The stranger in America; or, Letters to a gentleman in Germany: comprising sketches of the manners, society, and national peculiarities of the United States

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THE

STRANGER IN AMERICA;

OR,

Letter II

A BALL ROOM the moming after the feast; the giosira after the bull-fight is over, and the people have left the place; a stage from which tableaux vivans have delighted gazing friends with their fairy-like charms, and upon which now falls from without the glare of every day reality, disenchanting green baize into green baize, and white gauze into white gauze, are sights which never failed to produce peculiar impressions upon me. I have stood on the evening of the 18th on the battle-field of Waterloo, when, as one of my company said, " the fun was o'er," and made my Hamlet contemplations, which forced themselves even on the mind of a lad; but nothing equals, I think, a morning after a closely contested election in a populous city. Rise early on the morning after and walk through the quiet streets. Walls and corners are yet covered with flaming hand-bills, witnesses and documents of the highrunning excitement, which but yesterday seemed to roll like an agitated sea. You are told in large capitals that if the candidates of the other ticket are elected, the commonweal needs must perish; our liberty, happiness, national honor are lost: close by sticks another huge paper which declares, in equally measured terms, that the opposite side is composed of a set of Catilinas at least, a nest of designing demagogues, corrupt, sold, and panting for the people's money. They tell you that orphans and widows, whose money has been squandered away, call upon you to vote against the opposite candidate; they warn you to look well at your ticket before you throw it into the ballot box, because spurious ones have been circulated by their opponents, to whom all means appear fair.* Above these placards are others of a somewhat earlier date, calling upon the citizens of a certain party of such or such a ward to attend a meeting, where election business of great importance will be transacted, and the chair be occupied by some old revolutionary crony, for they have their Marathon-men (may not f^ct^x^afOLcxxoi thus be translated analogous to Waterloo-men?) here as well as the Greeks had, and wherever an old honest revolutionary soldier can be hunted up, he is sure to be used for the chair of some meeting or other.t It is na-

• Elections in New England arc much calmer tlian those described by the author; indeed, they ai-c, of all elections we have seen, both in Europe or America, by fur the most orderly. Without populai- elections, we mean elections by larg-e bodies, whoever may compose them, no true representation is possible, and wherever popular elections are, there will be at the time of the election excitement, yet, as is also our author's opinion, much more in appearance than in reality. It is like the agitation of the atmosphere, necessary from time to time, in order to clciu- it We may add, however, that of all elections we ever have seen in the United Stxites, nothing is to be compared to a well-contested English election in a large place; for example, a Westminster election. The excitement, the overbearing rudeness displayed by the populace, and the knowledge of the immense system of bribing which is carried on in an English election, render it one of the most interesting spectacles to the obsener. — Euitoh.

I Tlie battle of Mar.ithon was, as may be imagined, a subject of peculiar pride with the Athenians, and tlie gloiy of the heroes of Manithon, (,««g:td»- vo/uaxot or Marathon-warriors,) was ever in the mouth of tlieir orators; so tliat, at last, it degenerated into the ridiculous, as is often the course of similar things. Tlie sweetest airs of Mozart have been so mercUcssly hackneyed by street organs, that we lain as soon as we hcai- the tunc.

Lucian, in Il/iclontrn Prxc. c. 18, makes a teacher of clecution impress his pupil with the importance of never forgetting Marathon, however alien to the subject. " If you speak," he says, "at Athens of .an adulterer, relate what was done with the Indians and in Ecbatana; but before all, mention Marathon, and Cynegirus, without which it will not do. Let always vessels pass through the Atlios, and sokliei-s tread upon the Hellespont; let the sun be darkened by the Persian arrows, let Xerxes flee, and Leonidas be admired, tlie inscription of Othryades be read, and sound the names of Salamis and Aitcmisium and Platia often and close together." — Editob.

tural; how could it be otherwise? They are, in one respect, more than Marathon-men, because they did not only defend liberty but conquered independence, and the rarer an article, the higher the price. Carroll of Carrolton, for a long time the last surviving signer, received more honor than many others together, who were more active in the sacred business of declaring independence; and the farther we recede from the time of our " blessed revolution," and the rarer " revolutionary soldiers" become, the more they are sought for. I think there may be a time when people will run after me to see one of the last Waterloo-men, as my brother used to say that he had no doubt but his face, marked by the small-pox, would become in time so great a rarity that people would take it for a beauty. But to return to our election.

