OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2292, 19 March 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA.

4, [r.v .1. l'iß'ru.] X- . XL AM Kit [CAN PROBLEMS. Amoncst the problems which presented themselves to me for consideration, during mv recent vWt to the United States, was ti;e marked dee.adeuee of the maritime smrifc amougst the American people. i)i:<!,VV or 'I'll!' MAIHTi.MK SIMRIT. The early English settlors on the Knghuul coasts carried with them the old Engii-h love of the sea. A variety of conditions kept maritime enterprise active amongst their defendants. The sterility of t-'w soii, wi v ..eh partially dwarfed agriou" l :';"o, naturally directed enterprise to the '' aarryst of the sea," and the cod and whale fisheries fir a long period kept alive r,he old \'iking spirit. The march Westw-n fl, struck the first great blow at. maritime enterprise. The next adv 'rse iuHiu'nij.-) was the Penusvivanbiu oil-wells, which practically destroy the whaling enterprise, for, though the depredations of the \la bantu undoubtedly swept great numbers of American whalers from the oeea.ll, their profitablu occupation was coming to an end by the substitution of petroleum for whale oil. "What the Alabama really did was to transfer three millions sterling from English to American pockets, as payment for fleets of whaleships, whose profitable employment' was coining to an end if it had not already ceased.

To these causes, and to the decisive change in the direction of national enterprise. which the boundless plains of the "West" accomplished, may be traced the decay of American maritime enterprise. '

The immense bodies of German and Irish immigrants who marched into the gr< at plains, singing as they went, "To the West, to the West," had no love for the sea. " A life on the ocean wave " lie! cr had any charms fov men of Teutonic 01 Celtic blood. And so it has come about t:. notwithstanding the "Navigation

I'.vx3," not more than one-seventh of A..-,OTcar. exports and imports is staborne by American ships.

Continental countries, like America and Australia, in the- nature of things, can never become great maritime nations. .Probably the great majority of the t~M,000,000 of people in the United States have never seen the sea. A similar condition will exist in Australia, as its interior becomes populated. Notwithstanding the extensive seaboards of both countries, neither possesses many first-class harbours. Beyond Port Jackson and Port Philip, there are no first-class harbours available in Australia, whilst New York and San Francisco are the sole eastern and western gateways of tho first rank in the United States. A great network of railways, concentrating 011 these great ports, renders less necessary a large number of harbours or the first rank, but they also dwarf that maritime instinct, which has been the master key of power in more than one famous nation. That nation whose configuration, position, and nautical spirit makes her mistress of the sea, must, in the nature of thiugs, cause her to play a great part of the history of the world.

In the United States the spirit of the old "Sea Kings" has so far died out that, as I have said, not more than one-seventh of American exports and imports goes to sea in American bottoms.

The genius of tho American people, natural to tho configuration of America, has covered the North American Continent with a spider's web of iron, upon which " ships of the laud " run in every direction ; but on the great ocean highways the " star-spangled banner" is rarely seen ; and with such an occasional exception as Captain Morse, of the steamer Alameda —with whom I had the pleasure to mako the return voyage to New Zealand—who was 11 " soa king " of the true type, tho race appears to be dying out. It cannot well be otherwise. Love for the sea springs naturally in those who live on its shores. Lovo in thir. case, as in other"', casts out fear.

