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Chapter XIX - Speech At ManchesterChapter XIX - Speech At Manchester
Chapter XIX - Speech At Manchester
A few days after my arrival at Manchester, in November, 1847, the
Manchester Athenaeum gave its annual Banquet in the Free-Trade Hall. With
other guests, I was invited to be present, and to address the company. In
looking over recently a newspaper-report of my remarks, I incline to reprint
it, as fitly expressing the feeling with which I entered England, and which
agrees well enough with the more deliberate results of better acquaintance
recorded in the foregoing pages. Sir Archibald Alison, the historian,
presided, and opened the meeting with a speech. He was followed by Mr. Cobden,
Lord Brackley, and others, among whom was Mr. Cruikshank, one to the
contributors to "Punch." Mr. Dickens` letter of apology for his absence was
read. Mr. Jerrold, who had been announced, did not appear. On being introduced
to the meeting, I said: -
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: It is pleasant to me to meet this great and
brilliant company, and doubly pleasant to see the faces of so many
distinguished persons on this platform. But I have known all these persons
already. When I was at home, they were as near to me as they are to you. The
arguments of the League and its leader are known to all the friends of free
trade. The gayeties and genius, the political, the social, the parietal wit of
"Punch" go duly every fortnight to every boy and girl in Boston and New York.
Sir, when I came to sea, I found the "History of Europe"^1 on the ship`s cabin
table, the property of the captain; - a sort of programme or play-bill to
tell the sea-faring New Englander what he shall find on his landing here.
And as for Dombey, sir, there is no land where paper exists to print on, where
it is not found; no man who can read, that does not read it, and, if he
cannot, he finds some charitable pair of eyes that can, and hears it.
[Footnote 1: By Sir A. Alison.]
But these things are not for me to say: these compliments, though true,
would better come from one who felt and understood these merits more. I am not
here to exchange civilities with you, but rather to speak of that which I am
sure interests these gentlemen more than their own praises; of that which is
good in holidays and working-days, the same in one century and in another
century. That which lures a solitary American in the woods with the wish to
see England, is the moral peculiarity of the Saxon race, - its commanding
sense of right and wrong, - the love and devotion to that, - this is the
imperial trait, which arms them with the sceptre of the globe. It is this
which lies at the foundation of that aristocratic character, which certainly
wanders into strange vagaries, so that its origin is often lost sight of, but
which, if it should lose this, would find itself paralyzed; and in trade, and
in the mechanic`s shop, gives that honesty in performance, that thoroughness
and solidity of work, which is a national characteristic. This conscience is
one element, and the other is that loyal adhesion, that habit of friendship,
that homage of man to man, running through all classes, - the electing of
worthy persons to a certain fraternity, to acts of kindness and warm and
stanch support, from year to year, from youth to age, - which is alike lovely
and honorable to those who render and those who receive it; - which stands in
strong contrast with the superficial attachments of other races, their
excessive courtesy, and short-lived connection.
You will think me very pedantic, gentlemen, but holiday though it be, I
have not the smallest interest in any holiday except as it celebrates real and
not pretended joys; and I think it just, in this time of gloom and commercial
disaster, of affliction and beggary in these districts, that, on these very
accounts I speak of, you should not fail to keep your literary anniversary. I
seem to hear you say that, for all that is come and gone yet, we will not
reduce by one chaplet or one oak leaf the braveries of our annual feast. For I
must tell you, I was given to understand in my childhood that the British
island from which my forefathers came, was no lotus-garden, no paradise of
serene sky and roses and music and merriment all the year round, no, but a
cold foggy mournful country, where nothing grew well in the open air, but
robust men and virtuous women, and these of a wonderful fibre and endurance;
that their best parts were slowly revealed; their virtues did not come until
they quarrelled: they did not strike twelve the first time; good lovers, good
haters, and you could know little about them till you had seen them long, and
little good of them till you had seen them in action; that in prosperity they
were moody and dumpish, but in adversity they were grand. Is it not true, sir,
that the wise ancients did not praise the ship parting with flying colors from
the port, but only that brave sailer which came back with torn sheets and
battered sides, stript of her banners, but having ridden out the storm? And
so, gentlemen, I feel in regard to this aged England, with the possessions,
honors, and trophies, and also with the infirmities, of a thousand years
gathering around her, irretrievably committed as she now is to many old
customs which cannot be suddenly changed; pressed upon by the transitions of
trade, and new and all incalculable modes, fabrics, arts, machines, and
competing populations, - I see her not dispirited, not weak, but well
remembering that she has seen dark days before; - indeed, with a kind of
instinct that she sees a little better in a cloudy day, and that in storm of
battle and calamity, she has a secret vigor and a pulse like a cannon. I see
her in her old age, not decrepit, but young, and still daring to believe in
her power of endurance and expansion. Seeing this, I say, All hail! mother of
nations, mother of heroes, with strength still equal to the time; still wise
to entertain and swift to execute the policy which the mind and heart of
mankind requires in the present hour, and thus only hospitable to the
foreigner, and truly a home to the thoughtful and generous who are born in the
soil. So be it! so let it be! If it be not so, if the courage of England goes
with the chances of a commercial crisis, I will go back to the capes of
Massachusetts, and my own Indian stream, and say to my countrymen, the old
race are all gone, and the elasticity and hope of mankind must henceforth
remain on the Alleghany ranges, or nowhere.
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