MR. CUSHINC'S ADDRESS. 7 



Now, I am prepared to concede all its due influence to this 

 the Teutonic element in our composition ; but no more. I 

 cannot shut my eyes to the action of the Celtic races, Spanish, 

 French, and Irish, on the condition of America. 



The characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon stock is individual- 

 ism : — in the man, reliance on self, exclusive regard for self, 

 personal independence, love of liberty, as it is indefinitely 

 called among us, by which we mean, love of individual power; 

 in the society, separate dwellings, collection into small political 

 groups or communities, quick spread over the surface of a given 

 country, occupation of land. 



But in men, as in things, each specific quality excludes its 

 opposite. Therefore, in the Anglo-Saxon, with self-reliance 

 and self-regard, comes disregard of the rights and feelings of 

 others, as illustrated in that habitual violation of contracts 

 among us, which is more or less sanctioned by law and by 

 what is called public sentiment. 



Love of personal independence and individual power is, of 

 of itself, a complete dissolvent of society. Therefore, again, 

 among the Anglo-Saxons, or wherever that element exists 

 largely, the central power is weak, authority is diffused among 

 the parts, government is carried on, or checked and controlled 

 in its action, by voluntary associations, clubs, and political par- 

 ties, which tyrannize in their own way. 



In religion, protestantism takes the place of catholicity, that 

 is, unity of church disappears, and there follows infinite subdi- 

 vision into fragmentary sects, which every where profess, but 

 nowhere tolerate, freedom of belief. 



In respect to industrial pursuits, as each man is for himself, 

 with freedom of labor there is also freedom of capital ; and as 

 the employed rejects or imperfectly admits the idea of obliga- 

 tion to the employer, so also the employer feels imperfect- 

 ly the sense of obligation towards the employed; and while 

 there is much talk of liberty, there is comparatively little 

 thought of either equality or fraternity ; and the dissolution of 

 co-relation, thought it involve bankruptcies and adulteration of 

 commodities in one class, with pauperism and depredations on 

 property in the other, and frequent hostility between both, yet 

 comes to be deemed the sura of human happiness. 



