86 REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 



American Republic. His influence became im 

 portant, however, only somewhat later than 

 the period with which we are now dealing. 

 The Anti-Corn-Law League took shape and 

 position under his leadership in the late thirties, 

 and achieved its crown of success in 1846. It 

 is more than a coincidence that this was the 

 year that saw the last element of protection 

 banished from the tariff law of the United States. 

 That part of British public opinion con 

 cerning America which was based upon the 

 printed accounts of travel and personal obser 

 vation had no counterpart in American public 

 opinion concerning Great Britain. Few Amer 

 icans visited the United Kingdom, and of those 

 who did so the number who published their 

 impressions was negligible. Some opportunity 

 to form judgments of the British individually, if 

 not in the mass, was afforded by those who came 

 and settled in the United States. There was 

 in the twenties and thirties a continuous stream 

 of immigration from all parts of the United 

 Kingdom. The dimensions of the stream can 

 not be known from any trustworthy statistics. 

 A sprinkling of English, Scots, and Irish was 

 to be found throughout the Union. The Cath 

 olic Irish congregated clannishly in the towns 



