The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-07-21
Fraternity.
An Englishmsn Upon America.

An Englishmsn Upon America.
| Rev. Dr. l.. ID. Bevan of Southampton, Eng
land, after four years ministrations In New
| York, on return to his former abode, addressed
his old friends in substance as follows:
lie stood before them after four years of res
idence in America, and it seemed 10 be neces-
sary that every one who visited that country
should give some account of 1t upon his re-
turn Having been an inhabitant of America
lived there, become part of its society, seen
the homes of the country, and shared In the
life of its people-he perhaps might address
them with some knowledge on the subject,
and though he might not speak with 50 much
assurance as those who had only spent .
month in the land, still they would be able to
place complete dependence on what he had to
say.
Inasmuch as the English-speaking people
the Anglo-Saxon race-were the great coloniz-
ing, travelling race Of the world, it was of great
Importance they should have knowledge Of
other countries, and be able to distinguish
which was perhaps the most popular to be
sought The question of the supply of produce
to England made the subject also interesting
to home-stayers. Under the present distribu-
tion OF land in this country 1t was perfectly
impossible for the people of the British Islands
to produce enough out of their own soil to SUD-
port their own inhabitants. He was aware
there was way by which England could be
made to produce good deal more, but it was
not for him, having washed his hands of all
politics, though he might have been suspected
at one time of radical tendencies, to enter up-
OF this vexed question. 1t became then, q
serious question, "Where shall the food come
from?" Many countries were prepared to sup
ply food to England, but the point was which
could do it cheapest, which was practically
nearest to the great consuming mouths Of
northern and central England? In America
he submitted, there was this country-lying
oOOO miles away, it was true, but what was that
in the presence of the great ocean steamers
now being built?-a country able to produce
all they wanted and great deal more besides,
able to feed its own fifty millions, the thirty
millions of this country, and scores and hun
dreds of millions besides, and a country that
was coming distinctly and definitely into COM
petition with the great produce market of the
world.
There was another question which gave to
America great importance at the present mo-
mept, viz, not only who shall feed the hungry
mouths of England, but whose hands shall
take the coal, dig the iron, forge the steel and
ply the busy loom; whose hands shall build up
the great editice of modern wealth out of man.
ufactures? There was time when England
was supreme in this matter, when she could
afford almost to despise all other nations; but
the day was coming when America would
press the English market, and his belief was
very clear and distinct that il its people could
only get over the stolid pig-headedness of pro-
lection and obtain free-trade, thef the Eng
lish manufacturer would find himself met by
competition most difficult to deal with.
Then came the imDOrtanL uuAStioD ~ ami
grafton. In all the history of the world there
Dever were such movements of population as
to-day-thank God! not movements Of con-
quering nations; but hundreds Of thousands
of quiet, sober men, patient women and hope
full little children, carrying the best sinew,
muscle and brain Of the European peoples,
were going across the sea and settling down
upon the great continent of America In IL
lustration he quoted the Significant stateman,
in the Daily News of that morning, that the
emigration to America since the 1st OF Nav
had already numbered 60,000 persons. This
seemed slight thing, very easily put down
on paper, but think what it meant! 1t had
cost the United States nothing to bring these
people up from childhood-they had not con-
sumed food on which there had been no return
in toll, and they had not taken anything in the
cost of education, and most of them brought
with them little capital: all these people, full
grown, full taught, tho most hopeful OF these
old nations going in great masses, multitudes.
in hordes they might say, across the Atlantic.
men and women. 1t was all very well to say
that England was overcrowded, but If in this
country they only kept the pauper, the help
less loss an ard the desparing, and they in America
ous-the men, and the women too, who were
brave CROUCH to cross the sea, think what this
meant in the future.
The reverend gentleman then entered upon
some interesting particulars as to the coloniza-
tion and mingling of race in the various States,
and showed how education was fostered in the
North as compared with the South. Thus, the
great war was conflict not simply between
anti-slavery and slavery, but between intelli-
gence aud nou-intelligence learning and igno-
rance, between the free public school open to
every child born into the State, and the school
and college open only to the gentleman's son,
and, thank God! in that struggle ignorance
went down whilst learning went on to certain
victory. This must be so always, and the only
thing that to him seemed to be the hope Of
England in the great future competition into
which she would have to enter was, as he be-
lieved, that her inhabitapss were becoming
the great instructed people of the world. He
thanked God, then, whe1 he saw their schools
rising on every hand. He didn't care much
about their iron-clads their arms Of precision,
or their standing array; but If they coald get
the common people taught, well taught TO
the last man, he thought they might
still defy other nations. The great danger in
America was the enormous growth OF un-
instructed people. If they could spread New
England ofer America, Europe might as well
give in; but, though education was widely
spread, there were great blots of absolutely un-
taught districts, and the large hordes of popu-
latiop to which he had referred had often to be
discounted by their want of education. This
remained as one of the problems before Amer
ca in the future, and he need not tell them it
would be all the more difficult to solve because
OF the liberty already enjoyed and the wide ex-
tent of territory over which the people were
spread.
DE- Bevan next enlarged upon the vast pro-
ductlvenesa ot the country, mentioning that
ehero were "noie -agions where seams Of coal
ran seventy to two n~udred and fifty feet in
thickness, and very near tho Snrface' and he
asked what would England do with her man
ufactures il under such condiJians Americ.
got fairly into competition with herr He also
described the vast river, lake and railway IA
cilities for bringing corn to the s,aboard lar
expectation Except for freedom of movement,
he did not think the railway travelling in
America was much better than in
England. He rather likeo the comfortable
secluSion OF the English carriages; but their
water communication seemed to him to be un-
equalled in the entire world He then gave
some interesting details as to climate; after
which speaking of the political condition of
the country, DIR. Bevan said he was radical
enough to believe in the universal manhood
suffrage there in vogue-indeed, he himself
went in for woman-suffrage too He was not
quite sure, however, that a paid legislature
was very excellent institution; for, after all,
If you turned politics simply into trade, men
would become politicians simply for what they
to pay its representatives sufficient to attaact
the best men, and therefore other rewards than
those of money must be sought for.
The Great Stone F ace.
1Samuel Adams Drake in Auoust Harper