Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

praiseworthy activity, if they have not exactly converted themselves into artists. Whether, as I have been told, the rich and fashionable part of the community show an inferior degree of interest in the subject, I am not qualified to assert. But I can scarcely believe that in this respect Boston exhibits more aristocratic feeling than Berlin.

BOSTON, 29th September.

You are right in supposing that a large, interesting, and instructive volume might be written on American customs and manners. But my own observations were by no means adequate to this purpose; and I do not wish to copy the accounts of others, nor indeed would I entirely confide in their correctness. I will merely throw together to-day a few desultory remarks on the subject.

The Americans complain, and with justice, that many travellers, for the purpose of giving interest and piquancy to their de scriptions, indulge in invention and embellishment, or in downright misrepresentation. If the truth, as is proper, were strictly adhered to, there would often be little to relate. Besides, as a general rule, nothing is more difficult, than to impartially observe and fairly judge, manners and customs which differ from our own; nothing more doubtful and dangerous, than to deduce general rules from solitary facts. Of Americans the most opposite things have been said, with respect to a thousand different matters; so that one might be led to put no faith in any of their statements. Yet it would be better to believe them all, since each has its relative degree of truth, and only to be cautious not to take a part for the whole. For instance, we are told that the Americans are cold and indifferent, and again that they are excitable and fanatical; that they have no self-command, and that they have too much; that they scarcely ever marry for money, and that they seldom marry for any thing else; that they are polite, and rude; are civilized, and uncivilized; are addicted to drinking, and are moderate in sensual pleasures; are devoted to women, and care nothing about them, &c.

It is not only true that many of their customs and usages differ materially from those of Europeans, but they are naturally so diverse in separate parts of the great confederacy, that any general description or judgment must of necessity be erroneous. What differences may be observed between the English, German, and French elements of the population; the manufacturers and slaveholders; the over-active, restless New Englander, and the wealthy, luxurious Virginian; the Puritans in New England,

and the Catholics in New Orleans; the social circles of opulent merchants in New York, and the forest dwellers of the West,* who take a pride in not entering a house the year round.-On the other hand, these diversities are compensated by much that is homogeneous, all-pervading, and promotive of union; much that reconciles sectional peculiarities, moderates the opposition of religious sects, and brings nearer the gradations in the social scale. There is particularly in their public life and the universal love for the republican form of government, a strong bond of union in thought and action; so that neither what is peculiar nor what is general can exclusively prevail, while unity amidst variety is most happily preserved.

Equality and distinction, or the gradations of society in the United States, are very different from what they are in Europe. Now that political equality has been won and acknowledged for all, the social circles naturally separate from each other, and wealth and education exercise their inevitable influence. But it makes an immense difference whether this political equality exists or is wanting; whether it has a soothing effect, or whether the social separations are accompanied by political prerogatives conferred on hereditary ranks, which are then regarded as doubly odious monopolies.

It has been made a subject of censure, that the wealthy merchants in America do not associate with the petty shopkeepers. But is this the case in Europe? or does the bright day ever arise in that quarter of the world, when the man of humble rank can attend some election or other popular assembly, where he can feel and make available his own worth and importance? The citizen of the United States never hears his importance in this respect disputed; and hence he can recognise without reluctance or bitterness the superiority of those higher in station or more cultivated than himself, can let that sort of aristocracy rule in its sphere without envy, and can emulate it in doing honor to the great men of America.

As in steamboats, on railroads, in hotels and stage coaches, there exists no distinction or separation into classes, European travellers are brought into contact with all sorts of persons; and many of their habits appear strange and repulsive, such as spitting about, cocking their legs up on the chair-backs, tables, windowsills, &c. In polite society no one takes these unbecoming liberties, and no one would set up the principle, in opposition to Athens and Florence, that a true republican must not sacrifice to the graces. There is a certain refinement, elegance, and pleasing polish of manner, equally remote from coarseness and from the

* Buckingham, Eastern States, i. 119

affected airs of a dancing master's saloon; this is found in the best society of America; and will continually have more to appreciate and practise it, without detriment to the graver virtues. Only a few, however, of the more highly cultivated, have a taste for humanity without gloss or meretricious ornament. Jefferson hit the true medium in this, as in many other things. He says: "With respect to what are termed polite manners, I would wish my countrymen to adopt just so much of European politeness, as to be ready to make all those little sacrifices of self, which really render European manners amiable, and relieve society from the disagreeable scenes to which rudeness often subjects it."*

It was observed by an American lady, "Our best society is aristocratic in principle and feeling."t True, and so it is every where; in all grades of society, every one strives to rise higher, and emulates those who are his superiors in education or position. Only in America this has nothing at all to do with the political system, and does not originate from it. There the highest and lowest grades of English society are wanting. The want of the former class may be esteemed a gain or a loss according to the point from which the subject is viewed; but the absence of the latter is certainly a gain. Because there is no court ton in America it does not follow that there is no good ton; and it is better that personal qualities should be allowed to manifest themselves, than that they should be ground down to a dead level by considerations of social diplomacy, so that all we come in contact with has neither character nor physiognomy of its own. From natural reasons already often mentioned, the lower classes of America, taken altogether, are more cultivated and more rational than in other countries. Even the backwoodsmen read the newspapers, and show considerable information on many subjects. We may smile to see here a major of militia driving a stage-coach, and a colonel taking measure for a suit of clothes;§ but we ought to weep when we hear European village squires assert, that the right and ability to think and act for the whole community belong to them alone.

