The New York herald., 1876-10-03


with American life would convince him that
this is a total misconception of the American
character. How would he explain the social
attentions we lavish on men like Huxley and
Tyndall when they happen to visit us? Why
did we SO run after and lionize Dickens and
Thackeray? Agassiz was poor man, Long
fellow is not rich, Choate barely supported
his family; but the wealthiest merchant OF
Boston never excited such respectful inter-
est as these men Of mere talent and culture.
II Ralph Waldo Emerson and William B..
Astor should happen to attend the opera in
this city on the same evening hundred
persons would point out the Htt<rateur for
one who would direct attention to the mill
ionnaire. The Marquis de Talleyrand-
Perigord has entirely mistaken our national
character on this point. No people in the
world hold intellectual accomplishments in
higher respect than the Americans.
But when we come to compare ourselves
with our ancestors Of l776 instead of with
the European nations of our own time, the
evidence that we have not shamefully de-
generated seems decisive. That we have
not fallen off in the great qualities of gen.
erous patriotism and manly courage is abund-
antly proved by our recent civil war. Our
forefathers bravely asserted their own rights;
we have made stupendous sacrifices to Sc
cure the rights Of despised race of slaves.
AS to our sordid worship of money, it is o
partial answer to the charge to point to the
pecuniary sacrifices which we SO freely made
in the war. This partial answer is strength
ened by recalling the large voluntary con-
tributions for the Sanitary COMMISSIONS
generous exhibition Of humanity which has
no parallel. If the American people pursue
wealth with ardor they also spend it with
ungrudging liberality. What other country
has SO many institutions of charity supported
entirely by private contributions? Our in
stitutions of learning are constantly multi
plying and the curriculum of studies in the
smaller colleges is more extensive than it
was in Harvard and Yale hundred years
ago, while these and kindred institutions
have SO elevated their standards that gradu-
ates of 1776 would find it difficult to
pass an examination for the Sophomore
year. Moreover. hundreds of American
young men are annually sent to Europe to
study in the most famous universities of the
Continent. No man in this country is COM
PEELED by law to pay church rate, but our
church architecture of the last thirty years
is so expensive and sumptuous that our
frugal forefathers would have thought it
ostentatious and extravagant.
1t is true that public morals are Just now
degraded, but it is the result of transient
causes which will soon pass, and it is hardly
fair to judge our people by this exceptional
period. The inflated, fuctuating currency,
which was one of the attendant evils of q
great war, set the country into fever of
speculation and converted all business into
species Of gambling; but this corrupting
influence will pass away within a few years.
The steady honesty with which we have met
the obligations of colossal public debt
attests deep and abiding sense of justice
and honor in the American people. We
hope the Marquis de Talleyrand- -perigord
stands US better, and that lie will thoroughly
revise the disparaging parts of his book be-
fore he publishes it in France.
Russia's Terms-The War In servia.
Comparatively little information has
yet reached US as to the result of the
recent fighting in front of Alexinatz. On
the one hand we have the report Of corre-
spondent of the London Times with the
Turkish forces. Naturally man in that
position would see the case through Ottoman
spectacles, and when we consider that his
report was telegrapned from city not far
in the rear of Nisch-perhaps Sofa-to Con-
stantinople and thence to London, and was
therefore subject to Turkish censorship at
two points, it is evident that it would not be
likely to contain any truths that would be un-
pleasant in Constantinople. Another source
of information is the correspondent Of the
London Standard at Belgrade. Anybody
telegraphing from that side would be apt to
give us the Servian story except this cor
respondent; but as the tory organ is
so thoroughly identified with the sup
port of the Ottoman cause that it de-
preciates to the utmost possible point
all Servian acts and admits no Servian sue
cesses. Perhaps. therefore, the fact that it
does not claim that the Servans were ami
hilated in the fighting of Thursday last is
an evidence that they were moderately sue
cessful in their movement. They seem to
have moved from their works to the assault
of the Turkish lines, and to have endea-
<n IN ha fT1rG ho<
at once; fact which indicates that
there is as yet no tactical genius in the Ser
Wan staff, for the attack on both flanks is
always blunder where the attacking force
does not enormously outnumber the enemy.
But though they did not overwhelm the Turks
they doubtless had some satisfactory achieve
ments, for on Saturday the Turks are re-