650 XIPS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
reputation, he was received in full drawing-room style and state from one
end of the Union to the other. He saw the country in full dresa, and had
little or no opportunity of judging of it unhouselled, unanointed, unaa-
sealed, with all its imperfections on its head, as I and my family too often
had.
Captain Hall had certainly excellent opportunities of making himself
acquainted with the form of the government and the laws; and of receiving,
moreover, the "best oral commentary upon them, in conversation with tto
most distinguished citizens. Of these opportunities he made excellent nee*
nothing important met his eye which did not receive that sort of analytical
attention which an experienced and philosophical traveller alone can give,
This has made his volumes highly interesting and valuable j hut I am deeply
persuaded, that wore a man of equal penetration to visit the United States
with no other means of becoming acquainted with the national character
than the ordinary worMng-day intercourse of life, he would conceive an in-
finitely lower idea of the moral atmosphere of the country than Oaptaia
HĞM appears to have done; and the internal conviction on my mind is
strong, that if Captain Hall had not placed a firm restraint on himself, be
must have given expression to far deeper indignation than any he has uttered
against many points in the American character, with which he shows from
other circumstances that he was well acquainted. TTia rule appears to hove
been to state just so much of the truth as would leave on the mind of his readers
& correct impression, at the least cost of pain to the sensitive folks he was
writing about. He states his own opinions and feelings, and leaves it to be
inferred that he has good grounds for adopting them; but he spares ft*
Americans the bitterness which a detail of the circumstances would have
produced.
If any one chooses to say that some wicked antipathy to twelve millioM
of strangers is the origin of my opinion, I must bear it; and were the ques-
tion one of mere idle speculation, I certainly would not court the abuse I
must meet for stating it. But it is not so.
• *• • • • • • • *
The candour which he expresses, and evidently feels, they mistake fer
irony, or totally distrust; his unwillingness to give pain to persons fxm
whom he has received kindness, they scornfully reject as affectation, ant
although they must know right well, in their own secret hearts, how innnitelj
more they lay at his mercy than he has chosen to betray; they preteai^
even to themselves, that he has exaggerated the bad points of their cha-
racter and institutions; whereas, the truth is, that he has let them off wi&
a degree of tenderness which may be quite suitable for him to exercise^
however little merited; while, at the same tune, he has most indaste
ou&ly magnified their merits, whenever he could possibly find
favourable*