The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-12-23


opinion on the subject
OF an the answers which were return
ed. while many admitted the oblecuohs
urged against the phrase United STATES
| OF America as our national name per
haps only one expressed a DECIDED VIII
ingneSs to accept the proposed substitute
for IL. and even this one did so I'm IAN
euage of apparent assent which lowered
fearfully near TO irony. Il am neither
poet nor orator." says this writer. but
/ have "A heart TO pity the dilcmmas Of
those who are. and for their sakes,
wish to see some specific, brief, siGnih-
! cant and musical alias. selected by COM
mon consent for our country. The
! phrase United States OF America Is
time-honorcd and for acts OF Congress
and many other occasions. good enough.
| il may do for the Secretary Of the Urea
sury, the collector Of customs. and the
crer In the district court; but for the
relief Of poets and orators, ! 90 for Al
leghania."
THE PROPOSAL RIDICULED.
The answer from the Southern novelist.
William Gilmore Smms. sounded note
! Of warning. with respect TO the rdicul-
which the proposal would be likely to ex-
cite. And indeed some Of the rdicule
which the novelist predicted did not fan
/ 10 appear: as may be shown. for in
| stance, by the resolutions Of the New
Jersey Historical Society which were
written by a very versatile PRESBYTERIAN
| clergyman Of that period. Or. Nicholas
| Murray CKirwan.D:
Your committee canOt see any urgent
reason for any change in the name Of
J our common country. Whilst the United
| States of America is not as distinctive
! as it might be. yet we have 10 learn that
any Of our citizens on foreign travels
have ever found any difficulty in deiin-
ing his country. When he states in
| France. Italy. Germany England Cor
Prussia that he is an American, it IS at
| once understood that his home IS in the
| United States. If traveller is from
Mexico. he is n Mexican-if from Canada.
Canadian-if from Peru, Peruvian-t
| from Brazil a Brazilian, and hitherto r.
| from Texas. a Texan. Because we are
| the great power Of this continent the
| world comedies to Us the right, which we
should not yield, Of calling ourselves
| Americans. We take the continental
name. others the name of the states, re-
| publcs. or Kingdoms 70 which they be-
! long"
| Moreover. continued these rsolutiOn:
! 90 "As to the need Of an adjective for
| the purposes of poetry, we have name
| sufficiently adapted TO the object of the
MUSES.. What, IN a poetic point Of view,
| is II g superiority Of Allegh mia TO Amerl-
| ca2 The poet that cannot manage
/ 90 use An erica i'm his rhymes should hang
! his harp on the WILLOWS. lie IS not worth
/ being accommodated with Alleehana.
/ N. y. Hist. Soc. Proc. $50 Opp. Z2J-Z2l.)
Moreover. some of the very men VINO
/ sent letters of reply 10 the New YORK
/ Society. while declining to adopt the name
| Alleghania. expressed their willingness TO
| adopt some other name, IN each case was
| mentioned Thus, Gilmore Simms de
clared that he did not like Alleghania, but
/ would be delighted with Apallachla.
/ Then. Mr. Justice Story. Of the Supreme
| Court wrote that he decidedly preferred
| the name formerly proposed, Columpla'
| that he could. upon pincn. put up Win
/ Alleghania. but that II neither ShOulu
| prove entirely acceptable 10 his fellow
| cOuntrymcn, he would. for his part sus-
| gest still another name-the name Ncs-
! pcria-a word which. as he was kind
! enough t. explain, was derived from
| Nesper the evening star" and which,
as he added with equal consideration
would ut once indicate the western
| world Of easy transition TO an adjective.
Furthermore. another writer wished TO
| call our land The Republic OF Washing
! ton" "A name which. as he sald. misni
! be adopted by acclamation, ana whicn. III
! adopted, would he recognized ana ldenli-
| fed i'm distant land. and command the
! approval of the whole world.
| Now. besides all these proposals. IL
! should be mentioned that several others
| have been made within the present cen
| trry on occasions quite independent OF lt.
/ Thus. Francis Licbc prop, sed 10 give 10
! this country the name OF 'frecland, ana
! this name shared thc fate which had al
/ ready Overtakcn the similar name. Ere
donna" which had been brought forward
! for the same purposes many years before
| 10y Senator Samuel Latham Mitchell, Oh
| New York.
/ next one that / nnd Is that Ct Nichols,
| the author of the Life OF Sebanuan
! cabot. who suggested that the most app
| prOpriate name for our country would be
] of
/ nor # Columbus. neither of whom dis
! covered this continent. but Of Cabot. vino,
| as ne declared. dld discover n. ana, there
: fore. he would have our nation called
/ "Cabotia." But. IN reply to this. IL would
| be naturally said that, upon that very
| argument. We ought 10 3, for our name
| still further back into the past ana pro-
cure an dppcllatiOn which should do
/ honor 10 the NOIscmcn. who seem 10 have
/ discovered our country many centuries be-
/ fore CADET did Why not call this land
! Just what the Norseman called IL. Vim
| land? And proposals TO TINS erect nave
| been repeatedly urged.
AMERICA OUR NAME.
Thus. then. TO sum IL all UP, II appears
| that in the attempts which have been
made during the past hundred years ana
! more TO secure for ourselves a. new ma
! tional name. at least nine different names
/ have been brought forward with more
or less energy and authority-Coiumb ia,
| Allcghania. Apallacha. Washington y es-
| Ninland.
! But now all this story leads as direct
| " up TO the thought. which must have
! been often i'm your minds while the story
| has been i'm the teline-the thought which
| suggests an underlying and a historical
| principle-that these many attempts 10
! frame aud impose new national name
upon us were necessarily iutile-iutile ln
| the very nature OF things. they were very
futile because they were lu Nlolaitn OF
! this historic law. that whenever the name
| of a country or Of "a people has become
| name las thereby passed beyond the
| reach of reversal by any criticism what
SOcNr whether ass these are of original
| injustice. or OF original indehniteness. or
| of lack Of euphOny, or what not, the name
| has itself become AN historic TACT. and
! cannot be set aside by acts of Congress.
! by circulars of historical societies. or log
| the persuasi0ns Il literary men, and au
efforts TO replace such an historic name
! by any cXtcmporized or manufactured
| substitute are born with the stamp of iu-
! cyitablc failure upon them. and are sim
! ply prcpostorOus. The name by which
! country and its people are known ln the
world is always growth and never a
manufacture.
The question. therefore. u.s. Has our
| country as yet such a name; Has II on
| historic name ilas IL "A name not m anu
| +; ctLrcd for IL. hut horn TO it-a uama
| developed for IL IN The actual established
| usage of mankind; 1 DO not see how any
one can hesitate TO answer hat 10 has
| such name-the single word America.
not North America. which is the name of
! the ertiro continent but Amcrioa. whi,h
| Is the specific name OF our portion of this
| Continent and an This 10y usage which
! Atlantic more than two hundred and ufty
| wears ago. and has been 50 IDLY growing