The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-02-20
Good Society in Washington.

"I'he prerequisite ofagreeable society
is equality, and that cannot exist where
It's members, as in Washington, are la
Boiled senator's members, cabinet
officers, auditors, clerks, etc. There
is probably no place in the world where
people are more strictly classified, OF
more exclusively composed of sets, ac-
cordimg to power and influence, than
i'll Washington. The upper crust IN
Washington seem to be entirely absolv-
ed from any effort to please or to be
agreeable. They are everything from
position, and as that is dependent, for
the most part, on their standing and pop
ularilv In other communities, they but
too often use the freedom of travellers
in hotels, and make themselves comfort
able at the expense Of their neighbors.
The disagreeable, shocking scenes which
are so often witnessed in both houses of
Congress, would perhaps not occur, If
there were an independent and suffi-
cicntly consequential society IN Wash
ington, capable of furnishing offenders
against the proprieties of life. At all
events, lift be proper that Congress and
the administration of the government
should be placed beyond the influence
of a mob of a great city, 1t would GER
tainly not be amiss if they were more
frequently brought within the sphere of
those more gentle attractions which can
hardly exist for them, as long as they
remain beyond the pale of social re-
wards and punishments. Even an eX-
clusively literary society may be rude
when it dictates instead of mininstring
to the accomplishments of the other
classes. Society is naturally jealous
of dominion. 1t may be the creator
and at times the slave of fashion; but II
is supremely ruled by a cast
"Where society is exclusively COM
posed Of one set of men and women,
no matter what their qualifications may
be, it soon becomes irksome. Its mem
bers become as familiar to each other as
old househould furniture, and the whole
cycle Of social pleasures is soon reduc-
ed to I series of mutual entertainments.
To this monotony even the most ex-
tensive society of London is reduc-
ed, from its exclusiveness. Thoughts.
q ideas, feelings, and the mode of express
/ ing them, become tinctured with fata
G mannerism, which acts as a check on
r the mind, instad of serving it merely as
an agreeable mode of conveyance. The
frame becomes soon more valuable thar
6 the picture, and an acquaintance witt
a forms, and the punctiliO of politeness, g
mystery known only to the craft. Ii
d this respect the best English society il
), probably nearest allied to the Chinese
:, only that the latter is much more demo
q cratic; mandarns being made out of th'
Z offspring of noble families, and ofiicia
is position, which alone gives rank in th'
Celestial Empire, open to individna
Il merit. The blood relations of Confu
cius, it is true, receive pensions; bu
y they do not set the fashion of Celestia
g society.
u sit is a familiar saying in Englan
that "a person may be admitted to thel
best society, but that none but its mem
r, bers ever belong to it, Society and tn
1t institutions of England arc alike restin
on feudal basis which has successful
u, u withstood all revolutions in politics, re
= ligion, ethics, and taste; and 1t is fo
this reason that Madame de Stael
II, though herself but distinguished com
monplace, observed that English societ
'e was the most capital means of keepin
>, ordinary men in prominent places. Tn
~ perfect ease which pervades the firs
" society in England is, no doubt, the re
IL fbat hCr
are above criticism-that no accidents
no voluntary or involuntary demerit o
20 their part, can derogate from their dig
r, nifty, or in aught diminish that influenc
he on the inferior classes which cause
ne these to emulate their matchless example
Fl "There certainly exists somethin
,e similar to this in Washington in regar
Of to the peerless society of senator
at members, and the corps diptomatiqu
as These constitute, par excellence, n
Oh society cf Washington; and althoug
= the first two, as above stated, are
., general selected from the strongest an
od ablest men of the country, yet as SOC
rs, ETY. is necessarily the province of VIZ
ad men and not Of men, their very origir
ir- ality is calculated to give ladies ce
re- re- tain degree of uneasiness. On the OF
III er hand, one is frequently introduced
hin fashionable women in Washington, who
rs. it would be difficult to class il any OF
for err city in the Union, on account of the
in being strangers, comparatively, in ;
I'VE of them. This may, indeed, height'
"s' their charms, and increase the attra
tons of their company; but the seas
te- in Washington is too short to matu
nod acquaintance into friendship, or to lea
more than partial regrets for ties easi
formed and quickly severed. There
ne; little sourenir in Washington, and r
Ire !, re- enough of retired private life to col
|lb. pensate for the wrongs inflicted
is society. The city is too small for pc
ms, pie to live in retirement, and yet t
ur- large and noisy to promote the form
ru ton of domestic habits. Washingt
;sh % is watering place, without its comfor
" its social equality, its abandon, and
shall / name it it,-without its baths!