AN AMERICAN'S OPINIONS OF ENGLAND.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 890, 21 November 1871, Page 3

AN AMERICAN'S OPINIONS OF ENGLAND.

The Hon. Frank M. Pixley lectured lately in New York on his travels in Europe, for the benefit of the Ladies' Female Hospital. He proceeded to say that he was pleased and instructed by his visit to Europe. Unlike many of his countrymen, he is now a better citizen than when he left the country. He had not come back with his hair parted in the middle and a glass on one eye—he had no stutter in his speech, and did not speak bad English. No American can go abroad and see the luxury of one class of people and the absolute misery of another, who ought not on his return stoop down and kiss the land of his birth. His trip across the Atlantic was despatched in a few words, and having landed in Qneenstown, he turned his attention to Ireland. The south of Ireland, he said, is the most beautiful spot in the world and were it not for the laws of primogeniture and entail, and the oppression under which the people are crushed, it would be one of God's own

garden spots, and the people would be the most happy and contented in the world. Near Dublin he visited a castle situated on an estate which yields the owner £91,000 per annum, and, ! upon inquiry, he was told this noble never saw the place but once. When a boy he spent some time there shooting. He lives in Paris, where the speaker learned he was a liberal patron of art. Had he lived in Irelaud and spent his money there it would be but simple justice. But the English, speaking of Ireland, say it must be treated to harsh measures ; but if Ireland had good laws—if the law of primogeniture was dissolved, there would be less begging there. He hoped that a mutiny iu Irelaud, or a sepoy war, would give this country a chance to make the seas blaze with the burning ships of England. He gave a description, beautiful and touching of Scottish country, but said it could not compare with Californian scenery. Their highest mountain is Ben Lomond, the elevation of which is one-third less than where our railroad crosses the Sierras. The speaker told this to an Englishman. His answer was " A a-h!" and there it ended. (Laughter.) He enumerated many of the industries of Scotland; said the people were thrifty ; and while he saw less beggars there than in Ireland, he saw quite as much poverty. As in Ireland, he saw evidences of accumulated wealth and of the most extreme poverty and suffering. Large farms are kept for the stag and grouse, while the perishing human form is permitted to die of hunger at the gates. England, he said, is powerful and strong, and need not dread danger from the outside. He described the scenery of the country, and said it was the most interesting he visited. He spoke of the industries and thrift of the people, and gave the nobility a hard rub. The latter stooped as low, in his estimation, to obtain money as any other class. He visited Westmin ster Abbey, and paid sixpence for the privilege of seeing it. ''Talk," he said, "of the shrewd Yankee, but commend me to the royalty and nobility of England, for turning a penny. They will show you the relics and bare bones of their ancestors for money. Even her Majesty's jewels in the Tower of London are exhibited for coin. While England is impregnable from the outside, she is apprehensive of trouble from within. The working men's organisation is strong in London, and is well directed by able men. This causes some anxiety. Almost every day 175,000 people in Loudon seek their chances for food by begging or by crime. He spoke of the expensive family of Queen Victoria, and the cost of maintaining a large army for no other purpose than to shoot down their own people. The Bishop of London, who is supposed to minister to the religious wants of the people, lives in the palace of Lambeth, drives a glass carriage, gets £20,000 a year, besides the pickings and stealings of the Apostolic succession. On the other hand, the people are starving. Mr Pixley's contrast of the condition of the classes of society in England was truthful. He preferred to see the churches con verted into schoolhouses, the ministers compelled to teach school, and the revenue of the Established Church applied to the purposes of education. If the ministers there could not find work at their calling, let them adopt a more useful occupation.