The Englishwoman in America

I >> Isabella Lucy Bird >> The Englishwoman in America

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30

Nearly all power in the United States is held to a great extent on popular
sufferance; it emanates from the will of the majority, no matter how
vicious or how ignorant that majority may be. In some cases this leads to
a slight alteration of the Latin axiom, _Salus populi est suprema lex_,
which may be read, "the _will_ of the people is the supreme law." The
American constitution is admirable in theory; it enunciates the
incontrovertible principle, "All men are free and equal." But
unfortunately, a serious disturbing element, and one which by its indirect
effects threatens to bring the machinery of the Republic to a "dead lock,"
appears not to have entered into the calculations of these political
theorists.

This element is slavery, which exists in fifteen out of thirty-one states,
and it is to be feared that by a recent act of the legislature the power
to extend it is placed in the hands of the majority, should that majority
declare for it, in the new States. The struggle between the advocates of
freedom and slavery is now convulsing America; it has already led to
outrage and bloodshed in the State of Kansas, and appearances seem to
indicate a prolonged and disastrous conflict between the North and South.
The question is one which cannot be passed over by any political party in
the States. Perhaps it may not be universally known in England that
slavery is a part of the ratified Constitution of the States, and that the
Government is bound to maintain it in its integrity. Its abolition must be
procured by an important change in the constitution, which _would_ shake,
and _might_ dislocate, the vast and unwieldy Republic. Each State, I
believe, has it in its power to abolish slavery within its own limits, but
the Federal Government has no power to introduce a modification of the
system in any. The federal compact binds the Government "not to meddle
with slavery in the States where it exists, to protect the owners in the
case of runaway slaves, and to defend them in the event of invasion or
domestic violence on account of it." _Thus the rights and property in
slaves of the slaveholders are legally guaranteed to them by the
Constitution of the United States._ At the last census the slaves amounted
to more than 3,000,000, or about an eighth of the population, and
constitute an alien body, neither exercising the privileges nor animated
by the sentiments of the rest of the commonwealth. Slavery at this moment,
as it is the curse and the shame, is also the canker of the Union. By it,
by the very constitution of a country which proudly boasts of freedom,
three millions of intelligent and responsible beings are reduced to the
level of mere property--property legally reclaimable, too, in the Free
States by an act called the Fugitive Slave Act. That there are
slaveholders amiable, just, and humane, there is not a doubt; but slavery
in its practice as a system deprives these millions of knowledge, takes
away from them the Bible, keeps a race in heathen ignorance in a Christian
land, denies to the slaves compensation for their labour, the rights of
marriage and of the parental relation, which are respected even among the
most savage nations; it sustains an iniquitous internal slave-trade--it
corrupts the owners, and casts a slur upon the dignity of labour. It acts
as an incubus on public improvement, and vitiates public morals; and it
proves a very formidable obstacle to religion, advancement, and national
unity; and so long as it shall remain a part of the American constitution,
it gives a living lie to the imposing declaration, "All men are free and
equal."

Where the whole machinery of government is capable of being changed or
modified by the will of the people while the written constitution remains,
and where hereditary and territorial differences of opinion exist on very
important subjects, it is not surprising that party spirit should run very
high. Where the highest offices in the State are neither lucrative enough
nor permanent enough to tempt ambition--where, in addition, their
occupants are appointed by the President merely for a short term--and
where the highest dignity frequently precedes a lifelong obscurity, the
notoriety of party leadership offers a great inducement to the aspiring.
Party spirit pervades the middle and lower ranks; every man, almost every
woman, belongs to some party or other, and aspires to some political
influence.

