Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (have you read this book txt) 📖
- Author: Various None
Book online «Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, Volume 26 December, 1880. by Various None (have you read this book txt) 📖». Author Various None
Substantially As We Have Described, Lies Close To The Hearts Of The
People. The Right Of Election, The Idea That Public Officers Should Be
Elective, And The Expectation That There Will Be A Rotation Of Duties
And Honors, Are Popular Principles Which Are Unmistakable.
Apart From The Consideration That Whatever Is Fundamental In Popular
Government, Whatever Tends To The Preservation Of Individual Freedom And
Equality Of Rights, Must Be A Safe Principle, There Could Be Much Said
From The Most Practical Stand-Point In Favor Of Rotation In Office. All
Human Experience Proves The Usefulness Of Change. Rest Is The Next Thing
To Rust. In Physics Things Without Motion Are Usually Things Without
Life; And In Government It Is The Bureaus Least Disturbed By Change That
Are Most Stagnated And Most Circumlocutory. The Apparent Misfortune Of
Having Men Experienced In Public Affairs Make Way, At Intervals, For
Others Of Less Experience Is Itself Greatly Exaggerated. There Are Facts
So Important In compensation That The Assumed Evil Becomes One Of Very
Moderate Proportions. For It Will Be Seen Upon Careful Observation That
No Important Function Of The Government, Not Even In The National
Service, Calls For A Character Or Qualification--Sometimes, But Rarely,
For Any Sort Of Special Or Technical Skill--Which Is Not Being
Continually Formed And Trained Either In The Movements Of Private Life
And Business Experience Or In The Political Schools Which Are Furnished
By The State, The County And The Township. The Functions Of The
Government Are Substantially The Guardianship Of The Same Interests For
Which The State, The County, The Township And The Individual Exercise
Concern. Government Has Lost Its Mystery: Even Diplomacy Has Somewhat
Changed From Lying And Chicanery To Common-Sense Dealing. The Qualities
That Are Required In The Government--Industry, Economy, Integrity,
Knowledge Of Men And Affairs--Are Precisely Those Which Are Of Value To
Every Individual Citizen, And Which Are Taught Day By Day Everywhere--To
The Lads In School And College And To The Men In Their Occupations Of
Life. Such Qualities A Community Fit To Govern Itself Must Abundantly
Possess. There Is Nothing Occult In The Science Of Government. The
Administration In behalf Of The People Of The Organization Which They
Have Ordered Is Nothing Foreign To Their Own Knowledge. They Have Ceased
To Consider Themselves Unfit For Self-Rule: They No Longer Think Of
Calling In From Other Worlds A Different Order Of Beings To Govern Them.
We May Accept Without Fear Principles Which Seem Startling, But Which
Are Proved To Be Rooted In democratic Ground, So Long As We Have Faith
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 50In The Democratic System Itself. There Is No Road Open For The Doubter
And Questioner Of Popular Rights But That Which Leads Back To Abandoned
Ground. We May Proceed, Then, With An Attempt To Explain The Philosophy
Of The Rule Of Change. Shall It Not Be Stated Thus:
_That, Due Regard Being Had To The Preservation Of Simplicity And
Economy--Forbidding Thus The Needless Increase Of Offices And
Expenses--It Is Then True That The Active Participation By The Largest
Number Of Persons In The Practical Administration Of Their Own
Government Is An Object Highly To Be Desired In every Democratic
Republic._
The Government Must Be The Highest School Of Affairs. Shall It Be
Declared That To Study There And To Have Its Diploma Is Not Desirable
For All? Is It Not Perfectly Evident That The More Who Can Learn To
Actually Discharge The Duties Belonging To Their Own Social
Organization, The Better For Them And The Better For It?
All These Propositions Necessarily Imply The Existence Of An Intelligent
And Patriotic People, At Least Of Such A Majority. So Always Does Every
Plan Of Popular Government. Whatever Of Disappointment Presents Itself
To The Author Of Any Scheme Of "Reform," Upon Finding That He Has
Constructed A System Which Is Ridden Down By The Political Activity Of
The People, He Must Blame The Plan Upon Which Our Fabric Is Built. If He
Is Chagrined To Find That His _Imperium In Imperio_ Is Not Practicable,
And That Nothing Can Make Here A Power Stronger Than The Source Of
Power, He Must Solace His Hurt Feelings With The Reflection That The
System Was Never Adapted To His Contrivance, And That Our Fathers, When
In The Beginning They Resolved To Establish A Government By The People,
Gave Consent Thereby To All The Apparent Risks And Inconveniences Of
Having The People Continually Minding Their Own Affairs.
With A Just Comprehension Of The Democratic Forces That Give Motion And
Life To The Governmental System Of The United States, And Of The Manner
In Which They Affect The Public Service In all Its Departments, The Wise
Advocate Of Reform Must Approach His Work. His Patriotism And
Thoughtfulness Are Both Necessary. To Proceed Against The Democratic Law
Is Not Practicable: To Establish A New System Which Is Inconsistent With
The Abundant Vitality And Conscious Strength Of That Already Established
Is A Futile Proposition Indeed.
The Price Of Safety.
Thirty-Three Years Ago--That Is, Shortly Before Christmas, 1847--I Went
Over To Paris To Pass A Few Weeks With My Family. The Great Railway
Schemes Of The Two Previous Years In england Had Broken Down A Good Many
Men In Our Office--Draughtsmen, Surveyors And So On. I Wonder If The
Present Public Recollects Those Days, When The _Times_ Brought Out
Double Supplements To Accommodate The Advertisements Of Railroads, When
King Hudson Was As Much A Potentate As Queen Victoria, When Brunel And
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 51Stephenson Were Autocrats, And When Everybody Saw A Sudden Chance Of
Getting Rich By Shares Or Damages? Those Days Were The Beginning Of That
Period Of Prosperity Of Which The Recent "Hard Times" Were The Reaction.
