Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 76, No. 467, September 1854Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh magazine, Vol. 76, No. 467, September 1854
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
mention of such a thing they would have been ready to rush to the Mons
Sacer, for it is a curious fact that in all ages the disaffected have
manifested a propensity for taking to the hills. Chivalry put an end to
this; and by establishing gradation of orders and of rank, laid the
foundation for the freedom which now prevails throughout the states of
Europe. It was no disgrace for the squire to obey the orders of the
knight, or for the yeoman to serve the squire. The lady in her bower had
the attendance of damsel and of page; and the great model of a
well-regulated household was then framed and introduced. But not one
atom of chivalrous feeling was conveyed by the Mayflower to New England.
The spirit of the sourest republicanism pervaded that whole cargo of
human verjuice; and instead of bearing with them to the west the seeds
of civilisation, they carried those of intolerance and slavery. Very
wise, in more senses than one, is the old proverb, which, in all matters
of reformation, desires us to look primarily to home, and to set our
houses in order. There are many social reforms, besides emancipation,
required in America; and some which we almost venture to think must
necessarily precede it. For at present, according to Mrs Stowe’s own
showing and testimony, there is a vast gap in society occasioned by the
republican abhorrence of anything like menial service, and the jealous
and almost defiant spirit with which the semblance of authority is
resisted. In a word, we believe that until civilisation in America has
proceeded so far as to assimilate its social condition to that of the
older states of Europe, very material obstacles will impede the triumph
of that cause which Mrs Stowe has so enthusiastically advocated.
Mrs Stowe, like many others of her ardent countrywomen, has a decided
turn for crotchets. She next falls in with Elihu Burritt, and begins an
eulogistic commentary on the “movement which many, in our
half-Christianised times, regard with as much incredulity as the grim,
old, warlike barons did the suspicious imbecilities of reading and
writing. The sword now, as then, seems so much more direct a way to
terminate controversies, that many Christian men, even, cannot conceive
how the world is to get along without it.” We suspect that, by this
time, exceeding grave doubts as to the practicability of his views, and
the termination of all disputes by arbitration, must have penetrated
even the jolter-pate of the pragmatic Elihu, and that he must be
mourning over the enormous waste of olive-leaves for so little good
purpose. We sincerely hope, for his sake, that he has been allowed a
liberal commission or per-centage on the circulation. As Mrs Stowe seems
to have been admitted to his secrets, we may as well insert her account
of the operations of the Peace Society.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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