Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-03-02

An American sentiment
An intensely American sentiment ana
nolicv ia not inconsistent with the largest
philanthropy and the most expansive De-
nevolence. To the immigrant 1t says
here are land and labor The broad prai'
rie and the open workshop await your
coming. A true American sentiment de-
mands that the garment of subject must
be left behind, and it is their duty to pre-.
pare for the investiture of American citi-
zenship. All that is alien to American
natl ynality should be left in the land from
which they emigrate. The Shamrock OF
Ireland. the Cross and lion OF England,
and the loved emblems of the German
fstherland, should be remembered only as
the symbols of a pre-existing but now ais
owned political relationship; and incor-
porated into the great American family,
thew should become in heart and in soul
and in sentiment, policy and principle de-
voted TO the country of their adoption.
The force of education, the power of asso-
citation should give them such novitiate
training, that in becoming citizens the
whole man without reservation concealed
or proclaimed, should be assimilated en-
tirely with the new Institution that gives
him protection.
But it Is not alone by the foreigner who
comes to our shores for a retreat from the
slough of aristocratic oppression, that the
American sentiment should be cultivated
and increased. There is an aping OF for
eign manners-a devotion to foreign GUS
toms--a servitude to foreign fashions that
is inconsistent, demoralizing and un-Am-
erican. Our wealth is lavished, the citi-
Gems impoverished, their tastes violated by
this deplorable tendency; and ii uncheck.
cd must result in sickly. artificial and
depraved national character. The tastes
aud hsbits of an American Republic
should be- robust and independent. Sur.
rouuded by all the materials necessary,
they should be fashioned into forms OF
utility and beauty, depending upon Am.
erican staples aud American industry to
conserve truly national spirit.
II inter woven into the character in Fall
our communities. IA well as in the ordi-
nary transactions of public and private
life, the American sentiment will mani
fest itself. This sentiment stood ready to
bl ,zs out from the twenty guns of lit.
tie craft, when, as instinct with the spirit
of it- intrepid commander, it flew to the
prot.ction of American citizenship. 1t
still lives and breathes and burns in that
great letter of an American Statesman
to minion of an Austrian despot. It ex-
hibited itself In form ever worthy to be
remembered in the requirement that all
our ambassadors at foreign courts should
appear there in citizens dress. In that
dress an American citizen may stand be-
fore princes and look unawed upon kings
and while smiling at the tinsel and bedi.
Eened appendages of royalty that hutter
around him, feel that he stands in their
midst the representative of nation of
sovereigns. Let us then socially and pol
iticslly cultivate an independent national
character and sentiment; and whatever it
is, let il be our own, and bear the impress
of the personal purity, simplicity and in
dividual independence which should ever
characterize American citizens.