The Portland daily press., 1879-11-12
A Virginia Chollop.
Southern Aristocracy and Northern Bar
barism.
From the Richmond, Va, state.l

From the Richmond, Va, State
We are all hero-worshippers. and only differ
in the choice of our gods but we like to pick
out our own idols, and naturally fix our hearts
upon those of our own section. That the peo-
PIE of the North should bow down before
Gen. Grant and elevate him as god among
them, is very natural He is the embodiment
of their rude and uncaltured cirilization. We
must not expect people just from the plough
handle and the workbench, who have no trd-
ditional past, no historical ancestry, and found
all their claims to consideration on the filthy
here they hare been fortunate enough to make
6y hook by crook, to have any very elevated
ideas or discriminating tastes in selecting the
object they are to fall down and worship. A
golden calf or brazen monkey is all the same
to them; and as for heroes, why they would
lust as soon take him from the prize ring or
out of walking contest as fresh from the field
of Mars with his honors fresh upon him. A
Uulqdr hero, raised by chance from the CtteSt
SlamS, serves their turn Just as we'll, and IN
fact much better, than if he had the honorable
quarterings of score of generations OF noble
ancestors, and in personal attributes and repu-
tation was entirely above reproach. We find
that this low instinct is the ruling one at the
North. So blunted is the general sentiment
there to everything ennobling, and so unpopu-
lar is it for any one to trace back family MS
tory in the eyes of the great mob, that even
people who can lay some claim to respectable
connections are compelled to disown 1t II they
would find favor with the public or look for
ward to political or social .preferment We
have q case in point. There is Gen. Hancock,
a gentleman by birth and breeding, and SOL
dier second to none who ever bore arms. There
is no suspicion of his loyalty and patriotism,
and nothing against him but his politics and
birth. These alone no doubt kept him back In
the late war and prevented his promotion TO
command while such men as Grant, Sher-
man and Sheridan, the mere 'no6odtes of yeS-
terddv, acre drd1qed from the sllmS and
pushed torlCdrd, elecdted from TIE rery gutter
like the cobbler of Bagdad, to high place which
fitted them as poorly as the new garments IN
which they had been so suddenly clothed and
in which they cut as sorry figure as the
drunken clown in the royal robes of his master.
But though they could never fit the garments,
they very soon made the garments tit them
in every angle and crease, ana these un-
calmly figures with bodies misshapen as their
minds were cruel and brutal, have now be-
come the idols of the people whom tney so
much resemble. 1t is the old adage over again
carried out to its extreme ultlmate-"LlKe
master like man." The one is the exact mental
and physical counterpart of the other and
they are alike worthy of the mutual admlre-
tion they excite. From such people, with
such chosen masters and leaders, what nope is
there for the respectable minority, the Hajoritg
of decency, 1chich has its headqudrters IN the
South, ,cith larger portion Of its ddherents,
while only here and there foriorn hope is
scatter ed throughout the North? Very little
indeed. If it should select from among this
northern fraction gentleman in whom it
could put its faith, such for instance as Mr..
Bayard or Gen. Hancock, what would be the
consequence? The Radical party would SIMPLY
put up one ofits uulgar pets, and the loieer and
more degrading his origin the better, and sweep
the field ON the levelling cry Of the moo hqt
could saceN from the slams and greet US at every
point. 1t is useless, therefore to attempt to
vulgar military idol by offering them better
and Drawer soldier, one worthier of their adj
miration and support. They do not want
gentleman like Gen. Hancock. He is too far
above them-beyond their familiar reach; and
beyond the reach, too, of corrupting influences.
Nor can we expect them to take kindly to
gentlemen like Bayard, for has he not been
stulnd the CheYAlier2