The times., 1899-10-21
some FoIk-Lore FaIIacies.

and the cherry tree? All but George have
vanished into the thin air Of goody book
disappearance, He lives, but In more
veracious form; lives indeed continually
TO pray on his bended knees in the deep
snow. while an admiring army files by, and
4 to swear at his troops like a buccaneer
4 when His Excellency is wroth. But the
impossibly moral George is no more.
! Sic transit gloria mundi! Our cherished
4 traditions 20 one by one until none as LETT.
4 These sad reflections are suggested by
a very interesting paper, printed in the
4 October number OF the Forum, from
: the pen Of Mr A. Maurice Low, and en-
/ titled. Russia England and the United
! States" 1t is In answer to Mr.. Holm
I strem's article in the July issue OF the
/ same magazine: "A Plea for Russian
American Understanding. Mr. Low dis
/ sects the other writer's references to the
long and unbroken friendship which has
I subsisted between the Eagle and the Bear
and treats them in manner cruelty icon
oclastic The oft-repeated assertion, stllI
q matter Of popular belief in this country,
+ that. in 1868, Russia prevented England
/ from recognizing the Confederate States,
4 he scouts as entirely apocryphal, and de-
clares that the arrival of Admiral Leson-
: sky's squadron at New York at the time
/ was merely cheap and meaningless bit
4 Of Russian diplomatic melodrama- Wheth-
/ er it was or not may be regarded as stiil
an open question, although II must be
/ said that there is great deal of positive
/ proof lacking to show that it had any very
/ serious meaning
What is much more important is the at
titude of the Russian official press, and
the Russian court and public, in the early
weeks of our war with Spain. In this con-
nection. Mr Low is able to make out an
uneomfortably strong prima facie case
I against our ancient friend. On June 5, 1898,
! he reminds US. the st Petersburg Novoe
/ Vremya" declared that it was time TO end
! a ''senseless and criminal war and added
that America must submit her 'preten-
sions' 10 Europe. holding that she could
not help doing this since, with two long and
( exposed coast lines, she could not withstand
the combined fleets of TWO or three Euro
pean powers. The ''Novoe Vremya" is at
least semi-oficiaI, and. If It were otherwise
no paper in Russia can print anything with
out permission from the censor. So that, IL
any case. the expressions above mentioned
must have been agreeable TO the authorities
or they would not have appeared.
In support of the theory that at cer-
tain serious time for us the St Petersburg
I Government was not any TOO amiably dis
posed toward the United States, the Lon
don National Review has declared that
+ Just before hostilities began, France, Rus
sia. and Austria Jointly determined 10 make
Cuba a European question and to treat this
country as the Continental powers had not
long before treated Greece in the matter of
Crete. Germany was invited TO join the
/ Western concert" and agreed, provided
England could be induced to enter the
combination Mr. Arthur Balfour, Acting
+ Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the alb
sence Of Lord Salisbury, promptly refused
TO consider the proposition, and it fell fiat.
II will be observed that according TO the
National Review another Of our life
long friends, France, was active in an ef-
fort TO clip our claws on our own side Of
the world French statesmen might deny
this and denounce British press utter
ances as false. but they never will be able
to make us forget that throughout the
+ Spanish war. the sentiment of France was
in sympathy with cur enemy, and bitterly
/ hostile to US.
( Nor should this be matter Of surprise
/ to the extent TO which some people may
so regard it, II was not the first time that
+ France had turned upon the United States
+ We must admit that we owe that nation
something for the help Louis XVI gave US
in the Revolutionary War. But in that
very connection we cannot help also re-
membering that when the treaty of peace
with England was IN course Of negotiation,
the French Government gave strong proofs
that. while willing We should be free and
independent Of its ancient enemy, it did not
wish to see the new State endowed with the
possibilities OF future greatness. Hence
/ France proposed that both banks Of the
. Mississippi should be given 10 Spain as
I far north as the thirty first degree OF lati-
tude and that above that point the Ameri-
cans should be shut in between the ocean
and the Alleghanies by reserved Indian
country under French and English protec-
ton and guarantee. westward to the Father
1 Of Waters. In other words our ally con
spired TO put an insurmountable impasse
in front OF us everywhere outside the
boundaries of the original thirteen States.
One can hardly investigate the various
ahectionate relations between ourselves and
our sisters Of Continental Europe without
being tempted TO the conclusion that they
have not been altogether on a strictly Da-
mon and Pythias plan; or without inclin-
ing to the basic and logical belief that,
after all blood is thicker than wa
ter By their unfriendly course, when
they thought US in trouble. several of our
foreign acquaintance radically changed
the former favorable sentiment Of genera
tions in America. In standing by US in the
same critical period. England and her peo-
pie wiped out the prejudices and bad blood
Of more than a century.
The Fight at Glencoe.
While the affair at Glencoe yesterday was