The New Rome; or, the United States of the World

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THE

NEW ROME; THE UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD.

BY

THEODORE POESCHE AND CHARLES GOEPP.

G. P.

PUTNAM &

CO., 10

M.DCCC.LIII.

U^C*r ^

0ZA,

PARK PLACE.

C£~^s^ C-£n.

s

rfl

Entered according

By

to

G. P.

Act of Congress

in the year 1853,

Putnam and Company,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of

New

York.

TO

fnnltlht -

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, THIS

IS

Durn,

WORK

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BEING A GUESS AT THE SPIRIT IN

WHICH HE WAS ELECTED.

PREFACE

A

BOOK

with two authors would not be so rare a

thing as

it is, if it

work

the

is

fruit,

were better understood that every

not of individual thought, but of

the intellectual currents that pervade whole times and nations,

—

in fact,

that,

every individuality

is

but a

modified reproduction of the thoughts and fancies of the age in which

it

appears.

The leading

idea de-

tailed in the following pages occurred at nearly the

same time

to

appear on the year 1848,

both of the individuals whose names title-page.

when

the

first

Tt was about the end of the enthusiasm consequent upon

the sudden uprising of France, Italy, and Germany,

had given place interests,

and

to the confusion of jarring opinions,

nationalities,

which were destined

ulti-

mately to ingulf the hopes then awakened, that the destiny of the existing Eepublic of America, to realize the ideal Eepublic of the World, took shape in the

of the author whose

name

is

first

mind

mentioned, on the

;

PREFACE.

IV

and

plains of Leipsic,

other in

the

to

comities of Pennsylvania.

It is

that while the inhabitant of

no

the farming

less characteristic,

Germany, the home of

metaphysical philosophy, took np the question in practical light, as a relief

from existing

ills,

its

Amer-

the

ican forgot the matter-of-fact character of his country to regard this particular subject in its ideal light, as

The same

the solution of a historical problem.

divi-

sion of labor was carried out in the present production

the geographical, ethnographical, cial,

statistical,

commer-

monetary, and industrial observations and

tions, are the

work of Poesche.

and metaphysical arguments, the and

legal

reflec-

historical, legal,

details

on American

political institutions, are, to a great extent',

the production

written a

The

The former had

of his colleague.

work on

the subject while in Germany, in

the year 1850, which

fell

into the

and could not be published.

hands of the

Goepp had

police,

laid clown the

outlines of the plan in a little pamphlet, entitled, "

pluribus

Unum,"

a political

tract

E

on Kossuth and

America, written in the heat of the Kossuth furor, in December, 1851. We met at the Congress of Philadelphia,

mentioned in the book, and soon

the design of writing this work. first

draft in

German.

ment, reproduced ideas,

it

after

formed

Poesche wrote the

Goepp, following his arrange-

in English, interpolating his

and such new thoughts

own

as occurred to either or

PREFACE. both, in their conversation

and

went

on the

In the

on.

tion, these

chapter, is,

to a

were

little

work

political organiza-

more than expansions

;

the second

social organization, in its present form,

much

greater extent, the production of the

The work swelled

owing principally

from the current

many

studies, as the

on the

English partner. its size,

first part,

to nearly double

to the quotations introduced

which offered so

literature of the day,

suggestions, that the entire press

seemed

to

have

resolved itself into a vast literary foraging party for

the benefit of our undertaking. It

was finished early

publication being tions

November, 1852.

in

somewhat

later,

have already become

verified,

some others may have missed preferred to

make no

some of our

while possibly

their aim.

alterations

on

The predic-

We

have

this account,

but

are willing that the results of the test of these five

months should be considered

as a criterion of its accu-

racy in the more distant future.

THE AUTHORS.

THE NEW ROME;

THE UNITED STATES OF THE WORLD,

A HOROSCOPE. rjIHE days of prophecy the future

is

less

are over

;

but

why 1

important to us than

it

Not because

was of old

for,

;

instead of the reliance on a heavenly prospect which carried

the hearts of our forefathers triumphantly through all the that flesh

is

heir to,

we

after present prosperity,

of years.

and the good things of

veils the things to

" has a hole in his head where the

tion.

this little

span

Not because we look with more of reverential awe

upon the curtain that

to be,"

ills

are fast substituting earthly longings

and nothing

is

;

for,

come

;

the

Yankee

of veneration ought

too high or too low for his investiga-

Nor yet because we

into its secrets

bump

are less able than formerly to pry

however man

may

degenerate in other

THE ^Eff ROME.

8 respects, he

is

still

learning tacts, and

still

improving

his

powers of digesting them. " History

we

is

philosophy teaching by example

but shall

ever repeat the fable, and never propound the moral

for

The astronomer

the historical astronomer do likewise his nether

and more

1

studies the history of the stars to learn the

laws which must regulate their coming progress

crowd

;"

1

;

why

cannot

True, the stars that

sky are more numerous, more multifarious,

erratic than those of the

upper firmament

;

but they

have their laws nevertheless, and must obey them.

We live in the elastic

and

pliable,

future,

hope

tion as submissively as to the all else

for

it,

strive

towards

sword of the

will.

within the sphere of effects and causes,

sibilities

it

;

—

it is

and bows to the sceptre of the imagina-

and impossibilities

;

and we

it

Yet, like

has

its

shall steer the

pos-

more

wisely the sooner these inexorable headlands are open to the view.

The following essay

is

a

map

of the future of mankind,

drawn from surveys of the past and present. tell

neither

must

be.

It

professes to

what might nor what should, but simply what

I.

PT1HE

— POLITICS.

old paradox, " There

is

nothing

new under

the sun,*'

has recently been amplified into a comparison of history to a spiral revolution, in

with a difference.

found tion

Perhaps a more

in the revolutions

by

which the same positions recur, but

the progress of

of a its

satellite,

planet.

fitting

type would be

modified at each repeti-

If

we

search the history

of the past for a parallel to the present aspect of political relations,

we

find it in the

time when Greece had just passed

the meridian of her glory,

when Macedon had awakened

a consciousness of her powers, and the

mewing

Roman

republic

her wings for a flight destined to outstrip

Applied to our times, the

first is

the type of

them

to

was

both.

Western Europe

;

boundlessly rich in art and science, but no longer strong of will.

^

Russia, her vassal in civilization, but her superior in

brute force, dreams of universal empire; while the American republic, with the fillet, is

motto

"

E

pluribus

Unum"

flaming in her

developing her resources of mind and body with an 1*

THE NEW ROME.

10

mark her

external force and an internal freedom which

the

germ of a World's Republic. This "

New Rome,"

the old, even in pire,

the

American Union,

a reflection of

The Roman Em-

geographical position.

its

is

embracing the " orbis terrarum" of the geography of

those times, was a political organization of the circle of lands that skirted the Mediterranean Sea, in the midst of which, like a great line-of-battle ship,

was moored the

So the American peninsula,

sula.

its

Italian penin-

northern extremity

connected with the mainland of the other continent by means of icebergs which have baffled our explorers as obstinately as

hemmed

the Rhsetian Alps whilom divides the ocean into

its

two great

in the

Roman

pioneers,

In the middle of

basins.

these peninsulas were founded, respectively, the Etrurian

Each looks

the British colonies. the sources of its

its

to the lands of the East for

Each

civilization.

casts its eyes first

native peninsula, and strives to reduce

Thus the

sway.

epoch

in

and more

politics

people,

A

it.

is

it

distinctly a leading

cherished the plan

avowed

;

;

upon

to its undisputed

was an important

supplied the base for further

Thus "The continent

operations.

it

acquisition of all Italy

Roman

and

is

ours, 'Ms

American

becoming more Bolivar

aspiration.

Webster and Douglass have publicly

more immediate

object, desired

the northern portion, from the Arctic

by

the whole

Ocean

to the

Isthmus of Darien.

The past

territorial

to have been governed is

growth of the United States

by

well-defined laws.

divided into three main portions

:

is

found

North America

the Atlantic sea-board,

POLITICS.

11

extending to the Alleghanies, the key of which

is

New York

the Mississippi valley, extending from the Alleghanies to the

New

Rocky Mountains, and guarded by

Orleans

Pacific coast, forming the western slope of the tains,

with San Francisco for

of course

first

settled

;

it

its

entrance-gate.

The

outlet

were

in possession

and the

The

first

was the theatre of the war of

was

Inde-

These two achieve-

pendence and of the compact of Union.

ments opened the way

;

Rocky Moun-

of the Alleghanies.

to the passage

and the western half of the Mississippi valley of a foreign power, but

to purchase them.

Still

this did

not

it

was not

suffice to

difficult

draw the

tide

of population into the trans-Mississippian portions of the

Our present

valley.

civilization is

based upon the means of

communication afforded by the ocean

that the Pacific railroad state

on the Missouri.

said, "

and hew

is

The

its

effects

extend

indispensable to

make an empire

"Pierce the Rocky Mountains," he

their highest crag into a statue of

pointing the old world on the

way

Columbus,

to the Indies !"

acquisition of the Pacific coast

last decade,

;

Mr. Benton knows

inland, but only to a limited distance.

came

to his aid. In the

a broad belt of country, comprising Texas,

New

Mexico, California, and Oregon, was definitely united with us.

The settlement of these

territories is

of the Union ; the migration thither

now is

the cardinal interest

a proof of

it.

By

sea

and land hundreds of thousands are pouring into the newfound El Dorados.

From

the 1st of January, 1852, to the

14th of August, the number of passengers landed at San Francisco was

fifty .one

thousand.

The remaining four months

— THE NEW ROME.

12 and a half gration,

tions, will

more

will not fall short of this

which

is

just beginning to

make up

amount the Chinese emi;

assume gigantic propor-

When

these pilgrims, after crossing the parched plains of the

West and

scaling the

the boundless

Rocky Mountains, come again hearts

ocean, their

on seeing the Pontus, cried

to

view

beat high, like the ten

thousand Greeks retreating out of Persia

may

Seventy thousand

for all deficiencies.

are scattered over various stages of the overland route.

and as the

;

out, " tiaXacoa,

latter,

$a\aooa"

so

these Americans greet the ocean, an element as vital to

them

was

as the Mediterranean

sion of her western coast

to the Greeks.

makes America a

The

posses-

self-balanced whole,

rounds her proportions, and enables her to cast off the swaddling clothes of infancy.

and two oceans are

hands of that people," says the London Times

in the

must

A continent

"

it

be, for one ocean is not

1.

enough

for

and so

;

America.

Peesent Pkojects.

Pour years have elapsed

were sub-

since the western coasts

jugated to civilization, and other countries have, in the time,

grown

ripe for infederation

the greatest attention. efforts for its it is

There can be no doubt that the

annexation must succeed.

The slavery

for the

question,

but an antidote

shape of equivalent northern acquisitions.

opened

mean

Cuba, at present, attracts

true, acts as a disturbing element,

in the

also

:

annexation of Hayti.

In the

Dominica and the Emperor, the former has

A

offers

door has

war between

enlisted

Ameri-

POLITICS. can

officers

13

two of these have recently been sent to " the

;

States," to purchase vessels of war,

They are not

immigrants.

and

Yankee

to introduce

likely to fail of success

nor

;

is it

to be expected that the throne of his sable majesty will long

withstand the shock of the republicans and their

Canada has had is

its

constantly at work, and

The

progress.

allies.

annexation party for several years; principles are

its

free-trade victory of

making

it

visible

England has swept away

the commercial privileges formerly enjoyed

by her colonies

and the Colonial system

now weighs upon them

compensating advantage.

The

without a

loss of those privileges

makes

an uninterrupted communication with the United States more desirable than ever; and the Reciprocity efforts are the result.

But

if

the principle of reciprocity

sophism,

it

country of then

it

must mean the all

to a

to

be carried beyond a

reciprocal acceptance

that the other

amounts

is

is

by each

interested in exporting

removal of

all

;

and

taxes upon intercourse.

That cannot be established without giving each country the

power of regulating the foreign trade of the

other, which is

an absurdity, or by making the regulation of commerce a

common

concern, which involves the extension of the Union

over the Canadian States.*

The main impediment

is

found in

the un-Teutonic descent, foreign language, and anti-republican

* In the Canadian Parliament, Mr. Mackenzie has taken occasion againto express his bitterness towards the United States.

In a debate on the

Reciprocity Question, he explained that the reason

why

refuse reciprocity to Canada,

was

the Americans

their desire for annexation.

THE NE W ROME.

14

and the want of intelligence and enterprise of the

traditions,

French Canadians, who now form the bulk of the population. Their very nationality, however, must British supremacy,

subjects of that

and favorable to a

power

and

;

this

make them adverse

to

coalition with the rebel

sentiment of the

masses

finds a natural ally in the interests of the political leaders,

even when of English descent, who would certainly rather aspire to a seat in the Senate of the United States, for which

language

their

and education amply

fit

them, than to the

leadership in the Legislative Council at Montreal or Toronto.

The absolute States

religious

and

political

must stimulate, sooner or

A

whole population.

liberty of the

later,

the

United

desires

of the

highly interesting paragraph in a recent

newspaper, states that an emigration of French Canadians to the neighborhood of Kaskaskia, in Illinois,

which, from

perceptibly

its

population

the in

Thus a chain of

intricacies

*

welcomed

The

low.

An

of British

in

America

the actual union of the

powerful agent

are to be

is

progress,

extent and organization, bids fair to affect

and

—another

two countries.*

difficulties is preparing,

for the solution that

which

must inevitably

fol-

natural resources and incipient cultivation of this

abstract of the official Census taken last January, has just been

The Upper Canada,

of Lower The enumeration was taken last January, and if the population then numbered 1,842,265, it cannot now be far short of two millions. About three-fourths of the population are native Canadians. The French, from a little over 60,000 at the

laid

before the

Canada

is

House

of Assembly.

890,261, and that of

total population

952,004.

conquest, have risen to 669,528, in spite of the recent large emigration of that

POLITICS. when

vast expanse, fluence of

fairly

American

15

thrown open to the invigorating

must add materially

enterprise,

comparative weight of America

in the scale of

in-

to the

The

power.

extinguishment of the claim of England to her colonies will

be discussed

race to

after

now

countries

Illinois,

we

shall

have enumerated the other

in process of infederation.

and other parts of the United

ment shows the

origin or nativity of the

Origins.

Natives of England and Wales, Scotland, Ireland,

States.

The following

state-

whole population

Lower Canada.

Upper Canada.

Total.

11,230

82,690

93,929

14,565

75,811

90,376

51.499

176,267

227,766

Canada, French origin,

669,528

26,417

795,945

Canada, not of French origin,

125,580

526,093

651,673

12,482

43,732

56,214

474

3,785

4,259

480

2,634

3,114

51

79

130

47

345

S92

4

106

110

159

9,957

10,116

France and Belgium, Italy and Greece, Spain and Portugal, Sweden and Norway, Russia, Poland, and Prussia,

359

1,007

1,366

38

15

43

18

57

75

12

29

41

8

1S8

196

Switzerland,

38

209

247

2

11

13

118

24

142

United

States,

Nova Scotia and

Prince Edwards,

New

Brunswick, Newfoundland,

West

Indies,

East Indies,

Germany and

Holland,

Austria and Hungary,

Guernsey, Jersey and other British Islands,

293

131

424

Other

S30

1,351

2,181

10

168

178

2,446

8S9

3,335

Born

places, at Sea,

Birthplaces not

known,

Total population, It is

S90/201

952,004

1,842,265

shown by the above statement that about a twentieth part of the Upper Canada is of United States origin. How much they

population of

may do

to indoctrinate the population with republican ideas

is

a

difficult

;

THE NEW ROME.

16 These

are, in the first place, the

remaining portions of the

Northern Continent, down to the Isthmus of Panama. gardens of the world

be dying

may be

millions, seven-eighths are

who

Of

want of annexation.

for

are either

These

without exaggeration, to

said,

a population of ten

composed of Indians and Mestizes,

highwaymen and

thieves, vagrants

or peons.

are the " working-class," and monopolize the labor

They terest

;

work

as they do not labor, no

form an apology

for a

middle

class,

is

done.

and furnish principally

the small business men. small formers, and

but where there

is

rancheros

no labor, there can be but

The more ambitious

individuals

in-

The Creoles

among

little

business.

them seek a sphere in

the church or the army, the only fields of effort and success.

most

In the former, they hope to share in the pride of the

gorgeously ornamented public edifices in the world, in the delights of the bishops' palaces, and the influence derived

from

the incalculable revenues extorted from the people to their

question.

"Where Americans are settled

in considerable

western part of the Province, they retain

all their

numbers, as in the

native republicanism.

But not only is a twentieth part of the population of Upper Canada American born a vast proportion of native Canadians, who form about ;

half the entire population of citizens, either directly or

There must, as any one

American element either

by

in

Upper Canada,

may

see

wholly or partially Americanized.

tions,

by a glance

the population of

is

It

ought

;

one

way

or another,

about half the population are not, therefore, perhaps, to

a perpetual tendency towards democratic

which sometimes threatens

present principles.

American

at these facts, be a strong

Upper Canada

birth, descent, or contact of ideas,

surprising that there

are descended of

through a distance of two or three generations.

to render all

be

institu-

government impossible on

POLITICS. To

the latter, they are attracted

the glitter of epaulettes, the

renown of presidencies of four

hopeless impoverishment.

by

17

weeks' duration, the excitement of pronunciamentos, and the spirit-stirring

sounds of trumpet,

and drum, with very

fife,

danger from the over-use of ammunition

little

tion is slow, they

These two institutions engross the

"God and

;

when promo-

form "free corps" and subsist on

Liberty,"

means

politics

of the country

for their

particular purposes, and cannot afford to share

any por-

tion of is,

and the

;

be obtained

clergy

own

;

the bishop and the general. Being

both consumers, they cannot afford to pay taxes

want

pillage.

the revenue that

all

them with

that cabinet

the soldiers

to

The consequence

their secular brethren.

upon cabinet send

want

is

in their resignations

pay when there

their

treasury, and no possibility of obtaining

is

any

because

no money ;

in the

and the Rever-

end Congressmen are very sorry, but really don't see how the matter

is

make

it

Sometimes a

to be helped.

at three per cent, per

month,

is issued,

loan, bearing interest

which wants nothing to

No wonder

a political panacea, except purchasers.

Louis Napoleon begins to fear for the supremacy of the " Latin race,"

and sends a handful of soldiers

to

Sonora to preserve

it.

But the country the

war of

London,

is

not without elements of

'47, industry

Bristol,

was

in the

hands of

Hamburg, and Bordeaux.

life.

Until

capitalists

of

The younger sons

of those houses were sent there to enter into mining, manufacturing,

and commercial speculations

mense wealth, and were found by the

;

they

officers

amassed imof our

army

THE NEW ROME.

18

either enjoying the almost Parisian luxuries of the capital, or

amid

living retired in haciendas,

and comparative

them look upon

the profusion of the tro-

all

constant exposure to legal and illegal robbery,

Still their

pics.

isolation

among

so degraded a people,

made

the land of their birth as that to which they

While no

hoped ultimately to return.

political

change was

presented to their minds except a colonial subjection to Euro-

pean monarchy, they had but

A new

little

hope of better times.

era opens with the introduction of

prise consequent

American

upon the war, and the settlement of

nia and Australia, which brought these countries into as transit routes.

The locomotive

enter-

Califor-

demand

snorts between Chagres

and Panama, and the steamboat ploughs

the

Nicaraguan

Aspinwall, and other American towns, founded

lakes.

American

citizens,

by

speaking the English language, and adopt-

ing Anglo-Saxon manners, customs, and municipal regulations, are springing up along the route.

The Yankees

inroads on every side;

especially on the

As

if

a young hive of bees,

send forth nies.

its

is

making

Western

sound and healthy,

swarms, so California

are

coast.

will infallibly

already planting colo-

Their nearest goals are the Mexican States of Sonora

and Nether

California.

They meet with no

perhaps, from Louis Napoleon, and states Americanized.

If further

things tend to annexation,

Scott to

we

opposition, except,

shall

soon see those

proof were wanted that these

we have

the authority of General

remove every remaining doubt.

In his speech, de-

livered at Sandusky, Oct. 11th, 1852, he said: "

An

offer

was made

to me, to remain in Mexico,

and govern

it.

The

POLITICS.

19

impressiou which generally prevails, that the proposition emanated from Congress, citizens

The overture was made

an erroneous one.

is

—men of wealth and prominence.

me by

to

During our stay

private

in Mexico, our

system of government and police was established, which, as the inhabitants themselves confessed, gave security security

—

to person

and property.

—

for the first time, perfect

About

and absolute

two-fifths of all the branches of

government, including nearly a majority of the members of Congress and the Executive, were quite desirous of having that country annexed to ours. "

They knew

that

upon the

ratification of the treaty of peace, nineteen

out of twenty of the persons belongiug to the American

army would stand

disbanded, and would be absolutely free from all obligations to remain in

They supposed,

army another moment.

the

vices, I

if

they could obtain

retain these twelve or fifteen thousand men,

would

and that

my

ser-

I could

hundred thousand more from home. The hope was, that would immediately cause annexation. They offered me one million of dollars as a bonus, with a salary of 250,000 per annum, and five responsible individuals to become security in any bank in New York which I might easily obtain one it

name.

It

would be

might get

so arranged that I

it

They

in five days.

pected that annexation would be brought about in a few years,

ex-

or, if not,

that I could organize the finances, and straighten the complex affairs of that

government.

It

was understood

in favor of annexation,

ciamento to that

and that

was only necessary

We

effect to secure the object.

them

had possession of the our possession

in

lished pronunciamento

with these all

fifteen

fortified places,

if this

day " I

Mexico

if it

As

easily

have held

into effect.

A

pub-

right over to us,

and

thousand Americans holding the fortresses of the country,

"We might have been there to

us.

had been necessary.

my distant home. I was not in favor of the annexation my own country. Mexico (Proper) has about eight millions

of

to

of

who

and out of these eight millions there are not more than one

my

country, I

This was the

my own

The Indians and mixed races

are of pure European blood.

a lover of

plead some of

and could

would have brought Congress

constitute about seven millions.

own.

the arms of

loved

inhabitants,

million

all

and powder-manufac-

arrangement had gone

Mexico could not have disturbed

this

to publish a pronun-

possessed

the country, and occupied their cannon-foundries tories,

was

that nearly a majority of Congress

it

little

first

They

are exceedingly inferior to our own.

was opposed

objection on

my

to

love of home, which gave

country and

its

institutions

V

mixing up that race with our

part to this proposition.

me

May

the preference for the

I

soil

THE NEW ROME.

20

However honorable come

to his personal feelings,

to regret this fear of the Indians

may end

in

Gen. Scott will

and mixed

making two wars necessary

races,

which

do the work of one.

to

That work must be done whenever the Americans come to '

understand, as they already divine, their

Why

the

is

Mexican

the continental

name

called Mexican, the

The following

"

manifest destiny."

Cuban Cuban, and

of American bestowed upon the citizen

of the United States alone

16,

:

article

1

appeared in the

Panama

Star, of Oct.

1852: Federation of the Isthmus.

— For some time

past, the leading topic of

conversation in this city, both publicly and privately, as well as the

of the Isthmus,

or,

main

been the discussion of the independence

subject of the native press, has

rather, the formation of the

and suggestions of annexation

to a

Isthmus into a Federal State,

more powerful country.

The matter

has already been brought before the public, both through the Government at Bogota, "

and the Carnara Provincial

The Government

ter for discussion,

summoning

at

in this city.

Bogota has acted most liberally

in

opening the mat-

and the Provincial Carnara here have acted wisely

in

the people publicly, to express their sentiments in reference to

a separation from

their

mother

State."

Not content with occupying

the Californian territory, the

people of that State of adventurers have overrun the Sand-

wich Islands, made interest with the government, and effected a treaty by which King

dom

to the

Roman

Kamehameha

III.

bequeaths his king-

American people, as of old Attalus made the

people heirs of his kingdom of Pergamus.

not something

Roman

in,

the walk of this republic

Is there %

The

former administration, in pursuance of a policy more timid than cautious, have omitted to ratify this treaty; but the

POLITICS. The annexation of

error will ere long be corrected. islands, forming, as they do,

between America and Asia,

people

is

its

particularly interesting as

is

these

an important shipping station

mark-

continent.

A people

mission, and the mission of the

American

ing the extension of

cannot forego

21

America beyond the

not bounded

by

oceans.

A new project has just been devised, worthy, in the grandeur of

its outlines,

of the American mind.

of the valley of the

most

irrigating the

terprising people

Amazon

upon Lieutenant Maury,

its

the settlement

is

fertile region, cultivated

The suggestion

!

It

— the greatest river of the world, by

most

the

will confer lasting

originator.

en-

renown

The reason assigned

for the occupation of the valley, that the series of its produc-

tions begins

where that of the productions of the Mississippi

valley terminate, (sugar closing the train of the latter, and

leading that of the former,) betrays the philosophical states-

man.

v

to

be found for those im-

The negroes of

the cotton States will

But where are the laborers

mense

plantations

hardly

suffice for the rice fields

1

;

The day of African importation

now

Texas is

is

left

bare of them.

happily over.

But even

the advanced guard of the millions has arrived,

who

are

destined, under

Anglo-Saxon management,

mighty work.

China, with her population of three hundred

to accomplish the

and sixty-nine millions, has found an outlet on

The gold of claimed for 11

it

by Columbus,

El oro es excellentissimo,

purgatory."

this continent.

California has manifested the miraculous

In the Chinese

in his letter to

—

it

will

Queen

power

Isabella

:

even save souls from

Empire they punish a man

for a

— THE NEW

22

ROME

.

breach of the peace by slinging a rope under his arms, and hanging him up in the sun.

A

company, under the name of the

New York

and Para-

guay Steamship Company, has been chartered, and receiving subscriptions to

pose of

its

establishing a line of

the Rio de la Plata and

its

stock in

New

is

now

York, for the pur-

steamers for the navigation of

tributaries, of

which the Parana,

The commerce

Paraguay, and Uruguay are the principal. of the fertile countries along the line

of these rivers has long

been closed to the world by the obstinacy of Rosas, the late Dictator of the Argentine Confederation, vessel proceeding

up and down the Rio de

downfall, however,

it

who

forbade any

la Plata.

was thrown open, which

On

his

will give a

great impetus to the trade of the fertile states bordering on those streams.

Be

it said,

in passing, that

tion of the plan of

route fables

all

first realiza-

Dorado of Quinsai and Cathay are

American history has doffed

no longer.

now assumes

witness the

Columbus, to reach the east by a westward

the fables of the El

;

we now

the gorgeous

its

prose,

and

imagery of the Genoese who

unchained the oceans.

2.

We

Internal Growth.

have seen that the American mind

the necessity of overspreading the continent

Pole to the

cliff

of

is

awakening

to

from the North

Don Diego Ramirez on Cape Horn.

does not enter upon the task, however, without calling

It

in the

POLITICS.

23

The

assistance of all the nations of the earth.

the world for the present epoch

is

middle

side is

map

of

that which takes the ocean

for its starting point, as given in the

in the

true

Appendix.

America

is

on either hand the ocean, bounded on one

;

by Europe and

Africa, and

by Asia on

the other.

There

but one ocean and two continents, the Western and the

Eastern, of which latter Europe and Africa are peninsulas Australia

is

and decrease

an Asiatic island. in

historical

AH

;

these countries increase

importance

in

proportion as they

approach or retreat from the ocean, the great highway of

The dividing

nations.

line

which marks the outside, passes

through the 100° of eastern longitude, traversing the greatest contiguous expanse of mainland which

meridian to cover

;

is

it

possible for a

these regions, being the least oceanic, are

accordingly the least historical in the world.

The ideas

;

old world had no

room

for the expansion of the

Columbus opened a new arena upon the

the new-found continent.

As Mother Earth

fable upreared the island of

new

virgin soil of

of the Grecian

Delos on her bosom, wherein to

conceal the infant Jupiter from the murderous fangs of his

unnatural father, Time, so the Genius of humanity transported

new

the

ideas to America, there to gather their forces for the

impending conquest of heaven and tion

earth.

The new

draws from Europe the wholesome influences

but the sea screens

pean powers of It will

it

organizait

needs

;

with maternal mantle from the Euro-

evil.

not be amiss to notice, in this place, the internal

growth of the United

States, for the

purpose of showing the

—

— THE NEW ROME,

24

proportion between their swelling powers and their increasing

The population, down from 1714, was

task.

as follows 434,000

1714 1727

580,000

1750

1,260,000

1754

1,425,000 1,695,000

1760 1770

2,312,000

,

2,945,000

1780 1790

3,929,872

1800

5,305,952

1810

7,239,814

1820

9.638,920

1830

12,866,131

1840

1

1850

23,144,126

Compare 1841

.

the result of the last

7,063,353

two English censuses

27,452,262

The French censuses English censuses of the

more

unfavorable, since the

are

still

first

half of the century

crease of population of 50 per cent.

show an inHere are the French

:

27,349,003

1801

1806

29,107,425

1821

30,461,875

1831

32,569,223

1836

33,540,910

1841

34,240,178

1846

35,400,486

1851

35,781,628

No

:

27,019,555

.'

1851

censuses

:

country affords any comparison to the progress of

America,

in this respect.

Its efficient

causes are annexation.

POLITICS. The

immigration, and internal increase. has hitherto contributed but

little

appears from the following table

25

;

first

of these factors

the second far more, as

:

1790-1810

120,000

1810-1820

'

114,000

1820-1830

203,000

1830-18-10

778,000

1840-1850

1,543,000

Hence

it

appears that the immigration of every decade

about doubles that of the preceding; the proportion

was

will not fall short

that in 1851,

as three to one.

of this ratio,

1

one

case, (1830-1840,)

That the present decade

may be

inferred

from the

The German emigration of

years averaged annually 80,000; in 1851

The immigration of 1852,

13,199.

alone, has

been as follows

to the port of

it

January

New York

1

1,592

5,252

March

21,726

April

28,193

May

33,372

June

49,225

July

29,403

August September

34,513

October

20,115

36,777

Total

The German emigration, at least 200,000,

the

reached

:

February

2

fact

335,966 persons emigrated from England alone,

267,357 of them to America. last five

in

at all ports, for the

and that of 1853 cannot

fall

270,168

same

year, is

short of 400,-

— — 26

T

Continued

000.

HE N E W

political

and

E

OME.

social pressure

combined with

improved means of locomotion, to produce these stupendous phenomena.

Thus the

relative

importance of the three

sources of accretion, of which natural increase

by

far the

most

efficient,

was hitherto

must undergo a change; immigra-

tion and annexation being destined to rise considerably in the

The past

scale.

increase averaged

cent, for

every ten

supposing this to remain, the population would

years;

crease as follows 1860

30,958,000

1810

41,145,000

1880

54,559,000

1890

73,144,000

1900

97,525,000

1910

1

1920

160,045,000

20,034,000

1930

213,360,000

1940

284,480,000

1950

379,307,000

will manifestly

mass of

rapid, though irregular; the

makes every

The causes of

more

probabilities, however,

growth and

for in the political

zation of the United States

;

their

and

natural

infinite

these capacities.

Our republic

expan-

social organi-

advantages are

other countries, as Brazil, which have

symptoms of

far

Constitution.

this unparalleled

must be looked

by

become

calculation uncertain.

3.

siveness

in-

:

Yet the actual growth

shared

36 per

is

shown no

the result of

POLITICS. a

secessio plebis in

27

montem sacrum^ of a

segregation, not only

threatened and attempted, but effected, or in the course of effectuation, of the third

and fourth

and labor, from the

and second, those of the priesthood

first

and the aristocracy.

Rome went down

Ancient

separation was then rescinded

guiding hand of Columbus,

is

and must stand so long as

estates, those of intellect

the

;

because

new Rome, thanks

the offspring of this

this

to the

movement,

force remains unspent.

its

All

the nations of Europe, through their children, have helped to

rear this edifice of

due

political

in

human freedom; but

to the Anglo-Saxons.

phase

in

The

the chief credit

Germanic

old

is

liberty lost its

Germany, but was preserved and developed Doric tribes

England, as of old the institutions of the

found an asylum from the destroying hand of the HeraclidaB in the recesses of Crete,

ferred in

them back

whence Lycurgus afterwards

This liberty, when endangered

to Sparta.

