Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (smart ebook reader .txt) 📕

Which Has Often Puzzled Foreign Observers Accustomed To Connect

Democracy With Innovating Tendencies And Violent Fluctuations,  Is Yet

Easily Explained. Though Ours Is A New Country,  Its System Of Government

Is Really Older Than That Of Almost Any Other Civilized Country. In The

Century During Which It Has Existed Intact And Without Any Material

Modification The Institutions Of Most Other Nations Have Undergone A

Complete Change,  In Some Cases Of Form And Structure,  In Others Of

Theory And Essence. Even England,  Which Boasts Of The Stability Of Its

Government And Its Immunity From The Storms That Have Overturned So Many

Thrones And Disorganized So Many States,  Has Experienced A Fundamental,

Though Gradual And Peaceable,  Revolution. There,  As Elsewhere,  The

Centre Of Power Has Changed,  The Chain Of Tradition Has Been Broken,  And

New Conceptions Of The Functions Of Government And Its Relations To The

Governed Have Taken The Place Of The Old Ones. But In america Nothing Of

This Kind Has Occurred: The "Old Order" Has Not Passed Away,  Nor Have

Its Foundations Undergone The Least Change; The Municipal And Colonial

Institutions Under Which We First Exercised The Right Of

Self-Government,  And The Constitution Which Gave Us Our National

Baptism,  Are Still The Fountain Of All Our Political Ideas; And Our

Party Struggles Are Not Waged About New Principles Or Animated By New

Watch Words,  But Are Fenced And Guided By The Maxims Transmitted By The

Founders Of The Republic. This Is Our Strength And Our Safeguard Against

Wild Experiments,  But It Is Also An Impediment To Every Suggestion Of

Improvement. It Binds Us To The Letter Of Tradition,  Leads Us To

Confound The Accidental With The Essential,  And Gives To Certain Notions

And Certain Words A Potency Which Must Be Described As An Anachronism.

We Still Use The Language Of The Revolutionary Epoch,  Recognize No

Perils But Those Against Which Our Ancestors Had To Guard,  And Put Faith

In The Efficacy Of Methods That Have No Longer An Object,  And Of Phrases

That Have Lost Their Original Significance. Because George Iii.

Distributed Offices At His Pleasure As Rewards,  And Bound The Holders To

Party Services In conformity With His Will,  The Sovereign People Is To

Do The Same. "Rotation In Office" Having Been The Means In The

Eighteenth Century Of Dispelling Political Stagnation And Checking

Jobbery And Corruption,  It Is Still The Only Process For Correcting

Abuses And Getting The Public Service Properly Performed. The Prime Duty

Of All Good Citizens Is To Emulate The Incessant Political Activity Of

Their Patriotic Forefathers,  And It Is Owing Solely To A Too General

Neglect Of This Duty That Ballot-Stuffing And Machine-Running,  And All

The Other Evils Unknown In early Days And In Primitive Communities,  Have

Come Into Existence And Gained Sway Throughout The Land. These And

Similar Views,  According To Our Observation,  Characterize What We May

Without Disrespect,  And Without Confining The Remark To The Rural

Districts,  Term The Provincial Mind,  And Wherever They Exist The Ideas

Of The Civil-Service Reformers Are Not Only Not Understood Or Treated As

Visionary,  But Are Regarded With Aversion And Distrust As Foreign,

Monstrous And Inconsistent With Popular Freedom And Republican

Government.

An Unfinished Page Of History.

I Can Easily Understand Why Educated Americans Cross The Atlantic Every

Year In Shoals In Search Of The Picturesque; And I Can Understand,  Too,

All That They Say Of The Relief Which Ivied Ruins And Cathedrals And

Galleries,  Or Any Other Reminders Of Past Ages,  Give To Their Eyes,

Oppressed So Long By Our Interminable Rows Of Store-Box Houses,  Our

Pasteboard Villas,  The Magnificence Of Our Railway Accommodations For

Ladies And Gents,  And All The General Gaseous Glitter Which Betrays How

Young And How Rich We Are. But I Cannot Understand Why It Is That Their

Eyes,  Thus Trained,  Should Fail To See The Exceptional Picturesqueness

Of Human Life In This Country. The Live Man Is Surely Always More

Dramatic And Suggestive Than A House Or A Costume,  Provided We Have Eyes

To Interpret Him; And This People,  As No Other,  Are Made Up Of The

Moving,  Active Deposits And Results Of World-Old Civilizations And

Experiments In Living.

Outwardly,  If You Choose,  The Country Is Like One Of The Pretentious

Houses Of Its Rich Citizens--New,  Smug,  Complacently Commonplace--But

Within,  Like The House Again,  It Is Filled With Rare Bits Gathered Out

Of Every Age And Country And Jumbled Together In Utter Confusion. If You

Ride Down Seventh Street In a Horse-Car,  You Are In a Psychological

Curio-Shop. On One Side,  Very Likely,  Is A Russian Jew Just From The

Steppes; On The Other,  A Negro With Centuries Of Heathendom And Slavery

Hinting Themselves In Lip And Eye; The Driver Is A Fenian,  With The

Blood Of The Phoenicians In His Veins; In Front Of You Is A Gentleman

With The Unmistakable Huguenot Nose,  And Chin; While An Almond-Eyed

Pagan,  Disguised Behind Moustache And Eye-Glasses,  Courteously Takes

Your Fare And Drops It For You In The Slawson Box. Nowhere Do All The

Elements Of Tragedy And Comedy Play So Strange A Part As On The

Dead-Level Of This American Stage. It Is Because It Is So Dead A Level

That We Fail To See The Part They Play--Because "Furious Goth And Fiery

Hun" Meet,  Not On The Battle-Field,  But In The Horse-Car,  Dropping Their

Cents Together In a Slawson Box.

