Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1856-06-20
European Correspondence.
Correspondence of the Lewisburg Chronicle
LONDON, May %, 1856.

The English, like the Americans, are
somewhat given to national vanity. They
have become so accustomed to their natlo-
nal sores, that they cease to pain them,
They are habitually blind to their nation S
weakness, and dwell with infinite compla-
cency upon her greatness. Nations, like
individuals, can not "see themselves as
others see them" England has sores
which her political physicians can not heal,
diseases which all the virtues Of her unr-
vailed Magma Charta can not reach. She
has abolished African slavery in her terri
tories, while she gives to her Irish peas
antry only the semblance Of freedom, and
permits petty tyrants to lord it over her
most generous and loyal subjects with
unblushing cruelty. With national debt
of nearly thousand millions Of pounds
sterling, equal to five times as many dol
lars, her people must submit to an enor
nous taxation. The latter is about the
only sore that extorts from them an occas-
ional groan Still, Great Britain is one of
the greatest countries in the world-great
in her mineral, moral and intellectual
resources, great in her history, great in her
present power, and has the prospect Of
great and brilliant future.
English country-scenery is surprisingly
beautiful The eartL's surface is mostly
slightly undulating, the fields are enclosed
with rauk, bushy hedges, along which trees
are growing in sort of careless order, i'm
parting to the landscape sort of grove
like appearance. The merry month of May
can make the homeliest country look hap
py, but England needs not its vernal orna-
meuts; in such scenery, even bleak De-
Der must have its charms. Whilst in
Ireland farmers life seems the most uu-
desirable, here it is the very picture Of
independence and comfort. Nearly all the
Irish landowners live in England. They
let their immense farms to spectators, who
practice unscrupulous extortion upon the
peasants in sub-letting. They give them
miserable apologies of dwellings, in which
a Buffaloe Valley farmer would scruple to
pen his cattle. All the rents are sent to
the landlords in England, thus draining
the money from the country, and subject
ing it to a periodical impoverishing pro-
cess. But in England it is fai otherwise.
Here, their very appearance is an eloquent
reflection of their prosperity. Florid, oval,
sleek-looking gentlemen, fac-similes of
English country 'squires, whose faces speak
good wishes to every body, and whose bodily
dimensions are an honor to the soil that
supports them. Men that will leave their
mark in any crowd. In ireland, farmers
have meagre, piiiful appearance, approa-
ching more nearly to the shape Of line,
the symbol of Il rod Here they approach
the shape Of an egg, the symbol Of sub
stance. To be sure, some of them complain
of hard times One whom met, regretted
the conduct of American farmers, who glut
the British market with their corn. lie
said be had lost thousand dollars year
for the last two years. But even this was
to his credit, for it requires farmer Of
some calibre to endure such loss.
The English generally look remarkably
healthy. Both sexes seem to retain the
flush and vigor of health far beyond the
noon Of life. Whether this be owing to
good habits, good climate, good living, OF
all together, am unable clearly to ascer
tain. With the sterner sex, | think wine
and beer are entitled to some of the praise
England is in temperance where the Uni
ted States were twenty years ago. The
bar is the most prominent thing in all the
hotels. You can seldom dine without
having glasses beside your plate, and being
asked what you wish to drink, taking it fol
granted that every person will drink somt
kind of liquor. Almost every hotel has 1;
room furnished with tables and pipes
where you can find group during al
hours of the day, quafiug their favorit'
beverage in copious potions. In making
friends, especially among commercial ant
legal gentlemen, person is constant.
assailed by the bottle. The lower classe
carry the bottle with them, and in travel
ing on the cars they would sometimes urg
me, with an importantly worthy Of bette
cause, to stake little" Drinking her
is not only connived at but approved of b.
the mass Of protesting Christians. Blu
withal, have not met with many person
) perceptibly drunk, which may be owing t
, their skill and habit in the art of drinking
; The diet of the English is, generally
5 more simple than with us, and with'
4 abuudantly nutrient. They have not sue
E an endless diversity Of dishes, and live Nc
SO much on the frothy exuberance of pa
tries and desserts. Their climate is mol
/. uniform, not subject to those frequent an
, sudden Transitions Of heat and cold Whic