Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-09-24
Foreign Ignorance Regarding Anne
rfca.
fsnrlngleld Republican,

In the early stages OF the war the is,'1
rance of America revealed IN the opanl9n
press caused a good deal OK amusene"''
one report for instance, hau ia
President Mckinley Is na'uian"e'
cttn,p,on because he comes from can
toni Another Spanish paper ue.'a,ou
that the United States is all vast stretch
80 ,c, mountains with the exception OF
narrow inhabited belt along the seasnore'
which &c constantly threatened by ava
lanches from the overhanging mountains
II was perhaps French paper that an
rouncsd that the cattle I'm the uhlttu
states were diving OF a disease called .le
hIizzards but the French and the spanish
ara ahout on a level in their knowledge
of distant lands.
Pm, as q matter OF tact what foreign
country or. AZ least. what European couh-
try has any widely dlffused knowiedse y.
tho United States, Of its size ana naturai
resources of it's population, wealth anu
its national traits2 We look TO Englano
az orr kinsfolk. but how much uouple oo
our kinsfolk take 10 master our andirs
In the last speech that Golden made ne
a.o,,,.1 for n professorship Of American
history and geography at oxford ana
combridge. and staked his reputation that
10 ,,rderora duate could be found In either
university who could put MS nhser on "
man and point within LOCO miles OF oni-
copo To be able TO point to Chlcaeo
probably not the supreme test Oh cuituio'
but there can be no DOUBT ,na' u.t,s,,
siderable portion OF international hosun'y
Is due to ignorance.
For example. .&e chief cause OF irr,ta-
linn which nortlssners have against Eng
land is the part played by that coun-
try during our civil war A,nel ,0an uo
,-bo have not travelled I'm England are
unable 10 realize how ridiculously mean
i,gless was any expression OF sympathy
/ %, ono side or the other. on the part Oh
| of tho average Englishman. But atter
al American has come to understand that
| 90 tbis average Engiishman the Continent
| ~ North America Is about as hh%y
os Central Africa, and war between
| soc,,ons Is as obscure as a struggle be
,,,oon two tribes of Zulus. he drops his
| t,diopotiou at once because such nope
less Ignorance could mean no harm.
Yet ne hope that the new bonds OF sym
nathv between England and the United
| States will lead 10 an increased reciprocai
| interest I'm both countries which VIII go
far to nrevent future MISUNDERSTANDING
| But To show what depths OF ignorance
! have to be overcome, IT Is only heceS-
sarv TO turn to the volume OF essays py
| Professor Moses Colt Tyler. eh'i,'eu
"Gllmpses Of England" which mas lus'
| heen published by the Doubleday Il
HtoC,,re COMPANY. Professor Tyler
was in England during the civil war
ana wrote some Of his impressions 10
American papers These articles are mere
| gathered together into a book whlch II
| none the less interesting because IL PIC
,uras the England OF thirty years ago
To show the harmlessness or BRUSH ach-
| timent I'm regard "a the war, one OF Two
| cases NAV be cited. Professor lyIer wa
! accustomed to amuse himself by miioS
requesting people who had their mlhds
firmly made up that separation pel"een
The North and the South was the easles'
ana most natural thing In the worlu' ~
he SO good as to indicate just "hete ,n'
line OF separation should De drawn III,
DIS II once made this request OF
verv agreeable gentleman VINO helu
star,,shf,, in a government Office; and ne
instantly replied with the sweet com
noetire ~ one whose wisdom could De eN'
nectod 10 receive no further ILLUMINATION
q, this side of the grave. that Tor th'
purpOse of a dividing line between lh'
Northern and the Southern states, th'
most obvious geographical object Woul'
10 tho Mississippi river 1t was In ls'A
mar an eminent American ciersy mar
lining i'm London with "A d 'hsulshe'
company. received from memDer or FAR
lament a perfect flood or lllumlhttiDh a.
to the naturalness Of a dismeinoer'heh
Of the Union. The English statesman "i
gued thus:
why. there are you northernerS, Plae.'
I'm America all by yourselves lheh thei
comes the isthmus-see, Panama OF WA
ever IL is. Then, separated from you W
mis- narrow bit OF land. are the southern
~. dou,n there In south America. Now
INV dear sir. / think you must ADMIT Il
b perfectly obvious that nature never
meant YOU to be Union!
II is equally obvious that there Is n,
malice in a judgment rendered on suci
astonishing grounds Indeed III one 10
n IL evident that sympathes rightly III
,anded COT lost on the way: Some tim'
before the close OF the war i knew az
rnsl,sh clergyman 10 maintain, in th'
nresence OF a full drawing-room, that II
mis- American war they ought 10 gave
their sympathy TO the Yirginians, becaus'
viroinia was originally settled by the phi
rim fathers. the most heroic stock ina
ever went out OF England a Londoi
,,,,'sr smoke OF mr. Stephen A. Doug
ias a capable negro. once a slave, an'
sttervard an abolition orator.
As To geography the writer found Eng
ush knowledge as dehghtruliy vague as y
$50 when the government officials sen
~ their little fleet on Lake Erie suppt
NJ casks for fresh water professor lyle
sonnd that Intelligent men and wome
- | dIsniaved "a charming uncertainty as Z
whether the state Of Ohio might horde
mon The Gulf OF Mexico or upon the Gu
- o. lawrence; whether the Potomac d
2 not take its rise in the Rocky Mountains
= and whether those same ROCKY Noun
? safas he not a series OF ambitious pro,u
hararces som where In the vicinity
Vermont" When ne was in London on
! samuel Drake Roberts, who. besides be
80 noet. confessed 10 having been
ia in his youth, published poer
telling how he had
: viewed with bated breath, 81. lawrenc
q laundering
! ! o,ar Niagara's perpendicular crags,
I And fell the firm earth shake.
Z MANY a time was Professor Tyler cor
graduated on the European fairness