, 1876-11-01
AMERICAN CIVILIZATION.
Correspondence ghe Spectotoy.)

make some comment on one or two points
in your recent article on " The American
Centenary ?" I believe that our people
are, on the whole, in q somewhat chastsn.
ed mood this year, and by no means In
disposed to listen attentiveIy to thought
full criticism, l can safely assure you
that there are very few among US who
regard our national Constitution as ''seml-
Divine" or who attribute any Utopian
excellence to our institutions. On the
contrary, the most significant fact in our
present condition seems to be the gene
raj d%ispositi on among thoughtful men to
thoroughly probe the wounds OF the body
polite, and set themselves patiently and
steadily to the heavy task Of organic re-
form. Yet the enthusiasm awakened by
this Centennial anniversary, however
" absurdIy expressed" it may appear to
you, is sincere and deep; and I think
there are in the condition of our people
some grounds for congratulation to which
your article scarcely does justice,
As to a new and grander or happier
society, " you say, "there is as yet in the
Union no trace of it's development. AS
far as we Gan see, q New England State,
Republican for a hundred years, socially
differs little from an English county, life
being quite as hard, " &c. l think there
is one important qualification to be made
to this remark. 1t relates to q state Of
things which has often struck me in
travelling through the villages and towns
of New England, and which | have wish
ed could point out to some OF my Eng
fish friends as our supreme compensation tor
the lack of finished beauty and historical in
tereSt which so impoverisheS our and
sCapes in comparison with yours. Were
one Of these friends by my side, | should
like to point to him, as we passed along
railroad or highway in almost any port OF
rural New England, the constant success
sion of comfortable dwelling-houses and
thrifty homestta ads, and the almost entire
absence of the humble " cottage" of the
labourer, which is so constant a feature In
English and Continental rural districts. I
should tell him." These houses, which
you see everywhere, are, as a very general
rule, owned by their occupants. Not only
in New England, bat throughout the
North and West, except in the large towns
it is customary for every family to own
its dwelling house, and in the country the
farm adjoining. The land is titled by it's
owner, his sons, and hired labourers, and
of these last, every one has q reasonable
prospect of becoming in his turn a proprie-
tor" In a word, there does not exist
here a caste of landless labourers or pea
SAINTS. Every man in the farming districts
may hope to have a house and land OF his
own. In the New-EngIand farming towns,
where, owing to the poverty of the soil,
there has been a steady emigration of the
native population to the richer West, the
smaller farms are rapidly passing into the
hands of foreign %labourers, especially the
Irish, and to some extent the Canadian
French. OF course, this implies some
deterioration in the introduction OF ints-
rior elements into the population ; but on
the other hand, it implies a great rise In
the condition of the foreign immigrant, and
a vet greater rise for his children.
The whole state of the case would be
much more apparent, if / could take my
English friend Familiarity into the home