The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1869-06-09
ms sruwink influence u Money.

Il is a significant phenomenon Of the
age that in England and all over Europe
the old reverence for aristocraey, and
that aristocratic exclusiveness which has
come down to US as a relic Of feudal times,
is rapidly dying out. This decay Of an
old and deeply rooted feeling is, it must
be confessed, chiefly due to change OF
sentiment among the privileged classes
themselves. Less than hundred years
ago in England, it was the custom for the
nobility to look down on wealth as some
thing any tradesman might obtain, and
TO prefer pedigree and privilege to all
things but after these to exalt lntellec.
tuai ability, or still better, artistic power.
An old peer had rather pride ip con.
trasting his poverty with the nabob's,
Aor merchants wealth, as showing hoW
little his social position depended upon
such an accidental circumstance as the
emosnt Of his rent-roll. To realize how
totally this feeling has changed, We have
only to note the present temper of the
House Of Lords as disclosed by recent
stterancss ofseperal Of its leading mem
bers. Only q month ago, Lord Salisbury
declared that in his opinion great wealth
accumulated in business gave claim to a
seat in the Upper House; that ne wished
thsss claims were allowed, and that the
Lords ought to represent all kinds Of
property-thereby, in his own judgment,
at ali events, doing all the honor he could
to the possession of cash. Lord Gran.
vile recently referred, in his place in the
House, to the money Lord Charms had
made iu bis profession as one of his high
est titles TO respect, and the Peers do
notSeen to have thought the remark
anything unusual. Even Lord Derby,
supposed to represent aristocratic feeling
more. closely than any English statesman,
who for that reason is SAID to carry the
Lords in his pocket, aud who appoints
the Irish representative Peers as fully as
bis father appointed members of the
Lower House, treated wealth as fit
werss in itself greatness, something
which not only gave dignity to its pos
SCISSOR, but which ought to give dignity.
s'This House" he said, RESTS upon e
foundation Of sure and Settled property )"
Il ought to consist of men with large
hereditary possessions nsn-ideas which q
hundred years ago, even if entertained.
woald scarcely have been expressed, and
world shave seemed to the! House, then
verypoor, almost revolutionary. Such,
hewesers are the arguments now used
by the most aristocratic of the Peers in
support Of LordsJ John Russelrs Life Peer
age Bill, by means Of. which 1t is pro
posed 10 give ''mers wealth an oppor-
tunity oFbeing represented IN the Upper
House. -. :. ,...:
Bnt not, only is lhe reverence for
wealth increasing among the nobility in
England. We see the Money Kings Of
the Continent taking yearly more, and
more Influential positions, and leaving
the sristocrstic element farther and far.
Their behind ID the race for power. And
not only this, bat We see crowned heads
engaging in the struggle for pelf and
showing . greed of gain-of the posses.
sion Of money FOR mere moneys. sake
that In the old times would have been
considered scarcely digni6ed. Again,
turning our eyes to this side of the At;
Antie, we find the passion for great
riches nowhere more fierce and doni,
nantihan in the great Republic. Here
itskas iRsaded our legislatures, dimmed
the reputation of the Bench, and cor
rur ted pur most sacred social relations.
The constant tendency of money to lodge
In the hands ofa few, has given US many
shameful spectacies of overweening arro-
ganes on one side, and humiliating SER
yiiits on the other. IL has shown us
one of the smallest States Of the Union
eoayulsed by the quarrels of two rival
manufacturing firms Of immense wealth
and almost unbounded Influence. 1t has
accustomed us;to witness, in the COM
mercial world, the operations ofa msr'
chant prince whose annual Income is
reckoned by millions, and to see our
courts monopoIized and our judges brow.
beaten by railroad corporations whose
tiatssHaye indeed become law. Well may
the rejecting inquirer ask whittier all
thiszteads,s and whether there is not
something portentious in this universal
apotheosis Of filthy lucre. The decay Of
chisaErTtin the Old World, and the wide
departure from republican simplicity in
the New, are certainly not signs of pro-
gress towards higher moral Level.
However msch money may do for Us
when rightly used as servant, it is sure
to csrrapt and degrade when we elevate
1t to,the rank of a master. That there
should be higher positions in the State
than those attainable by the mere ac-
cumulation of wealth, few will deny but
the tendency of the present seems TO be
10 overthrow all other standards. In
the old feudal times physical prowess
wasahe badge of the privileged classes,
and even5this was better than an arisfoc-
racy founded on mere money-grubbing.
The evil that is to be now guarded
against, is the elevation Of Mammon
above all other deities. Our youth
should be taught that there are other
prizes in the race life than the accumu-
iation Of wealth-that deeds of mercy
and benevolence, in short, an enlarged
philanthropy, are nobler aims than that
Of adding field to field. And not until
our youth are so taught, shall We be able
to stem the ever-increasing tide Of ava
rice-the ignoble passion that incites to
the acquisitions Of the millionaire.
- THE Albion.