New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-30
RECOLLECTIONS OF A READER
NY CHARLES T. CONGDON.
XII.
nn1x rcII ARACTRpISIICa.


ron rRApH-pRorsARI's OP1NIoN-vIews OF
s,nxxy arH, or soUTHEY AND OF DEfOE-
v~cfIsu ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OF THE
rBExcH-IIBELs ON NAPOLEON L-srERSES
CRITICISM OF ENGLISH NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
AND GOLDSMITH
Lacking over the other day the letters OF Dr
Arnold I was struck with what that phhOsopl'o"
historian wrote to nr Hawkins in 1888 OF his
country. ut seems to me-" he says that peoPlo
are not enough aware of the INDUSTRIOUS s'A'o VI
society absolutely without parahei Ill 'ho WIN"
with q population poor, miserable ana uesi''e'
- hod,. and mind rs much as il they were slaves
and yet called freenen, AMI having po"'t I' So
ot cCneerting and combining plans, when MAKES
than, fen times moro dangerous than slaves.
Aoaio IN 1S4O in writing OF the Chinese ~ar' the
Doctor ,rvs: Cannot anything be done. by pctl-
+,or ar otherwise to awaken mems minds 10 the
dreadful cuilt we are mourning! | really ITO not
remember in history of o war undertaken WIFI sui"
combined Injustice and baseness" This at once IT.
minded me of remark of Prince Eugene IN HIS "o'
moirs" "Englands commercial pollcv, ne e'S -
"Is always hardening at the doors OF I"iI'''iV,
The English, Just noble, uprISht' S'"
dividuols arc exactly the reverse on the score ol
tbcir country, So in 1882 Froissart wrote 1t IS
veil known that the mobiles of England will not, for
all the absolutism in the world. undertake any eX-
nodit;on unless such is preceded by offers OF
NANCY money which the spritual-mindcd Dr.
po,cv calls the sweetness of human toll the sub
ettrtc for coercion the recOncer of labor ana ND
ertv, an fills reminds Inc again of what Dr.
Franklin wrote 10 an English gentleman ia ZOO
| read with pleasure the account you give Va ''c
fourisng state of your commerce ana inah"iac-
lures and Of the plenty you haze oil resources 10
carry the nation through all its difficulties. You
,ova one of the finest countries in the world and II
Won can be cured of the folly OF making war Tor
trade in which war more has been expended IMAM
the profits Of any trade can compensate, you may
make it one of the happicst. wars fOr uaue
cngender selhshncss, and PATRIOTISM becomes hatlr-
aJlv q matter of personal r crest. Bentham takes
to task an English Minister who said: England
nothing but England-forms any portion of my
care OF concern" These phrases" says the phi
losopber shrew,lly are employed solely to Justify
wrong il that wrong be perpetrated Ivy tie land OF
Government which call our own" They amount
merely to Myself. right or wrong" A natural
result of this feeling is envy Frossart, writing OF
the English people, says: They are too envious OF
apother's good fortune, and have always been So
Tie chival1ous old chronicler represents the Eng
'lsh knights talking scientifically of the great
honor which the King of France had won at the
battle of RosebecGue, and saying: 1fa, by hoiy
Mary. how proud will the French be now, for the
heap of peasants they have slain. ] wish to Cod
Philip Van Artavelde had had two Thousand OF our
lances aud six thousand archers; not one French
man would have escaped death or imprisonment"
This gallant knight talks exactly like an Englsh
soldier or sailor in the time of Napoleon.
There was only one man in England who would
admit that the French cavalry was better than
the English, but then that man was the DUKE OF
Wellington. English superiority to all otheI
nationalities in everything, is the one point upon
which Englishnep, prone as they are to difference
OF opinion agree. VOltaire gave this as the result
Of his personal observation. There were always he
said two parties in England who fight with pen
and Intrigue, but let it be necessary to take ur
arms to defend their country, and they are like
Jealous lovers whose rivalry is to see which VIII
serve his mistress best. They never talk OF thai
country except with profound reverence Now and
than. however there las been an Englishman whose
love of speaking his mind is stronger than his love
Of country. Sydney Smith said that the besettinf
sin of Englishmen was lying and mentioned =
phrenologist who told him that it was sell
dom that he found the organ of consclen-
ti0usness developed in an English Uranium.
Watson Bishop of l.landah, was always "a
persistent gvowler, partly perhaps. because he
could not get translated to richer diocese
"Siammon," said his Right Reverence, :" is the 9od
Of every commercial natron its power is irreslst-
ible for it either darkcned the intellect OF
huntcd the sympathy of British parliament l"i
q great many years" This remark was made con
corning the abolition of the slave trade. SoutheS
fin Esprella's Letters " sumnel VI the contladic
lions of Englishnen in candid way: They love
war. bnt do not love to pay for the amusement
they revere the royal family yet caricaturc it ii
the mos; open and insocnt manner; they boast O
the freedom of the press yet Systematically punSl
the anthor who publishes anything obnoxious
they cry out against intolerance, ana burn uOWi
the honSes OF those whom they regard as heretlcs
they love liberty. but go TO war with their ncigh
bors because they choose to become republicans
they hate the French, yet ape all their fashions
while the common people, not to be behndhant
with their betters in absurdity. boast "a heartily
the roast beef of Old England as II they were NO
obliged to content themselves with bread ana poTa
toes IL is Defoe, an Englishinan IN every fi0r
of his constitution if ever There was one VINO SAY
that his coantrymen i'll railing at foreigners, forge
that they are themselves derived IRON the mos
scoundrel race that ever lived "a strange mixtur
indeed of Picts and painted Britons OF treacherOu
Scots. Norwegian pirates. bucaneering Danes ant
with q dash OF Norman French. He declares tba
of eighty Thousand English gentlemen whose name
and aims are registered there are not ten fanilic
OF AnglO-Saxon origin. Defoe goes ON to say tia
the Pct has made them sour. the Dine moroSe, In
Scot false the Norman worse; and Ito ends by de
claring tina. no danger pail their daring spirit
always provided their bellies are full. Yet JOIN
ufl took this puageut satire 80 kindly that eight
thousand piraed copies of it were sold in tho street
while William the Third. who had every reaso
for liking it, kept the author IN countenaneo fe'
not two years after Defoe was standing i'll the phi
lory for writing his Shortest Way with DlssenterS'
and he died, after end of persecution bank
L. h1pr WING only bV the CetrRhtft
consciousness OF having always spoken his ow
mind.
Perhaps there is no more familiar II foundation
losa r,th than that of British beef to which DefO