St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-10-27


with which he is regarded by thought
full men on either side of the Atlantic.
We have no hesitation in prOnOuncing
it one of the most profound estimates
of the tendencies of republican institu-
tions in the United States which have
ever been formed. He speaks not as
an Englishman, but as a philosopher !;
and while he lays bare the weak spots
in American civilization, he evinces a
subtle appreciation of the difficulties
which have been encountered and the
magnitude of the work undertaken in
the United States. He weighs what is
good and what is bad with great ac-
curacy in the balance of his philOsophi
cal Judgment. He does full justice to
the industrial development, the mate
rial prosperity and the marvellous in
ventiveness of the American people.
Never has heartier tribute been paid
to the material progress of the repub
lie. At the same time he discerns de-
fects in national character and in the
working of our political institutions,
and he analyses them with a masters
touch. Yet so grave and just is his
manner, so sympathetic is his tone,
that Americans have no reason to be
offended by aught that he says. They
ought rather to thank him for warning
them against the dangerous tendencies
of their political institutions and their
social life, and to find leisure for delib
crate reflection upon words of practical
wisdom so benignantly spoken.
The underdOne American is he who
will not admit that there is anything
at fault in the politics, morals and So
cial order of his own country. The
overdone American is he who is dis
posed to disparage everything that is
characteristic in the government and
society of his own people.
The finest type of American citizen
is neither Optimist nor pessimist in his
views of the future of the country. He
has reasons for the faith that is in him,
but those reasons are clOuded by seri-
Ous misgivings. He believes and he
doubts. He has the critical mood. He
glOries in the signs of material growth,
swarming population, and all the posi-
tive achievements of inventive genius
and industrial enterprise. He knows
that in population the American re-
public is already the second state in
ChristendOm, and the first in material
prosperity. This consciousness natu-
rally causes elatiOn. At the same time
he knows that at many points Ameri-
can civilization is retrOgrading rather
than advancing, and this reflection
steadies and sobers, although it does
not daunt or appal him. The Ameri-
can who does not know that in some
respects free institutions have worked
badly in the past, and are likely to
work even worse in the future, lacks
either candOr or discernment. What
makes Mr.. Spencer's diagnosis of the
case so important is the fact that the
patient has already recognized the
symptoms. Let Americans be honest
with themselves. Mr.. Spencer has told
them some wholesome truths, which
| they know in their secret hearts to be
truths. Let there be no hair-splitting
arguments respecting paper cOnstitu-
tiOns and the necessities of political
organization. Let the gravity of his
charges be conceded and IA disposition
evinced to profit by his criticisms.
For what is it that the philosopher
finds amiss in our political and social
life ? 1t is a defect of character which
he thinks education has proved power
less to remove. 1t is dull sense of
ones own claims, rights and privileges,
and an equally dull sense of the claims,
rights and privileges of others. This
sounds like philosophical abstrac-
ton, but it is a plain and practical
truth when the application is made.
Mr.. Spencer finds in small matters an
easy going readiness among Americans
''tO permit small trespasses, because it
would be troublesome or prOfitless or
unpopular TO oppose, which leads to
the habit of acquiescence i'll wrong and
the decay of free institutions" Neg
lect of individual rights naturally pro-
notes indifference to the rights of 9th
ers. The principle is illustrated by the
license with which individuals are
dealt with by the newspapers, the pop
ular notion that "the public have a
right to intrude on private life as far
us they like" the impuni with which
corporations encrOach upon private
rights and dominate over courts, legis-
latures and governments, and the facil-
ity with which political machinery is
worked by INSCRIPTIONS managers un-
til ''the sovereign people is fast becOm-
ing a puppet which moves and speaks
as wire-pullers determine" Mr.. Spen-
Ger does not affirm that republican in
stitutiOns have failed in America. He
denies it most strenuOusly, and evinces
a profound appreciation of the magni-
tude of the work which our people
have had TO do in incorporating ''vast
bodies of immigrants of various
bloods," and in solving social and geo.
graphical problems that are essentially
new and inconceivably complex. Yet
he cannot conceal his disappointment
at finding that material progress has
not been accompanied by "equal prog
ress of a higher kind" that profession
al politicians have become the ruling
power in public life, and that individu-
ais are not ''jealOus of their own rights
and also sympathetically jealous of the
rights of Others"-a condition which he
considers essential to the proper work
ing of free institutions.
Is there anything in these structures
to which intelligent Americans, will
proper sensibilities in regard to tn,
rights and Obligations of citizenship
can reasonably take exception We
think not. Those who have read Mr.
Spencer's remarks in the right spirit
and with unclOuded minds will profit
by them. They cannot help feeling an
added sense of personal responsibility
in matters small and large, in resent
, ing trespass on private rights, in bring
ing personal influence to bear in pri-
mary elections, in discOuntenancing
habits of defamation and flippancy
in the public press, in dischargine
more adequately and from higher mo.
, tives the duties of public service, il
discussing the problems of the present
and the future with intelligence anC
seriousness, and in helping on, in pub
lie and in private, the cause of good
. | nnNernment and human nrnmress