Year: 1864

| Cavendish at tWenty-one. This is true
not only of Parliament but of the services
and the consequence is that three-fourthI


of the ability, and courage and genius o.


the people is lost to the service Of the


state. A Wellesley is q general at thirty


Hayelock or Campbell wastes his life in


rising to the point a. which men think ol


making him general. The consequence


is that unless Eugland happens at any one


moment to find q genius in the highest


rank, she must either 60 without one, or


content herself with one who comes from


the mass and has wasted half his power In


raising himself above them"


Are there any Americans who still look


with favor on the English political system,
as at present constituted2 If there be any
such-and certainly the recent conduct Of
the mother country through its governing
classes, has not been calculated to excite
any inordinate fOw of sympathy sober
consideration of this stupendous evil must
have healthy effect. The genius of our
social institutions is movement. The man
that manages Mississippi craft to-day,
tomorrow becomes the hope of the nation
in its agony. The name of Washington is
not enough to give popularity to his de!
scendants. unless they have something of
the nobleness, the head, the heart of Wash
inRton. The Adamses are almost the only
family which has kept up its traditiouary
vIgor and its place in the public regard
The mutations in the commanding officers
of our armies is proof of the readiness
which the Government of the United States
mauifests to recognize and reward distinc-
tive merit. The wheel turns, but it is only
stupidity and incapacity which fall to the
bottom. Biographies of our great men
have but one commencement-"bor of
poor but honest parentsI'


Nor is there found that evidence of fun
keyism, which the Eugligh writer accOrds
to his own nation when he says that the
best part of q mans life is consumed in
rising to such rank as to enable him to
command the ear of Parliament. If any
foreigner entertains such an opinion, one
day spent in the visitors gallery of the
House of Congress would clear his mind OF
that rubbish. No where, indeed, is the
true manhood of man so fully recognized; I;
and though we have not been wholly faith
full to the political instincts of our fore
fathers, yet the present set of the current is
a healthy one. The only feature that bears
any resemblance in our country to the
English aristocracy, SO far as it discourages
talent, is that of the dominance of the pol
itcian that over. .shadowing evil to which
General Dix alludes in his noble letter to
the Union men of Pennsylvania.


But happily there is nothing permanent
in this influence of the political wire. .puller;
and we suspect that the conclusion of the
war will be the signal of his summary ejec-
ton from the system of our politics. The
aristocratic element, on the other hand, is
in its nature permauent-frm as the land
on which its power rests. Indeed, the point
dappui from which an attack can be made
upon the aristocracy of the upper English
classes, at once bold, swift and successfuh
would be such legislation as should alter
the tenure of land. Oue has only to recall
the abuses which Mr.. Golden and Bright
received from the conservative press last
winter, when those gentlemen alluded in
the vaguest way to this topic, to understand
of what vital Importance their land proPFi-
etorship is to this class. But the law can
not be altered as long as the franchise is
SO restricted; and, therefore, the hrst
measure which commends itself to the lib
eralist is the increase of the number of ma
tional electors. This is a matter which
concerns the pErty of the people on both
sides of the Atlantic, and we are glad to
perceive, in the recent language ofcertain
liberal orators and journals, that they are
preparing to push this measure to an issue