Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-11-02
MATTHEW AnNOLD's LECTURE.
what Mo Thinks OF the United states

Matthew Arnold delivered his first lecture
in this country at New York to great audi
encc on Tuesday night, and appears to have
achieved phenomenal failure. The Herald
says: "Nlr. Arnold's long, Scottish type of
face, with its trim mutton.ohop whiskers
and rather prominent cheek bones, and his
black hair, parted precisely in the middle
AID c)mbrd over his temples, were all noted
by several thousand pairs of eyes. He in
turn screwed black trimmed single eyegldss
into his right eye, and, with the peculiar up
ward look Of II rather short sighted person,
scru,inized the audience with a pleasant ex-
preston aud an air of perfect self-posscssion.
When he began his lecture the fact that he
was not accustomed to making addresses in
public became evident, for he only partially
opened his mouth, and, consequently, could
not be understood beyond the fourth row OF
bcut hes. In consequence, the audience
thin ed out rapidly. The closing portion Of
the lecture was rs follows
In these United States you are 10000, 600
and more. | suppose that, as in England
as in France, rs everywhere, so likewise
here, the majority of tho people doubt very
much whether the majority is unsound, or
rather they have no doubt at all about the
matter T.; they are sure that it is not unsound.
But let us consent tn night to remain to the
end in the ideas Of the sages and prophets
whom we have been following all along, aud
let us suppose in the present actual stage of
the world, as in all the stages through which
the world has passed hitherto, the ma
jority is and must be in general unsound
everywhere, even in the Uni cd States, even
in New York itself. Where is the failure !
have already in the past spcculitcd in the
a et al a1unInutlt, ant |
that in Democratic community like this,
with its iuduslrlalism and its sheer freedom
and equality, the danger is in the absence of
the discipline of obedience, the discipline OF
respect, in the prevalence of false acuteness,
false smartness, a false audacity. Whatso-
ever things are nob.y serious or have true
| elevation, whatsoever things are elevated,
| that perhaps in our catalogue OF lHaNllns
| which are TO possess the world, is the maxim
which points to where the failure OF the un-
sound ma jority in great democracy like yours
| will probably lie. AT any rate, let us for the
| moment agree TO suppose 50, and the philo
sophers aud the prophets whom at any rate
| am disposed to believe, and who say that
moral causes govern the standing and falling
of States, will tell us that the failure to mind
| whatsoever things are elevated must impair
| with an memorable fatality the life of ma
things require will impair it, andif the failure
to mind whatsoever things are elevated
| should be real in your American democracy
aud should grow into disease and take firm
hold of you, then the life even of these great
United States must inevitably be impaired
| more and more until it pcrishes. Then from
| this hard doctrine we will betake ourselves
| to the more comfortable doctrine of the rem
nant. "The remnant shall return sinai
convert and be healed itself first and shall
then recover tue uisound majority. Ant
you are fifty millions and growing apace
| What remnant yours may be, surely Arem
nant Of how great number how
mighty strength, how irresistible eff
cacy! Yet we must not 60 too fas
either, nor make too sure of our eilica
cious remnant. Mere multitudes will moi
give us n saving remnant with certainty. The
Assyrian Empire had multitude, the Ro
man Empire had multitude, yet neither thu
one nor the other could produce Il sufficient
remnant any more than Athens or Judea
could produce il, and both Of them perishet
like Athens or Judea. But you are some
thing more than a people of fifty millions
You a1e fifty millions, mainly sprung, as WI
in England are mainly sprung, from tina
German sock, which has faults, indeed
faults which have diminished it
power of attraction, diminished TN
extent of Its influence and the in
telest Of its history, but of which it /
yet true, as my father said fifty years ago
that it las been stock "ot the most mora
races of men that the world has yet seen
with the soundest laws, the least violent pas
sions, and the faircst domestic and civi
virtues" You come, therefore, OF abou
the best parentage which modern natio
can have. Then you have had, Il
we in England have also had, bu
more entirely than we, and more ex
clusively, the Puritan discipline. Ger
tainly am not blind to the faults of tina
discipline. Certainly do not wish it to re
main in possession OF the field forever or to
long. But as stage and a discipline, an
as means for enabling that poor, inattcr
tive and immoral creature, man, to live an
appropriate and make part of his being d
J vine ideas on which he could not otherws
! have kept hold, the discipline of Puritanisl
has been invaluable, and the more | read his
tory the more see Of mankind and the NOR
recognize its value. Well, then, you AZ
; not merely multitude OF fifty millions, yo
are fifty mill ms sprung from this cxcellen
Germanic stock and having passed throug
this excellent Puritan discipline. Even SUI
posing, therefore, tina. by the necessity {
things your majority must in the lrpsl
stage of the world probably be uusuunt
what remnant, say; what an iacompa
Bile, transforming remnant you ma
fairly hope with your numbers, If things &
happily, to have"