The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-15 00:00:00

Americ n Competition.

The progress of a country thinly peopled in pro-
portion to its vast extent must of necessity in its
early history be material. Man has first to wage
war with nature ; to drain swamps, to fell forests,
to bank rivers, to form roads, to build houses, to
raise food. The chief efforts of all must neces-
sarily be so directed, and a bent will be given to the
national mind by this necessity of its circumstances.
The brain more especially of the New England
States has worked on labour-saving machinery and
notions. Reaping, cutting, thrashing, sowing, milk-
ing, churning, paring machines, have obtained for
Yankee ingenuity a wide celebrity. To such an
extent have these inventions been carried in the
States of the Union, embracing as they do all field
and household implements, that other nations have
learned to look to America for these patents, and to
accept what there obtains currency, as the highest
effort of hurn.►n skill to obtain the desired result.
The rapid accumulation of population and wealth,
more particularly in the Eastern States, has les-
sened the overwhelming first necessities, and
the same brains that excelled in these in-
ventions are now more generally directed
to the higher branches of art and science. America
is now taking a leading place among nations in
music, in painting, and in sculpture. At this
moment, there is an unusual number of American
artists and students scattered over Europe, and
more especially grouped in that neucleus of study
—Rome. The letter of our correspondent from the
Imperial City will be read with much interest by Ame-
rican lovers of art. No nation can more liberally
patronise native talent, and the professions of the
musician, the sculptor, and the painter have now in
the United States as open roads to fame and for-

tune, as in any other civilised land. In proof of
this, we may instance the picture sales of a single
house in New York. Messrs. KNODLER and Co.,
in little more than a year, have received for the
products of native artists the sum of $300,000, and
that nearly all this large amount was paid by
pri-
vate citizens is shown by the fact that most of the
works, were taken for private galleries in the single
city of New York. The Rome Journal gives a list
of upwards of 70 pictures, and the prices realised by
each, from which we learn that the sums ranged
from $l,OOO to $9,000. It is not surprising that
Americans should begin to excel in the higher walks
of art on entering these paths, when we remember
the vast intellectual capacity and the amount of in-
dustry the nation would bring to bear. In all brain-
work the countrymen of WASHINGTON have taken
a leading place. The national mind is poetical in a
high degree, prone to exaggeration, indulging in
extravagant metaphor, aiming at superhuman great-
ness and excellence, and penetrated with a national
vanity. In such a mass, material is to be found in
abundance, and the spur to exertion is as great as
can well be given. The result, although only now
being developed, is seen on the London stage, in the
galleries of the Exhibition in the society of Ea-
rope ; American musical prodigies puzzle masters ;
American pictures throng halls with visitors ;
American studios compete for orders. A glance at
the performers, in all varieties of public entertain-
ment who have within the last few months excited
most attention in London, will show how large
a proportion are American. At the same time
that ARTEMUS WARD was drawing crowds to the
Egyptian Hall a portion of the stream flowed into
an adjoining apartment, where the widow of Colonel
STODARE, another American, was competing for
public favour. While Dr. MA WALKER filled 1
St. James's Hall, with those anxious to hear the
experience of her medical career, another theatre of
the same establishment was thronged by the admirers
of the American troupe, CHRISTY'S Minstrels. While
the elite of the metropolis assembled at the Hanover-
square Rooms to hear HARRY SANDERSON'S mar-
vellous execution on the pianoforte, Blind Tom was
exciting the interest and surprise of musicians by
the powers of a mind in which every sense seemed
to be absorbel by that of music. The great picture
has been HILL'S landscape of the Rocky Mountains,
the prima donna is ADELINA. PATTI ; who has fey,
other rivals than her sister CARLOTTA ; the daring
actress is ADAM MENKEN. While American artists
and performers are engaging the public attention,
we are startled by American feats of nautical skill
and daring. A couple of sailors cross the ocean in
a toy-boat, only a size larger than boys sail in a
pond, and yachtsmen rush across the Atlantic in the
most stormy season, driven on at" hurricane speed
in their headlong race. Wherever a champion at-
tains to eminence, an American rival is sure to appear
in the field, whether to contest for the belt in the
ring of the pugilist or to run for the cup awarded
to the swiftest yacht. America has yet to carry off
the Derby stakes, and to beat the winner of the
University Boat Race. Horse-racing, after the
English fashion, has become a pastime in the United
States ; and the attention of Harvard and Yale is
at this moment directed to furnish a competing boat
at the Paris Regatta. We hail American competi-
tion as the best spur to international excellence.
America has determined to lead in arts,
in science, and manly pastimes, and that nation
will be no laggard that maintains the field against
her.—Anglo-American