The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1874-03-05

England like the nightmare, making so
ciety unsympathetic, and men and wO-
men either clumsy or stately, and at any
rate less bright and less agreeable than
continental and American people. Beef,
mutton, law, poorhouses, fogs, ale,
pickles, and the narrowing influences
of insular life have all contributed 70
make John Bull look out for number
one, with greater zest and higher spir-
its than cOntinentals and instead Of
loving his neighbor with al his heart
and might and soul, the Englishman
applies this theory of love to his own
dear self, and takes care Of himself and
Of his kindred and of the comforts of
life with a genius and enthusiasm wor-
thy of the highest admiration His
home is his castle his Preside his par
adise his household goods his sole di-
whites his breakfast-ta table his altar
his Times his gospel his dinner his
all-embracing armament his tea the
setting sun; and no doubt that on the
day of judgment John Bull VIII be
found clinging desperately to earth, not
quite ready for eternity so long as there
are Joints to be carved, port to be SIP
ped, nuts to be cracked, and crisp dry
toast to be buttered. In such coun-
try, where flesh scars over soul, facts
over sentiment, and self over every
thing else, the sharp corners of life be-
come sharper and the sad vicissitudes
OF humanity sadder. The poor are
poorer than anywhere else, and the rich
richer. There. is something cruel per
vading all these social phenomena, and
even the most remarkable persons look
rather like splendid animals than inter
esting men. 49, .-.s
The very greatness of England as
maritime and commercial power springs
from that brute force which subiugates
the poor Hindoo and the miserable
Caffree. The proud boast that the sun
never sets upon English dominion is pro-
badly owing to the fact that this bright
/ luminary shrinks from still further
! darkened by the ruthless grip of the
| strong over the weak. The same IN
compromising selfshness which leads
| to the acquisition of power also con-
! duces to its unhinching ret ntion. The
| territorial lords of England are the
most selfish and consequently the most
powerful IN the world. They Just now
pet the working classes, in order the
better to use them as political auxilia-
ries against the middle classes, whose
growing influence, intelligence and
! wealth threaten to undermine the
medieval privileges of the old Saxon
and Norman landowners. The bulk of
the population of England consists of
hopeless paupers and of honest working
men eating literally their bread sc in
the sweat of their brow, and laboring,
| like beasts of burden, for the enrich
ment of their employers-thRt is to say,
of the higher classes generally. These
laborers are depress ed, If not brutal
lied, by excessive toll, by defective ed
ucation, and by starvation wages. As
pirations for a higher life seem almost
stihed in their hearts by the weight OF
/ their cares and their misery. They are
looked down upon by the classes just
above them, to whom in return they
look up, and this process of humilia-
ton and of adulation pervades the So
cial fabric from its basis and through all
its various stages TO the summit Man
does not meet with man as his fellow
being. The bricklayer meets the shoe
maker, the tailor the upholsterer, the
haberdasher the grocer, the retailer the
wholesale dealer, the broker the mer-
chant, the lawyer The physician, the
curate the rector, the rector the bishop,
the bishop the archbishop, the peasant
the farmer, the yOeman the eountry
lament, the member of parliament the
country gentleman the baronet the
earl, the earl the duke, the duke the
prince, the prince the queen and
there is so much bowling done il
one way or The other, and all
through, that it would seem to re.
quire a good deal of gymnastical elias
ITCHY for the final bow before the
throne of tho Most High. The sense oil
a common humanity is merged in these
accidents of occupation and of life, and
the animal buoyancy of the English
mind shines IN no direction with greater
luster than in making virtue of this
cruel necessity, and in worshiping the
crushing social mechanism which op-
presses them all.
A people constituted so ANONYMOUSLY
at home is doomed to behave preposter-
ously abroad. The English on the con-
tinent carry their little island IN their
carpet bag with the London Times,
Burke's Peerage, Murray's Handbook,
razors, Blackstone, sponges, Bradshaw,
brushes, Who is Who, towels. British
almanac, and all other insular odds and
ends, and stalk about the h otels with
superb superciliousness, striking awe
into the minds of the trembling walters,
who generally take all the pompous
butchers of Oxford street for my lords,
and all the dowager milliners of Edge
ware road for my ladies. All this is
very droll, but, as a sneral rule, the
English tourists on Lake Leman and
the Rhine are as troublesome as mos
quitoes at Long Branch or Chicago.
The national idiosyneracies, which are
positively hideous in these ambulatine
bores, sit more gracefully upon the BET
ter classes but wi5h all their polish
and refinement they never relax Their
ins1lRr conceit, and, as a general rule,
attitudinize as if they were the masters
of the universe, with an undisgnised
contempt for all who are not English,
the ladies, if possible, ecGpsing the
gentlemen in the haughtiness of their
stare and the iciness of their manners
toward strangers.