A noise is made before every election, proportionate (or rather disproportionate) to its importance, from that of the president down to a constable; sometimes the uninitiated would think the whole country in a dangerous fever; new papers are established, if the importance of the election warrant it, pamphlets circulated, articles written, letters published, handbills printed, "sumptuous" dinners got up, meetings held, correspondence with committees of the same party kept up, whole districts deluged with printed speeches and political publications, all of which is expensive, and yet supported by contribution without coercion. And in order to arrive at the true statement of the expense of a government with elective representatives, I think that allowance for the expense of electing should be made, since it cannot be avoided, is inherent in the nature of this kind of government, and is paid after all by the nation; though I allow it is a tax which falls solely on the wealthy. Yet do not believe that our elections are at all as expensive as the English; nothing like it; nor is the kind of expense the same. Positive bribes are not known with us, and the candidate himself has no expenses to incur.*

• Oup expenses, indeed, sound hardly worth mentioning, when we read in English papers of instances as tlie following': — "Mr. Fuller stood success-

The morning after the election all is quiet, the sea is calm as if a heavy rain had fallen upon it There hang the staring handbills with their enormous imputations and caricature exaggerations, now lifeless, tasteless, and without any farther effect or use than haply to point a moral. Soon after the rains of heaven wash down these traces of man's passion. In Paris some old woman would scrape them down, and soon placards of all parties would be mashed in one vat, peaceably to combine in the formation of a new sheet, destined perhaps to the same fate.

These periodical excitements lead to curious considerations. Is it not strange that year after year the same thing is acted over, and year after year brings the same bustle, noise, and clamor? That man never seems to gain in experience? That again and again excitement rises to a high pitch, though we know, to-morrow it will appear like labor lost. But, pray, do not misunderstand me, as if I were desirous for political apathy; nothing is worse in a free country than a lifeless disregard of its politics; I would prefer even an undue excitement. Ambition, bad as it often is, is far better than supercilious disdain of the politics of one's own country; one thing only is worse than both — greediness for money in politics. Wherever this corruption is found, the commonwealth is irretrievably lost. Rome and France afford the proofs. I censure only that party spirit, which makes unjust assertions, and that clamor which knows its assertions not to be true. And how often — though I willingly allow by no means always — is it a trifle, a bubble, a mere nothing, that consumes so much activity, and energy, and leads to such doubtful views of political morality! You sec, man is man every where; the same spirit, though in another form, is observed at courts, among sects, in families, with schoolboys, scholars, and artists. Oh, the tabourets, the tabourets

fully a severely-contested election with Colonel Sergisson, whicli lasted sixteen days, and cost tlie former 20,000/., iit addition to a siil)scription purse of 30,000/. made by the county. The expenses incuncd by Mr. Sergisson were, we believe, equally heavy." — Editou.

of Retz ! * The " Our Father," and " Father of us," of the Calvinists and Lutherans!! The blue and green caps! The white and red roses! The Nominalists and the Realists! The big-endians and little-endians, who are indeed no caricatures, at least, no fictitious caricatures. Who has not seen them acted in real life? But a few years ago, one part of a congregation, in a considerable town of New England, was for the erection of a stove in their meeting-house, whilst the rest strenuously opposed the measure; and stovites and anti-

* The author must refer to a passage in the Memoh-s of the Cardinal de Retz. It is so amusing throughout, particularly to us republicans, that we consider ourselves justified in giving a translation. On page 23, vol. ii., of the Geneva edition of If 52, the Cardinal says: " The prince had engaged to cause the tabouret (a chair, without back, on which certain privileged ladies were allowed to seat themselves in the presence of the court) to be given to the Countess de Foix; and the cardinal, (Mazarin,) who was much opposed to it, excited all the youths of the court to oppose all tabourets which were not founded upon brevets. The prince, who suddenly saw opposed to him the nobility of the court, at the head of which the Marshal L'Hospital had placed himself, was not willing to cause public excitement against himself for interests which where indifferent to him, and he thought it enough to do for the house of Foix, if he upset the tabourets of the other privileged houses. That of the house of Rohan was the first of the number; and imagine how unpleasant a shock of this nature must have been to the ladies of this name! They received the news on the same evening, when the Duchess de Guimene returned from Anjou. Ladies de Chevreuse, de Rohan, and de Monbazon, repaired the next morning to her. They pretended that the affront offered to them was only to take vengeance against the Fronde, (the party to which the Cardinal de Retz belonged. ) We concluded upon a counter-party among the nobility for the support of the tabouret of the house de Rohan. Mademoiselle de Chevreuse was much pleased tliat she had thus been distinguished from the house of Lorraine; but the consideration of her mother was tlie reason that she did not dare to contradict general feehng. It was proposed to try to shake the prince, before it should come to an open rupture; I undertook the mission, and went the same evening; my pretext was my relationship with the house de Guimene. The prince, who understood me before I had ended, said, ' You are a good relative; it is right to satisfy you. I promise you that I shall not oppose the tabouret of the house of Rohan.'" — Editor.