The storms of ocean, its calms, its everchanging moods, its dangers oven, clevclope a romance and daring 1 , resulting in a love for the sea, which grows into a passion in which fear has little place. Americans, therefore, may as well accept the change that is coming—if, indeed, it has not already comeover their destinies, and console themselves with the reflection that if, in the nature of things, they can never become "rulers of the sea," they can point -with just pride to their industrial conquests over the land. But not until, in the near or distant future, they take a commanding position in the coming "Confederation of the English-speaking Race" can they claim to wear the proud motto, " Per mure par (en-am." Not till then will they hold their proper place " by sea and laud." TflE LAXITY OP LAW. "Newspapers and Reviews throughout flic States nre loud in their denunciations 111 the shameless hixit-v in ihe administration of the .Law, not: only in the " Temtorie*,'' hut in many iSrav-i and Citie.-. Newspnpers report crimes aud outrages which, throiurh poli deal or rno'u-tuiy iitiluoiice, ;Ta<*.< IcrJ'y gc nupunished ; or the pnnisaru.-nfc :» i ;.tl\ so defer ed fch..! nmy when it is finally inflicted, the public h.:» fo'-.r-.-tten both the cr;n.ii>al and his crime. Now, if the 'aw is 60 ha a terror to evil-doers, the certain and .ipeedy punish meat of criminals — whether high or low — is absolutely indispensable. In the United States the laws appear equitable and good ; it is in their lax, feeble, and corrupt administration where the root of the evil must be sought for. It is in the resolute determination of the honest, lawabiding citizens to do their duty in taking their proper part in public affairs where the true corrective lies, instead of—as is now the too common practice—abandoning, not only polities, but the control of the administration of the laws, to the fesv audacious rogues and plotters whose nefarious action is rendering the "laxity of law* " iu the United States a byword and reproach. The fallowing extract from an influential American journal, which has come to hand as this article is going to press, confirms this view With a business community, too earnestly engaged in money making to give serious attention to the details of Governmental administration, there is every probability that our present state of affairs will drift on to the condition where reform can only be effected by a contest of force between contending parties. That our country is being dragged into this position is apparent. Riots, strikes, misrule and defiance of legal authority are occurring all over our land, and especially in all our larger cities. The arm of the law is relaxed everywhere; authority 110 longer demands respect, and from eVery-dde we see approaching danger, till tho most conservative end intelligent are beginning :o question whether our form of Republican Government can endure the strain that is certain to be put upon it." Under such circumstances it is not surprising that respect for law or confidence in its ability to secure jiViticc, safetv anil order at a low ebb. One wf the results is a frequent to " Lynch hiiv," not only in the "'! •■' i itones,'" but- also in the jjtatus. Thi.-' practice of Lyn>-h .Law, iridic - v., a proiuuii'l d;.'be!i::f in t!;:; ,',.dequ.ey or certainty of the, puni-tlim ut of crime by the ordinary# process of law. It also indicates an- acute perception o. natural justice, which, in default of the law doing its duty, manifests itself iu promptly punishing a great criminal. Such proceedings may bo brutal and dangerous in the highest degree. They may be indications of a -lawless spirit, and bo a dircct step backwards, towards the red-handed vengeance characi eristic ot savage corn in unities. It is doubtless a ■deplorable evidence,, that some of the •developments of civilisation may be but a veneer, which sometimes but thinly overlays the savageism beneath. For these fierce and lawless outbursts,

the indolen 'e and corruption, said hv Americans to be so prevalent in the United States, are to a meat, extent responsible. In addition to these causes, there appears to be, in all Democratic communities, a singular disinclination to support a prompt, vigorous, and effective administration of the law in the case of outrages and minders. '

1 deprccato in the strongest manner the practice of Lynch Law, but I am not sure that tlii< rude »nd docisivo administration of justice may not, be a timely warning, necessary to arouso American society to the existence of a force, which if, is neither wise nor safe to provoke too far. [11 an excellent, article, entitled, '• Shall our laws be enforced'{" in tlu; b'oruni, an able American Keviow, Chancellor Howard Crosby denounces the '• Laxity of Lav. 1 "," and indicates several important remedies. Jiufc I venture to think ho has .tailed to point out the oxk evii more potent than any he has so powerfully denounced, namely, *' Ihe election by universal suffrage of the lower magistracy and of the judges of the Superior Courts." TILL'. KhKC'I'ION OK MAGISTJIATHS AND JIM Mi UK. IN one of the developments of " universal suffrage," as exercised in the United tif.afes, have been su inimical to peace, order, and good .'government as the " election " of magistrates and judges by universal suffrage. 'I'o see, as 1 have seen, a Superior Court Judge addressing a public meeting, descending from this high post, to take part in exciting political contests, resorting to the contemptible arts of flattery and cajolery, which are so prominently and unscrupulously used to secure votes, is a spectacle so degrading, so opposed to the high—nay, sacred—character which ought to surround, the " Bench of Justice" as to cause every well-wisher to Democratic government, to desire a radical change iu the appointment of American magistrates and judges. How their appointment ought to be made, it is not easy to say. I may, perhaps, be permitted to suggest that, if the Senate of each State elected, say, four candidates for every three Superior Court Judges required, and the House of Representatives elected a similar proportion of Justices of the Peace, the Governor of the State then appointing, from the. names submitted to him, the actual number of judges and justices required, I think a much purer administration of law would be secured.

