THE ARISTOCRACY.
"What do you suppose that man is doing upon that ladder?" said Rollo to
Mr. George.
Rollo and Mr. George were walking together in one of the streets at the
West End, near St. James's Palace, when Rollo asked this question, on
the morning of the day after they paid their visit to St. Paul's. The
man on the ladder was placing some lamps on a frame over the door of a
large and beautiful mansion, as if for an illumination. The lamps were
disposed in such a manner as to form a great star, with the letters "V.
R." on a very large scale, one on each side of it.
"The V. R. stands for Victoria Regina," said Mr. George; "that is,
Victoria Queen."
"Then it must be that they are going to have an illumination in honor of
the queen," rejoined Rollo. "I have seen two more of such frames putting
up before this."
On going along a little farther, Rollo pointed out another house to Mr.
George where lamps were arranged for an illumination; and then,
presently, another. Mr. George accordingly stopped to ask a policeman
what it meant.
"It is the queen's birthday," said the policeman; "and this evening they
illuminate the houses."
"I'm glad of that," said Rollo. "We will come out and see; won't we,
uncle George?"
The part of the town where Mr. George and Rollo were walking at this
time--the vicinity of St. James's Square--is the region occupied by the
palaces and mansions of some of the higher nobility of England. These
residences are built in a very open manner, standing, many of them,
apart from each other, and being in the midst of parks, gardens,
terraces, and pleasure grounds, which give to the views that are
presented to the eye of the stranger in walking among them a most
enchanting variety. As Mr. George and Rollo passed along the streets
among these residences, they soon began to observe other marks of
excitement besides the illuminations. They saw unusual numbers of
well-dressed people walking along the sidewalks; and at length, on
turning a corner, they came suddenly into a street where the margin of
the sidewalk, for a long distance, was lined with crowds of
people,--men, women, and children,--who seemed to be waiting for
something to pass by. They were, in fact, waiting to see the queen.
As has already been said, it was the queen's birthday; and it is the
custom for the queen, on her birthday, to hold what is called "a drawing
room," in which she receives the calls and congratulations of the
nobility of England, the foreign ministers resident in London, and of
such strangers as are of sufficient distinction, in respect to their
wealth, their rank, or their fame, to entitle them to the honor of being
presented to her majesty. The queen does not receive these visits in
Buckingham Palace, which is the principal place of her residence in
London, but in St. James's Palace, which is an older edifice, formerly
the residence of the royal family, but now, since Buckingham Palace was
built, reserved for official and state purposes and occasions. St.
James's Palace is a large and irregularly-shaped building, of brick. It
has nothing special to distinguish it from the other buildings that
surround it, and which, in fact, some of them, seem to be so connected
with it, by courts, and passages, and wings, and arcades, that it is
difficult to tell where the palace begins or ends. In fact, no one would
suppose that it was a palace at all were it not for the soldiers, in red
uniforms, which are to be seen at all times walking to and fro, or
standing sentry, before their little boxes, at every door and gateway.
Buckingham Palace, on the other hand, is farther out of town. It stands
by itself, on the margin of one of the immense parks for which London is
so famous--or, rather, on the margin of two of them. Before it is St.
James's Park, with its green fields and its winding walks, its groves
and copses of trees and shrubbery, its beds and borders of flowers, and
above all its beautiful little lake, with gayly-painted boats to sail
upon it, and flocks of ducks, and geese, and swans, of every form and
color, swimming in all directions over the surface of the water. On the
side of it is the Green Park--a broad expanse of the smoothest and
richest green, intersected with drives and walks, all crowded with
promenaders. Behind the palace is a large enclosure, which contains the
private gardens of the palace itself. These gardens are planted and
adorned in the most magnificent manner; but they are guarded on every
side by a very high wall, and by a continuous line of trees, which bear
a very dense and lofty mass of foliage, so that the public can never see
what is in them.
Here the queen resides when she is in town, going only to the ancient
palace of St. James to attend meetings of her cabinet council, to hold
drawing rooms and levees, and to be present at other great ceremonies of
state. Whenever occasions occur on which her majesty is expected to
proceed from Buckingham Palace to St. James's, great numbers of people
usually assemble in the streets between to see the royal procession pass
by.
