The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-06 00:00:00

WHITE RACES IN AMERICA.

Last week we touched on the perplexing problem
to be solved by A merican statesmen i❑ the coloured

races of the United States, and we purpose now
briefly to glance at a lesser though great difficulty—
the management and the amalgamation of the white

races pouring in from Europe. In judging the
course of the Washington Administration on ques-
tions of foreign policy, the peculiarity of its position
_ _

should not be overlooked. The institutions of the

country offer to all who qualify by a short residence
the privileges of citizenship. Of these the ballot is

a direct and effective instrument in giving power to
a band unused to its exercise, and the result has
been to impart into American polities questions
destitute of everything American, though replete
with the animosities, prejudices, and political dis-

likes imported with the immigrants. Many cir-

cumstances have tended to make the Irish the Re-

public's white difficulty, as the negro is its black
difficulty ; and if it has given such a sombre hue to
the political connection between America ani Great

Britain, England should never forget that the
colours were mixed by her. The immigration into
the States has been mainly British, but unfortu-

nately not merely Irish, but from that purely Celtic

part of Ireland imbued with a fanatical, unreason-

ing hatred of England.

The Irish on becoming

American citizens discovered the value of political
power given by combination. To combine on ques-
tions of which they knew and for which they cared
nothing was impossible ; but there was one whereon
they could readily be united, and it mattered little
to them that it did not benefit, but, on the contrary,
was injurious to the country which bad so gener-

ously and liberally adopted them. Irish agitators
and American politicians quickly availed them-
selves of the rallying shout, Down with England,"
and as the Irish multiplied and were always ready to
respond, gathering wish extraordinary unanimity on
the cry, they became a great power in the land—a
power for intense mischief, to strengthen the seeds
of hate already existing in America, and to split the
two great sections of the Anglo-Saxon race, the two
great Protestant and progressive powers into an
attitude of endless hostility and ceaseless danger.

Thus it happened that England and the United
States, notwithstanding their holding in common all
that ought to combine them, became alienated in a
way incomprehensible to other countries, and kindred
peoples sacrificed the rule of the world and the propa-
gation of doctrines dear to both, to indulge in a sense-
less enmity alike disastrous to each. Indeed we go
further, and assert that but for the Civil War
the power attained by the Irish in the United States
would lave culminated in an outbreak of hostilities
between the two countries. Here then is a great
trouble in the way of American statesmen which is
England's own work, and one for which she should
therefore make great allowance when dealing with
America on international questions. While com-
plicating foreign relations, the influx of European
emigration has a still more direct influence on
domestic affairs. Germans now enter the Union in
their thousands, and whole States are becoming
German. Fortunately for America that is the race
which now predominates, or the excitable, gregari-
ous, and seer,:t'y conspiring Celt would have worked
as much mischief as benefit to his adapted country.
But though a good man and an excellent settler, the
German is not an adept in using institutions differ-
ing widely from those under which he was reared.
The freedom acquired by centuries of struggle, of
failure, repea.ed trial anti success, cannot be exer-
cised free from d:lnger with uutrained risen, and
ins'itutions which have grown up with the Anglo-
Saxons are being suddenly and without any teach-
ing transferred to German races. The Ger-
mans go West and busy themselves in estab-
lishing their settlements, to the exclusion of
politics; but, by degrees, as they become easier
in their circumstances a more dreamy and idealistic
people than those who created the institutions will
make their power over them tell, with what result
remains to be seen. Meanwhile absurd embarrass-
ments arise ; such for instance as that which lately
caused a commotion in New York. The Puritan
idea of keeping the Sabbath does not harmonize
with the habits of the German. The enactment is
that places of amusement be closed, and the sale of
liquor prohibited on that day. The German cus-

tom, on the contrary is to go to his lager-bier gar-
dens to drink, smoke, dance, and generally amuse
himself on Sunday. In the eye of a strict Metho-
dist his action is as much an abomination as is ham
to a Mahommedan ; and when the anger of the
German is aroused at his amusement being inter-

ered with, he is told that he came uninvited to the
country which received him hospitably, that if he
does not like it he can go back, for it objects to
alter laws grounded on a Divine command to suit
his low tastes. The immediate effect is to teach
the Germans the value of that combination by which
the Irish have become so powerful. They gather,
pass resolutions, elect delegates, and let wire-pullers
know that they will vote in a body against the
political party which upholds the Divine command.
The value of education and early political training
is shown in the supremacy maintained by the native
American among the conflicting races, and the able
manner in which they have not only kept control,
but so quickly moulded the new material into Ame-
ricans. But another difficulty has arisen out of this
very skill in handling the ignorant incomers so as to
suit their purposes. Unscrupulous men, who found
they could readily organize the Irish on the anti-
English platform, organize.l and used them as a
means for plunder. Take the great metropolitan
city of New York ; take the Government of the
Empire State ; analyse the whole political ma-
chinery, and it will be found that the wealthiest,
most populous State of the Union rests on a sub-
stratum of Irish fresh from the bogs of their wet
dreary Isle, voting as directed by au unprincipled
clique. Such laws as those on which the Republic
is erected require for their successful exercise
honest and educated men. You cannot have a Re-
public without Republicans, and the last person
who could be called a Republican is the Pat just
naturalised. When such as he has a voice in
electing even Judges, there is danger to the in-
stitutions from the amount of corruption sure to
be bred, and this is a danger now perplexing
American statesmen, while creating in the minds of
many gloomy anticipations. We do not hesitate
to state our belief that the Irish famine and the sub-
sequent influx of untaught Celts was a great mis-
fortune for America, that the overwhelming rush
from Europe to the country is hazardous, and.
although it may add to the material prosperity and
immediate wealth of the United States, we would
prefer to see the waste places more gradually
filled, and perhaps it would even be beneficial for
the Republic and institutions of the first import-
ance to the world to preserve, that the country
should be barred for a period to all immigration,
and time be thus given for the present inhabitants to
be educated up to the Republican mark. But our
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statesmen at every turn, which often force them to
act on other than their own convictions, and
oblige them occasionally to assume a tone which
they heartily dislike, but is necessary if they would
successfully settle some intricate international ques-
tion.—Anglo-American Times.

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