Double Standards, by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kossuth in the Guildhall, London, from the Illustrated London News for November 1st, 1851.

From the Illustrated London News, November 1st, 1851, via Wikimedia Commons. Licenc e: Public domain.

This illustration from the Illustrated London News for November 1st 1851 shows Lajos Kossuth at London’s Guildhall, addressing an enthusiastic crowd. Kossuth, who had led a briefly independent Hungary in 1848-49, arrived at Southampton after a successful visit to New York and, to judge by the newspaper’s drawings, was met by surging crowds of admirers. He went on to London, where he spoke at the Andrews Coach Factory and here at the Guildhall. Kossuth passionately believed that national sovereignty was essential for a truly liberal policy programme, because a country governed by elites from abroad cannot enact the courageous reforms needed to do justice among its own working people.

Double Standards

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WE were not deceived by the professions of the private adventurer — the louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons;* but we appeal to the sanctified preamble of the messages and proclamations of the public sinner, as the proof of sincerity. It must be that they who pay this homage have said to themselves, On the whole, we don’t know about this that you call honesty; a bird in the hand is better.*

Even well-disposed, good sort of people are touched with the same infidelity, and for brave, straightforward action, use half-measures and compromises. Forgetful that a little measure is a great error, forgetful that a wise mechanic uses a sharp tool, they go on choosing the dead men of routine. But the official men can in nowise help you in any question of to-day, they deriving entirely from the old dead things. Only those can help in counsel or conduct who did not make a party pledge to defend this or that, but who were appointed by God Almighty, before they came into the world, to stand for this which they uphold.

by Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

* Emerson may be referring to remark of Samuel Johnson’s, recorded by his friend James Boswell on July 14th, 1763: “If he really does think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons”. Emerson’s well-turned phrase is much-quoted.

* Emerson is borrowing from the old proverb, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’; that is to say, don’t risk what you have the sake of getting more. See also the Indian fable of The King, the Monkey and the Pea. Emerson’s point is that we turn a blind eye to the rogue in public office because we are just glad to get our man in, and don’t want to lose out by high-mindedly trying to replace him with someone who actually deserves to be there.

Précis

It must be, Emerson concluded, that New Yorkers knowingly elect dishonest men for Congress because what they want is a schemer to work in their interests. Yet a Government of such men will never achieve anything worthwhile. The statesmen who do great things do them because they have been born to greatness, not because they have been handed high office.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

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