The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-04-29
COLONIALISM In THE
UNITED STATES.

In the years which followed the
close Of the war, il aeemed as If COL
onialism had been utterly exsin-
guished. Unfortunately, this was not
the case. The multiplication OF great
fortunes, the growth Of q class rich
by inheritance, and the improve
ment i methods OF travel and COM
muuicstion all tended to carry great
numbers OF Americans to Europe.
The luxurious ianoies which were
born Of increased wealth, and the in
tellectusl tastes which were developed
by the advance of the higher educa-
ton. and to which an old civilization
offers peculiar advantages and attrac-
tions, combined to breed in many
persons a love OF foreign life and for.
eign manners. These tendencies
and opportunities have revived the
dying spirit of colonialism. We see
it most stronglyin the leisurs class,
which is gradually increasing in this
country. During the miserable as
tendency Of the Second Empire.
band of these persons formed what
was known of the American col
ony," in Paris. Perhaps they still
exist; il 80, their existence is now less
fragrant and more decent. When
they we're notorious they presented
the melancholy spectacle OF Ameri-
cans admiring d aping the man
ners, habits, and vices of another ma.
ton. when that nation was bent and
corrupted by the cheap, meretricious,
and rotten system of the third Napo.
leon. They furnished very offen-
sive example OF peculiarly mean COL
onislism. This particular phase has
departed, but the same sort OF Amer
leans are, unfortunately, still COM
mon in Europe. / do not mean, of
course, those persons who 60 abroad
to buy social consideration, nor the
women who trade on their beauty or
wits to obtain a brief and dishonoring
uotoTiety. These last are merely adj
ventureEs and adventuresses, who are
common to all nations. The people
referred to here form that large class,
comprising many excellent men and
women, no doubt, pass their lives in
Europe, mourning over the inferiority
of their own country, and who be-
come thoroughly denationalized.
They DO not change into Frenchmen
or Englishmen, but are simply dis
figured and dsiormed Americans.
We find the same Wretcbed habit OIL
thought in certain groups among the
rich and idle people of our great east
ern cities, especially in New York,
because it is the metropolis. These
groups are for the most part made uI
OF young men, who despise every
thing American, and admire every
thing English They talk and dress
and walk and ride in certain ways,
because the English do these things
in those ways. They hold their own
: country in contempt, and lament the
hard fate Of their BIRTH They try Il
think that they form an aristooraoy,
and become at cnce lu1iorous and de
spicable. The virtues which havr
2 made the upper classes in EnglanC
what they are, and which take then
into public affairs. into literature ant
politics, are forgotten. Anglo. Amer
: leans initiate the vices or the follie
of their models, and stop there. l
all this were merely a passing fash
ion, an attack OF Anglo-manis, or Q
Gsllo-manis, Of which there hay
been instances enough everywhere
! it would be of no consequence. Bu
r it is a recurrence OF the old and deep
8 seated malady of co!onialism. 1t ia
f liensl descendent OF the old eolonia
: family. The features are someWhs
dim now, and the vitality is low, bu
there is no misEsking the heTeditsr
qualities. They who thus despis
their own land, and ape Englis
manners, fatter themselves with be
ing cosmepolitans, when in trut
they are genuine colonists, petty an
provincial to the last degree. Allan
&c Monthly.