Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1849-04-11
From the Baltimore American.
SOCIETY IN EUROPE, AND IN
AMERICA
AMERICA.

this county forms the subject, is on
entitled "TIle Western World. or Trav
els in the United States in 1886 AM
AZ" by Alexander Mackay, Esq, al
! Eng slish gentleman Of intelligence.
Mr.. Mackay appears to have vievet
the social and political institutions o
the United States with more compre
hensive mind and with less prejudicet
disposition than I've Grd to be usually
Characteristic of English travellers il
this country. With regard to DIR socia
characteristics and the points Of differ.
ence between American and European
society, his discriminativc analysis; seem:
to be very accurate and Just: In the
old world, where the feudal relations are
still permitted SO largely to influence
the arrangement OF the social system
society presents an agglomera'ion o!
distinct paris, each having its Getern'i-
nate relation TO the rest, and the mem
bers of each having the range Of their
sympalhies confined to their own par
ticular sphere. European society, in its
different manifestations, is constituted
as it were, ola series Of different layers,
which. though in close contact, only
partially fuse into eacli other. The con.
sequence is, that. although a common tie
Of mutual dependence uuilies the whole,
there is no common feeling persading
it, EACH class looking chiefly within
itself for its sources of enjoyment and
intellectual qualifications and tecogni-
sing the others more as POLITICAL neccs-
sites than as social adJuncts: The sym.
palhies OF one order touch, but do not
intertwine with, those of another, each
living within itself, as if it had no inter.
est iii common with The others, and
holding litle intercourse with them.
In the United States, on the other
tIand, Social ineq quali,y has never been
recognised as forming the basis of the
social system. No fixed position, by
birth or political or social arrangement,
is given 10 each person. Mr.. Mackay
says:
"Socie,v in America stnrted from the
point 10 which society in Europe is only
yet tending. The equality of man is,
to this moment, its corner stone. AS
often as it has, exhibited any tendency
10 alteration, has it been brought back
again 10 'hiS ineligible and essential
principle. American society. therefore,
exhibits itself as an indivisible whole,
its general characteristics being such as
mark each of the different classes into
which European society is divided. That
wlicll develops itself with US as the SYM
palhy of class becomes in America the
general sen,imen, OF society. There is
no man there whose position every other
man does not understand; eacl, has in
himself the key to the feelings Of his
neighbor, and he measures his sympa-
tl,ies by his own. The absence Of ar
bitrary, inequalities banislles restraint
from their mutual. intercourse, Wills,
their natural appreciation of each others
sentiments iInparts d kindness and cor
diality to tina, intercourse, which ia Eu.
rope are only to be found, and not al
ways there, within the circle Of class.
The ease and sincerity of manner
which spring from this social manifesto
lion are so marked, as Immediately tc
strike even the most, a pathetic observer,
There is very little in America Of @haI
We understand by acGuainlanceship. In,
lerconrse leads TO friendship, or it. leads
10 nothing, it being contrary TO Ameri'
can nalu,e to feel Indifferent, and yet
look cordial. Having none of The sym
pathies, heIhas none Of the anlipathies oil
class; his circle is his country; and III
that cil Gle, admitting of no superiors, he
sees none but equals. Not but that there
are in America many who are superior
in the share Which they possess of al
the conventional ingredients Of a gentle.
man, to the great bulk OF their country
men, and to whom cultivated society is
more grateful than that which is undis
cipIined. The distinction of polish and
refinement is all The difference that il
discernlble on the surface Of American
society, there being no exclusiveness o
feeling, or isolation Of sympathy con
cealed beneath polished exterior. Th'
American is first and essentially al
American, and then gentleman; will
him refinement is moi the enamel which
conceals what is benealh,- but the polisl
which brings out the real grain, exhibi
ting him in better light, but ever tn
same character. I have often beer
struck with the readiness with which tn
ease and frankness characteristic o
American intercourse, have led partIe
to an unreserved interchange of view
and sentiments, although they NIGH
have come from The most remote part
Of Inc country, and had never seen eac
other before. How can it bo otherwise