The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, Volume I

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PAPERS OF :\ItRAnE.\U BuoN,\P,\RTE L.ur.\R

patriotism extends to every section of our coi:nmon country - except the one they live in. But it is not to the c, that I address myself. I speak to such of my fellow-citizens a retain some tinging attachmt to their 0\\11 state - I speak to those who are not the foe of their adopted home; but who chcri h ome regard for its prosperity and welfare. and sure I am that such a people will never give their sanction to a crusade against an ancint friend & ally -a war of ingratitude - ba ed upon mercenary principles, in which life i to be sacrificed - commerce de troyed a nation hnrthencd and the outhern States to be rifled and their property and their future liberties endangered; and all for the rcco\"ery of a pittiful um for which £ranee may be indebted to our nothern broker. - But we are told that we do not go to war for mercenary motives - it i. not for the five million of money; but for the insulted h<inor of the nation that we draw the sword. Now language like this must come ,·cr:v ungracefully from that par·ty in thi State who arc the ad,·ocates of the mea ure. A union man to talk of national honor! I hould like to know the principles upon he esti- mates it. I opine that it ri cs & fall. like the mercury in a thermome- ter, with the pr-0 pcct of loss & gain. I do not know whether such lan!!lla"e should e..xcitc my derision or my contempt. When he beheld the federal bayonet bristle upon the borders of his own State, where then "'a his insulted honor! , here he saw his brave fellow citizen basely murdered . hot down by a hired oldicry in cold blood. where then was hi wounded honor! ,vhen the authorities of his own g-ovt. was over run by military denomination, and his luxnrnt field threat- ened by the insulting i1n-aders with ,fire & sword whc-re then was his wounded honor! And hall a people talk of fighting for national honor, who would not fi"ht for his own insulted invaded land 7 Shall he talk about fighting for the right! of other. who could not fight in <le- fcn. e of his own t Shall he prate about <'onfrontig in bHttle a mighty nation, who quailed like a guilty fellow before a feeble re"• imnt; T :N"o. no. A people who ea11 ec thes oil invaded- their -fire- side. threat, their fellcw citizen shot down, and them spaniel like meanly lick the hand that ba cly mote them, need never talk to me about wounded honor. Such people may firtht for plunder, but never for liberty; they may fight for Andrew Jack on but never for God & their Country. And who i.s he, this mighty demon of their idolatry T Who is Andrew Jack on 7 Let me not attempt to describe his charac- ter -to draw him in his proper colors, the foulest language is too fair. , ho can do justice to Calligula &-1 'cro T and who ean portray the man who combine all that is rcYolting in the one with the disgusting ferocity of the otherf As an individual, a rebrobatc; a a military man, a murderer; and a a public functionary, the alternate flatterer & base betrayer of all principles and all partie . To him let the foes of my State, pour their mean apostate wor hip; my devotions are given to a smilig deity that dwells upon the mountain tops & frolic in vallie ; who pre ence cheers the poor man's cottage & animates the revels of the rich-man pallacc. I mean the Godde of freedom- . The Union man [Incomplete]

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