New-York tribune., 1886-08-16
FROUDE ON AMERICA.
, LETTER PROM PROFESSOR R. A. PROCTOR.
vrH ENGLISH HISTORIAN DrCoMxs LIGHTNING
CALCULATOR

III, ,oad Amer,cnns at any rate. to attach much
lmportance to the bistoriau's special views s"o"'
me great communities Of Enslish-speaxinR peo"o
whom he deals with in Oceana." That ia'ai i'u''
which 40 many Ensl,shmen have d'so'ayeo !"
xriting about America-readness to pronounce
,,drueut on insuticien evidence-must incapao,
tate man from forming Just views about sue"
nrohlams a. Mr. Fronde undertakes to deal WIN
nd this fault Is perhaps more strkingly shown l"
q aOceana" than In any work which has toueneu u"
America since Mrs. Trolops latter keeping
bazaar short time in Cincinnati. when Cihc'h""''
vas in tie onter West and a fortnghfs Journey
from New-Yorkl undertook to describe tho i'o"e'-
tic Manners and Customs of the Americans
What for example should we think o' q"
American visitor to Europe. who after cro's'ps Wv,
Rhine and the Danube. in the course OF rsp'" anu
continuous railway Journey should give MS 'p'"-
ion a. to tho features which distinguish 'ne'e WV
rivers ON all othersf That would probao'y 'eei"
n daring achievement enough Suppose, however
he went further and undertook to pronounce d"
opinlou on the climate OF the midd'e anu o"''o
Kingdoms Of Europe Would not TINS DC r'e"'"'u
"a suricipQ TO destroy all faith In bis common
sense, Were he the most popular writer III '"o
States had be even--like Mr.. froude-esta' a'hsneu
n reput tatton as able historian would MS ia'e'
work marked by such incautious conclusions as
+hose he regarded as worth rcading' We know
n work. so far at least its way of passing from
,be recoId of observed facts to the expression OF
ill.d,gcsted opinions was concerned. But Mr
Troude goes far beyond even what have nero
imagined lie not only pronounces his opinion on
the Missouri and the Mississippi. bigger rivers
regarding them rs two than the kline ana
Danube after crossing each river once; he not only
decides what the climate of the Middle ana
Eastern States must be from the experience ot "A
single railway journey, but he ventures to dehne
and explain in "a single paragraph, and short one
at that tie characteristic qualities Oh inc "nOic
American people!
have myself seen more OF America thah h">'
Americans. have visited five hundred towns IN
The Eastern and Western the Middle and Southern
States TO say nothing OF the British Possessions
In many interesting portions OF the States have
resided for weeks. With the advantage OF abundant
opportunites for hearing. from those best able TO
Tell ne about The history and the characteristics ol
those localities. And | have been for more thah
two years a householder in Missouri But con
fe~- doubt whether even the most anxious ana
<rdt Gus study of the age OF the Iudors. added I"
these opporrnnities Cor learning something Of
America would have enabled me To form an o"iu-
ion about matters having ono-hundredh h part oi tic
generality of those respecting which Mr. Froude
cxpte.ses IN his " Ocenna" the most confident
ornions | shnui not like 10 have to explain III
paragraph or even in chapter the characteristics
OF the Missouri and the Mississippi l shonld want
n voiume at least to convey what don kh""
about the American climate. Aud rs for saying
what Americans actually are. and explaining ho"
and why they have developed their special CHAR
acterisiics. would rather not undertake either
task even though a score of volumes were allowed
me within which to wander over those wide
subjects.
Let us however consider what Mr.. Fronde
actually SAWS abou. America as G.s' nguished from
Ocesna-approacbIng the matter gradually lest
We be bewilderel by his daring, seen too suddenly
and startlingy. Passing without break from San
Francisco to Chicago, his first and only view be 1t
Remembered OF the great West, the historian al
Tndor times was able TO dcluce the following con-
cIusions respecting the country, tho climate ana
tie people: First there is little grand that fronde
can see anywhere In the United States except
Inc indonitablc energy Of the Americans them
Solves He iound only n lightly undulAtng
country generally open and untlmbcTcd. recla med
and cultivated. and hearing crops ut harvest time;
but crops sown and reaped by machines" Pc
tnrcsqueness of nature, grace or dignity III the
,vorts oC man are aIiks absent" The forest trees
are small and Insignificant, OF the Rocky
Mountains" "Ihc rivers Yes. the Missouri ara
Mississippi are grand rivers, If bigness makes
grandeur The mighty volume of their waters rolls
continent" But-Amesicans who have seen the
Thames below Richmond will appreciate the
sarcasIn-@ their turbd and yellow streams fringed
with unw hOesome pine-swamps, suggest only TO
the imagination that they are gigantic drains"
The rapidity with which the Iudolian grasped the
meaning of the Missouri and Mississippi, after
crossing one at Omaha and the other at Rock
Island lor it may have been at Kansas City and
Onincv that he crossed them for he has not deemed
il worth while to say b> what route he reached
Chieogol is ONLY matched by tie original nature of
his discovery. Rivers usually are drains, more or
less: and river which drains a continent is apt
IN he a larger drain than one which. like the Severn
or the Thames or the Tweed, drains only an island
But an average American traveller IN England
would hardly pretend TO recognize the draln-'lke
nature OF The Thames-for exaup!e-alter crossing
one of Its upper reaches IN tie course oi "a railway
run from Liverpool to Southampton. -ven the
sewer-hke character of the Thames below Rich
monl can ONLY be thoroughly appreciated alter Il
steamboat tourney from Richmond to brcen fich
IAlas, hear that the penny boats winch belong
TO nv earliest memories of the Thames lior was
born at Chelsea. within half a minutes walk of
Thames bank-in the house " here Carlyle died
have at last pecn killed by the Metropolitan aud
District railways.
Frondes rapd.ty Of decision about American
climate is still more wonderful; fo climate not
only differs as river does In different places. but
also varies than river does, in tue same
place at different times. Ii was the en- OF Aprll
when froude reached Chicago. nearly May yet
winter had not relaxed its bitter gasp. had not
seen q green leaf. scarcely green blade OF grass,
since we lett the salt Lake. Ii must be, lie goes
On-withoat "a break" with the Eastern and
Middle States as they say of CASTLE nasye ael
IarerhO tres del hJiernO mine months OF winter
and three of hell } winter Is long and harsh !;
summer Is br eff and burning"
Even THIS Is little, however. compared with what
follows After no other pause OF his daring course
but such as is required to comment ia halt a dozen
lines on the faiTe, climate OF Australia ana New
Zealand Mr. Froude proceeds as foows-starting
a nrw paragraph indeed. Tor a wonder, but solving
In tbe first half of II the whole problem OF tire
American race =" he Northern states OF the
Ilniou have produced men. Finer men are to be
fonud nov here upon the earth. But" what
foIows relates to the whole OF the United States
men work as they do IN America because work
8. tfe f.f mel sat and