The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-06-12
AuEmpsror wn.,ed,


A few years since Caleb Gushing thought he
could see "a man on horseback, advancing
with drawn sword in his hand,--a trans
atlantic Caesar, coming to fill out the trunca-
ted series of American presidents He did not
want him to come, but was sorely afraid he
would insist upon doing so. The restoration
of peace and the preservation OF the integrity
of the Union have probably banished this
phantom, born OF hypochondra and morbid pro-
slavery proclivities, from the brain of the
| Massachusetts sage .l4si 9dd AH
I But in these latter days a dangerous class Of
conservatives and reaetionists would seem to
be hos bitably inclined toward the imperial vis-
itor The Round Table, aliterary paper OF
sensibilities so exquisite that its editors must
Ebe constantly apprehensive of "dying of a rose
in aromatic pain" has taken the lead in the
wicked work of instilling into the American
mind the deadly poison of anti-republican
SENTIMENT This is done in a very guarded
manner, but its declarations are sufficiently
! clear TO Indicate badnDurpose. d7a- l1di1s
o Its disciples at present are neither strong in
numbers nor in intellect. They belong to that
class of men whose Representatives called up
| on the British Minister during the war; kiss
ed his boot in spirit of abject flunkeyism, and
implored him to secure the intervention OF
Great Britain. Like Tommy Moore, they
| clearly love lord." Accordingly when LORD
| Verisopht comes to this country with his cou
| sin, Lord Dundreary, these high-toned atoms
| so cringe before the patrician bloekheads anc
4 receive their vapid inanities with such ex
pressiens of idiotic delight that one is dispose'
to think, not that natures journeymen hay
naae them. but that the journeymen's crea
tures have in turn tried their hand at humuI
architecture. More than single stage of re
moval fro IN the original creative force Is neces
! sary to account 70 their want of all the toler
4 able attributes of humanity Ii.
! In the way of Argument they are general.
| incapable of any greater mental effort than l
| rssuired to enable them to reI eat their comics
sion of faith. This has been reduced to axiom
atic form for more convenient retention in tn
/ memory OF men who are born in q state o
\ hopeless intellectual insolvency. Ii is merel.
that democracy is failure because New Yorl
| is the worst governed city IN the world"
| But they do not remember that the despo
tism which is the object of their prurient de
sires is responsible for all that Is peculiaf il
\ the condition OF New York. The corruption
and misery of that city arise from the igncr
| ance and depravlty of the half-formod mind
that Europe sends US, and not from anythin.
! inherent in the nature of republican institu
! tions. There are thousands OF municipalities
| not subject TO the constant influx of foreign
| population, whose local governments are econ
o1nical, efficient and in every respect above re
proach In the course of time free school.
and free thought purify and elevate the foreigt
| clement of our population, and, losing its iden
| tity,. it becomes undistinguishable from the
4 great mass OF the American people. In New
| York alone the foreign element is so large and
| rsceives SO constant accessions that no oppof
| sanity is afforded for the assimlating process
to exhibit its results. At7 15j.5 q
! For a time perhaps monarch might be g
blessing to Manhattan. There are several mem
| hers Of the Bourbon and Bonaparte families
seo1es of German princelirgs, seedy Guelphs
and iethroned Hapsburgs, who would gladly
| borrow er1nine rags from their more iortunats
| relatives and faunt them before the delighted
| snobs, nlarnmon-w -worshippers and efete dan
| dies of Gotham. 1t is not altogether improba
| bic thut Macmillan might he induced to bring
| his nomadic establishment TO New York, hat
not the benighted people of his late empire con
ceived for him an affection so sudden and s.
| strong as to exhibit q marked unwiilingnes
| TO part with him. But if he brought with hin
| the authorized Napoleo-C Casarian philosophy
and its conclusions respecting the rights o
| the people, he would render their mcapacity
| for self-government chronic. aita
| p And seriously, the weightiest objection to
| Imperialism is just here. 1t is not primary
| school from which in good time men may grad.
| uatc competent republicans. You must i've in
republic to learn democracy, as you must &c
! into the water to learn the art of swimming
! A democratic society, even if composed of the
most unpromising material, will in time recoy'
| er from the ills which its immaturity and the
want of homogeneity in its constituent ele
ments infiict upon it. This Improvement al
ways results from popular education, and free.
dom in thought, while despotism weakens the
force of the individual character every moment
it is subject to its influence. Paris may, in
some respects, be governed more wisely than
New York. But better far be New York to-
day, and wait fifty years to become model
city, than to be Paris to-day and Paris forever.