The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-14
LUST AND WEALTH,
ceivable.


every faculty aud sentiment which separates
man from the brute, carry lesson which can
not be ignored. The same conditions and
customs probably do not obtain in any other
capital Of the world. London is, in all that
pertains to civilization, the foremost center of
the world The savaees Of South America
and Of the islands Of the sea asked Of Mr..
Darwin in what part Of England Europe is,
and were generally of the impression that
ordinate TO it. For ali the purposes Of society,
government morals and religion the idea of
the savage that London is England is adj
missable
But we are not to conclude that English or
Christian civilization is an amelorated bar
barism, or that there is no virtue or purity in
men because Of these bestial revelations.
There is a reasonable explanation, and it is to
be sought in the history of the English race
and government. The best thing to do for a
foul ulcer is to probe it; for darkness to let in
the light; for grossness and immortality in
high places, to expose it; for future progress,
knowledge of past and present conditions.
The aristocracy of England is not to be con-
demned as class the term itself is meaning
less, and may apply to either government,
heredity, wealth, influence or morals.
Mr.. Sumner said that what struck him in
England was the large class Of gentlemen as
distinct from the nobility, and the album
dance among them of serious knowledge, high
accomplishment and refined taste. He says
also: II do not know that there is much
difference between the manners and social
observsnces of the highest classes of England
and those Of the corresponding classes
of France and Germany But in the rank be-
low the highest, the Englishmen have the ad-
vantage: they are better educated, better
bred, more careful in their social life, and
more refined" Whoever has studied the En-
glish aiistocracy at first hand, as Emerson in
his English Traits, or Hawthorne in his En-
ell masse. They are to be studied as individ-
uals, and also in groups. The institution of
ar istocracy is step in the progress of society
III stands perween the feudal system of mid
die English history and the democracy Of
America AS such it must be considered
rs whole; at its best, as well
as at its worst, and in the critical
spirit of the times every race and nation yields
an aristocracy of some form or other, and
whether its existence and uses are we'll Defined
or part Of the unconscious history each is
making, should be considered fairly
The revelations of the Gazette are not so diff
| ferent after ALL from the disclosures of Evelyn
and of Pcpys's diaries, and they appear in forms
almost as gross in Thackelay's 'Four Georges
the last of this group Of rotten debauchees
'let down from window by an inclined plane
into his coach to take the air, was scandal to
Europe which the illfame Of his queen, and
of his family, did nothing to retrieve"
Under the present reign, the absolute
purity and womaniness Of the Queen and
Prince Consort have checked in measure the
grosser vices Of the aristocracy. The daugh-
ters of this union have deported themselves as
the daughters of queens should. But vice Of
blood will reappear, and the prospective ruler
has given no token to the world that purity
and virtue in private life are greater thar
kingly crowns or yearly revenue Of si2
hundred thousand dollars. The latter, Mr.
Carnegie says, no man can spend worthily
upon himself and family and even the Prince
Of Wales desires to force upon the nation thC
cost of keeping his eldest son.
Mr. Carnegie assailed the English aristoc
racy of birth, as a class. in his address before
the Nineteenth Century Club, as follows;
'1ret any visitor see the House of Lords
when it is filed, which will be for one two
reasons-eithsr when the lords can in tn
character of national Legislators, legislate 70
themselves, or whei they can reject meas
ure beneficial to the masses. Upon such al
occasion one would really think, as he watch<
the peers pass, or rather hobble in, that ever,
reformatory, asylum or home for incurable
\ in Britain had been asked to send up to West
minister fair specimens Of its inmates. TIL
peers are not fne-looking body Of men
They form a striking contrast to the House o
D Commons in dress, manners and appearance
in all that goes to make up what we style th
gentleman An aristocracy of brit
t alone has never been able to sustain itself
] and, if that of England had not been constant
" recruited from the classes beyond its pale, il
would long since have persisted of its own in
e herent weakness. Even as it is, barrenness il
the peerage amounts to Il per cent, while tn
average in the whole opllation does no
+ reach per cent. This is great natures re
volt against the existence of an improper
constituted order which she is ashamed
, perpetuate The ablest peers to-day are di;
Il satisfied with their colleagues and are propo:
|, ing reforms of their house in the vain hope {