New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-02-12

npon a dunghill, that mlght 20 hs wv" a. W
chose to crow for IT.. o,.
Our refusal to have anything to say 70 Ou""
Mr.. Froude thinks sound policy
"The Americans looked at the island which lay
so temptngly near them, but they were wise III
their generation They reflected that 70 th'l nr
duce into Anglo Saxon republic so lns0ie abcs
element as q million Spanish Roman Cathoics
alien in blood and creed, with half mlilion oiacho
to swell the dusky food which runs too iui among
them already would be to invite an indigestion
Of serious consequence
And again:
America may not find it to her interest to annex
these islands, but since she ordered the French
out of Mexico, and the French obeyed, she IS uni
yersaly felt on that side of the Atlantic 10 DE INC
supreme arbiter Of all their fates."
The Hayti negroes, it appears, like to think Oh
themselves as good friends with France They
say: Hayt a republic France republic They
have q French bishop and French priests and q
French currency. Mr.. Froude heard that the
better part of the Haytians would welcome pack
the French dominion IL they were not a1rald 'ha'
the Yankees would disapprove." DO thac even
where we arc not loved. we seem to be respec%o
or perhaps feared. His guide persisted IN taxing
him To see as the most interesting object In the
island an American windmill pump, which hao
been Just erected TO supply Jacmel WIN iresh
water There is, however, one thng more III
terestinp to u.s. IL not to Mr. Froude. even than an
American windmill. There is saying IN fiayUi
that the white man has no rights which the olacRs
are hound TO respect. 1t is enough to make Judge
fancy writhe in his grave. Never did the irony
of events take more singular turn.
Personalities as well as politics have place IN
Mr. Froude's pages Nothing is too slight 10 es-
cape his notice. The clever young American who
is quoted above is described as ardent conildent
self-asserting but not disagreeably either one or
the other Then follows characteristic COM
ment:
at was rather pleasure to hear man speak
In these fabby uncertain days as II ne were SURE
OF ANYTHING and had to notice again as hau
often noticed before, how well informed CASUAL
American travellers are OH public AFFAIRS ana no"
sensibly they can talk OF them
In Jamaica he meets an American lady ana
gentleman and observes: Americans, whatever
may be their faults, are always unahected; anu
so are easy to get on with" And here is an
anecdote which will please the unrepentant slave
holder of the Southern States; or mayhap Colonel
Henry Watterson himself:
@The lady said, and without expressing inc
least dsapproval, tlat she hid fallen IN with an
old slave who told that thanks to God ne hao
seen good times He was bred IN gooo nome pi.
What the master and mistress had the slaves mao,
and there was no difference; and his master used
to visit at Kings House and ms men S Were seem a
proud Of him. Yes, glory De 10 Uod, nc hau Seen
good times"
Presently in place Of this lady and gentleman
came another American, a specimen of class OF
whom more will be heard in Jamaica II the fates
are kind" The English says this open minded
Engishman, cast. in their lot with sugar, and II
sugar is down they are down. Not SO the Ameri-
cans:
"Amerlcans have their eyes skinned as they
call IT, to look out for other openings. they
have discovered as I said that there dollars
in jamaica and one has come and has set up
trade in pantans IN wheh had ne or,cdg SEn hat
there were dollars In the bamboo and TOT pam
boos there was no place in the world like the
West Indies"
must leave Mr.. Froude to tell the story OF the
fortune his American friend made in bamboo
The bamboo man got on with the negroes. too;
did not find them At all unmana geable, as do the
English lie thought they might in the course Of
time become fit for political privileges, but not
now To confer such privileges on them now
would fling Jamaica back into absolute barbarism.
II said wished that more of his countrymen
would come to settle in Jamaica as he had done
and few others already. American energy wonld
he like new blood in the veins Of the poor island
He answered that many would probably come IL
they could be satisfied that there would be no
more political experimenting; but they would not
risk their capital II there was CHANCE of black
parliament. II we choose to make Jamaica INTO
Hayti, we need not look for Americans down
that way"
cans individually netter then in great numbers
in the music-hall slang Of the period not too much
Americans but just Americans enough He found
too many in his Havana hotel, where the dining
saloon rang with American voices in their shrillest
tones:
OF have liked well almost every individual
American that have fallen in with and come 10
know. They are frank. friendly open and alb
solutely unaffected, and they take cheerful views
Of life, which Is the highest all recommended
tions The distinctness and sharpness Of utter
ance is toerable and even egreeabl" in converse
Of them are together, oil talking IN high tone
it tries the nerves and sets the teeth on edge
The American Consul at Havana Gained his
nerves and restored him to good humOr. The
Consul was "a conspicuous figure" at the break
fasts and dinners given to Mr.. Froude. He was
"a swift pcremptrrv man who knew his own
mind at any rate. Between his Yes sir and his
mo, sir / you were ut no loss for his meaning
And the Consul told him q capital story Of a
niger" officer at Hayti:
"He had inquired why they let so fine an island
run to waste. Why did they not cultivate 1t ?
The dusly soldier laid his hand upon his breast
and waved his hand An he said that might
DO for English or Germans; we Of the Latin race
have higher things TO occupy u.s.
No wonder the Haytians think themselves like
the French
And with that good story must end my quota
TONS I have given by no means all the passages
in which Mr.. Froude touches on things American,
but samples only, and fair samples They are the
more interesting because the historian takes what
are called Tory views OF many questions. Perhaps
the views he takes Of America and Americans are
Tory. He admires the energy, the organized force
and many other things for which the United
States seem remarkable to Europe; adlnires, per-
haps, more than all else the wise conservatism Of
a constitution under which Democracy is allpower-
full, yet is not permitted to do things in hurry.
W.. S.