f Luther had translated tlie beginning of the Lord's Prayer by '^Father of us," (analogous to the Greek original,) Calvin, however, by " Our Father," and this difference was insisted upon with great pertinacity in the controversies and contests of the two sects in Germany. — Ebitor.

stovites allowed themselves to be carried to a degree of excitement unexampled in the memory of the oldest inhabitants. In former times, it would have led to bloodshed, and put a whole province in fire. I once found the inhabitants of a small town in England in great agitation, because the rector's wife had appeared in church with a fashionable hat from London ; half of the female inhabitants sided with her, half were against her. A goose is a goose, and a monkey a monkey; an ass is an ass, and a tiger a tiger, but a man — I do not know what he is, certainly not a man. Would you believe that, in 1830, a man was killed at an election in Nova Scotia? What a tremendous tornado in a tea-kettle! Losing a life in a Nova Scotia election! This is carrying the fun too far, particularly for one of the party, though, according to Pierquin, dying is a " delicious, nay, voluptuous sensation," and no greater inducement to crime can be held out, than the sweet tickling of a guillotine,* or the smiling little abbreviation: Susp. per. col.

Again, it is remarkable what excited language is used by the papers and public speakers in these times of political contest, whilst every body knows that not half of it is meant in reality. It reminds me of a picture which I found in one of my pedestrian journeys, in a Silesian tavern. It represented a fellow with a knowing face, and, as spoken by him, were written the words: "Who knows whether it is true!" thus throwing a serious doubt over every thing that was said by the garrulous guests of the inn. I happen to know here three families, in each of which there are two brothers, directly opposed in politics, and manifesting their political opinions in public and very decided speeches; some of their sons are for, some against the father; yet they stand on the most amicable footing with each other. On the whole, I like this much. I believe that nowhere else do men allow,

• Pierquin, in his work Dc la Peine dc Mort, thinks to prove tliat, as tlic author states, dying is a voUiptuous pleasure and that capital punishment is an incongruity since torture has been abolished, if it be the intention of the legislators to inflict pain, and deter by it. — Editor.

with so much good humor, every one to have and follow his political opinion. You may see senators and representatives in Washington fighting deadly battles, and an hour later, walking and joking together. Not that this always indicates that all their political course flows from interest, and not from conviction; I have seen instances where no such suspicion can exist. No, it is because people here have always been accustomed to acknowledge in every one the right politically to act as he thinks best. It is a manly quality which I love to see, as long as there is no real political ;crime imputed. But in the newspapers all, of course, wears a heightened aspect; there every thing is rouged to the utmost.

We must be fair, however, and consider that all language, if used out of the narrowest circle of our family or long-tried friends, is exaggerated, and that not in politics alone. Is not our language in social and polite intercourse equally exaggerated? " I am extremely happy to see you," " your most obedient servant;" is this not language equally overcharged with any newspaper article, for or against a candidate?*

• We think all exaggerations of this kind find their beau ideal in the letter wliich Ibrahim-Pacha of Egypt wrote to the sultan in 1832, after having' beaten him soundly, and exacted a peace on conditions sufficiently onorous for the sultan. There is such insolence in this oriental civiUty of a successful rebel to his master, that we cannot help inserting it here. Ibralum thanks the sultan for the investiture of the government of Adana: —

" My sublime, magnanimous, awe-inspifing, mighty, great Sovereign, our benefactor, the benefactor of mankind.

" May God grant to your Sublimity a life without end, and make the august shadow of your Sublimity a protection for all men, and especially for my humble head.

"Your inexhaustible goodness has induced you, most gracious Sovereign, to grant me the government of Adana as mahassilik (in farm.)

