New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-26
CONSERVATISM.
,yn THE TRUE CAUSES AND SOURCES OF
EXISTING ANGLO-AMERlCAN
SYNlPATHIES.
London, Nov. IS.

London, Nov ID.
, x.lI ouote passage from an English pcriodi-
-, which ] saw to-day and ask you TO guess
,rhsnce il comes. The passage is this;
aOn the same day distinguished American.
A., David Dudley Field, made a speech to the
,hertv and Property DefencG~ League. II is well
'-..wn that whatever may be ~ case with liberty,
n,orerty is more severely privileged and protected
=, his country than anywhere else
This is not said ironically 1t is said in all
.,oeri,v. But who says it? Some English Radi-
~ .romored of American institutions and IDEAS?
H. the English Radical. it has to be admitted.
:. ~, no means enamored of American institutions
and ideas. His liking, his political liking, or
hat Is American. is in pretty exact inverse
r.,;o to his knowledge of things American. He
!. rt,erly and contemptuOusly impatient of that
.,;rt Of rational progress and that sober enthusi
. .sr, for ordered liberty which are most truly
,,nsrican. lie is very doubtful whether property
.rrh, 70 be protected, much less privileged. do
49,, know that il is in fact privileged in America,
h,, ne the word because it is used by the writer
rhom I quoted The English Radical is in any
Csc Of opinion that such protection as is given
.ught not to interfere with any of the political
.sN.mes which he cherishes which are rapidly
becoming much more social in their character than
political.
M | can think of no English Radical who
would be likely to write such a sentence as this
7 hardly know one whose regard for America is
much more than vague and sentimental feeling.
7. ia often genuine enough as far as it goes.
America is TO shim the Land of the Free, where
all men are equal, and on. or the real
America he has conception so imperfect that to
,ompete it would almost destroy such sympathy
as he has with us and our institutions He has
not vet grssped the notion of a social existence
where rights of all kinds are SO secure that no
considerable class in the community cares 10 dis
turb the foundations of things.
He has heard. of course. of Mr.. Henry George.
and perhaps there are Socialists in England who
imagine America to be peoped with Henry
Georges The picture is so appalling that | am
tempted to cancel the sentence but let it stand.
II Is well sometimes 70 put strain on the imagine
ton. Let us summon up our courage and con-
template calmly continent inhabited by siXty-two
and half millions Of passionate rhetoricians, each
with conceit in his head that society ought TO be
reconstructed. and that the first step toward recon-
etruction and regeneration is the wholesale plum
der of particular class. Were that true &C
count Of the situation in the United States,
nobody, Radical or Conservative, would be likely
to talk Of property being protected In CONT
mental lunatic asylum. If l mention Mr.. Henry
George now and then. it is not because imagine
you trouble yourselves much about him at home,
but because he still has a kind of netoriety in
England which makes his name convenient
synonym for the expression of all that Is most
irrational and Lost immoral in sociological politics
The truth is and the above quotation is
very good illustration of it, that as matters now
stand the sympathy between English Conservatives
and the American people in general is much closer
than rbe sympathy between Americans and English
Radicals. ! speak Of an Intellectual sympathy.
The points Of contact and of common interest are
far more numerous
For the purposes Of this statement will put
the Irish question aside Indeed am not using
the word Conservative in party sense; though
to q considerable extent what said Just now
might be defensible If did The question of
Home Rule will not permanently determine the
distribution of parties In this country. 10 goes
deeper than any question since the Reform Bill
Of 1889, or perhaps much earlier than that for II
is question whether che United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland shall remain united. OF
shall be broken into fragments
That is very considerable question indeed
We thought 1t considerable when we had to settle
q similar one for ourselves some thirty years
since. and spent four years in talking it over
with our friends south of Mason and Dixons
line. We did not then at least in the North,
think the name Of Unionst reproach. suppose
the Southsrners did, and they flung it at us pre-
oisely as the Home Rule party in England now
fling II at those who were ever their comrades
in politics. or 40 others, l was told to-day in
a Gladstonian weekly that my interest in British
politics had made mo Unionist | take no part
and no side in British politics. though IL Is difficult
not to have opinions But If / did, l do not think
/ should feel hurt by this use Of q name which all
of US Americans who were then alive were proud
of from / SCI to 1861 name for which a million
of Americans died. The English may say what
they like; An American Is answefnble TO American
opinion only.
return from this digresion-for which will
offer no apologize the question Of what is really
in this county. There are, imagine,
just as many real conservatives ip the Liberal
ranks as among the Tories. Just as many men
Of leading and light. to whom tho preservation
IF what is worth preserving is dear. Social agta-
lions have gone so far Of late-and never further
than during the last twelvemonth-that people
whose views reach ever 20 little beyond the events
u tine day are asking themselves how much they
IAN preserve IL events continue TO move at the
present pace. And they, more than ell others, are
Tie m6n VINO UuIu tl6u yes W 4Amcihd. lHcS
we're once taught TO believe that from beyond
The Atlantic nothing but warnings were to be
expected, warnings and perils of many kinds.
There was an idea that In America, In France
during the last half Of tie lest century, revolu-
ionary ideas were at work. They expected some
thing like general upheaval of society. and a
crash the like Of which the world had not heara
since 1889.
IL is needless TO say how absurd this was. or
On what complete ignorance of the conditions OF
American life such notion was based. But 1t
lid exist, and when the Rebellion came three
Ionrths Of the people of England, as we knew TO
,ur cost, thought the long-exected crash had
Nome though in a different way and in different
,ense from what they had expected. The aristoc-
'acy Of this country and the great majority OF the
middle classes, who just as strongly monarchi-
al as the titled and privileged classes, symp1th
with Disunion for very clear ana piauSioe
reason They thought 1t would put an end not
IN A.. Panuhljc onIv hut a those Republican or