y do to-day is not to be
wondered at, and no blame attaches to them; for it is but a necessary
result of causes which are easily seen. But the time has come when some
effort to correct the errors in their vision is possible and
desirable--not merely because they are unfair to Englishmen, which might
be immaterial, and is no more than a fair exchange of discourtesies, but
because the misunderstandings obstruct that good-will which would be
such an untellable blessing, not only to the two peoples themselves, but
to all the human race.

I am well aware that many American readers will say: "What is the man
talking of? I do not think of Englishmen like that!" Of course you do
not, excellent and educated reader--especially if you have travelled
much in Great Britain or if you are a member of those refined and
cultured classes (what certain American democrats would call the
"silk-stocking element") which constitute the select and entirely
charming society of most of the older cities of the Atlantic seaboard as
well as of some of the larger communities throughout the country. If,
belonging to those classes, you do not happen to have made it your
business, either as a politician or a newspaper man, to be in close
touch with the real sentiments of the masses of the country as a whole,
you scarcely believe that anybody in America--except a few Irishmen and
Germans--does think like that. If, however, you happen to be a good
"mixer" in politics or have enjoyed the austerities of an apprenticeship
in journalism,--if in fact you know the sentiments of your countrymen, I
need not argue with you. Nor perhaps are very many Americans of any
class conscious of holding all these views at once. None the less, if a
composite photograph could be made of the typical Englishman as he is
figured in the minds of, let us say, twenty millions of the American
people--excluding negroes, Indians, and foreigners--the resultant figure
would be little dissimilar from the sketch which I have made.

And I have said that, in holding these ideas, the Americans do but make
a fair exchange of discourtesies; for the Englishman has likewise queer
notions of the typical American. There is always this vast difference,
however, that the Englishman is predisposed to like the American. In
spite of his ignorance he feels a great--and, in view of that ignorance,
an almost inexplicable--good-will for him. But it is not inexplicable,
for once more the causes of his misap