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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +Pilgrim and American + +by Charles Dudley Warner + + + + +This December evening, the imagination, by a law of contrast, recalls +another December night two hundred and seventy years ago. The circle of +darkness is drawn about a little group of Pilgrims who have come ashore +on a sandy and inhospitable coast. On one side is a vexed and wintry +sea, three thousand miles of tossing waves and tempest, beyond which lie +the home, the hedgerows and cottages, the church towers, the libraries +and universities, the habits and associations of an old civilization, the +strongest and dearest ties that can entwine around a human heart, +abandoned now definitely and forever by these wanderers; on the other +side a wintry forest of unknown extent, without highways, the lair of +wild beasts, impenetrable except by trails known only to the savages, +whose sudden appearance and disappearance adds mystery and terror to the +impression the imagination has conjured up of the wilderness. + +This darkness is symbolic. It stands for a vaster obscurity. This is an +encampment on the edge of a continent, the proportions of which are +unknown, the form of which is only conjectured. Behind this screen of +forest are there hills, great streams, with broad valleys, ranges of +mountains perhaps, vast plains, lakes, other wildernesses of illimitable +extent? The adventurers on the James hoped they could follow the stream +to highlands that looked off upon the South Sea, a new route to India and +the Spice Islands. This unknown continent is attacked, it is true, in +more than one place. The Dutch are at the mouth of the Hudson; there is +a London company on the James; the Spaniards have been long in Florida, +and have carried religion and civilization into the deserts of New +Mexico. Nevertheless, the continent, vaster and more varied than was +guessed, is practically undiscovered, untrodden. How inadequate to the +subjection of any considerable portion of it seems this little band of +ill-equipped adventurers, who cannot without peril of life stray a league +from the bay where the "Mayflower" lies. + +It is not to be supposed that the Pilgrims had an adequate conception of +the continent, or of the magnitude of their mission on it, or of the +nation to come of which they were laying the foundations. They did the +duty that lay nearest to them; and the duty done today, perhaps without +prescience of its consequences, becomes a permanent stone in the edifice +of the future. They sought a home in a fresh wilderness, where they +might be undisturbed by superior human authority; they had no +doctrinarian notions of equality, nor of the inequality which is the only +possible condition of liberty; the idea of toleration was not born in +their age; they did not project a republic; they established a theocracy, +a church which assumed all the functions of a state, recognizing one +Supreme Power, whose will in human conduct they were to interpret. +Already, however, in the first moment, with a true instinct of self- +government, they drew together in the cabin of the "Mayflower" in an +association--to carry out the divine will in society. But, behold how +speedily their ideas expanded beyond the Jewish conception, necessarily +expanded with opportunity and the practical self-dependence of colonies +cut off from the aid of tradition, and brought face to face with the +problems of communities left to themselves. Only a few years later, on +the banks of the Connecticut, Thomas Hooker, the first American Democrat, +proclaimed that "the foundation of authority is laid in the free consent +of the people," that "the choice of public magistrates belongs unto the +people, by God's own allowance," that it is the right of the people not +only to choose but to limit the power of their rulers, and he exhorted, +"as God has given us liberty to take it." There, at that moment, in +Hartford, American democracy was born; and in the republican union of the +three towns of the Connecticut colony, Hartford, Windsor, and +Wethersfield, was the germ of the American federal system, which was +adopted into the federal constitution and known at the time as the +"Connecticut Compromise." + +It were not worth while for me to come a thousand miles to say this, or +to draw over again for the hundredth time the character of the New +England Pilgrim, nor to sketch his achievement on this continent. But it +is pertinent to recall his spirit, his attitude toward life, and to +inquire what he would probably do in the circumstances in which we find +ourselves. + +It is another December night, before the dawn of a new year. And this +night still symbolizes the future. You have subdued a continent, and it +stands in the daylight radiant with a material splendor of which the +Pilgrims never dreamed. Yet a continent as dark, as unknown, exists. +It is yourselves, your future, your national life. The other continent +was made, you had only to discover