Via Hendrik Hertzberg, here’s Charles Dickens reflecting upon the spirit of American politics:
Not much has changed since 1842. Which is worth bearing in mind next time there’s a hullabaloo and palaver about the supposed Death of Niceness or some such other tommyrot.If a lady take a fancy to any male passenger’s seat, the gentleman who accompanies her gives him notice of the fact, and he immediately vacates it with great politeness. Politics are much discussed, so are banks, so is cotton. Quiet people avoid the question of the Presidency, for there will be a new election in three years and a half, and party feeling runs very high: the great constitutional feature of this institution being, that directly the acrimony of the last election is over, the acrimony of the next one begins; which is an unspeakable comfort to all strong politicians and true lovers of their country; that is to say, to ninety-nine men and boys out of every ninety-nine and a quarter.
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David Butterfield
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Meanwhile, Dickens captures a young country’s attempt to impress a visitor from the old country:
Everybody talks to you, or to anybody else who hits his fancy.
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