The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-22 00:00:00

Americanising England.

There are thousands of good people in Great
Britain who shudder on seeing these two words,
just as there are thousands who shudder at the idea
of a cold bath, but find the water cleansing, invigo-
rating, and healthful. Whatever may be the danger
from the rock towards which we are drifting, there
can be no doubt that that rock is Democracy.
People who have most deeply studied the subject
call it the only secure haven, while those who have
glanced but partially in the direction maintain that
it. is a surf-beaten, dangerous, deceitful shoal.
When people talk of Americanising England they
simply mean the assimilation of political institu-
' tions ; that is, of taking the supreme power from
the hands of the class which weitds it in the United
Kingdom, and placing it in the hands of the whole
body of the people. Whatever may be the length
or nature of the struggle it must end in Democracy.
True lovers of liberty, and those who most strongly
favour this drift of opinion, desire to see it accom-
plished gradually, that the people may be prepared
for the exercise of the privilege as the elective fran-
chise descends in the scale of society. With them the
main question is Preparation—or, to use another
word—Education. What they argue is this :--To
make a Government absolutely secure, to make a
nation unassailable, you must base the power on the
people. When the people are educated they are
certain to elect and support good rulers. Where
they see the necessity, they will submit to arbitrary
measures from a Government thus elected that they
would not endure from a despotism or an oligarchy.
The people therefore make a strong Government ;
for the Executive wields a control which at times
may amount to a despotism sanctioned by the whole
force of the people, and which cannot therefore be con-
trolled. The superiority of Democracy is maintained
on the theory that an instructed people will nearly
always be right in the groundwork of their opinions.
When American abuses are pointed out to show in
how large a degree corruption accompanies demo-
cratic institutions--how the best men are driven
from politics, and the stump orator takes to legisla-
tion as a lucrative trade, the answer is simple
all this proceeds from ignorance. Educ tte the
people, and it will cease. When people refer
to the fate which has attended Republics, the
answer is the same—they were destroyed by igno-
rance. History records no instanceof a D.mtocracy
with the power in the hands of an instructed people.
Had there been such a community, it would have
been crushed by despotism. England g tined
freedom through her isolation ; and America owes
Democracy to the Atlantic Ocean. It required the
Channel to establish a Limited Monarchy, but it
sea to protect the cradle of a Re-
required a broad
public, or the infant would long since have been
strangled. The difficulty with which America has
had to contend has been the gross ignorance of the
immigrants. Whatever bad government is possible
there, has its origin and main support in this class
who are always the tools of oligarchies and despo-
tisms. Against this difficulty England will not
have to struggle in the Americanizing process. On
the contrary, she will be nt aerially aided by the
outflow. It is generally conceded that Democracy
doez not give the most Odifal Goicrument; for this

THE SUN, LON

MCE MEETINGS IN AMERICA.

(From Wilkes' Spirit of the Times.)

surely !

is usually found in a Despotism, where the ruler is
a man of ability and courage. What Democracy
does is, as DE TOQUEVILLE says, " to awake an all-
pervading and restless activity, a superabundant
force and an energy which is inseparable from it,
and which may, under favourable circumstances
beget the most amazing benefits." No doubt these
are great objects, but we hold the greatest, to be the
security, conferred. There can be no revolt against
the people, for there are none to revolt. There may
be said to be the minority, over whom the majority
may tyrannise; but experience will prove this to be
a delusion. The Government of a people, is a Go-
vernment of opinion—not of force. People will
always be divided in opinion, anti discuss and
squabble over their F entiments with each other.

With a free press, a free pulpit, free platforms, and
the power of assembly—all based on education—
the people may safely be left to themselves to work
out a majority for the right. Where they are in
the habit of meeting and discussing public ques-
tions, they learn to put faith in the theory, which is a
strong plea for Democracy that the majority of a na-
tion on a well discussed subject will, as a rule, be right.
America has shown this in a remarkable degree. When
the will of the people is expressed by the utterance
of the majority, all bow and the point is se tled.
The people recognise the majesty of their own de-
crees. The way in which public opinion varies
under changing circumstances may be observed by
the national decision on a subject connected with the
previous question, which may be negatived by the
voices of the very people who but a few months
before, had given the affirmative vote. It is on these
questions of expediency, not of principle, that the
influences which bear on public opinion are seen to
work. Men discuss with each other the points in-
volved, and from these discussions public opinion is
formed. Newspaper articles are a mere reflex,
though books, pamphlets, and the more matured
essays, being generally composed by leaders for or
against the movement, go far to form and steady the
opinion. According to HErwowni DIxoN the more
free a people are, the more rude they are, and
it is this brusqueness of manner which has done so
much to retard Democracy, enlisting against it the
natural instincts of the more refined. There is
nothing so hateful to an English squire in the
idea of Americanising England as the spreading and
intensifying this free and easy manner, too often
amounting4lmost to insolence. How much of this
is also due to ignorance ? Is it found in England
that the best educated mechanics are those who
adopt this tone? The education of a gentleman
makes him courteous. If a man is polite only to one
class and rude to another, he is a mere servile snob,
who has not the true instincts of a cultivated and
Christian man. Training, leads to universal cour-
tesy, and Democracy, which recognises the equal
rights of all, upholds good manners by this very
fact. It is not with Democracy, therefore, that the
blame lies of the rudeness of the untrained Anglo-
Saxon, but simply with the want of that training
which is, and ought to be, the first effort of a true
Democracy. The Americanising process, therefore, is
rather a gratifying spectacle ; " an educated Demo-
cracy" being, as Mr. PARTRIDGE says, " the only
final Conservatism, and they are but quacks and
doctrinaires, who, with infinite pains and trickery,
seek out many inventions for •Conservatism, and
balances without or against the people, and neglect,
abuse, and refute that true Democracy, which is the
end and aim of political science."—Amglo-American
Times.