Any person who takes a prominent part either in local or general politics
is attacked on the platform and by the press, with a fierceness, a
scurrility, and a vulgarity which spare not even the sanctity of private
life. The men of wealth, education, and talent, who have little either to
gain or lose, and who would not yield up any carefully adopted principle
to the insensate clamour of an unbridled populace, stand aloof from public
affairs, with very few exceptions. The men of letters, the wealthy
merchants, the successful in any profession, are not to be met with in the
political arena, and frequently abstain even from voting at the elections.
This indisposition to mix in politics probably arises both from the coarse
abuse which assails public men, and from the admitted inability, under
present circumstances, to stem the tide of corrupt practices, mob-law, and
intimidation, which are placing the United States under a tyranny as
severe as that of any privileged class--the despotism of a turbulent and
unenlightened majority. Numbers are represented _exclusively_, and partly
in consequence, property, character, and stake in the country are the last
things which would be deemed desirable in a candidate for popular favour.

Owing to the extraordinary influx of foreigners, an element has been
introduced which could scarcely have entered into the views of the framers
of the Constitution, and is at this time the great hindrance to its
beneficial working. The large numbers of Irish Romanists who have
emigrated to the States, and whose feelings are too often disaffected and
anti-American, evade the naturalisation laws, and, by surreptitiously
obtaining votes, exercise a most mischievous influence upon the elections.
Education has not yet so permeated the heterogeneous mass of the people as
to tell effectually upon their choice of representatives. The electors are
caught by claptrap, noisy declamation, and specious promises, coupled with
laudatory comments upon the sovereign people. As the times for the
elections approach, the candidates of the weaker party endeavour to obtain
favour and notoriety by leading a popular cry. The declamatory vehemence
with which certain members of the democratic party endeavoured to fasten a
quarrel upon England at the close of 1855 is a specimen of the political
capital which is too often relied upon in the States.

The enormous numbers of immigrants who annually acquire the rights of
citizenship, without any other qualification for the franchise than their
inability to use it aright, by their ignorance, turbulence, and often by
their viciousness, tend still further to degrade the popular assemblies.
It is useless to speculate upon the position in which America would be
without the introduction of this terrible foreign element; it may be
admitted that the republican form of government has not had a fair trial;
its present state gives rise to serious doubts in the minds of many
thinking men in the States, whether it can long continue in its present
form.

The want of the elements of permanency in the Government keeps many
persons from entering into public life; and it would appear that merit and
distinguished talent, when accompanied by such a competence as renders a
man independent of the emoluments of office, are by no means a passport to
success. The stranger visiting the United States is surprised with the
entire absence of gentlemanly feeling in political affairs. They are
pervaded by a coarse and repulsive vulgarity; they are seldom alluded to
in the conversation of the upper classes; and the ruling power in this
vast community is in danger of being abandoned to corrupt agitators and
noisy charlatans. The President, the Members of Congress, and to a still
greater extent the members of the State Legislatures, are the _delegates_
of a tyrannical majority rather than the _representatives_ of the people.
The million succeeds in exacting an amount of cringing political
subserviency, in attempting to obtain which, in a like degree, few despots
have been successful.

The absence of a property qualification, the short term for which the
representatives are chosen, and the want, in many instances, of a
pecuniary independence among them, combined with a variety of other
circumstances, place the members of the Legislatures under the direct
control of the populace; they are its servile tools, and are subject to
its wayward impulses and its proverbial fickleness; hence the remarkable
absence of any fixed line of policy. The public acts of America are
isolated; they appear to be framed for the necessities of the moment,
under the influence of popular clamour or pressure; and sometimes seem
neither to recognise engagements entered into in the past, or the probable
course of events in the future. America does not possess a traditional
policy, and she does not recognise any broad and well-defined principle as
the rule for her conduct. The national acts of spoliation or meanness
which have been sanctioned by the Legislature may be distinctly traced to
the manner in which the primary elections are conducted. It is difficult,
if not impossible, for the European governments to do more than guess at
the part which America will take on any great question--whether, in the
event of a collision between nations, she will observe an impartial
neutrality, or throw the weight of her influence into the scale of liberty
or despotism.

