New-York tribune., 1879-12-21
AMERICA IN ENGLISH EYES.
THE puKE.oF ARGYLL's IMPRESSIONS.


LONDON. Dec. 4.-The Duke OF Argylrs First
impressions of the New World" in the December
number OF Fraser will dsappont Americans who
turn 10 IL for the views OF an eminent Engshman
or their own country. We are apt to think that the
New World means TO Europeans what 1t means to
Ms the United States only. We hardly less
ready to suppose that man like the Duke of Argyll
must have visited America with view of studying
what we call our institutions. But he did not. He
went to Ncw-York only because the ship in which
he took passage carried him there. "My VISIT"
says the Duke. was purely personal and private l
saw littleof men and nothing of institutions From
politics of all kinds whether Eastern OF Western.
il was my object to escape" How true this is you
found at the time. with some regret. III remem-
ber rightly the Duke would have nothing to say to
the dinners and other forms of public welcome pro-
posed TO him by eager Americans. We have long
been accustomed to think of him as friend.
friend he certainly was. and is in the ordinary
sense of the word. But neither he nor any other
Engshman can be expected to give the first place
in his affections to foreign land; not even If his
daughter be u resident on the same continent We
cannot fairly complain if the Duke had Canada
more in his mind than the great Republic.
Nor need we complain that he, beng In the mood
he frankly confesses should devote the whole of his
paper TO the natural aspect of tho country We
may learn something from his astonishment at our
carelessncsss in guarding the treasures Nature has
bestowed on u.s. He thinks prodigal and reck
less about Our woods. Nor is he the first to ms
friendly warning that subject. The wasteful-
ness of our forest husbandry has drawn forth domes
tic as we'll as foreign criticism The Duke of Argyll,
owning as he does considerable tracts of forest land
In Scotland is entitled to he heard on the snbJcct
He much admired the wooded country he saw. but
admired It, for the most part scenery; not as
forest In the European sense. He saw nothing like
the woods that stand around the stately homes of
England, yet any hedgerow timber Still
less he tells u.s. are the woods of France or of
Germany. where arborculture is n regular branch
of study where the maximum of produce 10 the
acre is carefully considered, and where every scrap
even the lOp and top, Is neatly collected and piled
i'm cords" Save in American cities and towns
where trees are planted for ornament, he found
hardly any indication of tree culture being at
tended to ut ALL 1t will perhaps surprise you more
TO hear that he saw nothing that could be called
fine timber" nor yet any woods which showed
care in thinning with q view to the production Of
timber in future lie might have stated rather
more expressly that his view of American forests
did not extend beyond those OF Sew-York State
an inference which the Briton but moderately
versed in American geography NAV fail to draw
from the article itself. But the Duke
was quick to note the secret of our
indifference and thrftlessness in this matter;
n
also of much else that is characteristic of the
American continent, viz, the over-abundance of
land as compared with the cultvatng and occupying
power of the settled population. Mr. Gladstone might
have thought of this while holding out As cons0-
lation TO the British farmer the low price Of land in
the older States of America He did not seem to
recollect what the Duke of Argyll states with ex-
plctness that In the United States it is not worth
while to cultivate any land but the bost. Nor did
-. -. xrha
the land he quoted at that surprisingly low price OF
$50 an acre had risen in price or fallen; nor
whether the instance supplied him illustrative
OF exceptional.
This dissatisfaction with the economical treat
ment of our forests did not blind the Duke to their
great natural beauty, which he praises "a heartily
rs the most patriotic American could desire The
scenery of the Hudson he declares far exceeded his
expectstions-a testimony which would have been
more instructive had he taken the trouble 10 define
for us the scope of his expectations. The beauty of
ii he recognizes as due largely 10 the woods. The
tree-plantcd cities pleased him not less. With
somewhat rash generalization considering the ex-
tent OF his experience. he arms that the streets OF
the cities of the New World are almost all avenues
of handsome trees the boughs meeting over the
ample roadway, their foliage everywhere con-
spicuous among the houses. and often giving a
comfortable rural aspect even TO the most
crowded seats of industry" He extols Albany.
and the view of it from distance on
the railway as very striking. Generazing
again. he remarks that the State House. like most
of the public buildings in America" IS large and
handsome. But the Duke is perhaps less of an au-
tbority on architecture than on arbOriculturc. We
NAV accept his assurance with less hesitation when
he observes that not the most skilful planting
in the great Places of England and Of Scotland could
show q moro beautiful variety of foliage or Il more
picturesque intermixture of field and wood than
may be seen in America.
The Mohawk country, through which the Duke
passed. starts him upon consideration of the Indian
question. There is nothing 10 show that he has
studied the subject otherwise than in the pages OF
the Memoirs of an American Lady" by Mrs. Grant
of Loggan, " very kindly presented TO him by Gen.
eral Wilson, on entering the harbor of New-York.
Such interest as he has in the matter
seems due in great part to the fact. which
he records. that this Mrs. Grant was his
mothers friend and teacher and that her name
was therefore familiar to the Duke in his early
years. Mrs. Grant liked the Mohawks, and the
Duke. "making every allowance for a woman's en-
thusiastc admiration of the picturesque in Indian
life and character" is disposed to like them too 1t
is not to be imagined that lady who the friend
and teacher of Duchess could go far wrong in her
estimate of savage life another continent. The
Duke has, / dare say, had his attention turned to
Indians in other ways. though he does not specify
other sources of his opinions. AT any rate he has
positive views. They would not be the views Of
the Duke of Argyll il they were not positive. He
is clear that the disappearance OF the North Ameri
can tribes is not a result of contact and collision
with the higher civilization OF the European set
tiers. Their decay is only the consumma
tion of process which had begun long