A SOCIAL REVOLUTION THE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 827, 16 August 1864, Page 6

A SOCIAL REVOLUTION THE

FEDERAL STATES.

(From fche Times, May 18.)

A great movement, designed by its promoters to ptoduee nothing less than "a socialrevolution," has just been inaugurated in ihe Federal States. The financial condition of th" country iip.s.-'at last begun to cause alarm among all classes. GroM stands at least at 80 premium, am! even Mr Chase is at his wit's end for any promising means of reducing it-t price. But a sudden resource bast opportunely come to light. The panic has at length reached the Jadies, and they have extemporized a plan for at-once nut ting a stop to fche evil. <ur readers bave been made familiar with fhe profuse and extravagant expenditure which the war has encouraged among all the prosperous classes ofthe New England States. There neverJiad been such a demand for jewelry, diamon is. silks, laces, pictures, and every ai tide of luxuiy. American expenditure was always reckless, and American ladies had a reputation even bf-fore the war for indulging and pampering evevy passion of fa te, touch, sight, smell, or hearing; but since the war they bave spent at a pace which has taken away the breath nf even nativeborn Americans, and Broadway has stood in amazement at itself. But. ifc his suddenly, as it eeenis, been brought home to the mind and conscience ot American ladies that this extravagant luxury is not only highly unoecoming, but that it is an obvious source of the exu-aoidinary and ruinous demand for gold. These laces, silks, pictures, and jewels are for fche most pat foreign and imported articles, which must be paid for in specie. This being once realised, can American Indies hesitate as to the course tbey ou*ihfc to pursue? Can they shrink for a moment from the "self-=acvifice of restriefcinar the exercise of their vanity" ao 1 ,f yielding up" their unbecoming luxuries ? uf course, their resolution has at once been taken, and it has even surpassed the abnegation which cou'd have heen expected of them. They have nofc only determined to dimi'-ish th'ir itnported luxuries, hut to abandon them altogether. Their patriotism ha*? shot up into one irre«'s ible b'rze, which consumes every shred of foreign loxu.y and splfinduls'ence. We must leave ihe Neto York World itself to describe this rush of femiaine patriotism in the following sensation h'-adrngs. which do no more than justice to fche enthusiastic language of tbe ladies:—'-No more Foreign Goods. Formation of a Ladies' Covenant. Flora M'flimsey to be put in ...Coventry. Honorable Mrs Shoddy in a new di'ess. No imported jewelry, diamonds, silks, ooei-a cloaks, lac-s, or loves ot oonnets. What is asked of the men. The '.adies demand that (hey shall give up imported wines, liquors, and cisai-s. The social revolution. Ladies to drink Catnip tea and tbe men Jersey lighining. French Boots and Paris lapdogs to be kicked out together." In fact, a very large maeting was h-.W at Washington on Monday, May 2, "composed ofthe wives of members of the Cabinet and of Senators and Representatives, of well-known authoress S . women'of fashion, mothers'who had lost tbeir sons, and wives who had . lost, their husbands " At this meeting an association was organized with the object of unitiner the women of the country " in the earnest resolution to purchase no imported articles of apparel where American cml possibly be substituted during the continuance of the war. The mine of the association was declared to be ' The Ladies' National Covenant,,' and the members take pledge, of which the following aye the terras.— For three year?, .or for the war, we pledge ourselves to eich other and the country- to purchase no imported articles of a-ipare'." '* A black bee, with wings enamelled according fco nature," to symbolise, we suppose, native industry, was selected a* the bidge ofthe Covenant, ;' to Ire worn with a tricolor riband a litfc'e in front of the left shoulder." .An aopeal w.-.s passed to I the men " earnestly requesting them to abstain from the use of imported articles, especially wine, liquors, and ciarars " An address to the women of America was prepared by one of fche ladies present, and seems to have given universal satisfaction as a " patriotic and classical production.*' It commences wifch an invocation "to the women of '64 to emulate tbe example of the Massachusetts women of 76," of whom "?(K> matrons and twice as many blooming girls signed a pledge to absfcaiu from fclie u*e of tea, " the greatest luxury of the time, and the life of the New England social gatherings." An example from the classics is adduced to strenathen this invocation : " When the wife of a _reat Prince. who?e husband was absent at the siege of Troy, was" urged by h?r friends to put on her KoyaJ robes and be cheerful, she answere', ! •My husband is under the wal's of Troy; shall I adorn ray hair while ho wears, a helmet? Shall I dress in new robes while he carries arms ? No ! my raiment shall be like his hard labors, and in sadnessywill I pass the time of this mournful war?'" A few moral reasons are then interposed, and the address concludes with expressing a belW that, with the aid ot science; uy which " the thought that thrills our heart? may tremble in fire along the telegraph, and awikrf kindred.inspiration throughout the entire land," a" work may be accomplished so important in its results that the woman who shares in it may hereafter leave the emblem of our object"-the black bee— "as the richest jewel that she can leave to posterity." It was, no doubt, from this consciousness of immortality that, on the gallant-jn-sfanca of a gentleman present,;" the^- meeting dela-'c-d adjournment till photographed. ■ Our readers, however, must ba aware ot falling into one mistake. "Itdoes not seem to be the intention of the ladies to prohibit at all the rearing of elegant dress goods." On thp, contrary, it is urged in support of the movement that all these things 3an be obtained at home. Intact, half the goods sold as imported are already, it is said, home-made, and with the success ot the movement it is even " expected that the, humbug will change, and imported goods De hereafter sold as domestic manufacture. In short, "the result will doubtless,: be _to give a great impetus to manufactures in the Eastern and Middle States! and thereby help to

