Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1842-02-17

worthy, ana not useless aN0cauOn.-
Gentlemen, that you think so too, your
fervent greeting sufficiently assures me.
That this feeling is alive in the old world
as well as in the new, no man should
should know better than II, who
have found such wide and ready SYM
patty in my own dear land That in en-
pressing it, we are but treading in the steps
OF those great master spirits who have gone
before, we know by references to all the
bright examples in our literature, from
Shak espeare downward.
There is one other point connected
with the abors (fI may call them SOY that
you bold in sach generous esteem, to which
cannot help adverting. cannot help
expressing the delight, the more than hap
plness, ii was TO me to find so strong an
interest awakened, on this side OF the wa
ter, in favor of that little heroine of mine.
to whom your President has made allusion,
who died in her youth. | had letters
about that child, in England, from the
jewellers III log houses among the morasses,
and swamps, and densest forests, and deep
est solitude Of the far west. Many Il stur-
dy hand, hard with the axe and spade, and
Drowned by the summers san, has taken
up the pen, and written to me little histo-
ry Of domestic Joy or sorrow, always coup
led, | am proud TO say, Of interest in that
tale, or some comfort or happiness derv-
ed from ii aud the writer has always adj
dressed me not as awriter ofbooks for sale,
resident some four or five thousand miles
away, but has a friend to whom he might
freely impalt the Joys and sorrows of his
own freside. Many mother-I could
reckon them, now, by dozens, not by units
has done the like and has told me how
she lost such child at such time, and
where she lay buried, and how good she
was, and how, in this or that respect. she
resembled Nell. do assure you that no
circumstance of my life has given me one
hundredth part OF the qualification have
derived from this source. ! was wander
ING at the time whether or not TO wind up
my clock, and come and see this country:
and this decided me. tel. as if it were a
positive duty, as if | were bound TO pack
up my clothes, aud come and see my
friends. And even now have such an
odd sensation in connection with these
me. feel as though We we're agreeing
as indeed we are, il we substitute for tic-
tiions characters the classes from which
they are drawn-about third parties, in
whom we had common interest. AT
very new act of Kindness on your part,
say TO myself-that's for Oliver should
not wonder il that was meant for Smike--
| have no doubt that it is intended for Nell;
and so become a much happier, certainly,
bur more sober and retlrng man, than
ever | was before.
Gentlemen talking of my friends in A
merica, brings me back, naturally and of
course to You. Coming back to you, and
being thereby reminded of the pleasure we
have in store in hearing the gentlemen who .
sit about me, | arrive by the easiest, though /
not the shortest course in tie world, at the t
end of what | have to say. But before | |
sit down, there is one topic on which | am
DESTROYS SO lay particular stress. 1t has, |
or should have, ii strong interest for us ALL
since to is literature every country must |
look for one great means Of refining and |
improving its people, and one great source
of national pride and honor lon have in
America great wrlters-great writer's
who will live in all time, and are as tnmil-
lar to our lips as household words. Defiy +
ing (Which they all DO in greater or less
degree, in their several walks their inspi- |
ration from the stupendous country that /
gave them birth, they d,iiuse a better
knowledge OF it, and higher love Tor, it, /
all over the civilized world. | take leave
to say, in the presence Of some Of those
gentlemen, that hope the time is not far
distant when they, in America, will receive
Of light some substantial profit and return
in England from their labors and when
we in England, shall receive some substan-
ial profit and return in America from ours |
Pray do not misunderstood me. Securing
to myself from day to day the means of an
honorable sub ,isteuce, would rather have
the ailecionate regard of my fellow men,
than | would have heaps aud mines Of gold. +
But the two things do not seem to me in
compatible. They cannot be for nothing
good is incompatible wirh justice. There
must be AN iniernatlonl arrangement in
this respec: England has wone her part;
and am confident that the time is not far
distant when America will DO hers. 1t
becomes the character of great country;
firstly, because IT is Justice seconGty, be-
ca use without it you cannot have, and keep