Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-05-06
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Mr.. Ru.uell's First Letter to the London Time

Weekly, per year ..........'s'..".....'.'. 10
Mr.. Russell's First Letter to the London Times
Mr. Russell's first letter from this country 4
the London Times ia dated at Washington
, March Goth. We quote the following pass
age, containing his Impressions of American
character, and particularly of the characteristic
, of New Yorkers:--- .- n. 4aas ,a.....
II We are accustomed to think the Americans
very excitable people; their personal conflicts
their rapid transitions of feeling, the accounts
their public demonstrations, their energetic ex-
. pressions, their love of popular assemblies, anC
the cultivation of the arts which excite thei
passions, are favorable to that notion. But New
York seems full of divine calm and human
phlegm. A panicin Wall street would doubtless
:, create greater external disturbance than seemed
to me to xist in its pleasant streets and man
sions. No doubt thereis, and must be, very grea
agitation Of feeling, and much apprehension
but to the stranger they are not very patent Of
visible. An legantrefnement, which almost as
sumes the airs of pococuranteism, reigns in so.
Iciety, only broken by the vehement voices of fe-
male patriotism or the denunciations addressed
against the provisions of a tariff which New Yorl
seems unanimous in regarding with hostility ant
dismay. If Rome be burning, there are hundred
of noble Roman fiddling away in the Fifth Ave
lnue and its dependencies, quite satisfied thai
lthey cannot Join any of the fire companies, anG
that they are not responsible for the deeds oil
the "Nero" or "anti-Nero" who applied thu
torch. They marry and are given In marriage
they attend their favorte theatres, dramatic OF
devotional, as the case may be, in the very best
coatg or bonnets; they eat the largest oysters
drink the best wines, and enjoy the many goods
the gods provide them, unmoved by the daily
announcement that Fort Sumter is evacuated
that the South are arming and the Morrill, tariff
is running the trade OF the country. And, az
they say, "What can we dol" ave are," they
insinuate, ''powerless to avert the march OF
events. Wethink everybody is wrong. Things
were going on very pleasantly when these AbO.
litonists disturbed the course of trade, and com.
merce, and speculation, with their furious fam
tastes; and now the South, availing themselves
Of the opportunity which the blindness of their
enemies has afforded them to do what they have
wished in their hearts for many year, start in
business for themselves, and will not be readily
brought back by the lure of any concession till
they find they are unable to get money to pay
their way, and resort to measures which may be
ruinous to capital or lead to reconstruction of
the Confederation on both sides.
If, pursuing the researches which such re-
marks suggest, an investigation is made In the
stratum Of thought by careful exploration, it will
not be long before the miner comes upon mat
ters which he never could have expected to find
in that particular gallery. What are the most
cherished institutions of the great Republic7 If
the intelligent foreigner were asked what were
the fundamental principles which guaranteed by,
and guaranteeing, their constitution, the people
of the United States admired the most, he would
probably reply: "Universsl suffrage with its in.
cidental exercise of vote by ballot) free citizen
ship, free press" Probably he would answer
correctly in the main, for he would know more
Of the matter than do, but if he visited New
York for a few days, what would be his amaze
ment to see his best friends shake their
heads at the very mention ofthese grand shibbo.
Ieths! How would his faith be disturbed when
he learnt from some merchant prince that uni
versal suffrage, in its practical working in that
city, had handed over the municipal government
TO the most ignorant--if not the most unprinci.
pied men-that it flooded and submerged the
landmarks of respectability and station by tide
of barbar0us immigrant foreigners-that the
press had substituted icentiOusness for liberty
and that the evil done in New York by these
agencies afflicted the whole State Ingenious
theorists might attempt to convince him that the
effect of these mischievous elements had been
felt at the very centre of the social system, and
bad led to the separation which, be ID temporary
or permanent, all Northern Americans deplore.
Few, however, would admit that the faildre of
Republican institutions isl any means involved
in the disasters which have fallen on the Com
monwealth, even when they freely confess that
they desire TO modify the Constitution, while
they lament theimpossibility of doing 90 in con-
sequence of the very condition of things it has
created. II is my firm conviction, forced on nv
u..1 kha of rc
whom have spoken, that they would gladly, if
they could, place some limits to their liberties
as far as their fellow men are concerned, and
that they begin to doubt whether Constitution
founded on abstract principles of equality of
mankind can be worked cut in huge cties.-ver.
liable cloac9 gentium- however successful Il
was In the earlier days of the Republic, and az
II is In the sparely Inhabited rural districts
where every inhabitant represents property.-l
These men may be small minority, but they
certainly represent great wealth, much ability.
and high intelligence In the State of which /
speak. They assert there isno recuperatiye pow
er in the Constitution. 8 TIs'.r
% The sick physician cannot heal himself for
he has caused his own illness, and Conyen.
tion, the great nostrum OF the fathers of the
Republic, is only an appeal from Philip drunk
to Philip mad. "Volumus leges America mu-
tari" ia their despairing aspiration, and they
Justify the wish by contrasts between the state
of things which existed when the Constitution
was prepared for the l3 Confederaled States |
aud that which prevails at the present time,
when "a States, some two or three of which
are equal to the original Republic, and many
of which declare they are absolute sovereign
ties, which have absorbed all the nomads of the
Old World, with fair proportion of the Gepp. |
bis Khans, Attilas, Timours in embryo, pre-
sent spectacle which the most sagacious of the
trainers of the original compact never could
have Imagined. They are impatient of the ills
they have, and are somewhat Indifferent to the
wondrous and magnificent results in material
prosperity and intellectual development which |
the old system either promoted or caused.
New York, however, would do anything rather
than fght-her delight Is to eat her bread and |
count her dollars in peace. The vigorous, de- |
termined hostility Of the South to her CONNER.
cial eminence, is met by sort of maudlin sym.
pathy without any action, or intention TO act.
The only matter in which the great commer-
eial arstocracy take any interest is the Morrill,
Tariff, which threatens to infct on them the
most serious losses and calamity. There is
general expectation that an extra session of
Congress will be called TO amend this obnoxious
measure; and it is ascertained that the necessity
for such session is, imperious; but so far as ri
can Judge, oil such hopes will be disappointed.
There is, no desire, at Washington to-
complicate matters BY stormy debates, and
the statesmen so recently elevated to power
are sufficiently well read in general and IN nat
ural history to know that extraordinary Parlia.
ments are generally the executioners of those
who call thems The representatives of the great
protected interests at the Capital deny that the
tariff will have the injurious effects attributed to
it, or that It augments to any very grievous