It is to be feared that political morality is in a very low state. The
ballot secures the electors from even the breath of censure by making them
irresponsible; few men dare to be independent. The plea of expediency is
often used in extenuation of the grossest political dishonesty. To obtain
political favour or position a man must stoop very low; he must cultivate
the good will of the ignorant and the vicious; he must excite and minister
to the passions of the people; he must flatter the bad, and assail the
honourable with unmerited opprobrium. While he makes the assertion that
his country has a monopoly of liberty, the very plan which he is pursuing
shows that it is fettered by mob rule. No honourable man can use these
arts, which are, however, a high-road to political eminence. It is
scarcely necessary to remark upon the effect which is produced in society
generally by this political corruption.

The want of a general and high standard of morality is very apparent. That
dishonesty which is so notoriously and often successfully practised in
political life is not excluded from the dealings of man with man.

It is jested about under the name of "smartness," and commended under that
of "cuteness," till the rule becomes of frequent and practical
application, that the disgrace attending a dishonourable transaction lies
only in its detection,--that a line of conduct which custom has sanctioned
in public life cannot be very blameable in individual action.

While the avenues to distinction in public life are in great measure
closed against men of honour, wealth offers a sure road to eminence, and
the acquisition of it is the great object followed. It is often sought and
obtained by means from which considerations of honesty and morality are
omitted; but there is not, as with us, that righteous censorship of public
opinion which brands dishonesty with infamy, and places the offender
apart, in a splendid leprosy, from the society to which he hoped wealth
would be a passport. If you listen to the conversation in cars,
steamboats, and hotels, you become painfully impressed with the absence of
moral truth which pervades the country. The success of Barnum, the immense
popularity of his infamous autobiography, and the pride which large
numbers feel in his success, instance the perverted moral sense which is
very much the result of the absence of principle in public life; for the
example of men in the highest positions in a state must influence the
masses powerfully either for good or evil. A species of moral obliquity
pervades a large class of the community, by which the individuals
composing it are prevented from discerning between truth and falsehood,
except as either tends to their own personal aggrandisement. Thus truth is
at a fearful discount, and men exult in successful roguery, as though a
new revelation had authorised them to rank it among the cardinal virtues.

These remarks apply to a class, unfortunately a very numerous one, of the
existence of which none are more painfully conscious than the good among
the Americans themselves. Of the upper class of merchants,
manufacturers, shipbuilders, &c., it would be difficult to speak too
highly. They have acquired a world-wide reputation for their uprightness,
punctuality, and honourable dealings in all mercantile transactions.

The oppression which is exercised by a tyrant majority is one leading
cause of the numerous political associations which exist in the States.
They are the weapons with which the weaker side combats the numerically
superior party. When a number of persons hit upon a grievance, real or
supposed, they unite themselves into a society, and invite delegates from
other districts. With a celerity which can scarcely be imagined,
declarations are issued and papers established advocating party views;
public meetings are held, and a complete organization is secured, with
ramifications extending all over the country. A formidable and compact
body thus arises, and it occasionally happens that such a society,
originating in the weakness of a minority, becomes strong enough to
dictate a course of action to the Executive.

Of all the associations ever formed, none promised to exercise so
important an influence as that of the Know-nothings, or the American
party. It arose out of the terrific spread of a recognised evil--namely,
the power exercised upon the Legislature by foreigners, more especially by
the Irish Romanists. The great influx of aliens, chiefly Irish and
Germans, who speedily or unscrupulously obtain the franchise, had caused
much alarm throughout the country. It was seen that the former, being
under the temporal and spiritual domination of their priests, and through
them under an Italian prince, were exerting a most baneful influence upon
the republican institutions of the States. Already in two or more States
the Romanists had organised themselves to interfere with the management of
the public schools. This alarm paved the way for the rapid extension of
the new party, which first made its appearance before men's eyes with a
secret organization and enormous political machinery. Its success was
unprecedented. Favoured by the secresy of the ballot, it succeeded in
placing its nominees in all the responsible offices in several of the
States. Other parties appeared paralysed, and men yielded before a
mysterious power of whose real strength they were in complete ignorance.
The avowed objects of the Know-nothings were to establish new
naturalization laws, prohibiting any from acquiring the franchise without
a residence of twenty-one years in the States--to procure the exclusion of
Romanists from all public offices--to restore the working of the
constitution to its original purity--and to guarantee to the nation
religious freedom, a free Bible, and free schools; in fact, to secure to
_Americans_ the right which they are in danger of ceasing to possess--
namely, that of governing themselves.

