POLITICS. "Than politics the American citizen knows no higher profession-for it is the most lucrative." De Tocqueville. THE political language of every nation bears naturally the stamp of the peculiar character of the laws and the constitution under which they live, and thus English conservatism is reflected in the steady maintenance of familiar names and terms, generation after generation, whilst the speech of the mobile vulgus in the great Republic changes almost from year to year. The active participation of the masses, and the extension of the right of suffrage to the very lowest and most ignorant classes have, moreover, favored the admission of so many vulgar and cant terms that in politics, above all, the line between slang and solemn speech is not always perceptible. Where appeals are made at every election to vast assemblies, not unfrequently consisting largely of so-called Mean Whites, and of Blacks but recently emancipated from slavery and all its blighting consequences, strong colors must be used to paint the adversary, and still stronger language to impress the dull minds. The newspapers join, as a matter of necessity, in the general hue and cry, and foster the taste for violent epithets and picturesque expressions. The very heroes of the day are recommended on the score of their humble origin and modest occupation-the self-made man is preferred to the accomplished son of distinguished parents, and to be a gentleman has wellnigh become an insuperable barrier to success in political life. From an early period in the history of the republic the people have felt the indirect flattery of the boast that its great men had once been among the lowest; it implied the prospect and the right of the lowest to rise, as self-made men, to the highest place of honor. They recollected with pleasure that Roger Sherman had been a shoemaker, Benjamin Franklin a soapboiler and printer, and Rufus Hatch a peddler. Henry Clay, the great Commoner, as his friends loved to call him, was spoken of during election-time as the Miller boy of the Slashes, and Abraham Lincoln as the Rail-splitter and Flatboatman. Under the presidency of Andrew Johnson, once a tailor, Congress boasted of Senator Wilson, a journeyman shoemaker, and of Representative Banks, a blacksmith. Vanderbilt, the owner of a continuous railway from New York to Niagara, loves to tell how he rowed a huckster's boat when a youth, and Dr. Helmbold, the millionaire, how he began life as a cabin-boy. Hence also, the tendency to familiarize great men by their nicknames, and thus bring them down, as it were, to the level of the masses. General McClellan was Little Mac or Young Napoleon, Hooker became Fighting Joe, and Sheridan is still Little Phil. Sherman was known as Mad Tom, and Sumner as the Bull of the Woods-even the Orleans Princes, who made a campaign under General McClellan, had to submit to the universal fate, the Count of Paris becoming Captain Perry, and the Duke of Chartres Captain Chatters. Nor were the commanders of the Confederates spared on their side: General Lee was Mas Bob, Johnston Old Joe, and Longstreet the War-Horse; Jackson became immortal as Stonewall, and an unlucky namesake as Mudwall; the dashing Cavalry leader Stuart was known as Jeb, Early as Crackers, and poor old General Price, in the West, as Old Dad. Even the name of the confederacy of States, the Union of the United States was, from the beginning, too formal for the good people, and the familiar letters U. S., seen on all government property throughout the land, were soon universally read Uncle Sam. The story of its origin, in the year 1812, is generally told thus: A Mr. Samuel Wilson, invariably called Uncle Sam by kindred and friends, was an inspector appointed by the government to receive large supplies for the army, contracted for in New York, and to be delivered at Troy, on the Hudson. It so happened that casks and chests were all marked with the initials of the contractor, Elbert Anderson (E. A.), above and beneath those of the country, United States (U. S.) A facetious workman, being asked the meaning of the latter, in jest replied: "he did not know, unless they meant Elbert Anderson and Uncle Sam." The jest took, was repeated by the other workmen, and by them carried into the army, and recalled wherever articles marked with the familiar U. S. reappeared in their presence. Thus the name spread from the Commissary's barrel of beans throughout the land, and has never since lost its hold upon the public mind. Now, J. R. Lowell sings: "For I have loved my country since My eye-teeth filled their sockets; Partic❜larly his pockets." (Biglow Papers, 1.) In the army, it seems, even this designation was deemed too full and formal, and, as early as the year 1827, it became a familiar saying among soldiers, to stand Sam, whenever drinks or refreshments of any kind had to be paid for. As they were accustomed to see Uncle Sam pay for all their wants, to stand Sam, became to their mind equivalent to the ordinary slang phrase: to stand treat. Whilst this is the familiar name of the national government at home, it is abroad, perhaps, better known as Brother Jonathan. The name is taken from Jonathan Trumbull, who was governor of Connecticut at a time when General Washington had come to Massachusetts to assume command over the army, in the War of the Revolution. He discovered here such a want of supplies, ammunition, and even good-will, that the cause seemed almost hopeless. In this difficulty he found great support in the energetic and wise governor, and thus contracted the habit of saying, in every emergency, "We must consult Brother Jonathan." The phrase became soon familiar to his aids and subordinates, and through them to his army; they took it up, and the by-word spread quickly over the country. Brother Jonathan became, henceforth, the familiar designation of this country, as John Bull is that of England, and "since that day," says a recent writer, "a great many people have found Brother Jonathan a very helpful relative in time of need." (Overland Monthly, March, 1871.) Almost all of the technical terms connected with the government of the United States, were necessarily those long familiar to English ears, but many received here a very different meaning and |