Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-01-11
ARE WE A NATION OF sNOBS ?

paced snob and boot-licker of people
in high places, the chronicles of
Grants dOings among the serene
highnesses must be disgusting to the
degree of nausea. 1t has been going |
on for two years and a half under
the management of the State De- |
partment in Washington City, the |
agents being the Ministers at the
various courts and the Consuls at |
the European sea-pOrts. The U. s.
Navy does the transportation, and
the New York Herald has taken
the contract for advertising the
whole concern, which it does on
magnificent scale.
Kind reader, have you ever found
it worth your while to read the fas-
cinating little paragraphs which
always precede by a few months the
arrival of an opera queen in the
United States. There is Il strong
family likeness among them.
Whether the prima donna is a raw
Ge5la0llte or a WORKOUT old hack of
forty years standing, Grisi or
Bosio, a Titiens or Minnie Hauck,
they all amount to the same thug.
4 youthful Grand Duchess has
pronenaded the ballroom of the
imperial palace with her, their
arms lovingly entwined round one
another's waits, or an Emperor has
sent a splendid diamond bracelet to
the stage, his Majesty bowling to the
liza from the imperial box while it
is presented, or she has been singing
at q concert in the palace, and at the
termination of that wonderful ca
LENA, which lasted seven minutes
and a half, her Imperial Majesty,
the Empress herself, fell f;ainting in
her arms with uncontrOll able &C.
stacy; or (Which is now trump
:ard) the heir apparent has been
sent on a voyage round the world
or fear he should elope with her,
80 maddened is he with his passion
for her. (This last is usually the
ard played if the lady IS old and
Igly.) Etc, ETC., etc. And no.
body is hurt. An intoxicated press
accepts the wOrn-Out TouLades of
Nadamina as if they came fresh
from the bosom of inspiration, or
,pplauds the halting trill of Signnr-
ina as if it were Chaplet of pearls,
and what then? NADIA nina goes
nome with her pocket full of dollars,
laughing at the fools who went
:razy about her, and the paragraph
writer's get their pay and all is
| serene.
Much in the same way is the
State Department managing Grant
Is a star Ior the coming political
season, and, with the help of the
New York Herald, he is the best
advertised man in the world. The
Prince of Wales was not more per.
sistently followed to Egypt or | dia
pr Paris by cringing retinue of his
,wn correspondents than Grant i,
in his progress through Euro. e
Asia and Africa.
Of course we ali know that it al
means nothing. Any one who goe
to Europe endorsed by our Depart
ment of State as high public func
tionary will meet with these publi
recognitions from foreign coarts
, Gen. Grant had no right to such in
lOrsement. When he ceased to b
; President he became a private citi
zen, and had no more right to off
cial recognition than any Othe
citizen who might choose to trave
u, in Europe. But he got the endorse
nent and the comfy of nations az
corded him official recognition o.
the strength of it, as it would to an
knaVe or fool who might go ther
u so endorsed. Men are yet Twin
who remember when John, son {
Martin Van Buren,, went to Europ
y during his fathers Presidency
Now. John was one of the shallow
est tops who ever made the Amer
, can name contemplate but he wa
endorsed by the State Department
and was received en- prince, and h
danced with Queen Victoria an
;, had a good time of it, and made
" fool of himself to his hearts cOnten
y and to the amusement and merr
y ment of all who cared to inform
: themselves about him. We wer
u not tnen a nation of suObs; it ha
y vet to be determined whether w
" are now, and the Grant glorificatiO
" will be a good test Of the question
{ IF the clat of his OstentatiouS cOur
i receptions places him in the Whit
Z House, it will go far to decide it i
the affirmative. In the light {
what we have now said, read tn
!. following from the Baltimore Ga
r Zeite:
n aft the American people want Grant for
o third term they ought to have him. If the
= want him they ought to know what he Il
o and in these preparations the man reveal
~ what he is aud what he has been, and
elected for third term, or a Presidency 70
: life, the influence which made him so bad
Il President before will make him bad on
V again. He will have the same leaden selfish
q ness, the same contempt of law and relianc
on brute force, the same fondness for tn
l. rascals that rob the Treasury the same blind
% ness to the vast SwindleS going on unde
his nose, the same wall of tOad-eaters an
l, fiatterers around him to applaud his mos
It deSpotic and irresponsible acts and max
e him impervious to better advice-in Shor
We will have Grantism with all its crime:
n shames and swindleS, only made worse b.
B. the fact that the American people with ful
l. knowledge of his political and persona
l. character deliberately chose him. Shout
y this thIrd-term project succeed, Grant Wi
be justified in believing that the America
people return to him because they wan
A. raScallty brought back into the Govern
ment and a coarse drunken arisIocracy c
II once holders fastened in permanence ON tn
y taxpayers. Therefore, IL seems to US tina
Il the third termers are OVERRIDING this thing
d little"
And even SO, we have a right
= we choose to endorse the apotheosi
/, ofsnobbery we have been describin,
/, by enthrOning 1t in the Whit
r House, but we shall not do SO un
10 less we are ourselves "a nation G
v sEobs."