The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1866-04-21
AMERICAN CHARACTER.

often been the subject Of coarse caricature
than friendly comment. Foreign tourists
have proverbially made us the object of their
attempted satire; and ridicule has exhausted
its resources from the feeble gossip of Troll
LoPE to the brilliant conceptions of DICKENS
at our expense. The ideal American in
England is the result Of cockney ignorance,
and the lanklimbed, sharp-visaged JONATHAN
that figures in the cartoons Of Punch. We
could afford to laugh at the insular or CONT
mental misconception of us, as we were get
ting on very well, and had rather confirmed
IDEAS of our own Importance, and did not dis
count ourselves at home.
The American character has never been
fully developed, its points never brought
out its elements called into being, or its ca
pacity tested, until the late war. We had been
noted for bargains, for invention for CONNER.
cial genius for plethora ofeloquence, and for
everything requiring smartness and activity.
Wewere unrivalled in all the hazards of adven-
ture, and successfully competed in the fields
Of active labor. But which was the ruling
race in this nation-the northerner or the
southerner? Which was the most essentially
American; which had the greatest force of
character; which had the eternal ideas, could
only be worked out in the great furnace of
affection and the fiery crucible Of civil war.
We think these questions are now settled,
both at home and abroad What the average
OF manhood is in any nation depends upon
the opportunities afforded its citizens for cul-
ture, the general enlightenment with which
they are surrounded, and the type of excel
lence held up for example. This war has
not only settled that the power of numbers
and the victory were with the North, but
that the people educated under free institu-
tions have received from those institutions
the most positive characteristics, and are to
impress the future and shape the destiny of
this country, and fix the type of our race for
all coming time.
Free institutions made the North. Its
character was no more manly, warlike or
heroic than that Of the South. Both averaged
the same. But the free SYSTEM and unbarred
chances Of progress prevalent in the North,
made more of its character, produced its SUI
periority of numbers, its superiority of re-
sources, and its ultimate success. Nearly all
our legations abroad are the representatives
of free institutions. The old world knows us
now only through them. Those institutions.
since the return Of peace, are extended to
every State, and will have their effect in
moulding the character of the South. 1t
can be said, in truth, that one phase of Ameri-
can character is rapidly passing away. No
better commentary on this fact is possible
than the difference in the position and infu-
ence of two Americans now in London.
GEORGE PEABODY, a native Of Massachu-
sets, with the simple advantages of New
England education, and the indomitable
will and energy which that people bequeatbs
to its children, tried his fortune in England.
He amassed wealth. endowed his native
town with legacies; generously contributed
to the cause of his country while at war and
eliminated an honorable career by founding
the most munifcent charity for the poor Of
London of which there is any record. About
to return to his native land, the Queen of
England extends to him the highest compli-
ment within her power; and the English
press can scarce find words sufficient to do
him honor. He comes back to America with
the special honors of royalty, the love Of
the poor, and the respect of all Britain as
his glory. JONI NJ. Mason, of Virginia was
reared in slave State. He was of the best
blood" of that famed Commonwealth. lie
was pure specimen of the peculiar institu-
tion. He had all the arrogance, self-compla-
cency, and contempt for the lower orders
that marked the f. F. VS. of the olden
time. As citizen he was courtly and
aristocratc. As q Senator he was naughty
and imperious; as a politician illiberal and
proscriptive. lie was sent abroad to repre-.
sent the Southern Confederacy at st. James.
AT first he was somewhat feted by the snobs
and the nobility, who, naturally taking the
side of oppression, sympathized with the
South. He soon lost the character of lion,
and dropped into profound contempt There
he is to-day the confederacy of which he was
the psuedo ambassador is :" like the baseless
fabric of a vision" the South, which to him
was an idol, has been shattered to pieces
"like . potter's vessel" and the institution
with which it was his pride to be associated,
and around which he threw the sanction of
divinity,is so utterly destroyed that no vestige
remains He still fingers in the capital of his
English ancestors but the capital which he
was sent to represent fell one year ago into
the possession Of the hated Yankees" and
on the anniversary of its fall twenty thou
sand negroes, with waving banners and wild
chants, celebrated their deliverance from
bondage. lie remains in strange land, ut
terly without distinction or influence, and
cannot return to the land of his birth but as
a criminal and traitor, save by the mercy of
a generous Government. Look here ON
this picture" of the loyal and muniGcent
PEABODY, land then on This" of the naughty
rebel MASON, and who will not say that trea-
son is already infamous.
THE WAY THE MONEY GOES.
ThAddeus Stevens attempted to add from eigh.
teen to twenty thousand dollars year to the PEG
MI Ia taN nd nj tha IN to hal