The Strength of Unity. 



When in Europe Last summer, it was 

 with the greatest pleasure that we 

 noticed the general good feeling every- 

 where exhibited towards America and 

 Americans. No matter in what country 

 we journeyed, the name itself was a pass- 

 port not only to respect and honor, but 

 also to the friendship of the best citi- 

 zens. They listened with combined 

 pleasure and astonishment as we ex- 

 hibited and described the various im- 

 plements used by advanced bee-keepers, 

 and the scientific management of the 

 apiary adopted by the progressive apiar- 

 ists of America. 



The bee papers of all the countries 

 gave ns unsolicited notices, which had 

 they not been, as we considered, in- 

 tended to show the esteem in which the 

 apiarists of America were held abroad, 

 we should have hesitated to publish, 

 lest we might be considered egotistical. 

 The political papers also caught the in- 

 spiration, and, deeming it a fitting oppor- 

 tunity to show the state of public feel- 

 ing toward our country, joined in the 

 chorus. 



However much we may think at the 

 outset that all this meant personal popu- 

 larity or apistical fraternity, it is not so. 

 Its scope is wider, its design broader, 

 and its meaning far deeper — especially 

 witli Englishmen. It meant the desire 

 for the unity of the race — the admira- 

 tion of the great principles underlying 

 the institutions of our civilization. 



Of this we were impressed while 

 reading in an English work the low- 

 ing from the pen of the author, II. W. 

 Sweney, Esq. Speaking of the Centen- 

 nial celebration of American Independ- 

 ence, he says: 



The Centennium, was worthily celebrated by 

 " peace and good will to all men." It is lor England 

 and America to set an example tor the nations ; the 

 100th anniversary (birth-day) of Young America is 

 not merely a holiday on one side of the Atlantic, it 

 appeals to all who speak the Mother tongue ; it is a 

 bell that rings for "the unity of the English-speaking 

 world ;" it tells us how we muster in our strength 

 eighty millions of Freemen speaking the tongue of 

 Shakespeare, of Byron, of Washington Irving, and 

 of Longfellow ; and as the cable joins the lands, so 

 it should join the hands, and with them the hearts '. 



Once unite those who speak the English language, 

 whether from the Old Country, from the States, the 

 Dominion or from Australasia, and the peace cf the 

 world is secured ; once agree that "blood is thicker 

 than water" and nothing can ever again separate 

 England and America save the Atlantic Ocean. 



Being in London on the 4th of July, 

 we heard much that interested us— 

 much that exhibited the true feeling of 

 brotherhood, which is, as it were, spring- 

 ing into life in that grand old country — 

 much that told us of the growing uni- 

 fication of the race ! We found that 

 our dream of the future was literally 

 becoming a part of the history of the 

 present — that the Ith of July was gradu- 

 ally becoming a grand Gala-Day to the 

 votaries of Liberty throughout Christen- 

 dom — removing it from the political and 

 even from its natural birth-place, and 

 giving it to the inhabitants of a World 

 fighting with the weapons of peace for 

 fraternity, unity and liberty. On the 

 morning of the 5th of July we were 

 astonished to find the following editorial 

 in one of the London dailies fully con- 

 firming our views, as we had often be- 

 fore expressed them : 



The 4th of July was celebrated in London at the 

 Westminster Palace Hotel, by a banquet. Her Ma- 

 jesty's light guard band, led by Mr. Godfrey, who took 

 the band to Boston at the celebrated Gilmore Festi- 

 val, furnished the music. This shows how the events 

 which led to the anniversary now celebrated have 

 passed into history and can now be discussed by 

 the descendents of those who took part in the opera- 

 tions, removed from prejudices and all the fierce 

 passions transmitted by strife, ending in disruption. 

 It is now universally admitted that the side that 

 ought to have won, did win ; it would have been a 

 check in the progress of liberty and civilization had 

 King George prevailed. As effects mankind, the 

 triumph of the Colonists might well be celebrated 

 everywhere, for it made one of those epochs which 

 may be termed the stepping-stones of liberty— per- 

 haps the last and largest. If it is beneficial to man- 

 kind, even England cannot be excluded; indeed there 

 are those who are convinced that England would 

 have suffered but little less heavily in the defeat of 

 the colonists than the colonies themselves. 



At one of the banquets given in our 

 honor in Great Britain, the following 

 " toast" was proposed at the conclusion 

 of a very complimentary speech of wel- 

 come : 



"The Hon. Thomas G. Newman, President of the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Society and Repre- 

 sentative of the progressive apiarists of America."' 



In the light of the above facts, we do 

 not now wonder so much at the euthusi- 



