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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



formable; il consomme done de la transforma- 

 bilit6. ... La fixation d'une force libre n'est 

 autre chose que sa combinaison avec une 

 autre force qui par 1^ aliene comme elle une 

 partie de sa liberte." Although there is a 

 tendency toward equilibrium, equilibrium will 

 never be reached, " parce que la vitesse avec 

 laquelle se fait le nivellement est une f onction 



directe de la difference meme des niveaux." 

 He also insists on the absurdity of a tree retro- 

 grading into a seed, an old man into a child, 

 etc. (See Revue philosophique, 1880, 1882.) 

 Yours very respectfully, 



Antonio Llano. 



419 St. Nicholas Avenue, New York, 

 March 16, 1890. 



gjditxrr^B S^Wjc. 



PATBIOTISM AND MILITARISM. 



PATRIOTISM is one of those vir- 

 tues which have suffered so 

 much from counterfeit and alloy that 

 the word has come to have a very 

 doubtful sound to experienced ears. 

 So seriously, indeed, has it been 

 damaged that one would in general 

 prefer to use some other term to 

 convey whatever respectable mean- 

 ing it has hitherto covered. To a 

 large section of the community, 

 there is too much reason to fear, 

 patriotism means little else than a 

 vicious hatred of other countries, in 

 so far as they come into any kind 

 of rivalry or competition with our 

 own. It stands for noisy, offen- 

 sive, and vulgar national self-glori- 

 fication, for truculence in the dis- 

 cussion of international questions, 

 and a readiness to cast justice to the 

 winds in any transaction with a 

 foreign state. Patriotism of this 

 type commends itself only too readi- 

 ly to boyhood with its as yet unde- 

 veloped moral sentiments, and there- 

 fore to adopt any special measures 

 for inculcating it on the youthful 

 citizen is, to say the least, most un- 

 necessary. The true view of patriot- 

 ism embraces none of the elements 

 mentioned. To he a patriot a man 

 does not need to hate or despise for- 

 eign nations; he does not need to in- 

 dulge in vainglorious language, or 

 even in vainglorious thoughts in re- 

 gard to his own country ; nor does he 



require to cultivate an insensibility to 

 justice in regard to any internation- 

 al dispute in which his country may 

 be engaged. Patriotism in the true 

 sense implies simply such a love for 

 one's country as inclines to disinter- 

 ested service at all times and under 

 all circumstances — a love which 

 does not need the stimulus of quarrel 

 with a foreign state to call it into 

 activity. 



To get a true measure and com- 

 pi'ehension of the subject we should 

 compare patriotism with certain 

 other recognized virtues. The fa- 

 ther of a family owes love and 

 protection to his family. What 

 should we think, then, of the father 

 who, neglecting or even abusing his 

 family at other times, showed his 

 paternal feeling chiefly in espousing 

 their quarrels, just or unjust, with 

 other families, and greedily embrac- 

 ing every opportunity thus afi^orded 

 for acts of hostility to his neighbors ? 

 We could only say that he was a 

 man of a very low type, whose ac- 

 tions wei^e mainly determined and 

 governed by hatred and malice. 

 Quite in the same way we are en- 

 titled to judge the citizen's love for 

 his country, not by the blindness 

 of his partisanship in questions in 

 which his country is involved, nor 

 by the rancor he displays in speak- 

 ing or writing of foreign states, but 

 by the interest he takes at other 

 times, and at all times, in his coun- 



