Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-30
ENGLAND DISCOVERS
THE CoSMlc LINCOLN
The Dedication OF the st. Gaudens
Statue In London Marks an Epoch
In the Mutual Understanding
of Two Nations

In the Mutual Understanding
Of Two Nations
"THE best known face in the Anglo
l. Saxon world" With this tribute
uttered by David Lloyd George at the
dedication Of the st. Gaudens statue Of
Lincoln in London this week an invul-
nerable phase of English character is
revealed.
Trrvelyan. pioneer Britieh historian
/ Of the American Revolution, sounded
| similar note and his public listened.
! The chronicle was Anglicized. presented
as an epic chapter in the history of
British liberalism.
If a tale once disconcerting to our
! transatlantic cousins has thus been
made acceptable to their ears, it is the
gracious thing for Americans to ap.
plaud.
Understanding is not compromised
thereby. Indeed, the plant of compre
hen sioD flowers under this nurture.
! Those Sf us who set the idea of indc-
structible Anglo American friendship
above the heartaChes and the thousand
natural shocks which it is heir to can
I afford to be compliant when John
/ Adams is paralleled with John Hamp
den, when Abraham Lincoln is extolled
as Anglo. Saxon"
John Bull works in his indigenous
| way his errors to reform. II it pleases
/ him to claim 'the first American" as
! his own. smile is our privilege but
an ey"hange Of gratitude is also our
duty.
Britain was slow to accept the most
sympathetic figure in American his
tory. Tom Taylor's throbbing atone
ment in Punch was sentimental. fever
ish. For a full generation after its
close the Civil War. its purposes and
the spokesmen by which this meaning
could have been clarified remained n
mystery to most Englishmcn. Henry
Adams. recalling the diplomatic heart
of the conflict, has memorably pictured
the utter inability of Palmerston and
Russell-to say nothing of Gladstone,
who averred that Jefferson Davis has
created nation to attain n view
point which is now unClouded either at
home or abroad Anglophobes revert
IhnbdltulN W luVNt udlh uuN "ANh thN
whole trend Of British diplomacy was
toward a recognition of the Confed
Cracy and toward steps deliberately cal
culatod to promote the dissolution of
! the Union.
The situation is completely docu
fmcnted. Adams Is merely a vivid,
especially equipped and recent chroni-
Clcr. Both nations today, however. can
face the truth fcarlessly. The facts are
indisputable and they are gloriously
obsolete.
It has been the fashion of late to
attribute Anglo American understand
ing to the crisis of the world war. If
this is correct the compact is unsub-
stantal. The thrill evoked by COM
radeship in arms is often too emotional
to be permanent.
There is even now-and to deny it is
| to embrace delusion-a current of Criti
cism against the British policy toward
Ireland that is not wholly the result of
special propaganda and hyphcnatcd
"AmeriCanism." That this will fail
to ieopardize the larger aspects of
! Anglo American enlightenment is
belief based upon something more solid
and durable than the fading Ccstasies of
the late Armageddon.
Lincoln is unQuestonably one of the
solvents in which faith can be put
That Lord Charnwood has made him
the theme of an authoritative biography,
that John Drnkwater has drama
tized" him-these are but the obvious
/ indices of a new chapter in interna-
tional comprehension. The English in
terest in Lincoln lies deeper than this
or his statue would not now be standing
/ in the shade of hallowed Westminster,
matched with the memorials of the
makers of an empire.
Elihu Root. who delivered the grafton
at the dedication, very pertinently read
the copy of a sympathetic letter signed
by 5000 Manchester cotton operatives
and addressed to Lincoln after his pro-
mitigation Of the Emancipation Procla
nation. Something of the England
which today lauds Lincoln as in es-
sencp cosmic Is suggested in that ap-
pealing missive.
World couscousness of America was
feeble indeed IN 1862. The republic was
an isolated experiment. The France of
Napoleon the Little believed this and
hoped for its failure almost as strongly
a. the statesman class in England. 1t
was among the common pcople-to use
that sturdy phrase which much bonn
bast has corrodcd-to whom some glim-
nerings Of the truth were visible. The
men of Manchester were sufferers by
the Civil War. The blockade had closed
the cotton mills. 1t required courage
and a spirit of sacrifice to interpret
favorably the most responsible personal
agent Of those lean times.
I II also required channels of informa-
ton Of which the chancelleries Of Eu-
rome we're not possessed. These the
plain folk OF the British isles un-
/ doubtedlv had from their immigrated
| kinsmen. The real significance of the
huge struggle in the New World was
thus conveyed into the very structural
| fiber of the nation.
1t Is this illumination as we'll as
other light. inevitable as material prog
re-s diminished figuratively the size Of
this planet, which paved the way for
the comparatively recent work Of the
intpllectuals and the statesmen of Eng.
land.
Lincoln Is not a fad there, al
though the usual superticialities whick
ever capitalize themselves on the crests
Of authentic enthusiasms are discern
ibp. He is today a factor in British
political thought and an Inspiration
however imperfectly followed in British
craftsmanship.