_Then_ Twenty Guineas A Night For Office-Work Was Sometimes Paid To
Youngsters Not Yet Out Of Their Teens. In The Great Offices The Young
Men Worked All Day And The Alternate Nights To Get Plans Ready For
Parliament, Sustained By Strong Coffee Always On The Tap, Till Some Of
Them Went Mad With The Excitement And The Strain.
I Had Worked Hard Both In The Field And Office During The Closing Months
Of 1847, But I Broke Down At Last, And Was Sent To Recover My Health
Under The Care Of My Family. That Family Consisted Of My Father--A
Half-Pay English Officer--My Mother And Three Sisters, Then Living _Au
Troisieme_ In The Rue Neuve De Berri, Not Far From The Newly-Erected
Russian Church, And The Windows Of The _Appartement_ Commanded A Side
View Down The Champs Elysees. I Only Needed Rest And Recreation, Both Of
Which My Adoring Family Eagerly Provided Me. My Sisters Were Three
Lively, Simple-Hearted, Honest English Girls, Who Had A Large
Acquaintance In Paris, And Took Great Pride And Pleasure In Introducing
To It Their Only Brother. We Were Not Only Invited To Our Embassy And On
Visiting Terms With All The English Colony (That Colony Whose Annals At
That Period Are Written In _The Adventures Of Philip_, And To Which
Thackeray'S Mother And Nearest Relatives, Like Ourselves, Belonged), But
We Were, In Virtue Of Some American Connections, Admitted To The
American Embassy On The Footing Of Semi-Americans.
We Enjoyed Our American Friends Greatly. I Formed The Opinion Then,
Which I Retain Now, That Cultivated Americans, The Top-Skimming Of The
Social Cream, Are Some Of The Most Charming People To Be Met With In
Cultivated Society. To All That Constitutes "Nice People" Everywhere
They Join A _Soupcon_ Of Wild Flavor Which Gives Them Individuality.
They Are To Society What Their Own Wild Turkeys And Canvasbacks Are To
The _Menu_.
One Of My Sisters, Amy, The Eldest, Had Been Ill That Winter, And Was
Not Equal To Joining In The Gayeties That The Others Enjoyed. Her
Principal Amusement Was Walking In The Gardens Of Monceaux, A Private
Domain Of King Louis Philippe In The Batignolles, A Quiet, Humdrum Spot,
Where She Could Set Her Foot Upon Green Turf And Gravel. The Streets Of
Paris, The Boulevards, And The Champs Elysees Were Too Attractive To A
Pleasure-Seeker Like Myself To Allow Me To Content Myself With The Pale
Attractions Of Monceaux, But I Went There With My Sister Once Or Twice,
Because French Etiquette Forbade Her Walking Even In These Quiet
Garden-Paths Alone.
One Day It Was Proposed By Her That We Should Go Again. I Could Not, In
Common Humanity, Refuse, And So Consented. Poor Amy "Put On Her Things,"
As Our Girls Called It, And We Descended To The Porte-Cochere, Intending
To Engage The First Passing Citadine. As We Stepped Into The Street,
However, A Gay Carriage With High-Stepping Gray Horses, A Chasseur With
Knife And Feathers, And A Coachman In a Modest Livery On A Hammer-Cloth
Resplendent With Yellow Fringes And Embroideries, Drew Up At Our Door: A
Pretty Hand Was Laid Upon The Portiere And A Voice Cried, "Amy! Amy! I
Was Coming For You."
Volume 26 Title 1 (Lippincott'S Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science) Pg 52"My Brother--Miss Leare," Said Amy.
Miss Leare Bowed To Me Gracefully And Motioned To Her Chasseur To Open
The Carriage-Door. "Get In," She Said. "_I_ Have The Carriage For Two
Hours: What Shall We Do With It? Mamma Is At The Dentist'S.--Amy, I
Thought You Would Enjoy A Drive, And So I Came For You."
I Helped Amy In, And Was Making My Bow When Miss Leare Stopped Me. "Come
Too," She Said Cordially: "Amy'S Brother Surely Need Not Be Taboo. Shall
We Drive To The Bois?"
"I Was Going To Monceaux," Said Amy. "Would It Be Quite The Thing For Us
To Drive Alone To The Bois?"
"Oh-H-H!" Said Miss Leare, Prolonging Her Breath Upon The
Vocative.--"You See," She Added, Turning To Me, "I Am So Unprepared By
Previous Training That I Shall Never Become _Au Fait_ In French
Proprieties. Indeed, I Hold Them In Great Reverence, But They Seem To Be
For Ever Hedging Me In; Nor Can I Understand The Meaning Of Half Of
Them. In america I Was Guided By Plain Right And Wrong.--Why Shall We
Not Outrage Etiquette, Amy, By 'Going Alone,' As You Call It, To
Monceaux? Is It That The Place Is So Stiff And Solemn And Out Of The Way
That We May Walk There Without A Chaperon? I Should Have Thought
Seclusion Made A Place More Dangerous, Allowing That There Be Any Danger
At All.--In America, Mr. Farquhar, Your Escort Would Be Enough For Us,
And The Fact That Amy Is Your Sister Would Give A Sort Of Double
Security To Your Protection."
"Oh, Dear Miss Leare--" Began Amy.
"Hermie, Amy--Hermione, Which
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