The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-07-30
Democratic and Feudal InstitutiOns-- Their
Value and Results.

which sold only 10 o moderate extent.
Democrats and Feudal Institutions- Their
Value and Results.
We publish to-day, from the last number of
the Edinburgh Reciep, one of the ablest writ
ten analysis of European emigration to this
country that has as yet fallen under our obser-
walton. l. is evidently penued by man who
has thoroughly studied his subject, and who has
succeeded IN divesting his mind of many OF the
narrow preudices that in general influence
European writer's when treating of this coun-
try. He demonstrates the error Of the pre-
yailing notion that the materials Of which the
emigration to the United States is composed
are in general of q description that adds but
slowly to the moral influence and material
progress Of our people. He shows, on the
contrary, that, moi only in bone and sinew-
themselves elements Of immediate wealth, but
in positive additions TO the present money ca
pital Of the country, the tide Of European emf
grafton that has set in towards our shores
constitutes one Of the main elements OF our
prosperity. 1t is not in general the idle, the
dissolute and the penuiless that seek to better
their fortunes by emigration to the United
States They belong rather to those classes
that have something to lose, in the shape either
Of labor or of capital, in the hopeless and des-
perate competition to which redundancy Of
population and other causes have brought mat
tiers at home. They constitute, in fact, the ele-
meDts of which powerful nations are composed !;
and although they may not at once succeed in
assimilating with population new to them in
habits, ideas, and political training, they in
time fall naturally into their place, and help to
strengthen and enrich the community by which
they are adopted.
But there is another class, of whom the re-
viewer makes no mention, who have some claim
to honorable notice in an analysis of the mate
rails Of which European emigration is composed.
We have continually arriving upon our shores
cadets of the noble families that trace their orr.
gin back to the Norman conquest, and not I'M
frequently, too, even the titled heads Of houses
that were represented in the wars Of the Guelphs
and the Ghibellincs, or in the early strug-
giles for dominaney amongst the Sclavonic
races. Many proud name that has left
its mark upon the page Of history, and which
would still command respect among the
most aristocratc circles Of Europe, is destined
TO die out unknown and forgotten amongst the
swamps OF Louisiana, the everglades Of Florida,
or the prairies OF the far West. Their owners
have, under some more modest and less protein
tious appellation, probably done more in their
humble way to advance the work of progress
and humanity than was ever effected by the
swords OF their forefathcrs. We should, in all
probability, never hear Of them at all but for
occasional inquiries after lost heirs. caused by
the dying out of elder branches, or the sudden
restoration by some political revolution to his
original country sSd honors. of some homesick
exile, who has dragged on amongus'an obscure
ard precarious existence.
We have been led to these reflections by OBJ
serving in an English paper, the statement that
The Queen has given permission TO introduce
bill reversing the aitainder Of the Lovat peer
age Most Of our readers are no doubt aware
that the title was forfeited by Simon Fraser,
twelfth Lord Lovat, who was beheaded on
Tower Hill, for the part which he took
in the rebellion Of l7l5. Thomas Aleyan-
der Fraser, recognized as the twenty-frst
chief in succession from Simon Fraser,
the STRICKEN family from Alexander, the sixth
lord, obtained in 1887 the restoration of the
title IN his person, by new creation. Should
the bill reversing the attainder pass, be would
stand as the thirteenth instead of the first, ba-
ron-that is TO say, provided no other claimant
cLaulI Stn, IN In 1acnot HE prafopeioua Now
il so happens, unless we are greatly misa-
formed, that there is at present existing in this
country the lineaf descendant of q branch Sc
nior to that Of the present lord. and who. co.,
sequently, would, in the event of the reversal
of the attainder, be entitled to the benefit of
this act Of grace on the part of the crown.
There would, in that case, be two Lord Loyats:
unless, indeed, the Yankee lord should, from
the notions of republican simplicity imbibcd
with his mothers milk, disdain such an incon-
N'nicnt handle TO his name. Our lives on it,
the rough Arkansas farmer (for such VIC nm
derstand him 10 be) would not exchange the
free, manly and independent position which he
holds, for the gilded slavery Of feudal privi-
leges aud the conventional fetters and restraints
OF European society.
There can he no more gratifying tribute to
the inherent value and soundness OF our insti-
tutions than the fact that we have amongst Us
many righiful heirs TO British peerages, who
prefer the individual independence and fT"e-.
dom Of thought and discussion which they n
JOY here, TO the trammels imposed upon them
by the artificial systems and dcspotic govern
ment of the Old World. When we find the
lineal descendants Of the Lords Montague, RI
vers, and Scroope-names closely linked with
the great events of English history-preferring
the simple title Of an American citizen to The
meretricious distinctions obtained by political
subseryiency or court favoritism, we may well
rest satisfied with the lot which has cast our
Eortines nnder the shelter of demncratin insti.