The native American., 1839-07-06
!. .,::..I.nLo,H. A.AI.EfIION.s !

! litical meaning: it implies simplicity Of public
conduct as well as one which is calculated for the
general welfare. We have often silently observ-
ed the prurency of weak-mnded men, those in
the under rounds of the ladder of life, TO cover
themselves as the old women do their gingerbread
with little gliding in order to pass off their pen
Inyworth of value with more readiness II is thus
that we have our sensbilies constantly shocked
! BY hearing plain man, so pacific at home as TO
deserve Percy's dcnunciaon that bu, for those
big guns he would himself have been soldier"
introduced when on visit to distant neighbour
hood as Major Muddle, Colonel Crab, or General
Smith. So too some men acquire civil honors by
travelling, inst as eaily York Cabbages acquire
strength by transplanting, and the humble indivi-
dual who, through the influence of friends, has
obtained the office, much over proportn,ned, TO his
merits, Of Justice Of the Peace with jurisdiction
in civil matters up 10 twenty dollars and in cri-
mina cases to comntta for breaches of the peace.
transferred suddenly, upon visit to an adjoining
town, into the dignity Of a JaAgc, and under this
umbrageous title :slcl,eripg tIe insi igHifcance Of
hatterers, and giving transient responsibility to
a colere Of EMPTY aristocras with no morals to
lose, and no respecahility except that which they
borrow from the lantern Of penny greatness which
they have lighted up with piIiered oil.
These arc the people who, Pope says, are
pleased with aratAc >ickled with straw" and
and best of all possible democrats, Z" clothe beg
garlv idea in the robe Of rovaltv," and dress up
a vagrant pretenler IL the pinchback nickname Of
lackey Esquire, We are led to these remarks
by reading in the :Nllion&l Intelligencer an ac-
count Of the proceedings Of the Horticultural So
ciety, whose lahors we highly appreciate, and
whose exertions have tended more to the improve
ment of our esculent vegetables than the mere in
ducements Of profit. No alven,i,ions titles there
fore were necessary garnish their good conduct,
whatever the petty vanity Of some Of them led
them to suppose was necessary for their nneu-
phoneous or unknown names; and therefore we
are surprised to find that almost all Of those VIII"
figured in the proceedings of t'iat Society off
GERS or Directors have the glass-bead decoration
Of Esquire dangling to their nominals. In this
American age of acquisitiveness, when the rule OF
conduct seems to be to get all you can, whethe,
good or otherwise, so as it augments the stock o
things acquired, we arc not surprised at this adj
dition tagged on to many cognomens; but wher
we see an illiberal distribution of those spoils o.
honor, we think we have right not merely to
denounce the anti-repuhlican taste, but the unfair
1ness Of the portioning.
In the Council Of this Society we find that th'
names of some of the members whose pursuits il
life are as distant from the chvalry OF an Esquir.
as the poles are from each other, covered witt
the greatness of that title, while those of some
others are left to wlther in the plainness Of sim
pie Mister. There are twelve officers, ten o
whom have that designation, and the other two
being supplied with honors in their own right o
IColonel and Doctor, are excused from the enjoy
ment of this volunteer superoragation. On
member is allowed to live upon the prospect o
' a stuffed alligator" and obliged TO cramp hi
genius in pill box'' in his own unlabelled name
while another of the same profession is dresse
off in that dubious epithet which in ancient time
meant another mans vassal, but is intended i
modern times to signify somebody ese's superior
Why, we would ask, is one man an Esquire
and another Of the same grade and station Mis-
ter? Why call Clerk a Shield-bearer and
Florist nothing! Why omit the usual title Of
Justice of the Peace to one such on that list, ant
vet give it to another? The reason is this, vanit,
has a larger share in some mems heads than thei
Ibrains, and that under the easy designation Of de
mocracy there is thousandfold more of the seet
OF arisocracy, than there is of simplicity: and thu
proof Of il is, that upon all occasions when pub
lie oop-holc is opened for the sun to peep upor
those seeds, they are always seen to be germna
ting in their spongy greatness.
| TcoMMUNICATED,