The morning call., 1893-12-07
BRITISH HONORS TO LOWELL.

One of the pleasantest gatherings of the
day was the one which assembled in
Westminster Abbey in London on Novem-
ber % to witness the unveiling of the
two memorial windows which have been
placed in that edifice in honor to Mr..
Lowell. Some years after the death of
Longfellow his bust WAS placed in the
Abbey, and when Lowell died his English
friends, under the lead of the eminent
author. Leslie Stephen. subs ribed funds
for these windows. The speech Of pres
entation was delivered by Mr.. Stephen,
who spoke gracefully of Lowell as one OF
those who had passed the torch of litera-
ture from Chaucer to TennysOn. and who
was respected and admired in England as
If he had been an Englishman.
Mr.. Embassador Bayard made the reply
In one of his happiest efforts. He referred
TO the fact that twelve years ago In that
temple the man in whose honor the uD-
yelling took place spoke words of honor
and affection for Dean Stanley. ''the
guardian spirit of the venerable place"
Again, eight years ago. LowelPs voice was
heard when the bust of Coleridge was un-
veiled. Mr.. Bayard referred to him as
one who was master of the English
tongue, and also nd used it to bring the
people of Great Britain and the United
States TO better knowledge of each
other. SO as to replace suspicion by conf
dence and ignorant animosiy by friendly
appreciation. The last message of Lowell
to England was addressed to Thomas
Hughes and was In tue words, Give my
love TO England in general"
1t is pleasant to ind the English ap-
precIate SO heartily the author of the
'Bigelow Pai ers." No American ever
scored the English more mercilessly than
Lowell, when British sympathy seemed to
be going out 10 the Confederates. His
lash cut through John Bulls thick cutice
and made him vince. Those who can
recall the comments of the British papers
ON Lowell's verses remember the frothing
fury which they exhaled. II LowelPs
critics of that day could have foreseen
that he would have memorial window. in
Westminster Abbey they would have
thought the world was turning topsy-
turvy.
But the old narrow feeling of exclusive
nationality is losing its hold on intelligent
minds. The spirit which induced the
Paris communards to pull down the Ven
OOmC ShIuuu 10 III anu
infiltrating itself into the doctrine of new
political schools. Certain it is that
great discnverer or a great poet confers
equal benefits on all men, and that no ma
tion should be suffered to monopolize his
glory. Pasteur may be French, Koch Ger
m an and Tennyson English, but they are
all of them Anne ricans in the light OF the
services they rendered TO the race to
which we belong. That Americans should
claim Shakespeare is justified on the
ground that he belonged to the people out
of whose lons the Americans sprang.
Bat the poet of to-day and the inventor
who makes life easier and happier are the
feliow-coun ntrymen of all who share the
fruit of their brains, and are entitled TO
the same posthumous hOnOrs from all.
Custom requires that statues should be
raised to the soldiers whose victories are
emblaZoned on the historic page, and each
country has its list Of heroes in bronze or
marble. 1t is well. But il might, per-
haps. be better to commemorate The fame
of the worlds benefactors regardless OF
the place OF their birth; TO set up a statue
of DR.. Morton in Paris, TO build a monu-
ment to Sir Isaac Newton IN Washington,
10 give Jefferson an efigy in Vienna, to
find room in the Golden Gate Park for a
bsonze of Bolivar No territorial limits
bounded the souls of these men. They
lived for the world at large, and it is but
right that the world at large should re-
member them. In their choice of reading
the two great divisions of the English
speaking people pay no attention to the
birthplace of their fsvorite author. Long
fellow was more generally read in Eng
land than In this country; Dickens
American audience was far larger than the
audience he drew In his native land. Ter
ritorIal boundaries are often relics of dark
days. in which monarchs encouraged
patriotism to disguise tyranny.