it, to uncover it. This you must make +yourselves. + +We have finished the outline sketch of a magnificent nation. The +territory is ample; it includes every variety of climate, in the changing +seasons, every variety of physical conformation, every kind of production +suited to the wants, almost everything desired in the imagination, of +man. It comes nearer than any empire in history to being self- +sufficient, physically independent of the rest of the globe. That is to +say, if it were shut off from the rest of the world, it has in itself the +material for great comfort and civilization. And it has the elements of +motion, of agitation, of life, because the vast territory is filling up +with a rapidity unexampled in history. I am not saying that isolated it +could attain the highest civilization, or that if it did touch a high one +it could long hold it in a living growth, cut off from the rest of the +world. I do not believe it. For no state, however large, is sufficient +unto itself. No state is really alive in the highest sense whose +receptivity is not equal to its power to contribute to the world with +which its destiny is bound up. It is only at its best when it is a part +of the vital current of movement, of sympathy, of hope, of enthusiasm of +the world at large. There is no doctrine so belittling, so withering to +our national life, as that which conceives our destiny to be a life of +exclusion of the affairs and interests of the whole globe, hemmed in to +the selfish development of our material wealth and strength, surrounded +by a Chinese wall built of strata of prejudice on the outside and of +ignorance on the inside. Fortunately it is a conception impossible to be +realized. + +There is something captivating to the imagination in being a citizen of a +great nation, one powerful enough to command respect everywhere, and so +just as not to excite fear anywhere. This proud feeling of citizenship +is a substantial part of a man's enjoyment of life; and there is a +certain compensation for hardships, for privations, for self-sacrifice, +in the glory of one's own country. It is not a delusion that one can +afford to die for it. But what in the last analysis is the object of a +government? What is the essential thing, without which even the glory of +a nation passes into shame, and the vastness of empire becomes a mockery? +I will not say that it is the well-being of every individual, because the +term well-being--the 'bien etre' of the philosophers of the eighteenth +century--has mainly a materialistic interpretation, and may be attained +by a compromise of the higher life to comfort, and even of patriotism to +selfish enjoyment. + +That is the best government in which the people, and all the people, get +the most out of life; for the object of being in this world is not +primarily to build up a government, a monarchy, an aristocracy, a +democracy, or a republic, or to make a nation, but to live the best sort +of life that can be lived. + +We think that our form of government is the one best calculated to attain +this end. It is of all others yet tried in this world the one least felt +by the people, least felt as an interference in the affairs of private +life, in opinion, in conscience, in our freedom to attain position, to +make money, to move from place to place, and to follow any career that is +open to our ability. In order to maintain this freedom of action, this +non-interference, we are bound to resist centralization of power; for a +central power in a republic, grasped and administered by bosses, is no +more tolerable than central power in a despotism, grasped and +administered by a hereditary aristocrat. Let us not be deceived by +names. Government by the consent of the people is the best government, +but it is not government by the people when it is in the hands of +political bosses, who juggle with the theory of majority rule. What +republics have most to fear is the rule of the boss, who is a tyrant +without responsibility. He makes the nominations, he dickers and trades +for the elections, and at the end he divides the spoils. The operation +is more uncertain than a horse race, which is not decided by the speed of +the horses, but by the state of the wagers and the manipulation of the +jockeys. We strike directly at his power for mischief when we organize +the entire civil service of the nation and of the States on capacity, +integrity, experience, and not on political power. + +And if we look further, considering the danger of concentration of power +in irresponsible hands, we see a new cause for alarm in undue federal +mastery and interference. This we can only resist by the constant +assertion of the rights, the power, the dignity of the individual State, +all that it has not surrendered in the fundamental constitution of the +Republic. This means the full weight of the State, as a State, as a +political unit, in the election of President; and the full weight of the +State, as a State, as a political unit, without regard to its population, +in