Abstract

Political Melancholy

The orations of the last month in all parts of the U.S. have been delivered in about equal proportions by the hopeful and the despondent, or, to put it differently and perhaps more correctly, by the satisfied and the critical. Looking over the reports, it was found that as a general rule the ministers and professors and "gentlemen of culture and refinement" who have spoken take, a gloomy view of things, while the politicians see everything in the best light. A foreigner who landed in the country for the first time in June would in fact find the various addresses called forth by the anniversaries very puzzling reading, and would find it impossible to reconcile views so opposite emanating from men apparently equally sensible and patriotic.