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第8章

new york-第8章

小说: new york 字数: 每页4000字

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excuse to the rich and intelligent for combining their means to

overturn the liberties of a nation; as is to be found in abuses

like those just named。 We very well know that the idea is

prevalent among us of the irresistible power of popular sway; but

he has lived in vain who has seen the course of events in other

nations for the last half century; and has not made the discovery

that men in political matters become the servants of money as

certainly and almost as actively as the spirits of the lamp were

made to do the bidding of Aladdin。 To us; it would seem that the

future of this country holds out but three possible solutions of

the tendencies of the present timeviz。 the bayonet; a return to

the true principles of the original government; or the sway of

money。 For the first it may be too soon; the pressure of society

is scarcely sufficient to elevate a successful soldier to the

height of despotism; though the ladder has been raised more than

once against the citadel of the Constitution by adventurers of

this character; through the folly and heedless impulses of the

masses。 Fifty years hence; and a condition of society will

probably exist among us that would effectually have carried out

the principle of despotic rule which is beginning to show itself

in the bud amongst us; and which is nothing more than the

shadowing out of coming events。



{legislative body can be brought = the New York State legislature

had enacted laws giving certain tenant farmers the right to

purchase the land they occupied; thus ending one of the causes of

the so…called 〃anti…rent wars〃 of the 1840s in upstate New York}



Notwithstanding all these obvious tendencies and the manifest

dangers that beset the real liberties of the country; we do not

see that any material influence will be brought by them to bear

upon the fortunes and ascendancy of the particular place of which

we are writing。 Even political despotism in this age would

necessarily respect the ordinary rights of commerce; and quite

probably the greater security that would be given to property;

the increased dignity and authority of the courts of justice; and

the visible control of a vigilant and efficient government might

rather have a tendency to build up than to check the progress of

the capital of any country。



Civil war; in our view; can alone produce any material checks to

the prosperity of these towns of Manhattan。 Against the malign

influence of so great a source of evil no one can with discretion

venture to predict the consequences。 But we do not think that it

enters into the spirit of the true American character; so

remarkable for its mildness and disposition to mercy; in carrying

out the powers of government; to permit such a struggle as would

be likely to produce long…continued; or very withering local

distress。 Compromises in some form or other would be resorted to;

to restore the course of the commerce of the country; and

although it might be; and probably would be; that this could only

be accomplished in the midst of the triumph of disorder;

irresponsibility; and the derangement of most that is necessary

to permanent security and quiet; a set of laws would arise for

the control of the affairs of the towns that would exercise their

sway; without any appeal to regularly constituted authority;

beyond that of the law of necessity。 At this very moment; when we

have all the machinery of an efficient government around us; and

one has a right to look to the courts for the protection of his

rights; a thousand dollars of debt are secured and paid in a

place like that of New York; by the sole influence of commercial

opinion; where one dollar is secured and paid by the process of

law。 Trade issues its own edicts; and they are ordinarily found

to be too powerful for resistance; wherever there are the

concentrated means of rendering them formidable by the magnitude

of the interests they control。



We see; then; nothing in the future that is very likely seriously

to disturb the continued growth and increasing ascendancy of the

great mart of the country。 A trading people will pursue its

interests under any conceivable or tolerable condition of things。

It would require a generation or two; indeed; to obliterate; or

even sensibly to diminish the habits and opinions now in

existence among the people; and it must ever be remembered that

society pursues its regular course more or less successfully;

according to circumstances; even in the midst of revolution; war;

and rapine。 A battle is fought to…day; and a month hence it

becomes difficult to discover its traces; over which the p{l}ough

has already passed; and among which the husbandman is resuming

his toil; as he replaces his fences; and clears away his fallen

trees after the passage of the whirlwind。 It follows from these

views; and this course of reasoning; which might be greatly

extended and much more satisfactorily developed; that political

changes have less direct influence on the ordinary march of

society than is commonly supposed。 The spirit of the age is and

must be respected by rulers of every shade of character; and the

fourth estate; as opinion is commonly termed; enters largely into

the ordinary action of every form of government or combination of

social organization that the accidents of history have produced;

or the sagacity and wants of men have more ambitiously paraded

before the eyes of their fellow creatures。 When we couple with

these facts the certainty that there are undercurrents which

enable ordinary society; trade; and all the other active and

daily recurring interests of life; to manage their own affairs

more or less in their own way; it is not easy to foresee any

material consequences to the progress of a place like this at the

mouth of the Hudson; that can trace their rise to the future

course of political events in the country。 We do not anticipate

any apparent dissolution of the ordinary ties of society; for we

know that nations will bear burdens of this nature for a long

period of time; without struggling or making the effort necessary

to remove them; and that it is only when they are felt to be

intolerable to the great body of the people that one may

confidently hope for redress and reformation。 Petty wrongs are

never repaired by the masses; they sometimes vindicate their

rights by means of the strong arm; when seriously required to do

so; but in general the wrong is endured; and the victim immolated

without awakening attention or leaving any regrets among those

who escape its immediate consequences。



It has long been a subject of investigation among moralists;

whether the existence of towns like those of London; Paris; New

York; &c。; is or is not favorable to the development of the

better qualities of the human character。 As for ourselves; we do

not believe any more in the superior innocence and virtue of a

rural population than in that of the largest capitals; perfectly

conscious of the appalling accumulation of vice; and sin; and

crime that is to be found in such places as London and Paris; and

even in New York。 We cannot shut our eyes to the numberless evils

of the same general character of disobedience to the law of God;

that are to be found even in the forest and the most secluded

dales of the country。 If there be incentives to wrong…doing in

the crowded population of a capital town; there are many

incentives to refinement; public virtue; and even piety; that are

not to be met with elsewhere。 In this respect we apprehend that

good and evil are more nearly balanced among us than is commonly

supposed; and we doubt if it were possible to render the laws a

dead letter in the streets of New York; as has been done around

the bell of the Capitol at Albany; and strictly among its rural

population; directly beneath the eyes of the highest authority of

the State。 The danger to valuable and movable property would be

too imminent; and those who fel

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