BRITAIN AND AMERICA CONTRASTED.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 48, 31 August 1878, Page 4

BRITAIN AND AMERICA CONTRASTED.

The San Francisco News Letter of a recent date, in referring to the crisis in Europe, makes the following remarks upon the attitude of Britain and Russia, and the relationship existing between America and the mother country. The News-Letter writes : —" As regards the present situation in Europe, it must be evident to all that Russia is giving away before the inflexible attitude of England. One by one the objectionable clauses of the San Stefano Treaty are disappearing, and it is doubtful whether before long the fminers of that preposterous instrument will be able to recognise their own handiwork. The Czar's troops, it seems, are t shortly to withdraw to Adrianople, and we now hear that England demands that they skr.ll retire beyond the Balkans. The cession of Batoum appears to depend more upon the permission of the British Government than of the Sultan, while the surrender of the fortresses is contingent upon the willingness of the Turk to give them up, rather than upon the ability of the Russians to take them. The illness of Prince Gortschakoff is not unlikely to render a peaceable solution of the matter practicable, for though we have little faith in what is called " the well-known pacific disposition of the Czar," yet Alexander is certainly less blindly obstinate than his sick Chancellor. He has, also, more at stake; and now that the administration of foreign affairs rests entirely with him, peace is possible. And peace, with the Treaty of San Stefano torn up, and the future integrity, of England's empire assured, would be a most desirable consummation. There has been more than enough of blood and butchery, and we do not wish to see our brothers across the water break their long and glorious peace if it can be kept with honour. But if they do fight, our hearts will go with them into the battlefield, and we shall hope confidently for the success of their, arms. True, we have been sneered at as "Anglophile," but such sneers we take as compliments, for were we ten times American we should retain honesty enough to acknowledge that England is the mother of our race, of our country, and of our vaunted civilisation; that the halo of her ancient and untarnished honour, the glories os her unrivalled past, are our heritage, if we only claim it; that her Chaucers, Shakespeares, and Bacons were the brothere of our forefathers; and that her golden memories are ours. For these reasons we might well be " Anglophile," for the sake of sentiment alone; but when wo compare the steadfast structure of England's institutions, the pure and manly administration of her government with our own tawdry and corrupt political edifice ; when we contemplate the wealth that her own energy has amassed, and the mighty empire which her prowess and statesmanship have formed ; when we regard the veneration accorded her as the modern mother of art, science, and culture; and, finally, when we observe the respect paid to her strength wisdom, and justice by our elders in the community of nations, then we are in deed England lovers, in the sense that a son may be proud of a mother acknowledged by all the world to be noble, chaste, and beautiful.