[Xmms-embedded-users] Ke everything in Dickens, is very true to

[Boon <lo...@se...>]

 choose the wrong one. The true patriot is always doubtful of victory;
because he knows that he is dealing with a living thing; a thing with
free will. To be certain of free will is to be uncertain of success. The
subject matter of the real difference of opinion between Dickens and the
public of America can only be understood if it is thus treated as a
dispute between brothers about the destiny of a common heritage. The
point at issue might be stated like this. Dickens, on his side, did not
in his heart doubt for a moment that England would eventually follow
America along the road towards real political equality and purely
republican institutions. He lived, it must be remembered, before the
revival of aristocracy, which has since overwhelmed us--the revival of
aristocracy worked through popular science and commercial dictatorship,
and which has nowhere been more manifest than in America itself. He knew
nothing of this; in his heart he conceded to the Yankees that not only
was their revolution right but would ultimately be completed everywhere.
But on the other hand, his whole point against the American experiment
was this--that if it ignored certain ancient English contributions it
would go to pieces for lack of them. Of these the first was good manners
and the second individual liberty--liberty, that is, to speak and write
against the trend of the majority. In these things he was much more
serious and much more sensible than it is the fashion to think he was;
he was indeed one of the most serious and sensible critics England ever
had of current and present problems, though his criticism is useless to
the point of nonentity about all things remote from him in style of
civilisation