The Washington times., 1901-09-08
SYMPATHY IN ENGLAND.

LONDON. Sept. z-wherever one turns
this morning expressions OF sympathy and
Indignation are heard. evoked by the at
tempted assassination of President Nc
kinley. The pervading English sentiment
cannot. perhaps. be better crystallized
than in tho following words OF a public
man on reading the news: "Of course
mr Mckinley. as President of the United
states Is far moro to us than the head OF
any other nation. The Kaiser Is our
Ming nephew, and Is always maneuvring
10 Keep Germany hand IN hand with Eng
Iahd. We. as people. think far more of
MIN than We did when every English, four
nal most foolishiy Jeered at him as
highly and swoilen-hcaded boy King. but
there Is no real sense of kinship between
Engiishmen and Germans. and never can
be- The toast of the Kaiser is drunk once
in London to fifty swallowed to President
McKiniey's health.
we nave our commercial rivalries with
America. of course. never keener than now.
out we begin to see that this new stimu-
lus is just what our industriaIism needed.
and. apart from all that, nothing has been
more profoundly brought home to Eng
iish statesmen, Tory Just as much as
Liberal. during the past decade than the
abiding political significance of an under
lying unity OF purpose between England
and America To my mind, looking to
the future of the English-speaking peo-
pies, the recognition of this fact in the
policy of Lord Salisbury and of President
Mckinley Will be the one feature in the
careers of both men to which history will
attach the greatest Importance. Do you
wonder, then. at the complete sympathy
we feel at this moment with the AmerI-
can people? 1t seems so motiyeiess a
crime. SO entirely inexplicabie."
1t would be an exaggeration to say that
President McKinley's personality has had
much to do with this remarkable change
In the general English ser .iment toward
America during the past decade 1t is
true his face and figure hive been made
familiar to every newspao.- reader by
the reproduction of The cartoons of
American journals, and only yesterday
one halfpenny paper devoted the best
part OF a page to these American repro
ductions in illustration of Anglo-Ameri-
can relations.
Mr.. Mckinley's personality. indeed, re-
mains as unknown quantity to the man
in the street as that. say. of NJ. Lou
bet, but among politicians. who see fur
ther than the man in the street. the Nc
ferent man from the Mckinley of 60 per
cent tariff days. Then he seemed to the
average Englishman the embodiment OF
American selfishness and shortsighted-
ness. Later on, when Mr.. Bryan entered
the field. it was a case of "Oh, well. any
thing is better than such a President
Bryan Today the English attitude il
rather one of admiration of the quiet and
dogged way in which Mr.. Mckinley
seemed to hold on his course. despite all
attacks and all obstacles. and of his re-
fusal to yield to the abundant political in
ducements to take advantage England
In moments Of international difficulty. In
a word, Mr.. Mckinley has won respect
and admiration from EngIishmen such as
have been given to the head of no other
foreign State.
Today's newspaper comments on the out
rage include many demands for more rig
orous police measures against what is
called "a vile fraternity. The STAND
ard as the spokesman Of good old Eng
lish Toryism, is quite sure that all the
fustian about vindicating the rights of the
poor and avenging the wrongs done by
Governments and crowned heads is but
the vicious gloss that disguises the bru-
tai instinct of vice and that 1t calls
for remorseless extirpation, though ii
descends 10 no details to show how this
most difficult end Is to be reached. The
Daily Mall, in Its ready way of finding
immediate remedies for all diseases of the
body pclitic, urges that the criminal be
ucdtl Win On the spot 10 tDNldtt tue lO-
toricty and publicity which. in most
cases, form one of the great Inducements
to such crimes. Presumably, it would in
struct the police to permit the iynching
of the criminal straightway. The Times
Is inclined to wait for American propoa-
ais. now that Americans realize that the
popularity elected head Of the State is
likely to he struck at as unscrupulously
and unsparingiy as if he were a medic 2
val despot.
Even had it not been for this outrage
Mr.. Mckinley would still have been the
man of the week in English political talk
by reason of his Buffalo speeches Eng
lishmen have noted with a certain sense
of satisfaction that the once uncompro-
missing champion of extreme protection
now frankly admits that the United States.
with all its size and natural resources,
is not big enough or rich enough to per-
sist in a policy of trade exclusiveness-
Free traders have smiled wisely as they
read such sentences as We must not re-
pose in the fancied security that we can
forever sell everything and buy little or
nothing. and have asked what will hap
pen to American high tariffism if reciproc-
ity should prove as futile means Of
obtaining new markets as 1t did in Mr..
Blaine's day. return to Chinese walls
in the way of tariffs is. says one jour
nal, clearly out Of the question.