We did not remain long at the office; but, on our way home, my friend finished the picture. “You ought to see him in the centre of his family,” said he: “what an excellent husband and father! in his private intercourse how remarkably modest and unassuming! He has indeed but one fault, which, however, is sufficient to damn him with our fashionable people: he is not fond of the dissipations of society, and does not give sumptuous entertainments.”
N. B. Mr. Kendall is now Postmaster-general, and as such a member of Mr. Van Buren’s cabinet. Though in rank the last, he is known by friend and foe to be the first in activity; and his counsel is decisive with the most experienced men in Washington. Mr. Kendall commenced his political career not more than ten years ago with editing a small paper in the Western country; and stands now foremost in the ranks of the most eminent statesmen of America. If he were a parvenu merchant or broker, he would be cited by the aristocracy as an example worthy of imitation; but, having risen merely by his talents and his pen, the very mention of his name is offensive to the high-minded stock-jobbers in Wall and State streets.
In order to form a correct idea of the American government, it is absolutely necessary one should stay some time in Washington; and frequent, not merely the fashionable society, but the company of those sturdy members of Congress, who, deputed from every part of the Union, actually represent the opinions, habits, and sentiments of the different sections of the country. During the session of Congress, Washington is the miniature picture of the United States; enabling a stranger to form a better estimate of the character of the American people than many years’ residence in different parts of the Union. The picture is always complete, not a mere fragment, as is necessarily the case in any other city east or west of the Alleghanies. It is there one can take a correct view of the state of parties; of the magnitude of the different interests, whether commercial, manufacturing, or agricultural; and of the political prospects of the country.
One of the most amusing and instructive occupations is to contrast the representatives from the “New States” (the men that have not yet learned how to bow, and do not yet know what P. P. C. on a card means,) with the supple members from New York or Massachusetts, with their French and English civilization hanging loosely about them, like a garment not made for their use; how the latter are striving for ascendency, and how they are daily losing influence with those vigorous sons of the West, that reflect the genius and enterprise of a new world! The West—not the East continually troubled with European visions—is ultimately destined to sway the country. The sea does not separate America from Europe; but behind the Alleghanies is springing up a new life, and a people more nearly allied to the soil that nourishes them, than the more refined and polished population of the seaboard.
To sum up the whole: what is termed “the aristocracy of America”—that is, a considerable portion of all people worth from fifty to an hundred thousand dollars,—are, owing to the growing power of the West, a most harmless, though I cannot say “inoffensive,” part of the population. They live in houses a little larger than those inhabited by respectable mechanics, cover the floors of their parlours with Brussels carpets instead of Kidderminster, pay nine pence for beef which the labourer purchases for eight, pay a shilling more for a pound of tea, and keep a man-servant. Some of them keep a carriage, but by far the greater part are content with hackney-coaches. In point of accomplishment they are only inferior to the middle classes of Europe; but in pride and conceit they surpass the ancient nobility of the Holy Roman Empire and the thirty-four princes of the actual Germanic Confederation. This circumstance does not much add to their amiability, and does not in particular grace the boys and girls composing “the first society.” Some of them lay a great stress on family when it is joined to money; but, without this most indispensable requisite, la vertu sans argent n’est qu’un meuble inutile. It is, however, to be observed that property not only produces respectability, but also acts backwards on a man’s ancestry; there being not one rich man in the United States,—foreigners excepted,—who is not descended from a respectable father and grandfather.
In politics they are the most implacable enemies to democracy; which, with them, is synonymous with mob-government and anarchy. They are for a strong administration, made out of their own party; and would hardly object to royalty, if the King would support himself out of his private chest. A court in Upper Canada, such as Lord Durham established there for a short time, would be a great attraction, and would undoubtedly cause many emigrations to Quebec. In all other respects their political opinions do not seriously differ from those of the mass of the people, except that they are for two trifling reforms in the status quo,—the introduction of an electoral census, and the re-establishment of the law of primogeniture. It is true that, had this reform been carried ten years ago, they would themselves be in the situation of those against whom these measures are now intended to be effectual; but this is a matter of no consideration when compared to the good which would accrue from it to “society.”
But it is not so much in America as in Europe that the true character of the American aristocracy can be successfully studied. At home the vulgar clamour of the mob, and a few silly editors setting up for the representatives of public opinion, interfere too much with the display of their true sentiments. It is but in Europe—where they are relieved from these trammels—that they show the natural man, their penchant for the elegancies of society, their contempt for the poor, and their toad-eating to the higher classes, in which they even “beat the English.” It is there they sink the “American citizen,” in order to become noblemen without pedigrees, and courtiers without manners. I would therefore recommend to the next English tourist that is going to publish a work on “American Society,” to visit the courts of Italy and France rather than the United States. He will there find richer materials for a satire on American institutions than he would be able to discover from the State of Maine to Louisiana, and from the broad Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains. I am only able thus to throw out the hint, and leave the execution of the plan to a pen abler than my own.
FOOTNOTES:
[30] It is hardly necessary to remark, that Mr. Jefferson, who during his stay in Europe had ample opportunities of becoming acquainted with court fashion, affected this nonchalance for a political purpose.