To Secure the Blessings of Liberty: Selected Writings of Gouverneur Morris

27 • Oration on Patriotism (1805)

361 Gouverneur Morris Papers, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University , item 849. 1. “How I do not know, but the native soil sweetly charms all men and never allows anyone to forget her.” Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto, I.3.35–36. 27 • Oration on Patriotism (1805) Morris endorsed this essay: “Oration on Patriotism. 1805 for young Hamilton.” •• Among the many Subjects which present themselves for the Exercise of youthful Talent none seemed so proper as Patriotism. I am sure that none can be more congenial to your Feelings; and tho my Genius be feeble, my Heart is warm with that Sentiment which glowed in the Breast of my Father. But how shall I express or how define it? Must I exclaim with the Roman “Nescio qua natale Solum Dulcedine cunctos ducit, nec immemores non sinit esse sui.”1 Oh say what secret Charm twines round the Heart and bids it dote upon the natal Soil! Or must I believe it is a primal Sense which binds us to the Spot where we first inhal’d the Morning Fragrance, first saw the Light, first felt the Warmth of Day, first heard the Voice of parental Love, first tasted the Sweets of domestic Endearment. These delicious Ideas all press on the Heart, when Memory presents the Scene of infant Playfulness and the Joy of Youth. In the remotest Regions and in every State of Life, whether bustling among the busy Throng or lulled in the peaceful Shade, dissolving in the Lap of Luxury or struggling in the Grasp of Care, fanned by the vernal Breeze or cradled in the imperious Surge, still, dear Idea of the natal Soil still dost thou return. Neither Distance nor Time nor Pleasure nor Occupation nor Hope nor Fear, neither the Pursuit of Wealth the Turmoil of Ambition nor the Blandishments of Love can obliterate from the Heart thy fond Remembrance. If we examine the various Countries and Climates of the Earth, we shall perceive the patriot Passion to be coextensive with the human Race. He feels it who basks on the burning Sand of Lybia, and he who shivers on the 362 chaPtEr 27 frozen Shores of Lapland. The sedentary Belgian, the wandering Tatar, the sprightly Frenchman, the sober Spaniard, the proud Briton and obsequious Italian are all imbued with the Love of their Country. Nay in those alpine Regions where the Perseverance of helvetian Industry forces with Pain a scanty Subsistence from the rugged Soil, this Love seems to gather Strength from Circumstances, which would damp or extinguish it, if Reason were the Rule of Passion. And as the Child whom scaring Sounds molest Clings close and closer to the Mother’s Breast, so the rude Tempest and the Thunder’s Roar But bind them to their native Mountains more2 If then (with Ovid) we should acknowlege our Incompetence to define Those sweet Emotions which fond Memory lead To dwell enraptur’d on our natal Soil3 Still we must perceive and acknowlege that it is one of the many Propensities which designate Man as a social Being. Indeed when we contemplate ourselves we are struck at every moment with the Conviction that we cannot exist except in Society, and therefore we not only see but feel the Folly of those specious Reasonings, on a supposed State of Nature, which have led to wild Notions of Right and romantic Theories of Government. It is a State impossible, therefore not to be supposed; incompatible, therefore not to be admitted as a Ground of Argument: since Deductions from what is false and impossible must be fallacious and absurd. In the same Train of Reflection too we must see and feel that those queasy Principles of Philanthropy which Philosophers boast and which lead them to moan over the Miseries of a merciless Boor, or melt at the Recital of a Felon’s Execution , but cannot prompt to relieve a Countryman in Captivity in Slavery in Chains, are as inconsistent with the patriot Passion as Ice with Fire. This strong Passion swells the ingenuous Heart from early Youth till we bend over the Grave. Men of ardent Temper and Affections feel it for their 2. Morris seems to be quoting from memory from Oliver Goldsmith’s “The Traveller ”: the third line should read “So the loud torrent, and the whirlwind’s roar.” 3. Morris may be quoting or translating this from memory, or perhaps it is his own composition; the exact quotation does not appear in Ovid. There are...