Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1854-01-06
Letter from Lord EIIesmere.
The following letter from the Earl of Ellesmere
To General Webb, is published

Letter from Lord Ellesmere.
The following letter from the Earl of Elesmere
to General Webb, is published
My DEAR SIR IL did not fail, with much inter-
ast to digest YOUR correspondence with the Times
AS defence of the English daily press and OF itself
in particular far charges OF hostility to Amer
ica are concerned think that there is much that is
sound in the reply of your opponent | regret,
however that he should have thought It necessary
to thrust out after parrying with an acrlmony liKe
w. as fear, to strengthen in the United States Ger
tain impressions as to the general feeling in this
country which believe to be erroneous History IS
said to be philosophy teaching by example am
neither historian nor philosopher; but | shall
| illustrate my present meaning by an example. ,
friend of mine, serving her Majesty on board
an English ship, lying at New OK some ume uur
ing the present century, discerning among the crowd
of usual visitors, five ladies OF superior appearances
civlv invited them to inspect the main cabins and
conversation ensued, which began on their part as
is very usual. with the questions How DO you
like our country o. My friend had seen nothing OF
our country" but the landing place at the Battery
and glimpse of Broadway from an omnibus, with
the thermometer at 95 of Fahranheit in the shade
He had seen nothing of its inhabitants but such as
freuuented said landing place, whom curiosity
had attracted to the ship | do not believe that he
had tasted sherry cobler but of this | am not
certain He had lost of his men by desertion,
and had seen about much of America as man
who has anchored off Mapping, and has negotiated
clique in Lombard street. and returned to his yes
sci, has seen of England and Wales Under this
combination of circumstances his reply was eva
sve.
| have heard of a young gentleman, who, when
under examination at one of our universities, was
asked probably with reference to famous passage
in Thucvdides, to state the height of The walls OF
Patea. He replied that they were neither particu-
larly low particularly high,-an exposition
which failed to satisfy his examiners My friends
polite evasion was equally unsuccessful. He replied
to the effect that there things which pleas
ed him very WELL and others which were less agree
able Your fair countrywomen fell upon him like
one woman, saying " That is all your Jealousy you
are all alike, and cannot bear our progress My
poor friend stood aghast, but at length, somewhat
provoked, said, " If you wish to know the truth, we
are jealous of you, because, generally speaking
we do not know nor inquire anything about you"
Now this incident trivial as it is, seems TO me to H.
lusrate good deal of misunderstanding which be-
lieve to exist in America respecting English feeling
toward the Union. think at least that in the United
States notion is very prevalent, that there is in Eng
land vast amount of active hostility towards Amer
! leans and disrespect for their Institutions.
In my opinion. what Americans have really
to resent is vast deal of comparative ignorance
pecting them. By comparative | mean that educa-
ted people in England, who know every thing worth
knowing of France, or Italy, or Pennsylvania, often
know little or nothing of the United States, and GER
tainy far less than Americans of their own class
know of England. AS to hostility however, or con-
tempt, let any try the experiment of lecturing 10
an average English audience in depreciation or con-
tempt of the stars and stripes, and he would assured
ly be hooed down. 1t is satisfaction to me- but it
may be such TO you, that the ignorance of which
speak is quite general with regard to our North
American colonies 10 the States of the Union 1t
has tendency, in my opinion, TO hasten the dsrup.
ton of the farmer Nova Scotan hears from his
parents and learns at school great deal about Eng
land He goes there, finds prevalent impression
that Nova Scotia island somewhere to the North
of the West Indies, and returns an offended man
have been preaching of late to my acquaintance who
travel 10 visit the United States and the Canadas via
Halifax, instead of steamng in cloud of tobacco
| smoke up the Rhine for perhaps the Tooth time
With respect TO the general tone of remark on
| things American, by those who lake pains to know
about them in England, it is to be remembered that
English conservatives have battle to fight, which
has no counterpart in the u S. You have your To-
cal shades of political opinion, not always very in
telligble to stranger, who has considerable no.
mencature to master before he distinguish be-
tween a . hard SHELF barn burner or even
between Wing or Democrat where all parties an
pear 10 him to lean TO what he considers Democracy
apprehended however. that the politician does not
yet exist IN the Union who advocates any thing like
retrogIesson from republic TO monarchy We,
on the other hand have continual struggle to show
that however suited republican institutions may be to
America, and however splendid their results the ad-
vantage OF their Introduction here would not COM
pensate for the evil of the transition; and that there
are many circumstances which render them specially
applicable to the one country and inapplcable to the
other.
In the course of such controversy, recourse has
perhaps often been had to scurrious misrepresenta
ton of men and things in America, In dealing with
the ballot question, for instance DISPUTE hf1e
not likely to be very in fortfying his ar
I .~ee dirty story he may pick up as to
working of that device in America This is but
one Of many topics, in treating which. sarcasm and
ridicuIe may often be substituted for argument and
for rational exposition of all the reasons, moral and
physical which may be alleged against the subsu-
ton here of President 70: hereditary Sovereign,
and an elective chamber for our House Of Lords
The best corrective of all this is ntercourse and the
best correctors Collins and Cunard
say this on my own experience, as far as goes :;
which am perfectly sensible, with reference TO the
extent of the Union, is very little way. 1t is en-
ough however, to satisfy me, that if Milton were
F. alive now, he would insert into his treatise on educa
ton an eloquent paragraph recommending travel in
America. | conceive no better corrective for ex-
IRENE opinions in the matter of politics Those who
shiver at the motion of republican institutions as at
something incompatible with order, security and re-
hnement, and those who favor their unlimited appIi.
cation without reference 10 the density of population
the diffusion of education and other specialities are
in my opinion, equally likely to leave lessons in
America. Very truly yours
! EGERToN ELLEsMERE.
The LONDON TINES ON JOHN MITcHEL.--The Lon.
don Times of Dec IA, has pretty severe article on
, john Mitchell and his reception in America. After
quoting from his speech in San Francisco, and freely