England has experienced essential changes since the period of these letters. It is said more knowledge of, and a better feeling towards, America, now exist in the country. But, in carrying out the design of his whole work, the writer has been obliged to respect the order of time, and to portray things as he saw them when he was in the island. A future work may repair some of the faults that have arisen from this circumstance.
It is quite probable that this book contains many false notions. They are, however, the mistakes of a conscientious observer, and must be attributed solely to the head. Its opinions will run counter to the prejudices of much the largest portion of what are called the intelligent classes of America, and quite as a matter of course, will be condemned. An attempt to derange any of the established opinions of this part of American Society, more especially on subjects connected with the aristocratical features of the English government, meets with the success that usually accompanies all efforts to convince men against their wishes. There is no very profound natural mystery in the desire to be better off than one’s fellows. The philosopher who constructs a grand theory of government, on the personal envy, the strife, and the heart-burnings of a neighbourhood, is fitted by nature to carve a Deity from a block of wood.
CONTENTS
| Page | |
| LETTER I. TO CAPT. W. BRANFORD SHUBRICK, U. S. N. | [13] |
| LETTER II. TO CAPT. W. B. SHUBRICK, U. S. NAVY. | [29] |
| LETTER III. TO RICHARD COOPER, ESQ. COOPERSTOWN, N. Y. | [41] |
| LETTER IV. TO THOMAS JAMES DE LANCEY, ESQUIRE. | [56] |
| LETTER V. TO RICHARD COOPER, ESQ. COOPERSTOWN. | [77] |
| LETTER VI. TO MRS. J——, NEW YORK. | [95] |
| LETTER VII. TO THOMAS FLOYD-JONES, ESQ. FORT NECK. | [118] |
| LETTER VIII. TO EDWARD FLOYD DELANCEY, ESQ. | [138] |
| LETTER IX. TO JAMES STEVENSON, ESQ. | [157] |
| LETTER X. TO WILLIAM JAY, ESQ., BEDFORD, N. Y. | [176] |
| LETTER XI. TO JAMES E. DE KAY, ESQ. | [198] |
| LETTER XII. TO WILLIAM JAY, ESQ., BEDFORD, NEW YORK. | [224] |
| LETTER XIII. TO WILLIAM JAY, ESQ., BEDFORD, N. Y. | [247] |
ENGLAND
LETTER I.
TO CAPT. W. BRANFORD SHUBRICK, U. S. N.
It was a fine February day, when we left the Hôtel Dessin to embark for Dover. The quay was crowded with clamorous porters, while the gendarmes had an eye to the police regulations, lest a stray rogue, more or less, might pass undetected between the two great capitals of Europe. As I had placed myself in the hands of a regular commissionaire belonging to the hotel, we had no other trouble than that of getting down a ladder of some fifteen steps, into the boat. The rise and fall of the water is so great, in these high narrow seas, that vessels are sometimes on a level with the quays, and at others three or four fathoms below them.
We had chosen the English steam-packet, a government boat, in preference to the French, from a latent distrust of Gallic seamanship. The voyage was not long, certainly, but, short as it was, we reaped the advantage of a good choice, in beating our competitor by more than an hour.