Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-02-09
THE CRETECe.

4 NIk AL0 GOL1A Va 49,
the Grand Dake.- We have not space
for all these illusions, of which the
following is, perhaps, the best speci-
mens
If Duke Alexis is 8 man enlightened and
refined,
A man OF education and cultivated mind,
He'd swear that We Americans, hough
liberty we sing,
Just now were in the very mood to De
governed by q king.
II not, 1 think he'd reason; why Is IL thus
Ten me Why, whereer I go. 50 lovingly
they greet mel
Am 1 not a royal prince, and are they not
That from my early infancy I've heartily
The very name of liberty, republics and
such stuff;
/ OF this they surely are sWsres snd this L
think enough
To forcs conviction on my mind, repub-
lies csnnot last,
in the past.
You reason right, Alexis; with you 1 must
agree;
This land no longer is the home Of free
dom snd the free.
| And thus like serfs we bow our heads ana
humbly bend the knee,
And act the fool and break our necks such
sights as you to see.
Dickens came to America and was
honored as a prince in the world OF
letters. Those who bowed before the
majesty Of his worth and genius were
accused OF ~hunkeyism, and, perhaps
In many instances very properly.
Those who made most desperate
efforts TO demonstrate their high ap-
probation of Dickens's genius had
never read even a page Of David
Copperfeld. When a scion of an inn
perial house ~traverses America, di-
vesting himself of that e~xclusiveness
to which crowned heads resort in
order to impress the multitude with
vague ideas OF uuapproach tble in
visible grandeur and greatness, it
was proper that the sOvereigns
OF America should assent to
terms of social intercourse thus
defined by a stranger in our
midst. Common decency and the
recognition of the common law Of hos
pitslity exacted such conduct at our
hands. He who insults a stranger,
who may not speak our language as
we do, but as he has learned it from
books, deserves castigatiOn. The very
effort to acquire mastery of a foreign
tongue is a compliment to those who
were born with it upon their lips, and
therefore decent, intelligent foreigners
never rldicule an Americans awk-
ward attempt TO express himself in
French, German, or Italian; but an
American, more brutal and infinitely
less intelligent, has been known to
laugh In a foreigners face because his
repertory of words is perhaps contract
ed OF found only in books. We have
e fifty thousand Americans shout
ing, huzzaing, splitting their very
threats when doing honor to a very
commonplace fellow in Washington
OF not half the 6OfhOmmie and keen
enjoyment of pleasures of yoBth-hav-
ing neither sympathies nor tastes IN
with the multitude-such as
the Grand Duke eYfnced when he
turned himself loose at the Peabody
and danced all night till broad-day-
light and went home with the girls !
in the morning. II we can roar and
shout around such a president as we l
have, the Grand Duke is a very
proper gentleman to honor. He comes
down from the throne and enacts the
American; and should we, Americans,
the impOssibility Of equality |
with those Of royal blood by refusing 1
meet him half way +? And then wnen .
ne is met and made u guest, .
should we violate rules Of common g
iecency and ridicule his foreign &C y
,ent, or the fact that he has many Of '
! seaman's ways, finding that ''gang- II
way" choicest that is crowded with
pretty girls in the ballroom? In
,riticizing the Russian and those who q
7ery rudely, in many instances, paid il
.ourt to the Russians, our correspOn- n
Tents should beware lest they pro- d
lounce biting criticisms upon them :
elves and their own misconceptions
4 taste and of what Is due from
,urseIves to official representatives OF
Oreign states that become our guests. {
But while criticising the conduct Of
ycophants and Of those who ape
reatness-and itshould not be forgot
en- that the follies Of these weak peo-
lie are mere afiectations-it would
,e well to consider vices which must q
gentlemen at home and
broad. One good man went for a
pan Of five hundred dollars, and as q
ured his Imperial Highness that it
you'd be paid land the interest," q
mother charged the Duke fifty dol
ars for a box Of cigars. He paid it,
nd this Is the only evidence yet given
d America that his good sense is not
8 commendable as his princeIy y .
.enerosity. Another excellent citi- h
en- urged the Grand Duke-
devout member Of the Greek church X
he is-to invest in one Of our Bible =
1cieties. An elegantly appareled
roman sought to force a bell boy to
lduct her into the Dukes presence.
he " only wished to see him ito g
are at a gentleman as If he were a
ippopotamus. The Grand Duke, as
sought 70 be shown, may be a very NJ
Inny individual, but only to the ex- =
mt that he differs from ourselves, and DE-
question remains whether he is rs
1t most fortunate in the difference. a.
/ any event, while contemplating W
Russians peculiarities, 1t is well
Iough to invert the picture and see a
own.
The Virginia legislature is study On
g economy, and proposes to strike
t 200 a year from the expenses Of
e judiciary. A bill has been framed =
hich cuts down the Importance of
e county courts and greatly limits