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new york-第7章

小说: new york 字数: 每页3500字

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and though wanting in that apparent violence and sternness that

marks the course of law in the hands of narrower governments; for

it has no need of this severity; they carry with them in their

course all the feelings that render injustice and oppression

intolerable。



We think that the towns of America; generally; will suffer less

from these popular abuses than the rural districts。 As has been

already said; associated wealth will take care of itself。 It may

make; and probably will make; in the earlier stages of these

political changes; some capital mistakes; and there cannot be a

question that in the rapacity of private efforts to accumulate;

some of the most obvious and natural expedients of protection

will be overlooked; until the neglect compels recourse possibly

even to the use of the strong hand。 Still property will

eventually protect itself。 For; in an age like this; when even

the bayonet must be carried ordinarily in its sheath; and when

men get to be accustomed from infancy to the inbred recognition

of many of the most important principles of government; society

starts; as it might be; far in advance of the point which it

reached in the ages of pure military and arbitrary sway。 The

celebrated saying of Napoleon; 〃L'Europe sera; dans cinquante

ans; ou republicaine ou cossaque;〃 has a profound signification;

yet it must be greatly qualified to be received with safety。 The

〃cossaque〃 of the close of the nineteenth century will be a very

different thing from the 〃cossaque〃 of the days of Paul。 It now

means little more than conservatism; and this; too; a

conservatism that is not absolutely without that principle of

concession to the spirits and wants of the passing moment。 These

quarrels and bitter conflicts of which we hear so much in the Old

World; like some of our own; have their rise in abstractions

quite as much as in actual oppression; and the alternative

offered by change half the time amounts to but little more than

the substitution of King Stork for King Log。 It may not be

agreeable to the pride; recollections; and national traditions of

the Hungarian; or the Italian; to submit to the sway of a German;

but it may well be questioned if the substitutes they would offer

for the present form of government would greatly tend to the

amelioration of the respective people。



{L'Europe sera。。。。 = Europe will; in fifty years; be either

republican or cossack 'French'; Paul = Paul I; Tsar of Russia

from 1796 to 1801; King Stork for King Log = from Aesop's Fables}



What is true in the Old World will; in the end; be found to be

true here。 To us; it would seem that the portion of the people of

this country; whom we should term the disinterested; or those who

have no direct connection with slavery; on the one hand; or with

fanaticism; and its handmaid demagogism; on the other; should

turn their attention solely to the achievement of a single

object。 They have the strength to do it; if they only had the

will。 By compelling the disturbers of the public peace to submit

to the control of the government; and to cease their meddling and

wanton invasion of the security and property of their brothers

and neighbors; the question of slavery would soon take care of

itself。 A single generation would; probably; see it confined in a

great measure to the extreme Southern and Southwestern States;

for; under the present emigration from Europe; it cannot be long

before the upper counties of even the Carolinas and Georgia will

make the discovery that the introduction of a single white man

will be really of more importance to them than that of a dozen

negroes。 Could Virginia be made to see her true interests in this

behalf; the glory of the Old Dominion would speedily revive; and

her fine population of gentlemen would shortly take its place

again where it so properly belongs; in the foremost ranks of the

nation。 We require an exchange with that quarter of the country;

for we could give that which she greatly needs; and receive in

exchange that which would probably not a little benefit

ourselves。 Puritanism; most especially when it breaks out of

bonds by the process of emigration; does not always produce the

most acceptable fruits; while; on the other hand; the descendants

of the Cavaliers might obtain homely lessons; of great practical

benefit; from the utilitarian spirit of the whole North。











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