the great probability that such a discussion might be forced upon the United States, if they are there represented, as a circumstance furnishing in itself the strongest objections to the adoption of the measure proposed. . . . Should the situation or policy of the United States induce them to look with indifference upon the new direction that the existing war may take, and to abstain from all interference in it, even though the neighboring islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico may be threatened or assailed, then the very annunciation of such a purpose must contribute much to accelerate an event that cannot be desired by us. In whatever light, therefore, this subject is viewed, it does not seem to be one which the United States should discuss with the other American States assembled at a Congress. The inexpediency of pursuing [such] a course appeared more obvious to this Committee, when they considered, that many of the nations of Europe must also feel, that their interests were materially involved in its decision; and that they would not abstain from making some movement in relation to it, which must greatly embarrass any course that the United States may wish hereafter to pursue. . . . Then, the powers of Europe, who have hitherto confided in the sagacity, vigilance, and impartiality of the United States, to watch, detect, announce, and restrain any disposition that the heat of the existing contest might excite in the new States of America, to extend their empires beyond their own limits, and who have therefore considered their possessions and commerce in America safe, while so guarded, would no longer feel this confidence. Each would therefore endeavor to secure its own interests, by its own means; and the power of Spain not being considered by any as equal to the protection of her remaining American possessions, a struggle would probably commence, who should first obtain the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the possession of which must ever be of the last importance to the commerce of this hemisphere. . . The very situation of Cuba and Puerto Rico, therefore, furnishes the strongest inducement to the United States not to take a place at the contemplated Congress, since, by so doing, they must be considered as changing the attitude in which they hitherto have stood, as impartial spectators of the passing scenes, and identifying themselves with the new Republics. Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate (Washington, 1828), III, 480-486 passim. PART VIII SOCIAL AND POLITICAL READJUSTMENT CHAPTER XXIII—THE PEOPLE IN 1830 151. Old-Fashioned Preaching (1816) BY JOSIAH QUINCY (1882) Quincy was the eldest son of the statesman of the same name (see No. 123 above). His Figures of the Past, from which this extract is taken, is an interesting and valuable commentary on distinguished persons and events during the first half of the nineteenth century. - Bibliography: Channing and Hart, Guide, § 180. WE WE had come to Andover to get religion, and the pursuit of this object was seldom interfered with by such episodes as the one just related. During the first years of my stay we were taken to worship in the church of the town, which was supported by a tax laid upon all citizens. What the winter services were in that old meetinghouse no description can reproduce. The building was in decay, and the windows rattled with every blast. There was no pretence of stove or furnace, and the waters of life, which were dispensed from the pulpit, froze to solid ice before they reached us. There were, to be sure, a few pans of ignited charcoal, which the sexton carried to certain old ladies of great respectability, and which were supposed to impart some warmth to their venerable feet. But this luxury was never provided for the voting sex; and boys, as a matter of course, received their ghostly instruction with the chill on. We muffled ourselves up in comforters, as if to go a sleigh ride, and shivered through the long services, warmed only by such flickering flames of devotion as they were calculated to kindle. The vivid descriptions of those sultry regions to which the vast majority of the human race were hastening lost something of the terror they were meant to excite. If we could only approach the quarters of the condemned near enough to get thoroughly warmed through, the broad road that led to them might gain an additional attraction. The boys were required to remember the text, as well as the heads of the discourse, and were duly examined thereupon the next day. My own memory was good, so good, indeed, that some of those sermons stick there yet. And they were not difficult to remember either; for, give the preacher his premises, and let him start his machine of formal logic, and the conclusions ground themselves out with unerring certainty. An exception to this rule was found in the doctrine of election as not inconsistent with individual freedom. This was a craggy theme with which the Andover divines were accustomed to grapple with great spirit. They certainly showed, or appeared to show, that we were perfectly free to choose a destiny which, nevertheless, had been absolutely decreed beforehand; but the reasoning which dissolved this formidable paradox was altogether too subtle for the youthful brain to follow. A report of an occasional sermon may give some idea of the gallant style in which the Andover ministers faced sin- or what seemed to them sin― under difficulties. It happened that a proposition to teach dancing in the town had been made by some rash professor of that accomplishment. Under this visitation there was clearly but one subject for the next Sunday's discourse. The good minister rose in the pulpit fully armed for the encounter; but he was not the man to take unfair advantages. The adversary should be allowed every point which seemed to make in his favor. In pursuance of