CORN DUTIES. 335 



which should unduly bias my judgment in this case ; and I will 

 assert, in all the strength of the most heartfelt conviction, that I 

 regard patriotism as a very mean virtue compared with philan 

 thropy, and that the mere interests of trade are to be trampled 

 under foot with scorn and disdain whenever they conflict with 

 the interests of humanity. I know very well that they are 

 oftentimes coincident. Some time ago, in the United States, at 

 a public celebration, where I am aware that sentiments occa 

 sionally get a little colored by the wine in which they are 

 drank, a distinguished public character gave, as a toast, &quot; Our 

 country!&quot; which would have been very well had he stopped 

 there, and I should have had no objection to emptying my glass, 

 if that had been necessary to sanction it ; but when he added, 

 &quot; Our country, right or wrong! &quot; I regarded the sentiment with 

 inexpressible detestation, to which the wine, if I had drank it, 

 would only have added intensity. Some apology may be made 

 for him as a military man ; for what has a military man to do 

 with right or wrong ? His duty is only to obey orders ; and, as 

 a facetious divine said in another case, he has neither the trouble 

 nor expense of keeping a conscience. 



5. PROPER ENDS OF NATIONAL POLICY. When, under the 

 blessing of Heaven, will mankind cease to estimate the pros 

 perity of individuals or nations by a mere pecuniary standard ? 

 When will they learn that the true glory of a nation is the glory 

 of justice and humanity, and that the only legitimate and 

 worthy objects of a good government are, not the mere accu 

 mulation of wealth, the triumphs of military ambition, the exten 

 sion of territory, the multiplication of pageants and of luxuries, 

 the intrenching of power already too arbitrary and despotic in 

 its exactions, the higher elevation of ranks already too high for 

 sympathy with the wants, and sufferings, and privations, of the 

 depressed and low, but the far nobler purposes of giving to all 

 the opportunity and the means of exerting an honest industry, 

 and an ample share, and a perfect security in the enjoyment, of the 

 fruits of that industry ; allowing no individual to be above the 

 reach of that law which inflicts its penalties upon the most 

 humble and down-trodden, and suffering no person to pine in 

 obscurity, uncared for and unpitied ; but, in the exercise of an 

 exact and impartial justice, seeking to protect the defenceless, to 



