The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-01-25


suburbs which are more easily approached, and
where rents are not quite so high as they have
been in that city for the past few years.
American intervention In European Affairs.
III. Vrignault, writer in the Paris Presse,
regards Fenianism as cause Of disquiet, be-
cause, he says, ii Is the first, or at least the
most palpable revelation Of the interest which
the United States takes in the affairs Of Europe.
With Frenchman's fatal facility for rash gene
ralizations from insufficient facts, M. vrignault
looks upon Fenianism as sign of new era 10
be marked by direct American Intervention in
Europe. Here we all know how untenable are
the premises from which he deduces his curious
conclusions. We know, for instance, that 80
far from encouraging the Fenian invasion Of
Canada, the United States government inter
posed the only cffectual check upon 1t. But 1t
Is in entirely different ways that our govern
ment has always interviewed and always will
intervene in European affairs. The very exist
ence Of our republic is standing argument
against the monsrchical principle and all its
consequences in Europe. The revolution
through which 1t was established reacted
directly upon the French revolution. The
popular revolutions Of 184s On the European
Continent resulted largely from the fsrment Of
American ideas. The progress Of reform in
England has been and will yet be quickened
by influences from the same transatlantic
source. Certain lessons OF our recent civil war
wrought practical effects in the war between
Prussia and Austria. Bismarck and John
Bright, Napoleon and Victor Emanuel, the
Gear, the Pope himself, and even the Sultan,
are all consciously or unconsciously subject to
the mysterious influences Of the great Western
republic. It is owing to these that Napoleon
has Just been constrained to begin the
fuldlment Of his old promise to crown
with liberty the costly imperial structure
which he has erected In France. If there
bad been no United States Of America, the
United States Of Germany am; !he United
States Of Italy would not exist to-day. The
Candiotes and Greeks are inspired by Ameri-
can sympathy In their actual struggle against
Turkish oppression. The millions of private
letters sent back by emigranis to their friends
in Europe have disseminated an incalculable
amount Of knowledge and interest concerning
political and social life In the United States
and the incxhsustible material resources Of our
vast country. European capitalists keep
thoroughly posted IS 10 the value Of our seen
rites. Continental philosophers and British
statesmen make a special study Of our institu-
tons. Professor Blackie and Mr. Jones, in their
late interesting discussion at Glasgow about de-
mocracy and aristocracy, agreed in one point,
az least-tlat IL is not easy to exaggerate the
prodigious weight which The United States
now throw into the scale In favor Of republican
principles. American inventions, particularly
in the department Of labor-saving machinery,
are everywhere patented in Europe. American
yachts revolutionize European notions Of ship
building and navigation. American breech-
leaders are adopted In the armies Of Europe
and the East. Every telegram which is
flashed across the Atlantic to Europe Is re-
evolutionary, for it inevitably suggests the cx-
istence In the Western hemisphere Of Great
Power whose Influences must, directly or in
directly, affect the nations Of the Eastern
hemisphere. Without knowing il rulers and
people in the Old World are interpenetrated by
the light and heat Of American civilization. In
European affairs America intervenes only az
the sun shines.