The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-05-22
The English Press and tho Centennial

The English Press and the Centennial.
The comments of the English press on the
opening Of the Exhibition at Philadelphia
are, on the whole, kindly. and, as might be
expected from q sensible people, bear little
or no trace of the bitterness that signalized
the strife of century ago between Crown
and colonies England has proved her
capacity to separate herself from the passions
of the disagreeable past in regard to other
and more domestic. strifes. Cromwell the
king-killer, though hidden for time under
the mustiness of obsequious Dryasdusts,
is great rehabilitated Englishman to-day,
in whom all parties take genuine pride.
Even Charles Edward, the Pretender of the
AS. is an object of sentimental concern.
Napoleon L is undergoing the same re-
Mobilization in English minds. The
secret is partly in the materialism of
the race, and more directly in its almost
unbroken prosperity, which is a great de-
cayer of bitterness. When the tory
Standard has spoken of 1.-THE hundredth
anniversary of an unprovoked rebellion"
it turns toward compliment, having therein
given little partisan reply to comical
piece of partisanship in the wing Daily
Telegraph of the day before, which runs
as follows:-sIt is curious fact to recall
at this late date, but one not without
its significance that the inveterate financial
blunderings of tory Chancellors led to the
forcible separation Of England from the
States"
AS we have said, the expressions are
kindly and hearty as rule Says the Daily
Neus:-.'The Exhibition has the best wishes
Of all Englishmen for it's success" The
Daily Telegraph pauses ito express the sin
cere good wishes and unaffected pleasure
with which England sees her eldest
daughter grown to such strength and
stature" The Standard says the occasion
lis certainly matter of historical and po-
litical interest to the whole civilized world"
The Times, in an article devoted mainly to
the Presidency and the longing for purer
political life here, speaks of testing our
politicians ''by the lofty standards which the
development of popular government in the
New World within the last hundred years
exhibits and .enforces. All this is crafty
ing, and when we see the English not only
wishing our show success, but actually
claiming it more or less as their own, we
must feel doubly grateful Says the
Ne,cs:-"Of all the things which Eng
lishmen have done the creation of
the American Republic is one of the
noblest and greatest" 1t is enough to
make George I'LL turn in his grave to hear
such things; but as Englishmen see England
in Cromwell and Hampden they are justified,
in spite of all the Georges, in claiming kin
ship with the land of Miles Standish and
Benjamin franklin. The Ne,cs happily
calls the Exhibition "a vast object
lesson" The Telegraph dubs it one of 'the
Olympiads of commerce" and casts good
deal of cant from about itwhen it says, sthe
time is past when too much is likely to be
expected from enterprises of this kind in the
way of producing eras of peace" That was
one of the elusive ideas that it took half a
dozen European expositions with bloody
wars on their heels to explode. In fine,
England takes a racial pride rs well as a
commercial interest in our show, and when
an English writer improves on our euphem-
ism of "the late onpleasantness" by refer
ring to our war of independence as 'sthe
mistake of Lord North's time" we can only
call on the American eagle to scream as
gently as sucking dove in response to this
piaaissno roar of the British lion.