New-York tribune., 1891-05-14
AMERICAN STUDIES.
WHAT A rREycHMAY SAW HERE.

pp 500. Paris L. PiOn. Nouirit ct Gle.
A. Gauieur is Swiss who has lived In the United
States twenty-five years, and therefore HIS had ampc
time to make the observations upon which his book IS
based He divides these studies into three parts. con-
sidering in turn the white race tne black and the red
The work is dedicated TO NJ. Taine, whose "o'fgnes
De ID France Conempoaie' tho author has taken for
his model NJ Gauilieur is sincere and earnest In
uuirer but whether his researches into the origins OF
what perhaps he would call Americanism are destined
to be ifuminstve depends rather too much upon the
solution Of certain problems which he has somehow
overlooked. He sets out with the assumption that
the nature Of the American white man differs in I'M
portant respects from the nature Of the European w'e
man. but he only concerns himself to demonstrate that
American manners customs and institutions diiler rad
icaly from those Of Europe-which most people might
consider truism Hardly worth discussing. NO oouD'
II s true that the circumstances Of the carly cooIss
profoundly affected their views OF fe but inc ou Auah
was not long In reassertng himself in the Puritan cont
munity as tho Quaker prosecutions showed. UP 10
that nont then n Is clear that no modification of
sequence had taken place. Later religious tolerance
came to be inevitable through the multiplicity OF
beliefs but NJ Gaulieur entertans some curious IDEAS
concerning the evolution OF freedom in New-EnglaDd,
which he seems to regard as still in the Donds Oh
Puritanc nacrowness and intellectual tyranny. Ills
notes may have got mixed at this point for In some
of his remarks he would appear to believe that the
people of NewEngland generally are at present COM
peed to 20 10 church whether they wish to do so or
not and that persons found walking In the stneeuS
tueng divine servict subject TO arrest ana hhe
In fact the ingenious authors vision is not little
hazy and he swings backward and forward over an
arc of some 200 years with bewilderlng rapidly and
uncertainty One scarcely ever knows whether he Is
discussing the first decade after the arrival Of the May
flower or the present day which state of things IS 10
say the least somewhat confusing. in his study OF
the red race he exhibits tendency to accept the
eccentric theory that the purebocded White American
has taken on many of the traits and physical features
of tho red but he does not refer to TINS nouon III
his opening essay the gist Of which may be said TO
he that Americans have profted by their superior ndi-
vduL freedom, at the time that they nave lost
ground I'm culture. NJ Gaueur is not an indulgent
critic though he is certainly honest one lie teiis
Us that we have art no literature, no science even
save what is concerned with material gains IL seems
that we are entirely without manners, ana that our
social conventions are exceedingly crude ana oi'c
unite barbarous In the eyes Of Europeans 1t Is true that
they think thus because they d. not understand us;
but as neithec do VIC understand them, our mutuai
criticisms are not conducive 10 edfcatlon Really we
are a very quite distinct from the Olu Worlu
strains but unfortunately incomprehenslble hithefo'
Now that NJ. Gaueur has undertaken TO explain Us 10
mjsrustful Furope and to indicate those good points
in us which have been misapprehended, TO doubt a
reriod OF general enlightenment will follow and In the
words OF the hymn,
ave shall know as we are snown,
When the mists arc cleared away"
The authors study of the black race in America In
cludes the Antilles where he has travelled cxten-
sively. His general theory viii not be considered
attractive by most American thinkers. for he is
frankly of opinion that the negroes were better
off in slavery than either before or since; and hc
holds that Southern plantation life was really
elevatng to them lie also goes out OF his way 10 de-
fcnd the humanity Of the captains who commanded the
slavers OF old and in fact he abors TO prove that the
slave trade was carried with the utmost consideration
for the victims who never had anything to complain OF
but rather close quarters. The paper the red race
opens with the interesting assertion that Feninore
Coopers Indians arc entirely true to nature, and that
the novelist entitled 70 the palm for genuine realism
AS though 70 make this statement the more astorish-
ing NJ Gaulleur proceeds to say that he was led to
recognition Of Cooper's fidelity to nature by personal
observation of the noble red In effect he eneoun
tered Indians on the plains IN Wyoming and several
other places camped cut with them on various hunting
expeditions and had quite unusual opportunities OF
studying them. II must however, be said that to the
unenlghtened reader the red men he describes appear
TO have little in common with Uncas, Chingachgook &
Company. Some of them were good hunters and trap
pers, but their most striking characteristics seen to
have been an enormous appetite and gift for theving
On one occasion solitary redshn allghted In the
authors camp and proceeded to consume more food
than the eight white men composing the party could
have disposed Ot. Did Uncas eat after that manncrY
SO. Cooper has suppressed his gastron6fnlc record
The fourth and last paper is entitled Jones dc
Chicago" and is parabolic illustration of Western lie
and manners. The particular Mr. Jones concerned
was christened "Pickwick"-in accordance with the
wellknown American custom of selecting names for
children out of Dicens's books. In him we see all the
distinctlvely American traits. He begins life as a
drummer" He marries carly and takes his wife TO
live at a boarding house. His employer fails, and nc
brings suit against him for hundred thousand dollars
because an article given TO Jones to solicit orders for
proved a humbug. Next he buys outlying lands and
rapidly becomes wealthy whereupon he builds palace
and proceeds 10 DO duly miserable therein. His own
tastes are simple but his wife and daughter hunger
for "luxeo and more "luxe" and like the daughters
of the horse eech they refuse to be satisfied They
go to Yurrup" Of course, and settle down In Paris,
and won't come home and poor Pickwick Jones tries
TO console himself with horse that ro in :23
and is lost in his big house. and drinks brandy at
s8 bottle and is afraid of his wife and daughter
whose ways are not his Ways At last he is reused by
hearing that his daughter is about to marry French
Count so he huries Paris, and being there has moi
the courage to speak his mind for month Then he
meeky observes TO his daughter that he does not like
the young who seeks her hand, but he fully
realizes her right 10 do as she peases and he will
not exercise his prerogative by shutting off the sup
plies. Wbereupon the young lady, finding him thus
submissive, promptly vndicates her womanhocd by
casting of the impecunoas Count; and Pckwick Jones
is so gratfed by her obedience that he forthwith dies
and thus enables his wife daughter to take up the
abode in Europe permanently. This skit is quite
well done, and It's flashes Of ignorance enven i
oddly. VI. Coulter really has made a great many
shrewd and penetrating observations in his book and
is because it is so far in advance Of the average
foreigners studies Of America that its occasional apse
into error appear groteSque.