Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-11-10
A National weakness.

Mrs. Stowe, in her latest novel, takes occasion
to remark that contrary to the general impress
sion, wealth is not worshipped with so alb
sorbing devotion here as in England. As evi
denee of this, she refers to Thackeray's VANITY
Fair" in which, upon Mr.. Sedley's failure, all
his friends who had courted him in his prosper
ity, desert him at once, and pompous and hard
hearted old Osborne, who had been used to
cringe before him, cut his acquaintance and
compelled his son to break off his long standing
engagement with Sedley's daughter. Such mean
deseltiou of friend in misfortune, Mrs Stowe
truly says, is not the rule in American society,
although in England, at least in Thackeray's
time, it seemed to be considered the natural
and proper thing. 1t is pleasant to think that
we are not such seville worshippers of mamlhon
as our English kindred; that worth and talent
without rank or wealth, will more surely COM
mand soc al consideration in New York than
in London. We suppose that only in what
is called in England "middle class So
ciety' the loss of wealth is punished quite so
severely. Thacktray and other wits and novel
lists delight TO satirize the British merchant.
They represent his prominent traits to be mar
row-minded egotsm, characterization and un-
limited reverences for rank. This is the kind OF
man who mercilessly brushes his bankrupt
friend and compels his family, if compulsion is
needed, to ignore acquaintance whom fortune
has deserted. That kind of society in New York
Of which Mrs. Potiphar is an ornament, which
delights to see its doings chronicled in "0ur
Society" and "Tbe Season." is frivolous and
ostentatious enough; but, though it admits the
possessor Of wealth without insisting upou any
other requisite, it does not consider poverty so
essentially disgraceiul that the loss of wealth is
the signal for peremptory election from its
circle.
Perhaps this comparison is not so entirely
creditable to US as we may be inclined to be-
lieve. 1t is fattering to our self-esteem to be
told that we are better than our neighbors, and
the Aattery is no less palatable if the neighbors
happen to be our cousins as we'll But it may
be more wholesome to learn Of our weaknesses
than TO exult over our virtues. Assuming that
il is British trait to disown the acquaintance of
an unsuccessful man, there may be some germ
of reason and justice in this unlovely habit
Failure in business does not necessarily imply
dishonesty, nor even incapacity, but there is
presumption, which may indeed be rebutted, of
some kind of uDfaithfulness. Where a high
standard of commercial honor is maintained
failure to meet business engagements must
be felt as in some measure disgraceful and hu-
initiating. The ruined merchant admits it him
self, and is not surprised that his associates APP
ply 10 him the same rigid standard by which he
has been used to measure others. This rule
often works hardship in individual cases, but
there is compensation for this in its wholesome,
bracing effect upon commercial morality. The
Brlton has an element of hardness in his char
acter which enables him to enforce this and
other ru.es with a uniformity that Americans
cannot attain. The invinciblc forbearance or
good nature Of our countrymen is one of the
most dangerous national weaknesses. This it is
winch makes us submit meekly to the tyranny
OF hotel clerks and railroad conductors, though
they are not all tyrants Of course An English
man treated in his own country by persons in such
empioyments with the supercilious insolence
that we have learned to expect, would be more
than likely to knock down the oppressor, and
seek redress in the hospitable columns of the
Times besides. But we are more compliant; we
hate 10 trouble ourselves, and we hate to wound
any mans self esteem. So we humble ourselves
before the hotel or steamboat clerk, upon whom
we are temporarily dependent, feeling grateful
10 him if be is content to let us of with nothing
worse than languid impertinence; we make the
best settlement we can with the man who de-
clares that he can only pay ten cents on the dol
lar, and treat him personally with the same APP
parent iriendliness as before, though We more
than suspect that he is a swindler.
Our leneney toward misfortune is extended to
men who are bankrupt in character as %el as
IN money The young man who obtained mil.
hons by forgery and, strangely enough, went to
the pententiary for his crime, was received, on
his release, just as cordially as ever. Nobody
declined his acquaintance, and nobody. so far ms
we have heard, was willing to hurt his feelings
by refusing to do business with him. Wen
known lobbyists, who do not pretend to have
any other than that dishonorable business. and
legislators, who are VIGOROUSLY venal, are adj
mitted on equal terms to any society, and no
one makes their tainted reputation reason for
refusing to exchange with them the ordinary
sigus Of friendship. Boss Tweed, though he is
politically repudiated by his party, will,
no doubt, be treated socially as be has
been heretofore. Charity is an excellent
thing in It's place, but when II degenerates into
careless tolerance Of evil it becomes most
dangerous and demoralizing vice As we prac-
t9eit i encourages men who are weak or cor.
fapt g believe that crime brings with it no evil
consequences except the gailows and the peni.
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