New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-02-09
MR.. GEORGE AGAIN.
MS CALUMNIEs ON AMERICA AND HIS RE-
CEPTION IN ENGLAND.
- -, ,,,, prcrr An CORRESPONDENT OF TIE TRIBUNE
lihoh i"@ Iauuary u,

thing TO be noted IN u is that j, cih''" -
attack on his own country. Whatever he may say
.,,ol,c America contemptible and odious to Ing
lishmen. this American says. To people VINO ueiiSo
. ronuhlican form of government nothing can NC
more occeptablc than Mr.. Georges elaborate lam
noops ON American institutions ana American ma
tjopaI life This, for example when l cut hoih
review of the book in The Times
A, for the great railway managers they may We'll
say to use lnS When they want the power of
tLc nronle they buy the peoples masters. nc map
of the United States is colored 10 snow states ' ad
Territories 4 map of real political powers woulI
ignore State lines. Here would be blg paIch
representing the domains of Vanderbilt; there Jay
Gnuid's dominiOns would be brightly marked III
another place wOuld be set of the empire OF oisn,
ford and Huntington in another the newer cIipIo
Of Henry Willard the states anu parts Oh 1'tes M
own the sway of the Pcnnsyl wanna Iehui Woulu w
distinguished from those ruled by the Baltimore ana
Ohio: and so on. In our National Senate sovereign
members of the Union are supposed TO De ISspre.
scnted: but what are more truly represented are
railway kings and great moneyed interests, th0nfn
occasionally mine Jo9ner nom NeNa" e sntieTcd
40 buy himself seat for glory And the Bench as
well as the Senate is being filled with the hencnnen
of companies. A railway king makes MS attorney
Judge of last resort the great lord used 10 MAKE
his chaplain bishop.
Whether Mr. George be really an American
don't know but he passes for one, and the piqnahcy
of his carcature is due to the fact that the author
of il is supposed TO be libelling his native lanu'
There are Otncr passages NulCu Np""iiS
writer as a disloyal American; some OF them
amusing enough, though perhaps not in the way
their author intended. In arguing that democracy
lends itself as readily to tyranny and misgovern-
mcnt as any other system-more readily, III TACT
Mr. George discourses on Bosses" Making an eH-
cnrson. presumably his first. into Roman history
he brings back the surprising information that
Caesar and Imperator at first meant no more than
our Bossw and he adds:
We have already, under the popular name o.
ties and States. If this dey eOpment continues III
time there will come National boss we are
Young; but We are growing Inc day may alINe
when the Boss of America" will be 10 the modern
world what Caesar was to the Roman world
This present book appears to enlarge perhaps l
should say cxpand the doctrine delivered IN " FRO
gress and Poverty There it was the landowner
who was the fountain and source of all social Ills
Now II quote from Tie Times, capitalists mon
opolists and fraudulent despoilers of other mems
rights will be swept away. national debts will dis
oppear and each man that lives will enter upon his
right TO enjoy that portion of the earths surface
which is lnalienably his according TO the irrefrag-
Die and eternal principles prOpOunded in the Con-
situtOn of the United States. 1t is safe to say that
Mr. Georges appearance in the role OF rcpndlalor OF
national debts will still further reduce his following
nmonp men who have either fortune or character TO
lose.
Nor can it be affirmed that many men OF any po-
stion or authority adhered TO Mr.. George after his
St. James's Hall lecture. MI Labouchere' as we
saw. repudiated him from the platform on winch
they both spoke The press ridiculcd him. know
of no journal in England either important or re-
spectable which accepts Mr.. Georges theories The
one which seemed for n brief period most disposed
10 coouet with him. The Pail Mall Gazette, cut loose
from him the day following his lecture winding up
a plain spoken article with the declaration that
- land naturalization without compensation is
wholesale robbery plus can't" Men who are known
as land relormeTs, Mr. Fowler for example fastened
into print TO dssocate themselves from Mr. George
and TO denounce hi doctrine lie continued to lee
ture bnt could not a8ays I'll the halls of moderate
size which some of the provincial towns in England
have opened TO HIM.
People began to note that Mr. George smank from
answering objections. Rhetoric as much as you Ike
but of logic lis conceptions are such as would not
pass muster in a primary school. Intelligent WORK
men found ont for themselves that Mr. Georges
whole scheme rests a single assumption. The land
of England beinsists is Gods gift TO the people OF
England Isit7 How does lie knows Who gave |
him a commission to cxpound the Word of Gods
The notion of Divine Right is not popular one
among the workngmen of England. Nor is 1t with !
Mr. George if anybody but himself assumes to say !
what il 49, One of the counts of his Indictment OF
the National Debt of England is that it was III |
Cured in the endcavOr to maintain on the Cont |
nent of Europe the blasphemy of Divine Right"
alt is astonishing" observes Lord Dramwell, who
devotes half a column to Mr.. Georges nonsense.
what an intimacy is shown with the divine c0un-
sells by those who would justify what has hitherto
been considered murder and robbery" If Mr..
George be not in fact the dcposltary of the wishes
and intentions of tho Deity, his book is only so
much waste paper and his preaching empty breath.
Lord Bramwels short letter is as well worth read
ING as ANYTHING that has been written on this sub
ject and his questions such as Mr. George might
find it difficult To answer if he ever troubled HIM
self 10 do anything but thunder from his own
Mount Sinai.
aWhv." asks Lord Bramwell. "dOes not Mr..
George go TO his native country and preach the
rights of the red Indians, to whom the land Of
America was Gods gift " Why, indeed And why,
will venture TO ask my own account is the
difference in origin or value between Gods gift of
America to the Indians and Gods gift of Ireland TO
the Irishf If God gave the land in either case, it
can at most only have been by what lawyers call
quit claim deed. No warranty went with IT, Ii
would be blasphemy TO suppose that II Goa IN
tended the Indiaps the Irish TO keep possession OF
the land which, according TO His self-apponted
prophet was His gift othem, lie had not the power
10 preserve It TO them. But if He had the power,
lie has not used il and we are landed IN TINS Ill
lenma mat lie ana not mean Tue idI'u " Oo IL POI
petuai possession TO those whom He bestowed 1t,
that lie did mean it, but has been Overruled bv
stronger power. If the former be trne, Mr. Georges
theory yanshes If the latter be true, it also
vanishes, for God strong enough to grant,
but not strong enough TO secure to His grantee
beneficial enjoyment of His gift is an absurdity,
and title cannot safely be founded an absurdity.
The really important point is, however not
whether Mr. Georges lectures contain lite more
little less nonsense, but whether lie getting
hold on those TO whom he chiefly addresses himself
He is himself not a bad witness this point.
Snnakinn Inst night al Birmingham. he said Thorn