England, was vindicated and raised to

tion

by

trans-

its

Let us view

the people of America.

present perfecit

somewhat

detail.

in t

Form of The American union sovereignties.

It is

central government

Government. constellation

of

a consolidated republic, in so far as

its

is

an

is financially,

organized

and

dependent of the integrating states tion in as far as the sovereign

;

in part politically, in-

but

members

it is

a free confedera-

are self-existent, and

controllable in nothing but the points they have themselves

conceded.

The

Constitution

of

the

United States

is

amendable

THE NEW ROME.

28

by

by

the ratification,

proposals

three-fourths of the several states, of

by a convention called by two-thirds of both

made

houses of Congress, or on the application of two-thirds of the states

this

:

Under

stitution.

power acknowledged by the Con-

the highest

is

this sole restriction,

it

the

is

supreme and

unalterable Jaw In

the confederating states

it

form a perpetual compact to

give faith and credit to each other's acts, records, and judicial

proceedings; to admit the citizens of every state to rights of citizenship in every other

from

fugitives

justice

;

to surrender

all

and from labor; to preserve republi-

can forms of government; to impose no restraints upon tercourse,

and

the

up mutually

to establish

in-

and maintain a federal government

with certain specified powers and duties.

government the several

states also forego

the sovereign rights of foreign negotiation,

making war, and

In favor of this

maintaining standing armies, of

any thing but gold and

bills

of credit, the making of

silver a legal tender or

payment of

debts, passing ex-post facto laws, bills of attainder, or improv-

ing the obligations of contracts,

granting

titles

of nobility,

and laying duties on imports, exports, and tonnage.

The

federal

government

is,

on

its part,

from impairing the prerogative of the

ment of lating

militia officers,

commerce

to

by laying

the

expressly restricted

states

by

the appoint-

duties on exports,

preference of

detriment of another, or by granting

by

regu-

one state and the

titles

of nobility.

express reservations do not exclude implied ones, but are reserved which are not expressly granted.

These

all rights

POLITICS. The

rights of the people

further guarded

29

under the federal government are

from invasion by the suspension of the writ

of habeas corpus,

of attainder or ex-post facto laws,

bills

reli-

gious tests, regulations, or church establishments, invasions of the freedom of speech, of the press, of assemblage, of petition,

of the right to bear arms, of exemption from the illegal

quartering of troops, unreasonable searches and seizure, indefi-

and unauthorized warrants, from arraignment

nite

for crime,

except upon presentment of a grand jury, from repeated in

capital

cases,

privation of

life,

from compulsory

self-inculpation,

liberty, or property without

trials

from de-

due process of

law, or from deprivation of property for a public purpose

An

without compensation. all

criminal cases, and in

sition of excessive bail,

and the

punishments or excessive

Under delegated 1.

To

these

impartial jury trial

all civil

infliction

fines, is

restrictions,

secured in

is

ones of amount

;

the requi-

of cruel and unusual

expressly prohibited.

the

following

powers

are

:

the legislative branch, the

power of declaring war,

of raising and supporting armies and navies, of calling forth

the militia for purposes of defence, and of

its

organization

and discipline, of regulating foreign, inter-state, and Indian

commerce, of naturalization and bankruptcy laws, of coinage, weights, measures, post-offices, patents, and copyrights

of

borrowing money, and

taxes, duties, imports

admitting lican

laying and

and excises

;

collecting

;

and

uniform

of governing territories,

new states, and guaranteeing

to every state a repub-

government, and freedom from invasion.

THE NEW ROME.

30

To

2.

arising

power of deciding on

the

the judiciary,

cases

under the laws passed by the federal government,

cases affecting ambassadors and consuls, cases of admiralty jurisdiction, controversies in

party, and controversies

To

3.

which the Lulled States are a

between

states.

the executive, the chief

command

of the

army and

navy, the power of pardoning, and (with the advice and consent of the Senate) of making treaties, and appointing public

The

officers.

legislative

power

is

vested in a house of represent-

Every

atives, a senate, and, for certain purposes, a president.

law must be proposed in one of the two houses, passed by a majority of both, and receive the assent of the president, or

be

re- submitted

to

the vote of the houses, and receive two-

The

thirds of their suffrages.

by

courts are organized

acts

of Congress, but the appointment of the judges must conform to the constitutional provision.

The members of

by

the house of representatives are elected

the suffrages of the voters for the lower houses of the

respective state legislatures

;

they are apportioned

among

the states in the ratio of their population, securing, however, to each state, at least one representative. sists

of two

members

elected

by the

The president

of the several states.

of the states, each state having a that of its representatives

Many

is

The senate

con-

legislatures of each

elected

number of

by

the vote

votes equal to

and senators.

of the features thus roughly sketched are acknowl-

edged to be defective

;

others, not

mentioned, are

still

more

POLITICS. There

so.

however, very

is,

prospect of amendment,

little

nobody

for the simple reason that

31

feels the grievance.

It is

a government that imposes no rule, but only guards against the imposition of rule

ment

from elsewhere

the

name of

govern-

hardly applicable to such a mere safety-valve against

is

The government,

the pressure of abnormal forces.

has so

hold upon the

little

government tion

;

fails

to give

so called,

people, that a sketch of the

any adequate idea of the organiza-

and polity of the people under

All the governmental

it.

functions referring to this head are expressly excluded from its

to

sphere.

If,

then, the social life of the people

government regulations

emanate from the respective

how

at

all,

state

is

subjected

those regulations must

governments.

Let us see

far this is the case.

Every hence

it

member

state is at liberty to

form

own

its

constitution

;

might be supposed that the organization of a present of the confederacy could give no rule for that to be

expected of those entering into

it

hereafter.

But experience

shows that the absolute liberty of choice has led to a more complete uniformity than could have been attained by the

most rigorous peremptory ish,

legislation

;

all

the French, Span-

and German traditions are found to adapt themselves so

fully to the

revised and perfected Anglo-Saxon models, that

these will certainly furnish the plan for all future structures.

Each fifteen

state changes its constitution,

years

;

those adopted in the

material respects, the same. in point

on the average, once in

same decade

New York

is

are, in all

the leading state

of extent, population, wealth, intelligence, and

polit-

THE NEW ROME.

32

Her

ical vitality.

to

present constitution

and will afford a

ing,

fair

is

of six years' stand-

sample of the internal organization

be expected of the nearest future. It is

amendable by the concurrent votes of two successive

and every twenty years the question of the

legislatures;

election of a Constitutional Convention is submitted to the

popular vote. All the rights of citizenship are inviolable, except upon process regulated

by the laws of the

Trial

land.

by

jury,

and equality before the laws, the habeas

religious liberty

corpus, the grand jury, the inviolability of private property,

except for compensation, freedom of speech and the press, of

assemblage and petition, are removed from the sphere of

government

interference.

The land people,

who

is

the original and ultimate property of the

shall inherit in default

of other heirs.

Feudal

tenures are abolished, lands declared to be allodial, leases for

more than twelve years

forbidden.

be formed by special laws.

by

shall not

but only under general laws

special,

shall

Banking

Corporations shall not

;

but

be permitted

all

bank-notes

be registered and secured, by public stocks, and the

individual responsibility of the bankers.

The laws

shall

be

codified.

Persons having conscientious

may

scruples

against warfare,

be excused from militia service, on certain conditions.

The subaltern companies

;

officers

of the militia shall be elected by their

field officers

cers of their regiments;

of regiments by the subaltern

and brigadiers by the

offi-

field officers

POLITICS.

33

Major-generals to be appointed by the

of their brigades. governor.

Every

village elects its road-supervisors, school-directors,

tax-assessors,

and

collectors

;

all offices for

and measuring are abolished.

weighing, guaging,

Every county

elects its over-

seers of the poor, board of commissioners, treasurer, sheriff, clerk, coroner,

and

district attorney.

The property of treasurer,

the

canal

the

land

the state shall office,

board, and

the

the

be administered by the fund

canal

prison

commissioners,

The

inspectors.

officers

forming these boards, as well as the comptroller, attorney general, and state lawyer, shall be elected

The loan

its

by the people.

state shall never sell its canals or salt-springs,

nor

funds or credit to individuals or corporations.

No

debts shall be incurred except for

some

single

work or

expressly specified, to repel invasion, or to

object,

meet a casual

failure in revenues.

Elections shall be

by

ballot

;

all

citizens of the

age of

twenty-one years, who shall have inhabited the state one year, are voters.

The government, thus legislative, judicial, sists

restrained and

and executive branches.

curtailed, has its

The former

of an assembly of one hundred and twenty-eight

bers, elected in " single districts" for one year,

senate of thirty-two members. is

the

same with

2*

and a biennial

The manner of passing laws

that pursued in Congress.

The people of each township who, besides

con-

mem-

elect a justice of the peace,

his magisterial functions, has jurisdiction

of

civil

THE NEW ROME.

34

The county judge,

amount.

suits of small

elected in every

county, holds the Criminal Court, and hears appeals in civil

The

cases from the decisions of the justices. into eight judicial districts,

Supreme Court

thirty-two judges of the their respective districts,

The

state

is

divided

which are apportioned among the they are elected in

;

and decide upon

civil controversies.

Court of Appeals, consisting of four of the judges of the

Supreme Court, and four judges of

The governor, which

forces,

forces to

and even

The ment,

is

two years,

elected for

by the

commander of

is

the

a matter of small importance, as there are no

command. his

appeals, elected

High Court of Errors.

state at large, are the

His patronage

almost annihilated,

is

pardoning power clogged and restricted.

chief advantage of the state over the federal govern-

is in

the different relative importance of the chief exec-

utive offices.

While

in the

former he

registering clerk, in the latter he

The patronage of

machine.

son of this difference

;

is

the

is

little

more than a

moving spring of

the central executive

another

lies in

is

the

one rea-

the fact that the foreign

relations, falling within the sphere of the

common

authority,

unavoidably require a single head. "

In order to give our readers an idea," says the

December

9,

New York

Tribune of

1852, describing the French system of government, as con-

trasted with the one

we have

just described,

"we

take from the Annuaire

de V Economie politique etde la Statistique for 1851, an account of the legal formalities necessary to

be observed before a commune or township can be

allowed to repair any of for instance, that there is in,

its

public buildings or works.

a bridge which

and the people want to mend

it

is

"We

will suppose,

dangerous, and threatens to

and make

it safe.

fall

In America, the

superintendent of roads or the commissioner of streets, or other officer

POLITICS. named by

35

the people for the purpose, would at once set to

the job done.

Not

work and have

There the following clumsy, expensive,

so in France.

and useless order of exercises has to be gone through with, writing

The Mayor

" 1.

district or county,

the

in

all

:

Town

writes to the Sub-Prefect (the chief officer of the

appointed by the Government)

permission to convene

for

Council to consider the repairing of the bridge.

Prefect writes that

At

it

may

be done.

The Council

3.

is

2.

The Sub-

convened by the

Mayor sets forth his views, and a committee The committee meet, investigate the subject and appoint a reporter to draw up their conclusion. 6. The Town Council is again convened. 7. The report is read and the Council draws up its decision. 8. The Mayor writes to an architect. 9. The architect draws a plan and estimates. 10. The Council is again convened. 11. It deliberates on the Mayor.

is

4.

appointed.

plan,

the meeting the

5.

and agrees

explanatory

to such

letter,

and such

alterations.

are sent to the architect.

estimates accordingly, and sends again.

15. It considers

proval, with an

estimate again.

is

19.

The Council

purpose

in

The Council

credit, or

changes his plan and

letter, is sent

back to the

convened

is

16.

architect.

20. It

approves the

make an

commune

is

appropriation,

able to pay. is sent,

what

the documents are divided;

23.

The

pile of

the department.

officer of

The request

22.

with the estimate, and

request for the appropriation

papers

Minister of Finance at Paris. it is

26.

As

in that Ministry

but finally the Minister gives his decision.

petition

is

30. it

matters are taken

27. This decision is laid before

The

decision of the

Government goes

32.

He

may

be.

28.

29. This decision goes to the Minis-

his decision.

to the Sub- Pre feet.

The

taken into account,

the Chief of the State, President, or Emperor, as the case

sends

25.

forwarded by the Prefect to the

some time before the

That functionary makes

is

relates to the appropriation goes to

finally

is

to all

24. In his office

the Financial bureau, and the rest to the bureau of Public Works.

ter.

that

hand an appropriation should be made, with documentary

the documents in the case, to the Sub-Prefect.

in their turn,

ap-

The Mayor

The Council next draw up a memoir to show

next sent to the Prefect, or chief

up

The 17.

18. It is sent to the

once more assembled.

is

evidence to prove that the

open a

alterations, with an

14.

next revised and definitively fixed.

21.

The

He

and approves the plan and estimate.

accompanying

definitive estimate. for the

back.

it

12.

13.

to the

timate of the cost goes to the Minister.

to the Prefect.

Mayor.

33.

The

31.

He

detailed es-

34. It is given to the chief of the

THE NEW ROME.

3G proper bureau.

examined

35. It is

in the

bureau.

36. It goes to the

Min-

The Minister examines it 38. It is sent to the Commis39. The pile of documents is now taken apart and sion for Civil Works. 40. The Commission assemble, classified, and remains till its turn comes. and the papers are given to a reporter. 41. The reporter draws up his

ister again.

37.

The report

42.

report.

read before the Commission, and alterations in

is

the plan are agreed on.

From the Minister to the From him to the Mayor.

44. 46.

whole

Prefect.

47.

The Council agrees

48.

cil.

are now sent to the Minister. From him to the Sub- Prefect. calls together the Town Coun-

The documents

43.

He

45.

again

to the proposed alterations.

sent to the architect with an explanatory letter.

is

changes his plan and estimates accordingly.

tect

estimates go to the Mayor.

whole weary process operations.

Now

The

the

archi-

The new plan and

51.

greater appropriation

is

required, and the

gone through again, involving twenty-four

The documents having

75.

and become

is

A

49. 50.

distinct

at last accomplished their rounds,

legitimate, are deposited in the Register's office.

16. Pro-

work are advertised for. 11. The bids are examined and the work adjudged. 78. The adjudication is registered. 79. The certifiposals to do the

cate of this transaction Prefect.

He

81.

is

sent to the Sub-Prefect.

to the Minister.

82.

80.

He

sends

The Minister approves

it.

it

to the 83, 84,

85. The approval is sent to the Prefect, the Sub-Prefect, the Mayor. 86. The Mayor informs the architect. 87. The Mayor informs the contractor. 88. The approval of the Minister is added to the documents. 89. The

Register

notified of the same, in writing, of course.

is

the proceedings

is

registered.

record of proceedings

is

91. It

is

90.

The record of 92. The

sent back to the Mayor.

completed, and the approval of the estimate be-

Now the work may begin, but the business of documentover. When the architect has got through, a certificate is

comes complete.

making

not

is

required.

93.

the Prefect.

The

97, 98, 99. It

it.

100. "

An order Such

is

is

certificate

From him

95.

is

goes to the Sub-Prefect, to the Minister.

96.

The

94.

From him

to

Minister approves

sent back to the Prefect, the Sub-Prefect, the Mayor.

issued for the

payment of

the money.

a specimen of the mechanism by which the French people

When M. Thiers was Prime Minister, a comAdour found that a bridge was out of order, and asked perrepair it. The petition was sent up in the summer, and

are held in leading strings.

mune on mission

the to

went through

all

the motions above described, as a matter of course.

Finally, next spring there

came a decree

of the

Government appointing a

POLITICS.

37

Commission to examine the bridge and see whether entirely

Such

leading

government

;

such the promises

maxims is

rule

its

by

is

it

is

policy

wrongful whenever

most

:

the

The its

American

wherever

must be adminis-

Government

its

agency

and

force,

is

is

the whole

and mutual defence the

;

individual

own:

is

to be subject to

is

no

the all-engrossing

The American

polity.

sole

the absolute and indefea-

sovereignty of the individual

principle of

first that,

it

does more than ward off the

it

sphere of legitimate politics

mission of the state.

flourishing state

Self-defence from force

compulsory influence but

for

government must be tolerated

indispensable.

attack of other forces.

re-

time,

holds out to the future.

those to be subjected to

the other, and greater, that

only where

it

not to be dispensed with,

tered as far as possible

sible

mean

!"

the political aspect of the

is

on the globe

force

needed

really

overthrown the disordered structure, and no bridge remained

the Commissioners to examine

Two

it

But, alas, the frosts and floods of winter had, in the

pairing.

state

is

a

MUTUAL GUARANTEE OF INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY. It is

canon

an American discovery

is

Never before has

thinkers. estate.

"

I

:

the very enunciation of the

work of Josiah Warren,

the

am

the greatest of

American

the individual achieved this high

myself alone,"

the motto which expresses

is

English aspirations and American policy.

It is this all-suffi-

ciency of the individual which accounts for the marvellous elasticity of

American

boundless prairie,

elements that federacy

;

is

life.

The

pioneer, alone

upon the

conscious of possessing in himself

make up

the greatness of the

all

American

the

con-

and wherever two or three of them are assembled

38

T

HE NE

them

to

constitutions of which

managed

former realm.

him

among them,

stronger

than

to their

the

old

Theodore

England shipmaster, wrecked

was seized by

to escape.

He

his conquerors,

became king

their chief; their captain

visited his

is

an improved edition.

New

in the Indian sea,

years of rule, he

carried

therefore

is

it

Parker informs us that a

and made

.

form an organization more suitable

circumstances, freer, and

on an island

R O'M E

American freedom

together, the spirit of

teaching

W

;

and after

Then he once more

found that the savages had

heaven and worshipped him as a god, greater

to

than their fancied deities.

He

had revolutionized

divinity,

and was himself enthroned as a god.

Westward

the tide has turned

Minesota and Nebraska are

Day

Latter

bosom of

wards

;

Rocky Mountains them

;

the Saints of the

Another current has turned south-

all.

cities, as

have thus

in the

Oregon and California are

;

inferior to the first, yet strong

Texas, and build

We

up

have established a prosperous community

the

outstripping

the beaver territories of

;

filling

enough

to replenish

Aspinwall, upon the Isthmus.

far considered

America

in its relation to

other countries in a merely mechanical or mathematical pect is

;

like a star with its right ascension

and declination.

asIt

time to resort to a chemical analysis, and examine the

various qualities of

its

ingredients.

Extraction.

In estimating the property of these various elements,

must not be understood

to

chime

in

we

with the mystical jargon

POLITICS.

39

of ethnographers, which would substitute a nobility of nationality for a nobility of class

;

there

is

no elementary difference

of nationalities in the civilized world, unresolvable by the universal categories of cause and is

no more than there

effect,

any elementary difference of individual character.

position of

him

;

man

is

The

dis-

formed by the circumstances which educate

so nations, which consist of individuals, are educated

by national circumstances,

events, and traditions

the prevail-

;

ing tendency of those traditions will produce a prevailing

tendency of national characteristics

be overcome by subsequent events neutralized

man tion

by circumstances

his political rights, ;

Seven hundred and

its

may

masses, or entirely

in the

the individual.

on the score of

We

deny no

his national extrac-

scientific standard.

fifty

years before the present era, a

was founded on the coast of

had spread

The

but that tendency

but we would have the weight of national authority

determined by a just and

city

in

;

its

Italy.

In eight centuries

it

empire over Western and Southern Europe.

traces of that empire endure to this day, in the shape of

language, the most pervading, most controlling, and most

ineradicable tradition which can be imposed

The nations speaking cient

that language

still

upon humanity.

acknowledge

in

An-

Rome The dead but sceptred sovereigns Our

spirits

that

still

rule

from their urns.

In the Orbis Terrarum, under Csesar's sway, the Latin race

achieved

its first universality.

;

THE NEW ROME.

40

With

the decline of the

of the second

its

;

Roman

first

empire began the

rise

element was religion, a tradition second in

The Church

influence to language alone.

attained its splen-

dour when Charles V. founded an empire on which the sun never

Holy

the

In

art.

and Michael Angelo raised the throne of science and

set,

achieved

its

For

the light behind, the darker the

hundred years

fifteen

guage but that of

Rome

shadow be-

was supposed that no

Rome

who can blame him

;

it

deserved the name.

written a book to prove that the world

Romanic race

the

second universality.

The brighter fore.

Catholic (!) Church,

is

destined again to lead

for forgetting himself in the

contemplation of that wondrous past

1

In the decadence of the Church the world bethought

life"

Napoleon grasped

;

of Paris

is

now

holds us almost as

French empire the

Catholic race achieved

third universality,

mit be attained more than three times ;

heads cannot for ever learn a province of the Italian

—Can

Holy

to

new

every new

spirit

;

it

Catholic supremacy has been driven from the

them

to

from the Mississippi

the

Pacific

;

where

it

his-

2,600

and old

;

exists,

but the

Huron

to the Cordilleras,

yet

for

was opened by

genius, in the service of Spanish wealth;

Mississippi,

sum-

America began as

lessons.

Catholic Church

this

The labor of

1

and the Romanic race has been at work

Old forms cannot bend

years.

" civilized

In the

itself.

its

The

boundaries.

its

a tradition which

firmly as that of religion

tory tires

itself

Louis XIV. established in Paris the centre of

of civilization. civilization

lan-

Gioberti has

it

to the

and from

languishes

POLITICS. America

destined

is

Romanic

41

mature and develop

to

The French are

traditions.

other

at this time as

than

much

prostrated in their political and social condition as the Ger-

man

or English laborers

;

yet their emigration amounts to

True, the bulk of emigrants for the past ten years

nothing.

have been of

Irish descent,

ized, are united

by

and the

and

religious

though never Latin-

Irish,

civilitary traditions to their

brethren of Gaul, and severed by the remembrance of oppression

from the German

race,

But these

out of Britain.

who have

influences are counterbalanced

that of the English language, in

cated

;

the career of such

driven their kindred

men as Jackson and

Clay

of their perfect adaptability to American institutions. the balance of immigration

now

is

turned, in favor of the Germans.

now

inhabitants, Celtic races.

York

official

still

the latter class

112,251

220,603

this

far

out-number

v

:

1552, to Sept. 22d.

1S50.

1851.

69,883

116,532

163,256

88,664

50,862

56,462

45,626

212,796

289,601

226,976

Other countries, 56,647

Total,

yet

the probable delegation

Germany must

45,402

55,705

Ireland,

is

the statistics of arrivals at the port of

1849.

That

Ireland has six millions of

alone, for the last four years

Germany,

Besides,

returns already give this result.

The following are

New

a proof

turning, or has already

Whatever proportion of

forty millions of

The

them.

is

equally divided between the English and

to be expected on our shores,

from the

by

which they have been edu-

movement

is

92,686

not on the decline, appears from

—

:

THE

42

W ROME.

NE

the fact that on the 23d, 24th, and 25th of September, the three days ensuing the close of the above table.

The number

New York

of arrivals at

was,

12,500 10,577

For the remaining days of September,

20,115

For October,

Add

226,976

the previous immigration of 1852,

270,168

Total of 1852, to October 31st,

Taking the immigration of October, (20,115) as the standard for November and December, we have

40,230 270,1 68

Add, Emigrants landing at

New York

310,398

in 1852,

According to the standard subsisting from January

September 22, 1852,

1st, to

aggregate consists of the following

this

ingredients: Germans,

129,662

Irish,

124,159 56,577

Other countries,

The following

article,

from the

New York

Tribune of Nov.

3, 1852, will further illustrate this subject •'"We publish this morning

some tables made up from the census returns

much agitated questions of the amalgam called the American

of 1850, which throw positive light upon the sources from which people.

is

Though they

derived that great

refer only to the population of this state, they afford

satisfactory grounds for judging as to the proportion in

which the

different

elements exist throughout the republic. " It

of

New

appears, that out of 3,097,358 souls which compose the population

York, 2,439,296 were born in the United States

;

84,820

in

Eng-

land; 343,111 in Ireland; 31,000 in Scotland and Wales; 118,398 in Ger-

many

;

47,200 in British America

foreign birth in all the state

people.

is

;

and that the number of residents of or about two-ninths of the whole

65S,062,

—

POLITICS. " If

we

suppose that this proportion

43

liokls

good

the result will be that there are in the country a lions of residents of foreign birth, including

many

men, 910,000 Germans, as gether, about

more than

two and a half

of English, Scotch, and

it is

doubtful whether

New York

millions of Irish-

Welsh taken

to-

can thus be taken as

the standard for the whole republic, possessing as

does the principal

it

sea-port for the arrival of immigrants, and retaining in

its

metropolis and

who enter the Western and North-western states may show

other cities and their vicinity a large part of those

And

Union,

five mil-

90,000 French, and about 140,000 from other countries

But

of Europe.

for the entire

little

although the

number

greater relative

of foreign inhaoitants,

it

must be borne

country.

a rather in

mind

that the Southern states, with the exception of Texas, have comparatively few. "

The number of

we had

natives of

New

natives of the other states, aside from It

is

all

curious to notice

in the state is

smaller than

how

New York

itself,

there are 288,100.

equally the Yankees are distributed throughout

the counties, while the people from other states, like those of foreign

birth, are

and

England

supposed, there being of them no more than 206,630, while of

more congregated

in

however, exceed

all

Irish,

and

vicinity,

while

in

The Germans

other races in the tenacity with which they

More than half the whole number

cling to the cities. this city

the great centres of business.

in the state are in

the strictly agricultural counties there are

comparatively few, especially of Germans. not far from half the population

immigration from British America

is is

In

New York

of foreign birth. striking

;

it is

and Brooklyn,

The extent

of the

almost as large as that

from Massachusetts."

Probably no lation, exhibits

New

York.

from

all

city in the world, of

any considerable popu-

such a heterogeneous people as the city of

Nations and tongues and kindred and people

parts of the world are here, and our thoroughfares

and hostelries are a perfect Babel of languages.

In a five-

minute walk you meet Christian, Jew, Turk and Gentile,

bond and table,

free,

of

all

complexions and creeds.

accurately copied

The following

from the Census Returns, shows

THE NEW ROME.

44

the nativity of the people of the city of

New York

in June,

1850:

Bom State of

York,

Maine,

New

234,843 1,432

Hampshire,

Vermont,

22,824

Ireland,

826

Scotland,

Wales,

961

Island,

Number.

England,

953 5,587

Massachusetts,

Rhode

Bom in

Number.

in

New

133,730 7,660

847

Germany,

55,476

France,

4,990

Spain,

303

13,255

Portugal,

128

5,283

Belgium,

95

Delaware,

393

Holland,

611

Maryland,

1,852

7,784

Connecticut,

New

Jersey,

Pennsylvania,

District of Columbia,

Virginia,

261 1,702

284

Turkey, Austria,

Switzerland,

North Carolina, South Carolina,

535

Russia,

Georgia,

277

Florida,

54

Alabama,

90

Norway, Denmark, Sweden,

83

Prussia,

Mississippi,

303

Louisiana,

23

Texas,

Arkansas,

2

Tennessee,

26

Kentucky,

122

Ohio,

4-99

8

703 109 764 472 216

Italy,

292 499 665

Sardinia,

Greece, China,

27

Asia,

13

Africa

49

British America,

3,171

Michigan,

86

Mexico,

Indiana,

41

Central America,

Illinois,

72

South America,

105

Missouri,

56

West

687

Iowa,

4

Wisconsin,

28

4

California,

Territories of

Total

U.

IT. S.,

S.,.

31

40 10

Indies,

Sandwich

12

Islands,

Other Countries,

1,129

Unknown,

2,062

At

277,752

Total Population of the City,

39

Sea,

Total out of U.S...... 237,795

515,547

POLITICS. The main

now

influence of the

Romanic

perceptible in this country,

national taste

45

is

tribes,

which

is

even

upon the

that exerted

the love of elegance and lightness, and the

;

horror of the " clumsy," manifested in our constructive arts,

we

widely from both England and Germany,

in

which

is

the gift of an old, long-cultivated race, which a younger

differ

one easily learns, but does not so quickly originate.

That younger race

is

the Germanic.

At

our present era they massacred three legions

the opening of

in the

Teutoburg

Roman

universality.

In eight hundred years they had attained, under

Charlemagne

forest; this

was

and Alfred, a

their protest against the

qualified universality of their

own

;

its

legacy,

under the vulgar appellation of feudalism, but which was only a crude form of individualism,

—the

organized opposition of

a free rural population to the edicts of a conquering been, in most of

its essentials,

In the sixteenth century,

city,

has

preserved to the present day.

by the Reformation, they entered

their protest against the Catholic universality

;

which they

have followed up by the pursuit of utilitarianism in England,

and of metaphysics performed

its

;

Germany.

Each of

these nations has

allotted task to perfection, forgetting entirely

that of the other

heaven

in

:

Germany

has solved the mysteries of

England has held the World's Fair.

Waterloo overturned the French

The

battle of

universality.

The German race has thus been engaged

in protesting for

eighteen centuries and a half, and has yet six hundred years

time to equal the glories of arity of

its

its

elder sister.

employment we discover the

In this peculi-

peculiarity of its

;

THE NEW ROME.

46 tendencies

:

Rome

while

and Paris have arrived only at

dominions, Parcere mbjectis, ac debellare superbos ;

Teutonia has sought only freedom, veiled in such homely

adages as " Let

A mutual alone, spirit

— or

"

Mind your own

business."

guarantee of the right of the individual

will

it

Union.

alone,"

to

the perfect political manifestation of the

is ;

me

It

in the universality of the

be realized

be let

German

American

has not been brought to perfection in Europe

and therefore the European Germans are ready to seek elsewhere

;

they show none of that indisposition to emigrate

which characterizes the heirs of first

Germanic

sheltered the

Roman

principle

The Puritans

glory.

on our shores

followed, with a far truer appreciation of

it

;

of

its

which

is

name

no longer

member

Penn-

of the Keystone State, not from significant,

settlement, which displays

every other

Penn

Penn gathered

round him the individuals of every Germanic nation. sylvania deserves the

;

while the Puri-

tans could only attract Puritans from England,

its locality,

it

more

but from the origin

clearly than that of

of the union, the broad difference be-

tween Europe and America.

From

the coasts of the Atlantic

the Anglo-Saxon empire has

now

overspread the continent,

and grown as much In the revolution tion of the

it

Union

in

inward ripeness as

threw it

in

off foreign shackles

asserted

its

own

;

Germans

falls

size.

in the forma-

These two

vitality.

achievements are the work of the Anglo-Saxons tinental

outward

;

to the con-

the task of completing this political

.POLITICS. and

by

social fabric,

liberty, science,

home

47

the crowning addition of perfect religious

and the ideal

arts

education has admirably

a task for which their

;

them.

fitted

Their duty

that of the exiles

from Constantinople,

by

the Revival of Letters in the

Ottomans

the

There young,

is

:

West.

They

a third race in Europe, the Sclavonic.

fresh,

are

and healthy, the nearest relatives of the Ger-

They are

mans, and remarkably susceptible of cultivation. pupils of

is

after its destruction

Germany

matters of science and

in all

art,

and

will

improve upon what we impart to them, as the young stems of the forest give a fresher growth to the sprig of the tree that

is

Enough has been adduced

/

republic

is

all

to prove that the

American

destined to possess the continent of which

the name, and to share

of

fruit-

engrafted upon them.

it,

by

it

bears

absorption, with the inhabitants

the lands of the earth.

America

is

the crucible in

which European, Asiatic, and African nationalities and peculiarities

are smelted into unity.

Romanic

"We have assigned

nations the station of venerable old

counsel from

its

treasured experiences

;

to the

age, giving

to the Germanic, the

lusty action of maturity, just emancipated from tutelage

;

and

to the Sclavonic, the eager attention of early youth, looking

men

on anxiously while the times to offer assistance. sented

when we

Asiatics,

V

are working, and proud some-

But a more gloomy future

is

pre-

turn from the sons of Europe to the Africans,

and Indians.

Let us see

plied to this sore point of the

body

if

the probe of science, ap-

politic,

by

the hand of calm

but earnest inquiry, will not detect the possibility of a cure.

yj

; ;

THE NEW ROME.

48

The Black Question.

