Orangeburg times. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1872-1875, 1873-10-16
8. THURSDAY. % OGFoBET l6, 1873
TIIE
! SH0DDY REPUBLIC. =

y ~ IL -Il-1u 81 ~
SII0DDY REPUBLIC. =
~ Remarkable Article From Henry
Ward Beecher,s Paper.
IbAiiiAT THE NATION HAS LOST By THE
DISPLACEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN
lLEMENT FROM PoLITICAL LIFE--A
I1ASrENT FOR THE DEPARTED DIGNI-:
t. TX OF AMERICAN NssSrATEsdANsIIIp.
The steady transformation of our Re-
public into ring public may be as
eribed, in no small degree, to tile dis.
placement of f.an element in the body
polite which was never appreciated ut
It's true value in the better days of cur
national virtue. It was then decried
and almost hated by the New England, !,
and nearly the whole Northern, mind
'sie same mind now seems to think that
the suppression of that element has been
triumph for the cause of freedom, truth
and purity. Indeed, its entire extinction
IS sregarded Us contamination deyoutly
to be wished. This sentiment has be-
come so prevalent that it may subject
one to the charge of disloyalty to regret
an influence which wrought so power
|! l!iilil III shaping the character of the re-
lfnblic i'll its first and best years has been
ldisplaccd by another more popular.
ItsDown with the aristocracy" is the
Yatchword of the social Democracy, both
Fin England and America; and the same
ery is passing through other countries.
This cry does not mean down with men
Who have made themselves richer than
1.-the hereditary aristocracy by sweating
! out yast fortunes from tilo toll and in
lsiustry of n single generation, but down
tsMith historical or old families of the
country, who have retained in their pos.
a.'ssion estates purchased centuries ago Mt
lalshiiling or two an acre, and to which.
Ichcll century added an increased value.
i l,En with men who have come to large
sgass u BY tllis SLOW process Of aecfetion.
si!eil have not jlianpesl into great Wealth
lby speculation III stocks, or by trading
or manufacturing enterprise like the
great minority of rich people.
Now, the worst sin of n landed or he
redltary aristocracy, i'll popular cstimu-
ton, is their ESPRIT DE coRrs, or that
pride of order which leads them to feel
it derogatory to their dignity to engage
personally i'll trade or in those business
enterprises which other men of wealth
pursue. Then this feeling becomes ad-
ditionally obnoxious by stimulating what
they call II "high sense of honor" n Kind
OF horror or contempt for small and
mean acts and ways of life and thought,
for u trafficing spirit and habit of mind,
and for the everlasting talk about the r-
repressiblc dollar. 1t is these prcten-
si"ns, this carriage and pose of mind and
life, moro than their absolute wealth,
that renders an aristocracy of this order
SO repugnant to the popular mind, cspc.
cially in America For there is no
country i'll the world where men compass
sea, land and fire with more avidity for
the aristocracy Of abstract wealth than
among us. Our railroad kings and mer.
chant princes, stockholders and other po-
tcntates i'll our moneyed world, constitute
an aristocracy as rich in dollars as the
nobility and gentry of England, and these
enjoy public estimation and exert an
Influence which fire thousands with the
ambition to attain the same position by
the same or more questionable means
Thus an aristocracy Of sheer wealth,
however acquired, short of absolute crime,
is the most popular order in American
society. And the more this aristocracy
retains and exhibits the spirit of what
the French cal BoUEGEoIsE, the more
popular and influential it becomes, be-
cause it remains in affinity, and OH the
same level of thought and purpose, with
the great multitude of money-scckers.
Now, to thoughtful, observant mind,
nothing can be more evident and more
disquieting than the fact that this kind