"Animated by tliis new favour of your Sublimity, the duration of my frail existence shall be wholly devoted to praying to God for the prolongation of your hfe and reign. 'As my heart is pervaded by a feeling of happiness, I entertain (God is my witness) no wish but to act so as to obtain the gracious approbation of your Sublimity, and to find occasion to devote myself to your service. For the purpose of expressing my gratitude to your Sublimity, and

The comparison could be carried through many branches, and it must be, therefore, borne in mind, particularly by people abroad, who wish to judge of the political state of a country by its papers and other publications, that much of all the violence and contest exists on the paper alone; there it remains and there it dies. There was a man, at the beginning of the French revolution, who edited two newspapers at the same time; one for the popular party, one for the king, and both in violent language. I do not mean to say that he is a fair specimen of all editors and public .orators, but most of them have a passion which they can pull out like the stops of an organ. Promises, proclaimed by monarchs when they assume the sceptre, are not the only things which are to be taken as words of course, though, I confess, I think editors might be a little more civil with each other, since the sultan has given them a good example in prohibiting, as early as 1830, by a regular fetwa, the calling of Christians, Christian dogs.

Thirdly, those very bills on the corners of the street, and the perfect, good-humored calmness as soon as the contest is over, show that the Americans, the least excitable nation* I know of, are eminently qualified for a government of law. It is my full conviction, founded upon the little knowledge of history I have, and on constant and close observation, that there never Avas a nation so fitted for it, in ancient or modern times, so calculated to solve a number of difficult political problems, as the Americans, descending as they do from that noble nation to which mankind owes nearly all those great ideas, the realization of which forms the aim of all the political struggles on tlie European continent, and

to express my most humble thanks, I venture to lay tlils humble petition at the foot of the throne of the sublime, magnanimous, awe-inspiring, mighty, great padishah, our august sovereign and benefactor, the benefactor of all men."

This letter was written by Ibrahim-Pacha witli his own hand, and sealed with his seal. — Editor.

• Hence there is little of what is called fun in America. — Editor.

which the historian will single out as the leading and characteristic political features of the present age — namely, elective representation, two houses, an independent judiciary, liberty of the press, responsibility of ministers, a law standing above the highest ruler even if a monarch, and a proper independence of the minor communities in the state — that great nation which alone sends along with its colonies a germ of independent life and principle of self-action, (rendering the gradual unfolding of their own, peculiar law, possible,) and above all, that nation which first of all elevated itself to the great idea of a lawful opposition.* Descending, as the Americans do, from this nation, which seems to have civil liberty in its bones and marrow, and situated as they are, in a boundless country, allowing scope to the bold-

* Reading over my letter, I will hastily add, here on the margin, a few ideas of mine on opposition. Do you recollect that about eight years ago a member of pai-liament, I forget his name, used in the house the expression, "His Majesty's opposition." Now, this sounded very ridiculous, but tliere was a deep sense in this apparent paradox. Opposition is an ingredient part of a free government. The minister cannot act without — but the scanty paper will not allow me to say all I should wish to say. Only thus much will I add. A systematic and lawful opposition shows a high state of political development, and if the future historian knew nothing of the English but that tliey fii-st elevated themselves to this idea, he would conclude that it must have been a nation in a very high stage of political advancement. The Turks formerly did not even know of such a thing as tlie mere official discharge of a minister; he was turned out of office and life at tlie same time. Now they have an-ived at this stage of civilization, yet the minister is. banished. In France the discharge of a minister was formerly called disgrace. There was always the idea of something personal between the monarch and the minister connected with the dismissal of the latter. In Spaia a minister receives his discharge and banishment from the capital at the same time. In England, and now also in France, when a minister is dischargee^ he goes quietly to the house, and, in all probability, takes his seat with the opposition. No one di-eams of conspiracies and revolutions. The monarch even has been known to have a personal Lking for a minister, and to show it after his removal from office. — So much greater is moral security than physical. In Asia every dismissed vizier is supposed to meditate rebellion, he must die; in Em-ope a monai'ch is detlironed and allowed peaceably to make his exit. Antiquity never elevated itself to tlie idea of a lawful and organized opposition.

est enterprise without causing discontent and political friction, (which, in countries closely populated, cannot be avoided,)— at a great distance from Europe and all her intricate questions and diplomatic influences, yet blessed with the civilization of that part of the world by means of the alluniting sea, over which they have thrown their flying bridges, the fleet messengers of the Atlantic, conductors and reconductors of civilization, and, in addition to all these advantages, possessed of their calm and sedate disposition — truly, if they are not made for a government in which the sway of the law alone is acknowledged, then tell me what nation is or was so? As a thousand things co-operated in ancient Greece to produce that unrivalled state of perfection in which we fmd the fine arts to have been there — a happy constellation of the most fortunate stars — so a thousand favorable circumstances concur in America, to make it possible that a far greater amount of liberty can be introduced into all the concerns of her political society than ever was possible before with any other nation, or will be at any future period, yet also requiring its sacrifices, as the fine arts with the Greeks required theirs.

