The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-03-26
MACAuLAY ON DEMOCRACY
CURIOUS LETTER FROM LORD MACAULAY ON AMERICAN
INSTITUTIONS AND PROSPECTS.


From the Southern Literary Messenger
The following letter, which we have been per-
tied to present to the American people. in the
pages of the Messenger, belongs to an occasional
correspondence, of some years standing, between
Lord Macaulay and Hon. Henry S. Randall. of
New York, author of the Life of Jefferson:
HOLLY LODGE, KENsINGToN, LONDON, May23. 1897.
Henry S. RANDALL, EsQ.-Dear Sir: Yon are
surprised to learn that have not high opinion
of Mr.. Jefferson, and | am surprised at your sur
prise. l am certain that never wrote line and
that never, in Parliament, in conversation or
on the hustings-a place where it is the FASH
ion to court the populace-uttered word indica-
ting an opinion that the supreme authority in n
State ought to intrusted to the majority of citi-
zens told by the head in other words to the poor
est and most ignorant part of society have lonp
been convinced that institutions purely democratic
must, sooner or later, destroy liberty or cviiza-
ton, or both. -
In Europe where the population is dense, the eff
iect oil such institutions would be almost nstanta
neous. What happened lately in France is on e
ample. In lS4S pure Democracy was estabIishad
there. During short time there was reason m
expect general spoaton, a national bankruntcv
a new partition of the soil, maximum of nTicas
ruinous load of taxation laid on the rich for the
purpose of supporting the poor in idleness Such
system would, in twenty years, have made
France as poor and barbarous as France of the
Carlovingians. Happily the danger was averted
and now there is despotism, a silent tribune an
enslaved Press. Liberty is gone. but civilizat;on
has been saved. | have not the smallest doubt
that, If we had purely Democratic Government
here, the effect would be the same Either the
poor would plunder the rich, and civilization
would perish; or order and property would be
ertv would perish.
You may think that your country enioys an ex-
emptlon from these evils. l will frankly own to
you that am of very different opinion. Your
late peleVe to be certain though it is deferred bv
! physical cause. AS long as you have bopnd
less extent OF fertile and unoccupied land vour
laborlng population will be far more at ease than
the lab0ring population of the ola world. and
whlle that Is the case, the Jeffersonian policy may
continue to exist without causing anv fatal caami
y. But the time will come when New England
will be as thickly peopled as Old England Wages
will be as low, and will fuctuate as much with Won
as with US. You will have your Mancbesters and
Blrmlnghams; and, in those Manchesters and Bir
mlnghams hundreds of thousands of artisans will
assurediy be sometimes out of work. Then your
institutions will be fairly brought to the test Dis
uess everywhere makes the labOrer mutinous and
uiscontented, and nclines him to listen with eager
ness to agitators who tell him that it is monstrous
lnlqulty that one man should have million Will
| another cannot get full meal In bad vaars tbaro
Is plenty OF grumbling here, and sometimes little
rotng But it matters little For here the sufarors
are not the rulers. The supreme power is in the
hands OF class, numerous indeed, but select of an
educated class, of class which is and knows itself
to be, deeply interested in the security of property
and the maintenance of order. Accordingly, the
hlIVonIeHls are HTlDly, yet gently, restrained.
The bad time is got over without robbinp the
| wealthy to relieve the INDECENT. The springs of
national prosperity soon begin to flow again; work
Is plentiful wages RISE and all is tranquility and
! sheertuIness. have seen England pass three or
lour times through such critical seasons as | have
described. Through such seasons the United States
VIII have to pass in the of the next centu-
| ry, II not OF this How will you pass through thems
! heartily wish you good deverance. But nv
reason and my wishes are at war and | cannot
! heip ioreoodlng the worst. 1t is quite plain that
| your Government will never be able to restrain
| distressed and discOntented majority For with
| you the majority is the Government and has the
rich, who are always a minority, absolutely at
| Its mercy. The day will come when, in the State
! OF New York, multitude of people, none of whom
! has had more than half breakfast, or expects to
! have more than half dinner, will choose a Legis-
ature. Is 1t possible to doubt aChat sort of Leafs
tdtare ,eiH be chosen' On side is a statesman
preaching patience respect for vested rights strict
observance of public faith. On the other is dem
! agogue ranting about the tyranny of capitalists
and usurers, and asking why anybody should be
permitted to drink champagne and to ride in car
rage, while thousands of honest folks are in want
of necessaries. Which of the hco candidates Is
Lthety to be preferred By aooring man lgHo hears
hlS children cry for more bread2 seriously appre-
hend that you WILL in some such season of adyersitv
as have described do things which will prevent
prosperity from returning; that you will act like
people would, in year of scarcity-devour all the
seed corn, and thus make the next year. a year not
of scarcity, but of absolute famine There will
De- fear, spoliaton. The spOiaton will increase
the distress. The distress will produce fresh spoa-
ton. There is nothing to stay you. Your Consti-
tuition is all sail and no anchor. As said before,
when society has entered on this downward
progress, either civilization or liberty must perish.
