LITERARY NOTICES. 



701 



Modern writers note a decline in the 

 sentiment of patriotism ; but we can 

 afford to let the old patriotism go, if we 

 can get a better patriotism in its place. 

 The old patriotism involved hardly less 

 of hostility and ill-will to other coun- 

 tries than of attachment to one's own. 

 The new patriotism calls upon us to 

 serve our own country first, and no less 

 in peace than in war, but to be desirous 

 that other countries should be equally 

 well served by their sons. The old pa- 

 triotism formed easy alliances with self- 

 ish and unworthy interests, so that the 

 trade of patriot became one of the most 

 suspected of vocations — so much so that 

 the sturdy old Tory, Dr. Johnson, de- 

 nounced it as "the last refuge of a 

 scoundrel " ; but the new patriotism 

 which can not commend itself by loud- 

 mouthed denunciation of other countries 

 can only make itself known and felt by 

 useful activity in the public interest at 

 home. 



The complete instruction of our youth 

 in civics will have to embrace, we regret 

 to say, a description of the principal 

 evils which dog the steps of representa- 

 tive government. We have just glanced 

 at the evil of indifference in political 

 affairs, but in a course of instruction 

 it would merit much fuller treatment. 

 Then there is the opposite evil of ex- 

 cessive partisanship leading to the grav- 

 est abuses of administration, and through 

 the frauds which it introduces into the 

 working of the political machine threat- 

 ening even the stability of the State. 

 There is the evil of excessive taxation, 

 resorted to in order that the party in 

 power may have more money to dis- 

 tribute for political purposes. There is 

 the evil of corrupt understanding be- 

 tween the party in power and business 

 men whose pecuniary interests that 

 party can promote by legislation — so 

 much tariff (for example) meaning so 

 much money to be contributed at elec- 



tion times. The celebrated letter in 

 which the chairman of a certain com- 

 mittee threatened to "fry the fat" out 

 of certain manufacturers who, after hav- 

 ing been put in the way of enrichiDg 

 themselves at the expense of the public, 

 had failed to respond with due liberality 

 and gratitude when the hat was being 

 passed round for a great political cam- 

 paign, should be printed for an everlast- 

 ing remembrance and illustration of 

 " how it works." As regards the thieves 

 and pirates who obtain government con- 

 tracts and enrich themselves by furnish- 

 ing inferior articles, it would be easy to 

 rouse against them the fierce indignation 

 and reprobation of any class of ingenuous 

 youths: and it would not be hard to 

 show that many other frauds upon the 

 Government, such as charging undue 

 prices for things, obtaining by collusion 

 contracts at figures beyond what would 

 afford a fair profit, and so on, are all of 

 an infamous nature and utterly unworthy 

 of any man pretending to be a good cit- 

 izen. Great care should be taken not 

 to deal with any of these subjects in 

 a cynical spirit or to create the impres- 

 sion that the evils indicated are more 

 widespread than they really are. It 

 ought to be a paramount object to pro- 

 mote respect for the country in which 

 we live, and while the evils and dan- 

 gers which beset our system of govern- 

 ment should be plainly pointed out, 

 stress should also be laid upon the vast 

 amount of faithful service and un- 

 selfish devotion which the country re- 

 ceives from its worthier sons. The 

 spirit to cultivate is not one of despond- 

 ency, but one of hope, of confidence, 

 and of resolute endeavor. Let our 

 young people but have the right kind 

 of teaching, and they will respond to 

 it, and in less than ten years the effect 

 for good upon the public opinion and 

 public life of the country will be very 

 apparent. 



