The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1878-05-11

Kingdom. The Church of England
has jealonsly guarded her every right
and privilege, and while all the rest
of the nation, at times, has been pos
| sessed of the blind fury of the ;cono-
clast, she alone has been the great
conservative power whose business it
was to guard the time-lIonored tra-
ditions of the past. Yet here, among
the relics of her saints, among the
dry bones and dust of her poets and
statesmen and her kings, is little
tablet to the memory Of two humble
disciples of Christ, who in their day
and generation were despised and
cast ont of men; All honor to the
great Dean whose liberal heart al
lowed this memorial of tenderness
and love to bear to future ages the
testimony that all Christian service
and Christian faith is not confined
4.witliin the ritual of the Church of
/ England. 1t has been too much the
custom for travellers from my own
and other countries, to attempt to be-
little and ignore the imperial sur
roundings of this magnificent city.
The man must be madman or a
fool who can wander from day to dav
among institutions which glorify hu-
manity, and splendid charities which
dispense their gracious gifts with a
! lavlshness and bounty unknown in
other lands, who can see those impe-
rial collections to which the earth,
and the sea, and the sky in every
land hath paid tribute, and not
! acknowledge freely and cheerfully
! that there is a people worthy to oe-
cupy the position that they do, as ar
biters in the destiny of the world.
The child of the English beggar to-
| day can have fee access to such a
collection as the grandest power on
the earth could not have commanded
hundred years ago. Here are hos
pitfalls supported by individual boun-
ty, which hold in their free service
snch marvellous skill and knowledge
as kings could Only command If
man wants to find fault, there is
plenty to find fault with here. The
Briton Of all past time has manfully
maintained his inaiienable right to
grumble-he cliugs to it abroad and
he fights for it at home, and he loves
fair play too well to deny that dar-
ling privilege to his French and
American cousins. The great diff
Guilty appears to be that when broth
er Jonathan goes travelling, he for
gets to put New York .in one breeches
pocket and Boston in the other. The
ErnnGl,n.nJl ic nApaV.1In1 l..
Paris on the banks of the river Seine.
and the German thinks his lager
and pretzels more palatable in Vienna
or Berlin.
Here the contrasts of life are quick,
short and sharp. The tattered cos
termonger drives his donkey cart
under the shadow of the proud pal
ace Of ST. James's, and the ragged
beggar smokes his pipe among the
princely CLUB houses Of Pail Mall. On
all the great thoroughfares, shops
rich in priceless jewels and gold
stand cheek by jowl with dirty lit
tie dens, rank with the foul odor of
red herrings, stale sausages, and
musty tripe; the dividing lines be-
tween the lowly and the great are
gradually dring out. The rich mer-
chants whose argosies are bringing to
England's shores the untold treas
ures OF every land, are getting to be
the acknowledged lords of the soil.
The manufacture of Birmingham,
Sheffield and Manchester, the mer-
chant princes of London and Liver
pool, represent to-day the real power
on which England depends in its
hours OF danger and trial. | don't
blame the Frenchman whose heart
beats quicker at the grand strains of
the Malsellaise, or the American wan
derlng IN foreign land, whose blood
is stirred at the sight of the Stars and
Stripes; but ] should despise the
Engllshman who could forget for
moment the splendid achievements
of his own imperial race, which has
been glorified by the genius of
Shakespeare, the humanity of Will
berforce, the indomitable pluck of
Wellington and Nelson, the elo-
qnence of Pitt, of Canning, and of
Fox, and the great army of martyrs
who have offered themselves as u sac
rifiee to human liberty during the
past eight hundred years Of her ad
vancing civilization.
But good bye, London. Paris and
Il great Exposition are still before me,
and Trusting that | may be able to
convey to my friends few ideas of
thir character, / am, truly yours,
BR0ADBRIM.