In the meantime, it is right to say that it is only because of the vast body of honest, well-meaning, law-abiding people —which forms so large a proportion of American citizens—that the consequences of the present lax administration of law are not very much more dangerous than they are. TIIH IRISH (JtTESTIOX. The United States, like England, has iis "Irish Difficulty." Many American - born citizens mauiilest a strong dislike to Germans and Irishmen. Tho new " American Party" declares that the United States is being largely "run"— American fur "controlled"- by Germans and Irish, In order to limit their influence, tho " American Party" proposes to check immigration and ahofisli the Naturalisation Laws. It is not. my object to trace the results of rhe adoption of this policy of " Americans"—because I do not think such a policy will be accepted by American citizens generally —further than to express the opinion, that its adoption would effectually cheek the progress of the Nation. Why there should be any desire to limit German iipmigration, I am at a loss to discover. Teutonic blood is, and always has been, a goods train. Its introduction has undoubtedly greatly benefited the United States. The patient industry, tho steady energy, tho love of order, the undoubted courage, the habit of economy, are German characteristics and virtues, and are all qualities of the highest value in building up a nation. Let anyone take up a directory of the great Western cities, and he will find how large a part men of German names play in industrial and commercial operations. One great advantage the Germans posses, is the readiness in which they assimilate with the Nation to which they emigrate. Generally in one generation, the English language becomes their language, and, in all "essential points, Germans become American citizens.

With the Catholic Irish it is somewhat different. For certain reasons, which I shall presently indicate, they do not so readily and intimately assimilate with any nation to which they migrate. In almost every case they form, more or less, an imperium in Impcrlo. The French Canadians are more Catholic and more French than Frenchmen living in France, and arc possibly more French than Canadian. For a similar reason, Irish Americans are often more Irish than American. Like the, Jews, who, wherever they go, look with irrepressible affection to the holy city of their nation, so Irishmen, wherever they may dwell, regard with undiminished affection the " sacred land" from which they came. But at this point the parallel ends. Though their religion is more exclusive, and far more irreconcilable, than the Catholic faith of Irishmen, the Jews be come praerieiillv ciueb more really citizens of any country m which they live, than Irishmen do.

Tnough the Jews of our day are the representatives of an ancient and illustrious nation, and though, in the Middle Ages they were unjustly treated, as "dogs" and outcasts, happily for them, they do not seem to have cherished this shameful treatment as an undying grievance.

The Irish never were a nation in any real or extended sense. Before the English occupation of Ireland, they wore never anything more than a discordant collection of independent clans and septs, constantly engaged in bbwly intestine conflict*. But for the English occupation, it is not improbable that the hostile class would have made the Irish fable of "The Kilkenny cats" something more than a fable. The Irish race, like all of Celtic blood, are endowed with a lively, and, indeed often, a brilliant imagination. In their case, except in the North of Ireland, this brilliant quality has never been toned down by a mixture of Roman, Gothic, Scandinavian, or Teutonic blood, as wove tho Gallic and British divisions of the Celtic nice.

The absence of this touing-down or sobering element has left the Irish imagination in its native vigour, and, perhaps, more than any other cause, has resulted in Irish Catholics maintaining a greater admiration for the splendid ceremonial of Rome, and a more constant devotion to its authority than any other people, with the exception of the French Canadians.

The Irish character presents the curious anomaly, that, though in every country, tho Irishman is said to be ready to declare himself "agin the Government." he yot readily yiekb unquestioning obedience to his priest and his Church. What Palestine is to the Jews, Ireland is"to Iri>h Americans, with this important difference, that Irish Americans cherish their "grievance," whilst the Jews do not. It is, I venture to think, these two elements—devotion to a errievance, and devor.iori to their Church - which so of fin riiai.es nr. Ji-'.«h Amoriixni, a Catholic and tin Irishman first, and an American afi 1 r ~'::r.!s. B" ides these two element- 1 , Irishmen havj o'h-T do:. <«-rt;il: s, which i:i-.-■ns,fy the J ri.-.h chili e'-v, n fri-dy, absolute obedience !o ,->e, accented master, and a natural faculty for .u-ganixatiou. It is, I think, these. f>mr tjuaiities—love of a grievance, devotion to priesthood, a habit of obedience to a. chosen leader, and a faculty for urgKm-.-ution with another influence to bo presently noted—which have created, and are continuing, the " Irish difficulty'" in tho Uuited States.

The nature and danger, of the Irish difficulty will be seen from tho fact, that of tho nine million immigrants into the United States, between 1.5'20 and 1879, more than three millions were Irish. A very large proportion of the drinking saloons aro "run" by Irishmen; in many

districts, a, large proportion of the lower magistracy is Irish; in many cities, the political.." bosses" and the '"primary" political organisations are largely Irish; whilst the police in most of the cities I visited, are very largely Irishmen. Liegarding the latter, lam pleased to say that, from all I could Itvirn, the Irish policeman in the United Stares—as, indeed, ijveiywheroel.se—with some exceptions, is a faithful public servant, and iloes his duty with a courtesy, firmness, and devotion which does him honour.

