Speech #510001452

The departing statesman dwells with insistence. on the grounds both of interest and sensibility. upon the paramount importance of the Union and of that unity of government N hich makes of those who live under it one people and one nation. and will. he hopes. induce all its citizens. whether by birth or choice. to glory in the name "American." Here. the ideal which influenced his conduct may be read between the linesthe ideal of a powerful and harmonious people. possessed of freedom because capable of selfrestraint. and working out the destinies of an oceanbound republic. whose example should be a message of glad tidings to all the earth. And the realization of that ideal involved a patriotism not based upon the dictates of interest. but springing from devotion of the heart. and pride in the object of that devotion. What Washington wanted. as Lodges fine biography makes entirely clear. was. that the people should become saturated with the principles of national unity and love of country. should possess an "American character." should never forget that they were "Americans." Hence he opposed education abroad. lest our youth might contract principles unfriendly to republicau government. and discouraged immigration. except of those who. by "an intermixture with our people." could themselves. or their descendants. "get assimilated to our customs. measures. and laws. in a word. soon become one people." To be an American was to be part and parcel of American ideas. institutions. prosperity. and progress. It was to be likeminded with the illustrious men who have served the cause of their nativeor adopted land. from Washington to Lincoln. It was to be convinced of the virtues of republican government as the bulwark of "the true and genuine liberties of mankind." which would ultimately transmute suffering through ignorance into happiness through light.