The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-01-16
The PretentIons of the English Press and
the SubserViency of our Own.

are to great extent ignorant the true con-
dition of the nations of continental Europe.
1t is strange, too, that our people, so largely
engaged in commercial enterprises, and SO
many of whom are.giyen to roaming over
the face of the earth, should know so little
of them, or of the real character of their
governments, the present political condl-
ton of their people, their religious tendon
cies, their advances in education, their ma
-terial prosperity, and the stage of civniza-
ton they have severally reached. 1t is not
alone that they are ignorant of the realities
of these things, but that their minds have
been SO prepossessed by n false education,
that even those who visit them sometimes
find it difficult to arrive at the truth, while
others, satisfied with their long established
prejudices, do not even try. =
This real ignorance of our people is not
difficult to be understood when we consider
the causes that led to it. The causes are
the pride and elf-sutficicncy of the English
press and the mean and persistent subser--
viency of our own. The English, being an
insular people, separated from the copf-
nent by barrier of water, subject most of
the-year to rough and :nclement weather,
have always been less familiar with those
nations than they are Nth each other.
Frequently at war With some one of them
when their power was broken by the divi-
sions of the-feudal system, while hers was
much earlier united and consolidated at
home, she generally succeeded in carrying
the war into the. enemy's country, and
mir Is pInr;.
and protection at home caused agriculture,
manufactures, and commerce to advance
mora steadily and more proftably in Eng
land than in any of the continental nations
and gave her people Il security that made
every war appear in their eyes a success,
and testimony of their great superiority
over their neighbors. AS the feudal sys-
tenn gradually disappeared among the con-
tinental nations, and their power became
consolidated, England became more eau
tious in her foreign policy. She would
make war on Denmark, Holland and Por-
tugal, because they were weak but she
was careful not to attack any of the strong
er powers unless she could secure the alli-
auce- OF some one that could do most of the
fighting on land, while she, from the ex-
tent of her commerce, and the money-pow-
er which it brought her, had an easy time
of it at sea. When the war was over she
always claimed the credit, and frequently
secured the advantage, for her superiority
atssea enabled her to rob her enemies of
some of their colonies abroad. In her re-
cord of those wars we find glowing descrip
tions of her victories, which were always
accredited to her own people, no matter
who aided in the fight, while her defeats
are passed over in silence, or attributed to
the faults of her allies. This kind of
training very naturally greatly inflated the
English people. Their histories, their lit
erature, and their press We're constantly
impressing upon them their superiority
over their neighbors. They told them that
London was the largest, most populous and
most wealthy city of all the world, that
they had more ships, more commerce, more
money, and higher credit than any other
people, and that in civilization and pro-
gress they stood at the. head of Europe.
England the metheF-ef- PdFitaHisf4 and
every kind of religious dissent, and The
nurse of infidelity, claimed the foremost
rank iA>> religion, and in the face of her
adoption of the divorce system and the
licentiousness> that infected the social inter
course between the sexes, declared her
people the most religious and the most vir-
tuous among the nations. IT'S true, her
people were inferior to>the continentaIs in
architecture, statuary, painting and music.
The declaration of their greatest states
man, and the ayowed opinion Of their most
distinguished engineer that canal at Suez
was an impossibility proves their inferiori
ty in science. But they always seemed to
think that the money that could buy those
works were much better than tue works
themselves, and that the people who could
pay for them were entitled to the first place
Thus they seemed to think that money was
the great source, centre, and end of all civ
ilization.
a change in the affairs of Europe seemed