the senate of the United States. The senate, as it stands, as it was +meant to be in the Constitution, is the strongest safeguard which the +fundamental law established against centralization, against the tyranny +of mere majorities, against the destruction of liberty, in such a +diversity of climates and conditions as we have in our vast continent. +It is not a mere check upon hasty legislation; like some second chambers +in Europe, it is the representative of powers whose preservation in their +dignity is essential to the preservation of the form of our government +itself. + +We pursue the same distribution of power and responsibility when we pass +to the States. The federal government is not to interfere in what the +State can do and ought to do for itself; the State is not to meddle with +what the county can best do for itself; nor the county in the affairs +best administered by the town and the municipality. And so we come to +the individual citizen. He cannot delegate his responsibility. The +government even of the smallest community must be, at least is, run by +parties and by party machinery. But if he wants good government, he must +pay as careful attention to the machinery,--call it caucus, primary, +convention, town-meeting,--as he does to the machinery of his own +business. If he hands it over to bosses, who make politics a trade for +their own livelihood, he will find himself in the condition of +stockholders of a bank whose directors are mere dummies, when some day +the cashier packs the assets and goes on a foreign journey for his +health. When the citizen simply does his duty in the place where he +stands, the boss will be eliminated, in the nation, in the State, in the +town, and we shall have, what by courtesy we say we have now, a +government by the people. Then all the way down from the capital to the +city ward, we shall have vital popular government, free action, +discussion, agitation, life. What an anomaly it is, that a free people, +reputed shrewd and intelligent, should intrust their most vital +interests, the making of their laws, the laying of their taxes, the +spending of their money, even their education and the management of their +public institutions, into the keeping of political bosses, whom they +would not trust to manage the least of their business affairs, nor to +arbitrate on what is called a trial of speed at an agricultural fair. + +But a good government, the best government, is only an opportunity. +However vast the country may become in wealth and population, it cannot +rise in quality above the average of the majority of its citizens; and +its goodness will be tested in history by its value to the average man, +not by its bigness, not by its power, but by its adaptability to the +people governed, so as to develop the best that is in them. It is +incidental and imperative that the country should be an agreeable one to +live in; but it must be more than that, it must be favorable to the +growth of the higher life. The Puritan community of Massachusetts Bay, +whose spirit we may happily contrast with that of the Pilgrims whose +anniversary we celebrate, must have been as disagreeable to live in as +any that history records; not only were the physical conditions of life +hard, but its inquisitorial intolerance overmatched that which it escaped +in England. It was a theocratic despotism, untempered by recreation or +amusement, and repressive not only of freedom of expression but of +freedom of thought. But it had an unconquerable will, a mighty sense of +duty, a faith in God, which not only established its grip upon the +continent but carried its influence from one ocean to the other. It did +not conquer by its bigotry, by its intolerance, its cruel persecuting +spirit, but by its higher mental and spiritual stamina. These lower and +baser qualities of the age of the Puritans leave a stain upon a great +achievement; it took Massachusetts almost two centuries to cast them off +and come into a wholesome freedom, but the vital energy and the +recognition of the essential verities inhuman life carried all the +institutions of the Puritans that were life-giving over the continent. + +Here in the West you are near the centre of a vast empire, you feel its +mighty pulse, the throb and heartbeat of its immense and growing +strength. Some of you have seen this great civilization actually grow on +the vacant prairies, in the unoccupied wilderness, on the sandy shores of +the inland seas. You have seen the trails of the Indian and the deer +replaced by highways of steel, and upon the spots where the first +immigrants corralled their wagons, and the voyagers dragged their canoes +upon the reedy shore, you have seen arise great cities, centres of +industry, of commerce, of art, attaining in a generation the proportions +and the world-wide fame of cities that were already famous before the +discovery of America. + +Naturally the country is proud of this achievement. Naturally we magnify +our material prosperity. But in this age of science and invention