New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-09-01

Except by very few IN Ireland, have not seen
them eQualed. And, on tie whole, do not kno"
that there are better mothers than the English
especially OF the middle classes.
i did not find the Aristocracy so remarkable
for physical perfection and beauty as had been
taught 10 expect Some Of them are large well
formed and vigorous, but think the caste IS MOI
notlceably so. Among the ladies' oil gentle
blood however, there Is more OF the asserted
arlstocra,ic symmetry and beauty than among
the men.
The general stiffness OF English manners
has often been noted Not that gentleman Is
aucht but a gentleman anywhere, but courtesy
is certainly not the Engllshman's best point
No where else viii perplexed stranger IN
curing his way receive more surly answers or
oftener be refused any answer az all than IN
London Even the policeman, who is paid to
direct you, replies to your inquiry with the short
est and grunest monosyllaDe that will do.
Awkwardness Of manner pervades all classes
the least elaborate and mos. thoroughly natural,
modest and easy.mannered man ! met was
Duke. whose ancestors had been Dukes for
many generations but some OF the most elabo-
rately i'll bred men met also inherited titles of
nobility And, while have been thrown into
the company of Englishmen Of all ranks who
were cordial, kind, and every way models OF
good breeding, have also met here more con-
sttutionally arrogant and unbearable persons
than had crossed my path IN all my previous eI-
perience These teo, are found IN all ranks;
think the Military service exhibits some Of the
worst specimens. But Bull IN authority any
where is apt to exhibit hrs horns to those whom
he suspects Of being nobodies. Elevation is un-
propitlOus to the display Of his more amable
qualities.
i have elsewhere spoken of the Indifferent fg.
ure made by most Englishmen at public speaking.
Many of them say good things hardly one de-
ivers them aptly or gracefully. Any Frenchman
having Lord Granville's brains would make a
great deal more out Of them IN speech. at
tribute this National defect to two causes /,
first, the habitually prosaic level OF British
thought and conversation next, the intense
pride which is also a National characteristic.
John is called out at festive gathering, and
springs to his feet really intending to be clever.
But the next moment the thought strikes him
This IS beneath my dignity, after all. Why
should subject myself 10 miscellaneous crltl-
'cism Why put myself on the verdict OF this
crowd Does 1t become gentleman OF my
standing to fish for their plaudits What Will
success amount to, If attained Or else he
crlticlses his own thoughts and meditated forms
OF expression, pronounces them tame, trlte or
feeble, and recois from their enunclation as I'M
worthy of ms abilities, position and reputation.
The result is the same In either case--he hesl-
tates, blunders, chOkes and finally Stammers out
few sentences and subsidies into his seat, sweat
ing at every pore, red-faced with chagrin,
vexed with himself and everybody else on &C
count Of his failure, which might not have oc-
CURED, and certainly would not have been so
palpable, had his self-consclousness been less
diseased and eXtravagant.
have said that the British are not in manner
winning people. Their self-concet is the prln-
cipal reason. They have solid and excellent
qualities. but their selfcomplacency is exorbi-
tant and unparalleled. The majority are not
content with esteeming Marlborough and Vel
lington the greatest Generals and Nelson the
first Admiral the world ever saw, but claim like
supremacy for their countDmen IN every field Of
human effort They deem Machinery and Man
uiactures, Railroads and Steamboats,, essentially
British products. They regard Morality and
Philanthropy as in effect peculiar TO the fast
anchored ISLE and Liberty an idea uncompre.
hended, certainly unrealfzed, any where else.
They are horror stricken at the federation Of
Slavery in the United States, IN seeming igno-
rance tina, our Congress has no power TO abolish
1t and that their Parliament, which had ample
power refused to exercise 1t through generations
down to the last quarter OF a century They
cannot even consent to 60 to Heaven on a road
common to other nations, but must seek admiS-
sion through private gate OF their own, stoutly
maintaining that their local Church is the very
one founded by the Apostles, and that all other.
are more OF less apostate and schlsmatic Other
Nations have their weak points-the French,
Glory the Spanlards, Orthodoxy the Yankees,
Rapacity but Bull plumbers India and murders
Ireland vet deems himself the mirror of Beneti.
cence and feeds his self-nghteousness 10y resolv-
ing not TO fellowship Shareholders of different
fashion from himself he is perpetually fighting
and extending his possessions all over the globe,
yet wondering that French and Russian ambition
rlH keep the world always IN hot water. Our
Yankee self-concen and self-laudation are I'M
moderate but nobody else is so perfec, on all
polnts-hlmseli being the Judge-as Bull.
There is one other aspect OF the British
character which impressed me unfavora5y
Everything is conducted here with sharp eye
to business For example, the manufacturing
and trading classes are Just now enamored e
Free Trade-that Is. freedom to buy raw staples
and sell their fabrics al over he world-irom
which they expect all manner of National and
indivldualbene In consequence these classes
seize every opportunity, however unsuitable, to
commend that policy to the strangers now among
ihem Is dlclated hN wisdom nhllanihrnnx and