The times., 1898-12-24
Han Caine ON America.


a success he soon braves Se rolling sea
and comes to the broad Ehat has the
greatest body of Engltl pea ing people
and where his success. no less positive
| than at home. He usey to come, like Mr..
Dickens and Mr. Trollope, to collect raw
| materials from a life that differed good
deal from that to which he was accus-
toned. and, as he was frank to say, We
were very much afraid of his ridicule of
| our looks and manners. He comes now
chiefly to make financial arrangements
with American publishers or to watch the
| theater box office. covering the expenses
of his journey by exhibiting himself on
the lecture platform. He also takes notes
for the entertainment or enlightenment of
his countrymen.
We are less concerned about his opinions
than we were half century ago. Under
what was called our aggressive self-asser-
tion and even a disposition to brag, We
concealed sensitiveness to the praise or
blame Of observing English visitors. Like
all self-assertive persons, we were = little
uncertain of ourselves. We are now abe
to form pretty accurate estimate of our
own qualities and conditions and are not
without data for an Intelligent comparison
with others. In the absence of any abso-
Lutte standard, such comparisons are ineyi-
table. We are in no danger of being ig
norant of our defects. at least For our
sins we have among us Prof. Nortons and
Carl Sehurzes. who apply the microscope
| 10 every fault.
Recent English visitors-some of them
before the birth of the closer-relations sem
timent-have dealt generously with our de-
fects and virtues. DR.. Conan Doyle. Ian
Maclaren,'' Mr.. Barrie Anthony Hope"
and others. have represented US to be an
interesting and hkable people. Although
they are professional observers, especially
of social life, they cannot be expected to
see deeper than some earlier visito' like
Herbert Spencer and Matthew arnold,
neither of whom quite understood he sig
nificance of all he saw. II is not o ten the
modern English guest undertakes TO deal
with the serious matters of cur life. As
far as he can discover in short
time 1t is chiefly in small affairs that
there is any noteworthy difference be-
the same class. The persistent interview
er, peculiarities of pronunciation, orig
inal colloquiai phrases, the ease and fire.
quency of divorce, the yastness of our ho-
tels, the American mans devotion 10 the
dollar and TO his wife, the seeming bitter
ness of our political campaigns. and espe-
cially our quiet submission 10 public
abuses of all kinds-these are the things
/ that make up the burden of his impress
sions. In spite of the English tradition
that We are self-assertive and boasters
every visitor comments on our amiability
our lack of the faculty of Indignation un-
der small wrongs and abuses We make
no protest against the impositions of pub
lie officials. from the highest political boss
to the sleeping car porter, that would
throw the Englishman into a fury Mr.
Spencer thought he was repaying the
kindness he received by pointing out this
national defect. Yet We are not so duh as
not to know our rights. Neither do we
lack moral courage. Naturally amiable
the American is also calculating He has
figured it out that life is too short and
too valuable to be wasted In conflicts over
small matters. He has a sensitive stom-
ach that can do its work only under the
stimulus of a cheerful good nature He
cannot afford to be fretful and quarrel
some and TO sink into state of chronic
irritability.
The two latest English opinions on
America, those of Mr.. Joseph Chamber
lain and Mr.. Hall Caine are as favor
able as the most exacting could demand
The latter, especially, is an enthusiast
about Americans. He loves this country
because its bigness is stimulating and
the people because they are really and
boldly free; because the people are .the
most industrious. earnest, active, and in
genious people on earthi because they
are the most moral and religious and
above all, the most sober people in the
world: because they are the most abso-
lutely true in their impulses and the
most generous in their applause" He
loves the men of America ''becauss their
bearing toward women is the finest chiv-
airy l have yet seen anywhere" and the
American women because they can pre-
serve unquestioned purity with frank and
unconventional and natural manner and
fine independence of SEX" and the Com
stitution of America because its free
dom is the freest l know of, because 1t
has broken away from all effete super-
stition OF authority, whether in church
or state. and left the rest of the world
in pitifnl shadows of both follies to toll
after 1t by more than hundred years.
These quotations are the conclusion of
an article in the London Telegraph. in
which Mr.. Game makes really intelli-
gent summary of our conditions. While
he is unstinted in his praise of our vir
tues, he is. not blind to our defects. He
sees the corroding effect of great wealth
as it shows itself in American society
1t is with a sense of our weaknesses that
he makes the comparison with other p2o-
pies and reaches his verdict.