The indisposition to assimilate, iu any intimate, manner, with the 'rest of his fellow-citizens will be apparent from the circumstance—slight in itself, but none the less signilicent—that, though in the United States you never hear of the "German American," the " Irish American" is constantly spoken of, and is a prominent figure, who must bo reckoned with by American politicians. Irishmen, by their capacity for organisation, by their unswerving ohcdience to an acknowledged leader, possess groat power, whether in the British House of Commons or in the United States. In America, not less than in the United Kingdom, by their "block vote" they frequently hold the balance of power. Both Republican dud Democratic parties have been compelled to reckon with the Irish vote in more than one political campaign. Doubtless this too oominou weakness receutly led Senator Ingalls to make a remarkably foolish speech in Congress on the Canadian fisheries' dispute. This circumstance has compelled the United States to wink at the atrocious conspiracies of Irishmen, conducted by O'Donovan Rossa, and to allow the dynamite clubs to hatch nefarious plots against a friendly power, and to use the United States as a base of operations, to carry into force wicked schemes, which could only end in the destruction of numbers of innocent men, women, and children. These dynamite operations at length, " like chickens, came home to roost," with the result of recently killing a nnmber ef policemen and wounding many more in the streets of Chicago. This result, and a return to the sense of the duty the United States citizens owe to themselves and to the inhabitants of other countries, will probably put an end to practices, which have aroused the strongest indignation of every right-thinking man in all countries.

America, as well as Eugland, as already observed, has its Irish difficulty. It owes it chiefly I think, to the ttbxenec'. of goodwill toward.l England which for various reasons, and for a long period, has been but too plainly marked in the United States to bo denied. For this unhappy feeling Englishmen are as I have already stated, largely responsible.

In this condition of things, Irishmen have not failed to cherish and cultivate their " grievance" against England. For, though it may be said that American has given no overt support to them, the position has been very much like that of the man in Banyan's Pilgrim's Progress, whose efforts to put out a fire by pouring on water in front of the wall, entirely failed, because another man was pouring 011 oil at the back of the wall. Let the growing good feeling between America and England continue, and the Irish plotters will find tho atmosphere of free and generous Americauusuitablc for tho development of their nefarious schemes, and ere long, will lind their occupation gone. Then the Irish grievance in America, and the American-Irish difficulty will disappear altogether.

Having thus noticed the AmericanIrish difficulty and attempted to indicate its apparent causes and its possible remedy, it is right to say, that I am not ignorant of the many splendid—and indeed noble—qualities of the Irish race, and I do not at all agree with the policy of the "American party" to stop Irish immigration, and to abolish the Naturalisation Laws. One has but to look at the record of England s groat career daring the List century, to recognise the distinguished part played by soldiers and administrators of Irish blood. Neither the British Empire nor the United States can afford to with men so distinguish ed by the brilliaut imagination, the impulsive enersrv, the natural politeness, and the 'indannted courage with which the Irish people are so abundantly endowed. XEWSPAPES DEPOTISM. The United States is a Republic, and professes a horror of Depotism. It sneers at monarchy and aristocracy of overy kind, It claims to be the home and temple of freedom. It proclaims in its great National Charter : " That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that amongst these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

These are noble sentiments, and worthy of the ioremost place in the Great Charter of a Great Nation. Little more than a century has passed since they were boldly spoken, by men who had cast away their scabbards and drawn their swords for Freedom ; and yet in this one century, the successors of these grand free men, have permitted the creation and existence of subtle despotisms in their midst, which 110 European tyrant with a million armed men at his back would care to father. The iron despotism of railroad and other monopolies, whose name is Legion, by their unscrupulous tactics and their alleged lavish use of money amongst newspaper men, political bosses, and legislators, have reduced political profligacy to a bastard science, and rendered good, honest government—when their own interests are concerned—well nigh impossible. Another and even more dangerous Despotism is that of the "Newspaper Press." The Daily Newspaper, not merely in the United States—-though possibly more so there than elsewhere—has usurped the position of "General Thinking Machine." Let it but boldly and authoritatively assert its opinions in double-leaded 'leader' type, then, listen all of yon, for when " we " speak, let no dog bark ; for when, like the Delphic priestess on her tripod, the Oracle has spoken, what more can possibly be said.