Either some Caesar Napoleon will seize the reins
OF government with strong hand; or your Repub-
lc VIII be as feartully pundered and laid waste by
barbarians in the twentieth century as the Roman
Empire was in the fifth; with this difference that
the Huns and Vandals, who ravaged the Roman
EMPIRE, came from without, and that your Huns
and andals will have been engendered within your
country by your own institutions.
Thinking thus, of course | cannot reckon Jeffer-
son among the benetactors of mankind. | readily
admit that his intentions were good and his ab-
ties considerable 0diOus stories have been circu-
lated about his private life; but | do not know on
what evidence those stories rest; and | think it
probable that they false, or mOnstrously exag-
| ggrated. have no doubt that shall derive both
pleasure and Information from your account of him.
have the honor to be- dear sir,
our faithful servant,
7. B. MACAULAY.
X. G. C.-The order of X. G. c. held
public meeting on Tuesday ever ming last in Mont
gomery, Alabama, at which Gen. Buckley, the
grand hierophant of the Order, made speech
Gen. Buckley is thus reported in the Montgome-
ry Nal:
, The X. c. c., order of the Knights of the
Golden Circle, he said was organized as early as
in the year 1854, and originally intended to
suDSeTVe Lne interests OF the Southern
States The name, he admitted, was one savoring
Of romance, but he thought that the name of an
association was not always index to its charac-
ter, and he cited that of the Native American party
OF this country as an example The title of knight
hood he claimed had long existed within the limits
OF our country, it being embodied in a degree of
the most honorable fraternity Of Free MasOns as
well among certain partisans Of colonial times.
who were designated by the title of ''Knights OF
] the horseshoe He denied that the age of chiv-
airy had entirely passed away for it not only ex-
ised, but it was universally recognized among the
! children of the ''sunny South"
The General after alluding to the attitude of the
North and South relative to the question of negro
slavery, and avowing himself to be a Union man
r as long as the Federal compact respected and
sustained, proceeded to give brief outline histo-
: ry of the organization at the head of which he
stood, from the time of its birth to the present.
lie briefly narrated his various conferences with
the two contending powers in Mexco-incidental-
Il ly giving a vivid sketch of the terrible state of
r government within its borders. He mentioned
the fact that he had originally been induced t. make
a contract with the MiramOn or Church faction;
but the recognition of the JnareZ Liberal party
t by the United States Government, had compelled
him to espouse the cause of that party, in order
avoid a collision with his own countrymen-an
event which he had resolved should never occur.
The organization of X. G. c., he remarked, en-
braced a numerous membership within the limits
: of Mexico ITSELF consisting of many of the inAu-
entiai and wealthy citizens, whose only hope for a
stable and permanent government Law in the inter
= vention of foreign arms and ntellects.
He claimed that this work of Americanizng
/ Mexico belonged of right and of necessity to tn
d people of the South, whose interests would be
:, most closely touched by it. 1t was a country re-
markaby adapted to the production of those arti-
> cles wherein consisted the wealth and supremacy
e of the South, and when the doors were once
If thrown open he unwilling to believe that
Southern men would stand passively by and see the
richest country the ever shOne upon oVerrun
! and peopled by their Northern rivals.
He stated that the object of his present visit to
a Alabama a double one-embracing that of
raising men and means to arm, equip, and trans
a port them to the scene of action He remarked
that Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Maryland and
h other Southern States had responded in the most
substantial manner-in all of which States he had
from one to two regiments prepared for the field
: twenty -four hours notice. He expected Alabama
a to give him two regiments of her brave sons and
at least the amount of money required to place
+ them upon the soil OF Mexco,-and if the res
ponse prompt as he was led to anticipate,
many days would not elapse before the drums and
i cannon of X. G. G.. would res0und before the
a walls of the city of Mexico.
He had at all events pledged his assistance to
the Liberal party of that unhappy country, and he
q was determined to do the work. Said the General:
: "0nce let me place my foot npOn Mexican soil,
backed by l6, 900 of my brave countrymen, and the
: destiny of that people is decided"
e The Exports OF GREAT BRITAIN.-The total ex.
ports of England last year amounted to ninety mil
/ lions of dollars more than in 1858. The value of
goods shipped to foreign countries in 1859 was six
hundred and ffty-two millions of dollars OF this
l..