THE MAY RACE-MEETINGS.--There will be more
racing in May this year than ever before, and we
trust the weather will be favourable for the four
meetings to take place during the mouth. The
first of them is to come off at Hoboken, on the
14th, 15th, and 17th, and the programme for the
three days is good. There are to be eleven races
run during the three days, including two hurdle
races and a steeplechase. The course is one of the
safest and fastest in the country, and the manage-
ment is good. Colonel Alellaniels is still at the
head of affairs, and the energy and ability of that
turf veteran must be supp xted. A great crowd

has attended to see the horses gallop. The meeting
at Hoboken will hardly be over before that at St.
Louis will begin. There the excellent club awl

officers of the new Laclede Asociatiou are sure to

have a good meeting. It will commence on the
20th, and continue six days, duri3g which there
will be thirteen races run. These arc all over the
flat. The running is always good at St. Louis, and
two of the best race horses that have flourished
in this country made their first public appearance
there. We allude to Norfolk and Asteroid, who
first made their mark at the Laclede. The stakes
have filled well. There are twelve entries in the
sweepstakes for three-year-olds, mile heats ; and
ten in the Southern Hotel Stakes, which is two-mile
heats, for three-year-olds. The Accommodation
Stake and Jockey Club Stake, the latter two-mile
heats, for four-year-olds, closed May Ist, and we
have not the entries.

The Spring Meeting at Jerome Park will take
place on the 22d, 23d, and 25th of May. There
will be three fine races each day, besides the grand
match on the 25th between Maid of Honor and
De Courcejj. The course is in splendid order. The
improvements made since last fall are very great,

and a very large and fashionable assemblage may
be looked for. The drive out to the Park through
Westchester County is a very delightful one, and
when the lawns have the vivid green of the young
May days, and the borders are gay and gorgeous
with spring flowers and opening buds, nothing can
be more attractive. There is to be a hurdle-race
on the last day of the mee[ing, and as a number of
good horses are in training over the timber, we look
for fine sport in this department.
The last of the May meetings will be that at Cin-
cinnati, which will commence on the fourth Mon-
day in the mouth, the 27th. The Club has provided
for six days' racing, with two races each day. The
prospect was never better for fine sport. The Pre-
sident of the Club and other officers have been un-
tiring in their labours, and we must say to their
credit that while seeking to advance their own meet-
ing they have not been unmindful of the interests

of others. They have provided for a special train
to come on to Paterson as soon as the Cincinnati
meeting is over, by which means horses can run at
both meetings. It is also Mr. Wooley's desire to
make an arrangement with the Railroad Companies,
so that horses may be brought right through at low
rates. His influence with the Western roads will

secure this very desirable result so far as they are
concerned, and he very reasonably asks that the
Eastern Clubs should exert themselves to the like
effect to secure the co-operation of the Erie 113i1-
road. The racing is sure to be good at Cincinnati.
The entries are seventeen in number in the Buck-
eye Stakes, mile heats, for three-year-olds; and
there arc twelve in the Burnet House Stake, two-
mile heats, for four-year-olds. This will be a des-
perate race. There are hurdle-races on the first and
last days of this meeting.

It is not generally known that there are canni-
bals among the Red Indians of North America, the
numerous instances which are mentioned in the old his-
tories, especially in those of the Jesuits of New France,
having been overlooked or disbelieved. However a Texan
gentleman sends to the Nation an amusing account of the
Tonkawas, a tribe of Texan Indians who are in the habit
of eating their enemies, the Comanches. Among many
eye-witnesses quoted is Colonel James I.l.)wie, the inven-
tor. of the celebrated knife. Ho assured ex-Governor
Rummels, of Mississippi, that once when he was with the
Tonkawas they killed a Comanche warrior and boiled
him. They offered him a piece of the arm, which ho had
the curiosity to taste, and found it tender and palatable.

