New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-22

IN SENTIMENT. SPIRIT AND TRADIIlON
TIE UNITED STATES IS RELATED
TO ENGLAND.
To the Editor OF The Tribune.


To the Editor OF The Tribune
Sir: Now that a swift and uncomfortable cur
rent OF events has swept the world away from
it's old moorings and suddenly brought our coun-
try face 10 face with dangers. difficulties and
problems little thought OF but few short
months ago, we are but just beginning to con-
slider from practical standpoint questions that
were only recently supposed to lie exclusively
within the domain Of the phiIosophic dreamer.
But In any event 1t may be Justly said that
whatever may be the outcome Of the present
Spanish \ American war there In at least one fact
that in It's f0r-rcaching import stands forth
clearly above all others. and that IS that the
conviction has suddenly been brought home 70
a vast majority of the American people that
there IS an inherent similarity Of aim and pur-
pose existing between England ard America In
their relations toward the rest OF the world.
Looked AZ from The broad point OF view OF
world-compelling forces II may think he FUR
Their said that in this similarity sentiment plays
at least some part however great may be. and
is. IN" part played by enlightened self-lnterest
looking reasonably Ear into the future
Alarmed at The prospect. or rather at the
fact OF an alliance Dor withou, the position al
ready assumed by England our position would
be critical one,. our foreign critics. led by
Bismarck. are engaged in expoundng n
listening world that after all. we are not a So
called Anglo Saxon people What, then. are the
fac,s9
From tho time of the Norman Conques. 20 the
beginning u the settlement o, our own coun-
Try. "A period u about SIX hundred years. the
history OF England is equally the history OF all
u rs who are OF English descent and collateral
y the history. also. OF all our fellow country
founded in essentials upon the successful strug-
giles FOR personal. political and civil liberty
waged through the centuries on English soil.
end go far as our antcccGonts are concerned.
English soil alone The national character de-
,elopcd hy those struggles is part and parcel of
our inheritance. and the capacity TO assimilate
foreign elements shown by becomes but
additional tribute 10 the strength. solldity and
worldwide influence 81 the principles derived
from our English ancestry.
IN considering this subject II Is we'll -
member that the Americans Of lIiG were but
IN" political and In many cases linea de-
scendants ~ the Engllshmen Who stood for
liberty I'm lGiu and lGSN. and that nowhere is
this fact more ch.s rfuly acknowledged than in
England itself In the National Portrait Gal
iery IN London. England's Walhala, can he
seen. hung on m" line mot recently among the
great knglishm"n - his time. thu portrait OF
George Warrington.
OF the Insignificant minority Of Englshmen
to-day who honestly dislike or even hate. Amer
tea and lts Institutions Il will hc found that in
nine cases ont ~ ten they are drawn from the
ranks Of the political or actual des -endants OF
those who ia former centuries were willing TO
sacrifice the liberty and we'll being ~ their coun-
try 10 the preroEative ami claim ~ divine right
Of tho king. men whose theories ~ government
had they prevailed. would have landed England
where Spain row finds herself namely. In the
rear rather than in the vanguard OF modern
progress and civilization
And yet another consideration. There
doubtless IN America to-day hundreds Of thou
sands Of American citizens In whose veins. un-
known TO themselves. flows n least some parti-
Gle ~ the blood Of the sturdy English. Irish and
Welsh soldiers whose discipline cOustancy and
courage In The hour ~ danger turned impending
defeat into victory against vast numerical odds
on the fields OF Crccv Poitiers and Agincourt
In the battle ~ Crecy. the odds In favor OF the
French being nearly -four To one half the army
on the English side were Irish and Welsh light
infantry and archersI Add to these the Ameri-
can descendants Of the Englishmen who fought
dozen fields In England itself to uphold
their liberties against the encroachments OF
arbitrary power and the numbers may we'll be
swcllcd into the millions. and We can thus realize
that in our common inheritance Of NJ bic tradl-
lions the talk Of blood being thicker than
water" is no idle figure 81 rhetoric
In sentiment. spirit AMI tradition are. then.
an Anglo Saxon people. prepared To do the work
now cut out for in good old Anglo Saxon
Sly le aided by none more than 10y those Of other
racial anteccacnts whose Incorporation into our
body polite has made ~ them. too. political de-
scendants If the race from which we spring
New York. MAY % 1898. : l.. p