New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-09-04
PERSONALITIES.

,,r, AMERICAN NEGRO IN ENGLAND.
AND ALSO AT HOME-LoRD SAND
w1cH AND HE RADICAL CRITICS
SIR ELLIS AsHMEAD-BARTLETT
AND MIR. SYDNEY BUXTON
SIR T. wEMYss REID
AND THREE Grim.
MAILS"
London. August q.
out tic American Negro first among my Per
.onalnies He. II anybody, Is a personality, and
.ctitled for more reasons than one to precedence
md 10 a good deal more precedence than he gets
And II his case were less strong than 1t u.s. can
~, forget the Abolitionist days before the war
The American negro we are told. is coming to
England in large numbers. The authority al
LACED b. an English paper for this statement Is
none other than that OF the United States Consul
General. His statement is confirmed adds the
chronider by the steamship agents. They are
said 10 have told somebody. perhaps an inter-
viewer. that nearly all the wealthy "colored
folks" n America are sending their to study
law. nrdicine art. in London l hope not
ART che negro ought 20 have some natural
eft for art, and II he have. why should 1t be
aborio,Ey educated out Of him by the Royal
Academy or the South Kensington School:
II Is The Westminster Gazette which may
he called the daily edition OF Mr.. George
ysyness "Titbts from which I am quoting
need hardly ado that this Radical sheet. with
the usual Radical goodwill 20 America. suggests
that this emigration is due to the treatment
which ",he husky stepchildren Of Uncle Sam re-
ceive. even in the Northern States. Miss Ida
Wells has possessed the English mind with the
notion that negro lynchngs and burnngs are OF
daily occurrence in the United States-perhap s
even IN the Northern States. never cared to
Comment IN Miss Wellss proceedings In Eng
land Had she been a white woman she would
have deserved ceusure for appealing from Amer
lean 10 British public opinion on an American
question. But have always thought It optional
with the American negro TO consider himself or
herself under or above the ordinary obligations
Of American citizenship. The Fourteenth Amend
n,ent Is hardly yet a generation old. If Miss
Wells thinks she has better chance Of Justice.
or OF attention. here than at home. will not
blame her, We owe the negroes many debts
which we have not yet paid. and seem In no
great hurry TO pay II in truth the Fourteenth
and fifteenth Amendments are dead letter;-if
the negro Is not a citizen or has not the full
rights OF citizen. We have cause to COM
plain of his saying 20. even outside Of the coun-
try which does not insure him the enjoyment OF
the nights to which he has a legal claim
However, he may like 10 know. on the
authority above named. that in England his
path will be strewn with roses. He will not be
allowed 70 vote on landing, but he may mngle
with white students in hospitals and colleges.
he may occupy the best rooms In the best hotels
on raying for them. he may travel In frst-class
carriages. Other privileges more valuable than
these are open 10 him. and he will probably be as
.onished to hear that the English have little or
10 prejudice against color. Not so much per-
laps, at home as elsewhere. Have our English
cusins In India unlearned the habit OF calling
their Oriental feow-subjects Damned MIG
g>rs"? They used to do more than call them
q: they treated them so: and We may begin to
recognize their right TO lecture us when they have
lad aside their plantation manners In Hindostan
The newest target for the new champions OF
IN, new Socalistic finance Is Lord Sandwich
That not very widely known nobeman has been
taking a leaf out Of the Duke Of Devonshire's
Sook. He has been asked to renew his sub
scup,ion to a local football club In Hunting
do,shire and ne is said to have declined on the
ero,nd that the new taxation has reduced. or
vii ultimately reduce, his resources and those
OF his family. The occasion does not seem
YER important one Lord Sandwich might well
enolgh 50 far as his personal interests are con-
cered, have declined 10 renew his subscription
or night have sent less amount, and said
no more about II When / say his personal IN
tsrsts. assume that he dklikes being abused
IN the Radical press Very likely, however, he
does not care whether he Is abused or not. do
not see why he should. He is man OF some
sturdiness OF character, with reputation for
going his own way regardless Of the criticism OF
busybodies In or out Of the newspapers.
But Lord Sandwich s. attacked az II he
w1ote or spoke IN his character OF landowner,
and the old Radical prejudice against the land
owner Is appealed 10. There is nothing in the
published report Of his speech TO show that the
ownership Of land has anything 10 do with the
matter 1t may have or II may not. undouD'-
edly Sir William Harcourt put fresh tax on
land and a heavy one and this he did at a time
when agricultural land is the least rcnunerative
Of all possessions. The Chancellor OK the Ex-
cheQuer who Is an adept IN plausible phrases
Justified 1, not as new tax but as the removal
q an old and unjust immunity. 1t was only
putting real and personal property on the same
ssung
Whether that be 50 or not-and II Is at least
doubtful whether II be so.-the grievance OF
which the Duk. 0. Dsyonshire. and now APP
pa,ently Lord Gancwicb. refer Is the gradua-
ton and not the new Incidence. Of the death
duties II IL the Discrimination In favor OF the
poor and against the iess poor which is the
!onees, step ye, taken IN this country toward
State Socialism. The owners OF property make
very natural reply. Hitherto. they say We
have done much and spent much for others IL
We lad a surplus " wealth We have used H. or
. great part Of II. for the benefit OF the less
wealthy and especially Of our tenants ana
neighbors Your new taxation impairs our ability
10 do this You put US under legal obligation
TO hand over part Of ,@ur property 10 the state
Our moral obligatioa. which We have always
recognized. 10 spedid freely for others. Is pro-
portlonately reduced II the State takes our
money we cannot give It to the poor The classes
whose interests we have hitherto considered