It would be an advantage if the Americans would have nothing to do with the routs, soirées, and crowded saloons, in which so many persons belonging to the haute volée think they see the bloom and triumph of European social life. On such occasions there is not even space enough to see the handsome women; and as to conversation, properly so called, or interchange of thought, it is never dreamed of. On the contrary, this kind of social life leads to a dissipation and extinction of all thought, and places the

Tucker's Life of Jefferson, i. 190. Jefferson's advice has since been frequently followed. † M'Gregor's America, i. 32. + Vigne, ii. 71. Murray, ii. 330, 364.

wisest and most stupid upon a level. The refinement and forms of an old aristocracy, the polish of courtiers, the yielding, pliant condescension of superiors, and the meaningless compliments of equals, must not be sought for in America. Those who find the highest charm of social intercourse in such things, will doubtless bewail the irreparable loss. There is also no capital city that gives the tone to manners; nor is there that strong contrast between city and country which exists in many countries of Europe.

Scarcely any reproach is more frequently uttered against the Americans, than that they are arrogant and irritable, and excessively fond of flattery. They are," says Hamilton, "a nation of braggarts." "They will endure no blame," says De Tocqueville. "America is therefore a free country, in which, lest any body should be hurt by your remarks, you are not allowed to speak freely of private individuals or of the state, of the citizens or of the authorities, of public or of private undertakings, or in short of any thing at all. I know no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America." Spurzheim too observed, that "he had never experienced so much restraint in the expression of his religious views under monarchical governments, as he had felt in a country where republican freedom is supposed to exist."

My own experience does not by any means confirm these accusations. I have often expressed myself freely, nay severely, concerning matters of every description, and have combated with earnestness the opinions of others, without ever being subjected to the slightest censure on that score. The worthy men who listened and replied to me, knew that my conduct was not the result of vanity or presumption, but that I was actuated by the wish to view matters on every side, and to obtain as much information as I could. Thus, when I spoke against slavery with the slaveholders, against immediate emancipation with the abolitionists, in favor of democratic opinions with the whigs, and of whig principles with the democrats,-I drew forth such varied and instructive communications, as I should never have obtained, had I, like a mandarin on a mantelpiece, kept nodding a perpetual assent. The Americans would have far more reason to find fault with my behavior, than I (like the writers above quoted) to complain of them. It stands to reason also, that where unconditional freedom of speech and of the press exists, there cannot be such uneasiness, such aptness to take offence, and such a tyrannical demeanor, as in countries where civil and military officers, literati, &c, are wholly unaccustomed to blame, and are vulnerable at all points.

Hamilton's Eastern States, i. 305. De Tocqueville, ii. 136, 172. † Abdy, Residence and Tour in the U. States, i. 131.

I must say too, that I have not found the Americans excessively curious, and disposed to annoy every stranger with questions. They seemed to me in this respect rather indifferent. It is certain that I asked a hundred times as many questions as have been put to me. The Americans, it is true, are often fond of praising themselves, and chiefly because there is much in their country worthy of praise; they also seek to ward off censure, as every patriot is wont to do with strangers, without seriously and absolutely denying the existence of faults. The people are certainly often flattered in the United States, as sovereigns are in Europe;* since it every where requires courage to speak and hear the truth. But this praise is counterbalanced by such severe, eloquent, and bitter denunciation, as show that no stranger can judge more harshly of the Americans than they do themselves; indeed, sometimes their moral sensibility and noble indignation-or else mere ill humor-urges them to melancholy and almost desponding complaints.†

As a procession was once passing through the midst of a crowd, a gentleman called out, "Make way; we are the representatives of the people!"-" Make way yourself," was the reply. "We are the people themselves!" This anecdote throws a flood of light on regions where many cannot see their way. Hence a French observer remarks: "I prefer the involuntary rudeness of plebeians to the insolent politeness of courtiers."§ The travelling journalists and their readers usually persevere in observing things from the European point of view of persons of the higher ranks, instead of also looking at them with the eyes of the majority who are in an inferior condition. Hence, for instance, so many complaints of the presumption and the expensiveness of servants and domestics in America. The high wages, however, are very welcome to them, and are the natural consequence of the relation which the demand bears to the supply. Besides, every one prefers the condition of an independent freeholder, a citizen of the United States, to that of a domestic servant; a position which he only consents to assume on very advantageous terms, in order that he may the sooner escape from it. Hence too arises the beneficial result, that masters are often obliged to help themselves, and thus never fall into the foolish

*Thus Slick, the Clockmaker, says (p. 52): "Nothing improves the manners, like an election. What bowing and smiling; what flattering, and scraping, and shaking of hands! They are as full of compliments as a dog is full of fleas."

"New as the country is, it is already in a great measure in possession of a population as perfectly initiated in all the mysteries of vice, as conversant in all the scenes of depravity, - --as can be found in any of the oldest and most depraved countries of the old world."-Report upon the Extension of the Suffrage in Rhode Island, p. 13.

North American Review, xxv. 432.

Beaumont, Marie, i. 219.

« ForrigeFortsett »