The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-03-12
Artstocracy vs.. Democracy In The Recogni-
tion Of Bistingvsished Services.

the last European steamer to the effect that Mr..
Cunard, the founder of the Cunard steam
ships, Is about to receive from the hands
of the Queen the dignity of Baronet of the
United Kingdom The circumstance Is one of
many of similar nature; and, by contrast, they
should put our people and our government to
the blush. While the Br tish government, sur
rounded % it is by absurd conventionalities and
hampered by antique prejudices, is quick to dis
Germ and ready to reward the special services Of
Its subjects in the arts, OF literature, or COM
merce or anything that tends towards the pro-
gIess and development Of the world we, boast
ing Of our youth, our strength, our independence
of old forms and ceremonies, our admitted supe-
riority in many Of the useful u.s. and our valu-
able contributions to the scientific world either
allow our representative men to anguish in
obscurity, or push them out of the paths that
they have made towards the fame and fortune to
which their labors entitle them.
Let us take few examples, and commence
with the one just now the most prominent: Mr..
Cunard is shrewd British merchant, who be.
leves in the feasibility of ocean steam naviga-
ton. There is NO great risk about it, as steam
vessels of not the best reputation have made the
Atlantic voyage in safety. To make all sure as
to the financial result of the Cuuard scheme, the
British government grants to the steamship owners
handsome subsidy over and above the usual re-
compense for mail service. The Cunard line is
well managed. Daring sixteen years its voyages
| have been made with commendable regularity.
| II possesses the confidence of the mercantile
| tl,o tn bus
point of view it pays. With that circum-
stance our government and our people would
have rested the case. Provided Congress had
| given Mr.. Cunard subsidy, and pro-
vided some rival in the carrying trade had
not used all means, fair Or foul, until the
| originator of the line had been broken down,
every one would have said: we have patronized
his line, and filled his pockets-that is enough.
On the other hand, the British people point with
| commendable pride to the Cunard ships as a
British institutional thing to be quoted, and
upheld, and defended, in season and out of season,
like the British constitution, and the British
Museum, and the British Parliament, aud all
other matters that our English cousins especially
delight to honor. This public feeling reacting
upon the government, makes Mr. Cunard, the
man of steamships and of trade, Baronet
1t is the old feudal aristocracy taking the
man of the hour by the hand and lead
ing him to the steps Of the throne, the
HeraldKing- alarms quartering the sauguine-
GUS hand upon the peaceful shield of commerce.
1t is not much, perhaps, in our view, for Mr..
Cunard to be Baronet; but it is great deal in
England, and is a most significant mark of recog-
milton for special services.
| Now, what have we done for our European
steamship proprietor, Mr.. Collins? He estab-
lshed, in the face of difficulties which Mr.. Gu.
nard never encountered, line of ocean steamers
They were unequalled in the previous history of
naval architecture. They were larger swifter
more commodious and more beautiful than the
Cunard ships. They made for American ships
worldwide reputation. Englishmen were forced
to acknowledge these facts. We were, after our
manner, proud Of them. We wrote poetry about
them. We wrangled with the English on questions
of time, and model, and machinery. In fact, we
did everything but pay for them Congress gave
subsidy, and then, through the efforts of
Philadelphian and other provincial jealOusies,
| withdrew it, and refused to pay portion of the
mail money. What would be said in England if
the member for Bristol, or Portsmouth, or South
ampton, or Hull, or even London, should oppose
the mail grant to the Cunard ships because their
point Of arrival and departure is Liverpool?
We can fancy the storm of ridicule that would
descend upon the head of such an ass even from
bis own constituents. Well, that was the first
blow for Mr.. Collins. Subsequently, rival
proprietors Of steamships undermined and under
bid him. He was thrust aside after years of
TOLL and his ships laid up to rot His services to
the republic are matters of history others reap
the profits and he suffers the losses accruing from
them.
| A few more instances Joseph Paxton, a gar.
dener employed by the Duke of Devonshire,
was knighted for his plan of the Crystal Palace.
Was anything ever done for George Steers, who
modelled the exquisitely beautiful bulls of the
Niagara and the Adriatic? All the principal
European governments have honored Commander
Maury for his important contributions to the
science of navigation We first placed him on
the retired list Of the navy, cutting down his
pay to miserable twelve hundred a year, and
then tardily restored him. The British govern
ment knighted Mr.. Bright, one of the engineers of
the Atlantic telegraphic expedition, and rewarded
in the same manner every person who took
part in that special service. Has Congress ever
done anything for Hudson, or Everett, or Morse?
On the contrary, some objections were raised to
Captain Hudsons receiving medal rendered by
the British government, and 1t was left for the
| EmDerOr of tho French tn recognise tho servicoa
of an American electrician. Contrast the re-
wards of the English government TO Wellington,
Nelson, Napier, Havelock, Raglan and Camp
bell, with our shabby treatment of Scott and
Stewart.
We could cite many more examples not, only
| of republican ingratitude but of positive mean.