New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-08
The ERA OF THE COMMONPLACE.

q COntemptuOuS references W thoh P''it'V "
Europe He deprecated an alliance with thein
as they were a fast sliding by the incline Oh
;harai;sr, toward Renublicanism.n The
charge was resented by Ministers IN the
Italian Parliament. and expressions OF loyalty
to the House of Savoy were heard on every
side. Yet we do not think that any critical oo-
server of the tendencies of popular govern
ment in the historic peninsula ana III nou-
ern States would have been justified by these
demonstrations in concluding that repuo-
lie was entirely out of the question III
Italy. Certainly the outburst of patriotic de-
votion which has followed the death OF Oarl-
baldi goes far to confirm the German Chancei-
or's movers of discernment. For if he whose
mortal elements are to be buried to-day, While
n grateful nation bows its head i'll reverence
and tears, had expressed his Utmost though, a,
the close of his career, it would have attesteu
his disappointment with the results oil the con-
stitutional monarchy in United Italy, ana us
regret that he had given even taint-hefrtc"
adherence to any principles which were not re-
publican
Tn, idealism which creates nation is exact
ing. 1t demands great men ana great innings.
1t is not satisfied with small men and sma
things. Garibaldi would haze asked with un-
concealed cynicsm What has Italy done
since she was liberatedY She has organized
great army and built a mighty fleet. Yes; but
she has won no victories with either; the
second Custozza was defeat. LISA was one
also. She has not made herself of commanding
influence in Europe. She has busted herself
with domestic politics and economical stats
A. q hat iS LARGO
conspicuous in the sight of the Latin races
The expectations of the heroic period have not
been fulfilled. 1t has been an era of the com
monpace. There have been petty Ministerial
brawls and dull debates on taxation a states
nan now seems to be satisfied If only he can
figure out n surplus of revenue. National SEN
tiIaent has stagnated The creative energies
of the people have not been reinvigOrated as
the founders of United Italy had a right to ex-
pect they would be.
If we can imagine Garibaldis disappOint
ment with the practical results of the first gem
Grafton of Italian unity as taking form In such
expressions AS these, we must also be prepared
TO admit that this is the uniform experience OF
republican idealism. France during her last
decade has drilled a vast army but has not
added to her prestige in Europe Her sole
military adventure has disclosed the flghtiness
Of her Ministers and the dsorganzaton of her
army. The republic has produced only one
statesman of the first rank, and even he has
wasted his opportunities and bcllttled his In
fuence. 1t has not inspired anything preeml-
nently great in any field of intellectual effort.
1t has created in letters only one new reputa-
tiOn-that of novelist who systematically
writes smudge, and writes it because it pays
best. The illusions of idealsm have been
shattered, until NJ. Renan. giving voice to the
disappointment of Republicans OF transcen-
dental type, cOnfesscs that " thege are times
"when the world gives men of mlnd and cul-
"ture broad hint that it has no occasion for
"their services and that on the whole 1t gets
"on much better without them" and that the
mother country, "built up at the cost OF a
"thousand years of herOism and patience is
guided by an inadequate conscience, ignorant
" of the past and regardless of the future"
Popular government implies in modern times
little that is ideal and everything that is prac-
teal. The American Republic has not gained
its present position in the world by dextcrt
of diplomacy and feats of arms, but by the
exercise of practical talents of prosaic order
Its great civil conflict was a war OF populations
in which each side had to learn, clumSily
enough, how to fight; and when the fighting
was over, so strong was the pacific instinct Of
the people that the old lines of industrial pro-
gress were Immediately resumed. If the
material prosperity of the American people be
the marvel of'the world, it is the outcome of
practical ability in developing natural re-
sources, in organizing industries, in distribute
ing population over wide areas, and in incIeas-
inc government revenue and disposing of
public indebtedness. The intellectual life of
the country bears the impress of practical
utility for in science and education our people
have taken higher stand than IN letters and
art and in mechanical invention they have
outstripped the world. In like manner the
French people during the last decade have
shown practical ability of the highest order.
When, therefore, we find Italian Ministers
working out with signal success the complex
questions of revenue, currency and industrial
progress, beginning without credit i'll the
Bourses of the Continent and ending in con-
verting deficit Of revenue into a surplus
funding their loans and dispensing with ire
deemable currency, we may be sure that the
politics of commonplace order have some
practical advantages. When, moreover, we
perceive great feats of engineering skill accom-
plished-the highest mountains tunnelled and a
great system of railways constructed-and re-
member that the people have quietly sub
mitted to the most unpopular taxes in order
that the treasury might be replenished and
schemes of national improvements executed,
we discern that practical capacity for which
reDublicg are cOuSOIcuOuS bismarck may
have judged Alright when his practised eye
caught the rapid incline of Liberalism to-
ward Republicanism."
MR.. cAMERONS LAST MISHAP.