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

ing reality only through the war oil ihde-
pendencc. -, l..
, TO prove this. ask you to strike In
| aTy where amCnL the English ana Anlri-
! lean State papers Of that perltu' am Dn5
the speeches made IN Parliament "lnyne
J tho political Pamphlets. anon W NV ',s
pare articles, among the PRIV nc 80 80
| spond, nee. and you will find that On Dotn
sides Of the Atlantic the .lnpi' "oin
ANA RIGA was almost always hs'u az tns
collective word Tor the eh'lrs tloapg 20 20
! thirteen colonies. and this continued 70
be the collective word for them ~ .nry
passed on into the confederation ana 'neh
I into the nation.
hat English usage was may be gain
cred from almost any passage Il TIE
I Speeches Of Lord Chatham. ~V Ms
1 Lords rejoice that America has resist,
ed" or II Is. Were ] an American "s L
am an Frglishman. while q foreign troop
/ was Landed I'm NV country J never would
lay down my arms ana so on Dy nun
dreds OF citations.
THE NAME FIXED.
What cur own usage was may be gath
cred, say from the tact mat the stamp
Act COngIess. In 1875. speaks OF me com
merce OF the thirteen colonies as AInSil
can commerce that the COn-iess OF 80
speaks OF It's constituents ds the peuPiS
OF America . OK parliamentary tdNalioii
as "a system formed e. ensiaNe Aihti'to'
affirming that to these grieNous acts anu
measures Americans cannot SUNNI. !.
]
Patrick Henry made his famous anu me
avowal Of national feeling: me ulstiIe
lions between Nirginians' Iennsy ~ aili"i,,'
New Workers and New Enslahu,i az.
no more. am not a NllHiii' l,,,i,ried M
American "a burst Of Drodd-nlhu'u "a
trictisn which had already peeh 'ili't,i
laied in the stamp Act tohsIesS ~ -
other southern delegate, - hilstolrl.,
Gadsdcn. of South Carolina. mere ot7.e
to be no New Englandman' no NfM
Yorker known on this continent bul az
of US Americans IN liH the pi'"ir'.l
TO the articles Cf confederation ueHtt 'y.
that year as "the second year OF tme lhu'-
pcndence OF America. IN los lhoila7
Paine, in a pamphlet read AT every pa
triOt campfire and hy every pablV1
hcarthstOnc IN the land, gives tutthcr eN-
preston 10 this deep movement OF the
! national consciousness: Our cllLehSHlV
i'm the United States is our natlohal 'uaI-
aCtcr. cur citizenship IN any pliu'uHi
state is only our local distinctions on.
great title Is Americans. Ana Wnen ~
last in 1888. this epoch OF nauohul SER
assertion reached ITS triumphant CLOS III
that renowned treaty Win IsHbiiti"
which conceded our Independence that
august document repeatedly applied TO us
the same designation. as ln thc'. tAli,s
sions: american fishermen. American
artillery and American Inhabitants.
Finally all these tokens Of the estab-
lished use Of the word American as our
national name found their elimination lh
the last decade Of the eighteenth century
I'm that classic passage ~ NaShil-l OF
farewell address. where ne luur Sp''Nl
10 his fellow couutrymen: "Citlzens. 10y
birth or choice. OF a common country, thdi
country has n right TO concentrate your
affections. The name 81 American. which
belongs 10 YOU in your national capacity
must always eXalt the just pride oil pa
Now since those stately sentences were
written I'm which Washington, following
the habit Of his daily speech. used me
single word American as our national
name nearly "a hundred years have passed
away. and the events 81 those hundred
wears. while they have Immensely
strenptherod cur consciousness OF na-
tionalify. ard. therefore. our need ana
use Of national name. nave llke"l f'
given still great celebrity and diuusion
throughout the world TO That particular
name. America" which has now had an
historic growth. I'm that special sense, OF
nearly two centuries and hall.
And without attempting 10 so INTO the
hOundiess field Of contemporary lIustra-
lions of the fact. / may al least ask you
to notice that the use of the single WORD
America. as meaning the persons ana
things of this republic, Is IN our time, ass
il has always been quite as much inc
act Of other people as our own. ana an
this quite ass much in their ccnsure OF as
and In their ridicule cf us AS IN their
praise Of us.
Recall. for a single example. those
amusing sarcasms with which Sidney
and again i'm $50 dashed a certain people
somewhere ia the world. whom he alluded
10 simply as Americans Literature,
the Americans have nOne-nO native lit
erature. we mean. II is AL imported.
But why should the Americans
write books. when six weeks passage
brings them. in their own tongue. our
sense. science and genius IN bales and
hOgshcadsy PraiTics. steamboats, grlst-
mills are their natural objects for contu-
rics TO come The Americans are
brave. Industrious and acute people but
they have hitherto given no indications
of genius. and made no approaches TO the
heroic either in their morality or char
actcr. During the thirty or forty
years Of their Independence they have
done absolutely nothing for the sciences.
for the arts Tor literature. or even for
the statesmaniike studies Of politics or
political economy. In the four quarters
Of The globe. who reads AN American
hook. or goes 10 am American play or
looks NJ am American picture or statue?
What does the world yet owe 10 Ameri-
can physicians and surgeons What new
substances have their chemists discovered
or what old ones have they anaivzcdr
What new consultations have been dis
covered hv the folesCOuog Of Americans
Who drinks out Of American
glasses. or eats from American plates or
wears American C00ts or GOWNS Or
sleeps in American blankets When these
questions are fairly and favorahlv am
swcred their lau9atorv epithets may no
allowed. but tiu that be done we would
seriously advise them TO keep clear 81
suDeratircs'
USING THE APPELLATION.
have Vcnturcd TO cah THESE sarcasms
of sidney smith amusing, Dut 4 believe
that our fathers ana OuE grdndfatnera,
WnD WINGED unutr them, dlu hOt 30 Hnu
tucIu. ulu uOl 80 eau them. InOsc SaI
ca-uIs draw smiles NOW, tncy drew blood
tntu. But why uld tncy Iney aluuc 10
"a people somewhere ana the Woild de-
scuueu mercy a- Americans Mhy
snOuld tine alluslOn have 80 excited the
people oil Their particular country ! ask
you again, when sidney smith was 80
paliy slasnlns with those Keen ANA gilt
teung steel rods of his the bare SKINS o.
a. certain people somewhere IN the woilu
WnOm he called merely Americans, why
was % tLat the Oniy people 10 al the
world WrltNtd under the operation were
just the people VINO hVed ia thls reyuD-
neg A. the word American was not
tas people some Zines say IL j. nop lea"y
established IN popular use throughout the
world as designating us. why ala not the
people OF Canada. Tor instance, or Oh
Mexico. or OF ItaZu, take "a part OF the
punishment TO themselves ana 81, a part
of the writing alSOy But they dli not.
And the reason Is that there was nowhere
any doubt whom the single ueslsnatlns
name American applied TO.
30 in very recent times. say 90 lN'i, tne
London newspapers were commenting
rather sharply on The lively interference
OF our Government I'm the affairs 'I GER
tain South American nations, ana IL is
interesting 10 note that those newspapers
invariably speak of other nations ~ the
western hemisphere by their local names,
ass Peru. or Lima, Chill or Mexico, or as
South American. but Of this nation slm-
ply as America. Tho Pau Mall Hazctte
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