Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-12-05
TIVE: ANCIENT GRUDGE
Owen wistsr. In American Maaazine.

American Magazine.
il clicked the English democracy, which
WAS with us and spoke for us through
The voice of Burke and Fox and Barre,
ana mat Pitt in parliament exclaimed.
4 rejoice that America has resisted"
What's England done in this war,
anyway" asks the man at the bulletin
board. And / "A heard it asked at
handsome dinner tables by people who
tnen immediately brought up our Civil
War. They remembered George III.
they didn't remember Burke; they
remembered the "Alabama." they
dldnt remember the Manchester cotton
spini!ers; 10 them England was mani
mously against the Union. because
their complex automatically seizes
every fact that matches their prejudice
against England, and rs automatically
rejects everything that does not
match it.
Friends in England.
/ In II Civil wal we had many friends
IN England; John Bright was for us,
| the Manchester operatives chose rather
to go without cotton and starve than
nave the cause of slavery win; and
Queen Victoria was for us. But Eng
iIsh friendship we never remember;
! only her acts that were against us
tNiihS III our IuiHd5. we IOTSct lnal lne
queen stopped Louis Napoleon from
recognizing the Southern Confetleracy
-am we don't remember that Ma
poleon wanted to do this. and that
when he established MaXimilian in
Mexico he aimed a deliberately hos
Tile blow at our democracy. We forget
this because we have very properly a
pro-French complex, likewise impiant-
ed by the school histories, and only the
friendly acts of France cling in our
minds. OF course, Louis Napoleon no
more represented France in 1856 han
George III represented England in
l776; but we're aware of George and
unaware of Napoleon.
In this way. all along" the line we
tenaciously cherish England's un-
! friendly acts and inveterately ignore
her acts of friendship. And her big
geSt acts in the last quarter of a cen
tury have been friendly. You will hear
a dozen people bark back to our Civil
war to one who remembers ICngland'S
attitude in 1898, during our Spanish
war. when h stopped a European
combination against us. Do you hear
many speak of her refusal to back the
Roosevelt invited him to ieave the
| coast of Venezuela in "a hours? You
! know. l suppose, that the kaiser late in
1898 wrote to a friend of Joseph Cham
berlain that if he had had (while we
were fighting SPAIN a larger fleet he
scruff of the neck" Will you not, when
somebody mentions George III and the
] Alabama" to you, MENTION Manila Bay
to them? That was the moment when
England prevented the kaiser's taking
Uncle Sam by the scruff of the neck.
That was the moment swhen h Ger
man commander Diedrichs inquired OF
the English commander h the Eng
lish ships would do IL the German ships
placed themselves between Dewey and
the Spanish fleet. The Englishman re-
| Piled: THAT Is known only to Commo-
d0rc Dewey and myself" Z
England was our friend in Manila
Bay. Put that against George III and
the Alabama" It's more recent. And
but for the English fleet h kaiser
would eve now be in our front yard"
Tell that to anybody who asks you what
England has lone in this war. And
tell them. too. that England ha 7.0O0.-
600 men modified today; this. taken
prOpOrttOnally to our greater pOpula-
tion. would amount to 10000, 900 or
II. 200. 900 Americans mobili2ed.
A few years before the war l received
an invitation to joint a society for the
promotion Of more friendly relations
between the United States and En-
GLAND. mo. indeed" l said to myself.
Even as l read the note, hostility rose
In me. / remembered George III. / re-
membered the Civil war. The ancient
grudge. the Complex" had been in
stantly set fermenting in me-. Moth
ing could better show it's lurking per-
sistence-for / knew about Venezuela,
and Manila Bay, INT Burke, and John
Bright. and the Queen: and among the
English I count ear and even beloved
friends.
And I also knew that all the best we
have here-law. ethics. love of liberty
is from England. Yet there l was.
only 1t was before the war. Well.
having the complex myself, l UNDER
stand. too. that something additional
lies at the bottom Of our ancient
grudge. and frequently refreshes 1t. An
anecdOte will illuminate this:
Tsa AnAno Hashidate some tourists
were journeytng q few Years ago.
Americans and English being Of the
party. You go by rail to this Japanese
beauty spot and q cinder flew into the
y Of an odd Englishman travelling
WIN h6 niece. The eye got gradually
very bad. began. indeed, to bulge out.
Their treatment was OF no avail. An
American lady at length said TO the
niacs: Pardon a stranger. but the ten
you're putting on that eye doesn't q
to be stopping It. I bave some boracic
acid. Won't you take 1t and use it?s
But the uncle wouldn't, because they
hadn't been introduced.
In this many peopled world England
- our nearest relation; nearest in
blood. nearest in ideals. Her bible is
ours. her Shakespeare is ours, our Lin
coins words stand gravenAon q table
Mt her great university.