LETTERS TO THE EDITOR..
DOES AMERICA HATE ENGLAND ?
[To ros EDITOR Or TEl "SPECTATOR"]
SIR,—On looking over the columns of your valued paper's issue of June 12th, my eyes fell upon the above startling interrogation. Being an American, I am naturally interested in anything that may be said about us by our cousins on this side of the Atlantic, and therefore lost no time in acquainting myself with what the writer had to say. I was not long in comprehending that he is one of those who speak without thinking and make statements without taking the trouble to verify them. Otherwise, how can we account for the follow- ing remarkable and sweeping accusation ?—" Not only do the public authorities of the United States bring up the children on false history, but they enforce false notions of history in the qualifying examinations for teachers in the public common schools." Now, is not that a grave charge to bring against the public authorities of a country occupying so high a position in the educational world as that held by the United States ? And he makes that statement on the strength of several years' residence in one of the far Western States. Before a man would be qualified to make such a statement he should be familiar with the methods of examina- tion of the School Boards of at least a majority of the forty- five States, and then be well enough informed to know whether or not the methods used were false. For the single Instance given by your correspondent in proof of his wild statement shows that he is grossly misinformed. The question, "What territory did Mexico lose in consequence of the secession of Texas?" was perfectly legitimate. That Texas seceded, and established her independence, and was an independent Republic from 1837 to 1845, when she was annexed to the United States, is as well an authenticated fact in history as the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. The Encyclopxclia Britannica should certainly be considered trustworthy on that point, and I would respectfully refer your correspondent to Vol. XVI., p. 220, and Vol. XXIII., pp. 206 and 767, of that work. If "every one, except the teachers and children in the common schools of the United States, is well aware that Texas was taken from Mexico by violence," I should be very glad to learn the source of their information. It is true that Mexico lost some territory by its war with the United States, and that, too, probably, in a manner difficult to justify; but such was not the ease with Texas. I am sure that the average American of to-day, especially those connected with educational work, is willing to accept history in its true light, whether to the credit of his country or not, and so teach it to those under his charge.
The idea of America bating England is, indeed, a new one to me. I have mixed with the people pretty thoroughly in different sections of the United States, and I cannot recall anything that would even call forth the consideration of such a question. And after a year's sojourn in England, during which time I have visited various centres of the country and talked with hundreds of people, many of whom have resided in the States, I am glad to say that very few have expressed the opinion that the Americans hold any adverse feelings towards Englishmen. The hastily expressed and ill-considered opinions of a certain class of individuals, in America as well as England, do more to disturb the flow of good feeling between the English and American peoples than anything else.—I am, Sir, &c.,
4 Castlegate, York, June 18th. M. T. MOOMAW.
[We hardly understand our correspondent about Mexico. Who made Texas " independent " if not American immi- grants P—En. Spectator.]
[To TEZ EDITOR Or TH3 " $PECTATOR:7
SIR,—Your interesting article in the Spectator of June 5th on- the feeling of America to England presumes by its heading that the dislike is only entertained by America, and is not mutual. And without doubt there is good reason to believe that England does not hate America if we are to understand by England the intelligent opinion of English thought as ex- pressed by the Press. But I am not at all sure that there is- not a widespread dislike of Americana amongst the unintelli- gent and unthinking in England. I have noticed again and again an unwillingness to admit that there is anything praise- worthy or admirable in the life or institutions of the Great Republic. Whether this springs from trade jealousy or inborn dislike I cannot tell, but I have a clear recollection of the continuous teasing to which an American boy was. subjected in an English school simply because he was an American, which seems to suggest that it is inherited. Seven years' residence in America, with frequent opportunity of learning the feeling prevalent in all the States, would lead me to believe that the dislike of England is not really greater than the English dislike of America, only that it finds more ready expression in a Press for the most part reckless and unscrupulous, which seeks to flatter national vanity at the expense of another country. That England should be more often selected for this purpose is because the implied praise in this case is felt to be more pronounced and emphatic, England representing to the American's mind, for obvious reasons, a higher and more solid worth. So far from believing with Mr. Hammond that Englishmen are hated individually,. I have invariably found the greatest possible consideration and delightful hospitality accorded to those who, when travelling in America, do not air their prejudices or make unceasing comparisons between the old and the new with the. emphatic conclusion, the old is better. The American is very like his English brother, save that he has until recent years been led by the contempt and jeers flung so freely on the pages of English books to be naturally shy of English opinion.. When he finds that his real worth is discounted on the score of his accent or "Americanisms," he has reason to distrust such hasty and superficial judgments as well as those who make them. But for those who are prepared to believe that beneath these external mannerisms may be found real excellences, there is a warm welcome waiting in America, and it will be the warmer on the very ground that he is an Englishman. It is unfortunately true that many English travellers not only begin their tour in America with the belief that there is nothing worth seeing beyond the Falls of Niagara and the Yellowstone Park, but that all the variations from the English type are mistakes, forgetting that the two countries are so different that an excellence here would be a failure there. Such feeling when expressed only emphasises the belief widely prevalent in America that England is haughty and overbearing. I should therefore say that the difference between the American_ opinion of England and the English opinion of America is much less than is generally supposed. That it should be overrated is due to the fact that American opinion comes to the surface at once, finds an easy medium in the newspapers, and delights in a powerful vocabulary. English reserve ana caution, to- gether with a greater indifference to the force of foreign opinion, prevent much that is latent finding expression. An. English gentleman, who had resided forty years in America, and knew both countries well, told me that he was struck witn this phenomenon, that whilst the English Press was singularly fair, and on the whole generous, towards America, individual Opinion was not so ; but on the other hand, whilst the American Press was, as a rule, harsh and hostile towards England, the feeling of Americans was warm and friendly. This generalisation I believe to be true, and it is, I think, to some extent explained by the few remarks with which I have ventured to trouble you. The rejection of the Arbitration Treaty proves nothing. The twenty-six Senators who defeated it represent, in whole or in part, seventeen States. These in- clude—I quote from a New York paper—the seven rotten- borough and sage - brush States of Montana, Kansas, North and South Dakota, Nevada, Utah, and Idaho, whose total population by the last census was only 2,408,833, out of a total for the country of 62,622,650.-1 am, Sir,
Bede College, Durham. G. H. S. WALPOLE.
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