, for the purpose of making an illustration
which will bring the matter home familiarly to English minds, I speak of
the States as English Counties, I shall not be suspected of thinking (as
some writers appear to have thought) that there is really any historical
or structural analogy between the two.

[281:1] None the less my friendly American critic (already quoted)
holds, and remains firm in, the opinion that "however strenuous the
fighting, the political issues produce no such social changes or
personal differences in the United States as have frequently obtained in
England, say at the time of the leadership of Gladstone, or more
recently, in connection with the 'tariff reform' of Chamberlain." It is
his contention that Americans take their politics on the whole more
good-humouredly than has always been found possible by their English
cousins, and that when the campaign is over, there is more readiness in
the United States than in England to let pass into oblivion any
bitterness that may have found expression during the fighting.

CHAPTER XI

SOME QUESTIONS OF THE MOMENT

Sovereign States and the Federal Government--California and
the Senate--The Constitutional Powers of Congress and the
President--Government by Interpretation--President Roosevelt
as an Inspiration to the People--A New Conception of the
Presidential Office--"Teddy" and the "'fraid strap"--Mr.
Roosevelt and the Corporations--As a Politician--His
Imperiousness--The Negro Problem--The Americanism of the
South.

It was said that it would be necessary to refer again to the subject of
the relations of the General Government to the several States, as
illustrated by the New Orleans incident and the treatment of the
Japanese on the Pacific Coast; and the first thing to be said is that no
well-wisher of the United States living in Europe can help deploring the
fact that the General Government has not the power to compel all parties
to the Union to observe the treaties to which the faith of the nation as
a whole has been pledged. It is a matter on which the apologist for the
United States abroad has, when challenged, no defence. Few people in
other countries do not consider the present situation unworthy of the
United States; and I believe that a large majority of the American
people--certainly a majority of the people east of the Rocky
Mountains--is of the same opinion.

It is no excuse to urge that when