The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-08-05
,,,oss va. Patriotism.

rshed =. week or two ago, rei's'' ..n,ar,nriIle
mon Of limited horizons, '", ~ an arti-
''''" v. takes us TO task III a. than
-to'"" ,:'. noi,u sentimental ram ,oart
rIe ""'.N' ,,,oro credit to the eoi'ol 80
,ho, 10 his head. We n''H " dcmur'' In
l,,,,,non,seaths arttc'e-nu journalists
,,n so,se in which 80 Ill., l., ,,,,;nh
~" Tho word, but in 'he se.s :, =.
use use it--that Is. ADMIT ali hs ave.
h'" ,. 20 I've true. and still MAINTAIN .lle
u" ,';,;on we held in our first article. we
f.,n,,nd that JONES ought not to DE
",acted TO office merely because he resides
an tbc left bank OF Persimmon creek. Inc
Co,nnnon,ocalth replies that JONES Is 10 ne
landed for his attachment to his own Slue
Of the creek. We admit the truth Oh tn'
answer. but object that 1t is moi responI.,'
10 the issue. Quoth the Coanmon".''''"'
nrThe God of Nature has so constituted US
..,,d with a most benign purpose-that ".
...1l have strong local attachments. ana 'na'
..orr affections involuntaI lily 90 out 10 CHI
x.,,~,co those familiar to us In business, anu
identified with Us in interests oy pr"p'n
".o,,itv." We concede that all TINS Is u w.
but what has it to do with the qncH'''' ~
,.sre. The Commonwealth also says
up,t II honnens to be Obvious from the
,.o.d;nn of that paper 1.-THE DSPdtchI lot
Car, past, that it has long been cohVllic p;..
irat VIRGINIA was created originally soieIy
r,,' tho benefit of Richmond CITY. Ion.
T.,otnr Enot,'s eulooy on Duluth harae
'rrn,sscs it, flaming leaders on the gran
dnur and importance oil h!ctin ~. .,dnn'
thi, the Dispatch ia rigit-but IN iIs e enie
yors TO build up its own CITY anu STILL,
it i'll becomes 1t 10 denounce III o'n1 i th;nos
feelings and sentiments that IN an ."iuS
NJ. Sm;nently dictate its own actlOh, ahu
more especially when those feelings auo
sentiments are laudable.'
Vow. il we had ever in single instance
advocated the election of man TO Il otale
office because he resided III Richmond, inc
Couln,on,realtfs argunaentum al hom'nem
would touch US. But unfortunately Tor us
looic we have never done so. Surely the
Commonwealth does not understand us a.
colI;ru il sectionalism" for the people OF
sny county to do MI they eau TO promote
their own material interests. Nhat we on
icct To is the subordinating the interests oi
. state to those of mere section OF Il
those of n large section to those OF acoull'y.
# A. B. c.. or A. Il. ", to bring II nome
10 our censor, were q candidate for the
House Of Delegates in Prince Edward, he
would esteem it a poor reason for rejecting
him II his election should be opposed on
rhc ground that he lives in one corner OF
The county, or that the east side OF Bullaio
creek has nearly always had the delegate,
or that the judge and the clerk OF the county
court live i'm Farmville. 1t is to this Kind
Of sectionalism that we Object, When we
commend JONI BALDWIN aud BILLY SMITH
rs men who would make good United States
senators because they understand the Con-
s,it,ltion and the laws Of the country and
arc men of fine native abilities and capital
sneakers, as well Is men OF irreproachable
characters, we see no propriety in the reply
which tells Us only that they live north OF
the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad. Row,
of this kind Of " Scctionalism (which Is
the only kind we have ever condemned
the Dispatch is not now and has never been
guilty. We have never stated it ~ an OBJ
ion to the election OF any man TO any
office that he lives outside of Richmond, or
ON the South side, OF in the Southwest, or
elsewhere. Two Of the three candidates on
The last State ticket of the Conservative
party reside in the section which the Conn
qnor,renlh champions: hut nobody ever
stated the fact rs al objection to either
WALKER or TAYLOR. Is for ourselves, ii
j. impossible that we could have any pre-
q SnnthS iInr nn upppljDt nt |
HE place of his residence. Yet we certainly |
shall not advocate the election Of any man
Ia any office merely because lie lives i'll Il
region or Il county to which we are attached.
Professor FisKE draws a distinction he
tween claGnishness and " patriotism"
In his lecture to the post graduates Of liar-
ward University on the law of social cvO-
Luton, he declares that The moral element
IN social evolution, is ''tle continuous
weakening of scltiShnrSs and strengthening
of sympathy ''-"a gradual supplanting OF
fq0sSm by dlt,WiSm." /" In the primitive
" state OF society the egois,ic feelings will /
"he most active and will oyerbalance the |
"al,lul>tc feelings" "The highest emo /
lion AttainahIc will be cianRaShncSS." The |
progress OF civilization Is shown 10y the
weakening of this clannish feeling and the !
strengthening OF the patriotic feeling by en-
tending ones horizon. "Now. what i, il |
=" that chiefly determines the slow develops |
"mcnt of the altruistic feelings ard the |
" gradual atrophy of the cgoistir feelings: |
" obviously, it is the growth Of the COM
immunity in size and compleXity- graf
'a0! enlargement Of the area Ocer arhich !
"the aHra'Sttc Feelings ettcnd," &c.
We quote again:
"Whiic in primitive times the interests
at men were supposed TO coincide only
throughout The limited area of petty
clan. they are now seen to coincide |
throughout vast areas, and the railway, the |
steamship, ana the telegraph, are daily |
bringing communities into closer union,
and. rs George eliot finely expresses it,
"mtkng scli-intercst a duct for sympa |
thy" The spirit Of Christianity, first rem |
nrred possible by Roman cosmo politanism, |
AIS mace, and IL ever making, wider and
deeper c1nqucstS rs civilization advances. |
HH The primitive savage moral duties were |
nnUeitrctly recognized, but only within |
the tlnIts of the clan. BY the Greek the
ethical code was enlarged. but 1t was
code not applicable 10 barbarians. The
medieval Christian had still longer list OF
duties owed by hm TO all mankind, his
brethren in the sight OF God; and to the
anuient conception of justice he added the
conception of bcneyolence; but the ia
m!iiar maxim that mo faith need be kept
with heretcs" shows that even TO his
conception of duty there were, practlcal
limits. The modern, ON the other hahu,
recognizes that he owes certain uutleS 10
all men with whom ne may be brought
III contact, not because they are his kin.
IL l. oil nhhnra his II nII