The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1863-05-01
The Political Saints Quarrel Over q
Division of the Rewards OF Vir-
Iron The Cincinnati Enqdirer.

Division of the Rewards of Vir
tue.
From the 'Cineihnah Enqiirer'l
Patriotism, when sublimed and recii
fed to pure specially. is apt TO becom'
delicately sensitive to financial cous'de
rations. We find an example Of this phe
nomenon in the conduct Of Nofth-"est
ern Journals and members OF Congress
who iDyeigh bitterly and threaten valor'
ously at the defeat of the bills designed
10 accommodate almost every property
holder with a canal capable OF navigation
by iron.clad vessels of war. That these
Journals and members OF Congress are ac-
tuated by no feelings Other than those OF
the most selfimmolating devotion TO
their country, is a fact which their party
status puts beyondThe bounds of dispute;
and it is doubtless thepurity OF this sen
timent which prompts them to aspire to
the rewards OF virtue which would accrue
in the form Of incidental profits TO par
tcular places and persons. in case these
great national works were undertaken.
and the money requisite TO carry them to
completion fairly diSlribnted
Our forelathers, history records.
when they entered n3'o< slie soil OF this
continent. so evidently designed 10y ma
ture and Providence TO be tie peculiar
home Of justice and the scene where civil
freedom would hfeenle most luyuIiant
and expansive, " Es.sd q brief but con-
elusive formula Brave their right to
come in and possess. They
"Resoired, That theealth Is the Lords
and the inheritance of the Saints and,
"'Resoioed, That weafe the Saints"
After this. the work Was easy, and the
only thing to be settled was the matter OF
distribution. Tho Snofe' devoted the
saint, the broader the strip of territory
assigned for his accommodation; and the
broader the strip Of territory, the more
conclusive the testimony which it bore to
the devotion of the saint.
Our once llow.citizens of the Africo.
Saxon persuasion having drawn broad
line of distinction between themselves
and the rest of mankind, upon this con-
tinent, in respect to the right Of life, lib
erty and the pursuit of happiness, have,
upon the score Of their loyalty, assumed
to themselves, like the pilgrim Fathers"
the prerogative Of saints IN prlJuS inf
dehm. They own it all-tbe only thing
to be settled being the manner in which
distribution is to be made. Their AMIGA
BILE disputes over the division are there
fore matters merely of curiosity, except
so far ms the result may serve to point out
the most loyal, and, therefore, most
worthy to the admiration of whoever it
may concern.
Our neghbor of the Gazette, all along,
opposed these plans for the general dis
semination of our iron clad ships-of-war.
The pretense set tlp for the opposition
was that something of the present or of
the future resources of the country ought |
to remain undistrbuted; but the actual !
reason may be that, receiving its share in !
a different form Of dispensation, it is en- !
viously averse to allowing its compatnbts
to get theirs. In either case, itisevident |
that the Gazette has not come fully up to !
the platform of its party, at least not in
its practical application. 1t distinctly at |
firms the rightOf inheritance in the saints
and, as distinctly the santship Of its own |
party; but there is palpably an unelim-
mated trace of the elder Adam in its com
position, which renders it av6rse to see
ing the principle carved out in its legiti
mate length, breadth and thickness. -
Having parted with all the other relics of
its pristine sin and misery, it would seem
strange that it should cling with so much !
tenacity to this, were it not that the Miss
tory of senile changes of heart furnish an.
abundance Of parallel cases. The de
mirep who becomes a deyotoe always re.
tains something of the habits Of her old
condition, and the deyotee who relapses-I
into demircp finds in her heart super 1
stitions whose influences she is never en-
tirely able to escape, True loyalty-judg- |
ing from the practice Of the truly loyal
consists in going in and getting all you
can in the general distribution; and in
whatever man or journal fall short Of
this is to be attributed to the fact that
the specification has not become so COM
plete as to have eradicated all the vesti-
ges of original imperfection.