The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-11-08
A Virginia Chollop.
Southern Aristocracy and Northern Bar
bariSnn.
From the Richmond. Va. state.l

From the Richmond, Va, State.l
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 pee
PIE of the North should bow down before
Gen. Grant and elevate him as a god among
them, is very natural He is the embodiment
of their rude and uecaltured ciCilization. We
must not expect people just from the plough
| handle and the workbench, who have no trd-
dtiondl past, no historical ancestry, and found
all their claims to consideration on the filthy
here they hare been Fortunate enough to make
5y hook Or 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
just rs soon take him from the prize ring or
out of a walking contest as fresh from the field
of Mars with his honors fresh upon him. A
yulgar hero, raised by chance from, the rilest
sv,nas, serves their turn Just as well, and in
fact much better, than if he had the honorable
quarterings OF a 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 his
tory in the eyes of the great mob, that even
people who can lay some claim to respectable
connections are compelled to disown it if they
would find favor with the public or look for
ward to political or social .preferment. we
have 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 "nobodieS" Of yes-
terdGy gere drdgged from the Sums and
Dusbed fOTacQyd, eleUated from the ye7Y 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 fit them
| in every angle and crease, and these un-
| calmly figures with bodies misshapen as their
minds were cruel and brutal, have now be-
come the idols of the people whom they so
| much resemble. 1t is the old adage over again
carried out to its extreme ultimate-"Like
master like man." The one is the exact mental
and physical counterpart of the other, and
they are alike worthy Oh lue nutudA duliillde-
| ton they excite From such people, with
such chosen masters and leaders, what hope is
there for the respectable minority, the majority
of deceacy aghieh has its. headquarters IN the
South, lcih larger portion of its ddherentS,
while only here and there forlorn hope is
scattered throughout the North? Very little
indeed If it should select from among this
northern fraction a 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 Of its Uutgdr pets and The to,cer and
| more degrdding his origin the better; and sweep
| the field on the levelling cry Of the mob that
could s,ceU from the slums and greet us at every
| point. 1t is useless therefore to attempt to
offset or upset this craze of the North for their
vulgar military idol by offering them better
and braver soldier, one worthier of their ad-
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
| styled the Chevalier?