AN AMERICAN IN ENGLAND.* MR. BENJAMIN Rum is to be

thanked for reviving for English readers his father's two very agreeable books on his mission to

England as United States' Minister from 1817 to 1825. Mr. Richard Rush's benignant and reverential tone to the mother ,country, while there is no want of zeal as American Minister, and his hearty appreciation of everything English, are read by us

with renewed zest. Would that we could now return, after the Alabama Treaty and the Geneva Arbitration, to the cordial and entirely friendly tone which marked Mr. Rush's intercourse with Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Canning, and which breathes through- out his writings ! The contrast between the kind spirit of Mr. Rush's books and the unpleasant tone of Mr. Dallas's published

Letters from London from 1856 to 1860 is very remarkable ; and Mr. Dallas doubtless reflected the feeling of his Government. Mr. Dallas's predecessor, Buchanan, who left us to become President,

had made a public utterance at the Mansion House, on the eve of his departure, to the effect that, during his whole residence in England, he had met with uniform kindness and respect, and that be could not tell why it was, and did not know how much he grieved, that groups of irritating questions were continually cropping up between two kindred nations whose friendship should be uninterrupted. The unhappy Irish element has grown up in the United States since Mr. Rush represented his country among -us. Cannot this disturbing influence be resolutely resisted by American statesmen ? A child is perhaps prone to jealousy, and

a mother perhaps to exigeance ; but is it not time that the two nations should understand one another, and the great Republic which descends from us, like our own Commonwealth, described by Milton " as an eagle muing her mighty youth, and kin- dling her undazzled eyes at the full mid-day beam," keep steadily

and full in sight the universal love and respect which England -cherishes for her?

"Years to a mother bring distress, But never make her love the less."

M. de Tocqueville gave as his advice to Mr. Senior, in a conver- sation shortly after Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat, that the best

that could happen to England was " to be excluded from the -councils of the great family of despots." The United States are our natural ally for great objects of civilisation, far above the intrigues -and tangled diplomacy of the more or less ab-

solute Governments of Europe. Arbitration in lieu of war is a grand purpose, which England and America, really hand-in- hand, might force upon Europe. In Mr. Caleb Cushing's late

manifesto, full as it as of bitterness, not unprovoked, against the English arbitration at Geneva, we see with pleasure a cordial and glowing desire for amity between the United States and England, starting from the late settlement of a long and bitter irritation.

Our object is simply to call attention to the republication of Mr. Richard Rush's very pleasant books. One or two extracts will promote the feeling for which we notice this work. Mr. Rush thus writes on his first arrival in England :—

" It is a remark of Humboldt that no language can express the emo- tion that an European naturalist feels when he touches for the first time American land. May not the remark be reversed by saying that no language can express the emotion which almost every American feels when ho first touches the shores of Europe ? This feeling must have a special increase, if it be the case of a citizen of the United States going to England. Her fame is constantly before him. He hears of her statesmen, he rorators, her scholars, her philosophers, her divines, her patriots. In the nursery he learns her ballads. Her poets train his imagination. Her language is his, with its whole intellectual riches, past and for ever newly flowing ; a tie, to use Burke's figure, light as air * The Court of London from 1819 to 1825. By Richard Rush, Minister from the United States from 1817 to 1825. Edited by his Son, Benjamin Rush. London: Richard Bentley and Son. 1873.

Residence at the Court of London. By Richard Rush. Third Edition. Edited by his Son, Benjamin Rush. Also, Recollections of the Court of Louis Philippe and the French Revolutiou of 1848. By the same Anther. London: Hamilton, Adams, and e 1872.

and unseen, but stronger than links of iron. In spite of political difference, her glory allures him. In spite of hostile collision, ho clings

to her lineage These are impressible feelings in an American. His native patriotism takes a higher tone from dwelling on the illustrious parent stock. Pierces and incidents that Englishmen pass by fill his imagination. He sees the past in conjunction with the present. Three thousand weeks, said Franklin, are as three thousand years. Intervention of space seems to kindle enthusiasm, like intervention of time. Is it not fit that now such nations should be friends ? Let us hope so. It is the hope which every Minister from the United States should carry with him to England. It is the hope in which every British Minister of State should meet him. If, nevertheless, rivalry is in the nature of things, at least let it be on fair principles. Let it be generous, never paltry, never malignant."