this +development may be said to be inevitable, and besides it is the necessary +outlet of the energy of a free people. There must be growth of cities, +extension of railways, improvement of agriculture, development of +manufactures, amassing of wealth, concentration of capital, beautifying +of homes, splendid public buildings, private palaces, luxury, display. +Without reservoirs of wealth there would be no great universities, +schools of science, museums, galleries of art, libraries, solid +institutions of charity, and perhaps not the wide diffusion of culture +which is the avowed aim of modern civilization. + +But this in its kind is an old story. It is an experiment that has been +repeated over and over. History is the record of the rise of splendid +civilizations, many of which have flowered into the most glorious +products of learning and of art, and have left monuments of the proudest +material achievements. Except in the rapidity with which steam and +electricity have enabled us to move to our object, and in the discoveries +of science which enable us to relieve suffering and prolong human life, +there is nothing new in our experiment. We are pursuing substantially +the old ends of material success and display. And the ends are not +different because we have more people in a nation, or bigger cities with +taller buildings, or more miles of railway, or grow more corn and cotton, +or make more plows and threshing-machines, or have a greater variety of +products than any nation ever had before. I fancy that a pleased visitor +from another planet the other day at Chicago, who was shown an assembly +much larger than ever before met under one roof, might have been +interested to know that it was also the wisest, the most cultivated, the +most weighty in character of any assembly ever gathered under one roof. +Our experiment on this continent was intended to be something more than +the creation of a nation on the old pattern, that should become big and +strong, and rich and luxurious, divided into classes of the very wealthy +and the very poor, of the enlightened and the illiterate. It was +intended to be a nation in which the welfare of the people is the supreme +object, and whatever its show among nations it fails if it does not +become this. This welfare is an individual matter, and it means many +things. It includes in the first place physical comfort for every person +willing and deserving to be physically comfortable, decent lodging, good +food, sufficient clothing. It means, in the second place, that this +shall be an agreeable country to live in, by reason of its impartial +laws, social amenities, and a fair chance to enjoy the gifts of nature +and Providence. And it means, again, the opportunity to develop talents, +aptitudes for cultivation and enjoyment, in short, freedom to make the +most possible out of our lives. This is what Jefferson meant by the +"pursuit of happiness"; it was what the Constitution meant by the +"general welfare," and what it tried to secure in States, safe-guarded +enough to secure independence in the play of local ambition and home +rule, and in a federal republic strong enough to protect the whole from +foreign interference. We are in no vain chase of an equality which would +eliminate all individual initiative, and check all progress, by ignoring +differences of capacity and strength, and rating muscles equal to brains. +But we are in pursuit of equal laws, and a fairer chance of leading happy +lives than humanity in general ever had yet. And this fairer chance +would not, for instance, permit any man to become a millionaire by so +manipulating railways that the subscribing towns and private stockholders +should lose their investments; nor would it assume that any Gentile or +Jew has the right to grow rich by the chance of compelling poor women to +make shirts for six cents apiece. The public opinion which sustains +these deeds is as un-American, and as guilty as their doers. While +abuses like these exist, tolerated by the majority that not only make +public opinion, but make the laws, this is not a government for the +people, any more than a government of bosses is a government by the +people. + +The Pilgrims of Plymouth could see no way of shaping their lives in +accordance with the higher law except by separating themselves from the +world. We have their problem, how to make the most of our lives, but the +conditions have changed. Ours is an age of scientific aggression, fierce +competition, and the widest toleration. The horizon of humanity is +enlarged. To live the life now is to be no more isolated or separate, +but to throw ourselves into the great movement of thought, and feeling, +and achievement. Therefore we are altruists in charity, missionaries of +humanity, patriots at home. Therefore we have a justifiable pride in the +growth, the wealth, the power of the nation, the state, the city. But +the stream cannot rise above its source. The nation is what the majority +of its citizens are. It is to be judged by the condition of