" This was a bold and original
opinion in those days, for Mommsen's history, to which we are mainly
indebted for our change of sentiment in regard to Caesar, had not yet
been translated. There is at the present time an oligarchy of land
owners and capitalists in England of whom Froude has predicted that they
will come to the same catastrophe as the Roman oligarchy did finally,
and as that of Bohemia in the sixteenth century, and of France in the
eighteenth, unless the present course of events shall be arrested by
judicious legislation and magnanimous sacrifices. Phillips had already
taken a hand in suppressing one American oligarchy, who have been
compared by Mommsen to the Roman senatorial party, and he thought he
foresaw another rising in our midst from the iron kings, and other great
industrial magnates. He may have been far-sighted in this, for he often
proved to be a true prophet, and there are many now who think the same;
but that would not justify the methods by which he undertook to provide
against the evil. The condition of the laboring classes in America,
where a thrifty and temperate mechanic can occupy as good a house as a
country doctor in Europe, is the most favorable yet known in history;
much more favorable, comparatively, than that of our professional
classes; but Phillips had seen the most wealthy and highly educated
people ranged against him throughout the long conflict with slavery, and
had acquired the habit of considering them a dangerous element in the
community.
Pages:
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210