Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1877-07-04
Scholarship and Patriotism.


rich with all the graces and vigor of that con-
summate orator. And the address is as ro- |
bust in thought and ennoblng in tone as II |
is captivating in manner. Among all the |
commencement efforts of the season, by uni |
versal consent, this will be regarded as of the |
most commanding Importance.
Mr.. Curtis theme, as he himself says, is |
suggested by the occasion-it is the public |
duty OF educated men. His enforcement Of |
the just obligations they owe to the state
and his appeals to meet this high demand are
clear, earnest and impressive Our safety,
he well remarks, lies not in our institutions,
but in ourselves. There is no talisman OF
security in the mere name of Republican
ism. If the people fail of the intelligence,
virtue and activity vital to its maintenance,
it gives no higher assurance than any other
form. 1t is, then, the peculiar duty of edu-
Gated men to take an active and conscien
tious part in all that makes up the life of
the state, and the appeal though old, has
never been more cogently urged. From this
point Mr.. Curtis passes to consider the sem
timent, too widely prevailing, that the higher
education is detriment in practical public
affairs that it makes men pedantic and Wis.
ionary, and that self-made men are the sure
stays of the state. His refutation of the
sophistry which underlies this idea is as
trenchant as it is Observation-Disclosures
with the clearest distinctions and enriched
with the most attractive personal illustra-
tons He thrusts his keen lance into the
bubble and it bursts.
The interest in public affairs which he
urges will lead men into party associations.
Great public results are due to political or
ganization. Parties are the agencies OF
action in free state. While recognizing
this truth, and responding to all that it re
quires, Mr.. Curtis deprecates the excess OF
party spirit and raises his warning voic,
against its evils.
We can not forbear making few ex-
tracts. Of the late Presidential adjustment
Mr.. Curtis says:
Gentlemen, how dire calamity the same party
| spirit was preparing for the country within few
| months, We can now perceive with amazement and
with hearty thanksgiving for great deverance
| The ordeal of last winter was the severest strain
ever yet applied to Republican institutions II
mortal strain along the very fibre OF our
system 1t was not collision of sections, nor
conflict of principles Of civilization. 1t was SUI
preme and triumphant test of American patriot
ism. Greater than the declaration of ndepend
ence by colonies hopeessly alienated from the
crown and already in arms; greater than enamel
patton, as military expedient, amid the throes
Of civil war was the peaceful and reasonable con-
sent of two vast parties-in a crisis plainly fore
seen and criminally neglected-a crisis in which
each party asserted its solution to be ndisputable
to devise lawful settlement of the tremendous
contest, settlement which, through furious
storms of disappointment and rage has been
relgiousy respected. We are told that our poll
tics are mean-that already, in its hundredth
year, the decadence of the American republic ap-
pears, and the hope of the world is clouded. But
tell me, scholars, in what high hour of Greece,
when, as De Witt Clinton declared, the herb
woman of Athens could criticise the phraseoogy
of Denosthenes, and the meanest artisan could
| pronounce judgment on the works of Apelles and
Phidias,' or at what proud epoch of imperial
Rome or mlennial moment Of the fierce Italian
republics, was ever so momentous party differ
ence so wisely, 50 peacefully, SO humanely COM
posed? Had the sophistry of party prevailed, had
each side resolved that not to insist upon its own
claim at every hazard was what the mad party
spirit of each side declared it to be, pusillani.
nous surrender; had the spirit of Marius mas
tered one party and that of Syla the other this
wavering valley of the Mohawk would not to-day
murmur with the music of industry and these
tranquil voices of scholars blending with its happy
harvest song; 1t would have smoked and roared
with fraternal war, and this shuddering river
would have run red through desoated meadows
and by burning homes"
From Mr.. Curtis charge to the graduating
class we take the following, the closing para.
graph of which furnishes indirect but elo
quent approval of President Hayes and his
policy.
" Gentlemen leaving this college to take YOU
part in the duties of American citizenship, every
sign encourages and inspires. The year that /,
now ending, the year that opens the second cen
tury of our history, has furnished the supreme
proof that in country of rigorous party divi
sion, the purest patriotism exists That, and tina
only, is the pledge of prosperous future. NJ
mere party fervor or party fidelity, or party dis
cpne. could fully restore country torn ant
distracted by the fierce debate of century aDo
the commissions of civil war; nothing ess than
patriotism all embracing as the summer air, coulC
heal a wound so wide | know-no man better
how hard 1t is for earnest men u separate the
country from their party, or their religion from
their sect. But nevertheless, the welfare of tn,
country il dearer than the mere victory of party
as truth is more precious than the interest %
any sect. You will hear this patriotism scornet
as an impractcable theory, rs the dream of
cloister rs the within of a fool. But such was TN
folly of the Spartan Leonidas staying witt. III
! three hundred, the Persian horde, and teach
ing Greece the self-reance that saved her
Such was the folly of the Swiss Arnold vo
Winkelred, gathering into his own breast the hos
q Of Austrian spears, making his dead body tn
= bridge of victory for his countrymen. Such wa
= the folly of the American Nathan Hale, gladl
t risking the seeming disgrace of his name, an
grieving that he had but one life to give 70
- his country Such are the beacon lights OF
pure patriotism that burn forever in mems men
cries, and answer each other through the /
g Illuminated ages And of the same grandeur
i in less heroic and poetic form, was the patrio
= ism of Sir Robert Peel in recent history II
:, was the leader of great party, and the Prim
6 Minister of England. The character and niece
sity of party were a. plain to him as to an
man. But when he saw that the national we
o fare demanded the repeal of the corn law
It which he had always supported, he did not quai
t Amply avowing the error of life and I'll
H duty of avowing it-foreseeing the probable owe
throw Of his party and the bitter execratio
that must fall upon him, he TRANQUILITY did h
duty With the eyes OF England fixed upon hi
= in mingled amazement, admiration and indign
e ton, he rose in the House Of Commons to perfor
n as great a service rs any English statesman ey
m performed for his country, and in closing his la
" speech in favor of the repeal describing the cons
y quences that its mere prospect had produced,
- lofty exclaimed "Where there was dissati
y faction see contentment where there was tn
IS bulence, | see there is peace; where there WI
IS disloyalty, see there is loyalty see disp
er sition TO confide in you and not to agitate que
r. tons that are at the foundations of your ms
- buttons" When all was over when he had le
office when his party was out of power, and h
'e fury of party execration against him was sper
d. his position WAS greater and nOber than II h,
p ever been. Golden said Of him, Sir Robert Pc
ID has lost Office, but he has gained country al
| ord aai6 nf i'm hat trulu ha 40