The influence of this nation has been considerable already; it will be much more so yet in ages to come: political ideas will be developed here and have a decided efiect on the whole European race, and, for aught I know, upon other races; but as the Grecian art has kindled the sense of the beautiful with many nations, but never could be equalled again (as a national aflair,) so it is possible that political notions developed here and received by other nations, will have a sound influence only if in their new application they arc modified to the given circumstance; for it is not in the power of any man or nation, to create all those circumstances, under the shade of which liberty reposes here. Politics is civil architecture, and a poor architect indeed is he who forgets three things in building: the place where the building is to be raised, the materials with which he has to build, and the object for which the structure is erected. If the materials are Jews of Palestine and if the object of the fabric be to keep the people as separate from neighbors as possible, the architect would not obtain his end by a constitution similar to that of one of our new states.*

It was necessary for the Americans, in order to make them fit to solve certain political problems, which, until their solution here, were considered chimerical (take as an instance the keeping of this immense country without a garrison,) that they should descend from the English, should begin as persecuted colonists, severed from the mother country, and yet loving it with all their heart and all their soul ; to have a continent, vast and fertile, and possessing those means of internal communication, which gave to Europe the great superiority over Asia and Africa; to be at such a distance from Europe, that she should appear as a map ; to be mostly Protestants, and to settle in colonies with different charters, so that, when royal authority was put down, they were as so many independant states, and yet to be all of one metal, i so that they never ceased morally to form one nation nor to feel as such.

You may say: " Strange, that an abuse of liberty, as this apparent or real party strife in election contests actually is, should lead you to the assertion that no nation is fitter for a government of law." Yet do I repeat it. How would it be with other nations? It would be after an election of this kind that the real trouble would only begin; we see an instance

• We know the author well, and are thoroughly acquainted with his political views. He is far from agreeing with tliose politicians who use the above argument in order to impede exertions for liberty among different nations, as if it were a mere aping of other people. On the contraiy, it is his firm belief, that from the beginning of the middle ages the European race had always in common certain broad political principles, and that, at the present time, one of these is that of representative government. And we would ask the absolutists, who designate the desire among nations to profit by the example of others as mere aping, when there was ever a more " tedious uniformity " among European states than in the feudal times i* All the author wished to express is, that his true love of liberty made him regard its essence as more important still than its form. — Editor.

( 3-1 )

In South America. Here, on the other liantl, as soon as tlic election is over the contest is settled, and the citizen obeys the law. " Keep to the right, as the law directs," you will often find on sign-boards on bridges in this country. It expresses the authority which the law here possesses. I doubt v^ery much whether the Romans, noted for their obedience to the law, held it in higher respect than the Americans.

A traveller who goes from the European continent to England is struck with the respect paid to the law in that country. I conversed once with an English stage-coachman on a certain law, which I thought very oppressive: " Yes, said he, but such is the law of the land." You miglit travel all over Austria and Prussia before a postillion would give you such an answer. He would say, in a similar case, " Yes, but they take good care that you do not get round them." If you go from England to the United States, you find that there the law is held in still "higher respect. But to see the whole truth, to feel the full Aveight of what I say, it is necessary to see the law administered on minor occasions, to see riots quelled by citizens themselves sworn in for the occasion, to sec banks and mints without sentinels, to travel thousands of miles and never meet with a uniform; and farther, to observe that what the law requires is here held. honorable. No man looks upon a district attorney as upon a tool of government because he prosecutes in the name of the United States.

I was once with INIessrs. sent by their government

to this country to inquire into our , in a Boston party.

A gentleman of fine appearance attracted their attention; "who is he?" they asked. " The sherifi"," I replied. " The sheriff?" said one of them:- "is not the sheriff the officer who directs the infliction of capital punishment?" "He is," I answered. " And did he superintend the execution this morning?" "He did," was my answer. "And he here! ma fois that is rather too much!" exclaimed my friend, in whom, though a gentleman of clear mind, all the European prejudices against every person who has any thing to do with the administering of capital punishments were excited; but reflection soon came to his aid, and he was struck with the rationality of this state of things. The more civilized a nation the fewer are the prejudices against professions and classes. In Spain, the business of the butcher, and even the business of the wine-merchant, is considered as dishonorable; in Germany, but a few years ago, the executioner had his own small table in the inn, and his own glass fastened by a string to the wall. — What was a merchant in France before the revolution? what a mechanic all over Europe in the beginning of the middle ages?