PATRIOTISM.
Immediately after the expulsion of the Persians from Greece, the fleets of the States in alliance with Athens, were collected in a neighboring port. Theraistocles ap- peared in the Athenian Assembly, and announced that he had a plan for securing the power and glory of Athens ;
but, that secrecy being essential to its success, he could not make it public, and asked for instructions. He was authorized to communicate it to Aristides, and, with his approbation, to put it in execution. The latter, on learning the plan, reported, that nothing could possibly con- duce more to the grandeur and prosperity of Athens, but nothing could possibly be more unjust. The Assembly, without inquiring into particulars, ordered that the plan, whatever it was, should be abandoned. Which party displayed the purest patriotism—the Assembly, which re- fused to augment the power of the RepubUc by an act of injustice, or the illustrious scoundrel who proposed ren- dering his country the mistress of Greece by firing the assembled fleets of her allies ? Should the question be decided by the sentiment so generally adopted by a christian people, " our country right or wrong," the de- cision would be adverse to the pagan Athenians. But perhaps it will be said, that the sentiment is intended to apply only in a state of war, and that it is only after a declaration of hostilities that* we are bound to support and vindicate the acts and pretensions of the Government, however villainous. It is not easy to understand, how the act of a King or a Congress can dissolve those obli- gations of truth, justice, and mercy which the Creator has imposed upon all his creatures. Yet the violation and contempt of those obligations, for the supposed in- terests of the public, seem by many to be regarded as the test of patriotism. Few virtues are more universally