The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1896-02-06
CONAN DOYLE ON AMERICA.
From the London Times.

From the London Times.
An Englishman who travels In the
United States comes back, according
to my experience, with two impress
sions, which are SO strong that they
overshadow all others. One Is of
the excessive kindness which is
shown to individual Englishmen.
The other is of the bitter feeling
which appears 20 exist both in the
press and among the public against
ssAsssSu ", -ssssy "a lss ,ptekUat e0ui-
lition is only one OF those recurrent
cries which have marked the whole
history of the two nations. The
feeling is always smouldering, and
the least breath of discussion sets it
in blaze. l believe, and have long
believed, that the greatest danger
which can threaten our empire is
the existence of this spirit Of hos
tility in nation which is already
great and powerful, but which is
destined to be far more 30 in the
future. Our statesmen have stood
too long with their faces toward the
east. To discern our best hopes as
we'll as our gravest dangers they
must turn the other way.
AS to the cause of this feeling it is
not 80 unreasonable as Englishmen
usually contend. 1t is the fashion
among us to apportion the blame
between the Irish American and the
politician who is in search of his
vote. But no such superficial
explanation as this can cover the
fact that the governors Of thirty
american states should unhesitat-
ingly indorse presidential message,
which obviously leads straight to
war. A dislike 80 widely spread
and so fierce in its expression cannot
be expla ned by the imported ami
mostly of the Celtic Irishman.
Few Englishmen could be found
now to contend that we were justi-
fed in those views of taxation which
brought on the first American war,
or in the question of searching neu-
tral vessels which was the main
cause of the second. This war OF
1912 would possibly only occupy two
pages out of 500 in English history,
but it bulks very large in an Ameri-
can one, and has left many bitter
memories behind it. Then there was
the surly attitude which England
adopted toward the states after they
had won their independence, the
repeated frictions during the Napo-
leonic epoch, and the attack upon an
american frigate by lr tish fifty
gun ship in time of peace. After
the war there was the Florida dis
pute in the time of Andrew jackson,
the question of the Oregon line, the
settlement OF the Maine and New
Brunswick line, and, finally, the
hostile attitude of most of our press
at the time of the civil war. Since
then we have had two burning
questions, that of the Alabama
claims and that of the Behring sea
fisheries, eliminating in this of
Venezuela. The history of this
country, then, as it presents itself to
an American, is simply a long sue
cess!on Of quarrels with ourselves,
and how can 1t be wondered at il he
has now reached that chron
state of sensitiveness and suspicion
which we have not outgrown our
selves in the case OF the French?
If we are to blame as community
for some, at least, Of these unfor-
tunate historical incidents, we are
even more to blame as individuals
ior the wides read bitterness which
is felt against us. We have never
had a warm, ungrudging word OF
heartfelt praise for the great things
which our kinsmen have done, for
their unwearying industry, their vir-
tues In reace, their doggedness in
war, their unparalleled clemency
when war was over. We have
always fastened upon the small rude
details and overlooked the great
facts behind. In our shocked con-
temptation of an expectoration upon
the floor we have lost sight Of uni
versal suffrage and equal education.
Our travellers, from Mrs. Trollope
and Dickens onward, have been sur
prised that the versatile, hardwork-
ing men, who often combined ten
trades In one to adopt themselves to
the varying needs of aw-growing
community, had not the manners OF
Oxford or the repose OF Sussex.
They could not understand that this
rough vitality and overbearing en-
ergy which carried them through
their task implied those compliment
tsry defects which must 60 with un-
usual virtues. OF all English travel
ers to the states there was hardly
one who did not make mischief with
his "reminiscences until, in our own
days, Mr.. Bryce did something to
rectify the balance. And our want
OF charity and true insight is the
more inexcusabie since mo ono has
written more charmingly OF England
than Washington Irving, Emerson
and Holmes. Our Journals and pub /
lio men are In the habit now, - q
rule, Of alluding to America and