Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-09-07
MIsREPREsENTAT NoFAMERI-
CAN SENTIMENT TOWARDS
ENGLAND.

The London Times Of August rs contains
an article upon American sentiment towards
England which bctrays more than the usual
amount of English ignorance, unless, indeed,
the Times is prNc ticing duplicity towards its
readers. That paper is assured that senti.
ments of bitterness and irritation, towards
us pervado all classes Of society in America,
including even the most thoughtful and mod
crate of the higher ranks, and that this spirit
of hostility may be regarded, indeed, as
universal 4" And the Times states that
this feeling goes far beyond such alienation
or i'll blood as will occasionally disturb har-
monious relations between the most right
minded statosi that the Government at
Washington is subjected to pressure from
without (Which, if not prudently resisted,
would quickly precipitate a collision"
After having thus grossly misreprcscnted
the .orce of American sentiment against Eng
land, the Times proceeds to give its readers
an utterly false view of the cause of the
American feeling, namely, that the English
satirists have caricatured US and laughed at
US. 1t says:
The Americans, we are told, are keenly
and almost morbidly sensitive to the opinion
Of foreigners, and esp sally Of Bnglishmen
They vince under criticism, md pine for
% npathy and encouragement. They have
had neither, but have, on the contrary, been
necessarily subjected to Iidicu'e and sarcasm.
Tourists have crossed the Atlantic only to
laugh ut them and have actually impoded by
their scofing the work Of n rising nation. We
Euglishmrn have been the greatest sinners
We have held American manners up to public
derision, have passed without word of praise
tie services rendered by Americans to tho
world, and have thus provoked well-de-
seiyed auimosity by our ungracious and in
consideratc conduct. This is tho real indict-
ment-the true account Of our offending.
In making the above statement, the Thun-
deer imputes to its cockney readers more
credit for stupidity than We had believed
they could possess If the London Times
can mako Englishmen believe that Americans
"of al classes, including even tho moot
s.oughtful and moderate of tho higher
"2lks," are ready now to break out into a
var with Great Britain, because English
writer's have, in past years, held American
manners up to public derision, then the Eng
lishmen must be consummate asses. The
GOODNESS of such an assumption is quito re-
freshing in this dotestably hot weather, and
is only equslled by that of another statement
made in the same article, as follows:
1t will be a satisfaction to Englshmen to
hear that no SHJSiaMiai grievance is Jommd.d
on The conduct Of England during tile
ctcH tc0r. Hnen Americans are pressed
upon this pc they confess their inability
to produce any ground Of complaint. Tley
make tho acknowledgment rather grudg-
ingly, but still they do make it. They nIe
Wiling generally to admit that our promised
neutrality EraS preserved TO Tie 6nd, and
no act of willrul commission or omis-
sion can bo charged against the British
Government. Their own experience hes
,sught them how impossible it is for Gov
erhment to succeed always in controlling the
adventures of private citizens, and they can
hardiy dcmy that zoe did oar best.
1t is as absurd and untrue to say that Eng
land has furnished US no substantial griov-
ance by her conduct during the civil war as
it is to say that We are ready to 60 to war
because of the sarcasms upon American mau-
ncrs written blythe Cockney tourists. There
''' grievances en'uBhi puI VIC h"No ho iuoa
that there will be any necessity for war to
settle them. America expects England to do
her duty in an honorable fashion in regard to
certain material interests, but as for the
dcrisiOn" of their sharp writers or their
lack of sympathy with the Government in
the late war for the suppression of the rebel
lion we can afford to snap our fingers at
them. We are happy in believing that tn
Times, which pays so poor compliment to
the intelligence of its own people in the ar
ticle referred to, does not represent the sen
timent of the best classes of Englishmen to-
ward us, and we trust that 1t will some time
cease to misreprescnt the American sentiment
towards England.