In most English and Colonial newspapers the " Open or Correspondence column" is a prominent feature, and affords an opportunity for people to discuss their grievances, to direct attention to abuses; nay, even to question the oracular and autocratic dictation, occasionally appearing in the "leading columns." In the United States, I noticed a too general absence of this relic and weapon of freedom, the "Correspondence Column." By this omission, American journalism deprives itself of a most valuable corrective supplied by independent thought. It misses one of the most useful mirrors of public opinion. The general adoption of the "Correspondence column" by the great majority of English and Colonial newspapers is, I think, one reason why English and Colonial newspapers are superior in tone to so many American journals. There are many noble examples in the American newspaper press of true petriotism ; of earnest true-speaking ; of valiant battle done for the right; and of many tender appeals for the feeble and the poor. Unquestionably America owes much of its marvellous progress to the energy and ability with which many ot its Newspapers are conducted. Yet it cannot be douied that in too many instances newspapers in America and elsewhere are too lYoijUetitly mercenary advertising machines—and in the United States—-too often, traducing engines, party catapults discharging grains of truth amidst bushels of lies.

Under the excitement of a great crime, what stupendous efforts are made by too many newspapers in England America, and the colonies to be " the Krsfc " to record an outrage or to describe a murder ; the more horrible, the blacker the type, the more ravenous the public appetite, growing by what it feeds on, the more persistently is every hideous detail thrasiied out with nauseous repetition ; the murderer's portrait often given, and

r his sayings and doings noted with sickent i»g effusiveness till tlm drop falls. Such ' a newspaper, returning day by day, ; " like a dog to its vomit," becomes a [ school of vice, a chamber of horrors, with - every dark spectre drawn in deeper and r dark ei lines, until too many a daily 1 journal would appear to be playing the rule of a mocking devil, grinning behind a 111 ask at' outraged Immunity, bemuse il I p<nj.s-. , Is there a "divorce case" in the courts ; every dirty, immoral, and disgusting in- ! eideut is given and gloated over, as if to 3 pollute innocent; young lives were one of : the chief objects of these scandalous and : pestiferous newspapers. .1 Whilst noticing " divorce eases" I : venture to think that the American uivni«;i'; aw.s i greatly aid in affixing a shameful blot 1 upon the fair escutcheon of American home life. And though Englishmen, - equally with Americans, rescut as a vile ) indignity to the race from which both t nations spring the recent scandalous f aristocratic divorce eases in Eug'and, yet it is not in England, but in America, that we can see half-a-dozen women divorced from one man, and perhaps several of these divorced women living in the same city with their former husband and his latest mate. I do not wish it to be understood that America stands alone in the circulation of low class newspapers, for both in England and the colonies there are unhappily too many newspapers which familiarise their readers with crime, and whose direct tendency is to foster a morbid sympathy for criminals. The large circulation of the low newspapers which first foster, and then pander to a vicious taste, unfortunately is not without influence on many high-class journals, who have often to consider, • whether they will lessen their circulation or lose their honour. • And yet, in this hurry scurry Age, when so many men have hardly time to eat or sleep, much less to read or think, the newspaper is " the Thinking Machine," the " Book of the Aye," and almost the only literature of the. general mass of readers. If these winged messengers, these " Public Educators," these " Lights of the Age " diffuse much of this kind of education and illumination, how deep and gloomy must the coming darkness be ? In times of political excitement the slightest mistake or false step in the past life of au opposing- candidate is exhibited to the public gaze. Not even the reputation of father, mother, wife or daughter is always safe from the cowardly attacks of a sordid and vicious Press ; every forgotten scandal is dragged, lilce a skeleton from the closet, until, stung by calumny, and middened by a rage not always i unjust, the hunted victim enters the Editor's den and shoots him on tho spot. Happily there are in many shiningexamples of a loftier precepticn of right, i of a nobler sense of duty in the bright array of distinguished men who conduct American journals, and who are ths glory of a profession as powerful as it is noble. Nevertheless, there are too many instances of a corrupt and unscrupulous Press, which howls down independent thought and honest action ; i which terrorises the good and fawns upon i the bad ; which exalts, what it terms its Party, attacks with venomous scandals the reputation of its opponents ; but drags the honour of its Country in tho dust. Such is the Despotism of an umvorthy Press. How long will the. "silent majority" in the United States—the honest, well meaning, good living multitude, which happily forms so large a portion of every branch of the English-speaking race— continue silent? How much longer will that great phalanx of good, but overpatient and over-silent American citizens, stand by, and by supporting low newspapers, permit a corrupt Despotism to degrado their nation and destroy their liberties ?