The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-03-07

Christian we must live together in
peace and love; that with nations as
we'll as with individuals in the words
of Lincoln, we must cherish "charity
for all, malice toward none" Well
will it be with us, if the birthdays of
our great national heroes shall teach
us this lesson.
In any case nothing is more sense.
Less than that England should be the
one nation towards which we chesish
hatred. To be sure she played the
part of tyrant toward us as colonies;
but that action of Lord North is to-
day regretted deeply by the English
people. Since the Revolution Eng
land has not always treated us well;
we can not readily forget her breach
of neutrality in the building of South
ern cruisers like the Alabama to prey
upon our commerce in the time of our
great national distress; but this &C
ton or negligence of her government
was not supported by the mass of her
people then and she has since sub
mitted the matter to arbitration and
paid the award rendered against her.
Whatever has been the case in the
past, today the bulk of English peo-
pie are sincerely friendly toward
America, and even proud of her as
their own child Let us listen to
these words from the London Spec
tator of January 25. "To large
body, nay to the vast majority of
Englishmen, one of the most painful
aspects of the present controversy has
been the evidence afforded that Amer
leans are utterly unaware of the
strong feeling of friendship felt here
for their country-a feeling rising in
many minds to something approach
ing passion. The ordinary untravel-
led American has clearly never real
lied that the old country looks with
intense pride and sympathy on the
daughters We know that within
the Union dwell the majority of those
whom Carlyle so happily called the
subjects of King Shakespeare and
we feel that the Anglo-Saxon race
can never give its heart its rights
unless the two branches are brought
into harmony, and America can share
in the glory of Nelson and Scott,
while we take ours in Washington
and Lincoln. It is not too much to
say that no class here, rich or poor, is
without the warmest feelings of sym
patty for America. An English pub
lie man who showed hatred of Amer
lea or insulted her in his speeches or
writings would at once lose his place
in the national respect-would be
drummed out of public life" To fur
ther show the spirit existing there it
quotes from a school book widely
used in England. One of the chap
tiers begins in this way: "We must
now say something about our duties
toward foreign countries. Before
doing SO, however, we must speak of
a nation which no right feeling Eng
lishman will ever call foreign. That
nation is the United States" The
book then deals with the unity of the
two peoples.
Now have we reciprocated this SEN
timent or understood it9 Do our
public men find favor or disfayor
when they attack England7 Do our
school histories inculcate towards
England this feeling of sympathy
and respect and unity9 There is
large class here, to be sure, that rises
above these national predjudices as
no doubt there is large class there
whom this friendly feeling does not
represent, but reading of this article
from which these quotations are made
will convince one that if it represents
the facts Alright English feeling to-
wards us is more friendly than ours
to them.
Near the close of this article the
writer says, "What can wedo to make
the Americans feel more kindly to-
ward uss We believe that the an
swer is, by getting them to realize
what we feel toward them 1t is the
prerogative of kindly feeling, if per-
sisted in to kill unkindly. The
Americans largely express ill feeling
toward us because they have been
taught hate and despite them. All
we can do is to persevere in giving
expression to our feeling of affection"
Now here is the spirit that should
prevail on both sides the Atlantic.
To be sure we have certain old of
fences, on the part of England to
forgive; but shall we not be Chris
tan enough to grasp the friendly
hand which is now held out. The
recent speeches in Parliament show
for us the kindest feeling and real