Here is an interesting story of a diplomatic dinner at Lord Castlereagh's, June, 17, 1819, told in good spirit :—

" After the principal courses were over, and the single toast had been given by Lord Castlereagh, viz, 'His Royal Highness the Prince Regent,' without further word, the company all rising in due form as he gave it, conversation opened between his lordship and Baron Fagel on the state of tranquillity which now reigned in Europe. It was remarked by them, how happily it contrasted with the bloody wars which had so recently raged ; and how interesting was the spectacle of beholding Ambassadors and Ministers from all Europe assembled in amity and peace at that table, instead of being engaged in the work of counteracting each other, as all had so lately been doing, in hostile camps and cabinets. Sitting next to Baron Fagel, the opportunity was afforded me of sharing a little in this conversation. At its point of chief interest, Lord Castlereagh, bending forward so as to give me his voice, said, Yes ; and may the happy tranquillity we are speaking of long continue ! Europe requires repose. Each State has had enough of war, and enough of glory, and ought to be content.' Here he paused an instant, but resuming, he proceeded, 'And you, too, YOU of America, Mr. Rush, ought also to be satisfied ; YOU left off very well, and ought to wish for nothing but a continuance of peace.' I felt this delicately-conveyed compliment to my country. He knew that oar war with Britain had terminated in victory on our side, by sea and land. I could not fail to perceive that the compliment passed in undertones along the table—the side, at least, on which I was—though heard at first only by the few near Lord Castlereagh. Acceptable to me, it bespoke conscious patriotism in him. He felt that Britain's ample renown in arms could spare the compliment to the free and martial race she founded in America; therefore, with the manly grace belonging to him, he uttered it, the representatives of the crowned heads of Europe sitting by as his guests. It was high official courtesy, and I record it with as much pleasure as it gave me.

It is pleasant to see an American dwelling with heartfelt delight, as Mr. Rush takes many opportunities of doing, on the charms of the refined, easy, and graceful society of the cultivated higher classes of England—wealth without ostentation and luxury with grace, English dinner-parties adorned with intellectual con- versation, in genial and comfortable English country life. Mr. Benjamin Rush, in this new edition of the Court of London, introduces for the first time to the English reader two letters of his father, giving detailed accounts of visits to Hagley and the Grove. One of Mr. Benjamin Rash's notes to his father's volume shows that he inherits his father's kindly feelings and appreciation of English society and home life. He thus describes a Sunday passed very recently with Lord H---, in Yorkshire, who must surely be Lord Houghton :— "The day was wet and disagreeable, but the carriages were ordered immediately after breakfast for such of the guests and the family as chose to go to church—a pretty little English country church, of Saxon date, that Washington Irving might have envied—about two miles off. The writer was among those who went, with one of his daughters. When it became time to read the first lesson, Lord H—, the hospitable owner of the mansion, quietly left his pew, and assisted the rector by reading it, doing so in a clear, distinct, and measured tone; reading also in turn the second lesson, and then as quietly resumed his seat in his pew. No one could fail to be struck, and most favourably impressed, with his devotional manner, and that of many of his guests, most of whom knelt evorentially in prayer, besides joining in the hymns. Yet Lord H- and they were as pleasant and jolly' at dinner (where, among other things, we had Madeira a hundred years old) as could be desired. After dinner, as the evening advanced, the family and guests were invited into the library (rich in intellectual treasures, as was nearly every room in the house), where Lord and Lady H—, the latter not in strong health, conducted the evening service ; the servants, including some of those of the guests, being also present, and participating in the devotional exercises. The reverential and cultivated reading of Lord H—, well known in the world of letters, and by his intellectual acquirements, could not fail to make itself again felt. When the service was over, all returned across the hall to the drawing-room, where pleasant con- versation and conversation games, photograph books, and books of curious autographs, &c., &c., concluded the evening. One of the company asked if ' God Save the Queen' would be in order at the piano, the prayer for Her Majesty recurring so often in the English service. Lord H— smiled, adding, simply. We don't consider it a hymn.' And this is going on, more or less, all over merrie England ! Surely it must tend to exalt the character of any people !"

Richard Rush, the Minister to England, returned to the United States in 1825, to be Secretary of State, under Mr. Adams as President. When, four years after, Adams was proposed for election as President, he was proposed with him as Vice- President, and they both failed of election. Rush was Minis- ter in France, under President Polk, from 1847 to 1849, and he witnessed the Revolution of 1848, and the election

of Louis Napoleon to the Presidentship. He afterwards re- turned to the United States, to live the rest of his days in tranquillity. In his pleasant retreat at Sydenbam, near New York, he loved to cherish his recollections of England. He died in 1859. It is stated in a biographical tribute to his memory, read soon after his death in the Historical society of Philadelphia, that he preserved and prided himself on " the step and banister brought from Milton's house and inserted in his own staircase ; volumes with some kindly notice from Rogers and Campbell, Hallam and Lyttelton, the pictures of statesmen and men of letters, both in England and France, with tokens of their regard." The relic of Milton had been given him by Jeremy Bentham, who lived in a house in Queen Square once occupied by Milton, and who gave Mr. Rush a dinner, where Brougham, Sir Samuel Romilly, James Mill, and Dumont were of the company. Lyttelton is Lord Lyttelton, the father of the present Peer, whose widow was sister of Earl Spencer and governess to the Queen's children ; Mr. Rush lived on terms of great friendship with him, and has recorded a pleasant Christmas visit to Hagley.