New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-03

tOnal ShVneSs and cOnStltnUObai luullAoI0hN' 90 w
accost stranger on such a topic, or few would
But during the eighty days OF President Oarllei"1
slow advance TO death, have seen almost every
dav some new proof that Englishmen looked upon
his fate as a matter of domestic concern. Ihe
stranger in the railway carriage did ask you how the
President was getting On. Tie shop-keeper aSNea
Won. The boatman on the pier asked The boatInah
wife asked. | hardly got lctter-eNeh ""N'
ness letter in which something was not Sall aoou'
the President. have the honor OF knowing d ven
cradle lady eighty-one years old she Degseu me ~
hiring her everyday news of the PRESIDENT not SAT
;as.d ,,;tb what the newspapers told her. | said
o,.r aud over again that | could tell her nothing
that was not told more fully III print. No matter
she wanted to hear it from American Ups.
The newspapers print, OF course what thef custom
ers want to read. They have continued TO puoliSh
details Of the Presidents progress, less copions,
naturally and necessarily than yours hut otteh eN
ceeaipg column in length. transmitted by cable
at shilling word, or perh'ps sixpence WHen-
ever crisis in the patients condition came, the
d;snotcbes were always fuller and commonly ac-
COMMANDED by an editorial article, intelligent ard
nrofouudly sympathetic This is true, not only OF
the great London papers nor Of the great provin-
cial papers only, but of all the papers great ana
small, which have seen, and as have been goou
deal ont of London have seen many. IL is true OF
papers Of every shade of opinion, political or feiig-
ous or scientific As you know, the medical organs
busied themselves continually about the medical
symptoms In all their comments there has oeeh'
so far as know. hardly a word that the dearest
friend of the Presi ent, or the most patrohc an"
sensitive American, need wish unsaid know thaU
Is n strong statement but 1t Is not maze hee"eSSN'
cannot express too strongly what feel about the
language of the English press with reference to this
oil ~ mo
iniury TO us from that in times past 1t ought
TO be blolted out forever.
you know what the press has been. You
have had an almost daily record OF Its
tenor: and the transatlantic cables, which often 90
so mucb mischief have done real service IN echo'g
from side to side the words III which EngnSh anu
Americans have expressed their feelings pu. 'no
conduct of the press cannot be too u'uch u"'"
upon What has been said here since the Iatal news
came is so admirable so suffused with sincere emo
tion so penetrated with fraternal sentiments toward
the Nation whose iustrOus Head has departed,
that could wish to all those articles collected
and preserved. They ought to form part OF opr
National archives. Many of them will be transmit
ted to Washington by our Minister. But tilere
ought to be at least one complete
collection in the Congressional Library,
if not in the State Department
NAV sum them up in the words OF The Pdti NdH
Gazette. TO which one looks usually for the most
convenient and compact summary OF opinion III
our epitome" SAYS that journal, I'VE have NOT al
TEMPTED to present a summary OF the observations
of our press To do would merely be to give
from every newspaper published to-day in Great
Britain and Ireland varying expressions OF sym
patby literally unbroken by single Earring
note. Such hearty unanimity is all but unprece-
denied in our history and bodies well for the future
union of the English-speaking race"
What | NAV call the mere physical facts of jour
nalism are hardly less striking than their sym
natbetic concord First of all, The Times appears
in mourning. Never before, far as l
know. or as anybody whom can ask knows, has
that striking tribute been paid to any person not
English. II has been universally spoken of as
most singular and remarkable occurrence. II may
,eem less so to your readers who do not reflect on
the extraordinary cogency of precedent ana
custom in this country. They are no
where more cogent than in the Of
ice of The Times but they have been broken through
to do honor to the memory of an American President.
More than two entire pages of The Times OF NedneS-
aay are occupied with this topic; of which
three columns are telegraphic and two editorial.
The other papers, with much less space, devote al
most as much to the President of them having
less than two leaders on the subject The
manager of one great journal said that whether in
or out of the newspaper world he had known no such
excitement and no such pressure of public interest
since the Prince of Walessilncss That, yOn see,
is the ONLY standard of comparison from whichever
side YOU look at this memorable demonstrations
Twill add this only with reference to the press.
Heretofore and especially of late years, when an
English journalist desired TO express his good will to
America lie has been in the habit of referring TO
Americans as of Anglo-Saxon descent as his kin be-
yond the sea- or perhaps as his cousins. All these
phrases to-day have dropped out and you read
instead of the absolute community OF race
and sentiment between England and the United
States Cousinship has given place to brotherhood.
We claim says the leading Conservative journal
of England in words eloquent az they are pa
thetic. to stand side by side with our brothers
across the Atlantic this sad occasion, to feel all
they feel to suppress all they would rather sup
press and 10 understand and share every emotion
through which they are passing" And again:
whether il was our business or not, we have
made it our business. Grief is of no nationality
but ties of blood and kindred can set up common
current OF sorrow; and it is only oh occasions like
the present that the people of the two countries
learn how closely allied and how intimately related
they really are"
On such subject as this the Press may be trusted
TO speak for the country but it is very far from be-
ing the only mouthpiece of the people OF England.
The Queen is still the Head of the State. Her mes
sages and most of all that last Outburat of w0manly
and wifely sympathy with the Presidents wife, are,
and win remain household words in America. can
only repeat what told you some weeks ago, that
those about the Qneen describe her as passing
agitated days, often talking of the President and
of Mrs Garfield, impatient for the bulletins, and
nervousy anxious for better nows when bad dis
patch arrived. Again and again she has broken
through the etiquette that hedges Queen
TO send her own messages, in her own name, and in
her own handwriting. 10 Mr.. Lowell and to Mrs.
Garfield. You may take it upon the best authority
that the Queens frequent manifestations of concern
are not only spontaneous, which anybody can see,
but that they are the expression of feeling which
has been the preoccupation of her life for these
a, IL v dav