Man

is

a single species

but the species has several vari-

;

may

Differences of tribe

eties.

produce such distinctions as

are traceable between Spaniards and Poles difference found

same

between a white

is

contrary to

ent times

a negro, to the

species

were produced

no

satisfactory explanation

geological structure of the earth's surface

where the same. other

;

its

human

In this the

next species below them.

man and monkey

:

Mere for the

;

in general,

every

species is but like every

;

in,

the

It is

most elevated

no

man

is

varieties of the

vain to deny the resemblance

nor will the avowal of this truth im-

pair our conviction of others, inculcated instincts

is,

dif-

at differ-

grosser varieties, produced earlier, resemble, though

they are never absorbed

of

the

;

and places of the earth's development.

difference of place gives

and

diet,

experience and analogy

all

human

ferent varieties of the

but to refer the

simply of climate,

origin, to the influences

education,

;

man and

a monkey

;

by equally unerring

the species

from every other by an impassable

gulf,

is

separated

which makes

its

unity as a species impregnable. "

The word"

speech

is

distilled.

is

the flower It is

found in

whence

all

man

alone,

and

in

all

men

the perfume of the world

the organ of the exclusively

human

is

faculty,

the understanding, the classification of perceptions and impressions.

they

will,

Beasts

feel,

and therefore know good and

and therefore know the beautiful and the ugly

they speak not, because they do not think.

Man

evil ;

thinks,

but

and

POLITICS.

49

therefore discerns the true and the false, the right and the

Every being capable of distinguishing between

wrong.

and wrong

The

is

entitled to the rights of

must have originated when the

varieties

different

right

man.

cooling process produced upon the earth's surface

by

its inces-

The blacks

sant eradiation, had attained very various stages.

probably came into existence when the earth's surface emitted a

far greater quantity

of heat than

does at present,

it

when, perhaps, the sun threw out a than

it

now does

;

light has

more

more

far

upon color than heat

effect

The number of

has, although they are nearly related.

evidently greater than has been supposed

ties is

—and

intense light

;

varie-

the younger

ones are few and clearly marked, but the inferior ones multifarious

the

and not easily distinguishable.

human

formation

Nowhere, perhaps,

more crude and clumsy than

aborigines of Australia.

They have,

common

in

in

is

the

with the

negro, the sooty complexion, projecting jaws, and thick lips

but are distinguished by straight

They

live

on

trees,

hair,

and long baboon limbs.

use wooden spears, and ornament their

bodies by the incision of hyena-like stripes.

admits no form of the verb but the they cannot count beyond seven.

infinitive

Not

ideas or customs has been discovered

are inferior to the negro race, which

but found Guzerat,

in

in the

mood

;

and

a trace of religious

among them.

They

not confined to Africa,

Bhils of Maleva, in India, in the Kails of

the Kairs and in Australia,

Diemen's Land,

New

Caledonia and

Their physical formation,

3

is

Their language

if

New the

not beautiful,

is

Guinea and Van

New

Hebrides.

at least strong

50

T

and

full

;

K

W

N E

They

artistic

their

O

are cannibals

that of a savage despotism

a fetish;

11

ME

.

but their unassisted moral endowments hardly de-

serve the name. is

II

;

by nature

;

their polity

their religion, the fear of

an unearthly howl or juba dance, their highest

The Hottentots of South

attainment.

color

indicates

a later

are

origin,

Africa, though

not

The

mental, and inferior in physical, development.

manifest a slight advance

;

superior

in

Kaffirs

they are sometimes handsome,

and occasionally lay aside the war-club for the shepherd's staff.

The Malays have a brown complexion, of various

shades,

are well built but small, have long straight black hair, noses, and large lips.

They

flat

inhabit Malacca, Java, Borneo,

the Philippines and Moluccas, and the Polynesian Archipelago.

They have

attained the art of navigation, a priestly

order, stated feasts and ceremonies, and

government.

But

some organization of

their praise is soon told.

The North American

Indians, though inferior to the last

in external civilization, have a singularly flexible language,

the art of petrifying speech

by

strings of shells, a very clear

consciousness of spirit, and republican institutions reflective turn

munication previously subsisting, and of a higher order istics

!

The

of their character suggests the idea of a com-

;

for they

now

severed, with

men

do not bear any of the character-

of being themselves wrecks of a decayed civilization.

The country they now race, of

which

we

structive arts, they

inhabit wears the traces of an extinct

lived to see the extinction.

seem

to

have advanced as

far

In the con-

beyond the

POLITICS. them

Indians as the latter surpassed

They made an The

art of architecture,

race next in order

lous to us, for civilization,

numbers to all

it

is

51 in

moral refinement.

and lived

in cities.

one which must ever be marvel-

has possessed, from time immemorial, a

The Mogul race

and an industrial community.

one-third of the inhabitants of the globe.

be endowed with

all that

It

seems

denied the Indians, and denied

is

with which they are endowed.

The Chinese and Japanese

have no spiritual insight, no political liberty, a copious but monosyllabic tongue, and, though no a great variety of customary and

fices,

they possess the art of writing the anvil

;

;

human meals

But

use the plough, the loom, and

any amount of good government, law, and order

the culture of

silk,

gunpowder, the magnet, and the printing-

Their astronomical observations date far beyond our

press.

earliest records,

and

of knowledge.

Their annals date far back

in

chemistry they possess a great variety

thousand contain well-authenticated history

no mention of a time when their than

or sacri-

murders.

official

it is

at present.

;

civilization

the last three

;

but they

was

make

less perfect

Yet how many ages must have been

required to bring three hundred and seventy millions of

people to so uniform a stage of advancement

The Chinese have formed an to

their

neighbors, and

They have no ism.

When

owing nothing

exerting no influence upon them.

history, neither love of conquest nor patriot-

their neighbors

them out with a It is

isolated race,

became troublesome, they shut

wall.

with a sentiment of awe that

we now approach

that

THE KEff ROME.

52

come down

race whose early civilization has

in direct line

to us.

The highlands of Abyssinia,

and settled

in

sources of the

the unseen

They came down

Nile, are their cradle.

the lower parts of

its

the mighty stream,

valley.

There they

attained a civilization, the half-forgotten ruins of which,

in

sublimity and vastness, are immeasurably beyond the freshest

products of any later time. stone and rock has attention

enlisting

The key

now been

to their records of

discovered

and instead of

;

as the products of rude, unlettered ages,

they are becoming the text-books from which our modern scholars derive their lessons of wisdom. there attained a

and which

summit on which

in principle it

it

Science then and

has never stood before,

never has surpassed

since.

Another branch of the Abyssinian race found the Euphrates, built the cities of

founded the

first

its

way

to

Nineveh and Babylon, and

empires, the Assyrian

and

Babylonian.

They spread, not always their dominion, but their tribe over Arabia and Syria, where we find them assuming the names of Phoenicians and Hebrews, and the surrounding nomadic tribes.

tian

These had frequent communication with the Egyp-

Kingdom

;

but their

and

for a

They

were not always peaceable

visits

race of " hyksos," " shepherd

and

a

time were the lords of the lower part of Egypt.

built the great pyramids,

which are not the productions

of the original Egyptian dynasty. ever,

;

kings," invaded that country,

in their turn

The Egyptians

rallied,

how-

drove the shepherd kings out of the

country, after a struggle, which, like that of the Goths in

POLITICS. The

Spain, lasted four hundred years.

name

of Pelasgi,

or

53

—

Philistines,

fugitives

exiles,

menced the settlement of the Mediterranean and

Italy.

The

origin of the Pelasgi

is

assumed the

— and

thus

coast, in

com-

Greece

a recent discovery

of Professor Roeth, and was only ascertained by means of the Egyptian records.

The Hellenes of history

are not descended from the Pelasgi

now

they belong to the youngest of earth's sons, the race

by former ethnographers single race,

embracing

to

all

was disused when found

" Caucasian," applied

The term

dominant over the globe.

what was looked upon as a

the white portions of humanity,

in conflict

with the primary division

of languages, into the Indo-Ger manic and Semitic

being spoken by what the

The

Abyssinian.

marked

;

now known

is

to

;

the latter

be a distinct

between the two

difference

the people of Israel are distinguishable

race,

is

very

by

their

personal appearance at a glance, even in the British Parlia-

ment or the American Senate. inaptly called from

two

Hindoo Khoo, and attained

political

it

links of the chain, without

They

erence to the whole. is

The Indo-Germanic

issue

in Persia

power.

'

and India that they

The Persians and

radix as dptoroi the " erst," or best

A

is

ref-

from the gorges of the

called themselves " Arians," " first," " early,"

their descendants

race

any

;

the

first

Indians

from the same

an appellation which

need not discard.

branch of the Arian race spread southwardly, and

es-

tablished an advanced civilization on the banks of the Indus

and the Ganges.

It is

now found

to

be much younger than

THE NEW ROME,

54

was formerly supposed, dating but

little

beyond the

Chris-

tian era.

The Chaldees were Arians, not so much

a people as an

order of sages, the immediate pupils of Zoroaster, the speculative

of

first

They were admitted to the

religionists.

two

courts of the Assyrian kings, but the intercourse of the races did not long remain friendly.

The Hebrew was

by Arian

early affected

Memphis

court of

sprung from the Abyssinian, but

civilization

to

Moses

influences.

fled

from the

the Chaldees, and returned with

Ur of

that system of legislation which he succeeded in impressing

so deeply upon the character of his people.

The branch of Greece and

the Arians that emigrated westward, settled

Here they

Italy.

established the undoubted

superiority of the race over every other

duced

artists,

they alone have pro-

They learned

of the beautiful in man. the

;

they alone have given free scope to the instinct the useful arts from

Egyptians, but idealized them into the fine arts

palaces their

of their

dogmas

rhythms. Celts,

into

;

the

masters they transformed into temples;

myths

;

their

graven records into dancing

The north-western current was subdivided

Germans, and Sclaves

;

as the Scythians, Lithuanians,

into the

with some intermediate ones,

Magyars, &c.

The

Celts are

the people of Spain, Wales, Erse, (Irish,) Gael, (Highland Scotch,) and Belgium.

The Germans are

threefold: the

Germans, south of Saxony and Hessia; the (including the

Low

High

Germans,

Dutch and English,) and the Scandinavians

Denmark, Sweden, and Norway;

in

to the Sclaves belong the

POLITICS. Russians,

Cossacks, Poles, Crechs,

The languages of

vians.

all

55

nations

these

are

at

civilization

identical,

when they

while they treat of pastoral subjects, but diverge

approach matters of higher

and Ser-

(Bohemians,)

a sign of the stage

;

which the separation of those tribes took place.

The overthrow of the Assyrian kingdom by was the tion

first

the Persians

of these struggles for the supremacy or extinc-

between the two highest races of man, which lasted

through the wars of Xerxes and Alexander, struggle, the successes of the Saracens,

which the Arians

finally

from the exhaustion of

the

Punic

and the crusades

remained masters of the their antagonists, than

field,

from

;

in

rather

victories

of their own.

The Greeks,

as has been shown,

fusion of Abyssinians, Pelasgi,

The Romans were

offspring of a

likewise a mixture of Etrurians, of Pelas-

gian origin, and of Arians. history were produced In the

were the

and of the Hellenic family.

Thus the noblest races of ancient

by a mixture of varieties.

new Rome

the elementary ingredients are

more

multiform than any that have hitherto been brought

to-

gether; the Arians and the Black are here found in incessant contact.

Will

this juxtaposition

and reason answer, no. instinct,

Perfection

is

remain

?

Experience

a goal of nature, of

and of thought; and neither of these agents

will

permit the most perfect and the most gross examples of the

same

species long to continue side

must be accomplished. inferior race?

No

one

is

by side

But how?

By

here to propose

;

the unity of races

the it.

murder of the

By

expatriation.

THE NEW ROME.

56 as attempted in

some of the

A nugatory game

states?

no other

battledore and shuttlecock, which could have

than that of making confirmed vagrants of men useful servants

;

of

effect

who might be

one of the few means by which a servile war

might be made possible, or which would at a race of professed outlaws

all

events produce

a measure cruel in view of our

;

boundless natural wealth and sparse population, and in direct

American

violation of the fundamental

and the pursuit of happiness ple will never descend.

rights of

life,

liberty,

one to which the American peo-

;

Neither will

it

be by the dogmatical

assertion of the fancied equality of the races, and the deter-

mination to raise the inferior race, by artificial means, into social

which neither their natural

stations to

would elevate them.

inclinations in

governmental theories, but There

among

nor their natural

The remedy

in the provisions

is

found, not

of nature.

a deep-seated, instinctive horror of amalgamation

is

the

gifts

American people

;

but the expression of the

it is

natural law that a higher order of beings

must not be

deterio-

rated by admixture with a lower. This ensues by the cohabitation of the

male of the lower race with the female of the

higher

ovum

the

;

herself

is

;

male and a black female, the ovum

and this process

is

said to

be no

less

Nature

But

said to militate against this outrage.

case of a white

proved

of the latter being thus tainted.

in the is

the prevailing inclination of colored females, than indulged

public opinion

among

the whites

events, continually gaining ground,

becoming

thinner.

So

the fruits of

;

im-

promoted by

it

by

are, at all

and the pure black race

strictly is this

law observed, that where

POLITICS. the colored race

most numerous,

is

57

all

the grades of admix-

ture are exactly noted, and, while the cross of the lower breed

by

the higher

is

freely permitted, the reverse

condemned by those of every

The

is

universally

color.

" white- washing " process thus

commenced, eventually

will efface all traces of the black race not capable of advan-

The

tageous admixture with the white.

of the slaves must take place

much

two main obstacles have yielded

The one of these

is

community a

to the

to

will

emancipation

as soon as the

demands of

still

time.

gives the non-laboring portion of

factitious superiority

;

the other the super-

stition that the colored race are equal to the

and

;

the political and social immaturity of the

white laborer, which the

political

sooner

be able, when their

political

white

in capacity,

trammels are removed,

usurp that social station which an instinct truer than

theory denies them. the slave,

When

the fear

is

radically

removed

that

emancipated, will possess the address and cunning

if

to enslave his former master, that master will prefer his free labor,

and freedom from responsibility when

he does not

labor, to his possession as an often useless chattel.

we no

longer fear that they will

marry them, we marriages

shall

When

daughters to

no longer uphold laws against such

when we no longer

;

induce our

fear that they will

become

Presidents and Senators, overbearing the influence of white statesmen, elected.

we

The

shall

no longer deny them the right to be

slave

must be emancipated and invested with

the rights of citizenship.

belongs to him

3*

;

'

He

is

not

in the abstract

now

in the position that

that proposition needs

no

THE NEW ROME.

58 and

proof,

twenty and hundred

practice

in

is

it

proved by the stampedes of

not more than

lashes,

be administered only when,

"

and by the

thirty constantly recurring,

five

thirty-nine at one time, to

physician's opinion,

the

in

he

could bear them," which was the sentence pronounced upon the slave Henry, at Charlestown, Va., for attempting to. "

Mr. Harrison Anderson, because the

law

AMONG

THE

OF

SLAVES

slavery are numbered.

What

-

competition, reinforced sions from emigration,

by

BECOME

TRULY

saying that the days of

in

not accomplished by white

is

unparalleled

present

the

kill

accordance with

insubordination

HAS

STATE

Calhoun was right

alarming."

in

is

and because the

land,

of the

THE

it

must be

effected

when

acces-

the countless

millions of Chinese, having saturated California, shall carry across the their

Rocky Mountains

their

admirable plantation labor,

hardihood, docility, industry, and

" white

progress

basis "

light

Southern

of the

by

posal for dividing Virginia, followed up

the

The

wages.

states,

the

more

pro-

recent

one of dividing Texas, point to the inevitable current of events.

guish

is

It

in

the interest of the white laborer to extin-

the competition of

forced

white laborer obtains a voice,

works a

sum

for $3 a

;

;

and wherever the

be heard.

A

will find

they occupy

in

waiters, porters, their wants,

Chinese

an Indian Coolie for forty cents

which a slave can never be fed and

for

The blacks

month

labor will

it

;

clothed.

every where that natural position which

the Northern states

and coachmen

and yet coming

;

;

they will be barbers,

earning

into

enough

to

meet

no contact with white

POLITICS. labor

easy, yet never

;

them business men

;

rich

all

;

59

gentlemen, but none of

fond of pleasure, and

but never greedy of wealth or power. sophistry than negro. to

A

"

impose

nation,

the

his slavery is the

other

words,

his

There

of pity

slave without a master

it,

in

affectation

often of show,

for

is

no greater

the

Northern

Having no master

!"

imposure of

freedom

;

the

his

own

far

more

own

firmly in his

fellow-citizen

;

to the lot of the

falls

w hites.

to

is

more

of the negro,

the

the task of

;

done, while the latter have their destiny yet

In the clear apprehension of the social

fulfil.

difficulty

The black race of

r

free states is in fact happier than the white

the former

rooted

among them have

attained the goal of their ambition, with not

than

is

breast than in that of his white

ambitious individuals

all

opinion

public

which restrains him from entering other spheres

incli-

we have

the

sure

inferiority

guarantee of his political

redemption.

4. /

Thus

intently is this republic at

all nations,

into

Mission.

work upon the

not of the continent alone, but of

one people.

the one continent

Will that people be *?

satisfied

fusion of

continents,

with uniting

Will they not see that the unity of

the people calls for a unity of the state

emigrants

all

who have found under

?

all

Will not the

these institutions the goal

of their hopes, which they have vainly sought at home, deter-

mine

to extend the

shadow of these

institutions so as to ena-

ble them to return to the lands of their birth, and re-establish

— THE NEW ROME.

60

and industrial connections

their social

there, without resign-

ing the political advantages once secured

Will not their

?

former compatriots determine to share these privileges without paying for them the price of expatriation of these states

trade

commerce comparatively of the difference "

Philadelphia

closes the

in

the

is

first

open

stance, are

for

internal

the external

Hear Kossuth on

the cause

manufacturing city of the Union, but exports its

Europe are not

markets

;

:

to foreign countries none of

markets open

trifling.

The

1

almost incalculable

is

for

Why

products.

so

?

Because the only

fitted to these products, whilst

which they are

despotism

Restricted markets, for in-

fitted.

highly finished cutlery, steam engines, or locomotives,

which England can supply at cheaper rates

;

but oppression and concom-

itant poverty prevent all trade with at least one

of the population of Eastern Europe,

hundred and ten millions

who have shown

would

that they

eagerly purchase and prefer American-made axes, steam-engines, and comotives, to

hew down

their forests,

magnificent water-courses, on which

and traverse

all

enterprise

their loved plains,

now slumbers

;

lo-

and

the whole

Russian Empire not having a fraction of the railway lines laid down

in

the small state of Belgium. "

As

there

is

every reason why, but for the poverty attendant on bad

government, the eastern frontier of the European continent should trade

more largely with the United States than the western, it may fairly be presumed that the overturn of despotism in these regions, inhabited by one hundred and twenty millions of people, and the establishment there of free government, would rapidly raise the commerce of the United States with those countries above the average of France and Belgium, which would give three or four-fold

times

its

States

its trade to the entire continent of Europe, or twenty-five whole present trade with Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The United

is,

therefore, materially interested in these events.

thropic point of view

is

unvarying

according as a people is more or

ed,

scale, that

so is the quality of

the

same

for all nations.

It is proved,

The

philan-

by an almost

less liberally

govern-

food better or worse, and its material comforts diminished, and that, coincident with this augmentation or

augmented

or

diminution,

human

its

fife is

lengthened or abridged.

The average of

life in

POLITICS. Russia in

is

very

little

more than half what

it is

61 Great Britain, and follows

in

intermediate countries precisely the ascending or descending scale of

their liberality of " It

may,

government and physical well-being. be pronounced that

therefore, fairly

the vast regions of

if

Russia were blessed with free representative and responsible government,

upwards of one million of human beings would not annually

What war was

perish the victims of a system. sacrifices required

by such a Moloch

who now

?"

we have

the above extract

In

die,

ever so bloody as the

italicized those

passages

which put to rest the hackneyed commonplace, that forms of

government have nothing

Whatever

gives

power

must, by the law of

vancement of the of the latter

cannot but

pervading prise

;

man, and takes

is

is

He who

is

will,

the ad-

in the few, the

is far

the offspring of trade ;

by

former to the detriment

power

But the connection

wealth

from another,

it

nature, be followed

interests of the

enterprise, of will

of liberty.is

to one

human

hence, where the

;

suffer. :

do with " substantial welfare."

to

more

many

direct

and

trade, of enter-

;

of ambition; and ambition,

taught to submit to political wrongs,

trained to submit to physical discomforts

lieved from political bondage,

is

;

he

who

is

re-

restive at the pressure of

worldly circumstances, and determined to become independent of their control.

more nor

less

This thirst of social independence than the "

demand" on which

economists base their calculations

and never

America

will flourish, but

is

on the

so thinly peopled, that

posed to rest

satisfied

;

is

nothing

the political

a plant that never did,

soil

of political liberation.

if its

inhabitants were dis-

with the physical condition of the

European masses, each family might

sit

under

its

own

log-

THE NEW ROME.

62 cabin eaves, reckless

of,

But by

and unknown to the others.

virtue of their sovereignty, these

American hundreds main-

tain a briskness of intercourse hardly inferior to that of the

crowded serfdom

Europe, even

serfs of is

Make

least oppressive.

these serfs, and they

those regions where that

in

political sovereigns

issue their sovereign "

would

for social independence, in tones that

industry in

them

The

of

demand"

would increase

their

American proportion, and make our trade with

as active

as that

now maintained among

difference thus perpetuated is

ourselves.

an embargo upon Ameri-

can industry for the benefit of European monarchs

;

is

it

but

another form of the " taxation without representation," which first

called forth the

call it

American

forth again, so soon as

whenever the

American

fields

settlers,

revolution, and which it is

West

of the

felt

shall

;

and

be so

must

felt it will be,

far

occupied

by

and European and Chinese emigrants, as

no longer to exhaust the expansiveness of the American people. If the

welfare of Americans and Europeans

of right and justice, then

demand

it is

the standard

the right of both or either to

a perfect freedom of mutual trade.

seen that free trade requires free government. then, will never stop short of a

is

But we have

The

mutual guarantee of republican

governments; but republican government

is

only the insur-

ance of the sovereignty of the individual, and that

and the core of the American

The American Union must all

the countries

is

institutions of '76

infederate into

with which

people,

it is

its

the root

and

'87.

political pale

brought into social contact.

POLITICS. The American

constitution

present phase of

the political expression of the

is

human development

and co-extensive with that which

The idea

is

its

the

expresses.

is

by

is

yet imto

a brief historical analysis: the idea of nationality

corollaries of national rights

the

this

found to proceed in the

American mind, and which we propose

Man's impulse

Hence

co-existent

from a remnant of European ism which

in

eradicate

must be

T

yet every where received,

last resort

with

it

it

;

and half derision w ith which

start of half horror

bedded

63

first

is

always

and national honor.

fight; his afterthought friendship.

interview between

man and man

probably

took the form of a " fall-to" about some blackberry bush, in

which each claimed exclusive property. of the Trojan war intercourse.

a

is

Perhaps the origin

type of the inception of human

fair

These are the " foundations of the

social struc-

ture" which our conservatives are so anxious to preserve, and

These individual skirmishes

our progressives to reconstruct. continued until

some

against him.

by

particularly stalwart rowdy,

terror of his prowess, induced

two or three others

This led to a counter-combination

;

to

the

combine

the fighting

partnerships increased in numbers, and, from being established for special purposes,

ciations for

was

came

to be regarded as standing asso-

mutual defence and

the origin of the Tribe

common

—the only

aggression.

political

This

form of com-

bination of which savages are capable.

Fights between tribes are of course as inevitable as rows

between individual savages.

In general,

being

conducted

without aim or purpose, they result in nothing but occasion-

THE NEW ROME,

64

ally the extermination of a tribe, or its incorporation with

another.

But

his

would

tribe,

at times

"

some

mighty hunter," the chief of

upon the expedient of subjugating an

hit

adverse tribe, without taking away thus dividing, indeed, but at

Their cunning

lies,

and extending

A

same time expanding

the

;

his

These cunning hunters were soon established kings.

power.

others,

separate existence

its

and must

lie,

kingdoms

their

and the degradation of

in their skill in perpetuating

—

that

power over

their

is,

their victims.

king soon required a capital, a stronghold for himself,

and a gathering-place

for his

immediate followers.

are in their origin the strongholds erected

Town is

a suburb to the

by

London Tower town and burg express

bulwarks, or pallisades.

;

The Tower of Babel

Babylon; the building of Babylon was not rupted

j

Towns London

kings.

the story of the confusion of tongues

be understood as the opinion of the Hebrews

is

the city of

in

fact inter-

is

therefore to

—who then had a

purely rural constitution, without a king, and consequently

— on

without a pal

the feasibility of such an undertaking:

and the particular scruple until

men begem

to

is

build

the best evidence of the fact that cities,

their

contrivances for the

exchange of thought had not attained that degree of uniformity

name of language.

which

entitled

easily

deduced from abstract principles

contact of city

them

life

to the

This position,

for the

multiform

could alone create that demand of words

necessary to produce a supply

—

is

corroborated by

The English language arose when finally settled at

—

Westminster.

all

history.

the English kings were

The French had nothing but

POLITICS.

65

an inextricable jargon of patois until Louis XI. broke liberties

and

its

ese, parts

The Spanish

speech into the yoke of Paris.

and the Portuguese would

its

and Arragon-

be, like the Castilian

of one language, instead of forming two, but that

Madrid was made the concentrating point of all the peninsula

The

except that portion maintained by Lisbon.

guage

is

the reflexion of the

Italian lan-

The German

Roman.

is

a pro-

duct of a fusion of the idiom of the Hanseatic towns with

Worms

that of the courts of

shape,

and Spires;

very recent production

a

of

it is,

in its present

German

the

mind.

Babylon, Memphis, Jerusalem, Athens, Rome, London, Paris, Vienna, Prague, Buda, the Escurial, and Moscow,

all

tell

the

histories of languages.

The

inhabitants of one

and every language change, adopted

town

for

its

by

is

town would send

the uniform

medium

forth colonies

;

of mental ex-

a civic constellation, having a mother-

centre,

and

towns

other

planetary

to

the

metropolis.

Community of language

is,

despite

all

that

Kossuth has

urged to the contrary, the well-spring of every nationality.

A man

likes his "

fellow-countryman" better than a foreigner,

simply because with the former his intercourse rassed, while with the latter

nationality

a fixed and

is

it is difficult.

it.

unembar-

The patriotism of

found to arise in every instance, exactly when

matured language becomes the medium and the

element of a fixed nationality.

none of

is

In the middle ages

we have

The empire of Charlemagne knew nothing of

France, Germany,

Italy, or

Spain

;

the distinctions were then

66

T

II

N E

E

\Y

HOME.

only between " Christendom and Italia

had

watchword

Chaucer

;

bella

become a popular

pure well of English

Spain was not mentioned until Cervantes and

undefined."

Vega wrote

Spanish

in

;

nor Portugal as a nation, until Ca-

moens wrote a Portuguese

epic.

tasy of the court poets of Louis

never thought of

from the

to

in truth, the "

is,

La

Heathenesse."'

be sung by Petrarch

to

its

literary

own

La

belle

XIV.

France

is

the fan-

The German

nation

existence until the revolt of Lessing

supremacy of the French, and the

efforts of

Klopstock. In so far as the

growth of nations was the growth of an

understanding between people of the same tongue to unite

mutual defence and assistance,

for

motions of humanity. ally

But

became aware of each

individuals, the nations,

with each other.

They fovght

The

it

was an advance

just as isolated individuals gradu-

other's existence, so these fictitious

were necessarily brought result in both cases

into contact

was

until they learned to talk together*

from long observation of the progress of society, sort of

axiom

in politics,"

in the

the same. "

It

has,

become a

says the Federalist, p. 38, " that

vicinity or nearness of situation constitutes nations natural

enemies.

An

intelligent writer, the

Abbe de Mably,

in his

Principes des Negotiations, expresses himself on this subject to this effect

:

"

Neighboring nations (says he) are naturally

enemies of each other, unless

* The Latin word guest and host.

their

common weakness

hostis signifies foreigner,

and

is

the

same with

forces

hospes,

POLITICS. them

to league in a

67

confederate republic, and

their consti-

tution prevents the differences that neighborhood occasions,

extinguishing that secret jealousy which disposes

aggrandize themselves at the expense of

all states to

neighbors.

their

This passage at the same time points out the evil and the

remedy."

and

Wars

are the results of mistaken ideas of interest

pride, possible only so long as the individual identifies

with those of humanity at large,

his personal interests, not

but with those of a certain portion of humanity, with

whom

he speaks the same language, and Nationality

become

is

the root of war.

he terms a nation.

Nations, so soon as they

self-conscious, are associations of people for the pur-

pose of taking away other people's land defined

to

;

may be

a nation

be an organization for making war on

nations, killing their subjects

and pillaging

of commercial

als

;

;

recurring wars, standing armies

In

;

;

itself.

which enlisted the French republic against the of both

;

nationality,

of

ex-

but the rebellion was quelled by

the yet unexpended force of the principle

fall

fictions

woes under which Europe

1848 the people rebelled against the

crescences of the principle

the

means require

and armies, gener-

and thus the

;

nationality are the causes of all the is struggling.

Wars

and industrial competition.

generalissimos are monarchs

other

their property,

or of robbing them of their substance by the peaceful

armies

whom

which

Nationality,

Italian,

set the Italian

caused

upon the

German, the German upon the Magyar, the Magyar against the Sclavonian, the Sclavonian against the

German, and

the

against the Dane, overthrew the republic in Italy,

German

Germany,

THE NEW ROME.

68

Hungary, Sclavonia, and Denmark, and reseated

itself

upon

Peoples without intercourse, a censorship without

the ruins.

a literature, taxation without industry, custom-houses without

commerce, and standing armies with none

to fight against,

but those they are paid to protect, and governments without law,

— such

aye the brilliant triumphs which nationality has

Europe

achieved.

a kitchen of hellish cauldrons, none of

is

which are to be disturbed

them

lives within

and the

;

prowling cat to w atch the r

on pain of burning

its

of annihilating

in their task spirit

of humanity

all that

sits

like

a

work of destruction, but forbidden,

paws, to meddle or interfere.

This state of things, abnormal as

The

reduced into a doctrine.

"

Law

it

would appear, has been

of Nations"

is

the formula

which casts over these absurdities the mountebank's coat of pseudo-science.

It

was imposed by those who could; obeyed

by those who would; expounded by those who were powerless to enforce

case

first,

it

;

and the law afterwards.

beginning to end; It

enforced or violated by those

it

It

who made the from

ex-post facto

is

has neither judge, nor jury, nor

sheriff.

could not be a law, without professing to expound rights;

nor expound

without assigning them to persons

rights,

treat of persons having

for

sovereignty

nations

;

is

individuals,

Its

fictitious sovereigns,

their rights fictitious rights

pealed to but where

it is

;

nor

but by calling them sovereigns,

the fulness of rights.

but they are

persons, and

rights,

;

sovereigns are

because

fictitious

they are never ap-

required to prejudice the rights of

which are the only real

rights,

because individuals

are the only real persons, and therefore the only real sove-

POLITICS. reigns.

If

69

an English power protests against the flogging of a

sovereign Austrian

woman,

it is

a violation of the right of the

sovereign Austrian nation to flog

woman.

its

If a British

squadron vindicates the rights of sovereign Chinamen and sovereign Englishmen to mutual trade and intercourse,

it is

an

invasion of the right of the sovereign

Chinese nations to

trammel the commerce of

If sovereign

its

subjects.

Ameri-

can filibusters deny the right of a Captain-General to keep

them out of an

island not

made

with hands, called

now monopolized and oppressed by

Cuba, and

deny the sovereignty of the Spanish law of nations

is

men and women The law of for

of, in,

and around those nations.

it

was

originally established.

Writ, would remain united

in the

same

and

spirit

therefore

those

bonds of an inseparable

upon each other as fellow-countrymen, and

every case give each other aid and comfort subjects

by

" Three con-

words of Holy

tracting monarchs, in accordance with the

fraternity, look

In short, the

in opposition to the

nations has been publicly repudiated

whose benefit

Indians

Spaniards, they

nation.

never vindicated but

by

their armies,

and

whose

fraternity.

be that of mutual

;

and rule

fathers they were, in

Their

assistance.

only

By

principle

in

their

the

would

unalterable kind-

ness they hoped to preserve their mutual attachments, and to look

people.

upon each other as members of the same Christian

They were mere attorneys of Providence, ordered

to govern three branches of

the same family."