A Montana paper says " the mortality of Helena
is extraordinarily good. Only 17 men were killed during
the past two weeks." A healthy, peaceable community,

A machinist connected with one of the Boston
theatres has invented an arrangement by which stage car-
pets may be removed,without the intrusion of untidy-look-
ing supernumeraries in front of the curtain. A wire at
the prompter's desk is made to reverse the hooks upon
which the carpet is fastened, near the footlights, and thus
release it, when it may b 3 pulled in from behind.
According to Prof. Felton, the Grecians prac-
tised the following method of detecting adulteration in
milk : A little milk was dropped upon the thumb nail ;
if the milk was pure it would remain in its place ; if not it
would flow away." A useful hint for housekeepers."

THE PUBLIC HEALTH.

(From the Registrar-General's Return.)

Returning Cot:fidence.

ON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 1867.

In the week that ended on Saturday, May 18,
the births registered in London and 12 other large
towns of the United Kingdom were 4,684 ; the
deaths registered, 2,623. The annual rate of mor-
tality was 22 per 1,000 persons living.
In London the births of 1,165 boys and 1,098
girls, in all 2,263 children, were registered in the
week. In the corresponding weeks of 10 years 1857-
66, the average number, corrected for increase of
population, is 2,005.
The deaths registered in London during the week
were 1,119. It was the twentieth week of the
year, and the average number of deaths for the
week is, with a correction for increase of population,
1,312. The deaths in the present return are less by
193 than the estimated number.
The mortality in the ►metropolis was lower last
week than in any week since that which ended on
the 19th July, 1862, when 1,111 deaths were regis-
tered.

The deaths from zymotic diseases last week were
197, the corrected average number being 310.
Thirty-eight deaths from smallpox, 15 from measles,
12 from scarlatina, 38 from whooping-cough, 37
from typhus, and 17 from diarrhoea were recorded.
The deaths from phthisis were 174, from bron-
chitis 85, from pneumonia 45, and from diseases of
the heart 53.

A labourer, aged 25 years, died in the Great
Norther❑ Hospital on the 7th of May of " conges-
tion of the brain from sunstroke."

The deaths of five persons who were killed by
horses or carriages in the streets were registered.
--The son of a bruslnnaker, aged seven years, run
over; died on the 18th of May, at 18, Waterloo-
street, City-road. Post-mortem. (Inquest.) The
son of a washerwoman, aged live years, run over ;
died on the 11th of May in High-street, Whitechapel.
(Inquest.) A brewer's servant, aged 29 years, run
over ; died on the 15th of May in the Loudon Hos-
pital. (Inquest.) The son of a greengrocer, aged
15 years, run over by a water-cart on the 16th of
May, at Red Post-hill, Camberwell. (Inquest.)
A carver and gilder, aged 62 years, run over by
a cab; died on the 12th of May, in the Charing-
cross Hospital. Post-mortem. (Inquest.)
The annual rate of mortality last week was 19 per
1,000 in London, 33 in Edinburgh, and 31
in Dublin, 17 in Bristol, 21 in Birniinghatn,
25 in Liverpool, 29 in Manchester, 25 in Sal-
ford, 18 in Sheffield, 24 in Leeds, 22 in Hull, 30

in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 25 in Glasgow. The
rate in Vienna was 37 per 1,000 during the week
ending the 11th iust , when the mean temperature
was 5.7 deg. Fahrenheit higher than in the same
week in London, where the rate was 21.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.697 in.
The barometrical reading increased from 29.22 in.
on Sunday, May 12, to 29.98 in. on Friday, May
17. The mean temperature of the air in the
week was 46.8 deg., which is 5.2 deg. below
the average of the same week in 50 years (as de-
termined by Mr. Glaisher). The highest day
temperature was 63 deg. on Saturday, May 18.
The lowest night temperature was 34.9 deg. also on
Saturday, May 18. The entire range of temperature
in the week was, therefore, 28.1 deg. The mean of
the highest temperature of the water of the Thames
was 56.9 deg. ; that of the lowest was 55 deg.
The difference between the mean-dew point tempe-
rature and air temperature was 7.5 deg. The
mean degree of humidity of the air was 75, com-
plete saturation being represented by 100. Rain
fell to the amount of 0.12 in., of which o.llin, fell
on Sunday, May 12. The general direction of the
wind was N.E. According to a return furnished
by the engineer of the Metropolitan Board of
Works, the average daily quantity of sewage
pumped into the river Thames at the Southern
Outfall Works, Crossness, was 55,126,806 gallons,
or 250,475 cubic metres, equivalent to about as
many tons by weight.