Mr. George, having learned by inquiry what it was that the people were
waiting to see, determined that he and Rollo would wait too. So they
took their places in a convenient position, near a lamppost, and waited
for her majesty's coming.
They had not been there long before a great movement among the crowd
indicated that the royal retinue was in sight; and a moment afterwards
some horsemen, elegantly dressed and caparisoned, came rapidly on,
followed by a train of two or three carriages very elegantly decorated,
and with servants in splendid liveries before and behind, and finally by
other horsemen, who brought up the rear. The whole _cortége_ went by so
rapidly that Rollo could scarcely distinguish any thing in detail. It
passed before his eyes like a gorgeous vision, leaving on his mind only
confused images of nodding plumes, beautiful horses, gay footmen and
coachmen clothed in the gayest colors, and carriages plain and simple
in style, but inexpressibly elegant and graceful in their forms and in
their motions.
There was a moment's pause after the _cortége_ went by, which was,
however, broken at length by an exclamation of wonder and delight from
Rollo.
"Hi--yi!" said he. "I should like to be the queen, uncle George!"
"Should you?" said Mr. George.
"Yes," said Rollo; "or else one of the queen's soldiers, to ride on such
elegant horses as those."
As soon as the _cortége_ had passed, the crowd began immediately to
disperse; and yet they did not go away at once, but seemed to linger
along the sidewalks to gaze at the various single carriages which from
time to time were passing by. These carriages were all very elegant in
form and equipment, and had servants in gay liveries mounted upon them
before and behind, and they were often preceded and followed by
outriders. These equipages, as they passed to and fro along the street,
seemed strongly to attract the attention of the bystanders. The
children, particularly, stopped to gaze upon each one of them, as it
came by, with countenances full of wonder and admiration.
"There are a great many carriages out to-day," said Mr. George.
"And splendid carriages they are, too," said Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George; "the carriages and horses of the English
aristocracy are the finest in the world."
Not very long after this, Mr. George and Rollo, in the course of their
walk, happened to come to a place in the street that was opposite to the
entrance to St. James's Palace, where the carriages set down the company
that were going to attend the drawing room. There were a great many
people assembled on the sidewalks all around to see the company as they
descended from their carriages. The scene, in fact, presented quite an
extraordinary spectacle.
The carriages, which were of every form and size, arrived in very rapid
succession, and drove into a sort of court yard to the door where the
company entered. There were soldiers and policemen on duty, to prevent
the public from going into the yard. The carriages, however, as they
drove up to the door, and the company, as they descended from them,
could all be seen very distinctly from the street. There were footmen
behind most of the carriages, who, as soon as the horses drew up,
stepped down from their places and opened the carriage door. The
gentlemen and ladies were all dressed very gorgeously,--the gentlemen
being clothed in military uniforms, or robes of office, or in
embroidered and gilded court dresses,--each dress being different,
apparently, from all the rest. The liveries, too, of the coachmen and of
the footmen, and the harnesses and trappings of the horses, were all
exceedingly splendid and gay.
Mr. George and Rollo, with some hundreds of other spectators who had
assembled to witness the scene, stood gazing upon it with great interest
for nearly an hour. When, at length, their curiosity had become in some
measure satisfied, they found that they were beginning to be very tired
of standing so long; and so they left the place, and walked away slowly
towards home.
"What do you mean by _aristocracy_?" said Rollo to Mr. George, as they
walked along. "Does it mean the rich people?"
"No," replied Mr. George, "not exactly that. It means rich people who
govern. In the United States there are a great many very rich people;
but they are not called an aristocracy, because they do not govern.
Every thing there is decided by voting, and every person that is a _man_
has an equal right with all the rest to his vote; at least this is the
case in the Northern States. The rich have no more power than the rest;
so they do not constitute an aristocracy in the correct and proper
meaning of the term. An aristocracy in any country, strictly speaking,
is a class of wealthy people who govern it, or who are at least
possessed of exclusive privileges and power."
"Suppose the class of people who govern the country should be poor,"
asked Rollo; "would that be an aristocracy?"
"Such a thing is impossible in the nature of things," said Mr. George;
"for if any one class gets the control of the government of a country,
they will of course manage it in such a way as to get the wealth and the
honors mainly to themselves. _I_ should do so. _You_ would do so. Every
body would do so. It is human nature. Beings that would not do so would
not be human."
