cells with felons; our
relations with other powers will not be in
volved by abrupt repulses on the one
hand, and entangling alliances on the other;
American labor will be fairly protected
against all unfair foreign competition our
excessive importations will cease; our do
mestic products will be fostered, admins
trative extravaganza, that bane ofrepubics,
will come to an end, and, to crown the
whole, American presidents, with Ameri-
can cabinets, and an American Congress,
will unite their counselsan put forth their
patriotic labOrs to hand down unimpaired
to posterity our broad iEheritance-an in
heritance purchased at the costly sacrifice
of the blood of our fathers.
In view of such momentous things as
these, who would not be an American p
an American by birth not only, but, in
every sense, an American in heart and soul
AN American in faith and in practice? p
And if we would come fully up to this
high standard, there's still vast work be-
fore u.s. 1t is no less work than that Of
infusing anew the patriotic current into the
hearts of the masses of our countrymen
We must kindle afresh the altar fires tina
yet burn among the ashes of our heroi,
dead.
~ a. This spirit of patriotism is the spirit
and the only spirit, that should be in
voked to direct the affairs Of our repub
lie. This is the spirit that foreve
lived, and moved, and had its being il
the great heart of WASHINGTON. :
, 1t is this spirit, and this alone, that ca,
ride the whirlwind and guide the storm Q
sectional strife and party conflict This
the spirit that must and will be obeye
when it says to the north, Give up, and t
: the South, Keep not back; that can ban
us together like brothers, as it were, in
. moment, for the common defence again,
the common enemy; and that, by the pc
J tency of peaceful, prosperous, industrior
and upright example, can make Americ
what Heaven designs her to be-the ligl
. and glory of the world.
But is there nothing in all this to inte
fere with the mission of America as Il
almoner of bounty to the nations? No.
u emphatically no! America, under the e
J elusive rule of Americans, must still
n the home of the stranger and the pilgri
/
II from among the suffering nations 81
: stands at the portals of her ample door
/ thrown back on their hinges from the A
u lantic to the Pacific, from the Lakes to Il
n Gulf, and beckons the outcast wandere
n free from crime, and willing to labor,