New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-08-31

And in general. the faults with which foreigners
reproach us IN the matters named rash enea a,
ment, intemperatc threatening undgnihc9 Ic'i,as'
il-tImed cortality,-arc not the faults on an ~?
tocracy, by nature in such concerns pruheni, ., ,
cent dignitied sensitive on the point oil honor my
absolute. ill-acqnaintcd with foreign matters,
little gnoble, very dull 10 perceive when IL ~ iah-
ing itself ridiculous-" friendships Gariahd'
AMERICA.
Our society distributes itself into Barbarians,
Philistines, and Fopuiace and America ~ lusii
ourselves. with the Barbarians quite ieit ON. anu
the Populace nearly. This leaves the lhIllstines
for the great bulk OF the nation "a velier sors u
Philstine than ours, and with the pressure a as
false ideal of our Barbarans taken away, put iel.
all the more to himself and to have his fun swne;
And as have found that the strongest ana 'hosV
vital part of English Phllistinism was the I1l.h
and Ilebrazing middle class. and that ITS fepraz-
ing keeps il from culture and toaty. so u Is ho.o
rions that the people OF the United states lssues
from this class and reproduces It's tendenciesItss
narrow conception OF mans spiritual range anu u,
his thing needful. From Maine to r lorida any ~
back again. all America Hebraizes Dilhcult Us ~
is to speak of people merely from mnat uu unb
reads, yet that, think, Que may witaou' Ih.G Gn
fear of contradiction say mean whem roHon ,pd
side and the religious side in marrow,
way Social Icformers 90 TO Moses ot or there is
anywhere else to go to; earnest young men AZ
schools and universities, instead of concelvhg SAL
by unreservedly cultyating many sides IN US 6 CON
ccive of it in the old Puritan fashion, and hng
themselves ardently upon 1t III the old; ialse WAYS
of this fashion. which we know so well, ana sucn
as Mr. Hammond. the American revlyalist: mas
lately at Mr. Surgeons Tabernacle been relresh-
ing our memory WITH" Culture and Anarchy
HE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN.
Heaven forbid that ] should speak III dispraise
of that unique and most English class which Mr..
Charles Sumner extols,-the large class OF gentle
men not of the landed class or of the nobility. but
cultivated and refined. They arc sccmly product
of the energy and of the power to rise III our race.
Without in general, rank and splendid and wealth
and luxur, to polish them, they lave made ihclr
own the high standard of lie ana manners OF an
aristocratic and refined class. Not having all the
designations and distractions of this class, they are
much seriously alive to the power oil lhteIect
and knowledge. TO tho power OF beauty. me
OF con iuct. too meets with lever tris IN MS
class. To some extent, however, their contiguous
ness TO the aristorratic class mas now tie eneTTt
nf Undertaking them. as 1t does the class OF newly
enriched people The most palpable action is
on the Young amongst them, and on their standard
of life and ENJOYMENT But in general. Tor ms
Whole class established factsthc materlallsIn when
thcv see rcgnant. too much block their mental
horizon and limit the possibilities of things TO- them
They are deficient in opcnness ana heNiolrty "a
mind in free play of ideas in faith and ardor CIV
ilizcd they are. but they are not much OF aciV-
liling force; they are somehow bounded ana IN
elective" Mixed Essays
MiDDLE-CLASs MACAULAYFsF.
"You ask me-" said ArminIus, "why call
Mr.. Hcpworth DiXons style middIe-class
Macnuavesc / call it MacaulayeSe because
it has the same internal ana cxlsrnai, c cnar-
actrristic being hard metallic movement WIN
nothing of the soft play OF life and the internal
characteristic being perpetual semGl.hre Oh i nv
ting he right nail on the head without the reality
And I call it middle class Macaulayesc. because u
has these faults without the compensation OF great
studies and of conycrsance with great affairs. by
which Maraulay partly redeemed Them" Friend.
ships Garland"
MACAULAY's PLACE IN CIVILIZATION.
Human progress consists in a continual increase
in the number of those, who. cea sing to live 10y the
animal life alone and to feel the pleasures OF sense
only, come tn participate IN the intellectual HE
also and To find enjoyment III the Things OF tne
mind. The enjoyment rs not at nrst very uis-
eliminating. Rhetoric. brilliant writing. gives to
such persons pleasure for its own sake but 1t gives
them pleasure, still more, when 1t IS employed IN
commendatlon OF view oa NE wSn t Is U Vybir nS
they are naturally in sympathy. The immense
popularity of Macaulav due TO his beng preelnl-
nenty fitted 10 give pleasure TO all who are begin
nlnr to feel endowment in the things Of the mind.
II is said that the traveller IN Australia visiting
one settlers hut after another, mus again ana
again that the settlers third hook, after the Bbe
and Shakespeare, is some work by Macauiay:
Nothing can be more natural Tho Bible and
Shakespeare may be sand to be imposed upon an
Englishman as objects of his admiration ; but as
soon as the common Engllshman, desiring culture,
begins to choose for himself, he chooses Macauay.
Macaulay's view of things il, on the whole the
view of them which he feels to be his own aso tho
persons and causes praised are those which he
himself is disposed to admire the persons ana
causes blamed are those with which he himself IS
out of sympathy and the rhetoric employed to
praise or to blame them is animating and excel
lent Macaulay is thus great civilizer. In hum
dre1s of men he hits their nascent taste Tor the
things of the mind possesses himself of it and slim
uates it, draws it powerfully forth and confirms it.
But, with the increasing number OF those who
axe to the intellectual life, the number OF those
also increases who, having aN oke tc 1t. DON with
i t. follow where il leads them. And II leads them
to see that 1t Is their business to learn the
real truth about the important men, and things end
books. which interest the human mind. For thus
is gradually to he acquired stock OF sound ideas,
in which the mind will halitually move, and
which alone can give 10 T Judgments security and
soidity. To be satisfied with fine writing
about the object of ones study, with hav-
ing it praised or blamed III accordance
with ones own likes dslikes, with any
conventional treatment OF 1t whatever, IS at this
stage of growth seen TO be futile Al this stage
rhetoric even when il it so good as Macaulays,
dis,atisfes And the number of people who have
reached this stage of mental growth is constantly,
as things are now, increasing; increasing by the
very same law of progress which plants the begin
until now have never known mental life at all.
lighted with rhetoric such Macaulays Is always
flea with it is always increasing too" Mixed
Essays"
TIE LATE s. X. CLIFFORD