The daily republic. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1853-1853, 1853-07-15


THE REPUBLIC.
The Certificate System, and Buttering
yeur Friends. uN4e
From Seminary Of "JMiaor Morals, /" IN "Btack-
wood" for Jw~e. ri
1t is singular circumstance, considering that
eminent men are not particularly common, that
there never does occur an instance Of vacancy
in post or situation be it political, literary, pro-
fcssonal, scientific, but there appears host OF
candidates, each armed with certificates to SHOW
not that he il eminent, for that is a matter OF
course, but that he 10 pre-eminent, and that ma
ture has evidently designed him for that esPeclai
Office. Not long ago we had OCCASION IN reier
ence to matter OF this kind, to peruse the 'es.
monials of no less than sixteen candidates. ana
we really were petriiied at the amour, OF oor
mant aud suppressed talent which the land con-
tanned One candidate in particular issued about
sly sets of certificates, with the appetsing promise
of more: and we were really sorry when he had
exhausted his stores of printed panegyric, tor we
fonds that they made admirable matches, and
were in request in the lower region for the Pnr-
pose of sngeing fowls We doubt whether the
Dalai Lama had greater number Of implicit
worshippers. At least hundred and twenty
gentlemen, of various shades of 0bscurity, with
all the capital letters in the alphabet appended to
their names, had written letters to their friends,
to those to whom the patronage was entrusted,
in terms that an historian would blush to apply to
the admirable Crichton. Never was there such
fellow as that. Ofall the race of Adam. alive or
dead, he was the only one competent to do JUS
tice to the subject. No draw-well or Artesian
boring could equal him in profundty. He had a
genius that carried him on its soaring pinions be-
yond the limits of the stars. Some worthy at
testers averred that the chief Joy of their lives had
been the privilege of his conversation-and very
disinterested persons they appeared to be, since
his election must necessarily remove the darling
planet from their sphere. Others pledged their
reputation-no very great stake, after all--that
he would do what never man did before, and pa
theticaly entreated the electors not to lose that
opportunity of rejecting some lustre on their own
names by appropriating this red-hot paragon.
But for his quiet adoption and cndorsation of all
these compliments, we should have been inclined
to think that the modesty of the honorable can
ddate at least equal to his merits, seeing that
he had contrived all this while to keep his light
der bushel, i'll SO far as the public was concerned
Until we received his testimonials, his name was
as unknown to that of the architect Of the
pyramids. Our amaZement was immensely in :
creased by the discovery that this vacancy ha d
drawn from their retreat dozen other paragons,
whose witnesses, if not quite numerous, were
obscure and Mandatory as the batch who gave
laundering testimony to the first. And it was
very curious to remark that such Of the candi-
dates as were really known to fame put forth the
smallest number of certificates; also, that the
men who granted these having regulations of their
own, cautiously abstained from dealing in strong
hyperbole. This is but one instance out of many
of the modern system of putting, which amounts
to rank dishonesty. We shall not suppose that
the writer's of such testimonials conscious that
they have no title whatever, from their own intel
lectual attainments, to offer an opinion on the
subject; for the predominant feature of nnny
hammer is the enormous development of his self
conceit. But not one jackass of the hundred and
twenty believed in the truth of what he was writ
ing. His vanity was tckled by being appealed to
as an authority; and, knowing well that it was
not the custom of his brother idiots to spare but
ter on such occasions he deliberately set himself
down to be as fulsOme the dictionary would al
low. We do not insnuate that the creature wa:
not actuated by certain instructive feeling o
friendship. Possibly he had the recollection O
numerous hours of dreary drivel consumed in the
company of his friend; and we have nothing to
say against bonds of alliance so formed aud rati-
fed. But the fact remains that the certificate
system has become an intolerabe nuisance, and
ought at once to be put down. We have fal
greater respect for the man who puffs himself
than for the man who pufs his neighbor. In the
former case there is something of sublime self
reliance noble trusting to unsupported valor.
10 enter the ring alone, without hackers, is at
least proof of courage; and as to self-vaunting
have we not the authority of all the Homerc he
roes:> In the Had, man buffers another-each
anonts himself, and that most literally. Why,
in the name of all that is candid, should great
man affect depreciation? Look to Moses and
Hyams. They don't own themselves inferior to
any in the trade; on the contrary, they take up
the Jew sharp, and twang it in their own lauda-
ton. What would be the effect if Nibbs, in the
coffee line, announced himself in his advertise
ments as inferior to Husks, who deals in the same
department. Why, he might shut up shop next
term, for he would be PLAYING into the hands of
his rival. Nibbs does nothing of the kind. He
AYERS that his is the sole establishment in London
where genuine coffee can be obtained and, as
confidence begets believers, he is thriving man.
Husks, if ne pleases, may insinuate that Nibbs
lies; indeed, if he does not, he will hardly secure
an adequate share of the public patronage. Some
times brace of obscurites attempt to rise to rcpu-
tation by putting each other. Nothing more con-
temptible can be imagined than two bockheads
engaged in mutual SLAYER Blaw-weary writes an
essay, in his usual unntelligi BILE style, upon the
genius and characteristics of Popjoy. Popjoy
reciprocates, in the next number Of the same
periodical, upon the tendency of the writings
of Blaw-weary. The unhappy confederates
conceive that they are covering one an
other with g ory--they not aware that
whatever comes from their hands is foul, and must
necessarily detile. Not originally over-sweet,
they become still moro redolent of the jakes Yet
this is no unusual phenomenon in literature; and
it is the more remarkable because, III nine cases
out of ten, the allies entertain at heart intense
hatred and contempt for each other. Mutual in
terest is all that binds them together; and they
would, if they dared, discharge with the utmost
zest broadsde into the ribs of the friend whom
they have pulled so highly. Real literary talent
stands alone, and is altogether independent of CO.
teries. Whenever we see u man looking about
tor props and extraneous support, we entertain a
suspicion that his foundation is really unsound,
He would not do so if he had wcll-groundcd
faith i'll his own powers for IL is the destiny as
well as the prcrogativc Of genius to work alone,
and to struggle upwards without invoking assist
ance We never knew any good result from
these reciprocal puffings. They remind us of the
two tourists who, on ascending Ben-Nevis. had
recourse to another's TASKS for a little stmu-
liant energy, but who broke down halfway, each
attributing his failure to the exorbitant swallow