of the
American "example" as argument to some for imitation, to others for
warning. Nearly every British traveller in America, publishing his
impressions, felt compelled to report on American governmental and
political institutions, and did so from his preconceived notions of what
was desirable in his own country[1323]. In the ten years immediately
preceding the Civil War most travellers were laudatory of American
democracy, and one, the best in acute analysis up to the time of Lord
Bryce's great work, had much influence on that class in England which
was discontented with existing political institutions at home. This was
Mackay's _Western World_ which, first published in 1849, had gone
through four editions in 1850 and in succeeding years was frequently
reprinted[1324]. Republicanism, Mackay asserted, was no longer an
experiment; its success and permanence were evident in the mighty power
of the United States; Canada would soon follow the American example; the
"injustice" of British aristocrats to the United States was intentional,
seeking to discredit democracy:

"... Englishmen are too prone to mingle severity with their
judgments whenever the Republic is concerned. It is the
interest of aristocracy to exhibit republicanism, where-ever
it is found, in the worst possible light, and the mass of the
people have too long, by pandering to their prejudice, aided
them in their object. They recognize America as the
stronghold of republicanism. If they can bring it into
disrepute here, they know that they inflict upon it the
deadliest blow in Europe[1325]."

On the opposing side were other writers. Tremenheere argued the
inapplicability of American institutions to Great Britain[1326]. The
theoretical bases of those institutions were in some respects admirable
but in actual practice they had resulted in the rule of the mob and had
debased the nation in the estimation of the world; bribery in elections,
the low order of men in politics and in Congress, were proofs of the
evils of democracy; those in England who clamoured for a "numerical"
rather than a class representation should take warning from the American
experiment. Occasionally, though rarely, there appeared the impressions
of some British traveller who had no political axe to grind[1327], but
from 1850 to 1860, as in every previous decade, British writing on
America was coloured by the author's attitude on political institu