There are at least some symptoms of a revival
both in the English Stock and Share Market and
in trade. After a period of unexampled depression,
which has left Capel Court in possession of the
jobbers, an isolation which they by no means ap-
preciate, the public are again beginning to invade
the precincts ; timidly, and step by step, as an
elephant crosses a boat bridge over an Indian river.
It is no wonder that the public advance slowly and
with the utmost caution, after the bitter experience
of the past 18 months. If fools rush in where
angels fear to tread, when the fools are " scared"
they are more chary of approaching the spot
where they have been frightened than a burnt
child is of the fire. Scarcely within the memory of the
present generation has such an opportunity for invest-
reminded
e m i
a d e
dThoseo f
a
pre-
diction
invest-
ment offered as the present; and those who understand
how to avail themselves of it, and have the means,
will undoubtedly re
awho
have read E. F. SATTERTIIWAITE and Co.'s last circular
will
their these brokers three years ago in
m i f
true worth a variety of inflated
e s itl il b
aet
ongi painfully,aad at
bysecurities then popular on the London Stock Ex-
change,truthfully,richharvest. and another group at that tune unduly de-
pressed. The circular compares these investments
now in support of the assertion they then made,
and those who neglected their advice have bitter
reason to rue the confidence with which they fol-
lowed the delusion then prevailing. We hold, how-
ever, that the circumstances are now reversed, and
that some of the companies named in the circular
will show a year or two hence a rise out of all
proportion greater than the more sound securities
then neglected in favour of these inflated new con-
cerns. The companies that have withstood the
ordeal of the last year have been subjected to a test I
which has strained every link. Their cables have
been paid out to the bitter end, and that they
have not parted is strong proof of inherent strength.
It may be true that some are strained so as hereafter
st on
bbsei
dwi
no
gr t hwl
will
si s
inbsupti
rnei a
rneyn ne
wo sevdt heaot
nt
fih
de
egale isa rap ind d
rely-
cover their position. They are like puppies that
have bad thd distemper ; most of them die, but those
Na: e
believe
ivdei
vv
aee abt tile) ditst
better
treog
guarantee
nea
rl
ait ehnaetl
et
ehe
aoas
fro e
with
tpehr moreh
gees
dot rf ol nit
fhgee.,
yet become sound and substantial establishments.
Take, for instance, the most depressed of SATTER-
TIIWAITE'S list that survi '
ves—the London Financial.
That company advanced to railway contractors over
£1,600,000, covering the advance with securities,
then valued at about £2,400,000. The securities
became unsaleable, the contractors insolvent ; and
the company was left to meet its liabilities either by
a ruinous sacrifice of the securities, or by calls on
the shareholders. having a rich proprietary they
were enabled to adopt the latter course. A heavy
loss had to be endured, but on the whole the share-
holders, having confidence in the ultimate recovery
of the Railway Preference Stock and Debenture
Bonds in the strong box of the association, preferred
to bear the burden, though many of them were sacri-
ficed in the effort.
In one year £600,000 were called
up, thus doubling the capital of the company. The
consequence is that the association has all but liqui-
dated its liabilities, and retains, intact, its securities.
The pressure of the calls has forced down the shares
till they are almost unsaleable, but the market price
is no criterion of the value. When quoted, as given
by the circular, at 10 premium, they were not worth
anything approaching to that price. When quoted,
as at present, 22 discount,—the chances are, they
are woctli a great deal more. The General Credit
has bent little, comparatively, to the storm, and
never failed to pay a good dividend. The Interna-
tional Financial has required no support, meeting
unaided all its liabilities, though paying no divi-
dend for the last year. The Credit Foncier, after
distributing fabulous sums among its proprietors,
paid no dividend for the last six months. We pre-
sume the value of the shares depends much on the
real worth of the undertakings launched by the
company, and the ability of these concerns to fulfil
their engagements. They arc now all quoted, as we
explained in a former article, at a ruinous discount,
but this does not necessarily represent their real
value. On the whole, we repeat our belief, that
there is a greater rise in the future of many a these

frightfully depressed securities than in any others
on the Stock Exchange. There can be no perma-
nant improvement until the public begin again to
invest. The dealers on the Stock Exchange cannot
buy shares unless the opportunity occurs of selling
at a margin of profit. When all are sellers, prices
not only fall, but shares become unnegocia-
ble. The question is one simply of demand on the
part of bona fide investors, for " bears" and " bulls"
can make no market whatever, moving merely in
advance of the general public. Although a rapid
rise might eatih many " bears" with outstanding
sales, the dealers on the Stock Exchange would be
delighted to see a revival of confidence, which
would bring with it a return of business. It is a
mistake to suppose that prices are made by Capel
Court. They are made by the public and only
officially announced through means of the Ex-
change. The jobbers, who have very little to
do with it, are often blamed for depressing securi-
ties over which they have, in truth, no control.—
Anglo-American Times.