The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-07-06


 fight still harder against a common foe. We are patient and forbearing when turbulent and disorderly men in our midst incite riot and dangerous dis turbance, but if any one doubts what will happen when riot and disturbance really imperil state or nation, let him recall that recent day In the city of Chicago when its citizens at last com prehended that lawlessness had delibe- rately set Itself against national au-
 thority. Tn a single hour the national flag streamed over every building.
 Men wore 1t on their garments; women made 1t a part of their adornment; bus mess was suspended and one great cho- rus of national song went up from that most material of our cities. The law less took warning. They heard and felt
 the great patriotic heart throb of Chi cago, and they knew that their day was
 over.
 If ever again, which God forbid, there
 shall be occasion to fight for our coun-
 try or the maintenance of it's lawful au- thority, there will be no lack of patrio- tic spirit.
 But the real question is whether we are as patriotic In the enjoyment of peace as we should be In the event of war? Is there not an unwritten and
 unspoken sentiment that a patriot has little or nothing to do in time of peace? Have we not come in our minds to as- sociate patriotism only with war and battle and carnage. and to think that to
 be patriot a man must be soldier?
 Is there not danger that. the spirit of '76
 may languish because the nation Is not
 at war? I think we need a better un- derstanding of patriotism, wider and larger sense of patriotic duty. It is not all of patriotism to fight for liberty It must work and act and if need be
 make sacrifices for the preservation of liberty. Free government will not per- petuate itself when the patriot neglects its care. Love of country should im- pei all to support as well as defend 1t. Indeed the very definition of the word patriot puts support before de- fense: "A person who loves his country and zealously supports and defends 1t and it's interests" A jealous support Of the country's best interest is when
 in time of peace, the whole duty of a patriot, The real object of patriotic ef- | fort in all time has been opposition to bad government, or the establishment, support and defense of good govern ment. Freedom can be enjoyed only un- der the guarantee of government. Lib- | erty Is myth except as regulated by
 law. All that man has, longs and hopes | for, or asplres to be. depends upon the
 maintenance of good government, and l that government only Is good which is
 honest and clean and pure and unper- sonal in all It's branches; which seeks I in making, in official appointment l and in administration, first and always, the promotion of the general welfare and the security of liberty to all The
 cause of good government fiji nation, state, city and town needs the support | of the patriot, and not only his passive, | but his active and zealous support.
 There were a good many tories in the l Revolution. President Stiles in his diary says that perhaps one-third of the adult population of New Haven armed and went to meet the enemy, a, quarter moved out of town, and the rest, partly tories and partly timld whfgs Ca rather | large proportion), remained unmoved. If | the patriots had remained inactive the I v | a good many men to-day who are not | the friends of good government. If the patriot remains inactive these men will | prevail. The call upon men to uphold
 right government to-day Is as much a
 call to duty as that which in 1779 blaz- ed in the beacon light or was heard in the alarm gun. To put 1t most emphat- | ically, he who would claim to be truly a patriot now must carry something of l the spirit of '76 into politics. do not | say this because I sympathize with | those who can see only evil tendencies
 in the present management of public affairs and the administration of gov ernment, who scent corruption every l where. I have little respect for men who sheer at politics or who promul- gate unfounded suspicion of public men. 1 But I make this plea for patriotism in 1 politics because If government Is to be kept pure and beneficent, if evil ten l dencies are to be checked and the
 schemes of the ignorant, misguided sel- fish and corrupt thwarted, 1t must be done by the men who, though their pa- | triotism sometimes seems to slumber, ! do yet love the idea of free government l Wlln as pure ana aTueHC pdSSlOIl dS
 marked the men of the Revolution.
 | I would rejoice to see a patriotic re- l vival. I pray that it may come before l danger menaces our institutions too se- l riously. Then danger will be averted ! Are there not signs of such a revival 1 now? Can we not feel the coming of ! the spirit of the olden days? The flag ! means more than 1t did before 1t f1oated over the school house. We sing Amer ! ica' and ''The Star SpangIed Banner
 now with new zeal The Society of the Sons of the American Revolution signifies something besides pride of an
 cestry. Every day given to exercises
 like these stirs a noble impulse. II
 needs no special acuteness of vision to see that all over this wonderfully great
 and grand country something akin to
 the patriotic spirit of Revolutionary l days is moving the many millions of It's | people to a great love of true liberty, l to a greater zeal for its true welfare, to
 a greater determination that It's govern ment shall be clean and just and bene1- cent. After clouds, the sun.
 1 A certificate and cash prize of $10 for l the best essay on the British Invasion | of New Haven, July 5, 1779, was then presented to Master Percy A. Whitmore l of Washington school, by Franklin A, Hart in behalf of the General David 1 Humnhreys branch No. i, Sons of the