The objects avowed in the preliminary address were high and holy; they
stirred the patriotism of those who writhed under the tyranny of an
heterogeneous majority, while the mystery of nocturnal meetings, and a
secret organization, conciliated the support of the young and ardent. For
a time a hope was afforded of the revival of a pure form of republican
government, but unfortunately the Know-nothing party contained the
elements of dissolution within itself. Some of its principles savoured of
intolerance, and of persecution for religious opinions, and it ignored the
subject of slavery. This can never be long excluded from any party
consideration, and, though politicians strive to evade it, the question
still recurs, and will force itself into notice. Little more than a year
after the Know-nothings were first heard of, they came into collision with
the subject, in the summer of 1855, and, after stormy dissensions at their
great convention, broke up into several branches, some of which totally
altered or abandoned the original objects of their association.

Their triumph was brief: some of the States in which they were the most
successful have witnessed their signal overthrow, [Footnote: At several of
the state elections at the close of 1855 the Know-nothings succeeded in
placing their nominees in public offices, partly by an abandonment of some
of their original aims.] and it is to be feared that no practical good
will result from their future operations. But the good cause of
constitutional government in America is not lost with their failure--
public opinion, whenever it shall be fairly appealed to, will declare
itself in favour of truth and order; the conservative principle, though
dormant, is yet powerful; and, though we may smile at republican
inconsistencies, and regret the state into which republican government has
fallen, it is likely that America contains the elements of renovation
within herself, and will yet present to the world the sublime spectacle of
a free people governing itself by just laws, and rejoicing in the purity
of its original republican institutions.

The newspaper press is one of the most extraordinary features in the
United States. Its influence is omnipresent. Every party in religion,
politics, or morals, speaks, not by one, but by fifty organs; and every
nicely defined shade of opinion has its voices also. Every town of large
size has from ten to twenty daily papers; every village has its three or
four; and even a collection of huts produces its one "daily," or two or
three "weeklies." These prints start into existence without any fiscal
restrictions: there is neither stamp nor paper duty. Newspapers are not a
luxury, as with us, but a necessary of life. They vary in price from one
halfpenny to threepence, and no workman who could afford his daily bread
would think of being without his paper. Hundreds of them are sold in the
hotels at breakfast-time; and in every steamer and railway car, from the
Atlantic ocean to the western prairies, the traveller is assailed by
newsboys with dozens of them for sale. They are bought in hundreds
everywhere, and are greedily devoured by men, women, and children. Almost
as soon as the locality of a town is chosen, a paper starts into life,
which always has the effect of creating an antagonist.

The newspapers in the large cities spare no expense in obtaining, either
by telegraph or otherwise, the earliest intelligence of all that goes on
in the world. Every item of English news appears in the journals, from the
movements of the court to those of the _literati_; and a weekly summary of
parliamentary intelligence is always given. Any remarkable law proceedings
are also succinctly detailed. It follows, that a dweller at Cincinnati or
New Orleans is nearly as well versed in English affairs as a resident of
Birmingham, and English politics and movements in general are very
frequent subjects of conversation. Since the commencement of the Russian
war the anxiety for English intelligence has increased, and every item of
Crimean or Baltic news, as recorded in the letters of the "special
correspondents," is reprinted in the American papers without abridgment,
and is devoured by all classes of readers. The great fault of most of
these journals is their gross personality; even the privacy of domestic
life is invaded by their Argus-eyed scrutiny. The papers discern
everything, and, as everybody reads, no current events, whether in
politics, religion, or the world at large, are unknown to the masses. The
contents of an American paper are very miscellaneous. Besides the news of
the day, it contains congressional and legal reports, exciting fiction,
and reports of sermons, religious discussions, and religious
anniversaries. It prys into every department of society, and informs its
readers as to the doings and condition of all.

