New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-14

"
concern of their lives are thus constantly hXed
upon a mind OF the third order are the staple OF
the population of the United States, IN the small
towns aud country districts above all. Yet our
Boston friend asks. to believe, that population
of which this Is the staple can furnish hat we can
not furnish certainly. in England, and what no
country tnat | know of can at present furnlsh-a
group in every small town throughout the land, or
prOple OF good taste good manners, good education,
peers of any people in the world, reading the best
books interpreting the best music, ana Interested
IN themes world wide! individuals OF tins KIND
America can doubtless furnish, peers OF any
people in the world; and IN every town groups OF
people with exec lent qualities. Ike the representa-
tiyes of mlddle-cldss industry anu virtue amongst
ourselves And country capable OF furnishing
such groups will he strong and prosperous and has
much tn be thankful Tor but II must not take THESE
groups for what they are not, or imagine that nav
ing produced them it possesses what 1t does not Dos
sess or mas provided for wants which are III TACT
still unprOyded Tor.
TIE INrFLLECrUAL POINT OF yGEw.
Mr. Lowell himself describes his own Nation as
the most common -schoOed and the least cult
waited people in the world" hey strike foreigners
ia the same way. NJ Renan says that the United
state. have created considerable popular instruc-
ton without any serious higher instruction. and
will long have to eXpate this fault by their intel
lectual mediocrity. their vulgarlty oil man ncr,,'
their superficial spirit their lack of general intel
lgence." Another acute rench critic speaks OF Il
" hard unintellIgence" as characteristic OF the
ppODe OF the United StatcS-td dH iliRietipehce
DIS AlncricdiDs dH NOrd Smart they are, as all the
world knows; but then smartnesS Is unhapPly
unite compatible with Il "haTd unlntellgence'
Tho Oninoniar humOr of " Mark Twain So at
tractiyr to the Phstne of the more gay and
light type both here and In America, another
French critic hXes upon as Literature exactly eX-
pressing people OF this type and OF no higher.
" In spite of all its primary education" he says,
America is still, from an intellectual point OF
view a very rude and primitive soil, only TO he cul
tivated by violent methods These childish and
hal
elementary narratives composed without art, IN
which burlesque and melOurama, yugarltv and
eccentrcity are combined III strong doses" Ii
may he said that Frenchmen, the present genera
ton of Frenchmen at any rate themselves take
seriously, of the family of shakespeare Moliere
and Goethe an author half genius half charlatan,
like NJ Victor Hugo. They do so but still they
may Judge. soundly and correctly enough. another
nations false literature which does not appeal TO
their weaknesses / not blaming America tor
falling victim to Quinion or to Murdstone either.
We fall "a victim to MuristOne and Qulnion our
selves. | very well know. and the Americans are
iust the same people that we are. But want to
deliver England from MurdstOne and Quinlon, and
| look round me for help IN the good work And
when the Boston newspaper told me of tho
elegant and simple social order. and the group OF
people in every town OF the MON with good taste
and good manners, reading the best books and IN
tcrpreting the best music, thought AT trSt that
had sarely found what | wanted, and that should
be able 10 invade the English realm OF MurdstOne
and QuiniOn with the support OF an overpowerIng
body of allies from America. But now II seems
doubtful whether America is not suffering from
the performance of Murdstone and Qulnion her
sell-ot Qulnlon, at any rate.
INSTRUMENTATION.
We are told however. of groups of children of
light in evory town OF America, and an elegant
social order prevailing there. which make one. at
first very envlous. But soon one begins to think.
say that surely there must be some mistake The
complaints one hears OF the state of public life in
ibn nj
erabcness OF II to selfrcspectlng men, of the cor
ruptiOn and fccbleness,' of the blatant violence
and eXaggeration of language, the proiiglcy of
clap-trap-the complaints we hear from America OF
all tins, and then such an exhibition as we had In
the Guiteau trial the other day lead one 10 THINK
that Mnnlstone and Quluion. those misgrowths of
the English mIddle-cass spirit. must be even more
rampant in the United States than they are here.
Mr.. Lowell himself writes in that very same essay
in which he Is somewhat sharp upon foreigners he
writes Of the sad experience In America Of gov
eminent by declamati0n.' And this very week,
if to illustrate his words, we have the American
ne Tspapers raising" n loud and perempt0ry voice"
against the gross outrage on America Insulted in
the persons of Americans imprisoned in British
dungeons" we have them crying: The people
demand their release, and they must he released:
woe to the public men or the party that stand in
the way OF this act of justicew We have them
turning upon Mr. Lowell himself in such sty as
the following: This Lowell is fraud and
disgrace to the American Nation Minister Lowell
has scoled at his own country. and dlsOwned every
thing in its history and Institutions that makes IL
free and great"
| should say, for my part. though | have not,
fully own, the means for Judging accurately, tbai
ali this points TO an American deyeloPment Oh
our MuIdstone and QunOn, the bitter Fhlllstlne
and the rOwdy Phllstine. eXnlWting themselves IN
conjunction, exhibiting themselves with great IuXu-
tiance and with very little check. As ! write from
Grub-st. / will add that, to NY mind the condition
of the copyright question between Us and America
appears to point to just the same thing. lhe
American refusal OF copyright 10 rs poor English
souls is lust the proceeding which would naturally
aud tall tn
Way IN which Mr.. Conant justlteS aud applands the
proceeding and continues 10 Justify and applaud
it in disregard of all that one may say, and boldly
turns the tables upon England is Just the way IN
which MurdstOne and QulnlOn, alter regulating
copyright in the American fashion, would wish and
e pect to be backed up. In Mr.. Conant they have
treasure i'll rO6ur It as ipier indeed. And no doubt
II few Americans, highly civilized individuals hop.
ping backward and forward over the Atlantic
much dlsapprOve OF these word and works
of Mr. COnant and his constituents. But
can there be constant groups of children OF
light Joined in an elegant order, everywhere
throughout the Union for, If there we're. would
not their of equity and their sense OF delcacy
and their of the ridiculous, be too strong
even III this matter of copyright for Mr. Conant ano
his constituents
CONTRAST AND COMPARISON.
But on the creation and propagation OF such
groups the civilized life OF America depends for ITS
future rs the civilized life of own country. too
depends for Its future upon the same thing so
M uch is certain. And II America succeeds In Great
ing and installing hers. before we succeed in Great
ing and installing ours, then theH VIII sen1 over
help 10 us from America, and will powerfully in
II uence us for our good. Let US see, then, how
both of us stand ut the present moment, and what
nd yantages tho one of us has which are wanting
the other We in England have liberty and in
dustry and the sense for conduct, and a splendid
aristocracy whioh feels the need Tor beauty and
manners, and a unique class IA Mr.. Charles Summer
pointed out, OF gentlemen, not of the landed GLASS
or of the nobility but cultivated and refined
America has not our splendid aristocracy but then
this splendid arstocracy is materalzed. and for
helping the sense Tor beauty the sense for social
life and manners. in the nation at large, it docs
pronounce, with Mr.. IIussey Vivian, that American
civilization suffers by its absonse. Indeed they arc