New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-07-06

II was hardly to lie app chondcd that Amer-
cans soj,uluing in foreign paitS would neglect
our anniversary Of anniycrsdriei Accordingly,
we have already !cpoIts of festivities public
and private in London, Lisbon, Paris, Rome,
and Frankfort, and req IT'S from other cities
viii dUuh,lcss follow. The Poles resident in
France, rcpg, scntaiycs Of II crushed though We
trust not an extinct nation lily, have done lis
the honor to issue medal hcarn" the p"r-
trait, of Washington and KosciU ko; aud the
newspapers OF Paris, of Lisbon, OF Berlin OF
London approximately noticed the occasion.
However gratifying may he any evidence OF
our good standing among the nations Of the
world, we suspect that the Declaration of In
dcp9ndcrcc, in 1716, attracted III Europe quite
rs much attention a. the event of Tuesday
last. In England, of course, it, political char
accr made IL the theme Of private talk and of
Parliamentary debate. In Paris, American
affairs were continually discussed in the cahl-
nets OF Ministers and the closet of ROYALTY in
the salons and boudoirs of the ariStoc'acy, IN
the cafe and the cabaret Germany and liol-
land also had their reasons for watching the
contest with interest, while Frederick the
Great followed the movements Of our army
upon his maps, and was full of admiration aJ
the ability exhibited by WASHINGTON iii his
Jersey campaigns The ill-fccng which all
Europe entertained toward Great Britain, and
which she did nothing to mitigate, made us
friends when most we needed them and even
Russia, under one of the most autocratic of
Governments, watched with interested good
will the successes of the American forces.
II is with different feeling that our Rcpuh-
lie il now regarded abroad. 1t Is understood
that we have become "A trSt-rate power, and
As such are entitled to respectful treatment.
We borrowed money of crowned heads and Of
States then, with no assurance that 1t would
ever DO repaid our financial transactions
now are with bankers and capitalists who
world loan us nothing if or credit were not
GOOD. Our alliances then had i'll them some
thing of patronage; they are now established
upon IA basis of perfect equality. ON foreign
ministers then were great men, who were re-
ceiycd with something of doubt they are now
too often small men, who owe the respect
with which they are treated to the prestige of
the nation which they represent. In 1875 orr
public existence was documentary; but to-day
there is not IA power in the world which does
not prefer our friendship to our enmity
This CONSIDERATION we owe 10 Our colnInanu-
ing geographical position, to our natural re-
sources, to our great and increasing popula-
ton, and to the military ability exhibited upon
both sides during our civil war. We have u
reason. not for vanity, which is always unrea-
sonable, but for a comfortable confidence i'll
our power to maintain for more than one CEN
tury to come institutions which are liberal
without weakness, and which will live by
their inherent justice without the subtlety OF
statecraft or the support of permanent mill
tary establishment. Heretofore we have with
singular felicity escaped war with foreign
powers. 1t is more than half century since
we crossed swords with England; it Is nearly
a century since our brief war with France. A
nation which upon the completion of hundred
years of its existence can show a record like
this, with only three foreign wars during the
period, one of them being with third-rate
power, and one ended almost as soon as be-
gun, may be justly considered as fortunate,
For this immunity has been secured neither
| by our insigniicance nor by our pusillanimity
aud we may therefore regard as among the