The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-08-02
4MERICAN GENTIENEN
BY SENATOR JAMES A. B4yARD

generosity of the underlying idea of our
system OF government, with all its manly
equities, Its constant demand upon its
cftizens Tor the most elevated sentiments
known to our nature, and the opportu-
mites afforded for their exercise. that it
does not appear to me more and more.
and beyond all other forms of govern
ment yet devised, the most favorable
theater for the exercise of all the quail
ties that dignity and adorn mankind,
and that, If penetrated with true sense
of the part which each man among us
should bear in such plan, an American
citizen ought to be in the best sense of
the word a gentleman.
L have had good reason to realize the
exactlng nature of the toll and varied
occupation of our busy struggle in Ameri-
can life, and amid what a rush of events
we have been carving civilization out of
the wilderness, emulating with hot i'm
patience the results and accumulations
OF centuries of work and thought in the
older nations. The graces of life those
fruits of repose and well-earned wealth
and leisure-are of gradual growth, and
have been necessarily postponed until
our temple of civil and religious liberty
was erected upon secure foundations and
our grand experiment of self-control by
free people shall have been well tested.
Art, It's studies and higher influences, 1
do not underrate, and the great advan-
tages it can impart to its disciples; but
personal contact has taught me how
much of that true refinement, delicacy
OF sentiment, and sensitive consideration
for the feelings of others, which we Justly
regard the best fruit of high breeding
and culture, can and does exist in the
simplicity of American society, unin-
structed even by chat European example
which to some of our countrymen seems
the necessary imprimatur of social sue
cess
The American snob las none of the
Inducements or excuses of his British
brother, and when he follows in his track
and gilds and veneers his pettiness and
vulgarity in imitation of rank and dis
tlnguished station, he sins most against
nature and the honest simplicity and
natural dignity which are akin to repub-
Hcan institutions, and which may be
well worn by every man who lives under
them according to their true and manly
spirit.
1t is III our power to create a standard
of American character and manhood as
lofty as that OF any age or nation, and to
compel our representatives at home and
abroad to conform their conduct to it.
The spirit OF true chivalry in all it's gen
ueness and unselfshness, showing ten
derness to the feeble and resistance to
the overbearlng, mercy to whom mercy
is due, and honor to whom honor is due,
can and does exist in America to-day,
under the "hodden gray" of the laborer
and mechanic, the threadbare coat of
the clerk or the grave garb of the hard
worked merchant or man of the profe5-
sions, as truly as it ever did under the
helmet and chain armor of any knight
Grant of the olden time.
The American people can justly dc
mand from those who are delegated to
represent them abroad or at home
punctilious observance of honor and
delicate pride in their private and public
conduct, and the moral influence to be
obtained by dignifed self-respect, intel
Hgence, and high personal integrity Will
far outweigh any attempted competition
with the show and glitter of the repre-
sentatives of other governments not
based upon the principle of voluntary
and orderly self-control. In truth 1t will
be found that, where American repre-
sentatives abroad have drawn obloquy
and just censure or contempt upon them
selves or their country, it has been usu-
ally caused by some ignorant attempt at
ostentatious display, or the unworthy
pursuit of private gain, in both Of which
the dignity of their position was forgot
ten or disregardcd, and the fault was not
"Americanism, but the absence of it.