The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-08

open a counting-house next door TO cheese
monger; to cause to be put upon brass plate
and set up over his windows, Lord Archi-
bald Cam pbeli a Co.,, Wine Merchants;n TO
go of to the GaroDne to study the wine
trader TO invest in partnership and
manage its affairs; to solicit commissions from
Bordeaux exporters; to seek for q fortune by
contracting to supply the cellars of his club
instead of spending fortune in emptyng them:
to take 1nshort, as tranquil and unfeudal and busi-
esslike view ofmodern life, its relations and its
prospects, as If he were the son of the simplest
shepherd or ''gtllie" that ever wore the tartan
or ,plped the pibroch of Clan .Campbell--this
shakes Belgravia like the first thrill of social
earthquake. If this sort Of thing is to go on
the worshippers of Lord John Manners creed
seem to say, Grosvenor square will speedily be-
come as promiscuous as Heaven itself. A quar-
ter OF a century has hardly passed since Lord
John sung, in an ecstacy of social Puseyism:-
"Let arts and learning, q ade and commerce die,
But God preserve our old nobiItyp. W.
and lol here is one of the oldest of "our old
nobility" embracing trade and commerce. as
the decss et pTGsidlun1, the staff and stay of his
life! The siren chant which has charmed the
ears of this canuiest of Campbells is of quite
another measure;--
earl Percy mines for coal and salt
The Duke Of Norfolk deals In malt ....
The Douglas IN red herrIngs;
And ancient name and cultured land
} aace and park, and vassal band,
Are p0werless to the notes of hand
OfRothschild and the Barlngsp'
1t will hardly do, to deal with such a pheno
menon as this as IL II indicated the decline of
ar1stocracy in Britain, however Its meaning
we take to be that the merchant is going up
rather than the noble coming down. Even in
our own country, at the time of the Revolution
the notion that there was something degrading
IN trade was pretty strongly rooted; and good
old Boston Federalists were always ready with
evidence to prove that John Hancock became
rebel manly because the gentlemen of the ser.
vice and OF the professions looked down upon
MS ledger-begotten wealth. Mercantile opu-
lence could then make its way into the British
peerage, but only by sheer corruption and
through the Court; in our own times it has
made its way there by force of talents and of
character, and through the public. Lord Archi-
bald only caps and clowns the modern expe-
rlence oil the BarlDgs and the Lloyds, and asks
'SInce money can honestly make O nobleman
why may not nobleman honestly make
mOncyN
The answer of English society to such a oues
tlon Is worth noting out of England as we'll as
IN England, because it carries with it fresh
illustration of that practical, and as we NAV
call It, democratic force in the organization of
the English arstocracy when always has dis
tinguished and still, as we see distinguishes il
IRON the aristocraces of the continent. Between
such case as this of Lord Campbell aud the
case OF the Prussian Count EuIensten, who, a
year or so ago, cut down a cook with his sabre
ana was let Oil with no more punishment than
Louis XIV administered TO the Count OF Charo-
lals for amusing himself by shooting carpenters
on the roofs OF the houses about the Palais
Royal, lies great gulf, which really makes
two complete and differing civilizations 1t
is curious speculation, too, in connection
with this case OF Lord Campbell, and specu-
lation which brings the case. IN a manner
across the Atlantic to ourselves, whether the
Duke OF Argyll who consents to see his son be-
come wine merchant, would have consented
as readily to see him open dry goods SHOP
Here. IN New York or BosI Ton. native whole
sale importer of old sherres would no doubt
be very much "1iledn II any one were to eX
press surprise at his receiving an invitation
to dine with a duke. But have we not
perhaps, a lew wholesale importers of old
sherrles who would consider it great piece
OF lmpertinence If q merchant tailor should
present himself in evening dress to put
his legs under their mahogany and sip their
Amonullado? Is it certain that what the
baton of noblesse had failed to do, the
pltChork o! democracy has accomplished,
and that human nature has really been driven
out OF the windows of independence Hall ?
1t levelling goes on upon one side Of the |
water, does not climbing 90 on upon the other? |
And is 1t by any means clear that all the dukes
in England should take to wholesale coster-
mongering. and all the dukes sons to brewing
ale, nay, that If Impartial suffrage" should be
conceded to all Americans of African descent
and John Bright be chosen President OF the
British republic, the social philosopher on
either side the sea would never more be re-
minded by the ways of men and women that
"Great feas have little feas
Upon their backs to bite 'em:
And these again have lesser heas,
And sO-Gd tRinitu11 %