New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-05-28

or of the ohiyalric deeds of the people OF the
Low Countries, who stripped themselves and
sufFered daily death to save their national
heritage from the invader No hoard was 30
sacred that it could be Withheld from the
popular loan; no sacrifice too great for the
indemnity fund. While France has been
pouring from its hidden springs these streams
of wealth. industry has increased maglcally [;
the country has prospered; the scars OF war
have been greatly effaced; languor ana
despair have given place to cheerful actlVity'
and France, in the language OF NJ. Ihiers'
"has learned to bear, without forgetting,
"pains and griefs that are beyond consolation"
If all this is the result of French sentiment,
it must be confessed that it Is a sentiment
worth having. 1t has plucked up great
people from the depths Of disaster ana mas
crowned it with success which S the envy
and admiration of the world.
We are too far removed from our own war,
perhaps, to feel much influence from the wave
of patriotism which swept over the land when
our bitter struggle was upon us. Men and
women made their sacrifices in treasure and
blood. We can never forget the heroic lives
and deaths of the thousands who have fur
rowed the South with their own graves, or
have silently carried their wounds into peace
full homes. The noble army Of martyrs will
need no monument to compel the remem-
brance of this generation. But there was an
immense multitude which took no part in the
actual struggle, though perhaps otherwise use
fully serving the general cause. Most OF these
ordinarily forget their duty to their country
the sentiment of patriotism with them seems to
be evanescent. Do any Of the vast throngs
of peasure-seekers that weekly fit across
the ocean ever think that it might
be- their duty to stay at home
Might not some of these spensdlthr.i.ss
learn lesson from the gentlewOman of
Charente who went out to service that she
might earn something to cast into the lndem-
nifty FUND.- We are burthened with great
national debt; the balance Of trade is against
us; gold floats away up to 118, and the cur
rency of the country sinks propOrtionately;
trade is dull and money is scarce; and poverty
increases. Yet Summer travel to foreign lands
goes on at the rate of at least two thousand
people per month. These take with them not
less than six millions In gold each month; and
this great drain during the early Summer is
added to that which an almost criminal ex-
travagance in Overtrading takes out OF the
Republic. We would not ignore the material
advantages which foreign travel secures for
the country. The higher culture which
wider knowledge of the great world brings, as
well as the contributions to our own store OF
national, industrial and artistic ideas, are each
worth something. But these do not counter
balance the great waste that still goes on while
foreign importatiOns and foreign exodus are
80 great. Selfish or unthinking people won
der that their pleasure-seeking should be
thought unpatriOtic; but that Summer pleas
uring ia felt in trade circles to-day. Thence
it widens out in diminishing ripples; but
every industry feels the far-reaching shock.
When the efflux of travel and the drift of spe-
Gle are Europeward, the gold barometer rises,
and we all know what that means to the whole
country. If the millions of money which go
abroad to pay for costly merchandise and hol-
iday journeys were spent among our own peo-
pie, there would be great relief. We should
see here something of the prosperity which
to-day warns and brightens France. This is
merely sentiment But it is the sort of sem
timent which has given the French people
their happy triumph over a great defeat. Nay,
more, it is the sentiment which, in the dark
days of our civil war. led men to die on in
conspicuous fields and to suffer for their coun-
trys sake. This is patriotism.
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