New-York daily tribune., 1856-03-17
THE STATE or ENGLAND.
Hssn an Oeoasioesl Correspondent. -.

Nod. Mr.. Dawson, you know, Is conspicuous
rs,,o, hcye for his freedom Of speech, aud is,
wishal, a popular lecturer and preacher Ills SUB
ieet was the Life and Times OF Deioe and he did
f.p ;n.t;ce presume, to that bustng little critic
,,l eon,royersialist II is not worth crossing the
Atlantic to hear Mr.. Dawson Ger :anly, but he is
an entertaining speaker to an uncritical audience,
and said many things indicative OF good heart
and cultivated sympathies. The bother with him,
70 a more critical hesrer is, that being second
rate or third rate man. he insists upon giving him
self the airs and going through the motions OF a
rsi-rate one Hence you are kept on the per-
pe.ual stretch while you listen to adjust his para-
hx. or strike q balance betweco his true and his
apparent dimensions. 4he plumage OF the ord
h dispropOrtionate TO its body. more seii-con-
scious speaker, it seemed TO me, had seldom
heard. and bis intense sympathy with the elects
he produced on bis audience fairly gurgled at times
In bis throat or gave his voice the semblance OF
xsdzs But suppose that this sort OF sympathy
inheres in all persn0sire oratory, or oratory ad-
drs ssed TO the feelings; and that the most eIec-
tive preaching, if its Intervals could be disclosed,
would be seen to be little more than spiritual
iumbling aid posturDg. Bat he is good soul, l
have no doubt, and they say he has done great
deal here to make people sensible Of the liberal and
tolerant depths which had before been lying undis-
covered within them.
Twas struck with the effect Of one of his allu-
sions He said that Defoc was once bankrupt,
but that he had got up again aud eventually paid
all his debts lie then went on to remark that the
English law permitted the bankruptto go on again.
provided it were satisfied that be had been honest
and painstaking: "but the law Of honor and con-
"science binds him to pay seeenteen shillings and
'sxpence in the pound with interest from date, If
"he is again successful in business" Such
storm of applause burst forth hereupOn as to make
one sure that the English selflOye had been It'll
lated 10 very tender place. The strong point IN
the English character is pride in the national mo-
rality. Englishmen are not personally concelted,
and they lack the viyacity which that leaven inn
parts. An average Irishman or Frcnchman has
enough self-conceit to float dozen ordinary En-
glishmen. But the EDglshman is proud of his
pecunia integrity and any allusion to it is sure to
set his hat a-cock and his arms a.kimbo. Much
of EnglaDd's prestige in Europe is doubtless owing
to her possession Of this virtue; doubt the lead
ing part che has played in European affairs is
mainly attributable to it. Iii grand national pos
session, and will be an important element in the
full diapason of united humanity. But the En-
glsh are so proud of it that you are quite certain
that it can't be a thoroughly good thing. The
good that foments pride is never very
celestial good, we may be sure. So in
This ease. 1t is not only well, but inevitable
that man should pay his debts. Either in this
world or the next we must all pay our debts. But
then extreme care will be- taken that the debts be
iust and not merely conventional ones. The ques-
ton turns then upon what mans debts are-upon
what he really owes. When business man lives
rnprudently, as so many do; when he furnishes cx-
tIavsgantly keeps his carriage aud opera-box, and
in all other ways invites calamity thea OF course
he should be held responsible to the last silver,
and no court in ChristendOm should give hIm
certificate But suppose the man to have lived hon
esily to have avoided all eNtravagant habits, to
have been reasonably assiduOus in business and
then suppose that by some disastrous stroke OF
Providence, such as fire or shpwreck, or perhaps
the introduction Of new aud more marketable fab
rics than those which his have been invested
to produce, the man is reduced from wealth to
poverty, do you mean to cay that honor and CON
science do not cry quits with him forever
Honor is only conventional conscience, and may
perhaps say nay; but the unadultcrate conscience
alters no such Draconic judgments. Conscience
beaches us to be entirely satisfied when we have
done our best and 10 refer our failures after that
event to imperfect social machinery. For clearly,
l.. l. ,lsoI lo~,,.l 10
end, and fail of success, our social arrangements
alone must be in fault, and if any third person be
involved in our failure he should be told 10 seek
his remedy at the hands OF society. Ofcourse the
majority of men are vastly too yirtuous to be con-
tent with simple justice, and they will go on to
rack their bones after to pay up these Obliter
ated obligations. But these are the children of
pride, stomaehs that have deted so long on the
whip-sy llabub OF sophisticate conventional moral
hy, as to have lost all relish for simple Divine
goodness. Thank God, the glory of that house has
departed, ard the time is rapidly coming when ali
men viii see that the characters (Which have
been most highly esteemed among men" have been
sheer nuisance in the Divine estimation
One gets better impression of human nature,
living in this swarming beehive Of London The
other day, while l was wandering through the
poorer and more thicky settled parts of the city,
and seeiug how the people lived, how the husband
cIbowed the wife, and the wife stumbled over her
children and neighbor could never for moment
get out of sight of neighbOr, but each perpctuslly
sostied the other from morning till night the thought
came over me with great force, "After all, how
"httle wickedness there is in the world Only