Washington sentinel., 1898-08-13
THE CONTINENTAL DISLIKE OF AMRRt-
CANS.
London Spectator.

OF the Continent is genuinelY untrienulY
to America The Governments, OF
course, are iairly civil, but even they
are beginning to talk among themselves,
or sometimes openly, as in the Count
Golu uchowskPs speech, OF the Trans
oceanic peril" but Of the general aris.
tocrstic, middle class, and, indeed,
popular feeling, there can DE little
doubt. In newspapers, in clubs, in
society, even in the streets, the dislike
of Americans, the wish that they might
De defeated, the desire, if it were only
safe, to give them some savage snub is
unmistakable. Everybody out of office
on the Continent sides with Spain;
everybody accepts stories to American
discredlt without inquiry; everybody
assumes that IN settling terms of peace
America is bound to be gentle and self
denying, and to abstain from acquiring
anything which she did not previously
say she intended to acquire. There is
an indignant surprise at the idea of her
keeping the Philippines, or having the
presumption to ask ior Porto Rico. In
fact the disposition betrayed by the
Russian Journalist who calls the defeat
of Admiral Cervera in battle which
the same admiral is extolled for chal-
lenging "a butShery," is the disposition
of the majority Of Continental men.
They apologize for their dislike some
times, as indiscreet or even unjustifable,
but they ieel it, and that very deeply.
That is a state OF opinion which may
one day gravely affect the politics OF
the world, and, indeed, affects them
now, and it is worth while to inquire
what it exactly means, and how far it is
likely to be permanent. We see no
reason 10 believe that it is a passing
gust OF emotion. The Continental peo
pies are not devoted to Spain, and ex'
cept in France for pecuniary reasons,
are notinterested in her prosperity. She
is Catholic no doubt, and the United
States are Protestant; and there IS a
s0kaay-iks of Catholicism, but it is very
limited force in modern politics, and
does not prevent Austria from leaguing
ness with the chief of Continental
Powers Italy is not so devoted to the
Pope that his interests affect her Judg-
ment, and in Russia the usual trend OF
feeling is distinctively anti-Catholic-
one res son for the severity always dis.
played to Poland. Nor can we believe
that the unfriendliness is merely a
manifestation OF dislike for republics.
The America of which the Continent
has any knowl dge or recollection never
was monarchial, and even ifit had been,
nations do not geatly care about the
institutions under which other nations,
whether their rivals or not, may choose
to live. If Russia were only weak, the
autocracY might last for ever for all the
Germans would care. The unfriendli-
ness must have some deeper source
than the momentary conflict between
the Union and European Power,
We believe that it springs from pre-
ciselY the same sources as the dislike
for Great Britain herself-namely envy
Of prosperity considered overweening,
dislike Tor the bearing OF Americans,
and vague apprehension akin to that
felt by many Euglshmen about Russia
that they will ultimately threaten the
very existence-or is 1t the subsistence?
OF less numerous races. OF these
motives the former is, with the body of
the peoples, the strongest. They hear
necessarily from the emigrants, as well
as the journals, of the marvellous wealth
Of Americans, of the success OF their
manufactures, of the expansion OF her
trade and Of the general well being
produced by all these causes. They see
that the Yankees. as they call them,
bear none of the usual burdens, that
they have no conscription, no need for
watching their neighbors, no restraints
upon their liberty, and they detest them
almost as strongly as Socialists detest
the rich 6OnrgeOiSfe. Why, they ask,
should Americans be so happy while
Europeans are SO mis- rable2-they want
taking down. This distaste is increased
by belief that the Americans are not
only no better than Europeans, but that
they are morally and intellectually in
ferIor to them, that their officials are
corrupt, their clergy hVpocritical, their
masses given up to purely material
interests. They care nothing tor art.
having never erected a building, and
have produced no literature They
look on the Americans, IN fact, much
as a mugwump looks on an alderman of
Chicago, and sicken to think that such
people IS, of all mankind, that which
has succeeded best in the economic
competition, and has been most success
ful in uniting liberty and plenty. They
cannot bear the peculiar American
form Of swagger, which is not like either
their own swagger or that OF English
men, and misdnd derstand their directness
and realism in speech as a form of
boorishness All people in the world,
we have long noticed, are annoyed by
the English habit OF "chaff," and the
Continental is so vexed by American
''pawkiness" and sub-satiric humor, that
he even fails to recognize, what every
Englshman sees, that kindness to
those who only demand equality as Of
the very essence OF the American
character. He thinks them spiteful as
we'll as selfish, and looks upon their
high tariffs, the result Of a false political
economy as dictated by a wish to
impoverish Europe and thrust it out of
its natural right to compete tor trade.
The Continentals have, too, a certain
fear OF the repubIic, an idea hardY