This declaration appeared on the 26th of September, 1815,

over the signatures of the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian

70

T

potentates;

it

E

11

M

U

N E \V

was followed up

E

.

1821 by the resolution

in

adopted at the Congress of Laybach, " to recognize the PRINCIPLE OF INTERVENTION IN ITS WIDEST SENSE, and

Oil

every

occasion where the preservation of the existing conditions of their countries

made

whether

necessary,

it

forms of government or

to boundaries

;"

unsuccessfully adhered to from that time to

remarkable change of

This

discovery of a tutions based

new

upon

tactics

in

reference to

and

it

has been

this.

was owing to the

principle which, aiming at political instiscience, inevitably tended to the

overthrow

of nationalities, which are political institutions based upon

The men of every nation had begun

accident.

other nations, and adverse to those of certain

The war of

own.

to suspect

were one with those of certain men of

that their interests

nations, which

is

men

of their

based upon the alliance

of governor and general in one nation, against the alliance of

governor and general

in another,

of revolution, which

is

had given place to the war

based upon the alliance of governors

in all nations, against the alliance of

former alliance preoccupied the Alliance

not a nation.

his

A

exile is a

nation

of Holy.

in all.

The Profane

;

— an

is

the offspring of the only people which

gathering of

man

all

the exiles of the world,

assemblage whose spring of action was

a convocation from for

the

is

deprived of his nationality, rejected by

disgust at the national cruelties from which they had fled

sake,

The

the subject of this essay.

is

The revolution

and an

title

governed

all

;

the corners of the world for conscience

preservation

of

this

individual

sovereignty

POLITICS.

71

against the encroachments of national traditions;

emigrants who knew nationality

poverty

;

— America

rendezvous of

was,

whom

all to

by

the

in

— a horde of

guise of national

the force of circumstances, the

had been the source of

nationality

all their sufferings.

we have

Nations,

of speech

seen, are unions based

Americans renounced,

this the

;

based upon a unity of thought ; and thus

The

arose the republic. forced to doff the

done wisely. all

icanism

but,

;

is,

at the

revolution

;

title

above

same

all,

that

to

To

of nationality.

combat

is

Amer-

vindicate

the office of America.

time, the whole force and scope of the

thus, the revolution

in revolution,

and

and they have

;

American party

the duty of the

which arose

America, must for ever return to began

nationality,

traditions which are incompatible with

individualism against nationality,

This

fell

union

native Americans partly have been

European part of their

It is

European

upon community

in favor of a

must

live in

the dominion of nationality

is

it,

it

;

and with

in

and America, which

and end with

it.

Whfen

crushed, and the sovereignty

attained, everywhere and everyhow, the

of the individual

is

missions of the

revolution

and of America

will

both be

accomplished.

" It

has been frequently remarked," (such are the ever-memorable

words of Alexander Hamilton on the opening page of the "

that

decide,

it

seems to have been reserved

by

societies of

ment on depend,

their conduct

men

Federalist,)

to the people of tlus country to

and example, the important question, whether

are really capable, or not, of establishing good govern-

reflection

and choice, or -whether they are

for their political constitutions,

for ever destined to

on accident and

force."

THE NEW ROME.

72

Independence was the

answer given to

first

problem

this

;

the establishment of the republic in place of the Kingdom.

Union, was

upon

was

must needs

reflection

"E

accident

whilst

;

the principle of unity

is

reflection

sound

the

pluribus

Unum

"

the

;

be a

made

multifarious,

is

established

state

unitary

Thus

state.

watchword

the

our

of

course.

The

of the unity of the mind, and of the foundation

fact

of the republican state upon the mind, should have silenced ere this the thoughtless reiteration of respects, have

been found capable of

many men, who, of the

reflection,

place that one kind of government will not do for

because

men

is

capable of uniting

alone insures free scope to

widows are burnt by the feet pinched

;

ladies.

To

pel the

women

lords to

draw

;

;

and the Russian

give

the Chinese girls

to

burn the

institutions

let the

women and

unburnt, the girls dance or pinch their officers to

marry or be given

in

them.

If,

their

their

to waltz, the

marry Yankee

the priests both go

feet,

and ladies and

marriage, or not, just as the

natural peculiarities of climate and then, their national

have

draw

would not com-

priests, the girls

their serfs, or the officers to

but simply to

which

marry Bulgarian

officers to

them American

" gov-

The Indian

their differences.

all

priests

the Russian serfs are compelled to

lord's carriage,

girls

just that

all, is

men,

all

The

are different in different countries.

ernment" which

in other

common-

country would impel

peculiarities are natural

and

necessary, they would be, not extinguished, but guaranteed

by the introduction of American

liberty.

It is

to be feared,

POLITICS.

73

however, that that species of guarantee would remove the agent which

is,

in point

of

fact,

of their " natural" existence. to

America,

own

forgets, of his

necessary to the preservation

The German, when he comes ;" accord, to fear the " Polizei

the Irishman, without any coercion or compulsion, at " natural"

forgets his

privilege of paying rack-rent.

be inferred, therefore,

fairly to

were brought home

American

that, if

to them, those

once It

is

institutions

good old habits would not

long remain; and the Chinese and Russians would perhaps

submit with equal grace to the process of Yankeefication.

The independence and

enjoyment of

full

the union of the state require

The American sovereign

universality.

his

independence

feels

in

every corner of the

globe, and to protection in that enjoyment.

among themselves on

united

common

principles,

and a

the argument to apply to the same

principles in

orbis of government," p.

" an

52,)

*

"

The

is

other

common.*

nature, feel the force of

men "

with

whom

was declared by Hamilton,

might be

;

James Maher, dated March

and led,

the

(Federalist,

indispensable element of American welfare."

that,

and

Seward,

15, 1844, " are, that the

the heritage of man, and every accessible part of

footsteps

they hold

The enlargement of

principles underlying the Constitution," says "Win. H.

in his letter to

earth

Those who have

the ground of the discovery of

common

all

its

his title to the

it

whole

free to his

wherever, iu the providence of God, he was born, or

into

whatsoever rank or condition he might

fall,

there

he of right was, and ought to be, a member of the civil state, and entitled to free and equal suffrage for those who should make, and for those who should execute, the laws of his obedience."

4

;

and that the sum-age was a condition precedent

THE NEW ROME,

74 "

The immediate

object of the Federal Constitution

cure the union of the thirteen primitive states, which to be practicable

may

:

and to add to them such other

arise in their

own bosoms,

is,

we know states as

or in their neighborhoods,

which we cannot doubt to be equally practicable." This

85.)

is

to se-

the doctrine of Filibustierism

of our moralists educated to European

;

(lb., p.

to which those

ways of thinking, op-

pose the wrongfulness of conquest, and the unrighteousness of a propaganda by force and violence. But

we

liberate

duce

;

we

not conquer,

Our " form of government," miscalled from a fallacious

it.

use of European terms,

absence of

ment

we do

abolish force and violence, and do not intro-

all

dictation

is ;

a system of non-government, of the

and the imposition of non-govern-

We

a contradiction in terms.

is

force the

Cubans

do not propose to

to expel their Captain-General, but to pre-

vent the Captain-General from forcing the Cubans to retain

We

him.

will not

compel the Japanese

to trade with us,

but the Japanese government to abstain from preventing the intercourse of the Japanese with us, if they think proper to

open is

it.

We go behind nationalities

to find the people.

the head and front of our offending

to the

what

This

will give

American Revolution the empire of the world.

The tion,

;

this is

infederation of states will proceed in a regular grada-

depending upon their more or

with the existing republic. difficult to trace.

less intimate

This series

it

connection

will not

be very

POLITICS.

The Anglo-Saxons.

5.

The

" possessions" of

some of

the Canadas,

Guiana.

tion.

become

Recent

letters

England on

the

They must be

vassalage, to

75

West

extricated

from

their state of colonial

from Jamaica take ground

The

lived

upon

its

of

in favor

" ruin" under which

has labored since the act of emancipation,

who

British

integral parts of the continental federa-

the annexation of that island.

traders

embrace

this continent

India Islands, and

is

the

dependent condition

;

rum of

it

the

has been

it

attended with the formation of what constitutes the base of all

solid prosperity,

manry.

an independent and enterprising yeo-

These love to

mechanics

;

their part of subjection

We in

affiliate

with Yankee peddlers and

they see in annexation a formal abnegation of ;

it

will not

be long delayed.

have heretofore considered the annexation of Canada

every point of view except that arising from

with England.

Would

it 1

shown

that

We

the deavail to

The Fishery question has

think not.

England cannot

afford to quarrel with us.

months of non-importation

course with England would enterprise into

to say that at this

clearly

Three

from America would entirely

overturn her industrial system

American

connection

Canada combined,

clared will of the States and of

thwart

its

the resistance of England to

;

three

months of

non-inter-

simply direct the current of

new

channels.

moment America

is

It is

no

idle boast

the dominant,

England

the subordinate power.

There

is,

however, no probability of a

conflict.

The

ex-

THENEWROME.

76

perience of the thirteen colonies, which

became the main stay

of the social prosperity of England after they were separated

from her

has taught her a valuable lesson.

political dictation,

The English have no idea of permanently

They

colonies.

Saxon

;

they

make them

giving

them the most

olutely

deny them a share

mother-country

send

to

;

members

colonial

their

is

new

ones, " the

liberal

by

seminaries of democracy constitutions;

but they

res-

in controlling the destinies of the

no one speaks seriously of the admission of into parliament.

The

colonies will

representatives to Washington,

come

but not to

Yet, as no one pretends that the condition of

Westminster. a colony

retaining their

boundless sway" drives them to the ends of

thirst for

the earth

are continually acquiring

one in which a growing community can for ever

remain, the alternative

is

unavoidable, of incorporation with

the parent state, or of separation on the footing of independence. this

The

dilemma

British :

mind has made

its

choice already in

Lord John Russell having declared two years

ago, on the ministerial bench of parliament, that "

whenever

the colonies considered themselves ripe for independence, and

desired to withdraw, they might depart in peace

country would content

itself

;

the mother-

with the honor of having contrib-

uted to the spread of political liberty

by

the establishment

and nurture of her colonies."

The

treaty for the acquisition of the

concluded, and only awaits the

first

Sandwich Islands

its ratification.

stopping-place between this

is

These islands are

continent

and Asia;

they can hardly be called, geographically speaking, an Ameri-

POLITICS.

77

can outpost.

The expedition

started on

mission of making a breach for the entrance of

its

American enterprise and

Japan and China has already

into these walled-up magazines of wealth

But the spangled banner

civilization.

resting-place

its first

to

probably

will

find

upon another country of those distant

regions.

The

largest island of the world, Australia,

by one of its most

patriotic inhabitants,

of the legislative council of "

New

thus described

is

— Dr. Lang, member

South Wales

:

For eight months of the year, from March to November, the climate

New

South Wales is delightful. The sky is seldom clouded, and for weeks together the sun looks down in unveiled beauty. Refreshing of

showers

ordinary seasons are not unfrequent, and

in

heavily as within the tropics.

snows for

but

;

It

seldom freezes

are requisite during the

fires

day

in

it

in

sometimes rains as

Sydney, and never

the winter months, and

a considerable time longer in the mornings and evenings.

summer

the heat

is

During

rarely oppressive, the thermometer seldom rising

higher than 35 deg. "

The

soil is

very

prolific

the fisheries afford

still

profitable than either

ing 30 pounds the acre

is

have been

;

;

and the climate,

Lumber

droughts, admirable.

is

found

greater advantages.

;

in spite of occasional

Agriculture, however,

is

more

specimens of sweet potatoes are mentioned weigh-

in the province of Victoria the

average yield of wheat to

30 bushels, though Dr. Lang mentions an instance raised.

heavy

and perfection

in great variety

And

yet

all

in

which 65

these sources of wealth are inferior in im-

portance to the grazing interest. "

Emigration to

estimated at 36,000 date of

its first

this ;

country was always considerable

;

in

1851

it

was

at that time, after a lapse of only 64 years from the

settlement, the white population

330,000, irrespective of

Van Diemen's Land.

ports from the provinces of

New

had increased

The

to

more than

amount of exand South Aus-

total

South Wales, Victoria,

was $3,370,000, the principal items being wool and tallow and the outgoing tunnage was 380,797. The principal part of the land was in the tralia

;

possession of " squatters," as they are termed, or proprietors of those im-

THE NEW ROME.

78 mense herds

whose produce has

of sheep and cattle,

The vast

staple export of Australia generally.

roam

these flocks and herds

miles across the country is

—

is

—stretching

a straight

in

formed the

lately

till

which

tract of land over

about 1100

line

not the actual property of the squatters, but

merely hired of the government from year to year, each applicant

ceiving a license for a " run," as

curring the risk of being

it

termed

is

removed should any bona fide purchaser present

In consequence of the very favorable terms on which the pro-

himself.

prietors of stock are enabled to hire these runs, paying

price for the privilege,

interest

ential in the colony, forming, indeed, quite

laboring proletariat

landed aristocracy

The

inhabitants,

is

to

them

the most wealthy and influ-

is

a lauded aristocracy."*

the element of rebellion

but a

;

the seed of revolutions.

is

up to the previous year, labored under

two standing grievances convicts,

merely a nominal

and the encouragement generally held out

by the government, the squatting

A

re-

in the local designation, in-

:

importation

the

of government

and the government monopoly of land.

"

Without

entering into a review of the various changes of policy that

have been adopted as to the alienation of the crown lands

from the

free gifts of

hundreds of thousands of acres to

favorites to their sale at five shillings sterling an acre

be

sufficient for the present

purpose to

state, that,

official

—

it

will

according to

the last regulation of the Imperial Parliament on the subject, the price of land

be sold

The be

was

fixed at a

in lots of not less than

tracts are put

called at

up

for sale

minimum 640

of £1 per acre, to

acres, or a square mile.

by public

any time when a purchase

is

auction, which

wished to be

and knocked down to the highest bidder, though no

* New York

Tribune, October 12, 1852.

may

effected,

offers are

POLITICS. accepted below the £1 per acre. the suburban lots being put

These are

for country lots,

£2 10

but in the older

at

;

such as Sydney and Melbourne, a lot will bring at least

cities,

much

as

up

79

most valuable part of the

as in the

of

city

York."*

from buying, and discouraged laborers from

crats"

New

This system, which prevented the " landed aristo-

naturally united the

two

settling,

interests in opposition to the " mother-

Independence was already the subject of agitation

country."

;

a confederacy of five states was to uphold Saxon independence

South Seas.

in the

The discovery of gold mines, nia, diverted public attention

sail

all

the corners of the earth.

a year

is

set

down

at

;

take the places of the herdsmen

weekly

sets

the average emigration

1000 souls

—making

China has sent immense numbers,

!

many

who have gone

Even Californians have emigrated

gings.

300,000 of

whom

to the dig-

in masses, attracted

the report of the superior productiveness of the new-found

By

mines.

a

and every other sub-

An armament

from English ports for Australia

of every day

by

this

Like California, the island became a goal of emigration

ject.

from

richer than those of Califor-

from

fleet

small

in

Where

the close of September, 1852,

of twenty

is

sail,

New York

had sent

crowded with passengers, a number

comparison to those who were preparing to follow. all this

to end

1

Every returning

ship brings

ti-

dings of newly discovered layers of ore, and the cargoes are

a voucher for the truth of the reports.

* New York Tribune, October

The

fable of

12, 1852.

Mount

THE NEW ROME.

80

Alexander, the veritable golden mountain, refuses for once to In a short time the population of Austra

dissolve into mist. lia will

have tripled

in

numbers.

how

not easy to see

It is

the change thus effected can

operate otherwise than as an additional incentive to independ-

Causes of collision between the " authorities" and

ence.

the adventurers will not be wanting in a state of transition

and consequent possible that glitter

partial confusion

England

be

will

the

like

sufficiently

present.

It

is

blinded by the

of Australian gold, to deviate in this instance from the

colonial policy maintained since

1783

;

but

if so,

the interven-

ing stretch of ocean will offer a great impediment to her

True, the Indian regiments are nearer

coercive operation. at

hand

;

but when were the Indian regiments at leisure for a

sea voyage

?

to

should be hard pushed, the

If the Australians

emigrants from California

—

who

are certainly determined not

submit to British dictation while they can exercise an

fluence in the States

can people

first,

would come trine alone

—would

suffer

and the American government

to their aid.

A little

would require such a

in-

with them, and the Ameri-

stretch of the

cause.

after

them,

Monroe

The west

doc-

coast of

America, from similarity of natural and social position, wr ould probably take the lead in

this

movement.

The independence

of Australia thus achieved, and with American assistance,

annexation will follow as a natural consequence. the Irish exile, tells of a banner of stars even at various places

on the island

of the right stripe,

it

will

;

if

now

Meagher, concealed

these are not yet the stars

be very easy to make them

so.

POLITICS. With

all

and Australia

the continent

The annexation of

the

in

of the world will be lifted in

scale, the rest

again.

81

air,

American

never to sink

the remaining countries will be a

question of time, regulated

by American convenience.

England.

We are

just overtaking

now

power on the

the mightiest

globe.

The population

of Great Britain was, in 1841 "

"

in

1851

27,019,555

27,452,262

Giving an increase for ten years, of

But

this result

Britain has passed

The natural poised

by

the

432,707

is

fallacious, for the 'population

its

acme, and

now

is

increase of the country has long been counter-

emigration.

England and Ireland

to three times the increase

"

in

this

In Ireland, the emigration

respect held opposite proportions.

amounted

of Great

steadily diminishing.

A

;

in

England, the increase

some 200,000

or

225,000 a-year," says the London Times of November

4,

to three times the emigration.

gain of

1852, " represented the greatest ordinary amount of gain in this

particular ;"

down

at

for the

United Kingdoms

360,000 to 390,000.

it

may be

Lord Derby gives the

set

follow-

ing figures of emigration. 1850

220,000 273,000

1851

1852

But other

•.

305,000

authorities give the emigration of 1851 at 335,966,

4*

THE NEW ROME.

82 which

falls

above by 25,000 to

short of the increase given

55,000.*

These proportions have now altered 60,000 fewer people

in the British isles

:

" there

were

at least

on the 29th of Sep-

tember, 1852, than there had been on the 24th of June.

* The emigration of the United Kingdom from the year 1825 following

:

1825

14,891

1826

20,900

1827

28,003

1828

26,092

1829

31,198

1830

56,907

1831

83,160

1832

103,140

1833

62,527

1834

76,222

1835

44,478

1836

75,417

1837

72,034

1838

33,222

1839

62,207

1840

90,743

1841

1

1842

128,344

18,572

1843

57,212

1844 1845

70,686

1846

129,851

1847

258,270

1848

248,289

1849

299,498

93 )50 1

1850

280,849

1851

335,966

In

is

the

POLITICS.

83

were 151,193, and the deaths 100,497,

that quarter the births

leaving a balance in favor of the population of 50,696. in the

same period there

ports where

sailed

from those shores,

government emigration

offices

But

at those

are established, no

fewer than 109,236 persons, so that the gain above specified

becomes

at once

Making allowance

a loss of 58,540.

we may very

those departures which

escaped registration,

safely set the total loss

produced by emigration at not

than 60,000 persons

—a

population,"

we quote

but that

is

it

A

increased.

fact

total

less

which implies not only that our

the Times as above, "

decreasing

for

is

more rapidly than

decreasing, it

ever yet

of some 200,000 or 225,000 a-year

represented the greatest ordinary amount of gain in this particular,

100,000

but the loss on the other side in

is

now upward

a single quarter, and that quarter,

pretty sure, will be left considerably behind

by

of

we may be the quarter

next to come."

To make

these statements tally with the above estimates

of Lord Derby,

it is

necessary to assume that the figures he

gives date only to the beginning of the quarter under consideration

by

the Times, so that the total emigration to the

close of the year

1852

may be

set

down

a decrease of 150,000 to 200,000.

"

at 500,000, leaving

We

shall

probably be

within the mark," continues the English organ, " in saying that our population will, for a certain period, diminish in the

same

ratio as

it

has heretofore increased, and that, instead of

200,000 a year being added, the subtracted.''''

same amount

will

be

THE KEW ROME.

84 "

The great question

is,

bow

"We

long this drain will be continued ?

can only say that there appears, as yet, no sign whatever of cessation or

There

abatement.

October than

is

left it in

no doubt but that more people

September, and as

month than departed

this present

left

the country in

more are departing in Only the other day we

that

little

in October.

published a notification that the Government Emigration Commissioners,

having fixed on Southampton as a depot, had stipulated for the construction of

a species of barracoon at each terminus of the Southwestern

Railway, capable of containing 2,000 emigrants, with extraordinary

off

ants for a passage.

facility

who were

to be cleared

and quickness, and replaced by fresh claim-

The opening

of the

new

year, according to the an-

nouncement, was expected to communicate a strong additional impulse to the

traffic,

to fix

and, as Australia will at least take all

any limit

The

to the displacement.

effects

we

can send,

it is

indeed are already

hard

felt in

almost every branch of every-day business, and the experience of another

how soon what As many men are

year under these strange conditions will go far to teach us is

now

relief

may assume

the character of exhaustion.

not employed in the army, navy, and militia,

now

all

taken together, as are

leaving England every six months."

From

all

these facts

it is

safe to infer that the

population of England at this

sunk to

moment has 27,000,000

,

now to States, we find

Turning

the statistics of the United the inhabitants for the year

1840 numbering

17,063,353

For the year 1850

23,144,126

This number has certainly risen, by natural

in-

crease and immigration, to

And

it

may fairly be presumed

25,000,000 that, at the

end

of another year, either country will contain.

The commercial marine

of

America

is

.

26,000,000

already

equal to that of England. The tonnage of the

former

is

given for June 30, 1850, at

While that of the

The ton of land,

3,681,469

3,130,000

latter is

the United States

is

smaller that that of Eng-

which will perhaps cancel the difference

in

numbers

;

but

POLITICS.

85

the increase since the taking of the census has certainly been

more rapid

in

America than

in Britain.

English sailors are

leaving the service of their ships in such numbers, for the better pay and perhaps treatment of the English,

by

their

own

on short

their line-of-battle ships

and

exigencies, will not

notice.

The English navy

sinking vessel.

of the American

yet the latter

;

in case

American

captains, that

account, find a difficulty in

is,

is

The

indeed, far in advance

present

sufficient for all

of an increased demand, the supply

The docks can quickly launch

be wanting.

manning

rats desert the

ships as will be needed,

when

as

many

the needful in funds and in

The Americans, proceed-

materials are so easily obtained.

ing upon the true principle, that a heavy load of armor in

time of peace absorbs the powers which should be reserved

keep their capital at work

for the battle, prefer to

in the

com-

mercial marine, which will easily furnish materials for warfare

when

required.

and manufactures, we

agriculture

In

portions as in population and excel

England

the latter.

in the former,

commerce

and

fall

but

find the ;

same

pro-

the United States

little

short of

Although an equal amount of produce

is

it

in

not

obtained from the same extent of surface, yet the entire area is

so

much

greater

that

must needs be superior the United that of

States

England

;

is

the gross

also.

amount of production

The number of horses

five millions;

more than

alive in

three times

highly important for so fast a people

!

American manufactures are hastening with astonishing rapidity to take their stand

by

the side of those of England.

86

T

NE

E

II

W

ROME

.

Cotton factories are daily going up, and the fabrics

of America

Wool

become an

has

it

is

period, then,

longer

country

in the

The trade

be exported. is

becoming as

as that of England, and

when raw

;

The

time, but

state

of trade.

is

year.

staff

colossal in its proportions

must soon surpass

it

overlie

iron business of this country

some

by

cotton will no

that vital

coal,

in

basins of Pennsylvania would

castle.

the production

increasing year

is

not far distant,

is

of modern industry,

coal

of importation for American

well ascertained that the proportion of the cotton

crop manufactured

The

article

demand being ahead of

manufactures, the

and

India and China

in

are already supplanting the English.

as far as the

those of

New-

was stagnant

for

recovering under the present favorable

We

were,

until

lately,

but indifferently

supplied with two of the main elements of industry, capital

and labor tials,

;

while

the soil

political

we always

with

its

Capital

liberty.

immigrant laborers

;

possessed

its

fundamental essen-

ungathered treasures, and the largest

it is

now comes

in the

train

of the

also imported independently, under

such as

inroad

of

Louis Napoleon and the promising nature of American

in-

the pressure of events

vestments.

The

her poor-houses,

a degree,

that

the threatened

drain of laborers from

England has emptied

and enhanced the rate of wages to such her manufacturing supremacy

is

seriously

jeoparded, and our fabrics enabled to divide the market with

her; flux

the price given has doubled within a year.

The

in-

of California gold, which also enters into the calcula-

tion, will

be more extensively considered

hereafter.

All

POLITICS.

87

these influences combine to bring about the supremacy of

America

at

"Many

no distant day.

large manufacturing establishments," observes the article of

the Times, already quoted, " are now, in

fact, like

regiments after a battle,

with young hands unexpectedly promoted to the duties of vacancies in abundance

The geographical extension of a

of Nov. 25, 1850, says " English statesmen its

miles,

have

more than

little

state is

all

attributed the relative decline of Holland

New

Holland contains but

Jersey.

The population

England has robbed her of

and a half millions.

always one of the

:—

limited extent of territory.

—but

Great Britain, because of her extent of

territory,

all

is

1

1

,000

square

about two

is

her fairest possessions.

has absorbed the strength

of Holland, Venice, and Portugal, and hence their decline. of the British Islands

and

The Eastonian, (Pennsylvania,)

chief factors of its greatness.

to

seniors,

still."

not less than 120,000 square miles.

The territory But does not

Great Britain sustain the same relation to the United States that Holland does to Great Britain?

Whilst the territory of Holland

is

but 11,000

square miles, and that of the British Islands 120,000, or near eleven times greater, the territory of the

miles, or "Will not,

United States

is

over 36,000,000 of square

more than three hundred times larger than the British Islands. in the future, England decline as the United States gain strength ?

"Will not this great territory,

when

its

population has grown more dense,

absorb the power and wealth of Great Britain, as she has absorbed the

power and wealth

of Holland, of Venice,

and of Portugal

The stupendous greatness of England when

only become

natural

real centre.

That centre

glican empire

is

is

?"

is factitious,

and

will

that empire shall have found its in the

United States.

essentially oceanic.

Its

The An-

dominions extend

along the coasts of the Atlantic and the Pacific, the lesser

and the greater ocean.

America, lying in the midst of the

THE NEW ROME.

88 ocean,

therefore

is

its

natural

point of gravitation.

The

be developed

in the

realization of an idea higher than could

mother

temporary segregation of the centre it is

time to

and

colonies,

The

call for

a re-union

;

that task accomplished,

but the former adjunct being

;

longer merely the geographical centre, but the polit-

now no ical

democracy, required a

island, that of the republican

must take the

social focus,

must

be

annexed

to the

England, with her

lead.

American Union.

finances of the mother-country are suffering severely

from the competition of the United

States.

Taxation

is

driving the capitalist as well as the laborer across the seas,

where greater gains are open

him

of the

army and navy

isolated state of the country, this

increase of both these

the

is

a far lighter cost.

is

;

by

but in the present

an impossibility

arms of the national defence

contrary, unavoidable.

prepared at any

;

an

is,

on

France has now received the

band of robbers under a brigand

constitution of a

who

at

school are clamorous for retrenchment

The Manchester the reduction

to

moment

to enter

leader,

upon a foray.

The

equipment of the militia was not to be delayed, " because," says an English paper, " every family in England has

more

or less plate, which would prove a great temptation to the

French soldiery

!"

But the Manchester men are not the

only advocates of retrenchment given up

all

;

even the Tor?

s,

having

hope of re-enacting the corn-laws, now see no

other hope for the agricultural interest, but in a rigid govern-

ment economy. to

But no means of saving worth the name are

be devised, except the single one of annexation.

The army

POLITICS.

89

and navy would then be transferred to the central government, to be renovated, of course, by the democratic of

The

its institutions.

it is

;

spirit

would remain where

national debt

but the cancellation of her army and navy, and nineof her

tenths

civil

w ould r

list,

England

afford

conceivable possibility of removing that burthen.

the

only

No

other

adequate means of extrication from the meshes of English politics ever has

The proposal

been proposed, and none ever will at first

will be.

have a strange sound

in English

ears; but the necessity of the case will get the better of

many

many

a superstition,

a prejudice, and

Like every measure which

interest.

it

has

scious friends and few implacable enemies.

description there

with

its

is

perhaps but one

dependencies

oppose the measure,

;

that

for its

body

a selfish

destined to further

is

community,

the welfare of the whole

many

many Of

uncon-

the latter

the established church,

:

will indeed

have reason to

triumph will involve the annihila-

tion of that establishment as a branch of the government.

The Queen has but one

political duty,

of circumstances.

The landed

a radical change of

some kind

tion

;

one faction

of them

affiliation

influential, if

to yield to the force

aristocracy are convinced that is

indispensable to their salva-

will seek

the progressive measures carried

but a more

—

by

it

in a reaction against

the haute bourgeoisie

not a larger portion, will prefer an

with the people, in

w hich they T

will

act as leaders,

to a connection with the merchants and manufacturers, in

which they can only hold a place as servants, and

will

seek

revenge for the bourgeois reforms which prejudiced them,

THE NEW ROME.

90

by

aiding popular reforms,

This

geoisie.

the prejudice of the

the policy of the

is

which D'Israeli

to

is

Young England

a very inadequate exponent

many

accounts are to be believed, there are rations

among

the

young English

nobility,

them would gladly exchange the borough canvass Senatorship. tion, for

is

the

Now

what

rotten

an American

are in favor of annexa-

is

will, as usual,

await the

the party of the masses, the former

None remain, but

Chartists.

of a

the inevitable sequence to free-trade.

The small tradesmen and farmers issue.

and many among

for the stirring struggle after

annexation

party, of

if reliable

democratic aspi-

inactivities

The Manchester school

;

bour-

the charter but a timid excerpt from

American constitution 1

They

to

whom

England" was a centennial degradation,

will not shed

They

tears over the absorption of her greatness.

the part of their country's history

is

" the glory of

to

many

whom

an unbroken remem-

brance of past horrors, will not turn their backs upon the future

because

it

comes

mangled long enough by

in

unushered.

They have been

the British lion, to clasp with eager-

ness the pinions of the American eagle,

when he brings them

tidings of liberation.

No is

now

one can

fail

to perceive the revival of affection which

going on between the kindred nations.

ment of commercial and

social intercourse

acquaintance, regard, and esteem.

who have gone during ticularly

England,

is

this

The enhance-

promotes mutual

The number of Americans

year to travel in Europe, and par-

estimated at 10,000.

Those who have

seen England in youth, and experienced the transport which

POLITICS.

91

overcome an American mind on beholding

by

stance the images conjured up

in

the very sub-

the vivid portraitures, the

bright descriptions, and the teeming contemplations of the

poets and novelists tured,

agree

will

by whom our

who

said, at

English dinner, "The Englishman pays America a

American makes a pilgrimage

the

impressions,

which

is

ma-

intellectual infancy is

with our countryman,

to England.

visit,

Our

an but

earliest

our mental growth, rest upon your country,

all

our country

also,

upon your great men, your

Shakspeares and your Miltons,

who

are also our great

men

and teachers."

The following passage from a recent work, Years on the cation,

Farm

entitled "

Two

of Uncle Sam, with Sketches of his Lo-

Nephews, and Prospects, by Charles Casey,"

show the response of the English heart that last quoted

will

to sentiments like

:

dress—with the Englishman energy —impulsive as an Irishman— as Tell brave as Wallace —cool as Wellington — and royal as Alexander, — there "

Vieing with the Parisian

cautious as a

in

patriotic

he goes, the American citizen

commonly,

in

Dutchman

his style

!

