“’Tis an interesting voyage,” observed his host; “especially your intended visit to the English shores: it is an ancient country, and to the philanthropist is connected with many associations that make it regarded with peculiar interest. The brightest page in her book of honour records the efforts she made to extinguish the slave trade throughout the world. It was a great boast of the Englishmen of those days, that a slave, as soon as he set his foot upon the honoured land of England, became a free man.”
“And look at the efforts it made for the regeneration of every other country;” added Fortyfolios. “For how long a period did it take the lead in civilisation! Its learning enriched the whole world; its manufactures produced clothing for almost every people by whom clothing was required; and its mechanical improvements conferred wealth and power on every nation that adopted them.”
“But the picture to be true to nature requires a little shadow, don’t you see;” observed the doctor. “There are some accounts of cruelty, and oppression, and bigotry, which ought to find a place in their history. We must not forget the manner in which they acquired their possessions in India; the tyranny and slaughter they introduced among the natives of Southern Africa; the infamous system of slavery they encouraged in the West Indies; and the destructive and unjust warfare they waged with their colonists in America.”
“Although I cannot defend the manner in which the English acquired new territory abroad,” said the professor; “when I compare it with the more savage policy of the Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and other nations who endeavoured to add to their possessions by conquering distant lands and massacring the natives, I think England comparatively blameless. Their behaviour to the Africans in the interior of the Cape of Good Hope was produced by the colonists they found there, not by the colonists they introduced there; the evils of West Indian slavery ought to be forgotten in consideration of their constant efforts to ameliorate the conditions of their own slaves, and the great sacrifices they made to put down slavery in every part of the world; and their treatment of their colonists in America should only be remembered as the cause—the glorious cause—which created one of the most important empires that ever existed upon the face of the globe.”
“There are certainly a few blots upon the fame of this great people,” remarked Sophos; “but the good they effected—a good which is enjoyed by every portion of the civilised world at this moment—was attempted on so grand a scale, and produced such magnificent results, that, in justice, we ought not to look too narrowly upon their errors. And now, Zoe, as the strangers are about to visit the shores of England, endeavour to delight them, as you have done me, with that ancient song which appears to be so great a favourite of yours.”
“I will, O my father, if you will ask Alcibiades to join me; for it is more fit for his voice than for mine;” replied Zoe.
“Alcibiades does not require an invitation, dear Zoe, for so delightful a purpose;” said the youth, looking all that his words expressed.
With rich harmonious voices that blended together with exquisite effect, and with a manner so expressive that it stirred the hearts of those around them to feelings of the most intense gratification, the two commenced the following song:—
“Hurra for merry England, the island of the blest,
Where gen’rous thoughts, and loving hopes, are nursed in ev’ry breast;
Where valleys green, and mountains high, and rivers strong and deep,
Are fill’d with blissful memories Time cannot set to sleep.
Hurra for merry England! Confusion on her foe!
And gladness shine upon her homes—for merry England ho!
“Hurra for mighty England! the island of the brave!
Whose conquering flag hath waved its pride o’er ev’ry shore and wave;
From eastern hills arose the sun, he kiss’d the western streams,
And still he found that English swords were flashing in his beams.
Hurra for mighty England! Destruction on her foe!
And triumph dwell within her hearts—for mighty England ho!