Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-09-23
SEPTEMBER %, 1861.

us as to what is good aud great in this
country. I declare to yOU that, GrriVed tn
| america Nth prepOSeSSionS ertremeiyt tdU0rd6is
to the United States, the reality has proved 10
| be far beyond those prepossessionS, at sight Of
those immense cyclopian cities and those
magnificent workshops, proportioned to a
condition of things where everything has
dimensions unknown to the Old World.
hare found in the United States that
trhich, despite my inclination to admire erery-
thing, did not expect TO meet NTH, on the
r0rd of eUen the most .farordbly disposed
Travellers, and that is perfect order, honesty,
eGgernesS to be Of serrice, If not WT6dnitY, life
comfortable, easy and regular; in fine en- hG-
JituaL intercontuct Gy all classes Of society
tchich neither soils, rounds nor chiiiS any one
will add that have been struck and
touched by the ardor, in some sort chival-
rous, with which the people of the North,
contrary to their most immediate and most
| mperious material interests, have thrown
themselves into q war in which they have
bnt one eud-that of vindicating the honor
of the flag of the common country, which
they believe to have been outraged by the
| South. This is what | have seen, and
what am very happy to say and to repeat.
| But must also be permitted to give, with
the same sincerity, the impression which
the very Il need not say yit) superficial con-
tact with the political men of the Union
assembled Mt Washington has made on me-
have found them, on every step of the
ladder which they could suCceSsivcly reach,
a jealous aud un6ri1icd democracy, in quest Of
men sufficiently mediocre to inspire neither
enry. hatred, esteem nor lore; everything
,chich rounds the sentiment Of equality, once
that 1t has passed The bounds Of reason and
common sense.
For long time, in the United States,
political and public offices have ceased to
be vocation in order to become n trade,
and one of the trades the least esteemed in
country where, according to the fine eX-
preston of de Tocqucvilc, all honest pro-
fessions arc honorable professions. Minis
terial portfolios, seats of judges, senators
and deputies, the very presidential chair,
belong to n limited class of citizens who
use them, so to speak, like monopoly.
think that in consequence of the es-
arrangement which public, even municipal
duties inspire in men of wei sht and capN-
bilitv, the republic Of the United States is
foWndt to possess It governmental personnel far
belotr the real ecorth of Tie nation. 1t is
plain to every one that there is there an
extreme term which cannot possibly be
passed, and that the evil, by its own ex-
cess, carries Wlluln IL ltS TcHSuy-
do not doubt that the present crisis,
which exposes the wounds of government,
its impotence, its incapncity and its thor
ough unpopularity, will be the beginning
of II salntary and regenerotive reaction.
| do not pretend to predict the new politi-
cal form under which America will pursue
the career of her destines; but this people
has vitality too great, political sense
too powerful, resources too vast for us to
hear that she will not profit wisely from
the experience of the past; and that, like
the extinct races, she will not be immOva-
Bile in her errors, nor, to avoid them, throw
herself into the opposite extreme.
The crisis will pass; the elements of
vitality which America bears within her
will give her strength to surmount it,
Soon you will see this country grenter,
! more full of future than ever.
[ end here for to-day this letter, already
7 quite long, and promise to send yOu the
remainder of it by the next mail.