Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1871-11-04
The Pageantry Of Republics.

Inc fageantry or Republics.
The numerous popular demonstra-
tons which have everywhere been
made to the President, along the lines
ul his recent tours, both in the West
and in the East, must have been
highly fattering to His Exccllency
He will have done we'll if, after this
succession of ovations, he returns to
his duties without undue elation at
the possession Of a position which
commands the homage of an intelli-
gent people-with his humility unim
paired, or his vanity uninspired
Ii is not strange in absolute and
other monarchies, where the will of
the ruler is equivalent, or nearly so,
20 law, and where property, and even
life, hangs upon the caprice of an
irresponsible sovereign, to see til.
parade of gorgeous obscquiousness
which must always greet the APP
proach of royalty.
Put in land where every citizen
is sovereign and the rulers are but
the servants of the people, it is mat
ter of serious question if such dem
constructions are in consonance with
the spirit of our institutions; or
whether comparison of our own with
the practices of far less liberal gov
ernments, in this respect, is not fatal
to our consistency. They, naturally,
look up--we, SO to speak, should look
dozen for those who serve us officially.
With them, the right to govern is
heritage-a peculiar fortune at some
time or other having invested certain
families with the prcrogatives, not
only of government, but of trans
hitting it with their blood. With US.
the privilege of serving is measured
by capability and merit. A premium
is thus offered to effort, which, being
open to all, enlists the ambition of
multitudes who, otherwise, would be
but political drones.
But while merit will, in some way,
sooner or later, meet its reward, it
carries with it an idea of temperance
we'll BETTING the manner of it's be-
stowal. The hero of battles, return
ing from the field of national triumph,
may appropriately be received with
the booming of cannon and rattle of
musketry. But he, whose fearless
victories ledden no plain scene
of who's. bloodless triumphs is in the,
quictude of the Executive Chamber
he needs not the sound of artillery
to herald his coming, nor that of rev.
elry to betokcn nations hospitali-
ty. Entitled to the reverence which
his position presupposes he has hon
oratly won, any ostentatious display
of attention and sycophantic adula-
ton must be as distasteful as it GER
tainly should be unsought.
The whole tenor of our economy
forbids this fulsomcness-this ex-
travagant laudation of men. 1t is
not confined to one party, but to all,
and what is worse, insinuates itself
into the church. The erection of a
fictitious aristocracy-a species of
that which has been lattcrly corrupt
ed into "shoddy"-is promoted and
encouraged, while that founded upon
merit and intellect is left to hide its
diminishing greatness in the shadow
of power whose greatest wonder is
that combination of accidents
should have effected a result SO per-
sonally grand.
The American people, with Athe-
,nian aptitude, are always on the
alert for fresh excitements. The
love of "toadyism," on the other
hand, among our public men, makes
1t an evil difficult to remedy. But
as crimes often go undeveloped for
want of occasion, 80 let those who.
serve the people officially do as their
confessed masters have to do-stay
more at home. The opportunities
for sycophancy will at least be les.
sencd on the part of those who look
for official and other public excur-
sions, as rowdies look for menagcries.
INCIDENTS OF THE GREAT CHICAGO