In answering your questions, or speakinc

that of the ancient Spartan

but put him on a stump, with an audience of Whigs, Democrats, Barnburners, and he beis

comes a compound of

Tom

Cribb

;

and Demosthenes, a fountain of

eloquence, passion, sentiment, sarcasm, logic, and drollery, altogether ferent from

any thing known or imagined

any thing of any body,

(as public

ology, he swings his rhetorical

in the

Old World

states.

men,) untied with conventional phrase-

mace with a vigorous arm, crushing the

antagonistic principle or person into a most villainous compound.

him

at dinner, he

dif-

Say

See

dispatches his meal with a speed which leads you to

suppose him a ruminating animal, yet enjoying his cigarro

for

afterwards with the gusto and ennui of a Spaniard.

right on, as

if it

were

life

Walking

against time, with the glass at fever heat, yet taking

an hour

it

cool-

THE NEW ROME,

92

—

most serious and pressing matter a compound of the Red Man, Brummel, and Franklin. Statesman and laborer, on he goes divided

ly in the

and subdivided

in

politics

and

religion

—

—professionally

opposed with a

keenness of competition in vain looked for even in England, yet, let but the national rights of liberty be threatened, and that vast nation stands a

pyramid of resolve, united as one man, with

heart, head, hand,

and purse,

Roman zeal to defend inviolate the cause of the commonTo him who has lived among the Americans, and looked largely

burning with a wealth.

and practice of

at the theory

their

government and

executive, there

its

remains no doubt that the greatest amount of personal security and

dom

has been produced from the least amount of

world. it

Culling

its

principles

free-

of any nation in the

cost,

and wisdom from the history of

all

empires,

stands the nearest of all earthly systems to perfection."

An

enthusiastic eulogy, and

author and poet, of

much

a true

note, has

her destiny in the following words

one.

An

English

spoken of America and

:

Thou

noblest scion of an ancient root, Born of the forest-king spread forth, spread !

High to the stars thy tender leaflets shoot, Deep dig thy fibres round the ribs of earth

From It

forth,

!

sea to sea, from south to icy north,

must ere long be

thine,

through good or

To stretch thy sinewy boughs Go, The glories of thy destiny fulfil :

ill,

— Wondrous child

;

Remember

then thy mother in her age,

Shelter her in the tempests, warring wild,

Stand thou with us when

So

And

furious together

through

all

!

all

the nations rage

—we are one

time, the

calm

historic

page

Shall tell of Britain blest in thee her son.

Africa and India.

England will

busily extending our empire.

The

Kaffir

war

probably end in an immense accession of territory.

A

is

Yankee speculator recently presented himself

at the office of

POLITICS. the Colonial

government

Secretary, with an offer to contract with the for the entire extermination

the agency of a troop of

He

were waiting below. sent to see

body was

93

them sent,

shoot,

Kentucky

of the Kaffirs,

by

riflemen, who, he said

desired that

somebody might be

and make report of

and they shot admirably

;

their

Some-

rifle.

but the Colonial

Secretary declined acceding to the proposal. " because," conjectures a paper which

"

we

is

presumed

to

speak by authority,

should soon get rid of the Kaffirs, but what could

we do

with the Yankees ?" In passing under

American

jurisdiction, the

South African

countries will receive a treatment similar to our present territories,

with which they have

case of India

is different.

Daily Netvs" says the

"

much

common.

in

A correspondent

New York

of the

new The

London

Tribune of November

3,

money

in

1852, " in calling public attention to the

waste of

pushing English influence in India, and the absurdity of

many

of the costly measures taken to secure the trade with the nations bordering upon the British Indian possessions, refers

with no great complacency to the rising trade between the

United States and the ports of the Beloochistan and the neigh-

He

boring waters." situated at the

is

speaking of the port of Kurrachee,

most westerly of the mouths of the

Indus,

and

of the necessity of some improvement of the harbor, and

some

better

which

is all

trade for

passages

means of that

is

direct

communication with the Indus,

required to

all that section

make

this port the centre of

of Southern Asia.

We

quote a few

THE NEW ROME.

94 "

A tramroad

the report says,

required from Kurrachee to Tatta on the Indus, where,

is

'

the country

is level,

and rain almost unknown, and where

******

the rails might be laid for miles almost on the ordiuary surface of the

But neither by the government. ground.'

"

The

work made over

its

And now we

tonment.

dried raisins and

company, nor sanctioned

figs, finds

The

ripe

a market in the can-

learn that the real trade in wool

by the adventurous Americans "

to a

shores of Persia are within a run of thirty-six hours.

Muscat, with

fruit of

the

is

is

being opened

!

America's incipient trade with the opposite coast, Muscat, on which

they hold no harbor, and where they have fought no battles, nor acquired large kingdoms,

grow

into

ican consul "

already becoming more valuable than our own, and will

is

is

appointed to the

Time, indeed,

mare.

'

Any

an extensive commerce.

An

may

at a less expense than

dangerous competition

of the great advantages afforded

by the Indus

as the

is

night-

its

Mekran

will land a cargo on the

coast

Bombay make the most

a cargo of British goods can be landed

to defy such

Amer-

us that an

tell

was, that the court should awaken from

it

American shipmaster

and the only way

mail

gulf.

to

;'

in

highway to Central

Asia. " It is

America, not Russia,

being reduced ditional

;

but

commerce site coast

of China ;

we

All the world over, taxes are

California,

falling.

and

America

rival,

an ad-

seeking for the

is

for that of the Indies

and, in the race of competition before us,

whether our

'

per cent, on importations of English

five

customs were

by

fear.

we, three or four years ago, imposed

ad valorem duty of

goods,' because our

men

in India

it

by the oppois

a problem

trading with independent countries, and with races of

that are comparatively wealthy because they are free, will not beat

us from the markets, confining us to the internal trade of impoverished India."

This extract goes to show that preparations for the annexation of India are going on, independently of the coming infederation of England.

some ject

little light

It

is

also important as throwing

on the commercial condition of

on which, whether from accident or design,

India, a subit is

exceed-

POLITICS. American

ingly difficult for an

" impoverished,"

The term trifling

tralia,

wages

at

95 any information.

to obtain

taken in connection with

may be

which Indian labor

the

obtained in Aus-

points out the probability of a large emigration from

that peninsula to the South Sea, and perhaps to California, to

be followed by an increase of commercial intercourse with

the countries colonized, which will enable

out what Alexander failed in attempting

European

civilization

into

England conquering

:

"

w orld

India, the

taken foothold in California."

r

It is

to carry

An

of the world.

cradle

the

American author goes on saying

America

—the introduction of

For whose

benefit

shall see after

is

we have

remarkable that consuls

are here mentioned as the agents for affecting the conquests

of the

New Rome

the functions of those officers are as

;

much

at variance with those of their prototypes, as the genius of

our empire

differs

from the one

6.

it is

destined to eclipse.

The Teutonic Race.

The Anglo-Saxon empire, having received organization, will be

first

portion of the continent of Europe inhabited to

its

legitimate

brought into connection with that

by

tribes akin

itself.

Germany. This all

is

the hearthstone of Europe, physically

and morally

Europe are poured

and

the burdens of

constantly atoning nations.

Is

by

its

there reason

into its lap,

it

;

is

sufferings for the sins of all the

to

expect

another

convulsive

THE NEW ROME.

96

struggle in this country

The answer

1

is

an absolute negative,

based upon the extensive opportunities of one of the authors for observation afforded

by a position

German Republi-

in the

can party for the last five years, by ramified connections with the democracy in quite a

the adventures had

by a

careful

number of

German

states,

in the character of a political fugitive,

by and

and unbiassed study of the reports brought over Political revolutions, in the

within the last twelvemonth. restricted

the

European sense of the term, are the

social revulsions,

offspring of

by which members of a ruling or independ-

ent class have suddenly sunk to the level of a servient one.

These individuals are brought to their

new

and then

position,

ciates that discontent

stir

reflect

up

upon the rationale of

in their

new-found asso-

which would otherwise not be

These

"

by

felt

demagogues" are the

men

educated to degradation.

men

who, in the hackneyed phrase of empty-headed conserv-

atism, " have nothing to lose, and every thing to gain."

In

point of fact, they, or their immediate ancestors, have lost

every thing, and on that account are dissatisfied with gaining nothing.

Germany. in exile

;

There

is

The

"

at

present no such state of things in

demagogues" of the

lowed them, going to the not

come

four years are

last

the energetic portion of their adherents have

to them.

republic when

Those who remain behind have lapsed

into their former state of contented servitude. is

again comparatively prosperous

accumulating

in

fol-

the republic would

— that

the hands in which

remains unknown to those

who had

it

it

is is

The country

to say, wealth is

found, while

not before

:

it

and thus

POLITICS. it

97

another commercial and social trans-

will continue, until

position shall call for a re-adjustment of political forms.

Such a change

will result

ment now on

foot in

250,000 souls

will date their

the present year

:

Germany,

the emigration to America.

exodus from that country from

surely such a safety-valve should prevent

almost any explosion

!

arrivals at the port of

years

from the only national move-

The following are the

New

York alone

for

statistics

of

the last four

:

1851.

1352.

1S49.

1S50.

55,705

45,402

69,883

129,652

112,251

116,532

163,256

124,159

Other countries... 56,647

50,862

56,462

56,577

212,796

289,601

310,398

Germany Ireland

Total

220,603

The German emigration of to-day than that of thirty years ago, as figures 1

is

is fifty

times greater

proved by the following

:

822

1826...

2,200

10,000

1830

15,000

1832

24,000

1834

22,000

1837

33,000

1843

23,000

1844

43,701

1845

67,209

1846

106,000

1847

110,000

1848

95,000

1851

113,199

The amount of property introduced by these emigrants 5

is

THE NEW ROME.

\)b

estimated by

M.

Gaebler, Chairman of the Berlin Central

Committee of Emigration,

one hundred and sixteen millions

at

of thalers, ($81,200,000,) for the six years from 184G to 1851,

making an annual average of nearly twenty millions of thalers, or fifteen millions

that "

The report complains

of dollars.

moreover these emigrants comprise the most energetic

and enterprising portion of the population, thus drawing the labor of

Germany

industry.

Instead, therefore, of increasing, as

to increase the competition of

number of consumers of German

the

off

American

was expected,

exports,

it is

found to

depress our American market, by creating an inland competition in that

Assuming

New

country with the manufactures of this." the proportion between the

York, and those at

all

with the standard of 1851, lowing

German

arrivals at

points of the Union, to coincide (1

to

1-|,)

we

obtain the

Arrivals at

New

York.

Arrivals throughout the Union.

1849

55,705

84,270

1850

45,402

73,778

1851

69,883

113.199

1852

129,662

210,700

There

is

every reason to expect a continued increase

same proportion; the

forty millions of

Germany

therefore prepare for the reception of 400,000

emigrants in 1853. of inhabitants of

The Union now has four or

German

birth

soon to be vastly increased.

;

a

number of

in the

furnishing

an emigration stock which will meet every demand.

may

fol-

:

We

German

five millions

course destined

The republican sentiments of

POLITICS. this class,

and

their accounts of the prosperity of this repub-

upon the minds of

lic

There

lable.

99

their transatlantic brethren, is incalcu-

scarce a family in

is

Germany unrepresented

and without an American correspondent.

here,

letter contains a praise of liberty

are thus brought

There

home

to the

and of the republic, which

very heart's core of the people.

no propaganda more

is

Every such

than this

effective

newspaper or pamphlet can ever penetrate

:

where no

into the far recesses

of the Suabian Alps and of the Odenwald, these messengers of sedition carry their alluring tales of " high wages," " good earnings," "

meat

three times a day,"

&c,

which, in the eyes

of monarchical subjects, are weighty reasons in favor of the republic. I

This propaganda

is

being systematized.

On

the 29th of

January, 1852, a congress of Germans at Philadelphia formed the "

American Revolutionary League

for

to assist in the veritable liberation of the

At

this congress the following resolution

"

That

in the opinion of the present congress,

ing off the yoke of

its

tyrants,

of states already free, that states

may become

family,

It

ity

;

is,

Europe," designed

European

nations.

was presented

:

every people, upon throw-

ought to demand admission into the league into the

American Union

;

so that these

the nucleus of the political organization of the

human

and the starting-point of the World's Republic."

received the enthusiastic support of a respectable minor-

but the greater number, though professing entire

dence with

its

views, considered

its

confi-

adoption injudicious under

existing circumstances. In

preparing a report for the second congress of the League,

THE NEW ROME.

100

held at Wheeling, September 18, 1852, the sub-committee of the central board on congressional resolutions, submitted the

same proposal, with an extended argument so

much with any hope

of

of drawing attention to

it.

where

it

be regarded, political

Contrary to

all

We

shall

same good fortune

mean

warm

more

;

it

may now

expression of the

emigration.

The League has

to feed the flame of

American liberty

is

hi thoughts and feelings universal in his

;

—he

pent-up Utica contracts our powers, is

has learned, in chemistry, that a

when a formed

European revolution

tom of

until

truly than Addison

But the whole boundless universe

He

ban-

its

the plains and valleys of the distant fatherland.

No

better

was

official

the

sort, as

German

it

of the " People's League of the Old and

title

The German says,

the

expectation

laid before the con-

World," and inscribed universal annexation on

ners. it

some

views of the

adopted the

New

met with

in

not

;

adoption, but for the purpose

its

unanimously adopted by the board and gress,

in its favor

socialism

;

crystal

failed, in

is

ours.

fluid

crystallizes far

introduced into

The

it.

a great measure, from the phan-

a successful revolution requires at once a

guarantee to possessors against spoliations, and to the penniless,

of the solution of the social question.

under the American constitution.

Both are united

Private property

is

no

where so secure, acquisition no where so easy, organization and combination no where so unrestricted, discussion and tation

no where so absolutely

free.

Few

agi-

indeed would hesi-

POLITICS. tate to exchange

American,

the present

101

German

warm

approbation.

idea of annexation

German

has already been discussed in the received with

constitution for the

The

the choice were offered.

if

papers, and was

has been a matter of

It

judicial investigation in the criminal courts of that country,

who

acquitted the author of

ground

that,

was necessarily a

must be

way which

Germany

bayonets of Russia

it.

unequalled

;

;

we know

are to be arrayed, in the last ;

but we know,

We are not in want

press of this country

also, that

in

of natural

is

the

allies.

now numbers 180 news-

any other language except the English.

German

but the reactive influence of that mind must soon be

;

We

and seen.

emigrants here and,

will show.

not yet on a level with the present state of the

mind felt

Time

the ultimate issue, and that annexation

leads to

The German

It is

did not appear that such subversion

see all the difficulties of the undertaking

resort, with the

papers

it

forcible one.

that the liberties of

liberty

on the

seditious intentions,

though his project involved the subversion of the

German governments,

We

all

;

more than

have, besides, the millions of

and the millions of those unhappy all,

growing every day

we have in

the mighty

American

the appreciation of her

German at

home

republic,

powers and

her task.

The

many and

smaller

countries

surrounding

points of contact with

will

Germany have

as

America as the centre country,

be easilv induced to take sides

for annexation.

THE NEW ROME.

102

Switzerland.

now

This venerable republic, at present beset with

threats

troubles

;

the oldest in the world, factions

from without, are beating upon the foundations of

her polity.

It is

hard to live only by the mutual hatred of National

one's

neighbors.

alive,

but at the same time keeps her

How

death. relies

would she

be disappointed.

republics,

keeps

selfishness

hail

upon the United States

will not

two

is

from within, and

Switzerland

in perpetual fear

the end of nationalism for counsel

The

of

She

1

and protection, and

between the

treaty concluded

and negotiated by Mr. Mann,

of great im-

is

portance as the beginning of an active intervention policy.

be remarked, in passing, that the emigration from

It is to

Switzerland, which

cantons

;

German

is

considerable,

is

confined to the

The Frenchman and

portions of Alsace.

are rooted to the environs of ancient

Rome

;

German

beyond the

just as that of France hardly extends

the Italian

the

German

has no such attachments.

Holland

Has many

reminiscences of America, dating from ancient

times

is

its

;

she

Empire State and

the foundress of the

City

descendants here, already numerous, are constantly

creasing.

"De

Nieusbode"

is

the title of a

paper recently started in Wisconsin.

Dutch news-

The former Queen of

the Seas will gladly acknowledge a successor to

may

claim so near a relationship.

now dormant,

will receive a

;

in-

Her East

whom

she

Indian colonies,

new impulse from American

life

POLITICS.

103

We

and trade, for which they are well prepared.

American enterprise

see

at

work

shall

soon

in those waters.

Scandinavia.

The north of Europe throngs of active,

known

is

also pouring into our lap its

hard-working men.

The Normans are

have been the original discoverers of America.

to

They came about Greenland

the year

1000, by

to the north-east coast, to

land, the land of Vines,

yet visible.

where

way of

Iceland

and

what they called Vin-

traces of their presence are

They now appear determined

to obtain a

more

at that time.

The Danes

and Swedes are outnumbered by Norwegians.

Wisconsin,

lasting possession than they

with

its

congenial climate and stormy seas, seems to be their

favorite resort

Bay.

had

More

;

there

is

a large settlement of them at Green

recently, the settlement of

Norwegian

colonists

on an extended scale has been undertaken by Ole Bull, the distinguished violinist.

His settlement

is in

Potter County,

Pennsylvania, whither he speaks of bringing hundreds of

The republican sentiments

thousands of his countrymen. expressed by Ole Bull,

become a that

the

citizen of this

influence

who has

declared his intentions to

country, gives us reason to believe

of these

colonists

upon

their

mother

country will also tend in favor of annexation.

7.

They whose religion

The Jews.

nationality

was

their religion,

was the worship of the Maker of

"

and whose

Heaven and

THE NEW ROME.

104

them

Earth and

all

ers of that

heathenism which

man

that in

time, place,

to

is,"

were from the

ties

the supersensuous soul of

They from

or sod.

contemn-

first

the

first

went

forth to conquer

and subdue sub-human nature, not to owe

In

obedience to this superior principle they

fealty

to

it.

have been exiles for two thousand years

moment

doubting that

must come

it

the grosser influences that

During

seemed

never for a

;

overthrow

at last to

for

a time triumphant.

the middle ages they were persecuted and

all

de-

spised for anticipating the characteristics of the nineteenth

With

century.

Roman

off the

the

first

effort

of the Germanic idea to cast

formulas, they were found in the foremost

rank of the combatants.

Spinoza was the

who grasped

first

and riddled the fundamental Catholic perversion, the duality

between heaven and

German

struggle of circulated as

common

and thing

earth, thought

research

it

;

in

the last

was Boerne and Heine who

coin the rich ore

dug out by Germanic

students.

The day of had a right

their deliverance has

All the world are

Rothschild

is

;

and

ever, until

;

the Messiah they principle.

now Jews every body makes money and ;

;

the " sixth great power," at least co-ordinate

with the other people

come

was the name of their

to expect, if such

five.

The Jews

will soon cease to

are no longer a peculiar

be a

distinct

one

;

not,

how-

they have reaped the rewards of their former

toils.

The idea

for

some time entertained of purchasing Judea,

and making Rothschild a Jewish national king, was one of

POLITICS.

105

those fantastic confusions of form and substance which could

obtain but a very slight hold upon so

They follow a truer genuine

religious

America

to enjoy a

unfeigned

equality.

instinct in settling in

toleration,

and

an

rational a people.

Liberty and commerce, the essence of their character, are also the essence of that the

Jews

Americanism.

It

is

confidently asserted

contrive to get themselves smuggled out of the

Russian Empire,

for the

purpose of emigrating to the American

world.

But liberty and commerce, which are the

characteristics

of Judaism and of Americanism, are also those of annexation

every

Jew will

flag for his operations

not shut his

European

over the world, and Rothschild will

eyes to the

only

prospect

states to liquidate the debts they

8.

of enabling the

owe him.

The Sclavonic Race.

That great uprising of is

all

peoples, that world's

for ever seen to hang, like the

Anglo-Saxon empire

the mastery of

fall

Germanic confederation.

Europe be the

when

the

slow but unyielding grasp

shall lay its

the countries of the

war which

sword of Damocles, over the

passing joys and troubles of the hour, will

upon

:

hasten to claim the protection of the American

Then

will

prize of the death-struggle

between the Union and the Czar.

•

That mighty power

now

governs the continent from the coasts of Siberia to the

German Ocean, and from terranean

;

the English Channel to the Medi-

let the ruler style himself Frederick

5*

William or

;

THE NEW ROME.

106

Francis Joseph, or Louis Napoleon, or Pio-Nono, he looks up

The

to Nicholas, the real fountain of his power.

constitution of the

Middle Ages,

ecclesiastical

hierarchical

and

political,

which, in the nature of things, was bound to turn either into

monarchy or pantarchy, has found the former manifestation Russian empire, the latter upon

in the

that Russia

would be

Russia

is

the

to affirm

upon the

litical

is

earth,

To say

this continent.

only absolute monarchy in the world,

an absurdity

;

two men

for while there are

one cannot be absolutely monarch.

monarchy has no po-

the only state in which the

making head against

antagonist capable of

But

heavily indebted to the crown, and detested

by

it.

The

numerous,

nobility, with their thirteen classes, are divided, not

the masses

they serve the Emperor as a sconce for the light of his greatness, without emitting

the only

any lustre of

their

own.

The army,

power capable of becoming formidable,

by foreign wars, and without leaders except

is

amused

their officers,

who

are scions of the detested nobility, or foreign hirelings of the

emperor.

The bureaucracy

are so corrupt as to be incapable

of any combination out of their usual routine of espionage,

The mercantile

chicane, and trickery.

in a very large proportion, of serfs,

classes are

who

made

up,

are permitted to

pursue industrial callings by the favor of their lords, which

must be paid

for

tion of the Czar.

liked

by an enormous black -mail, and

They

by the lords who

are envied

fleece

by

the protec-

their fellow-serfs, dis-

them, distrusted by the

officials,

and without any hope of safety but from the monarch. Lastly, the serfs, divided into villages, between which stand-

POLITICS.

107

ing feuds are industriously fomented, are at

body except

the emperor, with

whom

and

collision,

which

perfections

bond of union

;

they

they find wanting

the

in

these millions, the Czar

all

and

come

into

no

all

the

they consequently endow with

Thus, of

realities.

whom

war with every

bond has

this

all

surrounding is

the only

the strength of religion,

because, as the Russian Church has been absorbed into the

monarchy, so the creed of the people

is

first

overpowered, and then separated from the

State, the Eastern has

destruction of

a painted idol

to

While the Western

absorption in the loyalty of the subject.

Church has

merged almost

its

become engulphed

identity

;

the " Russian

or the Russian Czar.

in it to the virtual

God" means

This

is

either

the secret of

Russian absolutism. It

were an

idle

effort to belittle the

powers of such an

organization, opposed to the distracted condition of the Occistates of

dental their

Europe, with their collapsed aristocracy,

hollow absolutism, and smothered democracy.

when he

leon's vision failed

must be that

must

it

said that in fifty years

either republican or Cossack

would be

first

is

:

she

is

Russia

ever intent

European aristocracy cannot withstand

upon the former. her, for it

he should have said

:

Cossack, and then Yankee.

drink destruction

either deal or

Napo-

Europe

already absorbed, one half in monarchical, the

other in democratic interests.

withstand her, for

it

and unstatesmanlike.

European democracy cannot

is

disorganized, unsteady, theoretical,

It

contemplates ideals without bridging

the gulph between them and reality, and

still

cleaves to the

1

THE

08

K E

W ROME.

very traditions which have created and are preserving the greatness of

its

enemies

and family, when planting them

;

it

;

wars upon property, commerce,

has no institution at hand capable of sup-

it

and overlooks the scaly monster Nationality,

and the United States, the certain antidote.^ Hence they are ideologists, not

statesmen

cism, but lack counsel single project.

Holy

They

;

they offer an abundance of

;

they have

many

confess a prevailing sentiment, that the

Alliance of privilege and of despotism

combated with the

criti-

theories, but not a

alliance of equality

is

only to be

and liberty

;

and the

United States of Europe have been urged as an idea built

upon

But

this sentiment.

of ideas

;

there

is

it

has not emerged from the sphere

nowhere a party or section of a party which

pursues that object as

The

leading design.

its

solidarity of

the peoples has never been preached, except in the peculiar interest

of some

particular people.

occurred to any of

its

Hence

has never

it

advocates that such a solidarity to

acquire "

A

local habitation

must have a point of the supremacy of

immediate

its

assault,

exit

and a name,"

and of retreat, a stronghold, where

principle

and which

is

absolutely safe from at least

may do

it

the

rendered by Eussia to the Holy Alliance. ever reflected that this

member

same

service as

Nor have they

hegemony cannot be devolved on a

of the old fraternity without degenerating into a

supremacy, but must be accorded to a power the contending states in the origin of

its

common

to all

ingredients,

and

POLITICS. distinct

from them

be no concerted isolated districts

all in its

109

may

rebel, not in hope,

certain defeat serving only to hasten

subjugation of the whole. is

There

formation.

will, therefore,

rising to repel the concert of repression

The

but in despair

;

their

and perfect the

utter

reign of Russian absolutism

an inevitable phase of European development.

Thus the

lines are

each wing of the

The

drawn.

w orld's r

choirs are marshalled on

stage, Russia leading the one, the

Yet the world

United States the other.

and the contest must end

Let those who

victory of the other.

is

too small for both,

one and the

in the downfall of the

permanent universality of subjection

will speculate

on the

;

the stakes are safe on

the side of the .universe of sovereigns.

Russia has expended

her forces in making a formidable display on her Western

all

border. for is

The United

an attack

States are already digging the trenches

in the rear.

Our commerce

constantly increasing in extent.

If,

as

in the is

North

Pacific

not improbable,

the gold mines of Siberia are found to extend nearly or quite to its Eastern coast, an irruption of republicanism,

more dan-

gerous than the inroads of the Circassians, threatens that " brazen image with the feet of clay."

The

strongest argument for the present practicability of

the in federation of the world,

Sclavonic race, at

its

bottom one of

empire, their

is

a

power

found in the fact that the

immediate and ostensible antagonists, are its

most promising element.

German colony in

is

Moscow

;

the Varegers,

in the tenth century,

brothers of those originators of

Russia, as an

who

established

were Northmen,

all filibustierism,

who brought

THE NEW ROME.

110

the idea of the commercial unity of the world f

and

of the Skagger Rack, sacrificed to

inlets

Germany, Gaul, and

spoils of Britain,

Italy,

om

the creeks

its

glory the

founded, medi-

ately or immediately, the Scandinavian empire, the Hanseatic league, the

Norman

duchy, the English realm, and the Nea-

politan kingdom, and enlivened the Teutonic races with the

independence which enabled them to throw off the tutelage of Rome.

Czarism

yielding, social,

and communistic

to the prowess of

peror

itself is therefore the tribute paid

German

with our weapons, and under our

St.

Petersburg

is

notoriously a

is

;

The present imperial

flag.

German

the State's Chancellor

government,

civil

is

German

a

The leading

as well as military, are

nobility of Livonia,

who

Universities of Russia are

an eligible resort for

Paskic-

;

name

officers

of

of the

drawn from the

are of the pure lineage of the Teu-

and Poland.

tonic knights, the conquerors of Russia

more westerly

;

colony, founded upon

reported to be a runaway stroller of the

Patschke, from near Leipsic.

the

fights

All the Emperor's children are married

principles.

Germans

witch

The Em-

He

even more immediately and exclusively German

is

German to

of the Sclavonic race

individual enterprise.

but a disaffected proconsul of our empire.

is

family

spirit

by the

German, and

it

is

German adventurers of

countries inhabited

this assimilative faculty is still

more

by

The

looked upon as all

kinds.

In

the Sclavonic race,

perceptible.

The

vast

majority of the Austrians are Selaves, yet the government, the

official

people

is

language, the literature, and the education of the

German.

"When the Pauslavonic Congress assem-

POLITICS.

Ill

bled at Prague, they were obliged to disregard their rules of order,

and debate

in

German

own

because, in the multipli-

city of half-cultivated Sclavonic dialects, that language

found to be the only

The Sclaves

medium of speech

are, in fact, to the

pupils in thought.

dominion of the Adriatic

;

The most

facility

it

Germany

lies

This process of Germanization will

the preparations for annexation.

of the Sclaves for Teutonic cultivation has been

brilliantly manifested in the great herald of the

None but

time, Louis Kossuth.

liberties

coming

a Sclave could have so ap-

preciated the importance of English and

upon the

always

extended to the Elbe, the Danube, and

the half of acknowledged

east of that boundary.

continue, and with

the Celtic race

in battle, yet

Nine hundred years ago, the undisposed

this race

now

they had in common.

Germans what

were to the Roman, sometimes masters

was

American

None but

of the world.

polity

a Sclave could

have so studied, and so mastered a foreign language as to address in

it

a native population, and carry them

months with the magic of of annexation

—

He

his eloquence.

probably abhors

it

;

but he has

away

for

did not think lit

the lamps

of thought upon either shore of ocean, and they will not cease to mingle their rays until the truth

is

made

manifest.

In

preaching the " solidarity" of Europe and America, he has done

enough

;

and

the equally

in

preaching

with Sclavonian

lips

he has taught

weighty lesson, of the actual solidarity of

natural advocates with

We

it

its

its

apparent opponents.

have said nothing of the tutelary powers of Russia,

because their destiny

is

inseparably knit to that of the ruling

— THE NEW ROME.

112

But the following extract from a correspondence of

house.

Tribune, certainly not an annexation paper, dated Oct.

the

20, 1852,

from Greece, a country subject

to Russian dictation,

and assuredly not a rendezvous of the filibusters, in the connection

"

of interest

is

:

The whole country is ill at rest. Otho has no children. The Conwrested from him requires that his successor shall be baptized in

stitution

the Greek

faitb.

Who

Greeks.

He

shall

is

a Catholic

;

be his successor

The country is anxious One of them

decide.

a Protestant

his wife is

That

?

his subjects

;

the all-absorbing question.

is

to

know, but the Three Protecting Powers are to

is

Catholic, one

A

Protestant, the other Greek.

is

Russian can never be crowned here, nor a Frenchman, nor an Englishman

A son

of Leopold of Belgium

many has

is

princes enough to spare

have had

;

!

and an Oscar of Sweden.

Ger-

but Greeks do not like Germans.

They

talked

of,

So things exist at present. I have been asked several times, very soberly, if America would not send them a King, and take them under their protection ! One very intelligent man went so far as to one.

say he wished Greece could be annexed to the United States."

9.

In his late faith in

The Romanic Races.

London

letter,

Kossuth

seen to waver in his

is

"

Anglo-Saxon decentralization.

European democracy

has scarcely any thing to take from England."

"materialism the curse of our age."

but man's preference fur a

At

all

over an

events, to curse materialism

Emigration, which

and

real

Yet what

independence

is

is

illusive

He

thinks

materialism happiness

*?

to curse England.

the assertion of man's superiority over,

of,

inanimate nature, and fortuitous

cumstances, he regards as evidence of want of the greatest

is

number

possible

;"

cir-

of the " patriotism

yet national patriotism

is

POLITICS.

to a lesser Bonaparte

history protect her

Compare

map.

;

re-enact the part of a

may

famed son from such a

the kind genius of falling off!

the Kossuth of the past with Ledru Rollin.

friend calling

upon the

To

come," seems to point to a rising

will not

inclination of the great Agitator to

Poniatowsky

"

and absolutism.

the vital element of centralization

France Russia

113

.

latter,

A

found him sticking pins into a

" See," he said, " these are the points to which the

English have pushed their forces repulsed before there

"

is

;

at all these they

hope of progress."

must be

This

is

the

great Frenchman's understanding of the history of the last !

Excited for a principle to which the genius

is

manifestly hostile, finding refuge where that

three centuries

of his nation principle

is

manifestly dominant, he would propagate

enlisting its foes against

its

it

by

friends.

The western empire has

fallen, in the lapse

of time, into

three great nationalities, inhabiting the so-called " countries"

of Spain, France, and Italy.

All have accepted the

Roman

language and religion.

In Spain, the victory of the

Goths

century established the then greatest

in the fourteenth

power of the world, an empire on which

Germanic

the sun never set.

But that people was scorched by the acquisition of America, which to the race of Northern Europe has been so fraught with blessings.

Spain has dwindled into a dependency upon

the English, and no longer sits in the councils of the world. In Italy, the contest between the Guelphs and Ghibellines

produced a like

vitality,

which expended

the fields of political power, at least

itself,

if

not upon

upon those of commerce,

THE NEW ROME.

