AMERICA.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 198, 16 August 1873, Page 2

AMERICA.

LiiitJT-CoL Medt.E7 lias written an account of hN tour through the States We extract the following from a critique on the book that appeared m the Home News .—. — " The Americans slrucL me generally us a silent people ; though the Tery contrary idea is prevalent in England, I know not on »hafc ground-*. But they certainly seemed to me more taciturn and reserved than ourselves, and I think most travellers will confirm, the remark. In the diningrooins of the large hotel*, in the railway tars and elsewhere, iliev make !«••** noise than Imlf the numbor of English would hii\c done; there was but little cujjTrrsation even amongst those acquainted with eaeli other, mid tho!?o who were unacquainted neier bpoke at all. In the whole course of my travels I don't think I win c\er addressed in the first instance ! I alwajs received perfectly civil replies to my questions, unrl had many pleasant conversations with strangers on the steamboats, railways, and other public- places, but there was always a certain amount ol ice to bo broken through first. " Another point that struck me everywhere as an agreeable feature viu the absence of drunkenness I should have set down the whole population ns*singularh temperate, had I not been assured by many Americans that I have given them more credit than they deserted, and that there is a good r'eol of hard drinking amongst ninny classes It may be so j I c»n only say that I did not see it. I scarcely ever met a drunken man, and the streets at l.'ight, in ali the cities I TifliU'd, certainly presented a faroniblo contrast to those of English towns I believe, hpwever, that there is ft good deal of whiskey and brandy drunk at the hotel bars and drinking (■abons, and aboniinablo 6tull' it is, $o good ule is made in the country, I don't know why 5 the German Lager 13 the best. There seems no reason whatever whr a good and cheap wine might not be produced in most of the Tine-grow - ing States, but the native *mo usually sold is as dear as that imported from Europe. As men of tho Anglo-Saxon inxs will drink, it seems really an important matter to provide tiieni with a cheap and wholesome beverage that may save them from the pernicious vioo of drain-drinking " He was much struck with the inferior tone of American public men, and the reluctance of men of culture among thesis to take any part in politics. " One effect of tins has been to degrade the business of polities to such h level in the public estimation that the best and highest classes of the country keep altogether aloof from it, and it is given over entirely to second-rate men and the lower classes generally j the leading politicians are as a rule successful journalists or sharp lawyers. The race of statesmen does pot exisf, ami as 19 well known, in l»te years at anj rate, none of the really great men of America have ever been chosen as President '"It i> not t)O much t> say that the controversy on the Alabama question is » proof of tins. Our negotiators were statesmen and gentlemen; those on the other sido were politicians, who thought that the art of statesmanship consisted in chicanery, and that a question of national hw between two great countries wus to be determined on the same principle* .is a petty oa<e in some inferior law court I have m »o than once heard the remark niide by Canadians that «n long as England continues to send such men ns she usuuliy sends to negotiate treaties with America, bhe is certain to be overreached in every transaction, ami th it if Canadians had been employed who understood tl 0 iatuie of the American politician, the Alabama and San Juan questions would have terminated very differently." The superiority of accommodation on American railways ii a familiar theme, but *c bud never heard of their ticket system, " Another special feature of American railway travelling is tbeir ticket system. You can buy a our ticket, as with us, if you cboose, at the station before 6tartmg, but you can als> buy it at any of the general ticket offices, of which there arc be\eral in every town, and one at each ol the large hotols, and 3"ou can purchase >t tljore at cxactlr the same prieu as nt the station, and a week beforehand if you like. The comfort of Una arrangement is indescribable, and why i>n earth our conservative railway companies do not adopt it, except on special occasions, such ns the Derby or Ascot cup dajs, no reasonable hemg can understand. The tickets for long journeys are issued in coupons, and you can break juur journey where you choose. <( The American ticket system would be sproiallv uoeful in India, as it. would protect tho natives from imposition by tho subordinate railway oflioiali, who, there is good reason to believe, often defraud travellers in the hurry and contusion which always prevail at a large railway station under tho present system, pievious to a train starting." Colonel Medley's last chapter on tho specialities of American engineering will be interesting to professional readers, j

A Lucid Ixiekval — It is reported on Saturday lust tha a fortunately unsuccessful attempt had boon m«de on the previous evening to overthrow an "up" express train on tlic Great Western lino at the point where it crosses the Hanwcll Viaduct. We have sinco been informed tliat the train in question wi}s ft " speoial " an 1 that its freight consisted cxclimveh of the two hundred and odd members of the Inns of Court Volunteers who lmd left town the o.uiiu morning for tlio purpose of u h'e!d-da\ with t lie TT T imcrsi(iet» oorps at Oxford. The (ram was travelling nt an abnormally high rile of npcod, and to tliat fact alone, in all probability, tho gallant Volunteers are indebted for tlieir preservation from a terrible fate. T)ie author, or rather the authors — for it could not liave been the »ork of a single man— of this outrage appear to have escaped detection, it is to be hoped only fir a tlinc. The attempt was made in the \ieuntv of a lunatic n^luni. Perhaps bonic unhappy (treat ure "whose brain had go en wny m cc>n»(iquenee of those "law's delays" which arc to be abolished as sooi> as the Pala.ce of Ju»liee is finished lmd, in a lucid interval, hit upon tho brilliant idea of avenging his wrongs b\' l'ie wholesale destruction, of a trainload of Quoen'x Counel, barristers, special plesdcrj, uud law sit) Junta,— GluU,