Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-02-28
AN ENGLISH CRITICISM.

diminished monarchical rule.
AN ENGLISH CRITICISM.
Sir r. Temple, distinguished subject of
England, recently paid the United States
visit Itwas no flying trip. He came to
see and understand, and having long cul-
tivated his powers of observation, and
being a travelled and intelligent man of
slow Judgment, with keen sense of JUS
tice, his "ideas" regarding us become Of
value. On his return to England he was
invited TO address the people on "Amer-
lea" which lie did in a very thoughtful
and dispassionate manner. He compared
the scenery of England and America in
detail, and while he was lost in no enthu-
siasm, he was deeply impressed with the
scenic grandeurs Of our country, but found
in England beauties which we cannot equal.
his opinion, no where equaled in Europe.
Yosemite and the Yellowstone Park in
grandeur surpasS any other scenery, while
considering the broad expanse of water,
the oyerhanging rocks, the variegatsd
foliage, the rugged geological formations
on the one bank and the beautiful ferns
on the other the country craft, the painted
steamers, the life and the animation, he
said it must be admitted that the Hudson
scenery is among the fairest upon the
surface of the earth. OF all the rivers he
had seen in any country he never beheld
one in which the view presented to the
eye was so beautiful as that of the Hudson.
He Judged the. Mormons fairly and yet
severely, and there can be no appeal from
his conclusions that they are a most indus
trious but woeiully superstitious-ridden
and misguided people. But the most in
teresting portion of his discourse, which
was lengthy and exhaustive, related to the
Americans as people. Wequote at length
from him under this head-condensin
his language, howeyer-and the criti
cism OF this critics views will present
itself to the reader:
lie might be prejudiced, perhaps, in their
favor. He had received so much kindness
from them in various ways that ne must confess
he felt a great affection for them. They were
frank and outspoken and their wit although
not exactly refined like the polished rapier,
was never coarse. 1t was dry, pungent, and
fun of fancy and sarcasm. But the greatest of
their qualities was generosity. They were alb
| soutely generous. lie thought it was that they
felt nature had given them such Il magnificent
heritage, that they had such boundless re-
sources, and had wen their position SO nObly
first by establishing their independence against
so powerful a kingdom as Great Britain Though
they conveniently forgot that they would prob
ably never have won it but for the assistance of
France}, and then by maintaining II through
the bloodiest and most gigantic war of modern
times-a war waged with the utmost gallantry,
endurance, and virtue on both sides-that they
could afford 10 be generous, and there was in
iact nothing petty or mean about them. They
felt tina. they were prosperous they desired TO
live and let live; and they were glad when
other nations prospered too At the same time
they fancied thelf prosperity was such as would
never be equaled anywhere else. Then they
were absolutely fearleSs-a thing which could
hardly be said ofany European nation. France
feared Germany, and Germany feared France
little and England was rather afraid of all the
European nations, and especially of Germany
just now Americans had no such fear They
knew there were three thousand miles OF stormy
ocean between them and their nearest neigh
Dor. They had no fear of anyone except per
haps little of Great Britain. and they
knew We were so bound to them by ties
of consanguinity, by mutual intercourse
and by trade relations, that we could
not possibly go 10 war with them nor they with
us To, any other nation than Great Britain
they did not give the slightest consideration.
In their opinion there was but one nation upon
earth worth thinking of seriously. That was
Great Britain, and this they looked upon
their mother country and their best friend.
They calmly said, We are not going to keep
armies and nayies; let other nations do that
who have got dangerous neighbors. These
things are not suited 10 us therefore we shall
not 90 TO the expense of these costly arma-
ments." Another thing about the Americans
was that they were patient up to IL certain point.
The calm way in which they suffered abuses to
spring up, tyranny TO be indirectly practiced,
was most wonderful But they did so
| because they knew perfectly well that when the
thing got beyond endurance the nation would
rise in Its might and sweep away these cobwebs
with the broom of the ballot-a broom which in
the hands of free, independent and powerful
people swept uncommonly clean. Besides these
qualities the Americans had extraordinary indi-
viduality. Gigantic evils might exist in poll
tics, i'll society, and in many other respects
nevertheless every individual American
WORKING out his own forune-was carving his
own destiny. Whether municipalities were
corrupe, or politicians were intriguing, or the
| public REVENGE was msmanaged or countless
other evils existed which in England would
| greatly excite public opinion, every American
| knew he was managing his own business ex-
tremely well, and that lie was making his own
| fortune. Hence there was great individuality,
| great prosperity, great selfreliance, and all
| the civic virtues that made a great
nation. He haG great confidence in American
| honor and pu''i" spirit He said Americans
were always cTiticising England, but he
/ FUND in that no cause for offense
| than this, he held, because We are so in
timately related by language, commerce, habit
and blood to the English that we consider them
/ ofall Others, most worthy of our notice. Our
| criticisms were not always friendly neverthe-
! less ne assured his hearers that the feeling of
| regard by Americans toward England was in
! tense, and il lay at the very bottom of their
cept England, and no opinion they regarded
except English opinion. There was no criticism
OF which they were 50 sensitive as that of Eng
fish, but they were extremely anxious for Eng
liSh sympathy He went far as TO say that
they craved English sympathy, and were ex-
tremely jealous of criticism AS for English ridi
Guile, they could not stand IT, AS he had said,
were very truthful. If one began to praise
America to Americans Immediately they would
be very anxious that he should not have an ex-
aggeratcd idea. They would care to moderate
his transports by pointing out their own faults.
AS long as one showed that he appreciated them
in the main, they were very anxious that he
should be well informed of all their defects in
detail and that was very creditable. So on the
whole he said ii only rested with Englishmen
to rivet and fix ilnmovably the regard Ameri-
cans ielt for them, and great national or in
ternatioual responsibility rested upon all we'll
informed Englshmen to take care that they eX-
pressed their criticism in reference to America
in guarded friendly aud generous spirit.
SANITARY PRECAUTIONS.