San Andreas independent., 1858-05-01
Diversity Of Pursuits, the Strength and
Pride Of Nation,

partment of human industry be fostered
and patronized. The statesmen of the
United States, England and France, du-
ring the past twenty years, have acted
largely upon this theory. The results are
before the world. They lead off in the
front rank of the great procession of ma
tions. Russia, with her boundless re-
sources in men, and her iron-souled gov
ernment, moved as it is, by the genius of
a single mind, lags behind among the
Powers-a second-rate establishment in
peace and in war! We cannot account
for this apparent phenomenon upon the
arbitrary assumption that it is solely at
tributable to her form of government;
for the Republic of Mexico is just as apt
an illustration of stand-still power as
the veriest Absolutism that ever existed.
"For forms of government let fools contest,
What e'er is best administered is best"
We must look at the condition of her
people, as mass, socially, and compare
their genius and energy with Americans
and Englishmen, to reach the solution of
the problem. Among the latter, every
department of the arts, (useful and ele-
ganD has reached the utmost perfection,
known to the age. No one branch of in
dustry claims exclusive protection, but
each receives its due proportion of re-
spect, and harmonious whole is the re-
suit. By machinery, the labor of one
man is made equal to ten, under old sys-
tens and whilst commerce, which forms
the earth into one broad brotherhood of
nations, is regarded with care, the hum
bier minute of home trade and domestic
exchanges, are not neglected. Of the
great Importance of all these little mat
tiers the Russian is ignorant. Her great
army of semi-barbarous laborers are en-
ployed in the solitary vocation of agricul-
ture-agriculture unaded by the me-
ehanic arts, which make it delightful and
profitable. In ealintelligence, the masses
have only improved shade since the reign
of Peter the Great.
Let us now take England as the Mo
narchical antipode of this snail-paced pol
icy. Whilst every foot of her soil re-
ceives the highest polish which art and
industry can bestow upon it, and the
land-holders still retain the ascendencyin
the aristocratic branch of Parliament, it
often happens that some of the most re-
sponsible offices in the realm are filled by
tradesmen and mechanics. The honora-
BILE post of Lord Mayor of London, near
ly always furnished from these classes, is
a noted illustration of the truth of this
statement. The same classes hold the
balance of power in the Commons, and
influence the public taste through the
literature of England If we refer to
that powerful body, the merchants, to as
sist in this elucidation, we shall find that
they have mostly sprung from the ranks
of the industrial classes; and the same
may be said Of the most successful man.
ufacturers Whilst humble mechanics,
they learned those practical lessons of
business which can be no where else so
thoroughly acquired. And let Ameri-
cans say what they please of the power of
"King Cotton" and European fogies
cro,k until they are hoarse, of " the Di-
vine right of Kings" these two classes
of society-the mechanic and the mer-
chant-rule the world, whenever mankind
is most powerful and most enlightened.
They are the true Princes, levying their
tribute upon the four quarters of the
globe, and swelling the power of all their
subjects,
If we turn to the history of our own
country, we shall find that prior to the
period when the people of the United
States began to direct their attention to
the mechanic arts, and manufactures,
though strong in war, as Republic must
always be, we were weak and dependent
indeed in other respects. In one sense
a nasf9n of farmers may be considered
Independent; but until the mechanic arts
have stepped in to their assistance, such
condition of society is vastly in the rear
of the times-only step or two in ad-
vance of barbarism. That State in our
Union which has extended the greatest
facilities and encouragement to every va
riety of honorable industry, will be found
upon close inspection, opossess the great
est amount of real power, in peace or war:
and uice Uersd.
In the State of California, nothino Is
so imperatively demanded as healthy
diversity of pursuits; encouragement to
L. x,aohon.o