ger King of Hawaii.
I have not seen a Chinese "Earl" borne in a chair by four Americans
officially detailed for the disgraceful service, but it was done,
and did not evoke a hiss of disapproval. And I did not--thank
Heaven!--observe the mob of American "simple republicans" that dogged
the heels of a disreputable little Frenchman who is a count by courtesy
only, and those of an English duke quietly attending to his business of
making a living by being a married man. The republican New World is
no less impested with servility than the monarchial Old. One form of
government may be better than another for this purpose or for that; all
are alike in the futility of their influence upon human character. None
can affect man's instinctive abasement in the contemplation of power and
rank.

Not only are we no less sycophantic than the people of monarchial
countries; we are more so. We grovel before their exalted personages,
and perform in addition a special prostration at the clay feet of
our own idols--which _they_ do not revere. The typical "subject,"
hat-in-hand to his sovereign and his nobleman, is a less shameful figure
than the "citizen" executing his genuflexion before the public of which
he is himself a part. No European court journal, no European courtier,
was ever more abject in subservience to the sovereign than are the
American newspaper and the American politician in flattery of the
people. Between the courtier and the demagogue I see nothing to choose.
They are moved by the same sentiment and fired by the same hope. Their
method is flattery, and their purpose profit. Their adulation is not a
testimony to character, but a tribute to power, or the shadow of power.
If this country were governed by its criminal idiots we should have the
same attestations of their goodness and wisdom, the same competition for
their favor, the same solemn doctrine that their voice is the voice of
God. Our children would be brought up to believe that an Idiotocracy is
the only natural and rational form of government And for my part I'm
not at all sure that it would not be a pretty good political system, as
political systems go. I have always, however, cherished a secret faith
in Smithocracy, which seems to combine the advantages of both the
monarchial and the republican idea. If all the offices were held for
life by Smiths--the senior John being President--we should have a
settled and orderly succession to allay all fears of anarchy and a