The daily gazette., 1880-01-06
Mr.. Bright ON Amertca.

A speech Dy Mr. brignt on free trau6
and on the SURPRISING excellence .of a
nation which repudiates free trade af-
fords welcome relief from monotonous
declamations on the crimes of the Gov
ernment. 1t is true that nearly all his
eulogies of the United States were in
tended to suggest censure of English po-
litical institutions. Even the acreage or
mileage of America was invidiously con-
trasted with the unfortunate narrow ex-
tent of the United Kingdom. Neverthe-
less, any other topic OF discourse Is pre-
ferable to the ..Eastezn question or the
Afghan war. The special occasion of
the Rochdale speech was the return from
an American visit OF Mr.. Potter, MEM
Der for the borough. He bad been
charged, as might be expected, with
complimentary messages 10 Mr.. Bright,
who had also not long since received
from the President courteous invitation
TO visit him at Washington. With
simple astOnishment which could scarce
ly have been expected from veteran
student Of literature, Mr.. Bright quoted
to his audience the well-known pas
sages Of various poets who had guessed
that lands might possibly be found to
the west OF those which were known to
the ancie mt world, The prophecies of
Seneca and Petrarch prepared the way
for the proposition that the discovery of
America by Columbus was the greatest
event in the history ofthe world. There
Is, indeed, not much to be said of that
part of the continent which is inhabited
by a partly Spanish population Of Indi-
ans; but Northern America is undoubt-
edly one of the greatest countries, and
probably the most prosperous country in
the world.
AS far as Columbus Is entitled to the
credit of having made the United States
possible, the achievement Is greater than
the donation of a world to CASTLE and
Leon which Is recorded on his tomb.
ssone in the Cathedral of Seville. One
element of the greatness of the Ameri-
can Union, and that which most strong
ly imposes Mr.. Bright's Imagination, is
its undoubted bigness. He says that
the country contains 100000 of square
miles, Of which large portion is fertile;
many, so many times as big as France,
and twenty-three times as big as Great
Britain and Ireland. Several single
States are two or three times as large as
the Unitei Kingdom, and innumerable
bales of cotton, which cannot be grown
at all in England, are produced, or may
be produced in Texas and other South
ern States. Only Mr.. Brlght's prefer
ence Tor American institutions can ac-
count for the delight with which he
dwells on the magnitude of such wilder
nesses as Decotah and Colorado. An
eminent American lately declared that
he wished for no war but one with
Mexico, of which the object should be
to compel the enemy to take back
lsrge part of the country which was an
nexed by the United States forty years
ago.
The possession of an unlimited ex-
tent of good land is undoubtedly ad-
vantageous, and IL is not always easy to
distinguish between merit and good
for une but the Am orleans deserve the
credit of having devils ed an elastic Con-
stitutiOn which enables the Republic to
extend itself without violence or inno-
vatlon as soon as Its vacant territories
are occupied and cultivat ed. No other
colonial system can pretend to equal
success but it is solely owing to geo.
graphical causes that Canada and Aus
tralia are not united to England as CAL
ifornia forms part of the Federal Re-
public.
If an admirer Of Alphine scenery were
in aspeech about Switzerland, to boast
that the mountains ofthe Oberland are
three times as nigh as Ben Nevis and
four times as high as SDowden, 1t would
be equally difficult 10 contradict him
and to understand the purpose of his
defamation. 1t Is probable, as Mr..
Bright says, that many persons now
alive will be contemporary with an
American population OF l00, 600 900. The
inferences to be drawn from the conjec-
ture or calculation appear not to be
complicated or instructive. The statistics
which might be quoted in proof of the
greatness in England would be the more
Impressive because they would apply to
one twenty third part of she area of the
United States. The small kingdom which
Americans are invited to ridicule has
double the commercial marine of the
United States, and 1t has q larger for
eign trade. Its Government rules nearly
| 200, 900, 900 of Indians; 1t exercises either
control or an honorary sovereignty over
colonies three times as extensive as the
| United States. and, above all, il may at
least divide with Colombus tho merit of
having founded the great Republic.
| Boasts of this kind are as useless as they
are stale; but they are quite as valuable
as corresponding expositions OF the size
| ofICalifornia or Texas.
Mr.. Bright proves with superf1uous
clearness of demonstration thathigh du-
| ties are nevertheless injurious to the
| Americans In general. Exported corn
has to pay double freight because ships
can find no oargoes on the return; and
| generally the Western farmers are COM
| PEELED to sell In the cheapest market and
| to buy In the dearest. Nevertheless thei Q
is no early prospect of change; for
those who are interested In the mainte-
nance of protection have fallacies at
their command which are quite plausi-
Bile enough to delnde superficially ed
ncated community.