The native American. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1840, 1839-09-21
DISTINCTIONS OF CLASSES IN EUROPE.

FROM sL1pEL's "AMERIcAN IN ENGLAND"
One remark was most obvious to me; with us,
the agitation which is constantly going on through
out the whole mass of society, is perpetuay
throwing to the surface that which was but lit
tie while before removed from il. Merit, industry,
assiduous exertion of any sort,-opPosed BY 10
insuperable barriers of pride or prejudice, and
fettered by no system of laws conceived in the
interest Of the few and the idle, and in enmty to
the industrious million,-secure of their reward,
are perpetnally raising to competency and dis
tinction those who, in the outset of life, were
humble and unhonored; while the idle and the
prohigate, degraded by the contrast rather Than
sustained by the consideration which their ances-
tors had won for themselves by their good works,
are seen, on the contrary, to sink in descending
eounter-current to minge ultimately with the dregs.
This agitation, then, OF the state of society, has
the effect, in the large and dly-ncreasng com
munities of the Republic, SO to mingle the races
as to break down, III some measure, the physical
distinctions which characterize other countries
where the classes stationary, and the castles
innumerabe.
In London, the races are most distinctly mark
ed. 1t was not necessary to observe the cut OF
coat, or the fashion Of the neither garment, to tell
in an instant who was the bramin and who the
parah. The gentleman was easily distinguished
Bile by his superior height his air of generous
feeling, his pride of step, and certain erect, ele
waited, confident, contented, and-if may add a
qualification which applies to most of our q1ative-
born population in Observation-Disclosures and
republican freedom and nobleness Of carriage.
The trader had very different air, though he
struggled to make it the same for it was the Ell
feet OF imitation. There was blending of haugh-
tiness and humiliation, versatility held in prepa-
ration for contact with interiors or the great a
look which could catch the expression of con-
tempt and scorn, or soften at once into compla-
cent simper and cringing obsequiousness.
Among the humber classes, the physical con-
formation seemed to announce the peculiar and
separate calling of each distinct individual. The
same trade descending perPetually from father to
son through long succeeding generations, had oc-
casioned a development of particular limbs and
muscIes. The absence of intellectual and moral
culture, in occupations which rendered it unnG-
cessary. for those who worked only to administer
food to themselves, and profit and luxury to the
class of masters, could only account for the ab-
sence of forehead, of the ornamental parts of tina,
face which was moulded after divine model, and
which, ameRg the untutored and unoppressed sa-
wages, who roam without distinction of classes
over natures wilds is ever found to bear the i'm
press OF Its original The mouth and Jaws an
nounced bull dog capacity TO tear and mas,icate
posterous deveopmentof the neck, the shoulders
the arms, and hands. In many, the effect of mn
healthy occupations was visible in a peculiar con
formation Of their care-worn countenances. and IN
a general physical deterioration. Many genera.
lions Of a sedentary ife perpe,uity Of con6ne.
nent at a workbench, evinced itself in some bv !,
lpdicrous shortness and diminutveness of the leos
1t was csuel to laugh at deformi,y thus arti6ci.
ally produced, less the fault than the misforun,
of their ancestors, and yet it was no, easy to con.
template it with composure.
could not help specializing upon the effects OF
pushing such system TO its EXTREMIST imils.-
Might not nature tire at length of making LEGS. 10
exhaust unnecessarily, by their demand for vital
supply, the bodies of those who were never DIES.
nned 10 use them Just as she has long sine,
given over the bootless effort to supply tails tc
Spanish poodles, to be cut of by their comica
masters; or afixing such useless incumbranc,
to serve as drag and drawback through III,
weary journey of life to monkeys, which. no lon
ger serving 10 aid the purpose Of locomo,;on' .,
give life to their gambols, are found rradnallv ~
dwindle and disappear in countries hat bavc NJ ~
trees Nv