Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1865-12-04
An UTVERANCE FOR PEACE-.-A MANLY
TRIRurTE TO ssAMERICA."


as we have rarely been favored with by an |
Englishman. In most instances, where Brit |
ish tourists have attempted to deal with the |
novelties which startled them at every turn,
what was great, or proper, or elegant in their |
own estimation, at home, has been the only
standard by which to try matters here; and
ouerulous and carping at great deal they en-
countered in the discomforts of travel, and
Judging hastily of rapid advancement they
could not comprehend, our gigantic enter
prises have seemed to them as no better than
gambling and tempting fate; they would not
believe in our own confidence in the national
resources to bring us out.
But, perhaps, they are quite excusablc for
all this, inasmuch as until the nation was tried
by the late tremendous conflict, it had little or
no conception itself oiwhat it was capable otin
military way, or even financially; and when
the London Times announced i'll the outset
that this Government need expect no assist
ance from loans abroad to pay the cost OF
maintaining its integrity, it was, doubtless,
considered all but conclusive Of our inability
TO enter fairly upon the struggle at all. Start
ing with something worse than an empty
treasury, what was there for it. in European
estimation, but to 90 abroad Tor loans; Tor who
at that time dreamed of the vast resources Ill
reserve here on which to commence and con
Time the vindication Of the national honor
and the maintenance Of its unity? Blunder
inr IN their estimates of what we could or
IL yb r.
four years, we need not expect most English
men 10 get over the habit at once, and when
a man like Sir Morton Peto does show himself
possessed of breadth of intellect sufficient to
comprehend fairly the situation, and candor
enough to publish it, we may we'll make note
of something so unusual in the current of late
events.
We have not space for the speech in ques
tion-nor do we know that we should give
at length, if we had; because we have ac
CURED habit of carelessness of what England
thinks of matters which-as we have already
said-are only partially comprchended over
there But in noticing these frank conces
sions, we may say that it is pleasant to know
and feel, that in listening to the views put
forward at Bristol, the sturdiest cavaliers over
there are compelled to admit their thorough
reliability; that none can gainsay the respect
ability of their source, or the rare opportun-
ties had by the speaker to know whereof he
spake."
The speech in question shows that it was
the result of reflection, of deliberation that
the various points to be made were well con-
sidered, the great facts well digested And
what must Englshmen have thought when he
started off, after brief notice of Canada mat
tiers, by telling them that although he arrived
here cat the close of one of the most tremen-
''dous struggles known to modern times"
that he ''saw nothing in that portion of that
'sgreat country through which he passed, which
'could for moment remind him that such a
struggle had arisen:' and--he continues
81 was still more astonshed when | came
''to learn the advance that had been made in
''the Western States Of America within the
''last ten years. Why, sir, within that period
''25, 145, 900 additional acres of ground have
''been brought into civilizations on the ave
rage, 2l0,000,G00 bushels of wheat were
grown, and the population of those eight
Western States had advanced 1850, OOO"
Now, what tremendous facts were these to
throw before an English audience, by one Of
their most truthful and trusted speakers; and
how like miracle of progress must this won
derful advance have appeared to the all but
fossilized society thus called upon to consider
it? He goes son to tell them of Chicago and
its advance. its marvellous rise from "a mere
dot on the map" of few years ago, to its
present great population, and ''to public build
ings finer than any that know of in any pro-
vincial city III England. OF Boston and its
twenty-five millions of dollars expended in
building during the war: of New York and lis
magnificent Central Park, 1.-THE greater part Of
the works connected with which had been ac-
tually constructed during .'the lcal'" And
what must his listeners have thought of Eng.
fish opportunities and experiences, when he
was constrained to give them as remedy for
their old fogyiSm, the advice to visit the coun-
try themselves, telling them that he considered
no business mans education complete, = I'M
less he had visited America.
Coming to the consideration of our national
debt, he declared that ono person who had
the least information on the subject can doubt
the ability of the Americans to pay their ma
tional debt''-dismissing the whole matter
with this simple but positive declaration of
his faith in our resources. Hepays deserved
compliment to the management of our military
railroads during the contest, and is equally
earnest in his praise of those benevolent asso-
Citations which did so much to relieve suffering
on the battle field, and in the hospitals
Looking to the sudden DISARMAMENT of our
great armies, and to the thorough confidence
In the stability Of the Unionwh in the short
period since that time had grown up in the
country, he insists that there is promise of
solid prosperity now, such as was never before
experienced,-a feeling certainly uppermost
with thinking men here.
There are other topics discussed in this adj
mirable speech, and treated in the same com.
nonsense manner, which we need not glance
at; but which are well calculated to set the
best minds of the two countries thinking, with
reference to the duties and relative destnies
of both. Better than the stately and formal
utterances Of diplomacy, are the utterances of
this noble representative Of the commercial
classes; and fortunate it is for England when
such men can be heard, instead of those
who eagerly hurry to hostile conclusions on
false points of national honor-as in the
Trent affalr-and whose whole mission it
would almost seem for the past century has
been to find occasions of quarrel with other
nations, in order-as they say--to maintain
the "balance of power" Plain, as it must
now appear, to the most obtuse or obstinate
of these men, that the course of this nation
atty is thenceforth onward, will they not at
length see the folly Of their past course, will
they persist in a policy which, proposing to
dictate what other nations may or may not do,
keeps them embroiled, perpetually, to the in
jury of that advancement the world should,
through them, make in enlightenment, in
commerce, in all that appertains to civilized
and Christian progress?
The truth is, the commercial classes are, in
this instance, and by their fitting representa-
tive, only indicating their true and glorious