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Untitled Article
T& ^ teiB n ife A ^ Wrfierdal vifcws , and tkW ^ MV K ^ f aisrk )^ d his mind so eb ^^ * ^^" ' - ^ ' ^ 011111 ^ * its ihhatiit&iiitS &s to exclude all candour , arid to fill tW vvith prejudice and dislike . At th £ saine time , I fear
there is too mtieh reason to believe tliat a foreigner , and especially an Englishman , whose previous education had not qualified him to guard against the fatal error of drawing general conclusions from insulated facts , would be h&turally impressed vvith the difference of irianners in the
middling and lower classes of the two countries , in a way unfavdurable to some of our Republican habits . We oiight not perhaps to expect that the freedom of thinking and acting so universally enjoyed in the United
States , and which" must eventually givtf a decided tone to our national irfanners , should not produce in some instances an effect unfriendly to the courtesies and refinements of polished life .
"At the supper table of the inn tyhere we stopped , one of my inside fellow-passengers , in reply to another who was riding outside , remarked , You are from the North , I think , Sir ? ' « I am / * Can you then / I asked , ' distinguish a Northern from
a Southern man by his appearance ?• * We can , Sir , generally / What part of England do you then suppose I am from ? ' * I do not know exactly , hut I should take you to be from the South . ' Another , after observing me more closely , conjectured that I was from one of the middle counties .
They appeared greatly surprised when I assured them that I had not been m England six months in my life . * You are not surely from America ?' " I am / I must ask you , then , a thousand pardons , Sir / said the Manchester passenger with some confusion , * for the manner in which I
have spoken of your country / ' We see / said hh companion , * that there are some exceptions to your rule of American gentlemen ! ' * Yes , ' said he , ' but you know that I before
remarked that those who visit England are the very best of the country . ' iY | yjud gment was then seriously ap-Pealed to whether this was not the , \ Indeed I have often been asked v « ether those who visit Europe are ftot mostly or altogether of the su-
Untitled Article
p ^ ribr class of AmeHe&tts ^ it& * fc spect tcr intellect art * information and Ilijave nbt hessitat ^ f ttffcay j Cfcai as far &s m y inform a tio ri ex tends 1 might safely answer in the negatives- <
' « This instance of deep-rofcted and unwarrantable prejudice against us is not an uncommon case . English tra ^ vellers cross the Atlantic with inflated expectations of wealth , independence
and purity of morals , and with few introductions to persons of respectability : they mix only with the surface of society , and because they do not discover " that human nature is more
refined in America than in England , or that the inhabitants of our back settlements are deficient in some of the graces which are conferred only by education and a mixture with the world , they suffer themselves to fly
from one extreme to another , imbibe the strongest prejudices , and on their return not only speak but write and publish observations replete with unfairness , if not with the grossest calumnies- Of the numerous Travels
through the United States by Englishmen and Irishmen , I know scarcely one which I think has been written in the spirit of true candour , or which shews much acquaintance with human nature . * Thi 3 course of proceeding is deeply to be regretted . It
keeps alive national antipathies , and feeds the spirit which engenders war and all the evils that spring from mutual hatred and animosity . It is time for every honest man in both countries to set his face against every thing- that tends to oppose the temper of mutual forbearance and that unison
of feeling towards which the common origin , the common language and literature , the common sense and the common welfare of the two nations have so direct and natural a tendency . But whatever , Mr . Editor , be the merits or demerits of the inhabitants
of the United States , the chief subject of my displeasure is the existence of Slavery amongst them : so enormous an evil should not be tolerated in a land of freedom . It is ** the abomination of desolation standing- where it
? An exception , I am happy to s ^ y , may be made with respect to the Travels of several Englishmen in the United States , published since the aboVe remark was written .
Untitled Article
Character of the American People . ^ 1
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1826, page 519, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2552/page/11/
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