To those who are accustomed to the leading English journals, or to
the respectable journals of the Continent of Europe; to those who
are accustomed to anything else in print and paper; it would be
impossible, without an amount of extract for which I have neither
space nor inclination, to convey an adequate idea of this frightful
engine in America. But if any man desire confirmation of my
statement on this head, let him repair to any place in this city of
London, where scattered numbers of these publications are to be
found; and there, let him form his own opinion. (1)
It would be well, there can be no doubt, for the American people as
a whole, if they loved the Real less, and the Ideal somewhat more.
It would be well, if there were greater encouragement to lightness
of heart and gaiety, and a wider cultivation of what is beautiful,
without being eminently and directly useful. But here, I think the
general remonstrance, 'we are a new country,' which is so often
advanced as an excuse for defects which are quite unjustifiable, as
being, of right, only the slow growth of an old one, may be very
reasonably urged: and I yet hope to hear of there being some other
national amusement in the United States, besides newspaper
politics.
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