The Declamatory Vehemence
With Which Certain Members Of The Democratic Party Endeavoured To Fasten A
Quarrel Upon England At The Close Of 1855 Is A Specimen Of The Political
Capital Which Is Too Often Relied Upon In The States.
The enormous numbers of immigrants who annually acquire the rights of
citizenship, without any other qualification for the franchise
Than their
inability to use it aright, by their ignorance, turbulence, and often by
their viciousness, tend still further to degrade the popular assemblies.
It is useless to speculate upon the position in which America would be
without the introduction of this terrible foreign element; it may be
admitted that the republican form of government has not had a fair trial;
its present state gives rise to serious doubts in the minds of many
thinking men in the States, whether it can long continue in its present
form.
The want of the elements of permanency in the Government keeps many
persons from entering into public life; and it would appear that merit and
distinguished talent, when accompanied by such a competence as renders a
man independent of the emoluments of office, are by no means a passport to
success. The stranger visiting the United States is surprised with the
entire absence of gentlemanly feeling in political affairs. They are
pervaded by a coarse and repulsive vulgarity; they are seldom alluded to
in the conversation of the upper classes; and the ruling power in this
vast community is in danger of being abandoned to corrupt agitators and
noisy charlatans.
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