114

In all these she is

industry, science, and art.

still

respectable,

Germany, England, and America

but no longer pre-eminent.

are between them, superior to her subsequent productions in all

Yet

these branches.

Italy has still

much

inner life; and

though her natural hobby for the re-establishment of the

Roman Empire must

ever somewhat retard her

progress,

she will yet occupy an important place in the World's Con-

Her

federacy.

connection with

intimate from day to

from the North scions of the

will

Germany must become more

day and when ;

the sovereigns imported

no longer be Hapsburg simpletons, but

American Republic, the bitterness of

feeling

which now imbues their intercourse will give place to a cordial brotherhood.

Thus

is

France, the great obstacle to the formation of the

World's Republic,

left to

stand alone.

Though Charlemagne

was a German, he inherited the Roman purple. Capets were feudal chiefs of the Frankish a Senate and an Imperator.

the Frankish nobility at

tribe,

They succeeded

Though the

they generated in annihilating

by whom they were surrounded

;

but

the expense of arming for their destruction the Gallic

masses, racy,

who overturned Germanic

royalty,

Germanic

aristoc-

Germanic protestantism, and Germanic individualism,

and established upon the ruins the equality and subjection of the

Roman

provinces, their state religion, their centralization,

and their military organization.

A

praetorian,

born in the

most obscure recess of the very centre of the Roman world, in the citadel of the

Mediterranean,

more of a myth than a man, was

—predestined

to

become

called to execute the great

POLITICS. "

project of the French revolution. as one

man

115

La Grande Nation"

to protest against the clanger "

minion of the world.

rose

of a Teutonic do-

From Egypt,"

the

said

modern

Hannibal, "I shall go to India; there crush the power of

England, and return, by shall return

Punic

War

six

of Moscow, to Paris, where I

leave

I

In his second

it."

he proposed to reverse the order, making Russia

his starting point,

To

way

years older than

all this

and the Mediterranean

his return route.

storm of genius the Germanic world had noth-

ing to oppose

beyond

the calm Scipian respectability of a

Wellington, and

destiny.

Spain, and Waterloo.

The

Yet she conquered

fate of the

world

The Germanic revulsion re-introduced

is

India,

sealed.

the Frankish kings

the reiterated rebellion of the Gauls, the Parisian republic

and the recurring provincial exploitation of the republic, the Napoleonic empire. tion

circles decreasing in

heretofore.

by a

There

is

no reason why

upon reproduction should not continue

The

magnitude

in the

this reproduc-

indefinitely

;

same proportion

the as

restoration of the Gauls will be followed

restoration of the feudal Franks.

This will undergo a

modification into the Anglican industrial form of Germanism,

corresponding to what took place in 1830.

It is

during such

a period, the reign, perhaps, of the Prince de Joinville, that the principle of the sovereignty of the individual, and with it

the disposition favorable to an infederation into the United

States, will

make

a slow but steady progress.

of mutation of interests tion in the

is

Such a process

what should be called the revolu-

American sense of the word.

The mutation of

— THE NEW ROME.

116 governmental

which

forces,

is

of '48

outbreak

there

is

developed, the

than

for fifteen years.

;

but

flight

as that

is

If

less

will continue

to

over England, Germany, and Russia, and

all

Speculation

is rife

on the subject of the Japanese expedi-

consequences will soon become

of perhaps greater ultimate importance.

and seventy millions gathered in

may be

its

own.

their

The Moguls.

10.

its

formidable than

inferior to the fabric of the

Germany, and Russia have made

that England,

and

be as much

will

it

III.,

Meantime, the American eagle

spread his

is

rather

interrupted,

Napoleon

Corsican.

tion,

this process, just as the

a third explosion of this kind, the lava will settle into

a third empire that of

upon

which had then proceeded

revolution,

European accep-

the French or

tation of the term, will break in

— one-third Of

pale.

of the

China

visible.

Three hundred

human

their present condition

race

—

are

some idea

obtained from the following extract from the work

ofM. Gutzlan:— "

Foreigners,

who know

nothing about the internal state of the

Nothing

country, are apt to imagine that there reigns everlasting peace. is,

however, more erroneous

are of frequent occurrence.

insurrections of villages, cities,

;

The

and

districts,

refractory spirit of the people, the op-

pression and embezzlement of the mandarins, and other causes, such as

dearth and demagogues, frequently cause an unexpected revolt. " In these cases, the destruction of property and hostility against the rulers

of the land,

— especially

carried to great excess their magistrates over

;

if

these

have been tyrants,

there are instances of the infuriated

a slow

fire.

On

—

mob

is

often

broiling

the other hand, the cruelty of

POLITICS.

117

government, when victorious, knows no bounds prisoners

is

the treatment of political

;

had not been an

really so shocking as to be incredible, if one

eyewitness of these inhuman deeds.

One of the most common evils is starvation. The population is very the means of subsistence are, in ordinary times, frequently not above the demand and it is. therefore, nothing extraordinary to witness, on the least failure of the crop, utter wretchedness and misery. To provide for all the hungry mouths is impossible and the cruel policy of the "

dense

;

;

;

mandarins

carries their indifference so far as to affirm that starvation is re-

quisite to thin the dense

masses of the people.

Whenever such a judgment has come upon the land, and the people are in want of the necessaries of life, dreadful disorders soon arise, and the most powerful government would not be able to put down the rising and "

robberies which are committed on the strength of this prevailing misery.

There seems to be a

total

change

in the

and many a patient laborer turns wolf or a

tiger, to

devour

peaceful nature of the inhabitants,

upon

fiercely

his substance.

No

his rich neighbor, like

a

one can have an idea of the

auarchy which, on such occasions, ensues, and the utter demoralization of the people."

An account of the San Francisco,

thousand persons,

—men, women, and

successful assault

in a

slaughter

is

Though not

arm

of

fifty

rebels,

Chunchow.

The

days and three nights.

is

characteristic.

Mr.

:

is

afforded,

and a

rich harvest promises fair, the

order again prevails, and outrages are put a stop

then combine,

to.

The people

themselves, and proceed in thousands to catch marau-

ders like wild beasts. darins,

city of

authenticated, the report

Yet, as soon as relief

spirit of

upon the

way

murder of

—by the

children,

said to have lasted for three

Gutzlaff continues "

7th of August, 1852, obtained by

relates a horrible story of the

No mercy

is

shown on such

on account of their weakness, cannot

occasions,

interfere.

and the man-

Scenes of this de-

scription very often occurred, without giving rise to severe reflection on the

character of

Taoukwangs

administration."

This shows that the Chinese have need of America; the

118

T

II

NEW

E

ROME

.

Chinese emigration shows that the want will be met.

August, the number of Chinese emigrants

in

The movement has

estimated at 50,000.

California

since received a

check from the brutal conduct of the Anglo-Americans this suspension

In

was

;

but

having operated as an invaluable lesson, and

the Anglos having learned to understand the value of these patient laborers, and to treat will soon be greater than ever.

them accordingly, the If

it is

the masses of the mother-country, as that from

been, the day will not be far distant

geographer, Kapp, the history of

now

An

by

Europe has

when America

ber more Chinese than Caucasians.

influx

as well supported

will

num-

eminent German

residing in Texas, once said that as

modern times grew out of

the invention of

gunpowder, of printing, and the discovery of America, so

most modern history

will

be governed by steam,

and the unlocking of China. magazine of

civilization for

We

electricity,

may

well suppose that the

5000 years

will not fail to exert

an influence upon the fledglings who so saucily knock at her

The Chinese

gates.

well

;

in

in California like the

ing a banner with the inscription ism."

And

their bread.

excellent

:

"

Their plodding propensities

material

for

the

industrial

the prosperity of the Pacific state.

men

Rush for Republican-

they read in republicanism the liberty to earn

Europeans; the two, between them,

we may

American system

a recent procession they participated as usual, bear-

calculate

make them an

speculations

of

the

will certainly establish

From

these relations

upon an emigration of American business

to China, in return for that of Chinese laborers to Cal-

POLITICS. In the fusion of nationalities,

ifornia.

119

we

find the integration

of humanity.

The time leaf,

is

when

now advances

new

ancient

The

particular plant.

with great strides, to hasten on the day

" orbis

Rome

No

longer a circumscribed portion of lands,

terrarum" shall encircle the globe

assembled

all

The

;

and as

the gods of her empire in a single

Pantheon, so shall the ideas of unity.

its

vermin on the

the nations of the earth shall be one people, united

all

in a single state.

"

to the

of which each species can only infest

History

the

man

past for comparing

all

nations be marshalled into

signs of the times are clear and unmistakable,

and

New Rome" awakens to her task, and is resolved upon its

execution. sea, the

Let her raise her banner of stars over land and

token of perdition to the despots and redemption to

the peoples,

who may be convinced

:

In hoc signo vincent

II.— SOCIAL

TT

ORGANIZATION.

ijnpossible to write this title without a sardonic smile.

is

The

subject

more or

is

a vexed one, about which

less at fault

;

all

the world

and people are never willing

what they do not already know.

Men

is

to learn

always have the most

decided opinions about matters which they have least investigated

and while few, very few, have given the social

;

problem a candid Macaulav, to

i;

arts,

all

to

doctrine which,

undo

all

examination,

all

are

clear, either,

with

that Socialism is a doctrine hostile to all sciences, all if

industry, to

all

carried into effect,

domestic

would

that thirty centuries have done for

charities,

in

—

thirty years

mankind, and

would make the provinces of France and Germany as savage as

Congo or Patagonia

author " would

of that

truly

;"

or,

with Freedley, the ingenious

American work,

have the world

a

sort

that

the

Socialists

of well-regulated

lunatic

asvlum, in which the inmates are to have a certain amount of work to perform, apparently with a view partly to sup-

6

THE NEW ROME.

122 port

life,

and partly to prevent the too frequent necessity of

trepanning and straight-waistcoating

;" or,

with the Socialists,

that a " reconstruction of society," and a "

war of extermi-

nation between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie," so overrides in importance all considerations of political forms, that

a

man who

time to write a chapter on the

will take the

latter subject, is necessarily incapable of estimating the value

Between these two

of the former. present pages

are

classes of readers, the

imminent danger of

in

falling

the

to

ground unturned.

we but make up

Could another

quarter

There

!

for

a

is

our losses here, by gains in

growing sentiment in

country, erroneous in part, but miscalled criminal

by

this

over-

zealous politicians, which finds expression in the words, " don't care for politics

own

mind

his

it."

The

trade

;

;

politics is a trade,

it is

not mine, and

which

readiness with

condemned by those instances which

show

we

are

still

let

every

I

man

take no interest in

view of the case

this

in authority, is

that

I

and

one among the

hedged

for

is

many

many

pur-

poses in the Aristotelian scholasticism, which would rather sit

and

in

judgment on what

reflect

upon

it.

it

sees and hears, than investigate

The expression

important lesson, that mankind

governed by matter of

interest,

politics

;

and not by

and hence

in

force.

is

the

fraught with the present age

Force

is

are

the subject-

politics, as such, is interesting

only to those whose ways of thought revolve in a circle from

which the world of to-day has departed. alone interest the

men

of the present

That which can is

the

science of

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. laws of their action and re-action, the

interests, the

But the science of

their adjustment.

But

make

of socialism

this appreciation

gentlemen from Congo

it

depend upon force

the

management of government interests very different

exercise if deprived of such exercise of force

is

is

considered

is

management. to

cases where

is

it

who have

an influence

True, the actual

and where

;

it is,

the

where

often found to be really, not

as officially reposing, but on the opposite

But the true agency of power

side.

Inter-

from that which they would

seldom resorted

preponderance of power it

forces, exert

the

from the

politics

the individual or the class,

;

those innumerable

is in

not tested, but presumed to be irresistible

in those transactions of every-day life in

whether he might

reflecting

them or

but a calculation of contingencies

Interest

is

;

which the individual

obeys the laws without not.

!

shall henceforth

to its proper place.

ests

of

interests is socialism

— we

—instead of driving

scene of action, only restores

upon our

fitness

term, without any apology to

use of the

free

123

resist

the contingency of necessity and of force being the weightiest

in

the

scale;

government

forces,

the base of our If the

as,

therefore,

we

the

shift

relations of

and of those who wield them, we

calculations —

shift

in other words, our interests.

non-payment of a debt involves the contingency of

imprisonment,

it

will

enterprise in which

be our

we would

interest to desist

fearlessly engage, if the penalty

of failure were only a loss of property

homestead

is

involved,

we

from many an

;

if the

loss

shall be more timid than

secured from expropriation.

Thus

of a

if it is

politics is the necessary

THE NEW ROME.

124

handmaid of socialism interests forcible,

we must i.

in striving after the

;

necessarily

work

removal of those

for the

which obstruct that consum-

political, obstacles

e.,

adjustment of

mation. Politics, therefore,

must give the form of every matter of

public progress, while the contest.

can never embrace the essence of

it

In like manner, however, while a social

must always underlie every public

agitation, the

agitation itself can never be social. socialists,

when they work

is

the error of the

a tremendous public enthusiasm

purpose of establishing a tradesmen's association, a

for the

bank of

barter, or a labor exchange.

of interests,

not of

This

is

but of gain

Business

forming the world

;

is

;

not, therefore, of agitation,

the mighty godhead that

the realization of interest, as

and learned, passes from thus, ever

Socialism, the content

a matter not of enthusiasm, but of speculation

sacrifice,

of business.

man

to

man, from

it

when America

shall

This

trans-

and

mighty

its

began when America will

be com-

spirit

and her

the plain but pregnant

meaning

have carried her is

;

but

taught

class to class,

was drawn from her concealment, and which

laws over the world.

is

it is

upheaving and ever allaying, works out

task of transforming the world, which

pleted

problem

form of the

of that fantastic " reconstruction of society," which so troubles

our

socialistic doctrinaires,

and

" El oro es excellentissimo

their respectable antagonists.

!"

was the lesson

that

bus learned on the marvellous shores of the Western and transmitted to those that sent him. subsequent history of the Old and

It is

New

ColumIndies,

the key to the

World.

" Gold,"

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. the double-distilled extract of the earth,

of

its

idea

extremity,

be

to

man

avail to

when

the is

;

the Earth, which

is

125

the representative

became

first

Genoese sprung upon the strand of

a vested farther

its

the great source from which all our wishes are

These two ideas form the poles between

gratified.

The mag-

which vibrates the existence of modern humanity. netic fluid that connects

the largest sense,

more

them

is

the activity of man, labor in

strictly labor as the positive,

produc-

tive force, business as the corrective element.

Making money, happiness,

The

first

is

and

last are not identical,

relations of ends

give every this

is

the acquisition of wealth, the pursuit of

the object of man's exertions in

man

means

The earth being happiness,

it

rich is to

to accomplish his purposes

the object of true socialism.

committee of ways and means

to

times.

but stand in the necessary

To make every man

and means. the

modern

The world

is

;

and

a great

every man's happiness.

the source of wealth, and therefore of

was the

object of the

first

subject all the earth to the activity of

Columbian man.

spirit to

This task, be-

queathed by him to the Spaniards, proved too arduous for

them, and was soon transferred to the Germanic race person of the Dutch, from

whom

the present, the Anglo-Saxons.

it

in the

passed to the masters of

Their prows

now

beat against

the icy walls of the Northern Sea, and their anchors rake the

pearlbeds of the Indies.

Wherever

Angles have made their way

;

ships can penetrate, the

yet there

is

much

still

to

be

done, before the 2,500,000 square miles of land upon the earth's surface shall

be so

far

reduced into the possession of

THE NEW ROME.

126

her 1,100,000,000 of inhabitants, that the average yield of each square mile of ground shall meet souls.

It

were but

silly to

to forgetfulness of the vast

The gold,

its

complement of 440

quarrel about the

little

domain we may yet

their transatlantic hiding-places.

form of transition from heaven

to note the

of

it

its

allurement which drew the people of

first

Europe out of

have,

acquire.

direct disembowelling of the earth, to rob

was the

we

It is

curious

to earth

which

took place in the minds of those, who, with the blessing of holy church,

mon

in the

the sacred precincts of

left

Rome

to serve

The admiral went

wilds of America.

mam-

to obtain

the gold of Cathay, for the purpose of buying troops for the

conquest of the Holy Sepulchre.

The English

Puritans, tired

of being martyrs at home, sought for places where they

might " catch plenty of their

own

Penn found here a

to

round him

fled

in

confiscations. at once,

what

be united, the freedom of

and the honors of a principality.

settled

from

where he could enjoy

forest,

England he found was not

faith

and worship God according to

The Huguenots sought refuge

from persecutions and

South Carolina

in

fish

consciences."

The Germans

his

that

from the Palatinate and from the

Bishop of Salzburg, at once to save their souls and to rescue their little lar

Calvert founded a similar colony, on a simi-

all.

foundation.

Virginia

we

scarcely

any

America

is

happiness.

find

In

the

the

wwldly

religious

colonization

of

New York

and

designs of the founders with

admixture.

The

colonization

of

the assertion of man's right to pursue his earthly

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. But while thus containing church, the

involved in

it

state,

—

itself a protest against the

in

creation an avowal of the

its

power of

All the colonies were government

as then existing.

enterprises,

127

The Plymouth,

corporations.

New Amsterdam Company,

the Virginia, the

the Proprietaries, derived their

existence as such, from the government that had chartered

The government naturally

them.

from

its

own

enterprises

monopolize the

own

of their

fruits

draw

desired to

its profits

the colonists naturally desired to

Thus arose a

labors.

contest which Lorenzo Sabine correctly describes as

social

follows

"

;

:

Many

which are necessary to a right understanding of the

things

revolutionary controversy have been, as I conceive, wholly omitted^or

only partially and obscurely stated. to insist that questions of

'

It

has been common, for example,

Taxation,' that points of

produced the momentous struggle, which resulted

To me

British empire.

in

'

Abstract Liberty,'

dismembering the

the documentary history, the state-papers of

the period, teach nothing more clearly than

this,

namely, that almost

in some form or common industry. Our people, embody their opposi-

every matter brought into discussion was practical, and labor, to some branch of

other related to

fathers did, indeed, in their appeals to the

the colonial system or form of government in one expressive

tion to

term

— Taxation'— '

'

Taxation

without

Representation.'

But

whoever

has examined the acts of Parliament which were resisted, has found that nearly

all of

them

inhibited labor.

There were no

less than twenty-nine

laws which restricted and bound down colonial industiy. these laws touched so '

abstraction,'

act,'

as the

'

direct 'tax.' atfection

Northern colonies

full

Neither of

south-west side of a

and hardly one of them,

imposed a

land lost the

much

until the

They were aimed

hair,'

passage of the at the "North

of the mercantile and maritime

-

of an

stamp

and Eng-

classes of the

a generation before she alienated the South.

They

forbade the use of water-falls, the erecting of machinery, of looms and spindles,

and the working of wood and

iron

;

they set the king's arrow

THE NEW ROME.

128 upon

trees that rotted in the forest

they shut out markets for boards and

;

and seized sugar and molasses, and the vessels

fish,

were

way

carried

;

to such of the lands that

it

embosoms

these restrictions.

Free laborers,

—inexcusable

in this

To

British flag.

labor from

to release

and emptying

offices,

articles

but a narrow path-

wore the

as

me, then, the great object of the Revolution was ing houses, overturning public

which these

in

limitless ocean as

and they defined the

— began with sack-

tar-barrels

and pillow-

upon the heads of those who were employed to enforce these and when the skill and high intellect oppressive acts of Parliament cases

;

which were enlisted

cause,

in their

and which vainly strove

their excess, failed to obtain a peaceable redress of the

to

moderate

wrongs of which

they complained, and were driven either to abandon the end in view, or to all avocations rallied upon the

combine and wield their strength, men of

and embarked upon the sea, to retire from neither until the very frame-work of the colonial system was torn away, and every branch of industry conld be pursued without fines, penalties, and imprisonment. field

" Such are the opinions, at least, which I have formed on the questions upon which, among the mass of the people, the contest hinged which finally united persons of every employment in life in an endeavor to get ;

lid of prohibitions that remonstrance could not repeal or

For a higher or holier purpose than

money " '

this,

men have

or poured out their life-blood in battle

The whigs admitted

that the

*

!

even humanize'

never expended their

*

*

power of parliament extended

to the

Regulation of Commerce,' that the maritime concerns of the empire

They

should be under the supreme control of one head.

between

distinction

'

internal

and external

never been able to understand

it.

To me

there was, a difference either in theory or

on a

letter, '

duty on 'painters'

colors'

windows, and the 'sugar,'

ship's manifest

up a

subtle

was

not, as they

argued

between demanding postage

and exacting a duty on the paper on which

tween the stamp' duty on a

deck.

there

fact,

set

but I confess I have

taxation,'

it is

written

;

be-

and clearance, and the import

spread on her sides; the 'glass' of her cabin'

molasses,'

'

wine,'

and

'

tea'

stowed upon her

Yet, while the principle itself was conceded, every application

was

complained of as a grievance."

The American ican industry

put a

new

revolution, then,

was the divorce of Amer-

from the tutelage of the British government.

face

on the oceanic commerce.

It

The Americans

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. were no longer mere

factors of the

country,

—the agents

both were

now home

home

in the exploitation of the colonies

;

129

countries, each could equally exploit the other liberty to

consider

its

own

serve the other only so far

as,

by

;

each was at

paramount, and to

interests as

so doing,

it

served

itself.

This expansion of the external necessarily led to a corre-

But the trade of the

sponding increase of the internal trade.

both internal and external, was

citizens,

the state governments

now

upon by

seized

from which

as a source

to obtain the

funds necessary to liquidate the enormous debt incurred by

Thus American

the war. struggle,

was

ment was and

tions

in

industry, the great object of the

danger of becoming

restrictions thus imposed,

which resulted

move-

the divorce of

in

the

The American Union

adoption of the Federal Constitution. is

A

victim.

its

originated for a combination against the prohibi-

American industry from the tutelage of the

state governments.

was consummated by the adoption of the revolutionary

It

debt, and the provision of constitution

" regulate exercise.

invests

the

means

for its liquidation.

federal

authority with

commerce," and these powers

The people had submitted

to

it

it

But the

power

to

was denied

to

as a relief from the

control of the state governments, but they never countenanced the exercise of any control

The

alien

and sedition

bill

had a most important share party

;

by

the

new government

were such in the

efforts,

itself.

and doubtless

overthrow of the federal

but while these proved the most powerful engines in

the hands of political leaders, the excise

6*

was most

effective

THE NEW ROME.

130

among

The victory of

the masses.

was the divorce of American government

tutelage of

in the

the JefFersonian party

internal

industry from the

shape of taxes and imposts.

declarer, in his inaugural, gives " the

The great

government as a wise

mouth of labor

men from

frugality,

the bread

it

own

of good

which does not take from the

has earned, and which, restraining

them otherwise

injuring one another, leaves

to regulate their

sum

free

pursuits."

This freedom was turned, by the course of European events, into the channel

of the carrying trade

;

American

shipowners grew rich on the security afforded by their neutral keels to the merchandise

England rebelled against the carrying

nations.

the

between belligerent

transported

war of 1812 was

its

vindication.

It

was

trade, but

in those eventful

times that American industry conquered the ocean, and its first

won

victory over the laws of nations.

During the wars of the French Empire, an American oovery was

ment shall

in society,

truly, that the

class

long after the remembrance of Napoleon

have begun to pale

to attain,

by

its fire.

has been often said, and

It

democracies of Greece and

their slave population,

Rome

artistic perfection is

knowledgment of the

;

and

and again, that our universal

rights of

ority not to be resigned at it

intellectual

which, to the hard-working sovereigns of

unapproachable

perfections,

were enabled

which relieved the ruling

from the burdens of degrading labor, an

our day

dis-

perfected, destined to act on a revolutionary ele-

was necessary

man

any to

ac-

give us a moral superi-

price.

To

unite both these

yoke nature herself to her

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. own

131

This was done in 1805, when the capital of

subjection.

Livingston and the genius of Robert Fulton launched the first

steamboat on the Hudson.

uplifts the

That elemental power which

mountains and makes the valleys quake, was then

chained to the car of man's volition.

It is

spinning, our weaving, our sawing, cleaving,

made

to

do our

and digging

whirls us over the solid earth a hundred miles an hour it

;

;

it

and

wafts us in a few days over the sea, where before mankind

were thousands of years

men

into gods, for

it

in finding the

way.

Steam has caused

the pressure and

all

all

with which modern society has been visited.

men

made

the explosions

But how could

expect to wield the thunder without buying their expe-

rience

!

Its first

was a wonderful such

has

It

has placed the elements at their beck.

it

was the indispensable engine

The following

Great West. tion of the

growth,

operation, as applied to inland navigation,

increase of facilities for inland travel

Western

—one

cities

during the

;

as

for the peopling of the

table of the increase of popula-

shows two periods of sudden

fifteen

years ensuing the introduc-

tion of the steamboat, the other in the five years following

the general construction of

and of ocean steamships Census.

European and American

railroads,

:

Cincinnati.

Pittsburg.

Louisville.

600

New

Orleans.

150

1,565

1810

2,540

4,768

1,350

17,242

1820

^9,602

7,243

4,012

27,176

1800

9,650

1830

24,8S1

24,412

10,306

46,310

1840

46,338

36,478

21,214

102,296

1850

115,438

67,871

43,277

120,951

THE NEW ROME.

132

The with

increase of population could not but be accompanied

increase

of industry.

But steam was soon applied and thus brought on that

directly to productive machinery,

As

manufacturing enterprise which marks the present day.

if in anticipation of the discovery, and simultaneously with it,

Humphreys had

set the

by

the breed of sheep,

example of an improvement

Thus

the importation of merinoes.

American broadcloths were speedily manufactured. European wars served

at

same

the

European competition, and thus

home

time

This being removed by

enterprises.

a peace in 1814, a substitute for

it

keep

to

the inception

facilitate

in

The out of

the conclusion of

was found

"Ameri-

in the

can system." In so far as this

system contemplated the elevation of the

business and industry of the country, for business is the vital

it

deserved the name,

element of American society.

transformation of our teeming wealth

The

in natural productions,

into articles suited for consumption, the

encouragement of

means of communication from one section of the country to the other, thus preserving the level of exchanges, the extension of the representative of value, preserving its fluidity

and

manageableness, tended to further the triumph of American destiny.

of

De

The construction of

"Witt Clinton,

is

the Erie canal,

an epoch

in

ance of which can hardly be overrated. tories represent the

credit system,

by

and variable as

by

the energy

our history, the import-

The Lowell

dominion of man over nature

;

fac-

and the

its

very existence, circumscribed and brief

it is,

manifests a difference as between earth

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

133

and heaven, intervening between American and European There

society.

which

still

is

no more flagrant proof of the colonialism

pervades our habits of thought, than the docility

we

with which

are

generally disposed

to

chime

with

in

tirades against the credit system, which allows a

European

journeyman mechanic ground than the public for himself a

to

act as a capitalist, on

faith in his

kingdom.

The encouragement of manufactures productions,

no other

determination to carve out

is

at the place of

The

labor expended in transportation and re-transportation.

American way

to relieve this difficulty

encouragement of transportation

until

would have been the it

become

should

easy and so cheap as to cancel the disparity.

was resorted

raw

based upon the consideration of the waste

to within the boundaries of the country,

with triumphant success

;

so

This course

and

but as against the rest of the world,

recourse was had to a government restraint upon commercial industry, in the supposed interest of manufacturing efforts.

Thus communication, the one great the unfailing regulator of

of

all social activity,

all

leveller

social discords

and

equalizer,

and promoter

was dissevered instead of strengthened.

In the matter of internal •communications, a reverse course

was adopted. upon, and vious. is

to

The necessity of

facilitative of,

these, facilities, as

dependent

population and settlement,

The American method of promoting such throw open the land to

demands this,

•

settlers

whose

by keeping

;

ob-

enterprises

necessities

will lead to the undertakings required

a policy was adopted, which,

is

and

instead of

the lands in the

THE NEW ROME.

134 grasp of the

government, retarded the

whose intercourse

was intended

it

the very source of

was walled out from

credit, the anticipation of labor, as

make-weight to the power of

capital, the

The American support of

manifest.

hoarding of labor

embargo

to

labor,

consisting

in

without capital.

and the divorce of credit from

Instead of this credit

was

dealt out as a

government favor by the governmental establishment of porations, based

upon

capital, in

whom

credit

lized to the detriment of the unincorporated.

its

disenthralment,

The "American system," capacity of business to

in

was un-American

was monopo-

Thus was

effect ;

it

made

system"

credit

to rivet its chains.

denying the vivifying

in thus

the social adjustment and ad-

was anti-American,

in

If it

for the

had been required

to devise a "

management of American

faith

its

government as a promoter of public welfare and

harmony.

cor-

the car of capital, and business, which should

to

have effected

vance,

its

the capitalist debtor, to the prejudice of borrowers

owed by

chained

is

the laws which guarantee the debts

by abrogating

capital,

a

would have required

it

the removal of the privileges of capital,

power

Thus nature,

promote.

social existence,

all

The value of

society.

to

very population

social

European

affairs,

the task

would have been well performed by the construction of the system thus presented, as a plan of government its

inception

it is

a substitute for

tion of

government;

alism

in its

;

individual,

war

;

action.

in its intent a

In

promo-

in its tendency a preservative of nation-

whole scope and bearing a restraint upon the

and a drag upon business.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

A truer sentiment was

never expressed than

in the following resolution of the Industrial "

135

That the American Revolution

is

contained

is

Congress of 1852

yet in progress, and that

its

will never be fulfilled until those features of our condition, laws, tutions that to plant

had

:

mission

and

their origin in the original intentions of the British

insti-

crown

upon American soil monarchical institutions, and the uncurrent

prin-

engendered by them, are in process of extinguishment or

ciples of action

entireldy estroyed."

The

social revolution of

head by to our

was

our country was brought to a

declared attempt to subject our social relations

this

government

action.

The divorce of Church and State America

the purport of the colonization of

By commonwealth

uance.

I

The

protective tariff

the state, the organization of

was

cultural interests of the South

at first favored

men

by

the agri-

and West, and opposed by the

merchants of the North and East. business

its contin-

understand the organization of

interests, in contradistinction to

forms.

the separa-

;

and commonwealth was the task of

tion of state

Merchants are better

than farmers, and therefore see the needlessness

of a government interference to promote business by getting into its

dogma

The event proved

way. ;

the merchants,

or controlled by the

the fallacy of the protective

who were

new

to

have been broken down

regime, invested their capital in

manufactures, and prospered in spite of better ally

than protection;

it

;

business proved a

while the planters,

who had

thought to establish their ascendancy upon the protective tariff,

—

it

was

first

introduced by Calhoun,

products running away in spite of the ness tact to hold

them

in their hands.

—found

tariff,

for

their

want of

raw busi-

This involved a change

THE NEW ROME.

136 of position

and

;

this

change was probably a principal cause

Web-

of the length to which the contest has been spun out. ster

and Calhoun had to unsay every thing they had said on

one side of the question, to

make

out a case on the other.

We

The battle with the United States Bank intervened. have seen that the

of mercantile corporations

rise

was not

only cotemporaneous, but coincident with the settlement of the East and

West

Indies

;

they represent the alliance formed

by modern government and modern commercial communities for the

overthrow of the alliance then subsisting between the

That achieved, com-

feudal state and the Catholic Church.

merce began

to rebel against its

American revolution the

With

governmental

colonial corporations

ally,

the establishment of the central government,

The Bank of North America had been auspices of the continental congress

of the United States Bank by the in 1795, the

;

its

excres-

first

established under the

it

was followed by

congress

Manhattan Company,

sibly to furnish the city of in reality to

in the

government corporations, reappeared.

cences, in the shape of

York Bank

and

were abolished.