"And do the English aristocracy manage in that way?" asked Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George. "The state of the case, as I understand it, is
just this: A number of centuries ago, a certain prince from France--or
rather from Normandy, which is a part of France--came over to England
with an army and conquered the country. His name was William; and on
account of his conquest of England, he received the name of William the
Conqueror. He parcelled out a great portion of the land, and all the
offices and powers of government, among the nobles and generals that
came with him; and they and their descendants have held the property and
the power to the present day. Thus England, so far as the great mass of
the people are concerned, is to be considered as a conquered country,
and now in the possession of the conquerors. It is governed mainly by an
aristocracy which descended from, and represents, the generals that
conquered it. In fact, the highest honor which any man can claim for
himself or his family in England is to say that his ancestors came in
with the Conqueror. It is a sort of phrase."
"Yes," said Rollo; "I have heard it."
"You must understand, however," continued Mr. George, "that not _all_ of
the present aristocracy have descended from the old generals and nobles
that came in with William. Many of those old families have become
extinct, and their places have been supplied by new nobles that have
been created from time to time by selection from the men that have most
distinguished themselves as generals or statesmen. Still these men,
however great they may be, never rise really to the same level of rank
and consideration with the others. They are called the new nobility, and
are always looked down upon, more or less, by the old families whose
ancestors 'came in with the Conqueror.' Now, these nobles and their
families, with persons connected with and dependent upon them, govern
the land. They control nearly all the elections to Parliament, both in
the Lords and in the Commons. They make peace and they make war. They
officer the army and the navy. They, or persons whom they appoint,
administer the affairs of the church and of the state, and expend the
revenues, and they make the laws. In a word, they govern the country."
"And do they govern it well?" asked Rollo.
"Yes," said Mr. George; "admirably well--at least so far as preserving
order and protecting life and property are concerned. I don't believe
that there are any where else in the world, or ever were in any age,
thirty millions of people together, who for a hundred years at a time
enjoyed so much order, and peace, and general safety as has prevailed in
England for the last century. Every thing is admirably regulated
throughout all the ranks and departments of society, so far as these
things are concerned."
"Then it succeeds very well," said Rollo.
"Yes," replied Mr. George, "so far as efficiency in the government, and
order, safety, and peace in the community, are concerned, the plan
certainly succeeds admirably well. But there is another very important
point in which it seems to me it does not succeed at all."
"What is that?" asked Rollo.
"Why, in the division of the fruits of the labor," replied Mr. George.
"I don't know what you mean by that," said Rollo.
"Well, I will explain it," said Mr. George. "If we suppose that there
are thirty millions of people in Great Britain----"
"Are there thirty millions?" said Rollo.
"Not quite, perhaps," said Mr. George; "but I will take thirty millions
for my calculation. Now, out of thirty millions of people, including
men, women, and children, of all ages, there will be, according to the
usual proportion, about ten millions of men and women able to work, or
to superintend work. There are undoubtedly that number now engaged in
various industrial and useful occupations in England. Some are
cultivating the land, raising wheat, or other kinds of food; some are
rearing sheep or cattle; some are digging ore in the mines of Cornwall
or Wales; some are raising coal and iron ore from the immense coal and
iron mines in the northern part of the island; some are tending the
mills and machine shops and manufactories where such vast quantities of
goods are made; and some are planning or superintending these
operations, or are performing professional services of various kinds.
Now, if we suppose that the average earnings of all these people would
be a dollar a day, that would make the amount ten millions a day in all,
or three thousand millions of dollars a year, to be divided, in some way
or other, among the English people."
"But the workmen in England don't earn a dollar a day, do they?" said
Rollo.
"No," said Mr. George; "the laborers and the operatives do not earn so
much as that, or at least they are not paid so much; but I have no doubt
but that the whole amount produced would average that. In fact, I
presume it would average more than that a great deal, and that the whole
amount produced by the annual industry of England is a great deal more
than three thousand millions of dollars."
"Well," said Rollo, "go on."
"I was going to explain to you, you remember, how government, by an
aristocracy in England, operates in respect to the division of the
fruits of labor among those who produce them. And the fact is, that it
operates in such a manner as to give an immensely large proportion of
the value to the aristocratic classes themselves, and an exceedingly
small portion to the people who actually do the work.
