The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-03-28
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| the Atlantic Monthly deserves perussl as helpin
| to clear up matter. upon which, II must be st
mitted, EDglshmen have felt considerable pei
plexiiy. How, we have sometimes asked in d.
/ SPAR, are we to preserve Q decent state of goo
| feeling between ourselves and Brother Jonathan
Many Of us, to say the truth, are not specially fon
| of Americans or Of American institutions; other
look upon America ss the promised land who's
condition foreshsdows the blessed future OF tn
| world. But, lcvers or hsters OF our cousins, W,
| generally agree upon two things: First that it 1
highly undesirable to have any outstanding rancor
embitter every trifng dispute between the two
countries; and secondly. that Americans are sin
| gulary ticklish folks to manage. With the best o.
| good will we are somehow always treading upoI
their corns II Is true that some English traveller,
have contrived TO be uncomplimentary, not to say
offensive. They have composed the traditional
portrait, which We all know so well, Of the tobac
co-chewiug, whiting, bowie knitted American
full OF strange oaths, neglected. of decent cour
tesy, and intoerably given to Dragging. II is I'M.
| pleasant to be described in such q way, whether
the description be 700 lifelike or too purely i'm
sginary. But we have been little surprised that
l Americans should take our abuse 80 very much to
| heart-perhaps because we have dim belief that
| they ought to be fsttered at any description Of
| themselves BY an Englshman. Be this how II may
be, 1t Is still more surprising that our compliments
DO not seem to have much more soothing effect.
Americans may except Mr.. Bright or Mr.. Gold win
Smith from their general censure of our country,
but the more We fstter them, the more they seem
to stand upon their dignity. For Mr.. Reverdy
johnson excited the wrath Of three fourths
of the electors OF America by his unfortu-
nate declarations that both races come Of the
same blood, and when we offer them good words
they tell MS to keep our clumsy fsttery to our
selves. We are something In the position of q
man encountered BY fierce dog. and equally
afraid Of patting bis head or hitting him with a
stick. Certainly 1t is now the general wish In
England to be on good terEs with our touchy
neighbors; and when We find one who will
calmly give Us his reasons, instead of suikily
nursing his wrath, we ought to be sincerely
obliged to him: When they are given with so
we should try sincerely to understand the alleged
causes of the difficulty, that we may be on our
guard hereafter.
The writer of the Atlantic article explains
some OF the obvious reasons for the old spirit of
ridicule. There is the reason, complimentary to
American pride, that they were in some sort a
standing menace to the old order of things They
succeeded the Dutch 10 the unenviable position of
general butt. The Dutch were the best artists,
sailors, merchants, bankers, printers, scholars,
jurisconsults and statesmen In Europe" to say
nothing of their carrying On the most heroic
struggle In human annals. Yet they were mer.
cilessly ridiculed by the whole of polite Europe;
and why! Because they made fun of sacred
monty well without 1t. How could they seem
otherwise than hateful and dangerous!' This,
the most dattering explanation of the phenome.
non, may go for what it Is worth; but the writer
admits that there are, In fact, certain weak sides
to democracy which go some way to justify our
prejudices that America, for example, has not
yet produced the highest type Of man, nor learnt
that craftsmanship 10 q complicated art. Ameri.
cans trust men to make constitutions with less
proof Of competency than they would ask from
the man who had their shoes to patch, and they
are occupied too much with telling woods and
building railways to have much time TO spare for
high art or profound scholarship. Putting to.
gether the cause for jealousy and the real ground
MA uof oxrr1or 80 49,
OF supercilious dislike 60 deeply felt by Ameri.
cans. IL II were merely the good old Tory aver.
sion, says the writer, 1t would not be so hard to
bear. The vigorous British parson who prophe-
sled soon after the revolution that Newfoundland
would have glorious future. but that the United
States would speedily relapse into barbarismu
was harmless creature. 1t is the unpleasant air
OF condeFcension which makes foreign manners so
unpalafable-the impression which Europeans
contrive TO give that they are civilized persons in
spectiDg race of natives" or, it may be. men
OF science examining curious natural phenomena.
An English gentleman. for example, called upon
the writer (wbo will be easily recognized as dis
tinguished New England author), expressed his
perfect sympathy with the Confederate cause. his
full confidence in its success, and added the
pleasant reason that " they are the gentlemen of
the country, you know" Another tourist, he
says. after eating much American salt has lately
explained in print that the Americans are hospi.
table, partly because they long for foreign vsi.
tors to relieve the tedium of their dead-leyeI
existence, and partly from ostentstion. These
1t may be allowed, we're q trile
awkward, and, If accurately reported, JUST
fy the conclusion that their authors looked
upon Americans as o vulgar master will
look upon his servants, as persons who may
be assumed without ofense to be devoid of
that such naive ins0lence is rare, but stngs may
be given to national pride in q more delicate
fashion. II is something, he admits, to be raised
70 the dignity OF phenomenon, but even that po-
sition has its disadvantages. The sociologists in
particular have evidently been heavy burden 10
the writer. IL is becoming the custom for youth
'ui politicians TO 20 and examine the American |
experiment on the spot TO work through schools
and institutions" with an awful appetite for the
acquisition OF useful information. These persons,
" the writer declares, cross-examine him like a |
'rrious chemical product. He feels like q thing |
preserved in spirits 10 a bottle. He is not fe |
ow being, but specimen. He is thing to be |
handled and held up to the light by intelligent |
pecies. Indeed. when people 60 to America,
lot for the simple desire of seeing friends and |
laviDg pleasant holiday. bur to make scientific /
tudy OF their hospitable entertainers, we can /
imagine that they may be frequently distressing
company.
The peculiar tone of remark which irritases the
lerves of sensitive Americans may, perhaps, be
from these complaints. IL is not so
nuch the downright abuse as the superciious
Deer or the patronizing appreciation. We are not
8 on o level with ourselves, on the general ground
bat there lie good deal Of human nature every.
1here. Hitherto the American has been hob |
ledehoy, surrounded by the atmosphere of awk.
hardness incident to hobbedehoyhood. We did
ot quite know whether to treat him like bow 20 |
at him on the head at one moment and rap him |
cross the knuckes on another, or to accept MIN |
s grown man, and expect him to give and take
, an equal interchange of criticism. Now he
laims to be man and neither to be snubbed nor
cited. We are to understand that we are not his
but his equals, and are not to give
urseves the airs of q teacher. IL is perfectly
rue, as the writer admits that the fault does not
o upon either eide exclusively. If we have been
DO patronizing, the American has been too sub.
liss1ve. He has not believed In his own writers
artists till they have received tbs stamp of Eu-
opean approval. he has accepted the position
! which We have placed him, and has sometimes
lmed 81 being a sham Englishmsn rather than a |
enuine American. Nothing, says the writer, sis
lore hateful TO gods and men than second-rste
nglishman, and for this very reason, that this
lanet never produced q more splendid creature
nan the frstrate one" AS foreign limitations
an. "a rule only be rivals of the second rate ar.
Gle. it is very good advice that they should try
,e more hopeful plan of standing on their own |
gs and produce something equal, IL unlike to the
etter product. As 1t is, he admits that we have
omething to excuse our presumption. Is there,