For Example,  As To The Tragedy.

I Met At Dinner Not Long Ago A Lady Who Was Introduced To Me Under A

French Name,  But Whose Clear Olive Complexion,  Erect Carriage And

Singular Repose Of Manner Would Indicate Her Rather To Be A Spaniard.

She Wore A Red Rose In The Coils Of Her Jetty Hair,  And Another Fastened

The Black Lace Of Her Corsage. Her Eyes,  Which Were Slow,  Dark And

Brilliant,  Always Rested On You An Instant Before She Spoke With That

Fearless Candor Which Is Not Found In The Eyes Of A Member Of Any Race

That Has Ever Been Enslaved. I Was Told That Her Rank Was High Among Her

Own People,  And In Her Movements And Voice There Were That Quiet

Simplicity And Total Lack Of Self-Consciousness Which Always Belong

Either To A Man Or Woman Of The Highest Breeding,  Or To One Whose

Purpose In Life Is So Noble As To Lift Him Above All Considerations Of

Self. Although A Foreigner,  She Spoke English With More Purity Than Most

Of The Americans At The Table,  But With A Marked And Frequent Recurrence

Of Forcible But Half-Forgotten Old Idioms; Which Was Due,  As! Learned

Afterward,  To Her Having Had No Book Of English Literature To Study For

Several Years But Shakespeare. I Observed That She Spoke But Seldom,  And

To But One Person At A Time; But When She Did,  Her Casual Talk Was The

Brimming Over Of A Mind Of Great Original Force As Yet Full And Unspent.

She Was,  Besides,  A Keen Observer Who Had Studied Much,  But Seen More.

This Lady,  In a Word,  Was One Who Would Deserve Recognition By The Best

Men And Women In any Country; And She Received It Here,  As Many Of The

Readers Of _Lippincott_,  Who Will Recognize My Description,  Will

Remember. She Was Caressed And Feted By Literary And Social Celebrities

In Washington And New York; Boston Made Much Of Her; Longfellow And

Holmes Made Verses In Her Honor; Prying Reporters Gave Accounts Of Her

Singular Charm And Beauty To The Public In The Daily Papers.

She Was Accompanied By Two Of The Men Of Her Family. They Did Not Speak

English,  But They Were Men Of Strong Practical Sense And Business

Capacity,  With The Odd Combination In Their Character Of That

Exaggerated Perception Of Honorable Dealing Which We Are Accustomed To

Call Chivalric. They Had,  Too,  A Grave Dignity And Composure Of Bearing

Which Would Have Befitted Spanish Hidalgos,  And Beside Which Our Pert,

Sociable American Manner And Slangy Talk Were Sadly Belittled. These Men

(For I Had A Reason In Making Particular Inquiries Concerning Them) Were

In Private Life Loyal Friends,  Good Citizens,  Affectionate Husbands And

Fathers--In A Word,  Christian Men,  Honest From The Marrow To The

Outside.

Now To The Strange Part Of My Story,  Revolting Enough To Our Republican

Ears. This Lady And Her People,  In The Country To Which They Belong,  Are

Held In a Subjection To Which That Of The Russian Serf Was Comparative

Freedom. They Are Held Legally As The Slaves Not Of Individuals,  But Of

The Government,  Which Has Absolute Power Over Their Persons,  Lives And

Property. Its Manner Of Exercising That Power Is,  However,  Peculiar.

They Are Compelled To Live Within Certain Enclosures. Each Enclosure Is

Ruled By A Man Of The Dominant Race,  Usually Of The Lower Class,  Who,  As

A Rule,  Gains The Place By Bribing The Officer Of Government Who Has

Charge Of These People. The Authority Of This Man Within The Limits Of

The Enclosure Is Literally As Autocratic As That Of The Russian Czar. He

Distributes The Rations Intended By The Government For The Support Of

These People,  Or Such Part Of Them As He Thinks Fit,  Retaining Whatever

Amount He Chooses For Himself. There Is Nothing To Restrain Him In These

Robberies. In consequence,  The Funds Set Aside By The Government For The

Support Of Its Wretched Dependants Are Stolen So Constantly By The

Officers At The Capital And The Petty Tyrants Of The Separate Enclosures

That The Miserable Creatures Almost Yearly Starve And Freeze To Death

From Want. Their Resource Would Be,  Of Course,  As They Are In a

Civilized Country,  To Work At Trades,  To Farm,  Etc. But This Is Not

Permitted To Them. Another Petty Officer Is Appointed In each Enclosure

To Barter Goods For The Game Or Peltry Which They Bring In Or Crops That

They Manage To Raise. He Fixes His Own Price For Both His Goods And

Theirs,  And Cheats Them By Wholesale At His Leisure. There Is No Appeal:

They Are Absolutely Forbidden To Trade With Any Other Person. The Men Of

My Friend'S Family--Educated Men And Shrewd In business As Any Merchant

Of Philadelphia--When At Home Were Liable To Imprisonment And A Fine Of

Five Hundred Dollars If They Bought From Or Sold To Any Other Person

Than This One Man. They Are,  Too,  Taught No Trade Or Profession. Each

Enclosure Has Its Appointed Blacksmith,  Carpenter,  Etc. Of The Dominant

Class,