The Mineral argus., 1884-08-14
SEEN BIZ BRITISH SPECTACLE
which Enable Us TO See Ourselves as
some others See Us.

ATIH1I lACRANRN
Inv American papers. 1t is not latter
inc TO u national pride to have our
noIitical life denounced by an English
man. Here are a few extracts showing
the style of his work: The most no.
ticeabIe defect of the towns is the infer
;or character of the roadway. Paving
in America seems an unknown art; the
principles of Macadam have not crossed
the ocean and the paving generally
would be considered disgraceful in an
English village. Washington is IN this,
as in almost every branch of civic adj
ministration, the honorable exception,
and the reason is found in the fact,
which is as significant as any in Ameri-
can political life, that the District of
Columbia, which is virtually no more
than the city of Washington itself, is
not delivered, like other American
towns. to the tender mercies of an inef-
ficient and corrupt municipality.
Republican institutions have had a
trial for a hundred years and so far as
outsiders can Judge their failure is COM
plete. France under a republic has be-
come II Nv NOlu III IAuIOpO III NtdhilGSb
and turbulence abroad and financial
imbecility and corruption at home,
while America, which boasts of equality
and freedom, does not understand that
with the single exception of Russia,
there is no country where private right
and public interests are more systema-
tically outraged than in the United
States. The ideal aristocracy, or gov
eminent of the best, has in America
been degraded into an actual govern
ment of the worst, in which the educated,
the cultured, the honest and even the
wealthy weigh as nothing in the balance
against the scum of Europe which the
Atlantic has washed up on the shores of
the New World.
Nothing is more striking than the
patience with which the free American
citizen bears the insolence of office, the
rudeness of ticket collectors, the I'M
necessary violence of the police, and the
general contempt of every petty employe
of the government, or private compa-
MES, who, one and all, seem to consid-
er the public they serve as a beast of
burden, to be beaten or driven at their
pleasure. We are accustomed to this
official ag-gressiveness and petty inso-
lence in France or Italy, but it seems
strangely out of place in an Anglo Sax
on republic. For this temper is alto
foreign to the people. There
is 10 more kindly and considerate person
in the world than the unofficial Amer
lean. Hospitable, generous and warm
hearted, he will take infinite trouble to
assist a stranger and, if you ask him to
direct you in the public street, will
probably walk far out of his way to
point out your destination. But poll
tics have so demoralized Office that
with it's possession his whole temper
seems changed. The old wine of author
ty is too strong for republican bottles
and, next to being an official yourself,
is hardly a greater misfortune
than to have to conduct dealings with
one.
Nothing is more pleasant in America,
IL places the civilization of the country
a brighter or more honorable
light than the universal respect
publicly paid to women by men Of
Ill degrees. That their is in this some
hing of exaggeration, and that some
women abuse their exceptional privil-
eges, demanding discourteously what
men are ready voluntarily to offer, does
lot materially affect the question. An
American gentleman who resigns his
seat to q lady in a steamboat or tram
,ar, or who wearies himself In looking
her luggage and wrestling on her
account with railway porters, does not
lsk even the thanks which politeness
be eager to proffer. His action
las been disinterested, instructive and
satisfy his own sense of propriety.
The difference, in this respect, between
he French and American Republics is
indeed. A Frenchman will
'uthlessly turn a lady into the mud of
he street rather than step off the pave
nent himself, or will bride the railway
guard to induce delicate women to leave
heir pre-engaged carriage in order that
le may not sit with his back to the en-
zine. He will hardly assist a woman
n distress unless she be attractive.
The French, below the thinnest veneer,
re the most impolite of c~ivilized.races.
Americans, on the other hand, though
superficial polish, are worm
and chivalrous in the highest
The position in which they
AVE placed their women is the best
guarantee that the nation will outgrow
he blemishes which now disfigure it
will in the future attain a higher
civilization thar has been enjoyed by
ny people who have regarded the r
Intellectual and political life as the
Undivided dominion of man.
Hioh Tivers.