Jonathan and His Continent Part 26

Dinner is served at half-past six, and usually lasts but half an hour.

The President drinks wine, but sparingly, and Mrs. Cleveland never touches anything stronger than Apollinaris water.

The steward buys what he thinks will please the palates of the master and mistress of the Executive Mansion, but has no orders. He has to cater for easily-pleased tastes, and the bill of fare invariably gives satisfaction.

Whether guests are present or not, the President is served first.

Perhaps Louis XIV. might have refused to be served before the ladies; but Mr. Cleveland has so many qualities which the _grand monarque_ did not possess, that it would be very ungenerous indeed to dwell on such an insignificant detail. After all, it is not Mr. Cleveland that is served first, but the first magistrate of America. The politeness is one done to the nation.

Mrs. Cleveland calls her husband "Mr. President." Her own name is Frances Folsom, which, it is said, her husband shortens into "Frank" in private. There appears to be no etiquette established on this subject.

Martha Washington called the founder of the great American Republic "General." Mrs. Hayes called the President "Mr. Hayes," whilst Mrs.

Lincoln and Mrs. Garfield called their respective husbands "Abram" and "Jim."

CHAPTER XXIX.

_Politics.--Parties.--The Gentleman and the Politician.--"Honest John" and "Jolly Roger."--The Irish in America.--Why the Americans are in Favour of Home Rule.--The Mayor of New York and the Green Flag.--The German Yankees.--The American Const.i.tution and the President.--Executive and Legislative Powers.--England is a Freer Country than America.--The Elections.--An Anecdote of M.

Jules Grevy._

In America the pursuit of politics is a liberal profession--very liberal for those who take it up.

In America, as in England, there are two great political parties; instead of being called Conservatives and Liberals, they are called Republicans and Democrats. The difference which exists between these parties is this: One is in power, and tries to stay in; the other is out, and tries to get in.

All that is done by the one is condemned in advance by the other, whichever the other may be. It is _parti-otism_.

Good society keeps prudently aloof from politics and politicians. When a servant announces a politician, his master whispers in his ear: "John, lock up the plate, and take care there is nothing lying about."[12]

John, faithful to orders, stands sentinel in the hall, and, while he is showing out the politician, keeps an eye on the umbrellas and overcoats.

[12] I once made this statement before a London audience. An Englishman was heard to remark to his neighbour: "Is this a fact I wonder?"

For that matter, the American democracy is no exception to the rule. To become a chemist, you must study chemistry; to become a lawyer, you must study law; but, in a democracy, to be a politician you need only study your interests. Enlightened, educated, well-bred Americans have no desire to be confounded with the heroes of the Stump, and stand back; the rich financiers and merchants are too busy to take up politics; the senators and congressmen are more or less the chosen of the common people, and good society says: "No, thank you; I prefer to stay at home." Thus it is that the ground remains clear for the noisy mediocrities, and that a gentleman has only to mix himself up in politics to become a _decla.s.se_. He must reach the White House to inspire a little respect. The American gentleman has not the least ambition to see his fair name dragged in the mud; to hear himself called "thief," or nicknamed "Honest John," "Jolly Roger," or what not. He takes a joke as well as another; but if you were to call him "Senator"

or "Congressman," he would have you up for defamation of character. The President himself, capable and upright as he is, does not altogether escape the contempt which the politician inspires in the man of refinement.

When I was asked, in America, what celebrities I had met, I generally answered: "First of all, I have had the honour of paying my respects to your President." I invariably missed my effect. "Ah, really!" people would say--"but, there, you are a foreigner." This was an excuse, I suppose; for the Americans did not shut their doors upon me.

Contemporary America is governed by the Irish.

The Germans, the Scandinavians, all those crowds of foreigners that, year by year, flock to the New World to find a livelihood, and which America gradually a.s.similates, go West to fell forests and reclaim the land. But the Irish pitch their tents, for the most part, in the large cities, where they congregate together and turn their attention to politics. The city of New York, for instance, which has been successively conquered by the Dutch, the English, and the Yankees, is to-day in the hands of the Irish. New York is the real capital of Ireland.

I was in America on the 17th of March, St. Patrick's Day. I remember that the Irish demanded to have the day officially celebrated in New York, and the Mayor was requested to hoist the green flag over the City Hall. This gentleman, for refusing to comply, was next day p.r.o.nounced a "false patriot" and a "traitor."

The English are always wondering why Americans all seem to be in favour of Home Rule, and ready to back up the cause with their dollars. Why? I will tell you. Because they are in hopes that, when the Irish get Ireland, they will all go home.

I, too, would like to see the Irish in possession of Ireland, but for other reasons. First and chiefly, because they are good patriots, and, though in a foreign land, even naturalized Americans, they do not forget their beloved country. Americans though they be in their new home, they yet remain Irish. They give their allegiance to America; but their hearts remain true to Ireland.

What a contrast to the Germans whom you find in the United States! These forget their mother-tongue, and their children do not speak it. They abuse their country.

Wherever the German settles he becomes "native." He is not a colonizer: he adopts at the outset the customs, creed, and language of his new Fatherland: I believe he would become a n.i.g.g.e.r in Africa. But this has always been his wont. When the Germanic hordes invaded Gaul in the fifth century, they became Gauls in a very little time: spoke Latin, and, thanks be, only left in our language about five hundred words of Teutonic origin.

How can one help wishing that they may one day return to their country, those Irish, who, a thousand leagues from Ireland, remain Irish still?

How can one help loving them, those brave sons of Erin, so amiable and witty?

I have many times been asked why, having written on the subject of England and Scotland, I had no intention of publishing my impressions of the Irish.

