The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1874-09-18
ENGLAND.
Ehe March of Progress i'm the "Mother
Country

ENGLAND.
Country"
Cor. Courier-Journal
The notion that Old England is in he
dotage, that her national vigor and en-
terprlse are declining, and that she i
TOO stupidity cpservatlve to follow tn
progressive ineincts of the times, pre-
walls very largely in the United States
In facs, very few people, except tn,
travelling element of our po pulation
regard Eng and with an intelligent eye
10 most Americans she is kind of fos
sll, an old fogy, stereotyped in all the
old ways, and almost utterly adverse tc
improvements and changes for the bet
ter. After an absence of several years
from her shores, I am sure, from what ]
nave seen, that the old lady is not only
as young and stronger than ever, bat
tpae there are no signs OF approaching
age or feebleness. The travellers first
view OF Great Britain is one of the best
and falrest of her material and CONNER
clal strength. Leaving the Irish chan
nei, stg41ed with lighthouses, bell
( safe Coz ----ler vessels, an immense
line of massiSg docks present its bold
front to the waters. This is n work of
modern time, and marvellous even to
sea-faring eyes. In q few more years,
wnat is now barren beach at the south
end will be occupied by an extension of
the docks. Such is and will be the pro-
gress of the country at this point nnd in
this direction. At other ports of the
kingdom, such as Bristol and London,
great undertakings are to be begun. So
that the recent sensation which has
filed Europe with regard to the designs
of the Russian Bear has not completely
stupefied the maritime senses of Old
England.
The new landing stage, destroyed a
few days after my arrival, was certainl Y
an achievement of very high order of
engineering AlKill, and a prookS among
many otherSGn the same locality, that
the power which made England what
she is, can and will make her still greater
as she grows older.
That portion of Liverpool bordering
on the Mersey has been, since my last
visit, a dozen years ago, so entirely
changed, so vastly improved as to be as
new as strange country TO me.
London has not been asleep while the
great cities of the world have been
marching on, during tie last decade.
Her underground RAILWAYS, running in
every direction and to every point,
are simply wonderful. Her old-nar-
row streets are being widened at an
immense cost. The most costly prop
erty IN the world is being converted
into capacious streets, and superb
structures are everywhere in process of
erection. The new Victoria street, rum
ming from the Mansion House. is already
magnificent, but when finished will be
still grander. The famous Poultry viii
soon be at least as wide rs C3eapside.
London is also on the alert to get the
best payer eut. Her streets show thet
she has tried everything that 9 ever
been known. Cbeap7ide and many oshec
streets seem to succeed finely with the
asphalt, which has been rec epIy la d
on Markes, from Fifth to Third, in our
own city. It is intereS<Sg to watch
with wi at ease and passion the i'm
meuse traffic of Cheapside is copd 1cSeo
upon This asphalt pavement. L 5.e-
queotly remarked that it was less slip
pery than tee Nicholson and stone pave
melts. / hope it viii pI Ove to lie as
e sall2Ie le IL hf4oRair9ss hf4oRaira9zssiisi IL 6 d il Is ID e s ant
icoroclast here as elsewhere. The an
cieut and even the famous things must
&C down and pass away to make room
for ne news The paletial Northumber-
land Houze, opposite Trafalgar Square,
viii shortly fall, ard in its place will
rise suDdry petty kingdoms, where
princes o a df erent order will foid
court aud drive the car of CONNIE >.
One evening 1 rode 20 ugh Temple
Bar, from Fleet street, the Strand.
On the next morning ve iicles of evesy y
description were prohibited from pc IS
L
eued and there were sundry ominous
creyices in the center arch. Crowds of
peop'e loitered for days on the FIest
street and Strand sides, as if anxious to
be present when the final catastrophe
arrived.
TIE Danger which threatened demoE-
ton to this old memotial OF the C Y,
awakened quite a lively interest among
the people, and the papers were agitated
with the question, '' What to do with
it?" The first impulse wi i all was to
save it if possible. If it could no. be
preserved upon its present site, they
suggested that it should be transferred
to one of the parks. SUI dry supports
have been placed under &, and OF er
repairs have been made, but all of a
temporary character, for there is but
little doubt that it will soon be taken
down and the street made wider.
The Thames embankment is only an
other of the numerous demonstre lions
which old Ngland is giving continually
| that the p5wer which she is putting
TO th to preserve, mag nifty and perpetu-
| ate herself is at least equal to that by
which the old Britons created her. The
| banks of the Thames were formerly
very unsightly places. Now they are
, simply grand in their vast proportions
of masonry and the very spacious boule
Yards that now skirt the ancient limit:
of the city. But TO write of London IL
her grand march of growth IN all tha
| is substar sial and beautifrl in prosper
ity requires the space of tones rather
than q newspaper letter. Its yastnes
is absolutely bewildering.
I saw many of the leading towns o
the provinces which / had known ver'
{amiI Ijarly when a boy, and was sur
missed to find that what / have writer
of T,on1on is measurably true Of oi I.oa1
sSts ~ - y, narrow sJxecJ5 Ii prominent local
/ itic had been widened, and streets o
buildings that had no better service 10
tbe peoole than their antiquity, ha'
been superseded by handsome strnci
ures of mrch private or pubic ctlhty
The country was arrayed in all tn
glory of an English harvest time. In
fresh green hedge rows sk1rtlng tn
roads from one end of the is land to tn
other. ere peculiarly charming. III
land is full of flowers in town an
country. so that old England stl
blooms in her seasons as regularly a
the wear rolls round.
|