Thus every party and sect has a daily register of the most minute sayings
and doings, and proceedings and progress of every other sect; and as truth
and error are continually brought before the masses, they have the
opportunity to know and compare. There are political parties under the
names of Whigs, Democrats, Know-nothings, Freesoilers, Fusionists,
Hunkers, Woolly-heads, Dough-faces, Hard-shells, Soft-shells, Silver-
greys, and I know not what besides; all of them extremely puzzling to the
stranger, but of great local significance. There are about a hundred so-
called religious denominations, from the orthodox bodies and their
subdivisions to those professing the lawless fanaticism of Mormonism, or
the chilling dogmas of Atheism. All these parties have their papers, and
each "movement" has its organ. The "Woman's Right Movement" and the
"Spiritual Manifestation Movement" have several.

There is a continual multiplication of papers, corresponding, not only to
the increase of population, but to that of parties and vagaries. The
increasing call for editors and writers brings persons into their ranks
who have neither the education nor the intelligence to fit them for so
important an office as the _irresponsible guidance_ of the people. They
make up for their deficiencies in knowledge and talent by fiery and
unprincipled partisanship, and augment the passions and prejudices of
their readers instead of placing the truth before them. The war carried on
between papers of opposite principles is something perfectly terrific. The
existence of many of these prints depends on the violent passions which
they may excite in their supporters, and frequently the editors are men of
the most unprincipled character. The papers advocating the opinions of the
different religious denominations are not exempt from the charge of
personalities and abusive writing. No discord is so dread as that carried
on under the cloak of religion, and religious journalism in the States is
on a superlatively bitter footing.

But evil as is, to a great extent, the influence exercised by the press,
terrible as is its scrutiny, and unlimited as is its power, destitute of
principle as it is in great measure, it has its bright as well as its dark
side. Theories, opinions, men, and things, are examined into and sifted
until all can understand their truth and error. The argument of antiquity
or authority is exploded and ridiculed, and the men who seek to sustain
antiquated error on the foundation of effete tradition are compelled to
prove it by scripture or reason. Yet such are the multitudinous and
tortuous ways in which everything is discussed, that multitudes of persons
who have neither the leisure nor ability to reflect for themselves know
not what to believe, and there is a very obvious absence of attachment to
clear and strongly defined principles. The great circulation which the
newspapers enjoy may be gathered, without giving copious statistics, from
the fact that one out of the many New York journals has a circulation of
187,000 copies. [Footnote: There are now about 400 daily newspapers in the
States: their aggregate circulation is over 800,000 copies. There are 2217
weekly papers, with an aggregate circulation of 3,100,057 copies; and the
total aggregate circulation of all the prints is about 5,400,000 copies.
In one year about 423,000,000 copies of newspapers were printed and
circulated.] The _New York Tribune_ may be considered the "leading
journal" of America, but it adheres to one set of principles, and Mr.
Horace Greely, the editor, has the credit of being a powerful advocate of
the claims of morality and humanity.

It is impossible for a stranger to form any estimate of the influence
really possessed by religion in America. I saw nothing which led me to
doubt the assertion made by persons who have opportunities of forming an
opinion, that "America and Scotland are the two most religious countries
in the world."

The Sabbath is well observed, not only, as might be expected, in the New
England States, but in the large cities of the Union; and even on the
coasts of the Pacific the Legislature of California has passed an act for
its better observance in that State. It is probable that, in a country
where business pursuits and keen competition are carried to such an
unheard-of extent, all classes feel the need of rest on the seventh day,
and regard the Sabbath as a physical necessity. The churches of all
denominations are filled to overflowing; the proportion of communicants to
attendants is very large; and the foreign missions, and other religious
societies, are supported on a scale of remarkable liberality.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30