My answer is this: in speaking of a people, I like to touch on their pet transgressions, their faults and weaknesses, and I have never been able to find any in the Irish.

You will understand now why I would not risk the little reputation I may have made, and write of the Irish.

Upon the strength of a six months' sojourn in America, one would hardly attempt to deliver a verdict on the political system of the country.

I think, however, that it may safely be affirmed that the English are a freer people than the Americans; that the const.i.tutional--I had almost said republican--monarchy of England is preferable to the authoritative democracy of America.

The American Const.i.tution was copied from that of the England of 1776, and the President of the United States was invested with a power about equal to that of George III. Since that date the English have advanced, but the Americans have not. Now, in these cases, not to advance is to go back. The English of the year of grace 1888 would soon give their queen notice to quit, if she took it into her head to ask for power equal to that possessed by the President of the United States: it would take less time, perhaps, than the Americans would need to get rid of a troublesome President.

For four years the Americans are at the mercy of their chief representatives. Scarcely have the latter gone through their apprenticeship in the science of politics and government, when they have to go home. The consequence is, that there are but novices: politicians, but no statesmen. These small politicians excite the interest of the public so little, that the American newspapers furnish their readers with many more details about what is said at Westminster, at the Palais Bourbon, and at the Reichstag, than about what is being done at the Capitol in Washington.

Reforms are constantly talked of in America, but how obtain them? Public opinion has but a secondary influence upon the Government. The English would obtain a const.i.tutional reform in much less time than the Americans. In England, all officials are the servants of the public; in America, they are their masters. The English Parliament is constantly influenced by public opinion; the American Congress is not so influenced at all, and the people's representatives rarely give account to their electors of the way in which they have acquitted themselves of their charge.

There is not one out of a thousand educated Americans, there is not one honest newspaper, that does not demand the immediate pa.s.sing of the Copyright Bill; yet Congress turns a deaf ear to the wishes of the people with perfect impunity. This is one example among a hundred.

During four years the President has almost _carte blanche_. He can declare war and stop legislation. Mr. Glover Cleveland has already vetoed 120 bills. An authoritative democracy like this seems to present all the dangers of an absolute monarchy, without possessing, as a compensation, the advantages of fixity.

The position of this President is very curious. Imagine to yourself a king who, after four years' service, disappears into the obscurity of private life, is no more heard of than a late Lord Mayor unless he has been a.s.sa.s.sinated, and whose very features are forgotten, unless they have been perpetuated upon dollar bills and postage stamps.

The Presidential election, which takes place every fourth year, is the most feverish phase of the feverish American life. The whole nation becomes delirious. Several months before the day fixed, every mind is preoccupied with but one thing, the election. The newspapers are full of it; conversation has no other subject. Pa.s.sions are let loose; intrigues are on foot; the most odious calumnies are circulated; men stop at nothing that may give the victory to their party. For three or four weeks prior to the election, the country is given over to processions, meetings, banners, stump speeches, torch-light marches. As soon as Fate has decided between the candidates, calm is restored, the fray ceases, arms are extended only in hand-shakings, the vanquished accept their defeat with as much bravery as they had displayed in the struggle, and everyone goes once more about his business.

The United States well deserve their name. The Union is a true and firm one. It reposes on contentment. It is composed of over thirty republics, _republicae in Republica_. Each State has its governor and its two Houses of Legislature; that is to say, each governs itself in its own fashion.

For instance, in certain States you cannot obtain a divorce except from an unfaithful wife; in another, you can obtain it by proving that your wife habitually has your chops served overdone. In one State, the law does not punish drunkenness as an offence; in another, the sale of alcoholic drinks is completely interdicted. The American States, all managing their own local government as they each see fit, live in perfect harmony one with another. That which makes the strength of America is, that everyone seems satisfied with the form of government.

I said just now that America possessed no great political orator or statesman, and that what went on at Washington scarcely awoke any interest in the people; but are not great political orators generally evoked by great public wrongs? Are not also sometimes great public wrongs evoked by great political orators? And when a nation lives in happiness and complete security, must not its politics necessarily be uninteresting? Happy the nation whose politics do not furnish the foreign press with sensational news!

I said also that I considered the people of England freer than the people of America. This demands an explanation. In advancing such an opinion, I mean to say that the English exercise more influence over the Government than do the Americans, and that they invest the agents of authority with much smaller powers. An American policeman, for in stance, is endowed with an authority which he can with impunity use in tyrannous fashion. The English policeman is the servant of the public; is responsible before the public for his acts; may be given in charge on the spot if he insults or roughly handles you; and may be prosecuted for making a false accusation against you.

Bureaucracy is much more tyrannical in America than in England. You meet at every turn with a man who lets you know that he has "certain instructions to carry out." You soon know what that means in a country where there are _avec le ciel des accommodements_. You get out of the difficulty by the aid of that irresistible argument, named "the dollar."

In the trains, for instance, I have known the conductor refuse me permission to occupy a vacant bed by the side of my own, and which pleased me better than the one that had been a.s.signed to me. "Your ticket bears a certain number, and I can't change it; I must carry out instructions." Useless to try and make him understand that the bed, being disengaged, it matters little to the company whether you occupy it or not. Orders must be obeyed. You pull a half-dollar piece out of your pocket, and the difficulty is surmounted. Regulations only come into existence to be trampled on as occasion requires.

The English have the habit of making themselves at home everywhere, but, above all, in places where they pay. Nothing is so repugnant to them as those thousand and one little tyrannies that go by the names of regulations, restrictions, rules, by-laws, etc. If you would be unhampered by such, if you would enjoy perfect freedom, live in England.