"The difference is very great," continued Mr. George, "between England
and the United States in this respect. Go out into the country in
England, or into the manufacturing districts, and follow the people who
do the work, when at night they go to their homes, and see what sort of
houses they go to. They look picturesque and pretty, perhaps, outside,
sometimes; but within they are mere hovels. The man receives only enough
for his labor to feed and clothe him for his work. He becomes,
therefore, a mere beast of burden, and his home is only a hut to feed
and lodge him in.
"But now go to the United States and follow almost any man whom you see
at work in the fields in Vermont or New Hampshire, when he goes to his
home, and see what you will find. There will be a comfortable house,
with several rooms. There will be a little parlor, with a carpet on the
floor and books on the table. There will be children coming home from
school, and a young woman, dressed like a lady, who has just finished
her day's work, and is, perhaps, going in the evening into the village
to attend a lecture. The reason of this difference is, as I suppose,
that in England the laws and institutions, as the aristocracy have
shaped them, are such as to give the men who do the hard work only their
food and clothing and to reserve the rest, under the name of rent, or
tithes, or taxes, to themselves and their relatives; whereas, in
America, the laws and institutions, as the _masses_ have shaped them,
are such as to give the men who _do_ the work a very much larger share
of the proceeds of it, so that they can themselves enjoy the comforts
and luxuries of life, and can cultivate their minds and educate their
children. Thus, in England, you have, on every considerable tract of
farming country, villages of laborers, which consist of mere huts, where
men live all their lives, without change, almost as beasts of burden;
and then, in some beautiful park in the centre, you have a nobleman, who
lives in the highest degree of luxury and splendor, monopolizing as it
were, in his one castle or hall, the comforts and enjoyments which have
been earned by the hundreds of laborers. In America, on the other hand,
there is no castle or hall--there is no nobleman; but the profits of the
labor are retained by those who perform it, and they are expended in
making hundreds of comfortable and well-provided homes."
While Mr. George and Rollo had been holding this conversation, they had
been walking along through St. James's Park; and, considering the
abstract and unentertaining character of the subject, Rollo had listened
quite attentively to what his uncle had said, only his attention had
been somewhat distracted once or twice by the gambols of the beautifully
irised ducks that he had seen from time to time on the water as he
walked along the margin of it. The conversation was now, however,
interrupted by the sound of a trumpet which Rollo heard at a distance,
and which he saw, on looking up, proceeded from a troop of horsemen
coming out from the Horse Guards. Rollo immediately wished to go that
way and see them, and Mr. George consented. As they went along, Mr.
George closed his conversation on the English aristocracy by saying,--
"England is a delightful country for noblemen, no doubt, and an
aristocratic government will always work very well indeed for the
interests of the aristocracy themselves who exercise it, and for the
good order and safety, perhaps, of the rest of the community. A great
many weak and empty-headed women who come out to England from the great
cities in America, and see these grand equipages in London, think what a
fine thing it is to have a royal government, and wish that we had one in
America; but this is always on the understanding that they themselves
are to be the duchesses."
* * * * *
Mr. George was doubtless substantially correct in his explanation of
the opinion which many fashionable ladies in America are led to form in
favor of our aristocratic form of government from what they see of the
pomp and parade of the English nobility; though, in characterizing such
ladies as weak and empty headed women, he was, to say the least, rather
severe. In respect to the other question,--that is, how far the immense
inequality of the division of the annual production of the Island of
Great Britain among the people who produce it, and the consequent
extreme poverty of so large a portion of the working classes, is owing
to the laws and institutions which the aristocracy themselves have
formed,--that is a very grave one. Mr. George thought that it was owing
to those laws and institutions, and not to any thing in the natural or
physical condition of the country itself, that there was so much abject
poverty in Great Britain.
"The soil is as fertile," said he to himself, "the mines are as rich,
the machinery is as effective, and there is as much profitable work to
be done in England as in America, and I see no reason why the whole
amount of value produced in proportion to the producers should not be as
great in one country as in the other. Consequently, if some classes
obtain more than their share, and others less, the inequality must be
the effect of the institutions and laws."