man has not yet appeared on earth. Even George Washington had the faults of his age and race. A hundred years since the Anglo-Saxon had not freed himself from the Latin so completely as he has to-day. It will take generations, probably, to work Latinism entirely out of the Anglo-Saxon; but the Anglo-Saxon of this generation is better than the Anglo-Saxon of the last generation, and he was better than the Anglo-Saxon of the eighteenth century. Superior as George Washington may have been to the men of his day, there are thousands of Americans at the present time who are his equals, if not his superiors. But Washington is regarded as the god of truth, and as it would be presumptuous for a modern American to pretend to compare with or rival the god in truthfulness, the modern American receives no credit from his fellows when he tells the truth. The national character of the American is represented even in his own country as smart, shrewd, not over-particular or truthful, fond of a bargain, and willing to give credit to any one who can overreach him. I believe this character is not overdrawn, and I also believe it may be traced to the worship of Washington which is fostered by the great party leaders for political purposes. The worship of the dead has a demoralising influence on the living in all cases, and not less in the United States than elsewhere. THE RULE OF THE DEAD It seems probable, also, that the restrictive policy of the United States since the Civil War has had a repressive influence on the American mind. If this is so, the fact that the United States have not produced any first-class scientific thinker, or writer, or a leader in literature or art, may be due to the cramping of the American brain by the policy and beliefs of the country. In fact, the Anglo-Saxon in the United States is suffering from the disease with which his brother in England and elsewhere is affiicted, namely, the rule of the dead. The disease, however, springs from different causes in the different Anglo-Saxon countries. In England the Anglo-Saxon has been endeavouring to free himself from the Latin yoke imposed on him before he had developed his racial characteristics. In America the Anglo-Saxon, when he declared his independence, broke off at one effort many of the shackles which had hitherto bound him and which still bind the Englishman; but to prevent the masses from lapsing into the medievalism from which they had just been lifted, it was found necessary to frame a Constitution and this, excellent as it no doubt was in the first instance, has since proved a bar to further development. As I have already said with regard to reformers in England, it shows no great reverence for the memory of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Hamilton, or the other great men who freed the American Anglo-Saxon from so much of the Latin yoke to maintain the status quo. A nation cannot remain stationary. It must either progress or degenerate, and every obstacle to free progress means degeneration in some form or other. I have spoken plainly, perhaps too plainly for an Englishman to speak of American institutions, but it has been with the hope that, by probing the sore from which the United States suffer to the bottom, the patient may perhaps have a better chance of recovery. The Americans have boasted of their free institutions. They are not free and never can be until the weight of the dead hand of the past is completely removed. It does not matter whether this incubus was due to the Latin or to an AngloSaxon ruler, the effect is the same, and Washington would probably, if he could return to earth, be the first to denounce the measure, which he justly looked upon as necessary a century ago. Never perhaps since their foundation have the United States so urgently needed a second Washington as now: a man to lead them on until they take the position of the leading branch of the Anglo-Saxon nations to which their population and their development naturally entitle them to aspire. AMERICAN POSSIBILITIES Whether the Americans will take up this position or not depends entirely on themselves, and they require no army and no navy to substantiate their claim to it. Hitherto the Great Republic has been the most powerful supporter of monarchy outside its own borders, instead of the enemy of that form of government which Washington intended it to be, and which Americans even now declare it is; because it has not proved that the Anglo-Saxon can govern himself more honestly, more efficiently, in a republic than under a king. The American labouring men are better paid than the English, but poverty is not unknown in the States and it is doubtful whether the American is happier than the Englishman. Fortunes are more rapidly made in the States than in England, where the adventurer finds himself handicapped by having to contend against a privileged class, but wealth does not necessarily bring happiness either in America or in England. In America the public are regaled with stories of the woes of the millionaire, as in England the troubles of a duke or a lord are commented upon. As we read of the miseries entailed on the wealthy by their wealth, we are inclined to wonder why men and women engage in the mad rush for dollars or pounds; but we soon learn that it is not so much the money itself that is desired as the power, the consideration, the luxury it brings with it. The old Latin desire to rule over his fellows is still strong in the Anglo-Saxon all over the world, and no less so in America than in England. Whether this lust of individual or class rule will broaden in America, as it appears to be broadening in Australia and New Zealand, into a desire for the supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon as a whole, it is impossible to say. At present the American has only just begun to look outside his own continent. But racial development cannot be stayed altogether. It may be kept back for a time, but, as a rule, checking it serves only to increase its strength. It has been checked in America as in England. If when it breaks away from the obstacles which have hitherto obstructed it, it should impel the American to assume the position of leader of civilisation, there appears to me to be no other nation able to dispute his right to the place. However, this is purely a matter for the American to decide for himself. His country is his own to do what he likes with. If he chooses to break his Republic into small sections to quarrel among themselves after the fashion of the European monarchies, he is at liberty to do so. If on the other hand he breaks the bonds which have hitherto restrained him, abolishes his boodling parties, and makes his country an object of admiration to the stranger, instead of a jest and a byword as it is to too many at present, no one can question his right to effect his purpose, while all true AngloSaxons, whether born in England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Africa, or elsewhere, would rejoice to hail him as leader. At the present moment the United States, without a standing army such as Russia, Germany, or France maintain, or a fleet to compare with that of Great Britain, is the most powerful nation on earth. It rests largely with the American whether the Anglo-Saxon is to be a world ruler or not. CHAPTER XVIII THE AMERICAN AND HIS ANGLO-SAXON RELATIVES THE ENGLISHMAN IN AMERICA ONE evening in the summer of 1894, I was sitting in Union Square, New York, reading the paper under the electric arc light, when a gentleman took the seat next mine. We soon got into conversation, and he asked me a number of questions about England and Australia. At first I took him for an American, but later he informed me that he was English and had gone to America shortly after the close of the Civil War. "Are you a naturalised citizen ?" I enquired ; and on his replying in the negative, I continued: "That is just what I find that the Americans complain of. They say that whereas the Irish, the Germans, the Italians, and other aliens hasten to get naturalised on arriving in America, the English, the Scots, and the Canadians, hold aloof, and refuse to take a share in the government of the country or to identify themselves with it. I have no doubt that this tends to strengthen the American opinion that the English hate and despise Americans." "Probably you are right," he replied, "but it is the American's own fault." "Why?" I asked. "Well," he replied, " you say you have been in New York for more than a twelvemonth, and therefore you know something of the politics of the country. Now, supposing you were a naturalised citizen, would you take the trouble to walk across the street to vote for Tom Platt or Dick Croker for |