196
TEXAS STATE LrnnAHY
No. 804. ADDRESS ON REPUBLTCAN SL\IPLJCITY AND NA- TWNAL VIRTUE. LAMAR Houston Augt. 1838. Among all the false but specious & attractive qualities of other na- tions, monarchical or Republican, there is none which we should more cautiously and sternly amid to imitate than their spknclor, nrngnif-i- cance, luxury and display. None can more corrupt the stern and manly virtues, and plain simple honest and independent character & habits so essential to the welfare & happiness of a true republic. Ours, too, is peculiarly an Agricultural as well as Republican country, & alike in the primitive and manly occupation, or simple institutions of our people, nothing cnn be more consistent, honorable, impressive and dig- nified than substantial plainess, independence frugality and economy. Nothing more strongly and certainl_,. marks the real happiness and independence of a people than a general and simple equality of man- ners, habits and style of liYing, as well as of political rights and privi- leges-when if there be no striking rn:mifostations of wealth & luxury, neither are there any of porerty and misery. On the other hand, where one extreme is to be found, there also is always the other; "ffnd ill fares the land &G" Splendid edifices_. with all their luxuries, whether of Government or i11dividuals are but monuments of poverty \·ice and misery, which everywhere accumulate and gather around them as they rise. Be ours a happier lot. Upon the government dernh·es the duty and deep responsibility of setting a wist! and salutary example. Let it discard at once and foreYer, the false & Yicious notion that splendor and magnificance are necessary to go,·ernmental influence and dignity-and that specious tinsel exterior, which either in the moral or physical world, smiles only to deceive. The Republican patriot (Franklin) required no pomp extravigance or pea:rantry to sursltain himself at one of the most slwwy, luxurious, and brilliant courts of Europe. Without borrowing any aid from the ostentatious displays of wealth, he not only commanded the esteem and admiration of all by the native and inherent dignity of moral and intellectual worth, but also by the steady and inllexible adherence to i::inccrity in his conduct and to simplicity in his manners did much to stre[n]gthen that new- born love of liherty which subsequently burst forth among the French people with such wild & frenzied fury- Like characteristics in a nation must produce similar results and render it equally conspicuous, dignified & admirable among nations. Let then our national character be based upon the inflexible principles of truth & virtue and marked consistently in all things at home and abroad, by republican simplicity, economy & frugality, honesty nrnl independence and plain dealing. AlJove ull things, let our national pride be to improve the worth & virtue of our people-our national ambition to excel like the heroic Spartans, not in art ificinl splendor luxury & show, but in the sterling qualities of men & free men. "What constitutes a Statcf Not high rais'd battlement & labored mound, Thick wall or moated gate; Not <'ities pi-oud with spires & turrets erown'd; Not Lays and broad urm'd ports, Where laughing at the storm, rich navies ride.
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