Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1866-07-13

| ment; but the names came faster than he
could take them, and It was necessary, ia a
few days, to announce that he could receive
| NO more But this announcement went on
slow legs, and was quite unable to head off
the glad tidings which were now rushing
abroad and every day since then has
brought repetition of the scene which /
have just beheld From many miles inland,
and far along the coast, these poor creatures
come to Cardiff. Unabashed by adverse
rumors they find their way to the American
consulate and there they stand in the street
for hours together, in all weathers, till one
after another they have actually gone to the
consufs door and heard with their own ears
the answer.
Mr.. Burch, who soon came in and gave
me very gentlemanly greeting, said that
within the two proceeding weeks there must
have been two thousand personal applica-
tlons at his door for passage to America !;
that this number could have been more than
doubled had he held out the least encour-
agement; and that, if the government or a
private company saw fit to undertake the
matter, several thousand valuable laborers,
experienced colliers, miners, and mechanics,
would be glad to grasp at any arrangement
by which they could get across the sea.
1t was indeed saddening to watch the
crowd below, and listen to the incessant en-
treaties at the door, If any of us went to
the window, straightway all faces were up
turned, their eyes peering into ours with an
inquiring and beseeching look, as if somehow
in that room and in our persons their detsiny
resided, and the brightness and cheer of
their future lives. There they stood
strong men, and women, some of them with
babes in their arms-the rain coming down
upon them heavy but unnoticed, gazing up
at the windows and trying to CLEAN from
them some tokens of promise. Then the
reiterated formula at the door between the
clerk and applicants was something as fol-
lows:
"We have called, please sir, to put our
names down, sir, in the book, sir, for
America
1--WE can't take any more names at pres
ent y
''But, sir, please do take ours, sir; we
do wish to go, sir. "
Il tell You we can't take any more
names.
But sir, we've come long way.
Sorry for it-can't take you, (partly
closing the door,
But, sir, tell US when we shall come
again to see. =
Cant tell you noW-you must go away;
and upon this the door roughly closed, and
the poor candidates for expatriation would
90 down, looking very forlorn, and report
the answer to their equally forlorn compan-
ions. In sheer self-defense it was necessary
to treat them harshly
| do not think any American could have
stood where stood, and have seen what |
saw, without having his heart filed with
sadness and compassion, and without feeling
a nobler pride than ever In the name and
mission of his country. Many times have
| sat in the House of CominUus, and, hoor-
ing from the lips of England great states
men glowing compliments for America. eio-
quent recognitioas of her military greatness,
her wealth of territory, and her political
success, felt my joy and pride too much tor
silence. 1t was hard not to get up and
shock the decorum of the whole assemblage
by one huge Homeric shout: Il too am an
American But it seemed to me to-day,
as / stood at the windows of the consulate,
or listened to the opportunities at the door,
that these poor peasants were paying
higher compliment and bearing a nobler
testimony than was ever borne by the most
affiuent orator in Parliament. 1t did not
nourish boastful patriotic vanity 1t was
no food for national gasconade and assump-
ton; 1t was tnougnb gfandeF UnaH Ine
remembrance of our invincible citizen sol
diery, of our navy, the most formidable that
ever fioated, of our boundlesS material re-
sources; it was the simple and the sacred
fact that to millions in all lands who are
humble and heavy-laden this word AMERICA
means all that is meant by the word Hope.
These poor, sad-faced creatures, standing
before the American consulate in Cardiff,
seemed to symbolic the struggling masses
of all the populations of Europe, their
weary fight with life's hardships, their toll
which returns them just enough to let them
keep on toiling, their rudeness and ignor-
ance, their unthrift, their unhappiness, and
their universal looking to that star which
has risen in the West, and which, they
think, shines not for peers, and for princes,
and for taskmasters, but for men and wo-
men.