Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-01-13
THE ELEPHANT DICKENS

NsAN
selves for his especial glorifcation.
With what u terrible diarrhea of Dick
ems articles are all the newspapers filled.
In truth, the "very dickens is to pay
with them all. They have gone of into
regular Dickens conniptions, and are
perfectly demoralized, dementalized
and dephysicalized on the subject. How
re~treshingly they bow their heads in
meek forgiveness Of the snobbish cock
ney who, in his "American Notes. and
"Martin Chuzzlewit," so freely and I'M
gratefully abused, satirized and ridi-
culed everything he saw, heard or ex-
perieuced in America. Let the toadying
flunkeys now so recklessly adoring him
remember that he is again taking notes,
and that they have no more claims upon
his royal consideration than did their
predecessors of twenty-five years ago.
In those works Of which we speak,
written Immediately subsequent to his
former visit TO America, he was writing
under the full impression that he mover
should come hero again, therefore he
gave unrestricted vent to his ill-natured,
snobbish views and deductions, as COM
pared with his deep seated, self-satished
English prejudices and predictions.
Throughout "Martin Chuzzlewit,' es-
pecially, there is a strong vein Of self
appreciation and English sclf.estcem,
which crops out on every leaf; and
measuring US by his W regal stand
ard, "His royal nibs" could find moth
ing p~raiseworthy in all h~istrarels among
Americans to admire. Absolutely moth
thing, except a sherry cobbler, which
Mark Tapley brought him one day when
he was sick with the chills and fever,
away out West. That immortal cob
bier, entering his patrician outlet, as
cended with its peculiar amel;orating
effects to his giant English brain, and
being q very agreeable diversion from
the regular porter and ale of old Lon
don, before he was fairly aware, it had
~ensconsed itself within his Uranium as
the only good thing he found iu Amer
lea. Thus it would seem the only road
to his brain was through his stomach,
and therefore he was incapable Of APP
prcciating, properly, what appeared to
him through the mediumship OF his
other senses. He certainly did criticise
US correctly enough in many instances,
but surely he might have discovered
among US something good, besides that
sherry cobbler, if he had only been
more just than he was generous. The
| following extract from 'Chuzzlcwit'
will serve to show Dickens appreciation
and impressions of American character.
"He was a great politician, and the
one article of his creed, in reference to
all public obligations involving the faith
and integrity Of his country was, run a
moist pen slick through everything, and
start fresh This made him q patriot.
In commercial affairs he was a bold
speculator. In palmer words, he had a
most distinguished genius for swindling,
| and could start q bank, or negotiate q
loan, or form q l~and-jobbing company
(entailing ruin, peS%tilence, and death,
on hundreds of families), with any
| gifted creature in the Union. This
made him an admirable man Of BUSH
ness. He could hang about q bar-room
discussing the affairs Of the nation, for
twelve hours together; and in that time
| could hold forth with more iutolerable
dullness, chew more tobacco, smoke
more tobacco, drink more rum-toddy,
mintjulop, gin-sling, aud cocktail, than
any private gentleman Of his acquain-
lance. This made him m orator and n
man Of the people. In a word, the
| Major vas a rising character and a pop
| ular character, and was in a fair way to
be sent by the popular party to the State
House Of New York, if not in the end to
Washington ITSELF
"One who rides at all hazards of limb
| and life in the chase Of a fox, will prefer
to ride recklessly at most times. So it
was with these gentlemen. He was the
greatest patriot, in their eyes, who
| brawled the loudest, and who cared the
| least for decency. He was their cham
| pion, who, in the brutal fury of his own
pursuit, could cast no stigma upon them,
for the hot knavery Of theirs. Thus,
| Martin learned in the FIVE minutes
struggling talk about the stove, that to
| carry pistols into legislative assemblies,
and swords in sticks, and other such
peaceful toys to seize opponents by the
throats, as dogs or rats might do to
buster, bully, and o%verbear, by personal
assailment, were glowing deeds. Not
thrusts and stabs at Freedom, striking
far deeper into the House Of Life than
any sul,an's cimetsr could reach but
rare incense on her affairs, having q
grateful scent in patriotic uostrils, and
curling upward to the seventh heaven
Of fame"
GAN their cares, hopes, joys, afec-
tions. virtues, and associations, seemed
to be melted down into dollars. What
ever the chance contributions that fell
into the slow caldron Of their talk, they
made the Cruel thick and slab with dol
lars. Men were weighed by their dol
lars, measures guaged by their dollars ;
life was a~uctioueered, appraised, put up,
and knocked down for its dollars. The
next respectable thing to dollars was
any venture having their attainment for
its end. The more Of that worthless
ballast, honor and fair-dealing, which
any man cast overheard from the ship
of his Good Name and Good Intent, the
more ample stowagc-room he had for
dollars. Make commerce one huge lie
and mighty theft. Deface the banner
of the nation for an idle rag; pollute it
star by star; and cut out stripe by stripe
as from the arm Of a degraded soldier.
Do anything for dollarsl What is a flag
to them r
This genial Johnny Bull evidently ap-
| nears IN entertain M vsrv axoltsd