New York

;

— erected

that

New

of the

osten-

with pure water, but

play banking privileges into the hands of the

Republican politicians

;

and by the establishment of a numer-

ous brood of banking, insurance, and loan companies,

who

exerted sufficient influence, about the close of the century, to carry a prohibition of individual banking in cial

states.

after the

the

all

The United States Bank, however,

renewal of

its

commer-

particularly

charter in 1810, overcrowed

all its

compeers, and even grappled with the government to which

it

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. owed

its

The

existence.

id

i

question, whether or not the United

States were to be converted into a joint-stock enterprise for

emolument of

the

— the

the shareholders in a

same which,

French uprising of 1848 victory. Silas

" Let the

moneyed

corporation,

almost the same form, provoked the

in

— was

decided by the Jacksonian

government attend

Wright when he introduced

to

own

its

affairs," said

the Sub-Treasury Bill, the

ultimate fruit of that struggle, " and let the people attend to

Let the government take care that

theirs.

currency for

its

own

and

use,

nevermore

let it

leave

all

secures a sound the rest to the

The American government

and to the people."

states

it

interfere with the credit

will

system of the American

commonwealth.

We have

now

more modern fold

it

:

modern

a purely social

to notice

We

history.

produces and

it

have seen that industry

distributes.

society produces a constant

functions; but that growth

is

The

still

more

the distributive

dependent

in part ;

upon

equable and steady.

of this class

in the relative

;

and

its

advance of the two.

is

level of pro-

preserved, and the rise of wealth

The invention of the steamboat was

introduction introduced the era of pros-

perity which distinguishes the present century from Tariffs, tion,

fortui-

and these irregu-

power preponderates, the

duction and consumption is

two-

intense activity of

occur not only in the development of each particular

function, but

When

is

growth of both these

tous circumstances, and therefore irregular larities

phenomenon of

banks, and

all

have the same

all others.

mercantile corporations, in their incepeffect

;

they are always originated bv

THE NEW ROME.

138

enterprising business men,

whose aim

—

business

Hence

munication and distribution of wealth.

is

the com-

it is

not to be

denied that the United States Bank, and the virtual exclusion of foreign fabrics by the wars of France and England, served as an additional stimulus to the diffusion, and therefore to the

healthy increase, of American prosperity.

But

tinuance, these institutions, just

demagogues who

become tyrants when ter,

like

the

power, lose their distributive charac-

and become retentive: their projectors having made their

by

fortunes

but

in

in their con-

business,

sell their capital

fetch

no longer use to

thus putting an

;

This

bonus.

is

what

is

their capital themselves,

others, at the highest prices

it

will

embargo upon business instead of a thoughtlessly called " ruinous specu-

lation."

This influence was perceptible soon after 1816.

It

was

enhanced by the application of steam to productive manufacturing purposes, which soon glutted all the avenues opened

inland steam navigation, and produced

quickly distributed. it,

of

modern

The confinement of machinery, and with

industry, to manufacturing productions, and

exclusion from agriculture, portion.

Not

the sales

made

cles of food effort.

was the cause of another

until the Irish in

by

more than could be

its

dispro-

Disencumbered Estates Bill, and

pursuance of

it,

has the production of

arti-

been treated as a branch of concentrated business

This state of things brought about a surplus of pro-

duction over speculation, a glut of the market, a

fall

of prices,

a comparative scarcity of provisions, a stoppage of enterprise, a panic, a collapse of business and of credit

—

in short,

one of

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. those striking phenomena, a commercial

139

crisis.

—Steam

will

occasionally burst a boiler.

Karl Marx, a Social thinker,

who

has subjected these occur-

rences to a critical analysis, arrives at the conclusion that these periodical revulsions violence, until they

That they

ture.

end

must constantly

recur, with increased

in the disruption of the social struc-

will recur until business

are brought into a lasting correspondence,

and producing labor is

not to be denied

;

but that a super-accretion of production, of the essence of wealth, can

lead to a state

of universal misery,

face a contradiction in terms.

The mere

some waste and

destruction,

is

it

crisis is

more

violent than the last, but that

the larger sphere of its operations.

followed

by a

preceded

it.

system storm

is

its

may be

none the

purifying and invigorating, not a weakening process.

every

on

substitution of a

violent distribution for a regular one, although

attended with

is

Every

is

crisis

less a

True,

owing

to

has been

return of prosperity, greater than any that has

The

relation of a

commercial

crisis to the social

analogous, in every particular, to that of a thunder-

in the

atmosphere.

A

perfect

and ubiquitous system

of electric conductors would avert the former, and a perfect

system of intercourse and communication

will render the

latter impossible.

Every corrected

crisis

by

of the kind has been followed, and in part

increased facilities of communication.

That of

1825 was followed by the introduction of the canal system, of which the Erie canal, built in 1811, had been only the

THE NEW ROME.

140

The Ohio,

pioneer.

the Lehigh, the Farmington canal, and a

host of others, date their existence from this period.

The discovery of the mineral wealth of some of

The overgrowth of

was a counteracting agent.

Bank was

States

still

more important

;

the United

the division of

influence with the state corporations availed

existence of the monster was preserved

the states

little,

its

since the

by a Pennsylvania

and since the favored banks soon became as rampant

charter,

as their ancient rival.

The land speculations consequent on

the inordinate accretion of capital completed the disaster, and

the crisis of 1837 was unavoidable.

by

the railway system,

begun

This was the last great

in

Its effect

was neutralized

1835.

That of 1842 was produced

crisis.

by no extraordinary impetus given to productive, nor by any sudden restraint upon distributive industry that very reason,

its

bare existence

of our social adjustment,

its

is

;

for

inconsiderable violence also proves

the correctness of the explanation here given.

by

and though,

a proof of the deficiency

It

was followed

the era of ocean steam navigation.

Themistocles taught the ancient democracy that the ship is

Well he might

the main organ of the welfare of nations.

for

it is

There

the organ of intercourse, the triumphal car of business.

is

not a

more important

attention than the ing.

Steam, as

century;

in

object of humanitary care and

improvement and perfection of

we have

seen, is a little

every year of

its

existence

upon and circumscribed the domain of the

now

fourteen years since the

first

ship-build-

younger than the it

has encroached

sailing craft.

It is

ocean steamer was launched.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. The Cunard company struction of their

141

upon the con-

are at present engaged

fifth

of vessels, of which every one

set

betrayed a great improvement upon

predecessor.

its

has

It

been hitherto supposed that steam would engross but a small portion

of the

of merchandise, and would

transportation

rather encourage than supersede the use of sailing vessels.

This hypothesis proves to be an error

we shall in future

:

have no sailing-vessels, but shall navigate exclusively by steam.

Our

old rival, England, has struck upon the vessels which

are destined to rule

the ocean

Americans build the best and the

the

iron

fleetest

screw-propellers.

paddle-steamers for

our rivers, and our clippers for the sea have received, sible, still

more

The

attention.

if

pos-

English, with their propellers,

Of

have taken a middle course, and are likely to win.

course, the United States will ere long dispute the vantage. It is

not to be denied that the American clippers have

the quickest trips on record

important criterion, and that

around the world, vastly

;

tells, if

we

sumes but one-third of the

fuel

sails,

needed

and

In the course of the past

made is

the

except the long trips

in favour of steam.

admits of the freer use of speed.

but the average speed

The screw con-

for the paddle-wheel,

will give the

same average

summer, the paddle-steamer

Humboldt, of one thousand-horse power, and the screw-propeller Great Britain, of five hundred, left

same

time, and arrived in

New York

England together.

at the

Another proof

of the approaching disuse of the mere sailing vessel

is

found

in the fact that the three great naval powers, the United

States, England,

and France, have just concluded to build no

THE NEW ROME.

142

more

sailing-vessels

their example. at

New

York

their navies, but

for

The merchant marine

selves to steamers.

The

confine them-

to

will shortly follow

of vessels in course of construction

list

for the first half of the

steamers for every sailing vessel.

year 1852, mention two

England the old

In

coasters are being displaced by steamers.

Cape of Good Hope are

by screw-steamers, and the

visited

propellers of the Cunard

Company

will

soon absorb a very

considerable portion of the forwarding trade between

York and Liverpool.

coal-

Australia and the

Thus the use of

sails will

New

become

so

circumscribed, that in a few years even a clipper will be

regarded as a curious relic* This point gained, the improvement of the steamer will progress even

month

more rapidly than

brings a material advance

more and more favored

* After the above was

present,

at

upon the

Iron

last.

as a material, which

-written,

when every

gives

is

them

the following corroborative remarks

were discovered in an English essay, entitled " A Treatise on the Screw The author, a son of the late director of the Propeller, by John Bourne." Peninsular and Oriental Company, relating to the shipping interest,

He first

speedy disuse of

says, in reference to the

glance, a startling change, but

by the majority which

of practical

men

this revolution will

for mail-steamers.

We

is

entitled to great respect.

sails

one which

:

— is

"

This appears, at

now contemplated

and one and extension of the great interest

as one of positive necessity,

M. Bourne is of opinion have to be retained for river navigation

be accomplished."

that the paddle-wheel will

and

it

Will tend to the ultimate profit

by whom

thoroughly versed in every thing

is

and his opinion

must be permitted

tion: screw-steamers will travel

double-screw would overcome

more

to dissent

swiftly than

all difficulties in

from

this reserva-

any paddles, and a

the former case.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. superior lightness

143 their propor-

and the ships stretch out

;

tions until they resemble the canoes of the Indians, in

The keel of the English propeller

as well in speed.

Queen

is

two hundred

and her breadth of beam but

feet,

Professor Salomon

thirteen.

is

now

engaged, at Washington,

upon the application of carbonic acid as a motor be attended with immense saving

successful, will fuel is

and machinery, and gain

in point of

when our steamers

move

near

form

Wave

will

which,

;

in point

if

of

The time

power.

at the rate of thirty

miles an hour.

The

crisis

of '48, aggravated as

it

was by the

failure

of

was very

crops in 1846, and

by

severe in Europe.

In America, owing, perhaps, in part, to

the political convulsions,

the prevention of over production

by

the increased consumption produced the failure of the before-mentioned

European it

crisis,

was almost

steam,

it,

Yet

unfelt.

causes of the

efficient

it

The

was made known

was succeeded by the

more remarkable than any

more wondrous than

itself.

to

and to the opening of our Pacific commerce,

tion of a curative,

ceded

the tariff of '46, to

by the Mexican war,

applica-

that have pre-

the great cause of the plethora,

result of the Presidential election of '48

to all the people in

one day, by the magic

of this agency.

Before Fulton had enthralled the volcano, Franklin had obtained the lightning; Morse has harnessed

humanity.

If there

is

indeed a

common

it

to the car of

element to the

workings of thought and the discourse of matter,

most marvellous, pervading

fluid,

by which man

it

is

is

that

now

in-

THE NEW ROME.

144 fusing is

dumb

head

;

the

own

nature with his

by

transformed,

nerves

interlacing

Man

and every thought.

Who

chimera,

when

dares

to

infinitely

but, like

commonwealth

a unitary

call

;

small the loss of

the eye of science can no longer

When

impede

waft his

from the crags of the Cordilleras

its

formation?

the lover can

Lake Leman, who

cottage eaves on the shores of

a Hellespont that cannot be traversed 1

a

measure the

obstructions that kisses

human

every sensation

universalize

cannot be omnipresent

gods of Olympus, he can make time.

The globe

intelligence.

the magnetic telegraph, into one

to the

will talk

of

In a few months

every principal part of the earth's surface will be so connected as to form, for all purposes of intelligence, a single town ; gazettes

in

the

will give moments

our

us hourly bulletins of what has taken place

Let us see how

last p>a$t>

under-

far this

taking has already proceeded.

All the towns of the Atlantic seaboard and of the Mississippi valley are connected

by

thirty

thousand miles of

tele-

graphic wire; despatches are transmitted in a few minutes

from Boston to

New

Orleans, a distance of three thousand

Europe from America,

miles, equal to that separating

intermediate stations.

The

British

nected (as at Halifax) with the California are to

be put

two the connection

will

in

'without

American system

American.

is

con-

All the towns of

communication, and in a year or

be established, by way of the Rocky

Mountains, with the Mississippi valley and the Eastern coast.

The

California news, which

now consumes

passage, will then arrive in as

many

four

minutes

!

weeks

in its

In Mexico, a

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. wire

is in

Isthmus,

145

On

operation from the capital to Vera Cruz.

Navy Bay and Panama

will shortly

the

be connected.

Brazil already entertains a project for netting its vast terri-

All these systems will of

tory with these nerves of steel.

course be connected with each other, and thus reduce the

American continent

to perfect universality of place

The Old World

is

not

from the same

for

England, France, and Germany, the organization

Submarine

perfect.

lines connect the

Ireland, France, Belgium,

France, a wire

and another

to

is

dinia to Tunis.

"

From

Marseilles, in

A

India

is

is

to

go to Algiers,

being drawn into these

report on this subject contains the

fol-

:

A magnificent

medical

already

former country with

Tunis a branch line

to Alexandria.

system of magnetic telegraph

introduced into Hindostan.

lines,

In

goal. is

be laid to Corsica, thence by way of Sar-

From

magnetic meshes. lowing

and Holland.

and time.

staff,

is

to be immediately

For some time past, Dr. O'Shaughnessy, of the

has been engaged in trying various experiments with short

with a view to ascertain the best form of wires and

traversing the vast spaces of that couutry. plete satisfaction to the

Board of

Directors,

These

trials

poles for

have given com-

and orders have been issued

commence the works forthwith. The lines will commence at Calcutta, From the " City of Palaces" they and make the tour of the peninsula. will traverse the province of Bengal, following more or less regularly the course of the Ganges to and through the holy suburbs of Benares,

to

and up

to the conjunction of that river with the

Jumna

at Allahabad

thence they will pursue a pretty direct route to Agra, the ancient capital

of the

Agra they Lahore, to Singh.

Mogul empire while Delhi was but a will branch off in

form the

With

this

final

fetter

immense

for

line of

From

the

subject

kingdom of Runjeet

telegraph other lines are to be in

connection, traversing the entire length

7

provincial town.

a north-westerly direction through Delhi to

and depth of the peninsula, aa

146

T

HE NEV/ ROME.

these will run from the banks of the Hoogley to the Coromandel coast

and thence will stretch across the Caraatic, traverse Hyderabad, and The three Presidencies of on the shores of the Arabian Sea.

issue

Bombay, Madras, and Bengal

be thus brought into direct and instan-

will

taneous communication with each other and with the remote provinces

Himalaya Mountains,

lying under the

The

or about the sources of the Indus."

integration of this system with that which takes

start at Alexandria, will of course speedily ensue.

be

the prediction of the English

verified

its

will

cabinet minister

interrogated on a matter relating to Indian

when

Then

affairs,

on

which he had no precise information, that a telegraph would soon be finished to Calcutta, which would enable him to trans-

mit

all

same

report the answer in the Switzerland,

Russia

Poland savans

is

Italy,

a session, and

in

session a while afterwards.

and Austria,

all

have

their

systems.

weaving a net over her immense dominions, from

to is

the eastern coast of Siberia.

from

just setting out

scientific exploration

and

him

puzzling questions asked of

St.

An

expedition of

Petersburg to make a

of the eastern peninsula of Kamschatka,

select the telegraph stations there.

The connection must not

But we cannot stop here. humanity into two

halves, but into a single

whole.

wires are already forging which shall rivet America

and from

to

Asia.

that,

to

unite

The Europe

The English house of Harrison has received

and from the Danish government, a monopoly of

a submarine telegraph running from Scotland to the Shetland Isles,

thence by

way

of the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Green-

form the point of union with

land to Labrador, which

is

our continental system.

This, be

to

it

observed in passing,

is

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. taken by the

the route

they set foot on " Vinland."

to Alaska and her

be continued to

From

earth.

American

way

the

will

of the Aleutian

possessions, whence

closing

California,

the

to peninsula, until

The Russian government

carry the line from Kamschatka, by Isles,

of America,

discoverers

first

Northmen, when they skipped from island

147

magic

it

tircle

will

of the

India the wires will enter China, and connect

with the Siberian lines

;

they will cross the sea to the new-

found Australian Eldorado, stringing the islands like pearls

upon the necklace of the

From

sea.

the north coast of

Africa they will engirdle that continent, meeting at the Cape.

From

these outer circles the tendrils will quickly insinuate

The

themselves into the interior of the continents.

batteries

constantly charging, are constantly necessitating a discharge,

and the societary

ways

in a

The fire

whole stretch of the equator. will scorch fetters

man

have built

electricity will

own

its

cause-

few short years, from pole to pole, and along the

away

the differences

that glides

upon them

of race and nation, and the

of custom and tradition, and their light will illumine

with a wisdom he has never known.

Let the prediction

be recorded, that the results produced by the magnetic

tele-

graph will

now

infinitely

transcend the conceptions which can

be formed by the most sanguine prophet.

commerce

to such

for the pursuit of

an extent as

commerce

in

incidental prosecution.

It

will facilitate

a measure to dissolve

as a separate

only be profitable while there are its

It

employment can

difficulties in

will equalize

it,

the

way of

and regulate ex-

changes, and raise credit to the level of capital

;

it

will place

THE NEW ROME.

148

the unculled treasures of the earth at the

problem, to make every interest

command

man

By

rich.

will rivet the political forces of the earth to their

it

political liberty.

direct

It

will displace representative

democracy

course on their

;

It

forms and

government

enabling the assembled world to dis-

common

affairs

with the same freedom with

which the populace of Athens and

from

social

the attraction of

natural centre, and produce a unity of political

by a

of the

and thus bring on the solution of the great

penniless,

Rome

ruled the world

their market-places.

of 1854.

But power-

not the only corrective.

The earth

break the force of the

will

ful as it is,

even

this is

crisis

has herself opened her bosom, and poured out

its fulness.

In

1S47, the reports of Colonel Mason, the military governor

of California, began to teem with marvellous " fields of gold," said

body believed him, garrison,

to

until

commander and

treasure.

accounts

of

there.

No-

the report leaked out that a

whole

have been discovered

all,

had deserted

in

quest of the

They were immediately followed by a strong

deputation from the Atlantic

on increasing.

cities,

The following

which has ever since gone

figures will give

some

idea of

the effect of the discoveries in California and Australia

commerce and

society

The amount of

upon

:

California gold coined in the mints of the

United States, was. In 1848

$44,177

1849

6,147,509

1850

36,074,062

1851

55,938,232

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. The amount coined

This, however,

$75,000,000.

is

may be

of the mines, which

maybe

1852

in

down

the entire yield

in the aggregate, at

The Australian mines are found

$200,000,000.

those of California in productiveness

undeniable reality.

quence of

safely estimated at

by no means

set

149

—

It

is

;

to exceed

the golden age

worthy of remark, that

this liberality, gold, the

king of metals, will be

and mingle with

compelled to doff

his royal robes,

brethren on terms

more approaching

his baser

The produc-

to equality.

tion of gold bore the following proportions to that of silver

1

45

1847

1

18

1851

1

6

1852

1

3

In other words, the proportionate yield of gold

times greater than

of these metals

is

it

was

fifty

years ago.

:

—

Gold.

Silver.

In 1800

fifteen

an

is

conse-

in

is

at present

As

the value

inseparable from their rarety, this must be

attended with an alteration

The

in their relative value.

pro-

duction of silver increases with great regularity, one and a half per cent, in every year, while the production of gold, ever since the discovery of the Siberian, Californian,

mines, advances with evident that tional

and

more

present value, as compared to silver,

its

factitious.

sufficiency as a tender

to the

and Australian

rapid but less even strides.

owner of

silver

If the legal valuation

How

is

is tradi-

of gold, and

its

be removed, as the dictates of justice

demand, we

shall

have a steady

the comparative value of gold corresponding to

supply.

It

well this fact

is

its

fall

in

increasing

understood by the holders of

THE NEW ROME.

150

may

the two metals,

of England had in

be gathered from the

Silver

In 1S4T.

In 1852.

£1,000,000

£19,000

7,000,000

21,000,000

Gold

The

surplus

money

;

is

distributive

not only because

it

opens new markets, drains

and discovers new countries, but because

labor,

is in itself

the representative of intercourse, the pivot

who handle

of business, and because those

very

and therefore

of this supply

effect

equalizing

Bank

fact that the

its coffers,

mysteries of business.

glitter the

labor; credit anticipated labor

from labor

diate transition

money

;

it

;

its

is

its

hoarded

represents the

imme-

makes

credit

to enjoyment.

unnecessary and capital useless

by

are taught

Capital

It

tendency

is,

however, to

elevate credit and reduce capital, where, as at present, capital is

ordinarily in the ascendant;

making men

rich,

not in pro-

portion to what they hold back, but to what they pay out. is

only when turned from

diverted into

assumes

its

itself

its

It

legitimate purpose, business, and

opposing channel, of speculation, that

it

the form of capital, and conduces to a social

stagnation, if the continued

supply does not preserve the

motion of the current.*

The miners of the

*

It will scarcely

Pacific set the final seal

upon the triumph

be necessary to refute the possible objection

argument, that money, or currency, and capital, are identical.

means the power derived from withholding money; currency, the to dispense with capital.

seasons of drought

;

He who

while the rain

gathers water lasts,

he

is

in

to this

Capital ability

a tank, fares best in

on a level with others.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

When

of free trade.

wards

;

when

prices

all

151

surplus labor found

were found to

by

rise,

ample

its

the laborer, immeasurably faster than they ever had

exclusion of the fabric;

when the

re-

the emigration of

by

the

discord arising from the un-

equal distribution of men, land, and money, which would

never give way before the quackeries of exclusiveness and national competition, were found to resolve themselves the freedom of intercourse

;

when

was seen

it

that the

by raw

product and the manufactory were nearer to each other after the article had run the round of six thousand miles of unin-

terrupted trade, than

geoned the seed of enterprise in

when

the prohibition of trade had dun-

in its native soil, its

own

and imprisoned the

when a community

furnace;

spirit

richer,

happier, and better than the world had ever known, sprung

from the brain of

this

new king of Olympus, without a gov-

ernment, without a colony, without a corporation found that society had in

;

then

it

was

corrective, developing

itself the

principle,

which governments could only hamper, and not

promote

then the sentiment of Jefferson, that that govern-

;

ment is best which governs

least,

took the form of a societary

canon, and the separation of state

and commonwealth be-

came the duty of a world which had

just accomplished the

other duty of the separation of church and state ral

;

—and Gene-

Pierce was elected with an overwhelming majority.

election

is

the emancipation of

His

American business from the

tutelage of the Federal Government.

Previous to

Olympic

this

festival.

(1851) the ocean world had held

Where,

since

men

live

its first

and move, was

THE NEW ROME.

152

there ever such a fane, such an oblation, such an assemblage

of worshippers

!

Vast as the

teeming with riches as the

soil

Earnestly offered, reverent-

All mankind

ly celebrated, and replete with blessings.

sembled,

in unison, all returning

all

Transitory because lived,

as the heavens,

sea, pellucid !

ubiquitous, fleeting

yet unforgotten, who shall

tell

as-

ennobled and enriched

!

because eternal, short-

when

the wonders of the

"World's Fair shall have end

We have brought present time.

If,

in

down the stream of social

history to the

we

pursuance of our leading thought,

strive to discern its bearings

upon the

future,

we

shall also

adhere to our other principle, not to teach the world our theory, but to learn our theory from the world.

nomenology of

facts, to

A

gelian term, will enable us

to sketch with

some

certainty

the limits which the future development of humanity conserve,

since

it

phe-

use the abstruse but adequate He-

most probably

same fundamental laws which have

will

must

proceed upon the

hitherto determined its

course.

Business

is

achievement.

the hero of

modern

The harvest of

occupy our nearest future.

history, free trade

its latest

the fruits of free trade will

But already Americans are

dis-

covering that the free trade which consists in the non-interference of our still

governments. free

own government,

is

very

little,

so long as

it

leaves our trade subject to the annoyances of foreign

The

protectionists

were

right in saying that a

trade which cuts a people loose from their

own govern-

ment, which might have coincident interests with them, but

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. them open

leaves

whose

to the spoliations of other governments,

interests are likely to

curse as of a blessing. blessings of free trade

be antagonistic,

Americans

will

by going

their

teeming

The Emperor and will ask,

our government has no right to

If

?

Cuba and of Hayti,

soil.

Americans

the Captain-General will interfere. this free trade

to enjoy the

will desire to enjoy

to the rich fields of

and drain wealth from

much of a

as

The Japanese gov-

Americans

will forbid them.

free trade

is

want

by exchanging with the busy workmen

of Japan the products of their industry.

ernment

153

" Is

restrict

our trade, have these despots the right to restrict that of those

whom we

with to

trammel us

the

desire to hold as well as

first insisted

upon

commerce

them

?

this alleged right of

now would be America and Europe any

profit

1

Have

they a right

Suppose America had from governments, where

Will America draw

?

or advantage from the observance of this right in

other powers, which she has renounced for herself?

Will

not be to her a constant source of loss and vexation

1

not her interest to dispute that right

1

Is

not her interest,

and that of the people of the so-called-" foreign" cident?

Are not

rights, national

tuted for the benefit of those

it

Is it

states, coin-

as well as private, insti-

who observe them, and should

they not be discarded when they lead to their detriment

Are not governments

erned, and should they not be abrogated for the

pose

1

fictions

Are not

all

governmental

rights fictions,

ever be allowed to do harm

1

Is it

same purand should

not madness or

superstition to sacrifice the rights of real persons, of

7*

1

instituted for the benefit of the gov-

men

THE NEW ROME.

154 and women,

to the claims of governments, of corporations, of

nonentities ?"

Thus conflict

will the existence of foreign

with American

governments come

of foreign peoples; and thus will universal annexation

upon

the

come

of unfettered commerce, resolving into

heels

in

enterprise, and with the true interests

a

higher unity the antagonism of free trade and protection.

The

surface of the earth thus opened to business

ever, too large for

its

is,

how-

present powers of subjugation.

Electricity answers well for the transmittance of thoughts

only

the motive powder of steam has a reverse application.

;

Railroads are radically imperfect and incapable of perfectibil-

on account of

ity,

their costliness

and immovability.

Yes,

we

not long rest easy under the discrepancy which leaves

shall

us more remote from the inland districts of " our own" con-

—the road, throughout whole length, alive with our active fellow-men — than from the shores of distant " foreign"

tinent

its

by

three thousand miles of a barren sea.

It

seems unfair that that which feeds us should separate

us.

lands, separated

Nor

will

weeks

it

be

less

irksome to be compelled to wait four

for the arrival of

men

we have been informed by five

minutes after

it

took place.

method of locomotion which to

or things from California,

when

the telegraph of their departure

The telegraph demands a

shall in

some degree correspond

it.

To

solve this problem,

men

will revert to the ship, the

ancient engine of wealth because of freedom, and of freedom

because of intercourse.

Our modern steamers have

sails to

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. resist the air,

What

7iiore

155

and a motive power to impel them forward.

has the condor,

when he launches

his

ponderous

frame into the thin atmosphere* that surges around the summits of the Andes

A

1

alteration of adjustment,

little

and

these iron swans will leave their native element and ride in

We

mid-air.

are on the eve

of aerial navigation.

The

experiment of steaming and towing in the atmosphere by

means of a screw-propeller,

raised

and

supported by a

The

balloon,

shall

have the

balloon, has been tried successfully at Paris.

which

a toy, must be discarded, and then

is

we

practical navigation of the air.

The

civilization of

their navigation

;

mankind has always been regulated by

the earliest was potamic, as attained on the

banks of the Nile and the Euphrates, the Indus, the Ganges,

and the streams of China.

This expanded into the Mediter-

ranean, which bore the bright fruits of industry, art, that it

seemed

and power.

The Northmen broke

to bind humanit}^ to this

a rival in the

Greek and Roman

German Ocean and

charmed

sea,

the spell

and gave

This was the

the Baltic.

piebald condition of the Middle Ages, terminated

admiral

who unchained

perfected

by the settlement of

of the Pacific.

California

first

the

and the occupation

But,

The

by

the oceans, and initiated the system

four acts already past,

A fifth shall close the

drama with

Time's noblest offspring

is

the

* The mercury of the barometer

the

day

;

last.

at fourteen inches.

THE NEW ROME.

15G

The sea

than the river, the ocean more ubiqui-

less confined

is

tous than the sea, but the air alone civilization.

poles

it

;

shores are every where;

Its

will settle the wilds of Tartary

Central Africa.

depots and no entrepots. alike passable

It will

tory over Russian continentalism.

its

therefore no freedom

having no navy,

But

protect

its

its

it

;

and the valleys of

all

;

no

give us the vic-

Freedom

despotic

is

ports,

parts of the earth

It will

it

now

is

England and America

continental dependencies,

world.

make

and alike accessible.

to the oceanic world, to

can penetrate the

it

know no harbors and no

will

It

a universal

is fitted for

limited

Russia, with

;

has no ships, and

no freedom, and therefore no navy

can never do great injury to the seafaring

despotism gives

The

despotism.

it

an army, and

its

army

will

seafaring nations, on the other

hand, have their navy to protect their freedom, but they will

never have a large standing army to extend their system.

To suppose

this,

would be

world of the

to

deny every leading characteristic

This would keep the two halves of the

of Americanism.

in a state of perpetual isolation, did air restore

air-privateers will

them

to a

common

not the navigation

American

element.

be down upon the Russian garrisons

use our own expressive slang —

—

" like a parcel of bricks ;"

to

and

the Russian serfs will fasten to their skirts, and be elevated to

a share in their liberties.

To descend from

the sublime to the ridiculous,

to consider a question of politics

connection.

of the

air,

which presents

we

are led

itself in this

The annexation of the world, and the navigation

or either of

them

alone, will

make

it

impossible to

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

157

How,

even " for purposes of revenue."

collect duties,

would the President's salary be paid

The question of revenues and expenditures itself to little

more than

this.

Still

be necessary to maintain a large navy

be

will reduce

The United States

have a considerable standing army.

" Foreign relations" will

then,

1

will

less will

never

be vastly simplified when there

no " foreign" country except Kussia

hints" will be curtailed.

;

ever

it

of peace.

in times

shall

and the " outfits

The custom-house

and no

officers will

longer have an opportunity of serving their country.

The

average government expenses will not be likely, at any time, to

exceed the amount of $60,000,000, which they

reached in the

fiscal

year ending June 30th, 1851.

This must not be levied in such a shape as to become a tax

upon

business, as

licenses, for business

volve an

is

the case with duties, excises, and

must be

unfettered.

vidual, in the shape of an inquisitorial

private

affairs, in

it

in-

indi-

examination into his

the shape of an income or inheritance tax,

Yet

or a per centage on debts and credits. all alike,

Nor must

encroachment upon the sovereignty of the

it

must be upon

or rather upon every individual, not in proportion

to his wealth, for that

may be

the result of his enterprise,

and

enterprise should not be discouraged, but in proportion to the

bounty he receives from nature, our

men

are entitled to the land, but

all

cannot use

then that do so pay for this privilege. rest

on them,

for

common

parent.

All

let

those

it

;

The burden

will not

they are at the fountain head of wealth, and

will levy the cost of

what they pay upon the productions

THE NEW ROME.

158

which others must buy of them.

For the same reason

it is

not necessary to graduate the tax according to the quality or location of the

soil,

will give certainty, ally introduced

it

to. measure its extent.

but simply

and dispense with assessments.

would have no

whole quantity of improved land

by

This

If -gradu-

The

social effect whatever. in the

Union was ascertained

the census of '51 to be 112,042,000 acres.

A tax

of one cent to the acre would yield a revenue of

$1,120,420

;

the

sum would, however, be

Without allowing

rise

in

tainly equal to $60,000,000,

be held

to

;

six

years to $70,580,400,

—with

—

cer-

a very large margin for

The tax would then be

the expenses of collection.

cents to the acre

acre.

for this increase, doubling the ratio annu-

sum would

ally, the

increased by levy-

upon every parcel smaller than an

ing at least one cent

sixty-three

so that the largest Northern former would

pay $120, the mere houseler twenty

Southern planter $030.

improvement of land

As

will

it

is

cents,

and the

evident, however, that the

extend very rapidly, even* leaving

annexation entirely out of the question, while the government

expenses will rather be diminished than swelled, that the tax

may be made

and yet attain the end.

it

follows

to rise in far slower gradations,

Supposing the number of improved

acres to increase as fast as the population,

it

would require

but forty-two cents to the acre to produce the revenue required

;

so that a tax of four cents to the acre, increased

by an additional four cents from year

to year,

would

in

years enable us to dispense with other means of raising venue.

ten re-

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. This calculation

is

wrong, in so

far as it

159

makes no

allow-

ance for the taxes imposed upon the vast expanse of unim-

proved land which

is

grasp of speculators

measure

now

certainly to

is

withheld from improvement by the

and one great argument

;

be drawn from

its

in favor

But a glance

courage this embargo upon cultivation.

of the

tendency to

dis-

at our

land tenures, and the modifications to which they will be ere long subjected, will show that property in the wilderness

is

an invention which will soon be known no more.