em-ic-h the country afc fhe expense of the great manufactures of Europe" No that the repentance, after all,is not in sackcloth and ashes, but in purple aod fine linen ; only a different sort of purple and fine linen from what was indulged in before, and such a sort as will enable the fair customers to kill two birrs—nay, three birds— with one stone—to satisfy their own requirements, to enrich instead of impoverishing fcheir country, and to starve the foreigner. Our readers must by no means imagine that New York and Washington will immediately wear a gloomy and sombre- aspect, or ihat the New England States will relapse into Puritin sobriety of apptrel. Tbe taste and the quality will alone be diminished ; not even will the expense and extravagance be the les*, for it is ohvious that the prices of foreign articles will not diminish when it becomes a risk to import them, and the home manufacture;s. under the increased demand, will be able to keep up the prices of their home goods almost to fche highest prices of the foreign articles. In point of fact, any absolute abandonment, f articles of luxury, taste, and finery would itself be treason to the welfare ofthe Union ; for the very wealth of these ladies' husbands and fathers depends unon the demands for articles of luxury, either imported or home manufactured, and to annihilate the custom in the-e productions would be to create a panic in trade, to ruin themselves, and to raise the price of gold still further. Ths whole lite of society now exiss iiy one magnificent race of neck or nothing. Let only one inteiest; stand still for a moment, and all must come down with a crash. Indeed ifc ■may be doubted whether the step already takea may not, if it be carried out, pro luce some of the veiy disasters it seeks to avoid. Congress has just raised the duty on all imported articles 50 per cent, for three months, not oaly witti the same object of protecting native manufacturers as seems to be primarily pursued by this ladies' association, but .; also ._ with a view of raising a larger revenue. The immediate effect of the ladies'resolution would be to annihilate this revenue completely, and, as last year the receipt from Customs was two-thirds of the United' tates' income, the result, would probably be somewhat disastrous to Mr Chase's budget. ; Addison gives a humorous acsouot ot a J cry squire whom he met by chance in a country ride, and who maintained, 6ve>- a bowl of punch, to which he was evidently addicted, thafc England would do very well if it would content itself with its own productions and not depend; uppn foreigners. Addison reminded him, to his great discomfiture, tbat of the favourite drink he was enioyingthe water was the only constituent part of englisb. production, and that the brandy, the lemon.the spice, and the sugar were allforeigners. The American ladies, and still more the American gentlemen, .will,' we imagine, be in veiy much the same predicament as the squire. We shall, wait with' some anxiety to see the sequel of tnis heroic res-lution. or whether it has any at all. As far as the men are concerned, we are quite certain thnfc merchants may continue to import cigars, liquors, and wines without the slightest alteration. Ah American without his cigtrr is about as possible a metamorphosis as an Ethiopian with a white skin; and the.probability of an abandonment of imported wines may" be judged of from the facfc that in his late defeat General Banks '-lost his baggage .' and fihampau'ne." Wben Generals in a difficult, march over a hostile country find champagne a necessary addition to fcheir baggage, the chance of a New York merchant abandoning imported wines must be infinitesimal. It is to be feared the habits of the ladies will in the same way prove too strong for tbem. American taste will be to that of Paris as " Jersey lightning" to Cognac, and will siand the same chance against it. If it were possible, though, oue would be glad to see the experiment well tried for the sake of its very.absurdity. There is something like a burlesque in the notion of the principal ladies of the smarted nation under the sua carrying oufc in broad daylighfc.the muddle-headed fancy of a country sqube of George I's time. What can be said ot people where the wives of ex-Presidents,-..Vice-Presi-dents, Senators, aud Representatives, can seriously hold a large meeting in the capital city, in the very crisis ofthe war, and act out this extravagant piece of half-mad. half-smart bombast I What cm we expect from the men whose wives, daughters, and mothers c m find no other public exercise of feminine qualities than this bizarreand tricksy pafcfioti.-m ? If ifc were possible |o forget the terrible sacrifice of human lite that is iriv lvedin the struggle, and the great issues to history which hang upon its result, one would be disposed fo treat the whole scene as one grand pantomime, where the only object is to outface absurdity with absurdity, and we should await with tbe easy excitement of spectators the anticipated and intended crash.