The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1878-10-11
Mr. Gladstone on America.

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The Hon. William Il, Gladstone is
held IN higher honor in this country
than any other living Englishman-
unless John Bright be excepted. His
high personal character and his repufa-
ton a. writer, statesman and scholar.
Will ensure wide reading of whatever
he may chose to say. An article of his
~ the current number Of the NorfL
American Regie1c, on kin Beyond the
Sea" is Of especial interest TO Ameri-
can readers. II contains q candid and
philosophical discussion Of the politi-
cal institutions Of England and Ameri-
ca-their resemblances, differences and
respective merits. Mr.. Gladstone has
made thorough study Of American in
stltuhons, and his article contains none
Of those crude ideas or mistatements Of
fact which are generally characteristic
Of foreign writer's on the subject.
MIR. Gladstone begins with an ac-
acknowledgement Of Americas superiority
in resources, and an admission that in
the not lar distant future she will
wrest from England the commercial
primacy Of the world. , On this point
he says:
"She [AmericaI will probably be.
come, what We are now, the head SER
want in the great household Of the
world. the employer Of all employed,
because her service will be the most
and ablest. We have no more title
against her than Venice, or Genoa. or
Holland has against us. One great
duty Is entailed upon us-which we nm
fortunately neglect-the, duty of pre-
pairing, by q resolute and sturdy effort.
TO reduce our public burdens in pre-
paration for day when we shall proba-
bly, have less capacity than We have
now TO bear them.
The development which the republic
has effected has been unexampled in its
rapidity and force. While other conn
tries have doubled, or at most trebIed
their population, she has risen, during
one single century OF freedom, in round
numbers, from two millions to fortv-
five. As TO riches, it Is reasonable 10
establish, from the decennial stages of
the progress thus far achieved, series
for the future: and reckoning upon this
basis, suppose that the very next GEN.
sus, in the year 1880, will exhibit her
to the world as certainly the wealthiest
Of all the nations. The huge figure of
EI 900 ,000, 900, which may be taken
roundly as the annual income Of the
United Kingdom, has been reached at
q surprising rate; rate which may per
haps be best expressed by saying that
if We had started forty or fifty years
ago from zero, at the rate Of our recent
annual iacrement, we should have
reached our present position. But
while We have been advancing with
this porten tious rapidity, America is
passing us by in q canter. Yet even
now the work of searching the soil and
the bowels of the territory, and open
ing out her enterprise through its vast
lexpanse, is IN its infancy. The Eng
land and the America of the present are
probably the two strongest nations of
the world. But there can hardly be a
doubt, rs between the England and
the America of the future, that the
daughter at some no very distant time
will, whether fairer or less fair, be I'M
questionably stronger than the mother"
This extract will be sufficient to show
that Mr.. Gladstone writes in q friendly
and appreciative spirit. OF course he
looks st Republican institutions through
English spectacles, but the glasses are
very slightly colored. He does not
pretend to conceal his conviction that a
hereditary, constitutional Monarchy
has advantages over democratic Re-
public, yet he is unwilling to admit the
special advantages of the latter. His
exposition of the working of the Eng
lish Constitution has little in it that Is
new to intelligent Americans, except
his description of the relations of the
Cabinet to the House of Commons on
the onAhand, and the Sovereign on the
other. Phe criticisms made upon our
Constitution are, for the most part,
those that have been frequently made
by American writers; such as the evils
growing out of the frequency Of Presi-
Dental elections, the s'spoils" doctrine
in the Civil Service, the Independence
of the Executive of public opinion dur
ing his term of Office, the inability of
Cabinet officers to defend and sdpport
their measures in Congress.
With what Mr.. Gladstone says, there
fore, there is little fault to be found.
To what he everywhere implies We
must take . positive exception. His
idea seems to be that our Constitution
should be greatly modified in some par
liculars, in imitation of England's.
But our Constitution lis q growth as
we'll ~ that of England, and q general
remodelling of it, however desirable in
iheory, could not be brought about
without q political revolution whose
no man can foresee. That
he Presidents term will be extended
md the Civil Service reformed, there
,an be no question. It may be, also,
hat the Cabinet viii be granted seats
n Congress. Further than this we can
lardly go without danger; such other
hanges as are made will be the out
rowth of time and necessity. 1t is too
ate for as to dream of makiag another
or of suddenly and vio-
entity modifying the one We have, even
such course were desirable. Chroa-
re and Herald. Philadelphia.
In 1860 there were only ten respecta-
le clubs IN New York, whereas, ac-
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