Glasgow weekly times. (Glasgow, Mo.) 1848-1861, 1857-05-14
From the Buffalo Commercial Adye rtiser.
Americapism.

The strong development of national feel
ing which has been exhibited in this colln-
try within the last few years, has been stig-
matised in certainquarters as a narrow, illib-
eral prejudice. We envy neither the supe-
rior enlightenment nor the wide sympathy
with humanity which is arrogated by those
who make the charge, 1t has always struck
us that the strong preference which one
feels for ones own country, the pride which
is felt in the fame of lis distinguished men,
the interest in its prosperity and greatness
the reverence for its institutions, and the
love for it's very soil, display one of the mob
lest instincts Of human nature. That cos
mopolitsnism which affects to rise superior
to all local attachments, and regard every
portion Of the human race with equal favor,
is rather an indication Of cold heart, than
of spirit truly philosophical. To the eye
Of a superior being who looks down on the
earth with impartial benevolence, other
countries may seem as meritorious and as
deserving of regMd as our own. But that
is no reason why we should feel for other
countries the same fond affection which it Is
natural TO cherish for our native land
Your own father may be no better a man,
perhaps not SO good man, as some resi-
dent Of a neighboring town. But you hard
ly know whether you ought to regard with
more derision or horror pretended philos-
opher who should tell you that flial affec-
tion is narrow prejudice, unworthy Of a
liberal mind. Fortunately, nature would
prove too strong for such speculation, as it
does for the kindred folly that the pride and
joy we feel in our native land, should never
rise above the dead level of that universal
complacency with which a christian is bound
TO regard all the countries of the world.
No! the patriotic instinct is one of the
most powerful with which the Creator has
endowed the human heart. 1t is the parent
of all the great deeds of history. Next to
the martyrs who have borne testimony to
their holy faith, the loftiest exhibitions of
heroism have been afforded by the patriots in
every country, who have held themselv
sever ready to be offered up" in their coun-
try's cause. One Of our American poets
speaking Of this sentiment of patriotism, has
beautifully said:
No deeper feeling sways us, when it wakes
In all its greatness. 1t has told itself
To the astonished gaze of aRe-struck kings,
AT Marathon, at Bannockburn, and here,
| where HTSt our patrlOtS sent tne invader Dack,
Broken and cowed.
The feeling which binds every honorable
man TO his native land by strong ties of affec-
tion, is beautifully ordained by Providence
as means of carrying out its design that
all the regions of the earth shall be nhabi-
ted by human denizens. Goldsmith, in his
beautiful poem Of the Traveller, paints, with
that exquisite simplicity and truthfulness Of
delineation which render his poetry SC
charming to healthy taste, the attachment
people of different clImes feel for the soil
on which they are born. We copy q few
lines, not for the weak purpose of tricking
out our article with poetic decorations, but
simply TO show the opponents of American
ism that they have been accustomed to ad-
mire in classic pages, what they now think
tit to denounce as narrow and illiberal
prejudice. The literature of all free coun-
tries abounds in such passages, and if a
scholar should be asked what is the princi-
pal charm of the ancient classics, he would
probably reply, the patriotism which per-
vades their productions, and which is the
informing soul that inspires and WHITES
those exquisite models Of literary compost,
tion. But we must return from this digres-
sion, and copy the promised lines:
But where 10 find that happiest spot below
Who can direct, when all pretend TO know7
The shuddering tenant OF the frigid zone
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own;
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas,
And his long nights of revelry and ease:
The naked negro painting at the Line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine,
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
And thanks the gods for all the good they gave.
Such is the patriots boast where e'er we roam,
His first, best country ever is at home.
This is true TO human nature, and it is
only because it is true TO human nature that
we quote it. The reader must pardon us
if we give another passage, in which the
poet speaks of the fond attachment of the
Swiss TO their native mountains:
That every good his native wilds impart,
Imprints the patriot passion in his heart;
And e'en those hills that round his mansion rise,
Enhance The bliss his scanty fund supplies.
| And as child, when soaring sounds molest,
Clings close and closer TO his mothers breast,
So the loud torrents and the whirlwind's roar,
But bind him to his native mountains more.
We repeat again, this is quoted because
it is true to nature. We long since out
grew the boyish fondDess for poetical dec
orations. But fanybody should be SO fool
ish as to deny that maternal fondness is one
Of the most amiable instincts Of the female
heart, we do not know that we could put
such folly to shame by any more appropri-
ate argument, than one founded on those
innumerable and exquisite passages of the
poets, in which they paint a mothers ten
derness for her offspring with a pencil
"dipt in heaven" So in relation 10 that
form of patriotism which manifests itself in
the guise ofa fond and jealous attachment
Of ones native land. Poets pour out the
wealth of their genus in celebrating those
qualities in human nature which are noblest
and most attractive. And the admiration
that is bestowed on such passages is proof
that the universal human heart recognizes
the truth of the delineatons, and responds
to the truth of the sentiments. No poetry
can touch the heart which is not true to ma
ture.
So far from the recent exhibitions of A.