OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA. [BY J. C. FIRTH.] INTRODUCTORY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2245, 27 November 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA. [BY J. C. FIRTH.] INTRODUCTORY.

A rjbcrnt bnfeinen toar through the iStatos of California, Nevada, Utah, Wjoniing, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kansas lias afforded me an opportunity of .unking a fuller acquaintance with our •• kin across the sea" in the United State", by personal contact, patient inquiry, and close investigation of their characteristics, politics, and achievements, than my previous knowledge of American institutions, and literature of various kinds, had given me. I may say that I entered upon this enquiry with a deep interest in the social, industrial and political problems which our American kindred are endeavouring to solve under different conditions, and on a frrander scale than his be.n attempted by any nation of ancient or modern times. My interest in the solution of those great questions was none the lees, inasmuch as I felt that the people of the United States were doing, though as yet on a greater scale very similar work to that which the Australasian Colonies, and indeed tho whole English colonial world arp engaged in. Though an Englishman to the core, I felt th-it as a colonist I had perhaps more points of contact, possibly, in somo respects, a deeper sympathy, with men of tho same race, who are engaged in what has been well termed " the heroic work of colonisation," than with ourcountrjmen who stay at home at ease. Thackeray, in the " Virginians," wrote many years ago, that the '* foolish exactions, petty ignominies and the habitual indolence of Englishmen towards all foreigners, all colonists, all folk who dare to think their rivers as good as Rnglish rivers ; the natural spirit of men outraged by our injurious domineering spirit, set Britain and our American colonies to nuarrel; and the astonishing blunders of the system adopted in England brought the quarrel to an issue which I, for one, am not going to deplore." A century of misunderstanding and ill-will between England and Ameiiaa followed. Happily, a second century opened with a more •friendly feeling between the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race. The settlement of the Alabama difficulty ; the tragic do ith of President Garfield, calliug forth as it did, an electric fii^h of sympathy throughout tho English world, did much to make Englishmen and Americans feel that they were once moro " kin." Nevertheless, Americans complain that the demeanour of mauy Englishmen passing through the United State-", still betrays too much of the old insular insolence. Without bein^ blind to their errors or follies, our American cousins have a right to expect a more generous sympathy for theic failures, and a more genial appreciation of their successes than is at all times accorded them by Englishmen. It is with something of this latter spirit, that in tho following papers, I shall endeavour to pass in brief review some of the va^t and varied questions which presented themselves to me for consideration. In dealing with these greater subjects, if I accidentally touch here aud there upou smaller matters, it will be beoansb I think that, not infrequently, trifles go far to maka " tho sum of human things." If now and then I imgh at a folly, note a pocuiarity, criticise a custom, or denounce an abuse, it will not be, I hope, in no censorious spirit. It may, perhaps, be asked, How can a mm get a fair idea of a greab nation by traversing 1 8000 miles of its railways, and spending a few days here and there in some of its great cities? I may ask, in reply, How is the work I have set myself to do, to be done ? It may bo suggested that a carriage and a pair of fleet horsa3 would have secured a more leisurely survey. That may be so. But would such a method not have required a" lifetime, with the result of a library of books, full of figures, and small dry details ? Aud when so accomplished, would not such a record of a people living under high pressure become in tins liviug, throbbing age, antiquated and useless? I think so. If I am tv contribute my small effort towards the general weal, I must use tbe 11 opportunity as it serves, or lose my ventures." In doing so, I must necessarily make not a few mistakes, and draw some conclusions not always just. These, if such there be, will be du^, not to '11-will, but to imperfect information. Still, if I have conducted my enquiries regarding the politics, the enterprise, the achievements, the laws of health, the conditions of life, and the moral and social pulsations under which a great and kindred nation h working out its destiny — if I have done this, not in a severe, fault-finding spirit, but with a geuerous consideration for the failures which, in my judgment, may have been made, and with a frank acknowledgment of the successes which have bsen achieved, I may not unreasonably hope that my delineations of "Our Km Across the Sea," will be accepted by them and others, in a spirit not very different from j that in which they have been made. It is due to myself to say, that iv traversiue; the various Sfcate3 of the Union I visited, I have had numerous j conversations and discussions with representative men of all classes— Governors, SDuatorSjpolititicians, bankers, capitalists, physicians, lawyers, manufacturers, merchants, ranchmen, farmers, and working men of various kinds. I have, in many case 3, when the more im- j portant questions were being discussed, intimated to the gentleman taking part iv the discussion:*, that the result of my investigations would appear in the columns of a leading New Zealand journal. I tuny also state, that many of the opinions in the-e articles upon "Our Kin Across the Sea" are often the opinion" of the various representative men who have taken part in the discussions I have conducted. The conclusions I have formed, though sometimes dissented from, were quite as often accepted] as fair honest. In every casa I endeavoured to nonduofc ray enquiries and to oxpress my crittcisTis with perfect frankness, yet, I trust, with the courtesy and consideration with which I was met on every hand. Iv concluding this eh iptev, it only remains for me to say, that I venture to hopo our Amprican kinsfolk will understand, that the object of these papers is not to indulge in flattery or fault-finding, is not to wound the sensibilities of a great, and in many respects a noblo nation, but to see, after a very humble fashion, whether the American, who is none other than a S3ccnd, and in some respects an improved addition of his English kinsman, may not afford an example, and, it may be, a warninsr, to his younger brethren, who, throughout the English colouial WO2W are treadiug in his footsteps for weal ov woe.

A Beautiful Italiax Legexd.— It is a beautiful story that in one of the old cities of Italy, the King caused a bell to bf hung in a tower in one of the public squares, and called it * 'The Bell of Justice," and commanded that anyone who had bceu svronsred should go and ring the bell, and so call the magistrate of the city a^d ,vk and receive justice. And when, in tlio couvt-e of time, the lower cod of the b '51 rope rolled away, a wild vice was , tifvl to it to lengthen it ; and one day an old and starving horso, that had been ; abandoned by its owner and turned out to die, wandered into the tower, and, in trying to eat the vine, rang the bell. And the magistrate of the city, coming to see who ran* the bell, found this old and starving horse ; and he causel the owner o: that horse, in whose service he had toiled and been worn out, to be summoned before him, and decreed that as his poor horse had rung the bell for justics he should have justice, and that during tho horde's life his owner shou'd pr< vide for him proper food and driuk and stable.