New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-11-27
4 BEirISH OFFENCE or 4MEEIC1.
Prom The rail M1H Ga;,Re.

The Pdli NTA GdssNC
We may take a. granted that, except
in few centres Of culture. such as Boston and
Harvard, American life is, and for some time to
come must be- wanting in certain retiUcmcnts and
amenities These are flowers which grow only in
the soil Of old societies. You can no more expect
them IN young community than you eau expect
10 make "a lawn out OF plOughcd hcd N one
But even In thcsc respects we must see that
We compare things fairly. We must not go from a
Western prairie tarm tO "a London or Paris drawing
room, and then cry out that hfn IN the United
states - coarse and common. We should com
pare farmer with farmer, mechanic with me-
chluic, scholar with scholar. Farmers may
bs in n greater proportion to scholars IN the United
states than herr and they ought 10 be while the
land has need of them. BE the best few or many,
the Americans less entitled than other people
10 be- judged by their beat We must put the case,
then reiieHdO siBgHtd ,tHgEiis rs lawyers say. Are
the American farmers ideas and purposes IN lie 80
much more narrow, - much coArs ana comn9h'r
than the British farmers % 70 Justify rs III holding
him up as warnIngf DO American workmanship
aud mechanical invention appear to proceed from
type of mind sunk III comfortable dulnes'i Are
American scholarship and literature, rs compared
with the same Kind of work IN Europe. OF feeble
and commonplace charactcrf We do not much
think that the tn any one of tles" questions,
IL worked out, would go TO justify the Pcssmist
view. For the present we shall couiine ourselves
10 the last.
We are told that the Americans have produced next
TO nothing in litera art IL they had producod
much in art it would be little short OF miracle.
The materials for school of art do not yet exist on
the other side of the Atlantic for the simple reason
that all the great works of and architecture are
on this side. American artists have 10 work IN
Europe. and their country hardly gets crtdlt ior
them. But let that pass. In literature inc Chlcu
States have produced within this century two MS
torians whose works ION European affairs tOol pave
taken the first rank in their subjects; Two OF lhIce
considerable poets (some would say more, but we
keep within safe lmts); three or four humorlstS
whose hnmor has at least n touch OF genius ana
has a marked individual stamp III each case one
of the prOfOundcst and most original OF essay
writer's of this or any other time one nONellSt Oh
the first rank, and several who have attained popu-
larty here well Us in their own land ana InuCn
excellent criticism Of which we viii not Try 70
number the authors. they partly coincide WIN
those already counted his-ln new country
with no capital in the European sense ana WIN
literary production confined OF necessity 10 u lew
places And If any person of moderately goou CRU
ical faculty and moderately acquainted wlth the
best American literature be asked what are III III
principal characters, we are pretty sure lnat DC Wi
not mention cOmmonplacencss among theiu' DuI
we will take more special test. lhere are 'hos3
who happen Ia have examined with some care, anu
quite recently, the work OF certain American
scholars subjects in which they take
special interest. Aud these competent Judges
say positively from their own knoWledee
thus acquired that the besctting fault of American
scholarship IL the very reverse OF what II Ousn. "
be If the ingenious pcssmist were right our icAlou
friends the Atlantic, 80 far IRON De'ng Goih
monpace in their habit of mind seem TO an English
man only TO want little ballast oil coinmohRtaGo
to weight their otherwise eXcelont Inv MI .d
thought has certain over-subtllty anu eAaBBeia'ou
Then. as TO the terrible dead level Of uniformity,
one should hardly be called upon TO point OUT tnas
fortunes are more equal in the United states tnan
In Europe, though the average level OF eomIoI! 70
higher. And we trust that few educated Engiissni
men are at this day ignorant that tho United
States, as their name imports, are NOT one h
State, but many. The independence OF .no
several States in their domestic laws and govern
meut has its draw backs but 1t certainly fosters
great variety of local interest and great deal OF
wholesome selt-rehance in both active ana ihei-
lectual life. Finally. we warned by our clever
pessimsts with one accord against sentimentSllsln
and sentimental sympathieH. We Thoroughly agree
But we would observe that apraotoal man must mus,
take men as ne finds them, and that the great Duih
of mankind, in the great bulk OF their acti9ns' ao
at this day governed not by calculation but Dy sen
timent Englishmen and Americans will go on say
ing and feeling that blood is thicker than water
We would further observe that there may be such
thing as a sentimental horror Of being Thought seh
timental and that il is not mark OF strength Dus
the contrary, 10 be perpetually haunted by IL