Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-24
TWISTING THE LIONS TAIL.
Inc brilliant Henry Watterson Not
an AngIomaniac.


land cling to their prerogatives, and the
Jury with which they resent the lnterpO-
sitIon OF Mr.. Gladstone's obtrusive liber-
snsm, Is In the very nature OF the case
ana not TO be wondered at in the least.
we may call the obstinate conservatism
OF the Tories ill-advsed. We may say
that larger and broader spirit would be
SAFER ana wiser. But instinct is some
tunes better than calculation-a kind Of
Judgment 10 itself-and instinct BIDS the
British ar1stocracy to beware OF cOnces-
sions.
The average Englishman is a snob.
FROM the Duke TO the costermOnger,
each order in this vast series of social
strata ticks the foot of the order above it.
ne little girl upon the London crossing,
Delhg asked II she had no higher ambi-
tlon than that Of sweeping the streets, re-
plles, ION, yes, sir, 'opes to be
,arlot'" John Leech's cartoons all turn
upon such moral incongrulties in
the English character. Nothing can be
more ldlosyncratic than his sketch Of
the two cockneys getting out of the
Gao at the fancy ball, the wife as
Queen Anne and the husband as the
Grand Monarque. The fare to and from
the Dali Is hVe shillings,a and they have but
TWO shllllngs between them, one of which
they have offered the cabman, who says:
"Wot is this fOr?' The English male is a
selfish bully. The English woman Is a
slave. The warp and wool of English 80
clety is sham. Thackeray saw it out OF
the clearest kind of cosmopolitan eyes,
and even Dickens was not wholly dead to
1t. But, whilst the purse holds out, it is
respondent indeed. The bully in the men
makes good soldiers. The power of Eng
land is undenIable. The slave in the
woman, when she does not elope, makes
excellent housewifery. The domestic
fabric of England is respectable and
orderly. But the church, the state and
the home built upon complex feudal
system depend upon the poise and
balance OF classes in the relation which
now exists, and which, with trifiing Incl
dents not seriously disturbing the personal
life OF England, has existed since Magma
Charta.
AS an American, have no right, and
certainly no wish, to com plain OF this, or
to crlticise it, Ii do not like it. as | do
not, can lump 1t. England was made
tor Englishmen. That with which, as an
American, | have some concern rs the In
fuence OF English thought and manners
upon America and Americans, and the
position and conduct of certain Ameri-
cans who come over here and appear in
English society. Touching the latter,
nothing could be more ridiculous and
offensive.
The best of Americans in England must
be as the least of Englishmen. The hon.
ors paid to man like DR.. Holmes, for
example, are mere squirt. They are
kind of self-love. If DR.. Holmes should
0utstay MS welcome he would soon find
the level OF the resident American, who,
on public and social occasions, IS but one
with the rabble. A Duke ranks a Mar
quis, and Marquis ranks an Earl, and an
Earl ranks a ViscOunt, and a Niscount
ranks a Baron, and a Baron ranks Baro-
net, and a Baronet ranks a knight, and
there the laws Of precedence fade into an
indistinguishable mass of the untitled
and unwashed, who come last at
table and are snubbed by the servants.
No American can enter such Il society. or
hope to shine in 1t, unless he falls in with
Its folbles and flatters its vanity, and, sub
stantially, denies his country. No self
respecting American can be easy or happy
in it.
do not speak without Amusement, for
| have had plenty of experience of Lon
don society these twenty years, and with
no private pique or feeling, tor l have de-
llvered no letters, nor paid any calls, nor
sought out any of many old acquaint-
ances, having come here for my own rest
and the instruction OF my children. But
the more | see of England and the English
the more am persuaded Of the irrecon-
cilable difference between us and them
and the more OdiOus seem to me the affec-
tatiOn and imitation Of Anglicism by the
American, who, having got a glimpse Of
the nobility, would straitway get him
self cOat-Ot-arms.
Few sights in art or nature can be more
melancholy than that of the American
woman who has married, or who seeks to
marry, a titled EngliShman. Ii there be,
1t is the American mother who comes
abroad and manpuvres for a titled hus-
| band for her daughters. | would have
| such a mother whipped at the carts tail.
Yet all through English society you en-
| counter them, the miserable Anglo
| American wife, the villainous match
making American mother, bowling and
cringing to nobility, no matter how cor
| rupt and vulgar it may be, and | do
assure you that the basest and cOars-
est specimens of humanity ever met in
decent company have been titled men. |
do not by any means intend to imply in
saying this that there are not as good
people among the nobility as among any
other class, though, relatively, there
are fewer, because inherited rank and
wealth are Over-given to self-indulgence
and Over-apt TO seek unfair advantage,
setting laws unto themselves beyond and
above the laws of God and man. At best
foreign marriage is dangerous ad-
venture. The American woman was
not born to be the doll of dam'd lord, or
to herd with the poor wall flowers that
decorate the great houses much as the
frescoed angels which appear upon the
ceilings thereof. She may have been
made to cook and to wash, for she may
step from the kitchen to the drawing
room, and has often risen from the wash
tub to the Executive Mansion. But she
is a peer and not vassal, and always
a woman, which she is not, never has
been, and never can be In England, or, in
deed, in any land where feudalIsm holds
its baletul, brutal and despotic sway over
the minds Of men and over the institu-
lions which men ordained. | would rather
follow the coffin Of 4 daughter of mine to
the grave, and see her laid tenderly away
in the little old church yard at home, than
to follow her down the aisle OF st. Georges
chapel to see her crowned with the rich
est coronet in England. If Europe wers
blown To atoms with dynamite tomorrow,
and amid blood and shame, and toe de-
structiOn OF all foundations, society were
reconstructed upon modern basis. the
world would be better off than IT would
be by the perpetuation OF this teudalism.
Happily the causes of progress and re-
form have other and better means of loco
motion, and, though its processes may be
slower, they are surer and more whole
some and less cruel.
MIR. Gladstone mas in his time done n