I do not particularly desire to run America and its people down; but, when we are in the habit of criticising the deeds and doings of our continental neighbours, without much reticence as to our likes and dislikes, I do not see why any especial immunity should be placed over Americans to taboo them from honest judgment! I must say that when I hear and read the fulsome admiration that it has been the fashion of late to express and write concerning our so-called "cousins," it fairly makes my blood boil.

If nobody else _will_ "take the gilt off the gingerbread," why shouldn't I try to do so?
The truth of the matter, with regard to America, is that the Columbian eagle makes such a tremendous cackling over every little _egg_ it lays, that we cis-Atlantic folks rate its achievements much higher than they deserve! We do not kick up a fuss about our general proceedings; consequently, we imagine something very great must have happened to cause the Bird o' Freedom to burst into such gallinacious paeans of delight.
The "advancement" of the first Republic, you say ?--Why, it has taken over a hundred years to grow, and it _ought_ to be arriving at maturity by this time! The determination of its citizens displayed in crushing out secession ?-- They took four years to do it in, although they had an army and navy provided to their hand, and were receiving recruits in hundreds from the masses of incoming emigrants, up to the very end of the struggle; while, the Southerners had to improvise everything, and their forces dwindled down day by day.
We put down the Indian mutiny in 1857 with a little handful of troops, that had to confront thousands upon thousands of insurgent Hindoos before a single reinforcement could arrive from England:--_we_ never triumphed so loudly about what we did on that occasion; and yet, our campaign against the Sepoys was fought over a far more extended territory than the war for the "Union." Their progress, you remark?
Pooh, my dear sir! One would almost think, to hear you talk, that the old world had stood still in sheer astonishment ever since the "new" was ushered into being! Granted, that a few wooden shanties are run up "out west" on the prairies, and styled "towns," and that these towns grow into "cities" by-and-by:--what then?
Are there not miles of streets, and houses without number, added to London, and other little villages over here every year, which do not attract any comment--except in the annual report of the Registrar General?
Their Union Pacific Railway, connecting New York with Saint Francisco; and hence abridging the distance between Europe and Asia! A "big thing," certainly; but have you forgotten our Underground line, and the Holborn Viaduct, and the Thames Embankment--either and all of which can vie with the noblest relics of ancient Rome?
Bah! Don't talk to me in that strain, please.

Has not France also achieved the Suez Canal, and Italy the Mont Cenis tunnel--both works surpassing any feat of Transatlantic engineering ever attempted.

Why, their Hoosaic tunnel, which is not near the size of the Alpine one, and which has been talked of and worked at for the last twenty years, is not yet half completed! Have we not, too, run railways through the jungles of India, and spanned the wastes of Australia with the electric wire?
Ha! while alluding to telegraphs, let us instance the Atlantic cable.
_That_ strikes nearer home, doesn't it?
Originated as the idea was by an American, Cyrus Field--to whom may all honour be given--can you inform me which country is entitled to take credit for its success--slow England or smart America?
You won't answer, eh?
Then I'll tell you.
The company that conducted that undertaking to a triumphant issue--was got up in London, and formed mostly of Englishmen.

The money that paid for the ocean cable--came out of the pockets of English shareholders.
English manufacturers constructed it:--English artisans fashioned it; and an English ship, the largest ever built, manned by an English crew, laid it.