Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-02-28
NUMBER 80.
Smithsonian Lectures.
REPORTED FOR THE AMERICAN ORGAN.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE.

| NO TWO people nave SO little lucd OF eacu Otnef
| as those OF the North and South. The popular
idea entertained by Southerners respecting the
Yankee is, that physically, he is hatchetlaced,
long, lank, and skinny; he Is prone TO talk
great deal, and that through his nose he is very
fond OF Goldfish, onions, pork and molasscs new
rum, and bad cigars he is temperate, because he
is too economical to pay for his liquor he is the
| concentrated essence of selfishncss he does not
| hate Others, he only loves himself more He fed
in old times from religious persecution, to the
rocky shores OF Plymouth, and there erected am
altar to religious liberty, and consecrated Il with
the blood of skinny witches and heretical auakers
The parts Of the Bible he loves most, treat Of the
sharp dealings Of Jacob with Laban, and he laughs
as he reads of the good bargain he made with
Esau, and then goes South to find some Esau to
play Jacob with himself
His love of money predominates over everything
else he has no poetica sensibilities all feeling
in him is utitaran; IL he had the remodeling OF
| creation, the clouds would lose their fantastic
shapes and coors, and cease to in the heavens
except as they went straight to that tract of coun
try that needed shower, and then discharge their
contents with the precision Of waterproof the
shells would all be of one color, and of the best
| quality for the manufacture of lime; the noun.
| tains would be leveed, and the valleys filed up
| 80 that the earth would be one vast plain which
he would cover with two-story brick houses, all of
one size and pattern, and their inmates would be
ioiSCu VII pam VI utdtu tO HuDScIlDe fOr the - N
| I. Tribune" He could about soon compose an
epic poem Us could steam engine. He can de-
liver panegyric on the Star Spangled Banner,
and then tell you how much it cost yard He l.
very enthusiastic, but there is a method in his
madness. He would send an immense army to
Europe to inculcate free principles at the point Of
the bayonet, as he would have a chance to supply
the arms, ammunition, and clothes of the army.
None were more encouraging to Kossuth than he;
yet when the simple man wanted material aid,
they stood aloof and all he got from them was
10000 old muskets which never "went Off till
they left the United States. Laughter
The Yankee is regarded as very inquistve
about everybody's business but his own. He is
a walking interrogation point. His valor never
gets the better Of his discretion, and he don't get
into row without knowing that he can beat his
opponent in foot race. He is full of isms espe-
cally abolitionism, and would be glad to see the
cotton fields which supply his factories destroyed
their owners niassncred in cold blood, and the
South turned into desert, in order that his pet
hatred--slavery might no longer exist.
He closed this part of the lecture by an extract
from South Carolina novel, in which the hero
sold himselfto the devil, but could obtain his re-
lease by substituting twenty-five others in his
place. He adyertises for substitutes, and two hun.
dred Yankees make their appearance. On being
asked on whatterms they will part with their souls
the spokesman expatiates on the inestnable worth
OF the SOUL and won't take less than $40 in specie
Great laughter. His purchases are locked mn
and in less than an hour each of the twenty -6pa
has made about $40 by swapping jackets The
devil, on his appearance, won't release the mr.
chaser, for he claims each of the Yankees as his
own property, and analyzes their souls and shows
them to be compounds of cunning cowardce
knayery, and the rest the quintessence of Goldfish
and new r,im. Laughter.
ne now stated that though this was the way in
"hich Ah~aa was regarded In the Soutb tha
caricature was 30 bod that Il bore M eie
TO Yankee. There was ns rs.,. w I.seh,oiahce
love money, and who always .ninded tne's' 1,m i.
business The Yankee is good at bargain, for his
country Is 50 bleak and sterile that he Is constantly
at war with nat ire in order TO exc out living,
with the strictest economy and industry; so that
he becomes sharp practitioner naturally. There
are abolitionists and spritrappers among them,
but there is also ctizen-soldery who viii present
their bayonets at the breasts of their own country
men when called on by the government, as did the
twelve hundred at the rendition of Burns and, TO
say that this citizen-soldicry disapproved of his
turn is only TO heap fresh praise them for their
course. IfNew England has produced Theodore
Parker, she has also produced a Webster, the echo
of whose name viii drown the feeble ranting Of
the fanatic.
He denied the alleged penurousness and COW
ardice of New Englanders. The idea has been
derived from the conduct of travelling clock-ped-
ers who are no more representatives Of New Eng
land spirit, than Murrell and his gang are repre-.
sentatves of the South.
The North is not a fertile country-all that is ac
cumuated, is gained by hard labor, and they know
the worth Of their money. But they are not by
any means stingy; they give with great lberality
to all the benevolent institutions Of the day, both
public and private. This may be called enlightened
selfnterest but il would be better for the South,
if she shared it, The Yankees have been called
towards, because they do not hold TO the so-caled
code of honor; but neither did the Romans nor
Greeks, and they were not called towards. He Is
educated to consider dueling murder, and resort
to that means Of settling quarrel foolish II il
wrong. But be they what they may, they came OF
good stock, from the old roundheads of tho stern
Cromwell whose motto was, :" Trust In God and
keep your powder dry" If they have inherited the
grim and unovely traits of the Puritan charac-
ter il cannot be denied that they have also inherited
his stern valor He now reviewed the conduct oil
the Yankees through the old French and Indian
wars, that Of the Revolution, that Of 1912, rs, AMI
the Mexican war, and satisfactorily cleared them
| Of that charge.
He did not believe that New England was nur-
| tured by the federal government but that like
plant the bare surface Of rock, Il has throye
by its native energy, against the policy of the
| government; her sons had covered the seas with
| their commerce, and when action Of the govern
| ment almost ruined them, they did not give up
the graves and battle.feds Of their foreiathcrs-
no, their energy forced out new channels; they
turned their attention to manufactures and soon the
land resounded with the rattle ofthe shuttle and the
clang of the hammer. Prosperity returned, and
| their energy was rewarded
The character Of the Southerner was as much
mistaken at the North that Of the Yankee at the
South. He Is regarded as effeminate and imbecilc
in his money matters extravagant, very aristocratc,
| and can trace his geneaogy back to the time of
William the Conqueror, and one ofthe"F F.Y.'s."
No belongs to sccond-rate family in Virginia;
but the Yankee don't know who was his grand.
father. In his cradle, the young Yirginian i
| amused with small cowhide, with which he lashcs
his tawny nurse, and a miniature revolver, with
which he enforces his demands for nourishmcnt
| on the maternal breast On the slightest provo
cation, he whips his slaves TO DEATH and hangs up
/ their skeletons in the field to awe the feathered
| and unfeathered crows In order to keep his aiui
true, that he may kill his man in duel he occa-
sionally tries his hand on Yankee schoolmaster
and he must have killed several in order to be eli