The record-union., 1897-02-07


believes it will surnfount all difficulties
and Withstand dangers besetting it.
We have referred to so much of Mr.
Smiths monograph to give readers a
without of course, conveying an ade-
quate idea of the style and detail of
treatment employed With this glimpse
of our cratfc's views of us we present in
full his paragraphs relating to the
matter with which this article started
out. Referring to the war scare occa-
stoned by President Cleveland's Vene-
zuelan proclamation, and the unhappy
irrita tion in America against England,
lle says that the Venezuela matter gave
vent for vast amount of pent-up ILL
feeling against Great Britain, but
good hearty scolding clears the air
and good has come of it all. He adds:
My intercourse with Americans has
convinced me that underneath the fric-
ton and irritation which too often ap-
pear on the surface there is true AFT
fection for the old country on the part
of many The old colonial stock, which
preponderates in the Southern States
and is largely spread in the Eastern
States, are proud of speaking of Eng
land as the mother country. Most
powerful ties of religion and literature
bind them together; but it is equally
true that the vast Irish and German
element is not friendly; and the great
body of mixed nationalitieS from Cen
trail and Southern Europe can easily
be Unframed against country whose
ideals of life are quite alien to theirs.
Party politicians Will go great lengths
| to buy votes, and too many neWspa-
pers grasp at any weapon that Will
make a sensation. The press is a very
mixed power in the United States.
While there are some most able and
soundly written papers, there are
many which do not scruple to increase
their circulation by appealing to poor
and unworthy prejudices.
| There is, unfortunately, one cause
which underlies much of this irrita-
tion. The history books taught in the
public schools too often give the chill
dren of America the impression that
the main events of human history are
| the American War of Independence,
concluded in 1873. and the war with
Great Britain of 1S12-14. 1t need not
| be added that Great Britain appears in
those histories always in the wrong,
and THE Americans always right. There
is not pains taken TO show that the best
men in England protested against the
policy of George III. and Lord North,
and that the British nation to-day es-
teens George Washington as much as
do the people of America. 1t is not ex
planned that the England of last century
was governed by the aristocracy, and
that the England of to-day repudiates
the fatal policy of the eighteenth CEN
tury as much as do the citizens of the
United States. These truths gradually
become clear to all educated Arueri-
cans, especially to those who visit Eu-
rope But the children of the ignor-
ant foreign population get no correct
ing education afterWard. The neWSpa
pers they read perpetuate theSe preju-
dices and there is consequently Gre
ated a permanent mass of IL feeling
against Great Britain. 1 spoke Of this
to several Americans, who felt the
force Of it, and 1 think the time has
come when this subject might be APP
preached by the best men and women
of the United States as they approached
the subject of arbitration. 1t must be
apparent to all right thinking people
that it is undhristian TO SOW seeds of
enmity in the minds of the young
against other nations, especially when
closely allied in blood and religion. And
1 am in hopes that the lchurches in
America will before long take this
view themselves.