The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-03-22

From the nondon 1fsss Feb. 97th.

From the london Times Feb. 37th.
The other day it was proposed to one of
our old Universities that . series Of profess
sional or literary gentlemen frenvAmerica
should be invited BY the endowment of a
special lectureship to visit England and ad-
dtsse brations to the undergraduates on Amer
ican subjects. The majority Of the Senste;
however, considered, wisely, a. we think. tina,
there may be found among the members of
the University itself, men capable Of acquir.
ing a sufficient knowledge 0 fforeign countries
10 give the students any instruction they may
need, and the oder was consequently declined.
Ii any proof of the wisdom of this decision
were necessary, it might be found in an Incl
dent related In our American correspondence
ofto.dae. Such an Grafton has just been de.
livered by exactly such a man as a New Eng.
land university would be likely to select; and
SO far from its effect having been to produce
amity and good will between the two coun-
tries, it is plain that the speaker took the op-
portunity to utter, and a part ofthe audience
to applaud, everything that could offend the
pride and rouse the indignation OF England.
+ =
The Grafton was worthy of Elijah Pogram.
The British lion might fairly be expected ito
put his tail between his legs and howl with
anguish The staple of the harrangue was
abuse Of England and its institutions. What
the tenure Of lands in Great Britain or the oc-
cupation of Asiatic forts by this country have
to do with President Lincoln's birthday, it is
not easy to understand nor does there seem
to be much room for comparison between
Lord Palmerston, who for upward of fifty
years was concerned in all the chief affairs of
Europe and America, and President Lincoln,
who happened to hold office during four years
in q domestic war. But these matters were
dragged in that the speaker might have an
opportunity to rail at and yillify the country
whose language he was speaking and whose
authors he had in former times done his best
to initiate. The taste which could invite an
English Minister and his Staff in order to
inhict upon them a coarse invective. needs no
remark. We can well understand that there
were many among the Americans themselves
who were shocked at the indecency, but we
can as little doubt what we are told-that the
bitterest passages in Mr.. Bancroft s. address
were the most warmly greeted by that polite
assemblage.
Mr.. Bancroft probably knows enough of
England to be aware that these harangues
have little effect on this side of the ocean.
We shall even proceed to the discussion of
the coming Reform Bill unaffected by his
declaration that it is to ..bury the dead to
m the worn out governmental class
and ito con6de righ,ful power to the people,
1t is not the effect here, but the effect in
America that is of Importance. Can this
mischevious old man believe that any pur-
pose can be served by slandering two such
countries as England and France in the pres
ence OF their representatives? The Ameri-
cans know their own rights, and are sufficient
ly watchful in maintaining them: they do
not require to be continually houEded on
against US, nor will it tend to the enlightened
conduct ofpublic affairs if they are made to
believe that England is o country where the
mass OF the people are powerless and oppres-
sive. 1t is to such declarations as these
that we owe the arrival off few score Fenian
adventures in Ireland, fully believing that
they and their New York friends can over
throw the rule of the strongest, most r~esolute,
aud most wealthy government in the world.
The Irish emigrants are so accustomed to
hear the old country is so effete, that they
really fancy they have nothing to do but to
return home, get up a popular rising, and
take possession Of the land after the exter
mination OF the aristocrats. Such misrepre-
sentations might be properly left to a lower
class OF politicians they do not deserve to
be conntenaDced by one who claims the high
titles of historian and d~iplomatist
GENERAL SHERMAN on SOUTHERN CLAIM.
ASTs.-lhere are q few Southerners who pre-
tend to fancy that the United States Govern
meht should compensate them for all the
damage done to their property by our armies
during the late war. There are not q few
claims of this kind before Congress. General
Sherman S on one of these claims
are rather pungent. 1t was the claim of a
man nearly a century old, a citizen of the
burned city of Columbia, who asked rein
bursement for damages done while Sherman's
troops were in or near Columbia. General
Sherman tells the claimant that if the United
States were to assume the liability for the
property destroyed, it would be an admission
that we had done wrong in carrying on the
war against rebellion; and in regard to the
interesting historical question as to the re-
sponsibility for burning Columbia, he de-
clares that the fires which consumed the city
were set by the rebels, and that he gave no
orders for the burning Of the city. On the
contrary, he fastens the responsibility upon
the rebel General Wade Hampton. and SAYS
TO the claimant: "Yourt true remedy is against
him. and such others oryour " citizens as
consplred with him." In short, even if the
utterly inadmissible principle of reimburslng
the losses of citizens Of a territory with which
we were ut war were admitted, it would be
impossible, % a general thing, to bring them
to any practical adjustment.-Nep York
Times.