Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1892-05-12
GOLDSBORO. N. c.. THURSDAY. MAY II, 1892

| been awakened in the cause for which they
| fell-in a broad sense, the cause of country.
| The Importance of cherishing among our
people love of country cannot be over-esti-
mated. By the very laws of development,
cultivation is essential to healthful, vigorous
| growth. In free country. absolutely and, to
| all appearance. permanently at peace. whose
| liberties are uumenaced within without,
| there is little to keep actively alive in the old
| or to cultivate in the young. the heroic quail
| ties or the sentiment of patriotism Rome.
struggling for life and empire, cultivated he
| rosm in her children by ever present national
peril or unceaing national strife. Rome, the
mistress of the world whose eagles hlshed
in the rising and IN the setting SUM-. enriched
with the wealth Of all climes, and enervated by
| luxurious ease and peace, ceased to be heroic
| and tottered to decay.
Nov it does not follow that heroic
or patriotic elements Of character will
not exist unless they are specially
| cultivated, for these elements will be found to
| a greater or less degree in every truly noble
| nature. Without any of the sharp teaching
| of events which for centuries of time made
| every Swiss patriot and hero. how quickly,
when the call to sounded throout
Southland, did the latent sentiment of patriot
| ism in the hearts of tens of thousands of her
| sons burst forth into flame as feryid as ever
glowei in the heart of Swiss Roman But
| none the less important is it that love of
| country should be cherished among our peo
| pie. not alone in anticipation of foreign war
or civil strife, which may never come. but for
security against the more insidious, and hence,
more dangerous evils that are ever present
! with US, and that our liberties and free insti
| tutions may be the more carefully preserved
in all their original purity. While no argu
| ment is required to prove a proposition SO
lself-evidenr the point is too 0ital to be allowed
| to pass with mere affirmation. We are apt
| to cherish the notion, practically If not theo-
tretically, that our republican form Of govern
| ment is so superior to all others, and so well
| established. as to be beyond the reach of the
perils that beset others, and therefore not to
| reQuir>. the safeguards SO carefully provided
for their peace and security ; in fine, that our
| republican system, out of its innate excel
lence and vitality, must stand forever. 1t is
| this spirit of O er-confidence rather than in
| difference that makes our people so neglectful
| of their political duties, and that constitutes
one of the dangers that threaten us. If the
| history of republican governments in the
past, and that of our country SO far, teaches
al thing at all, it is that there is no form of
| government exposed to more imminent perils
| than the republican, IN which all elements of
| corruption, disintegration and decay have the
freest and fullest play, and hence there is no
form of government under which vigilance On
the part of the people well as by those who
| actively administer it is more imperatively
demanded. The stability of despotism de-
pends in no small degree upon the ignorance
and what usually accompanies ignorance. the
tservilits of its people.
On the other hand the perpetuty of repubJ
lican government depends. might say almost
wholly, upon the Intelligence of its people,
and the conscious, active, watchful presence
in their hearts of the spirit Of liberty. No
| government is. ever, anywhere, self-sustain-
| ing and no law under any form of -ule, has
the power Of self-enforcement. But especi
ally in free America is the stability OF the
| government and the yigor of the law depend
en5 upon an educated, watchful, patriotic
public sentiment. This practical age, and
men of the world inclined to sneer at
| sentiment, but let not in our yaunt I'd
| security forget-and surely we cannot forget
to-day. that only few years ago our very
existance as one broad and mighty nation that
we are stood trembling i'll the balance. be-
lieye there can exist neither in this nor any
other country, state of society so uniformly
| elevated and aegovernment so thoroughly
| fortified at all Joints, as to be beyond the
reach of danger, Or when it will eUer be safe to
neglect to cherish in the hearts of the people
| the spirit Of liberty.
| Contrast the future of youth from the
common walks of life just entering manhood
| in an absolute monarchy and in free America.
1t is matter Of no personal or national con-
| sequence whether not the former under
stands the science of government. or even
| knows the history of his own country. Mat
| ters of state do not concern him, ami in the
conduct of public affairs he can therefore
| have sense of responsibility. He is COL
| scious that he is simply one of so many mil
lions whose chief political duties are to obey
the mandates, pay the bills and fight the bat
| ties of his imperial majesty. The political
| creed to which he has been educated teaches
him to yield a slavish compliance with the re-
Iquirements of single despotic will. I can
easily imagine how the untutored savage can
love the wild woods, that all his own, and
through which he roams at will and the
wandering barbarian, the burning desert
sands, where under the free canopy ofHeayen,
in unmolested solitude he pitches his tent and
makes his home. But I cannot conceive how
one can deeply love his country, whose as
pirations for freedom, il he ever has any, are
buried under a sense of utter hopelessness,
and who can give expression to those senti-
ments only at the cost Of bringing upon him
self and all who are dear to him the crushing
L weight OF despotie pow eI. OF that broad
II sentiment of patriotism, that lofty sense of
nationality that springs from pride in the
past, hope in the future, and the enjoyment
of inestimable rights and privileges in the
present, for bhe preservation of which the
tpossessor feels himself, in a measure, re-
sponsible, he can know nothing.
How different the present and the future of
: la youth just arrived at the period of manhood
in free America. The future, with all its
possibilities of achievement and of public
honor and emolument, lies wide open before
him. Whatever is capacity, the field for Its
!, exercise is broad and free. Whatever his
am bition, the prize glistens at the other end
of the course, and he has but to ourstrip his
competitors to secure it. He has clear con-
scio ,tsta.t his life is safe, his liberty as
secure and his opinions as sacred as those of