Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-06-13

element Why do not some oil our poIIucaI
economists halt for one moment in their wTang'
ling over free trade or free labor, their noisy
fights as to whether in every petty election 1.-THE
ms shall be out or the outs shall be in, and
look with prophetic eyes at this never mooted
question which forces itself on thoughtful
mind at every street corner. Half OF great
nation has silently made its exodus from its ma
tive soil, and come among US. A nation with
spirit, temperament, literature, philosophy esen-
tally antagonistic to that of the Anglo Saxon.
Yet so silently have they come, so quietly nave
they settled down into the vacuum which seemed
to be waiting for them, that their existence as
an active element in our body polite is virtual
" ignored. Some day this "go-ahead Yankee
nation" will start ito find how deep and how
wide the inoculation has spread, how thoroughly
its hot eager flow of blood has become cooled
Germanized. It's true the German element is
recognized to certain extent by politicians,
but it is rather as passive force than moving
spirit, rather as cumbrous unwieldy machine
than an active motive power. We have German
newspapers in every village, German reviews OF
circulation equal to own quarterlies, the
Geaman vote controls the election in several OF
our largest States; but which among the leading
movements of the day is of German originr In
our legislative halls, among the stalwart frames
that mark English blood, theswarthy Frenchman
or the impetuous Celt who mingles with the
Americans. we look in vain for the native leu
ton. Why is this? Not from any lack OF pow
CT in this massive body introduced among us to
force itself into notice; nor of will. But as
we believe, from the national antagonism which
exists between the peculiar essence of the Ger
man mind and ours. The German is in soul an
ultra democrat, the American 1--WE know we
sneak trcason) is republican from exPediency
more than conviction; he cherishes blushlngly,
secretly a reverence for rank and title, but under
free government he 'tgets on" he can 'rise"-
better The German is in action slow, practical;
The American vivid, speculative. The former rea-
sons, broods, ponders, until the moment for &C.
ton is past; the latter acts from intuition before
the moment comes. One is poet in religion,
the other eminently commercial. The German
al EeEqEanGIsaO fpF tins h4ll9&sa "a. as
story sought for the magic diamond, which they
thought they shining on the top of the
mountain peak. Like the pilgrims diamond,
perhaps their truth when found may be but
sparkling water which could as well have been
they have gone up the mountain. They are
farther above the cloudy region of forms and
creeds than we; breathe freer purer air. What
will be the end, we ask again? How will this
affect our social systemP What will be the ulti-
mate outward change in our political organiza-
ton when tits thoroughly impregnated, saturat-
with this new element? 1t is we contend, one
of the great problems of the age. Why it is SO
little regarded, we confess ourselves unable to
determine.
Upon English literature the Germanic influ-
ence has been more abrupt and startling in its
results, The principal cause of tho slowness of
action of the Teutonic mind upon the politics
of our country is, we apprehend the want of
combined force. Each German thinks for him
SELF They have but little esprit du corps. To
use Kossuth's favorite word, they want solida-
rite as people But in the region of art
or literature, this objection loses it force
Look at the facts. Two centuries ago, nothing
was known of German literature in England
beyond Lnther's Psalms and Boehme's wild rev.
cries. A century later, Pere Bouheur asked
seriously, "t9i t't Allemand peut aUoin Fesprit7'
Now, the philosophy, the poetry, and most of
all, the theology of England and America are
becoming German to almost alarming de-
gree. They have been baptized in the Rhine.
We must be. brief in particularizing. What
men exercise the widest influence as metaphy-
steal thinkers among Anglo Saxon writers p
No one familiar with the course of English
thought, will pause an instant in replying
Carlyle and Emerson, the irst an exponent in
common languages of Novalis and Richten; the
last, German in soul us much us any Herr
Teufelsnrock. Yet no theoretical writer's, we
venture to affirm. ever exerted so vital, instant
an influence as these men DO upon the mass of
the reading public in Old and New England
In our religion, notwithstanding the popular
belief that the words German and infidcl are
synonymous terms, the influence has been far
from unhealthful. The free, more liberal
spirit in our churches, the idealization of our
somewhat material creeds, we believe, comes
from the unseen, unacknowledged motive power
of the transcendental faith. topic to which
volumes might be devoted, should not perhaps