The first impression produced in the United States by General Jackson's
Message, was astonishment, as the tone was wholly unexpected to every
one. In Europe, I suppose that it will have excited more than surprise,
and it will be a matter of wonder, how a measure so rash and reckless
could have emanated from a government, which, from its origin, has
been characterised by address and prudence. I have already attempted
to give an explanation of this mystery, and I have stated, that this
_quasi_ declaration of war was altogether an individual affair of
General Jackson, that in this, as in every thing else, he has acted
from his own impulse. The enlightened statesmen, who surrounded him
in the beginning of his government, and whose wise counsels repressed
his ardour, no longer have any influence. One after another has been
separated from him, and several, such as Mr Calhoun, who, during his
first term, was Vice-President, are now become his irreconcileable
enemies. His position, as the head of the democratic party, obliges
him, therefore, to supply some fuel for the furious passions, which the
late contests had kindled.
It would be a mistake to judge of the reception of a document of this
character in this country, by what would take place under similar
circumstances in Europe. Public opinion has not the same arbiters here
as in European societies; what is called public opinion in Europe, is
the generally current opinion among the middling and higher classes,
that of the merchants, manufacturers, men of letters, and statesmen,
of those who, having inherited a competency, devote their time to
study, the fine arts, and, unfortunately too often, to idleness. These
are the persons, who govern public opinion in Europe, who have seats
in the chambers, fill public offices, and manage or direct the most
powerful organs of the press. They are the polite and cultivated,
who are accustomed to self-control, more inclined to scepticism than
fanaticism, and on their guard against the impulses of enthusiasm;
to whose feelings all violence is repugnant, all rudeness and all
brutality offensive; who cherish moderation often even to excess, and
prefer compromises and half-measures. Among persons like these, General
Jackson's message would have met with universal condemnation, or rather
if General Jackson had derived his ideas from such a medium, he would
never have dictated such a message.
The minority, which in Europe decides public opinion, and by this means
is sovereign, is here deposed, and having been successively driven
from post to post, has come to influence opinion only in a few saloons
in the large cities, and to be itself under as strict guardianship as
minors, women, and idiots. Until the accession of General Jackson,
it had, however, exercised some influence over all the Presidents,
who were generally scholars, and all of whom, aside from their party
connections, were attached to it by family and social relations, and
by their habits of life. Up to the present time, this class had also
preserved some influence over the two houses; but it has now completely
broken with the President, or rather the President has broken with it;
it has no longer any credit, except with one of the Houses, because
the Senate still consists of men whom it may claim as belonging to it
by their superior intelligence, education, and property. The democracy
does not fail, therefore, to stigmatise the Senate as an aristocratic
body, and to call it the House of Lords. The mass, which in Europe
bears the pack and receives the law, has here put the pack on the back
of the enlightened and cultivated class, which among us on the other
hand, has the upper hand. The farmer and the mechanic are the lords of
the New World; public opinion is _their_ opinion; the public will is
_their_ will; the President is _their_ choice, _their_ agent, _their_
servant. If it is true that the depositaries of power in Europe have
been too much disposed to use it in promoting their own interests,
without consulting the wishes and the welfare of the mass beneath them,
it is no less true that the classes which wield the sceptre in America
are equally tainted with selfishness, and that they take less pains to
disguise it. In a word, North America is Europe with its head down and
its feet up. European society, in London and Paris as well as at St.
Petersburg, in the Swiss republic as well as in the Austrian empire, is
aristocratical in this sense, that, even after all the great changes
of the last fifty years, it is still founded more or less absolutely
on the principle of inequality or a difference of ranks. American
society is essentially and radically a democracy, not in name merely
but in deed. In the United States the democratic spirit is infused into
all the national habits, and all the customs of society; it besets
and startles at every step the foreigner, who, before landing in the
country, had no suspicion to what a degree every nerve and fibre had
been steeped in aristocracy by a European education. It has effaced all
distinctions, except that of colour; for here a shade in the hue of the
skin separates men more widely than in any other country in the world.
It pervades all places, one only excepted, and that the very one which
in Catholic Europe is consecrated to equality, the church; here all
whites are equal, every where, except in the presence of Him, in whose
eyes, the distinctions of this world are vanity and nothingness.[AW]
Strange inconsistency! Or rather solemn protest, attesting that the
principle of rank is firmly seated in the human heart by the side of
the principle of equality, that it must have its place in all countries
and under all circumstances!
Democracy everywhere has no soft words, no suppleness of forms; it has
little address, little of management; it is apt to confound moderation
with weakness, violence with heroism. Little used to self-control, it
gives itself unreservedly to its friends, and sets them up as idols to
whom it burns incense; it utters its indignation and its suspicions
against those of whom it thinks that it has cause for complaint,
rudely, and in a tone of anger and menace. It is intolerant towards
foreign nations; the American democracy in particular, bred up in the
belief that the nations of Europe groan ignobly under the yoke of
absolute despots, looks upon them with a mixture of pity and contempt.
When it throws a glance beyond the Atlantic, it affects the superior
air of a freeman looking upon a herd of slaves. Its pride kindles at
the idea of humbling the monarchical principle in the person of the
"tyrants who tread Europe under foot."
It may, then, be expected, that public opinion here will approve the
Message, both as to its manner and matter, that it will consider it
full of moderation and propriety. It is probable, that most of the
men and the journals of the Opposition will fear to censure it openly
and boldly. Not that the Jackson men themselves are unanimous in its
favour; but that the speakers and writers of the Opposition consider
themselves and are, bound to pay homage to the sovereign people,
that they are all obliged to court the multitude, which is not very
manageable in regard to points of national dignity and vanity. A
certain number of journals and of political men have expressed their
views as to the occasion and the consequences of a declaration of war
with independence, and have been able to reconcile their patriotism
with a lofty courtesy toward the oldest and the most faithful ally of
America; but these are exceptions to the general rule. Some of the
best informed and most influential of the Opposition journals have,
to the general astonishment, suddenly turned right-about-face, and
welcomed the part of the Message relative to France with acclamations.
Thus they appear more democratic than the democracy, furious upon a
point of honour, ready to sacrifice every thing in order to obtain
redress for an outrage, to which, after twenty years, they have now
first become sensible. He, who yesterday was a peaceful and reasonable
writer, is to-day a thunderbolt of war, can talk of nothing but the
violated national dignity, thinks only of blowing up the flame. The
cause of this sudden change is this; if the United States were at
war, they would spend a great deal of money, and a Bank then would be
indispensable to the Federal government. Now _a_ Bank and _the_ Bank
is at bottom all one. This is what is called policy, cleverness, but
it remains to be seen if the democratic party will be the dupe of such
arts, and if those who are most interested in the existence of the
Bank, that is, the merchants of New York, Boston, and New Orleans, and
even those of Philadelphia, wish to have a Bank at any price.
Happily for the peace of the world, the majority of the Senate of the
United States consists of men eminent for their experience, their
ability, and their patriotism, who judge the interests of their country
on grounds of high policy, and who, among other questions, will not
fail to consider this; whether it would not be the worst of all means
of securing the liberty of the seas, an object which they have at
heart, for the French and American navies to destroy each other. They
do not hesitate, when circumstances require it, to take a stand above
the demands of an ephemeral popularity, and to meet the difficulties
face to face. A handful of firm and eloquent men in this illustrious
assembly, was sufficient last winter to sustain the shock of the
popular masses, and to check and bear them back. The Senate has only to
continue equal to itself, to deserve well of its country and of mankind.