New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-05-02
AWERTC1NIzJNG ENGLAND.


The Saturday Reriep says that English insti
tutionS are being rapidly Amercanizcd Sir
Lepcl Griffin says that American IDEAS. customs
and ways are all so detestablc that imitation of
them would involve degradation. Mr. Matthew
Arnold said Ut is tine. before he had visited u.s.
that Americans are only middeclass British
Philistines that the United States is England
over again. minus the " Barbarians and the
POpulacc' But while it might be difficult to
extract harmony from these conflicting views,
there is one fact which no candid observer will
refuse to admit and it involves IN inference
which no patriotic Englishman can consistently
dispute. The fact is that the imitation Of Amer
lean ways and institutions Is proceeding; the
inference is that it would not proceed unless it
promised an improvement OF some kid.
No doubt there is much that is English about
Americans. The blood and the race are one.
But the character and tendencies of the Amer
lean have been modified by his environment.
He has developed new fertility Of invention,
q new dizziness in political cXpedicnts, new
skill in the organization Of opinion, new
energy in the utilization of his resources and
because he has had free play for these new
faculties he has produced results which the
more crampcd and consequently SIower-working
activities of the mother country would have
REQUIRED much more time for. The boon OF
noble continent in which to expand has done
much for the American, and after period OF
that direct communion with Nature which liys
the rough and strong foundations OF vigorous
nations. he has not only caught up with the Old
World, but in some notable particulars has out
stripped it. The result is that while our adol-
csccutidle class is initiating the leisurcd golden
youth of England, the practical good sense OF
mature England is profting by the expert
mental knowledge Of America, and adopting
the improvements which the latter has intro
duccd.
Itisinevitablc that the Americanization of En-
glish institutions should continue, for Ourinsti-
tutions in so far as they peculiar, are the ont
growth of democracy, and tie tendency toward
democracy is the most powerful now in operation
in England. The philosophy of the age strongly
renforces this movement by bringing the high
est intellectual conceptions in support OF a
theory of government which demands full and
free expression, representation and oppOrtun-
tiles for all men. The dominant thought cur
rents of the time all flow in the same direction.
Step by step the old system, born of feudalsm,
nurtured in class privileges, Is being supplanted
by one which at every change apprOximatcs
more closely to that of the United States 1t IS
therefore simply inevitable that American ideas
and institutions should be copied by the English.
The present development Of this Republic
shows the natural tendencies of democracy
working in the AngO-SaXOn mind. When
England is ready to accept democracy in her
turn, il must be expected that the same race
characteristics will produce the same general
results. All evolution proceeds upon the lines
of least resistance, aud therefore the American
ization of England must be easy and natural or
it would not take place. SO much of it also as
does take place must be regarded is in the
direct line OF improvement, since 1t cannot, and
We are sure will not be asserted that the pres
ent English tendencies political and social, are
in the direction of decline and degeneration.