AMERICAN ARISTOCRACY. 45 



widow, and who would meanly cheat to the fraction of 

 a " dime," would, in his unwashed depravity, have 

 held out a hand to a gentleman as if he had been the 

 equal of chivalry and the personification of an honest man. 

 The real American gentlemen cannot be surpassed in high- 

 toned feeling, graceful sentiment, urbanity, or courage ; 

 and though it is the fashion among some of my country 

 men to deny an aristocracy to America, I know that there 

 is as high a feeling among her born gentlemen, and in 

 the upper classes, as there is in any class in England, 

 and as much difference between the American peer with 

 out a title and the American " villain " or Boh-hoy, as 

 there is between the earls of England and the lowest of 

 the rabble ; and every hour this fact will become more 

 manifest. The position taken by the class that may 

 justly be termed " the Aristocracy of the New World " 

 is, to my mind, at this moment peculiarly dignified and 

 graceful, while at the same time I cannot but think it 

 bodes no good to the national prosperity, and proves the 

 errors of universal suffrage. The upper classes stand aloof 

 from the political world ; they feel that they are unrepre 

 sented in Congress, and that they at present possess no 

 power to compete with the overwhelming will of the 

 masses; that numbers, and the hasty naturalization of 

 foreigners, and a fluctuating, wild spirit for speculation, 

 have usurped the functions of all who are possessed of 

 real property ; and that until this very false state of affairs 

 rights itself, religion and law, education, wealth, and 

 strength, must be at a discount, or stand trembling on 

 the eve of destruction. 



I will not attempt to enumerate those from whom I 

 received the utmost kindness and attention, lest I should 

 unintentionally omit one, and thus appear a bankrupt in 



