The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1872-08-22
SUNDAY READING.
Eloquent Peroration.

Eloquent PerOrat1On.
The following is an extract from Rev. DIR
Palmers address in the Lee Memorial Chap
el, June q. 1872:
Finally, we must bring over to the futur,
q patriotism that is born Of adversely and
trial, more intense and pure than in the
prosperous and joyful past.
Love of country is inextingushable, be
cause it is flial. 1t ranks with that We owt
to the parents that begat us, and have giver
to us their image and their name. But
plead for i: not upon the cold footing OF
duty, but as precious sentiment of the
heart. As a principle, it strikes its foot fal
down into the consciousness; but its bloom
must expand into a holy passion, and it:
fruit ripen into acts Of enduring service fol
the public veal The best affections of the
soul are those which strengthen under trial
The alloy of selfshness burns away in the
crucible, and the pure love comes forth with
power of endurance which nothing can ex.
haust. 1t is thus we bear up each other
under the discipline of life, not through the
compulsion of necessity, nor the cold obliga-
ton of duty, but with warm devotion
which finds joy in the ministries of love-
A genuine patriotism is not that which
shouts itself hoarse amid holiday celebra-
tions; but when the country, groans in the
anguish of great crisis, waits upon its des-
tiny, though it be that of the tomb. And
this land Of ours, farrowed by 50 many
graves and overshadowed by such solemn
memories, calls for conservation of the
heart which shall be equal to its grief. The
patriotism which these days demand must
refine itself into martyrdom 1t must suffer
as we'll as act. Strong in the consciousness
Of rectitude, it must nerve itself to endure
contradiction and scorn. If need be, it must
weep at the burial of civil liberty, and wait
with the heroism of hope for its certain re-
surrection. Such spirit will wear out the
longest tyranny, and assist at the coronation
of brighter destiny.
Young gentlemen of the University, /
have delivered the message with which felt
myself charged. I have not been able to
address You with the fripperies Of rhetoric.
I have done you the higher honor of suppo-
sing you capable of sympathising with the
deep emotion of my own heart. When your
note of invitation reached me some months
ago, it touched me with the solemnity Of a
call from the grave. I felt, as / turned my
steps hither, that I was making pilgrimage
to my country's shrine. / should be per-
mitted to stand uncovered at the tomb of
the immortal chief who sleeps in such grand
repose beneath these academic shades where
he found rest after heroic tolls. Should |
look upon the emblem of my country's death!
Or should I prophecy beside it the birth of
a new career? Memories holy as death
have been throwing their shadows over my
spirit, and l have spoken in the interests of
country, of duty and of truth. The dim
forms of Washington and Lce-twin names
upon American history as well rs upon your
own walls-appear before me the Rhada-
msnthus and the Minos, who shall pronounce
judgment upon every sentiment uttered
by me here. If aught said by me should
draw the frown of their displeasurc, may the
Angel of pity drop tear and blot it out for
ever Standing upon the soil that gave
birth to Washington, Madison, Jeffer-
son. Henry, Randolph, Marshal, a
jackson, and Lee; and lifting the scroll
which hangs around the ensign Of my na-
tive State the names of Phckncy, Laurens,
Rutledge, Lowndes, McDufie, Hayne, Cal
houn, I summon their immortal shades
around his tomb whom nation so lately
mourned. In their dread presence l solemn
ly declare that the principles of our Fathers
are our principles to-day, and that the stones
upon which American liberty were first
built are the only stones upon which it shall
ever be able to stand. And you, gentle
men, representing the young thought and
hope which must shortly deal with these
mighty issues, swear each one by an oath
more solemn than that of Hannibal, not
that you will destroy Rome, but that you
will save Carthage. l charge you, if this
great Republic like gallant ship must
drive upon the breakers, that you will hs
upon the deck, and with suspended breath
await the shock. Perchance she will sur
vive it; but if she sink beneath the destiny
which has devoured the great Kingdoms of
the past, that you save from the melancholy
wreck our Ancestral Faiths, and work out
vet, upon this continent, the problem of 4
free, constitutional and popular government.
And maythe God of destinies give you a
good issue!