The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1878-09-26
What nm English Statesman Know,
about this Country.

WIS tOuuils
There Is no reason why Mr. GLADSTONE
should be expected to know much about the
United States, but he ought not to write
about us without knowledge. That is what
he has done, however, in an extraordinary
paper printed as loading article in the
North American RerieiC. Like all Of Mr..
GLADsToNE's utterances, this is sonorous,
fluent, and pleasing delivered with an air OF
superior insight and wisdom, and IL Is
specially commended to American readers by
dash OF patronizing compliment Proba
bly, good many persons will think n sim
cere respect might have been better attested
bya careful study OF our history and insti-
buttons, and by an avoidance Of misconcep-
lions and gross bunders, some Of which are
so extraordinary that they cannot be passed
over.
II is In connection with our political frame
work that Mr.. GLADsroSEs statements are
most remarkable, but before citing few
Of these we may do well to note what he
says OF our social condition. In England,
we are told, inequality lies imbedded in the
base OF the social structure. whereas in
America 1t is a late, incidental, unrecog-
nized product, not Of tradition, but Of indus
try and wealth. Again. equality combined
with liberty Is said TO have been the origi-
nal groundwork Of our social creed. Now
II is plain that these assertions are not the
fruit OF patient historical induction. but are
hastily evolved out of the writer's inner
consciousness. During the first half cen
fury Of our national existence the progress
was toward equality and not away from it.
AT the close Of the Colonial period, for in
stance, 1t was inequality, as is proved 10y
the almost universal restriction Of the
suffrage by property qualifications, which
formed the groundwork of our social order.
Nor was IL the fault of the Federalists, who
left, as II was, SO deepan impress on the Con-
BtltutOn, that differences thus recognized In
The adjustment of the franchise were not
rendered more conspicuous 10y titular dis
tnctions. As TO the principle OF heredity,
which Mr.. GLADSTONE supposcs totally
alien from the first to American society, II
might have been we'll to inquire in how
many of the original States, and at how late
al epoch, changes OF organic law were re-
Quired to cut of entailcd estates. One other
point deserves remark. 1t is true that the
uncompromising republican, THOMAS JET
PERSON, was n slave owner, and there is
reason TO think the fact not unknown to Mr..
GLADSTONE; but he presses its significance
too far when he aiiirms that slavery in the
South wholly failed to check the thorough
application OF the theory of equality. Is 1t
possible that the English expremier never
heard of slaveholding caste, "A caste walled
of well nigh as sharply from the so-callcd
poor whites Of the South rs from the black
populations
But it is the English statcsman's view Of
American politics which excitcs the most
astonishmcnt. The object of his paper,
which, by the way, seems to be the initial
number OF a series, is to draw an instructive
parallel between the English and American
schemes of government. He proposes to
enlighten the readers Of both hcmisphcrcs
by comparison of the Presidential and
Parliamentary systems Unluckily Mr..
BAdEHoT had already done something OF
the kind, and the ex Premier, If we may
judge from the present sample, is scarcely
qualified to improve on it. The latter misses
altogether the true and fruitful ground OF
criticism namely, the substantial accuracy
with which, in most respects, except the
permanence Of tho Executive and Of the
Upper House. our articles OF confederation
reproduce the British Constitution. as it
was, or as 1t was generally supposed 10 be
in 1883. No intelligent comparison is pos
siblc unless this primal fact is borne in mind
aud unless the Federal Government is seen
to be upon the whole a stationary and
the British n mutable fabric. 1t is worse
than idle, it Is dclusiVo, to contrast the
amount Of change wrought in our political
structure by constitutional amendments
with the decisive revolution which has trans
formed an English Ministry from the APP
pointees OF n Grown into a committee Of the
House of Commons, and which has dwaried
the House Of Peers to- nullity in legislation,
What are the attributes of the United States
Senate, which Mr.. GLADSTONE estecms such
II remarkable body, the most remarkable"
indeed, of all modern political Inventions"
but the attributes which the trainers of our
Constitution believed at the time to be in
hrrcut in the British Upper House, And how
does the irresponsible position Of our Cabi-
net officers differ from that which the Col
onists had seen Lord Butte and other favorte
Ministers OF the Crown maintain in the teeth
OF hostile House Of Commons? Obviously
the easiest and most telling way to mark
the contrasts and concords in the English
and American politics would have been to
point out the changes wrought by a century
upon the British Constitution itself,
That is field in which Mr. GLADSTONE
ought TO be at homo, and whore lac could
scarcely fall into such ludcrou5 errors ms
di-tort his account Of our Federal system
We shall cite but one Of these, whose monu-
mental msconcoption makes further com
meht needless. The struggle with the South,
we are Informed for the first time and dcfl-
ntely decided that TO the Union, through its
Federal organization, and not TO the State