AN OLD FRIEND.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 604, 29 April 1870, Page 3

AN OLD FRIEND.

-♦ : (From the London Standard) Some of the American papers hare been much occupied lately with the views and opinions of one Mr Alfred Hyman Louis, said to be an English barrister and late proprietor and editor of the .London Spectator. Mr Louis is a gentleman who, according to the report, has •' formed conclusions regarding the future of the Anglo-Saxon race " of a kind unflattering to the genius of England. Claiming to speak for the Anglo-Saxon race at large, and having deeply studied its destinies, Mr Louis holds that the date of the British Empire is out ; that England will, at no distant day, be 'federated ' with the American Union, and that the 6eat of rule must centre henceforth not in the Old, but in the New World. Mr Louis, it seems, has had a special audience with President Grant, in order to lay before him these deeply interesting conclusions. Taking action himself in anticipation of the transfer of empire ; and, regarding himself as n pioneer of the whole English family, Mr Louis, with a mingled boldness and discretion which cannot be sufficiently admired, has renounced his British citizenship and taken upon himself an American one. lie has merged the lesser into the greater Anglo-Saxon. Going in merely the ordinary British subject, he comes out newly baptized, or otherwise converted into the full American citizen. The operation, performed with all the solemnity which a Louis might assume on such an occasion, seems -to have profoundly impressed some of the American statesmen, who speak of the conversion of A. H. Louis ths great English barrister— the whilom wielder of the Spectator thunders— the representative of the most admired and enlightened English Liberalism— ecstatically as •' a sign of the times." The latest avatar of 1 ouis is regarded as the coming of AngloSaxon doom. The whole English family

only wait until A. H. Louis is properly settled at the American bar before coming over bodily to claim American citizenship. It is true that this promises to the wholeEnglish family a tolerably long respite— a space to look around them, and to comjxjse themselves with dignity to their, fate. For the settling of Louis at any bar is a process, we fear, not unaccompanied with a certain amount of painful effort. Mr Micawber, we may remember, was ready to go into the Medway coal trade, only that the Medway coal trade was slow to come to Mr Micawher. From certain hints which we gather from the New York papers, Mr Louis would appear to be the wandering star of the profession. He has irradiated every corner of the Queen's dominions, and exhausted by the fire of his genius the remotest bounds of British Empire. Wherever the British barrister had a foothold there has A. H. jLouia dealt out his lore. He has practised (to use the vulgar term) in London — he has practised in Australia (which is a large phrase) — iie has practised in New Zealand — he has practised in India. The triumphs of Louis are co-equal, in fact, with the conquests of England. From the very variety of his professional career it i 3 reasonable to suppose, however, t at there is something in Mr Louis's genius which does not fife itself to the capacity of mere Anglo-Saxon solicitors. We have no doubt that it is the fault of this lesser branch of the AngloSaxon family. We must suppose that over the circumscribed field of the British Empire Mr Louis's intellect has not found room enough — that he requires more breathing space— "An ampler ether — a diviner air," to do justice to his extraordinary powers. Unkinder critics might possibly hint that had Mr Louis studied the course of Anglo-Saxon empire less, and his particular profession more, he would not be now a wanderer from his native land, pioneering at the New York bar. But we scout any of these low-minded suggestions. We have no doubt that Mr Louis knows what is best for himself. We may not deny that he is a better American than a Briton. Deeply as we regret the loss of so distinguished a citizen we cannot envy the good fortune of the larger branch of the family in obtaining the services of Louis. They are welcome to all the encouragement they will derive in the path of empire by the possession of A. H. Louis. A few natural tears may be wrung from us at the thought of faculties so transcendent being lost to our smaller world. A feeling akia to remorse may come upon us when we think that the Spectator, and Australia, and New Zealand, and India among them, were not able to keep Louis from the terrible step he has taken ; | but the prospect, now become nearer, of being " federated with the Union," more than consoles us under our affliction. After all v Louis is " not lost, but gone before." He has gone to make pleasanter the process of " merging," he is the blessed " pioneer of the whole English family." As for the others, the members of the An-glo-Saxon family, let us prepare ourselves with all decency for the coming doom. Abandoned by A. H. Louis, we have but one way of Balvation. Is it tolerable that we can see our greatest and our best thus going away, man by man, into the camp of our rivals without yearning to follow them ? Goldwin Smith is gone, and Broadbead is gone, and now they have annexed our Louis. We can imagine the exulting chuckle with which the American President and his Ministers regard these runaways from England, the joyous pride with which they cry one to another, " Here is another Britisher come to be reconstructed !" No wonder we hear of the American statesmen being deeply interested in the conclusions of a man of so high an intellectual calibre and experience as Mr Louis. They have had a good deal of encouragement lately of the same kind from persons of Mr Louis' political school, and they may reasonably hold it to be a sign of the times that an English Liberal, and exeditor of the Spectator, should be led to " interview " the American President as to the merging of England into the Union. Mr A. H. Louis is only a little more honest, or a little more prudent, than the rest of his fraternity. They have done their best to make England small and the American Union large ; and it is natural they should be among the first to try to benefit by the results of their policy. For ourselves we should not be surry to see tlie American Union strengthened by a good many more of these secessions. They have no proper place in our own effete and feeble England. Men of their grandeur of ideas, of their Liberal calibre, have no business in this small empire. It would be more honest of them at least to take up their lot, like Mr A. H. Louis, at once with the American Republic, than to stay behind for the traitorous end of still further weakening the old country — of breaking up the bonds of British empire, and rendering their own prophecies more easy of fulfilment.