New-York tribune., 1880-02-22
rs OJJTELV SEE Is.

The London papers received utuIhE tHe p"Sl
week bring news of the impression produced
IN England by The action of the House of Rep
resent tIves in placing its hall at the DISPOSE
ton of Mr. Parnell. 1t would not have been
surprising If that proceeding had been inter
preted abroad as an afiront to the British
Government. Mr.. PaTnell, 1t is true, Is mem
Der of Parliament; but he stands, neyerthe-
less, IN an attitude of defiance toward the
British lion, and his declared purpose IN com
ing to this country was to expose the lmqul-
ties of British rule, and create public senti
meut against the governing body OF which lie
forms a part. Ii is a strange mission; ana OF
all the strange incidents attending it the re-
cent scene in the House of Representatives. was
perhaps the strangest and the most absurd.
But we do not observe that the English
press Is at all angry. On the contrary, it re-
CARDS the affair with provoking good humor
Journals which are habitually friendly to us,
like The Daily NctrS and The Spectator. are at
some pans to explain that the loan of the
House of Representatives means nothing /;
many an itincrant celebrity has had it before
Mr.. Pamen; and Congress, entertaining no
special regard for its place Of meeting, is not
supposed to countenance the various people to
whom 1t opens its hospitabe doors. 1t is dlf-
fcult for an Englshman, in whose eyes the
majesty of the House Of Commons represents
centuries of victorious struggle for popular lib
critics, to understand the complete indifference
OF Americans to the associations OF the Capitol
at Washington. Our friends IN the London
press, however, have tried to make it clear ;
and az q consequence Enghshmen seem to be
laughing at us. The Spectator regrets that the
invitation was given to Mr.. PaTnell. because
it tends 'to degrade parliamentary institu-
tons" (Which is perhaps rather stialning an
inference) but it concludes a semi -iocose arti-
Gle with the reflection that an insult offered
"by the House of Representatives counts for
(" less than a similar insult offered by the House
" of Commons, because the same self restraint
"is not expected of them. In plain words,
they are accustomed to do foolish things
from time TO time, and so each particular
foolish thing is of less moment"
That is not pleasant way of putting it, as
the poet says but we have only ourselves to
( blame if we are made the objects of a little
contemptuous ridicule. So far as Congress is
concerned, the mischief is already done but
there are other public bodies which still have
an opportunity to be absurd, and it would be
well Tor them 10 remember tndt they nave no
business to make the country ridiculous
Probably gentlemen like Mr.. Cox do not stop
to think how their eccentric performances ap-
pear in the eyes of Europe. The American
career of Mr.. Parnell has been seriously yet
quite honestly msleplesented in the foreign
press, not by inaccurate reports, but by daily
! cable dispatches which, while they may give
the facts without gross exaggeration, yet place
them in such lud crously false perspective that
the world imagincs the Irish agitatOT is turn
! ing the whole continent topsy-turvy. The
! chronicle of his movements, which most
| American newspapers long ago banished to the
obscurity of close type in Olt-of-the-way cor
/ ners, appears in the London journals as the
| one prominent topic of american news" and
| when Engishmen read, moreover, that MIR.
| Parnel has addressed tue House OF Repre-
sentatves by invitation, that he has been
formally welcomed by the Speaker, that a
special session has been held for the purpose
! of listening TO him. that municipal corpora
ations have passed resolutions in bis honor,
etc, etc, ETC., it is natural for them TO sus-
pect that the people of the United States have
! lost their heads. 1t would he good thing
for our public men if they read the foreign