The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-04-22
OLD ENGLAND FOR EVER |!
SALT LAKE CITY April q, 80.

Editors Herald:
With your leave I renew my mo
ton in fayog of Old England. II
am nothing else. l believe l an
patriot of the soil, my native soil, ant
if, in the course of my remarks IL
this or any subsequent oommunic1'
ton on the subject, l say an oc
casional sharp aud even splIeiu
thing about this country, never &C
you mind, but have psteJce that
may say it, ard l will warrant that
plenty Of people will read my lucu-
h!ation, also taat some OF your read
ers will ike it and some wont. Be
sidee, whatever l may cay, 1t will
only BE- tit for tat, ioI msuy sharp
and spiteicl thing has been said in
this country about Old England, anG
once in while said, am sorry, very
sorry TO say, by come recreant Eng
lishman or other, to which unworthy
clRss. l am proud to tag, think do
not belong, and l certainly have no
sympathy Win suOh ehoroolers, Tor
their talk puts me in mind OF the
Shakespearean exclamation, 'HoW
sharper than a eerpenps tooth it is TO
have a thspkless child" SANDY
Campbell may be ready to say
again, 'Giyes US a. rest" when he
ought TO know that there is no rest
for the wicked, although a rest re-
mains for the righteous. "Cosmopol-
itan" may refer 10 the autecedents
of England and may be ready to
quote Lord Derby. Bat, then, that
noblemsn, Who is a gentleman of
ability, intelligence, and culture. and
is highly respected, Is nevertheless
somewhat Eombre minded and is
Withal little bit of a croaker. AZ ID
antecedents, I know of no nation
whose antecedents will bear very close
inspec ion. Consequently, in speak-
ing of rational virtues and
vices it is rather relatively
than absolutely. Shakespeare says,
Use every man after his desert, and
who shall escape whippingr" Scrip.
ture says, There is none that doetn
coed, no not one." These aphorisiic
sentences are as applicable to nations
as to Individuals, and IL each case
are 10 be understood not in q relative,
but in an absolute sense. For, never
the less. some men and nations are
better than others, and I certainly
think that Old England stands in the
front rank Of nations in many credit
eble things.
OF late years there have been some
melancholy croakings concerning the
alleged decadence of Old England.
But all that sort OF thing is not new
thing | have heard such things ever
since l was boy. They come with
every wide streak of bad trade, every
time of general business depression.
In regard to this confirmed habit of
oroaking about the decadence of Old
England, I said that [ had heard OF
it as long as I could remember. But
it is much older than that. Permit
me to quote from prominent British
periodical: sin ordinary times,
when 10 great issues agitate the
public mind, Earl Stsnhope's remark,
in his History Of England, may be
accepted az true: .l4nU 91ro a Iosu
20 p5pumrlty has it always been, to
tell US that we are the most Wrelched
and ill-governed people upon the face
OF the earthl'" Fox spoke of the
younger Pitt and his colleagues as
determined to push Great Britain to
the verge OF ruin " Speaking of
the Chatham Observation-Disclosures 80
successful that, rs had been truly
said, opposite parties have pointed to
it with applause. eager to claim It's
principles as their ovn-LOrd Chester
field moaned, L am sure we are
undone both at home and abroad; at
home, by cur increasing debt and
expenses-abroad, by our ill-luck aud
incapacity. We are no longer a
nation. never yet saw so dreadful
prospect" Horace Walpole
declared, 1t is time for England to
slip her cables and float away into
some unknown ocean
Yet England has made great pre-
gress aad has had great prosperity
since those days, Sh, has not gone
to the dogs yet. and have heard
that Joseph Smith, the Mormon
prophet, declared that she would be
one of the very last nations thai
would 90 to the dogs, which am In
cllned to believe, whether he said it Oh
not, and that because she deserves 6
long lease of life, for what would the
world be without her? l should very
much like to know. Yes, she de,
serves a long lease of life, if any ma
ton does. Not that she is nationally
! Immaculate, but then che comes al
near that as'any nation does.
A quarter of century ago an Eng
lish merchant, well known then II
, this city, returned hence 10 tina
country. In conversation he re
, marked that when he reached New
} York, going eastward, he thought
: on reading the newspapers and tn
bulletin boards, that Old Englant
: was fast going to pieces, if it had no
r already gone. But when he landeI
l at Liverpool, he found things jus
J about as be left them when he wen
8 to America.
Not a dozen years ago, talking wit
D an Intelligent workingman in larg
j manufacturing town In a midland
4 county, be told me that he though
: the Workingmen of England wei
: never better off than at that time. L
:. that selisame town of $4,000 or so
G COO inhabitants, fall half as many 6
e this territory contains, it was vel
'e difficult to find an empty house, an
J, if one was vacated it was snapped u
% Immediately, and generally hous'
7 were taken by new tenants before II
Of old ones went out.
u On the same steamer on which
t, crossed the Atlantic from New Yol
le to Liverpool few years ago, was
G. intelligent Canadian of somethir
ut less than middle age. 1t was /
BE first visit to the cid country. l /
al member well HE lock of blank
r. toniahment at the miles OF cold sto
d. docks, and the forest OF shippil
ot therein, which be saw at the latt
e port. They gave him an alm'
overwhelming idea OF the weal'
greatness, thoroughness, solldlty a
substantially OF the British Empi
The entire appearance OF things y
so utterly different to the temperf
and riekosty fcnco pole and plal