a **»
have, apparently,no skins at all; tbey wince if a breete blow* over tfam,
unless it be tempered vith adulatacnu It was not, therefore, very *tr$in*ii)g
that the acute and forcible observations of a traveller they knew would be
listened to should be received testily. The extraordinary featum of the
business were, first, the excess of the rage into which they lashed them-
selves; and, secondly, the puerility of the invention* by which tbey at-
tempted to account for the seventy with which they fancied they had been
treated.
Not content with declaring that the volumes contained no word of troth,
from beginning to end (which is an assertion I heaid made very nearly M
often as they were mentioned), the whole country set to work to discover tb*
causes why Captain Hall had visited the United States, and why be had
published his book.
I have heard it said with as much precision and gravity aa if tto viat*-
ment had been conveyed by an official report, that Captain Hall had been
sent out by the British Government expressly for the purpose o; cheeking
the growing admiration of England for the Government of the United
States,—that it was by a commission from the treasury he had cctoe, aad
that it was only in obedience to orders that be had found anything to
object to.
I do not give this as the gossip of a coterie; I am persuaded that il ia
the belief of a very considerable portion of the country. So deep m tbe con-
viction of this singular people that they cannot be seen without bct*g
admired, that they will not admit the poasibDity that any 000 atoeld
honestly and sincerely find aught to disapprove in them or their uooMry,
The American Reviews are, many of them, I beBeve, well kaowa ia
England; I need not, therefore, quote them here, but I sometime* wondered
that they, none of them, ever thought of tmnrfafcTng Obtdiah'd corse into
classic American; if they had done so, oa placing (ha, Butl Hall) between
brackets, instead of (he, Obadiah) is would have saved them a world of
trouble.
I can hardly describe the curiosity with which I sat down at keg& to
peruse these tremendous volumes; stall less can I do jto&tt to mj surprise
at their contents. To say that I found not one exaggerated atatw^
throughout the work is by no means saying enoogii. It ia iwpoacftiie
any one who knows fre country not to see that Oaptsm HaH w
sought out things to admire and commend. When he prmieea, it »
evident pleasure; and when he finds faglt, it is with evident x&u&tm
restraint, excepting where motives fmrelj patriotic srgq tea to
what it is Ior the benefit of hfe country skmid be known.
In fact, Captam Hall saw tJiecorofary to ^>egMalg^pog8il
Furnished, of course, with letter* of iDteotastto to the
individuals, and with && *& mm