The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1864-03-24
From the Warron (O.) Constitution.
What is Patriotism.


What is Patriotism.
What is patriotism? There was time
when the humblest freeman is our land
might have given reply that would have
thrilled every noble frceman's heart. The
freeman's love to his country, if it be exalt-
ed above the filthy dregs of ambitious and
avaricious desire, is one of the noblest sem
timents that has ever warmed the impulses
OF human heart except the love Of re-
ligious truth and the exalted desire of eternal
salvation, and there is no nobler sentiment
of which humanity can boast. Patriotism
is natural God given instinct, when it lives
in an honest heart. Let no man deprecate
such a sentiment when it exists in its
purity; and it does yet exist, and some times
it manifests itself above the fearful depth of
immortality, corruption and vice, in which
our once prosperous country is sinking deep
and deeper; it lives in the honest old
farmers bosom; it anlmates the hard toiling
mechanics soul; 1t warns the purest heart
Of the frugal matron at her ceaseless labors;
and it sheds its benigu radiance in the brave
impulses he noble heroism and the count
less privations of many q soldier in our ar
mics. Let no man be so base as to detract
a single atom from the honor due to every
true patriot in our couDtry's service. 1t is
a devotion of too exalted nature, TO be
trampled under foot. or to be passed by un-
noticed. Our soldiers have been brave, no.
bic and heroic; they have sacrificed much
upon the altar Of their country's nouor; their
blood has stained the soil of every Southern
state; their bones crumble upon every
Southern battle ED; deserted fresides at
home, the walls and sighs Of bereaved pa
rents, the dreadful anxiety upon the brow
OF the hapless maiden, all bear testimony
to the unalioy ed patriotism of many a com
mon soldier. Let US not stism atize him
with diShonorable epithets. But hark!-
Methinks hear q long, loud, piercing wall
rend the troubled air. lis the cry of the
bereaved mother, the wall of the mourning
widow and the orphans prayer for bread;
an d it is extorted by the fearful dread, lest
their gallant sons have been M ade the un-
conscious victims of pride, avarice aud am
bition. l venture the assertion, and |
challenge contradictory evidence, that no
war ever originated, but it was caused BY
the avarice and ambition of its instigators-
Rome, once so powerful that surrounding
nations deem ed it no disgrace to sue for the
honor of becoming Roman citizens fell
through the combined Influence of avarice,
am bi;ion, and THAR natural concomtant,
love OF luxury; the free institutions of once
enlightened Greece, were SIN mothered beneath
the oppression of the same frightful monster;
tho Spanish robbers, who desolated the
homes of Mexico and Peru, were melted by
the unholy desire to obtaining wealth; Ma
poieou Bonapartc sacrificed thousands of
human victims upon the altar of helliSh
ambition; the American revolution
caused by the cupidity Of England's amb-
tious sons, and the great American rebellion.
the most deso:atng war that ever polluted
the fair surface of our earth, was caused by
a set of raviug higher law" politicians
& naughty pride and an unlimited am bition
melted them to acts Of strocity asd incon-
sideration, which the dictates of calm
Judgment would have repelled, at once as
unchristiau and inexpedient. They have
precipitatei our land into a fratr .cidal con-
f let. and by concealing their he!lish ambi
tion behind a pretended patriotism, and
waving the stars and stripes the glorious
banner beneath which our gallant Washing
ton and that heroic son os gay France met
and conquered the foe, they have Induced
thousands to follow in their train. speak
of the leaders of our land. the "Govern-
ment," Il yOu choose. Does any one desire
evidence for these assertions? The whols
history OF the war; from its very beginning
down to the present time, is one united
strain of fearful evidence. "Ah!' say ore
of the "Governmenrs officials" who has
lined his pockets with greenbacks, and sold
his soul TO the devil, "ah! You are too Sc
we're; wait until this rebellion is crushed, and
then we will discuss these things" How
eowardly! Your fear the facts; you know
they will weigh you down and crush you to
the earth Y ou dare not look truth in the
face. Her calm, honest gaze is too search
ing to be endured by your restless, guilty
soul. You know you're wrong; tor right
never fears the light. If you desire tne
facts they can be produced. You can have
them, thick and thin, long or short, many
or few Just as you choose, or rather, just as
YOU Go not choose. Y You call the honest man
from mis- peaceful labors to fight for tn pro
lection of his couu'ry, and you set your
filthy loot upon her Constitution aud laws;
and you Call this patriotism. You enrich
one portion of the land by your revenue
laws, while you impoverish the other; you
sit in your easy chair end compose a statute
that puts gold into your pocket as a reward
for your services, while the private soldier
in the field, who has pledged his life for his
country, shall be paid in deprecated cur
reucy; like Gawning slave, you iondle the
foolish "Governmenln' Tor the sake of a
lucrative Office or rioa.contrac,; and these
things you Gail patriotism. AIToH.
CH1LpREN.-Did you ever think of it. how
independent children are of circumsta nce.?
How the children of the poor are as happy
with nannv tov with a hit of broken china,