Judge Reed, to

in the

Pennsylvania Blackstone,

remark that our tenures are purely

earnestness of reiteration his

position

allodial

;

is

particular

but his very

a sign that he does not consider

is

The

impregnable.

constitution of

New York

agrees with him, but in spite of these authorities, and a host

of others, the fact can only be concealed from the wilfully blind, that our tenures are, in all essentials, feudal.

derived

by

mount, the king transfer,

it

;

are

even where the revolution caused a violent

was but a

transfer

of possession, not of quality

by

They

legitimate succession from the feudal lord para-

;

and not an

extinction, a change

the declarations of assumption

the states are express in saying that they succeed to all

the rights of the proprietary, or the king.

The

essential

characteristics of feudal tenures are, that they originate in a fictitious

assumption of property by the governing power,

that they pass

by grant of

and that the purchaser, or

that

power

in return for a render,

vassal, purchases the right of re-

quiring a like render from his purchasers, or sub-vassals.

The form of these renders has undergone many changes, but

THE NEW ROME.

160

At

they have never affected the character of the tenure. first

they consisted

or agricultural

dered

;

;

in

a general duty to do service, military

then, in certain definite services, annually ren-

subsequently, in the surrender of certain natural or

These were commuted into

agricultural productions, yearly.

pecuniary rents, and,

payment of a

the

once for

of keeping out of

or purchase

right,

mail for a dispensation from the privilege it

;

in-the-manger policy over again, and

and

make

to

it

by

paid first,

itself,

black

and now, as then,

conveys to such purchaser the liberty of playing

from whoever denies

at

without using the land

any individual who has not paid

it

off

money

But now, as

one present form.

is

government claims the

the

were bought

rents

sum

certain gross

This

all.

finally, these

exacting

this dog-

black

mail

the land available to himself

his fellows.

To say

that this policy perpetuates a desert, the usual

argument of the land-reformers, able points.

We

is

to assail its least vulner-

have seen that property in land, as

now

understood, consists in the right to exclude humanity from a certain portion of earth and air,

upon

the liberty of entering

entrance is

is

nothing

industry

more nor

the labor of the the Union,

agine

;

and to compel society

it.

to

buy

But the purpose of such

and hence our moral form of feudalism

less than a purchaseable

community.

embargo upon

The value of the

real estate of

by the census of 1850, was $3,270,733,093.

all this

amount of

ment of industry

to

its

capital divested

furtherance

!

Im-

from the embarrass-

Railroads, steamboats,

telegraphs, the blood-vessels of society, which preserve

its

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. health and avert is

no inducement

its

161

convulsions, are " poor stock," and there

embark

for the capitalist to

them

in

;

—

all

the energy of Philadelphia could hardly build the Pennsyl-

But

vania Railroad.

real estate is "

ment of

the best security ;"

who

made

hy

has

it

his fortune in spite

capitalists to

good

six

per cent, invest-

pays admirably of the

for the

difficulties

man

interposed

use his fortune so as to interpose the same

obstacles to the efforts of others.

What

proportion of those

$3,270,733,093 would be required to build the Pacific Rail-

road

%

Oh

protection to

home

industry!

Oh

rivers and

harbors

Where

the individual asserts his sovereignty against the

government, where business

is

recognized as the great social

regulator, a revolt against the feudal

system

This has been carried on publicly since 1828. the vindication of allodial tenures.

is

unavoidable.

It will

lead to

These are marked by

characteristics exactly opposite to those just sketched. latter doctrine asserts that land possessed

to no one vidual, or

;

that the actual occupation of land

any bona fide association of

This

by no one belongs

by an

indi-

individuals, guarantees

an undisturbed continuance of that occupation, so long as is

not discontinued by the freewill of the parties;

it

that a

voluntary discontinuance of occupation leaves the land again without an owner, as before, open to the occupation of the first

man who

enters

one occupant, to

it

with that intention

make room

man cannot

that the exit of

for another, is a business trans-

action, legitimately attended with the

but that a

;

payment of money

receive rent for land from another

1

THE NEW ROME.

62

because rent

payment

a

is

for the right to occupy,

and the

of receiving payment for the right of occupancy from

fact

another,

conclusive evidence that the payee

is

is

not in occu-

pation himself; and he cannot be deprived of his land for

man

debt, because as a live, it

cannot live without having where to

not to Jdq presumed that any consideration would

is

induce him to

make a

contract involving the loss of this

Compare

indispensable element of existence.

the following

passage from the Report of the Commissioner of Public

Lands, of 1852 "

While on the subject of the land

mend

deposits of the precious minerals, posits

would recom-

offices in California, I

that the township lines alone should be extended over the valuable

be

States,

left free to

and that the lands containing those de-

the enterprising industry of all citizens of the United

and those who have declared

work and mine

become

their intention to

such, to

at their pleasure, without let or hindrance, except so far

as local. legislation

may be

and to secure persons

necessaiy to preserve the peace of the country,

in their

possessory rights;

and

if

any benefit

is

claimed by the government from the product of these lands, further than that

which

is

general to

precious metals, that

it

all

be

our

in the

citizens,

the ore and coining the metal, Which

country, before permitting

it

to

by an abundant supply

shape of a nominal charge

may

be required to be done

become a subject of

of the

for refining

traffic,

in the

barter, or

exportation."

This

is

when the

the system of allodial tenures, which will triumph obliquities of the present land reform

have been smoothed as that

movement

is

off

by time and

at present,

by

reflection.

movement Occasioned,

a desire to escape from

the evils concomitant to extensive, combined manufacturing industry,

it

meditates a relapse into the semi-culture of those

sentimentally-idealistic times,

when every man

sits "

under

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. his

own

vine and fig-tree," and

innumerable

little

viduals, separated

familistic

by

163

mankind are divided

societies of three or

into

four indi-

the width of a farm from the rest of

the world, plodding and vegetating, without progress or de-

Let us have nothing of land limitation

velopment. capital

and large enterprise

is

as

much needed

;

large

in agriculture

as in other pursuits and free business will as surely counteract all its dangers. It is

indeed a remarkable fact that the enormous strides

of manufacturing enterprise of the

last fifty

years have been

attended with no corresponding advance in the sphere of

The

agriculture.

latter is

still

hampered by the want of

combination, and consequent reckless waste of labor and scantiness of profit, with which

opening of the present

era.

it

At

was pursued before the this

moment

butter and

eggs are as high in price in some of the secluded agricultural regions and lumbering districts of Pennsylvania, as in the

metropolis

;

and the same

articles are actually

the neighbouring province of Canada.

This

imported from

is

partly to be

accounted for by the inadaptability of steam machinery to these purposes.

Steam

is

like its parent volcano,

cumbrous,

heavy, expensive, often dangerous, ami always destructive its

appetite

is

unquenchable.

Carbonic acid gas

may prove

a

better motor.

Another obstacle

for

found in that

the development of our industrial

of European barbarity, our patent

society

is

laws.

These insensate enactments, by preventing the com-

merce of

ideas,

relic

paying the individual for withholding, instead

THE NEW ROME.

164

by

of imparting his discoveries, and

among

labor

retrace the

inventors,

cutting off the division of

and compelling each individual to

same ground which hundreds have probably

elled before him,

have done as much to retard contrivance, and,

consequently, industry and wealth, than

all

were

the wars that

Inventors themselves are coming out in opposi-

ever waged.

When

tion.

trav-

they have been repealed, the march of intellect

will accomplish the perfection of

machinery, and the greatest

possible dispensation of labor.

This consummation will lead to the removal of the last

remaining shackle interposed by government interference to obstruct the free development of the business community.

The present

crudities of the

social

system are generally

ascribed to the conflict between capital and labor. as

it

may,

were

it

idle to

hope that the

harmonious adjustment of the claims of

The days of to return

compels

;

man

wand of

in the is

—

action

of servitude;

invention

sweat of

his

is

is

—the

erasing the curse which

brow

to eat his bread,

divine;

—but

"damned

will henceforth

will

and

of

its

labor unavoidably smacks

spot" will not out.

be the only avenue to wealth.

mere naked labor

fail

the divinity of labor will

or indirect title to the products of machinery of

is

that

two elements.

yet undone will certainly not

The doctrine of

accomplishment. ;

these

Be

lead to a

old-fashioned labor are evidently gone by, never

the

what of the task

not hold

strife will

To

be daily more inadequate.

The

direct

some

sort

obtain

this,

But there

a far better balance to the power of capital, or accumulated

labor;

and that

is

found

in

the anticipation of labor,

—

in

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. Credit, unfettered,

credit.

the future

is

is

as

much

165

better than capital, as

greater than the past.

The Democratic party have overthrown

banks,

federal

has

and federal corporations, but

in state politics their action

been confined to professions

they talk of limiting banks and

;

restricting corporations, but are themselves not sufficiently

assured of the soundness of their it

to practice, without exception.

be denied

that, in the

porations of

some

own

principle to reduce

And,

in fact,

it

not to

is

present state of things, banks and cor-

kind,

and to some extent, are not to be

Business would be at a stand-still without

dispensed with.

them.

The

necessity of an evil proves the existence of a greater

which the lesser

evil

of the exceptions ters, is to

is

made

to the general

rule.

law

in

otherwise unattainable.

Thus

bestowing char-

capital is it

endowed with

A man

without

what he

has.

with

by

But these ordinary privileges

of capital consist in the power of monopolizing

man

extra-

to overcome, in the given

obstacles to the attainment of credit presented

the ordinary course of affairs.

itself.

The purpose

provide a means of raising credit, which would be

ordinary privileges, to enable case, the

The need of an

required to palliate.

shows the iniquity of the

evil exception

all credit to

money can always borrow more,

while a

money can borrow none without spending even In thus

overcoming the ordinary preponderance

of capital by investing certain specified capital with a capacity to absorb a portion of credit greater than fall

would otherwise

to its rightful share, the practice of forming corporations

106

T

II

NEW ROME.

B

undertakes to expel the devil by Beelzebub, the prince of devils.

How man

is

with

money

it

that capital absorbs all credit

money always borrow more,

1

while a

Why man

can a

without

can borrowT none without spending even what he has

1

Because the law lends a helping hand to the collection of the debt owed by the moneyed borrower, which

by

for that incurred

it

Because

the needless one.

cannot lend it

guarantees

the debts of the capitalist to the extent of his capital, leaving those of the non-capitalist unguaranteed

only prevents the absorption of capital by the consumption of credit

The laws

by

because

credit,

but

it

not

assists

capital.

the collection

for

;

of debt are by no means

necessary to the existence of society, for they are not even co-existent with

The

it.

knew nothing of them.

earlier

They can hardly be

ancient system of English law. paratively recent,

The

Ages

fitted into the

action of debt

is

com-

and originally inappUcable to what are now

The

called business transactions.

founded on a

part of the Middle

fictitious trespass.

action of

assumpsit

is

These writs have come into

use with and- by the rise of capital, and their universal application

marks

its

tion of debtors

greatest ascendancy. is

a

Roman

The

legal impregna-

element of our polity, against

which the individualistic genius of the Germans has ever rebelled.

The

old

ciple, that

Germanic code proceeded upon the

rational prin-

whoever trusts a man's honesty and good

fortune,

should look to that honesty and good fortune combined, for

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

167

This was giving a bounty to honesty and activity,

his return.

and thus the adage, "

A

man's word

was more than a sentiment.

is

as good as his bond,"

They had good reason

for tear-

ing out the tongues of the lawyers that were found in Varus'

camp."

When

the issue of the French revolution

had

re-

stored the independence, if not established the supremacy, of

the Germanic race, these knots began to

The

constitution

of Pennsylvania,

" the person of a debtor, tion of fraud, shall not

provides

of 1790,

where there

be continued

be disentangled.

not strong presump-

in

prison after deliver-

ing up his estate for the benefit of creditors

;"

and the same

enactment, in substance, was passed about that time, of the other states.

that

is

in

most

In 1842, the legislature of that state,

following the example of

New

York, went so much further

as to decree that " no person shall be arrested or imprisoned

the recovery of any

for

money due upon

damages incurred by the breach of any

contract,

contract."

or

for

This had

been preceded by the exemption from sale or execution of sundry indispensable articles of furniture and necessaries of life

and

;

ful in

in 1849, the efforts of Colonel

Small were success-

carrying an exemption of real or personal estate to the

value of three hundred dollars.

These laws follow the current of history, and are not likely, for that reason, to

the

same

against

them contain

provements. into utter

be drifted back to

its

time, the very objections which have in

source.

At

been urged

themselves the guide to further im-

The exemption, while preventing

penury of those who enjoy

its

the relapse

benefits, hinders

1

THE NEW ROME.

G8

their

advancement by

leaving them

by

curtailing their credit, or rather

at a disadvantage as compared with those

who

have imexempted property as a purchase for the lever of

To remove

their enterprise.

ing, held at Cincinnati, in

1847, proposed the abolition of

laws for the collection of debt. agitation, has

masses

;

it

meet-

this discrepancy, a public

The

project, with

very

all

little

been slowly but surely gaining ground with the be carried, piecemeal, perhaps, and slowly,

will

but certainly and entirely.

With

consummation of the divorce of

this

commonwealth,

political agitation will

supremacy of the

come

"

;

too

more comprehensive,

vague, for

the

present

and

The

commonwealth"

the legitimate designation of that idea, the society being

an end.

of force, will be suc-

state, the organization

ceeded by the organization of interest

to

state

is

common term

and, for that very reason,

But

purpose.

supreme

this

is

not to be regarded as a mere

reproduction of the state with

new components, making new

society, the

commonwealth,

The great

laws, and compelling their observance.

between

state

and commonwealth,

is

not upon statutes, but upon agreements

law of

dictation,

but upon the inner, of

compulsion, but by liberty. that society

is

It is

distinction

that the latter proceeds, ;

not upon the outer

self-interest

;

by

not

a great mistake to suppose

destined ultimately to take the form of a single

great joint-stock concern,

board of directors.

managed by

Even supposing

a great president and this

form adopted,

would not be preserved, because a corporation having no

it

an-

tagonistic interests of other corporations or of individuals out-

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. side of

would

pale,

its

asunder from want of external

fall

The commonwealth

pressure.

169

be a self-managing,

will

adjusting organization, in which the last shall be first

last,

first

self-

and the

which will have no visible head and no personal

management. "

The organizing

of

principle

the

stood with

many

human

this is to

Association

qualifications.

highest functions of

commonwealth," the

But

Socialists will say, "is association."

of

to

be

tact, skill,

qualified for this elevated sphere of exertion.

kings, nobles,

the formation of the East and

continued

West

Associa-

India Companies;

by merchants,

;

liberty,

and wealthy merchants,

by merchants and bankers,

surance institutions

must

intellectual cul-

and experience, of means and of

was begun by

tion

one of the

nature, and the individual

have attained a very high stage of moral and ture,

is

be under-

in

our banking and

engineers,

proprietors, in the construction of railroads

in

was

it

in-

and landed

and canals

;

by

manufacturers, in the erection of cotton mills and furnaces

by

the

of our

sprigs

moneyed

companies of California. undertaken by ence

;

men in good

It

aristocracy, in the

has always

circumstances, in pursuit of

never yet, when resorted to by the

of comfort.

It

has

mining

succeeded when

suffering, in pursuit

made gods of men, but

been found capable of making

men

afflu-

it

has not yet

out of drudges.

Let

not association be considered a royal road from the bottom

of society to the summit; paths, over trust his

mule 8

it is

one of those narrow bridle-

which he who has the fortune to ride to carry

him

in safety, but

on which the

may foot-

THE NEW HOME.

170

man

in

is

constant danger of losing his hold and tumbling

over the precipice.

That Socialism which confines is

contracted, because

it

embraces but one form of the

tions of individual interest.

Association

What

is

it

is

a form of intercourse

for the furtherance of interest, business,

which restores the it

fitness

of

human

;

is

relations.

tends ultimately to this result, however to contravene

first,

makes

that

it.

—Josiah Warren

the electric fluid In all its phases it

may

the 'measure of price; but cost ought

to

evil

;

to

difference

"

Now, what

remedy.

is

deals with the difference between value and cost?

The business man makes

others

;

his

Value

is it

the that

Business.

his fortune out of the difference be-

goods cost him and what they are worth to

between the

sacrifice

he

made

to obtain them,

the loss others would suffer through not having them.

thus occupying the gap, he

fills it.

his,

legitimate results of a legitimate system.

It

go beyond

this,

and

But

in

In so far as his earnings

go to the comfort and enjoyment of him and

far as they

is

measure of

be the

between cost and value, then,

identify them, the

tween what

seem, at

has stated the social political.

The

the

and intercourse

problem with the same clearness as the

price.

rela-

associa-

The more intimate connection of

tion advantageous'? parties.

teachings to association

its

and furnish him with

they are the

is

only in so

capital, thus,

while capital confers the privilege of hampering credit, making

him a drag-wheel upon the business community,

overshoot the mark. credit,

Strip capital of

and unfetter business, and the

its

that they

privileges, enfranchise

evil is

prevented.

Yet

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION. even

so,

new

line

cost

and value are then

business has a constant self-corrective in

of business begins with enormous

asunder

far

;

as

profit,

it

becomes

when

which,

become out of

until

;

5

'

employment

and to

conies into use,

and value approx-

means

that the value has

The business energies thus thrown

are then free to post themselves into

cost and value,

up

it

fill

in

some

produced by the unequal

advance of population, improvement, intellect,

because

over-stocked,' yielding no 'living

formalized,

less than the cost.

new gap between

Every

it.

profits,

it

profits are reduced, or, in other words, cost

imated

171

like

legislation, invention, or

manner

as they did the

other." " sovereignty of the individual," the great securing

The

principle centered in politics,

pleted by

sum

the

The

The

point, then,

and labor

is,

make every one

to

in business,"

one,

now

presses diffuse

removed by

a days,

more

is

a business

The

credit.

Our steam-

able to learn to read.

day than was formerly

communicated in a century. The moral obstacles

will give

before constant intercourse and communication.

contrivances

for

let

enjoying

opportunities, are to this live in towns, so closely

him bring them life,

intellec-

the diffusion of information.

intelligence in a

would better mankind,

man.

removed when we abrogate the

preponderance of capital over

tual obstacles are

Every

thus compensated and com-

of Socialism.

last political obstacle is

political

is

the " equalization of cost

when

Whoever

together.

contrasted

day most wretched.

One

way

with

Our our

half of us

and so awkwardly packed, that we

THE NEW ROME.

172

are constantly in each other's way, and yet have so

common

Parcelled

contact.

we reproduce

households,

same

imperfections, the

same

same waste of labor and

the

same squabbles, the same

Nothing

we

littlenesses, the

same

restraints,

materials, the

same

scantiness,

follies,

and the same monotony.

From

learned, and nothing forgotten.

is

to the country to find purer

fly

freedom of motion, but because

innumerable petty

off into

each the same blunders, the

in

the

age

any compensating advantages

as to derive hardly

from the

still

little in

less of cultivation

bond-

this

air indeed,

and more

and progress,

less of intercourse.

still

American contrivance has found the means of exterminating this relic of European barbarity also from the structure of

The following

society.

York Tribune, of December

phenomenon we The

"

St.

refer

1850, will show to what

8,

:

Nicholas Hotel.

the whole extent of

— One of

Broadway

is

that

attracts the attention of every passenger.

full light of

and

stone,

hand,

it

effect,

it

it is

now

street,

It is

more

richly

and elaborately a less

in

is

the beauty of the sculptured decorations.

in the

On

the other

from an excessive number of windows, which injures the not quite broad enough to give

style of architecture; its front should feet

whose

below Spring

the morning sun, which brings out all the brilliancy of the

all

suffers

and

style

edifice of six stories,

street, just

— which of the same material, but — and has the great advantage of standing

ornamented than Stewart's

and ornate

the most beautiful buildings in

new

white marble front on the west side of the

striking

New

taken entire from the

article,

covers

;

an extension of the

this defect will,

however, be somewhat remedied by

edifice in precisely the

down Broadway, which cover the entire block down

further

will

not

to

scope to so elaborate a

full

be two or three times the hundred

same

style, seventy-five feet

soon be done.

Broome

street.

It is

a pity

it

could

SOCIAL "

O JIG A

The building of which we speak

As we have

Hotel.

said, it

Broadway, the ground

floor

is

Z

ATI ON.

to bear the

is

173

name of

the St. Nicholas

occupies a front of one hundred feet on

on that street affording room

completed,

It also includes

five feet.

I

and reading-room of the hotel

in addition to the entrance

proposed extension

now

In

its

front will

for four stores,

— and when

the

be one hundred and seventy-

a back building on Mercer

and a middle

street,

same dimensions as the front, but only five stories high. Broad and handsome halls running through the first, second, third, and building of the

fourth stories connect these three divisions of the establishment.

The entrance on Broadway

"

through a wide and elegant

is

lower side of which stands the reading-room. the reading-room

the

is

office,

and turning a corner into rather a private

The

place, the visitor discovers the bar.

front

rooms of the second story

On

are arranged as public parlors and reception-rooms.

some

the dining-room,

eighty-five

by

forty-five feet,

twenty-five feet high.

In the middle building

room of very handsome

proportions.

The

front building are devoted to suites of sixth to

rooms

for single

the

hall, at

In the rear of the hall aim

gentlemen.

third

rooms

is

with

floor is

its ceiling

about

—

a ladies' ordinary

and fourth

for families

The middle

same

the

stories of the

the fifth and

;

building and the fourth

story of the back building, above the dining-room, are similarly arranged.

The lodging-rooms for servants are in the fifth story of the back building. The halls and public rooms are heated by steam-pipes, and in the upmost story of each building are vast tanks for hot and cold water, for the use

of lodgers, and also for deluging the house in case of

ment

will be lighted with gas

"

The

in

The

fire.

establish-

a separate building belonging to

it,

which are also the stables of the house.

in the vicinity, in

one,

made

suites of

rooms

for families differ in that

some have a parlor with The

and others with two bedrooms, with bath and water-closet.

rooms

The house

persons do not possess these conveniences.

for single

is

generally decorated and furnished (though but a part of the furniture

and upholstery rosewood the

in this

it

is

in)

with a lavishment of expenditure unpar-

country or Europe.

rooms and the rooms

of mahogany.

chandeliers,

fresco, are the

the

gilding,

The the

The

furniture

for families

;

is

of

in those for

carpets, the hangings, the mir-

decorations

in

plaster

ne plus ultra of expense, of richness, of luxury.

and

in

Palaces

nothing more showy and Whatever of splendid and gorgeous in way money could procure seems to have been obtained for this

may have more sumptuous this

yet put

in the public

single persons rors,

is

auy hotel

alleled in

spacious

apartments, but

in their furnishing.

THE

174

W

N E

with a view to outdo every other

hotel,

comfort neglected

R OMJE. in

Nor

elegance and splendor.

the beds are quite perfect

;

;

heavy hair mattrass upon it better will afford accommodations for lodgers, aud will employ about a hundred

elastique or spring mattrass, with a

The house

could not be.

some three hundred and and

at

fifty

contemplated

additions

:

present

and other servants.

waiters, chambermaids,

thirty

is

they consist of a sommier

be

shall

But when the room for a

be

finished, there will

thousand lodgers. ••

Attached to the dining-hall This

carved.

is

an ante-room where the meats arc

is

provided with large tables heated by steam,

The

the dishes are kept hot.

kitchen, storerooms, laundry,

in

which

and servants'

The kitchen is no doubt large enough would be better were it considerably larger. The

dining-room are in the basement. to do the work, but

ranges are compact and convenient, but the French.

A

still

much

inferior, as

large part of the heat for the cooking

is

we

think, to

derived from

by a steam-engine in the wash-room. The same power two in number, one holding about as much and the drying as two hogsheads, and the other about two barrels, machine. By this apparatus we are told that shirts can be washed and The most laborious work of dried ready for the ironers in ten minutes. the laundry will thus be performed by machinery, as it ought to be. " We do not undertake to describe in more detail the arrangements steam, furnished

—

drives the washing machines,

—

and the sumptuousness of public,

is

insured by

evident that a

new

its

this hotel.

position

and

its

That

it

will be a favorite with the

splendor.

In the last respect

Henceforth they must be furnished without regard to cost

series.

it is

era has begun for these great metropolitan caravanthe

;

days have gone by when quiet comfort, mere neatness, and a good table

were

Persons from the country, and from other

sufficient.

New

henceforth visit

them, will

now

York, especially

cities,

who

they bring their families with

if

desire to experience the full extent of palatial magnificence

in their lodgings

and entertainment, and

to

have something

to tell

about

on their return to the untravelled at home. "

Hotel-building and furnishing has, however, not yet reached perfec

we

by a little criticism on the St. Nicholas. word which applies to all our buildings they are too slightly made. We remember often noticing the walls of the St. Nicholas, as they were going up, with the reflection that they might be strong enough to stand, and doubtless were, for no architect would be fool

tion, as "

In the

enough

to

proceed first

tc indicate

place a

make a

building otherwise, but that

:

if

they were ours,

we

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.

175

should add a brick or two to their thickness. Walls six stories high, which have to bear so great a weight of furniture, fixtures, and persons as these will contain, ought to be strong enough to stand, not only in ordinary circumstances, but even

Next,

if

a

fire

should consume their interior supports.

we

respect to ventilation,

in

find the St. Nicholas deficient.

Its

apartments and single lodging-rooms, have no means of ventilation except

by opening cause

it is

the door or windows.

the body of air in

its

This

man

almost entirely without them, and a

go out of the way down

stairs to

and pretensions, though

it is

we do

as

it is

as that

The

single

rooms are has to

in the fifth story

In a hotel of such character

be easy of access to

still

all

the

then in respect to furniture, hangings, &c,

not wish to speak decisively about the St. Nicholas, inas-

not yet completed, and

the tendency

still

a great fault be-

not necessary that baths should be attached

And

occupants of such rooms.

lodged

take a bath.

to every single chamber, they should

though

less

apartments should be changed regularly, though im-

Next, there are not baths enough.

perceptibly.

much

none the

is

Every good house should be so arranged

so universal.

is

we

cannot judge of the final

to seek for splendor in the style of the

River steamboats, rather than

for real elegance,

and

effect,

showy North

solid, luxurious,

good

such as a gentleman of high culture, refinement, and love of art

taste,

would

exhibit in fitting

up a palace

not the North River method ciency which high, five

we had hoped

weary

upper

story.

There

is

is

is

own

an awful

have

to

is

yet this and

also another defi-

In a house six stories

be climbed

the

toil for

And

use.

There

here to see remedied.

flights of stairs

This

for his

the true one.

human

in order to gain the

legs,

and unnecessary.

steam power at hand, and there are ingenious brains enough to

invent an elegant and convenient apparatus to convey skyward the

upward

bouud, and earthward the descending, without such excessive labor of mortal muscle. "

We

add that the

will be kept

luxury,

St.

Nicholas

by Messrs. Treadwell

we may

is

&

owned by Mr. D. H. Haight, and Acker.

say that merely to furnish

it

As

costs

a further index of

In closing this chapter with the statements of a

porary periodical,

we

offer the

its

some $125,000."

contem-

best proof that our farthest

reaches into the future have not carried us away from our

moorings

in the

serene haven of the present.

III.

rpHE

— LANGUAGE

tower of Babel frowns heavily upon the course traced Let us see

out for the history of the future in these pages.

how its

the last misgiving as to the

own

requirements,

to

is

power of humanity

How

be removed.

World's Republic escape a confusion of tongues

Rome all

has

left

the nations that once

is

and

will

owned her sway.

%

manifestly destined for

The

New Rome

which " proclaimed liberty to the

to the people thereof." all

The English language

mankind.

At

this

day

spoken in England by twenty-seven millions of people Celtic idioms of

the

a legacy of her power, in her language, to

will universalize the tongue

nations,

to satisfy

it

;

is

the

Wales, the Scotch Highlanders, and Ireland,

are dead or dying.

The English

colonies unite in adopting

the parent tongue, not even excepting Canada, which, in its origin,

was exclusively French.

In India, one hundred

twenty millions of souls are learning

growing up in Australia. 8*

it.

A new

and

England

is

In the United States, however, the

THE NEW ROME.

178 process

most

is

interesting

organ of intercourse the

among

most heterogeneous

It

is,

leads the

learning

No

the received

is

Spanish, French, Dutch,

to give

way

before

it.

Its

onward

of course, as rapid as that of the American people.

way in

it

here the English

twenty-five millions of people, of

extraction.

and German, are compelled progress

;

in the

Sandwich

Islands,

California, to carry

language on earth receives so

ers as the English

States are bent

:

some

it

and the Chinese are

to the Celestial Empire.

much

attention from foreign-

millions of emigrants in the United

upon acquiring

it.

In

Germany,

the study

of English, until within the last five years, was limited, and

bore no proportion to that of the French.

At

present

it

ceives close attention from all the friends of freedom, and all

who

desire to emigrate, the

is

now

ago,

it

so

was

idiom

just seven millions, a progress surely without a

None

many

of the languages of civilized Europe

individuals as this.

exerts an overpowering tures of the world.

The English

shortly become the

of the world.

Nothing

is

used

literature already

more certain than that all the earth,

in the following

and

—

common medium of thought

The most profound

Grimm, speaks

is

influence over all the other litera-

English language will extend over

guage

cast into

in this

estimated at seventy millions, while, a hundred years

parallel.

by

French having been

The number of those who converse

the shade.

re-

from

the

language

linguist of the time,

Jacob

terms of the English lan-

:*

* In an

essay, "

the

will very

Ueber den Ursprung der Sprache."

Berlin, 1852.

LANGUAGE. "

Of

all

the

modem

idioms, none has derived from the very surrender

and demolition of the old laws of inflection,

179

tone,

from the almost entire disuse of

a greater force and power than the English

medium

fullness of its

such as never yet intellectual

tones gives

fell to

two

finest

Germanic, which, as

is

;

and the unconfined

an essential command of expression,

the lot of a

and happy design and

alliance of the

it

human

finish,

tongue.

Its entire

highly

are the product of a marvellous

languages of later Europe, the Romanic and the

well known, have divided the field in such a man-

ner that the sensuous foundation

is

taken from the

latter,

while the former

has furnished the superstructure of intellectual abstractions.

In point of

wealth, balance, and sinewy knitness, no living language will bear comparison with

it.

Yes, the English, not accidentally the mother and the

nurse of the greatest poetical genius of modern times, in contradistinction to ancient classic art, is

—

I of course refer to

fully entitled to the dignity of

like the people

who

none other than Shakspeare,

a World's language, and seems destined,

call it theirs, to govern,

even

in

a greater degree than

at present, at every corner of the earth."

THE END.

Biiain

& Bbothekb,

Printers and Stereotypers, 20 North William street,

N. Y.

ERRATA Page

70, line 7,

"

72, line 3,

73,

from

top, for " unsuccessfully," read " successfully."

and 17, for " general," read " govt aed." for "sound," read "second."

lines 16

next to last line of text, for " orbis," read " orbit." of first paragraph, for " part of," read "past." " inactivities," read " inanities." " 16, for " part," read " past." 4th line from bottom, for " confidence," read " coincidence.' line 11, for " arrayed," read " arranged." " 1.2, for " Excited," read " Exiled." next to last line, for " 2,500,000," read "25,000,000." line 21, for " denied," read " desired."

75, last line

90, line 6, for

" 99,

101,

113, 125,

129, 130,

"

13,

135,

"

6,

"

"

138, 143, 149,

for " on," read

16, for

" forms," read " forces."

from bottom, for " Disencumbered," read " Encumbered. 4th line from bottom, for " obtained," read " chained.'' in the table transpose the words " Gold" and " Silver." "

7,

160, line 8, for

"

"as."

for " uncurrent," read " concurrent."

"

14, for

166,

"

8,

"

"

22, for

" one," read " our."

"denies," read "desires."

for "needless," read

"needy."

" impregnation," read " impugnation,"

Gk P.

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