Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-10-17
VOL. 90.
EEaEHsj EsURRaT'T ON ,EasE ..ssaN<:
EslssgEC.>,

tribution Of the Learned Black
smith, EGhu Bnrritt. to the pages o.
the Christian Union, religious
paper, edited by Henry Ward Beecher
! His effort S to show that the Republic
/ OF Or Fathers has sllrunk into Ring
! public Of shoddy, sham and irfamy-
! al because of Tie overthrow and dis
/ placement OF the Southern aristocratis
element. which was statesmanlike
honest, chivalric and genteel Tho
withdrawal OF that element from socia1
and administrative life III the Unite 4
States, says the Augusta C0astif,tioo,
0iisf, has made the Government den
OF rOgues and society saturnalia oi
folly and crime. The army has lost tone,
the navy has surrendered it's high
character, and Washington city grown
into fungus Of rascality and tinsei.
Good men and thoughtfulmen, Ike
Mr.. Burritt, have the courage to ayow
their opinions, and do not hesitate,
when capital blunder has been com
mltted, to retrace their steps and
solicit similar action on the part OF
their people. Little by little the
Sonth is justified in her combat against
[, the encroachments of the North. Her
fight for Constitutional liberty and
the true basis Of craftsmanship in the
forum and virtue III the family is
growing into the recognition even of
her enemies.
Though Mr.. Burritt calls upon the
South to save the country from shoddy
and shnck-nastincss brought upon it
by the so-called God-and-morality
party, we doubt if the old-fasLioned
Southern race, which was essentially
the growth of masterdom over slaves,
could prevail, at this late day, over the
Satan in Northern circles, political,
religious, private and commercial
Enough OF the old stock and senti-
ments may remain to leven the reek-
ing mass and save it from itself; but
not until great punishments, much
sorrow and general downfall of Mann
mon worship, will there be chance
for the salvation of a people who have
made a striped rag their Bible, an
eagle-bird their Providence, and a
Golden Calf their God.
But here is Mr.. Burlitts article, and
richly viii 1t repay perusal
WANT OF THE DISPLACED ELEMENT IN
0UG EI,G-PUBLIC.
The stealthy Transformation of ollr
republic into a ring-public may be
ascribed i'll no small degree, to The dis
placement of an clement in the body
polite which was never appreciated at
its true value in the better days OF our
national virtue. IT was then decried
and almost hated by the New England
and nearly the whole Northern mind.
The same mind now seems to think
that the suppression of that element
vas a triumph OF the cause of free
dom, truth and purity. Indeed, its
entire extinction Is regarded as con-
summation devOutly to be wished
This sentiment has become so preva-
lent that it may subject one to the
charge OF disioyalty to regret that an
Influence whicl. wrought So powerfully
in shaping the character Of the repub-
lie III its first and best years has
been displaced by another more pOpuI-
lar. Down with the aristOcracy ,' is
the Tatchword of the social democracy,
both in England and America; and the
same cry is passing through other
Countries. This cry does not mean,
4 hnr 10
selves richer than the hereditary aris-
tCcracy by sweating out vast fortunes
from the toll and industry of single
generation. but down with historical
or old families of the country, who
have retained in their p :ssession
estates purchased centuries ago at
shilling or two All acre. and to which
each century has added an increased
value. Down with men who have come
to large fortunes by this slow process
OF accretion, and have not jumped
in great wealth by speculation in
stocks, or by trading or manufacturing
enterprise like the great majority of
rich people.
Now, the worst sin OF landel or
hereditary aristocracy, in popular es-
timatiOn, is their esprit 0e corps, or
that pride of order which leads them
to feel it derogatory to their dignity
to engage personally in trade or III
those business enterprises which other
men of wealth pursue. Then this feel
ing becomes additionally obnoxious by
stimulating what they call a "high
sense of honor" a kind of horror or
contempt for small and mean acts and
ways'of life and thought, for traffick-
ing spirit and habit of mind, and for
everlasting talk about the irrepressible
dollar It is these pretensions. this
carriage and pose of mind and life,
more than their absolute wealth, that
render an aristocracy of this order so
repugnant to the popular mind, and
especially in America. For there is
no country in 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 merchant princess, stock
iobbers, and other pOtentates i'll our
nloneyed world, constitute an aristoc-
racy as rich in dollars as the nobility
and gentry of England. And these
enjoy public estimation aud exert an
influence which fire thousands with
the ambition to attain the same posi-
tiOn by the same or more questionable
means. Thus an ar1stocTacy OF sheer
wealth, however acquired, short of
absolute crime, is the most popular
order in American society. And the
more this aristocracy retains and ex-
hibits the spirit of what the French
call bo,ryc0isie, the more popular and
influential it becomes, because it
remains III affinity, and on the same
| level of thought and purpose, with the
great multitude of moneT-seekers.
Now, to a thoughtful, observant
| mind, nothing can be more evident
and more disqlieting than the fact
that this kind OF aristocratic bourgcoi-
sic has come to the front as ruling
power in this country, 1t is moneyed
aristocracy, that thinks, plans and acts
in the fullest spirit of Gouryco5sic,
without any pretension to that high
sense of honor or punctihous esprit dc
col73s which governs the department
of an hereditary or landed gentry
II L L