We find Lowell,
for instance, writing in his well-known essay _On a Certain
Condescension in Foreigners_: "I never blamed her (England) for not
wishing well to democracy--how should she?" The more obvious question
is, How should not one democracy wish another well? There may have been
at the time when Lowell wrote, and there may even be to-day, a handful
of royalty-worshippers in England who regard a Republic as a vulgar,
unpicturesque form of government; but this is not a political opinion,
or even prejudice, but mere stolid snobbery. Whatever were England's
misdemeanours towards America at the time of the Civil War, they were
not prompted by any hatred of democracy.
I find the same misconception insisted on in a document much later than
Lowell's essay: a leaflet by the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, contributed
to a _Good Citizenship Series_ especially designed for the enlightenment
of the more ignorant class of American voters. The tract is called _The
Ruler of America_, and sets forth that the Ruler of America is "The
People with a very large P." Now, according to Dr. Hale, we benighted
Europeans are absolutely incapable of grasping this truth. He says:
"This is at bottom the trouble with the diplomatists of Europe, with
prime ministers, and with leaders of ''Er Majesty's Hopposition.
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