this generous design, a text was given out which certainly did seem a little awkward in view of the deductions which must be drawn from it. It was taken from the Book of Ecclesiastes, and was announced with unflinching emphasis, "There is a time to dance." The preacher began by boldly facing the performance of King David, "When before the Ark His grand pas seul excited some remark!" But, notwithstanding the record, we were assured that David did not dance. A reference to the original Hebrew made it plain that "he took no steps." All he did was to jump up and down in a very innocent manner, and it was evident that this required no professional instruction. And now, having disposed of the example of the father, the way was clear to take up the assertion of Solomon that there was a time to dance. Were this the case, it were pertinent to consider what that time might be. Could a man find time to dance before he was converted? To ask such a question as that was to answer it. The terrible risks to which the unregenerate were exposed, and the necessity that was upon them to take summary measures for their avoidance, clearly left no time for dancing. And how was it with a man while he was being converted? Overwhelmed with the sense of sin, and diligently seeking the remedy, it was simply preposterous to imagine that he could find time for dancing. And how was it with the saints who had been converted? Surely such time as they had must be spent in religious exercises for the conversion of others; obviously they had no time to dance. And so the whole of human life had been covered, and the conclusion was driven home with resistless force. What time for dancing Solomon might have had in mind it was unnecessary to inquire, for it was simply demonstrable that he could not have referred to any moment of the time allotted to man on this earth. After this discourse it is needless to say that no dancing-master showed his face in Andover during my acquaintance with the town. But if it shall happen that I speak freely of forms which have no longer the spiritual meaning that once filled them, I must also emphasize the fact that a stern pressure towards morality was characteristic of the school. Emulation was abandoned because it appealed to lower motives than Christians should entertain, and the phrase "unhallowed ambition" was applied to the pursuit of excellence for any selfish end. A society for the cultivation of the moral virtues, composed of candidates for the Divinity Department and some of the smaller boys, existed in the school, and a pledge to abstain from intoxicating liquors was exacted from its members. During the six years I spent in Andover there were several revivals of religion. The master believed in their utility and did everything in his power to encourage them. We had prayer-meetings before school, after school, and in recess, and a strong influence was exerted to make us attend them. I am tempted to give a little circumstance in this connection because it shows the absolute sincerity with which our teachers held their religious views. One summer's day, after a session of four hours, the master dismissed the school in the usual form. No sooner had he done so than he added, "There will now be a prayermeeting those who wish to lie down in everlasting burning may go; the rest will stay." It is probable that a good many boys wanted to get : out of doors. Two of them only had the audacity to rise and leave the room. One of those youngsters has since been known as an eminent Doctor of Divinity; the other was he who now relates the incident. But no sooner was the prayer-meeting over than Mr. ADAMS sought me out, asked pardon for the dreadful alternative he had presented, and burst into a flood of tears. He said with deep emotion that he feared that I had committed the unpardonable sin and that he had been the cause. His sincerity and faith were most touching; and his manliness in confessing his error and asking pardon from his pupil makes the record of the occurrence an honor to his memory. Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past from the Leaves of Old Journals (Boston, 1883), 6-11. 152. "Who Reads an American Book?" (1820) BY REVEREND SYDNEY SMITH Smith was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Review, and his brilliant articles in that periodical aided greatly in establishing its success. His keen pen and love of raillery found a good subject in the lack of culture in the United States; and such was the reputation of the writer and of the magazine in which his articles appeared that his criticisms touched the pride of Americans more than did any other of the many reviews written in the same vein. Abuse of America was fashionable in Great Britain at that time. For Smith, see Stuart J. Reid, Life and Times of Sydney Smith.-Bibliography: McMaster, History of the United States, V, ch. xlviii; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 180. SUCH UCH is the land of Jonathan-and thus has it been governed. In his honest endeavours to better his situation, and in his manly purpose of resisting injury and insult, we most cordially sympathize. We hope he will always continue to watch and suspect his Government as he now does — remembering, that it is the constant tendency of those entrusted with power, to conceive that they enjoy it by their own merits, and for their own use, and not by delegation, and for the benefit of others. Thus far we are the friends and admirers of Jonathan: But he must not grow vain and ambitious; or allow himself to be dazzled by that galaxy of epithets by which his orators and newspaper scribblers endeavour to persuade their supporters that they are the greatest, the most refined, the most enlightened, and the most moral people upon earth. The effect of this is unspeakably ludicrous on this side of the Atlantic and, even on the other, we should imagine, must be rather |