Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1856-11-22

10 De yersed IN all customs CuSt-Hl nth him
holas the piece Of sentiment, Of theory, and IN GHy
cases Of affection. Riehl Justly urges the import
ance 1t simplifying law proceedings. os to cut
on this vanity at It's source, and also Of encour-
aging by every possible means, the practice cf
| We pay for greater euo,ionel Susceptibility too
often by nervous diseases Of which the peasant
knows nothing. To him headache j., the lens, of
physical evils, beca use he thinks hpslworE The.
easiest ana least Indispensable Of a'l mbor Hap
Ipl!y, many of the younger sons in peasant fami-
les by going TO seek their living in the towns car
ry their hardy nervous system to amalCamate vjth
the over wrought nerves of our town popuI ton,
and refresh them with little rude vigor. And
return to the habits of peasant life is the best rem
edy for many moral as well as physical diseases
induced by perverted civilization
Political viclsstudes have added their influence
to that Of economical changes in disturbing that
dim instinct that reverence for traditional custom
which Is the PEASANTS principle Of action. lie is
in the midst of novelties for which he knows ro
raason-changes in political geography, changes
of the government to which he owes fealty.
changes IN bureaucratic management and police
regulations. lie finds himself IN new element
before an apparatus for breathing in il is develop
ed IN him. His only knowledge Cf modern his
tory Is in some of its results-fr, ,1stance that
he has to pay heavier taxes lr... year to wear.
His chef idea Of a government IS of a power
that raises his taxes, opposes his harmless customs
and tOrments him with new fOrmalties. The
source of all This is the false system Of enlicl-
enIng" the peasant which has been adopted by
the bureaucratic governments. a system which
dlsregards the traditions and hereditary attach
ments Of the peasant. and appeals only to 4 logi-
cal understanding which is not vet developed in
him, Is simply disintegratng and ruiuous to the
peasant character. The interference with the
communal regulations has been of this fatal char
acter Instead of endeavoring to promote to the.
utmost the healthy life of the Commune. as an
organism the conditions Of which are bound M
with the historical characteristics of the peasant,
the bureaucratic plan of government is bent OF
Improvement by It's patent machinery o! state ap-
pointed tunctiOnaries and ofhand regulations IN
accordance with modern enlightenment The
spirit of communal excusiyeness-,he resistance
to the indiscriminate establishment of strangers
is an intense traditional feeling in the peasant
8 This galOws is for and our children, Is the
typical motto Of this spirit Bu. such exclusive
ness IS highly irrational and rrpugnant t. mod
ern liberalism; therefore a bureaucratic govern
ment at once opposes It, and encourages TO the
utmost the introduction Of new inhabitants in the
provincial cOmmunes. Instead Of allowing the
peasants to manage their own afIars, and, if thew
happen to believe that five and four make eleven,
to unlearn the prejudice by their own experience
IN calculation, SO that they may gradually under
stand processes and not merely see results bu-
reaucracy comes with its " Ready ReckOner"
; nlm-tle
surest way of maintaining him in his stupidity,
however it may shake his prejudice.
The very practical views of the peasant, with
regard TO the demands of the people, we're in
amusing contrast with the abstract theorizing of
the educated townsmen. The peasant continually
withheld all State payments until be saw how mat
ters would turn out, and disposed TO reckon up
the solid benefit, in the form of land or money that
might come to him from the changes obtained.
While the tOwnsman was heating his brains about
representation on the broadest basis the peasant
asked if the relation between tenant and landlord
would continue rs before, and whether the removal
Of the Z" feudal obligations" meant that the farmer
should become owner Of the land?
1t is in the sane naive way that Communism is
by the German peasantry. The wide
spread among them Of communistic doctrines, the
with which they listened to plan for
the partition Of property, seemed to countenance
the notion, that 1t was deusiOn % suppose tie
peasant would be secured from this inoxication by
his love Of secure possessions and peaceful earn
Ings. But, in fact the peasant contemplated spar
i!tlOn" by the light of an historical rriainiscence
rather than Of novel theory. The golden age, In
the Imagination Of the peasant, was the time when
every member Of the commune had a right TO
much wood fion the forest would enable him TO
sell some, after using what he wanted in firing
in which the communal possessions were 50 profit.
able that, instead of his having 10 pay rates at the
end Of the wear, each member Cf the commune
was something in pocket Hence the peasants IN
general understood by partition" that the State
lands, especially the forests, vould be divided
luonr the cOmmuncs, and that. by some polite
egCrdemain or other, everybody would have free
irewood, free grazing for his cattle. and and
hove that, piece Of gold without working for Il.
That be should give up a single ciod of his own To-
further the general partition had never entered
the mind Of the peasant communist; and the per
;rption th5t this was an essential preliminary TO
partition" was often sufficient cure for his
Communis,Om.
The idea of constitutional government lies quite
beyond tie range of the German peasants cnncep-
ions His only notion Of representation Is that
1f representation Of ranks-of classes; his only
notion of deputy Is Of one who takes care, not of
he national welfare, but Of the Interests Of his own
,rder Herein lay the great mistake Of the dem
5cratic party in common with the bureaucratic gov
arrmcn,s, that they entirely omitted the peculiar
character of the peasant from their pol calcu-
atIons They talked IF the people, and forgot
hat the peasants were included in the term. On
" baseless niscOnCeptIOn Of the peasant char
lcter could induce the suppos,ton that he would
eel the slightest enthusiasm about the principles.
involved in the re constitution Of The Empire, or
even about the re-constituton itself. He has no
.eal for a written law, such, but only so far
I takes the form of a living llw--a tradition. IL
vas the external authority which the revolutionary
party h,d won in Baden tiat Attracted the peasants
nto participation Of the struggle.
Our readers viii perhaps already have gathered
rom the foregoing portrait Of the German peasant,
hat Riehl is not a who looks at objects
through the spectacles either Of the doctrinaire or
he dreamer and they will be ready to believe what
ne tells US in his preface, namely, that years ago
Ie began his wanderings over the hills and plains
# Germany for the sake Of obtaining, in immedI-
tie intercourse with the people, that completion of
MS historical political, and economical studies
yEich he WAS unable 10 End in books. He hegan