its humblest +members. We shall gain nothing over other experiments in government, +although we have money enough to buy peace from the rest of the world, or +arms enough to conquer it, although we rear upon our material prosperity +a structure of scientific achievement, of art, of literature +unparalleled, if the common people are not sharers in this great +prosperity, and are not fuller of hope and of the enjoyment of life than +common people ever were before. + +And we are all common people when it comes to that. Whatever the +greatness of the nation, whatever the accumulation of wealth, the worth +of the world to us is exactly the worth of our individual lives. The +magnificent opportunity in this Republic is that we may make the most +possible out of our lives, and it will continue only as we adhere to the +original conception of the Republic. Politics without virtue, money- +making without conscience, may result in great splendor, but as such an +experiment is not new, its end can be predicted. An agreeable home for a +vast, and a free, and a happy people is quite another thing. It expects +thrift, it expects prosperity, but its foundations are in the moral and +spiritual life. + +Therefore I say that we are still to make the continent we have +discovered and occupied, and that the scope and quality of our national +life are still to be determined. If they are determined not by the +narrow tenets of the Pilgrims, but by their high sense of duty, and of +the value of the human soul, it will be a nation that will call the world +up to a higher plane of action than it ever attained before, and it will +bring in a new era of humanity. If they are determined by the vulgar +successes of a mere material civilization, it is an experiment not worth +making. It would have been better to have left the Indians in +possession, to see if they could not have evolved out of their barbarism +some new line of action. + +The Pilgrims were poor, and they built their huts on a shore which gave +such niggardly returns for labor that the utmost thrift was required to +secure the necessaries of life. Out of this struggle with nature and +savage life was no doubt evolved the hardihood, the endurance, that +builds states and wins the favors of fortune. But poverty is not +commonly a nurse of virtue, long continued, it is a degeneration. It is +almost as difficult for the very poor man to be virtuous as for the very +rich man; and very good and very rich at the same time, says Socrates, a +man cannot be. It is a great people that can withstand great prosperity. +The condition of comfort without extremes is that which makes a happy +life. I know a village of old-fashioned houses and broad elm-shaded +streets in New England, indeed more than one, where no one is +inordinately rich, and no one is very poor, where paupers are so scarce +that it is difficult to find beneficiaries for the small traditionary +contribution for the church poor; where the homes are centres of +intelligence, of interest in books, in the news of the world, in the +church, in the school, in politics; whence go young men and women to the +colleges, teachers to the illiterate parts of the land, missionaries to +the city slums. Multiply such villages all over the country, and we have +one of the chief requisites for an ideal republic. + +This has been the longing of humanity. Poets have sung of it; prophets +have had visions of it; statesmen have striven for it; patriots have died +for it. There must be somewhere, some time, a fruitage of so much +suffering, so much sacrifice, a land of equal laws and equal +opportunities, a government of all the people for the benefit of all the +people; where the conditions of living will be so adjusted that every one +can make the most out of his life, neither waste it in hopeless slavery +nor in selfish tyranny, where poverty and crime will not be hereditary +generation after generation, where great fortunes will not be for vulgar +ostentation, but for the service of humanity and the glory of the State, +where the privileges of freemen will be so valued that no one will be +mean enough to sell his vote nor corrupt enough to attempt to buy a vote, +where the truth will at last be recognized, that the society is not +prosperous when half its members are lucky, and half are miserable, and +that that nation can only be truly great that takes its orders from the +Great Teacher of Humanity. + +And, lo! at last here is a great continent, virgin, fertile, a land of +sun and shower and bloom, discovered, organized into a great nation, with +a government flexible in a distributed home rule, stiff as steel in a +central power, already rich, already powerful. It is a land of promise. +The materials are all here. Will you repeat the old experiment of a +material success and a moral and spiritual failure? Or will you make it +what humanity has passionately longed for? Only good individual lives +can do that. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Pilgrim and American by Charles D. Warner + |