The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1874-03-06
Twenty-secOnd Of February,
From the New orleans Republiean.l

Il g LGApNS AC ASH oAACxtlS GGCpAOlGtusl ~ 2
It is feature of Professionalism to mani.
fest very little veneration for saint days
or, indeed, for saints. There is with
them a certain regard for principles
which they carry with them as O sort Cd
moral compass which works one day as
well as another, and directs the most
humble person who carries it as we'll Of
if the way was blazed out by some spir.
itual superior. The same indifference
to the renown of great names and great
days is displayed in. the political conduct
OF the same people.
The monuments of stone for George
Washington are unfinished, but he has
had millions of monuments living and
moving. Every man who will risk his
life to overthrow a tyrAnt is one of these
monuments. Every MAJ who is hostile
to public corruption, or who respects
private virtue is a mementO of the ma
whose fame fills the earth. tits remark
able that the people most renowned for
hero worship have so far declined from
their ancestral renown that the present
inhabitants of Italy and Egypt know no
more OF their antiquities than their Wis
itors can tell them.
It is thus that some of our contempora-
ries moralize upon the profound abyss
that separates the actual generation this
day from that of Washington"
However it may suit those whose an
cestOrs were the subjects of European
monarchs when the ancestors of Ameri-
a IA serving under Washington to
disparage this country and its institu-
tiOns, the very fact that those people
prefer America to Europe proves that in
their estimation America must be the
better country of the two. Not more
than %one-fourth of the American people
are the descendants of those who fought
the revolution. 1t follows, then, that if
Our population to-day has deserted the
affairs dedicated to all the virtues, for
the worship of the golden calf" we must
be indebted somewhat to some of our
imported censOrs for this modification
of the earlier virtues. In truth, to look
at Spain with a tripartitle civil war,
France under q monarch never elected
directly by the people, Italy returning
to q king, and Germany consolidated
under an emperor, the prosperity, the
charities, the progress of America be-
comes conspicuous. Every year thous-
ands flock from the Old World to the
New, and the republic that Washington
founded a century ago is 10Y among the
foremost powers of the earth. 1t is our
philosophy to look at these grandresults.
A country into which Europe has for a
century past poured, among millions of
true and honest men and women, q great
many felons, Adventures and revolu-
tiOnists, could not be expected to pre-
sent q population without reprOach. 1t
is our boast that whOsOever touches our
soil is made free; we never pretended
that it made people honest or ~respecta-
BILE.
Still, we must take the country as we
find it; and as the sacred right of self
expatriation is reserved for any one who
has violated no law, those who think
there are better countries than the Uni
ted States are very wrong to stay here,
and should not complain Of the country
if they elect to remain.
We by no means despair of the repub-
lie, because its people turn out in greater
numbers to see Rex, or celebrate Mardi
Gras, than to strew flowers on the grave
of Washington: They know that Wash
ingtOn is all right. He never cared, when
living, for any worship, and dead, Will
look into the hearts of his country
men," and find the fires of liberty unex-
tinguished.