Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-04-21
DICKENS AND AMERICA.
cants His " "AmerIeRn Notes "A
Graceful Farewell.

canIs His American Notes "A
Graceful Farewell.
On Saturday night last, Charles Dickens
was the recipient of an entertainment from
the leading members of the New York
press. Horace Greeley presided, and re-
sponded to the opening toast Of welcome
Mr.. Dickens was quite unwell, but never
theless was present, and in answer to the
toast of "Our Guest" delivered an admira-
bic speech, of which the following is an
extract;
Gentlemen, 50 much Of my voice has
lately been heard in the land have. for
four hard winter months, had to contend
against what ! have been sometimes cutie
admiringly assured was a great American
catarrh a visitation which l have tho
roughly and highly appreciated, though /
might have preferred to be naturalized by
any other social or physical means. I saw,
gentlemen, so much of my voice has lately
been heard in the land that might have
been contented not to trouble you any fur
ther, from my present standing point, were
it not a duty with which | henceforth
charge myself, not only here, but on every
suitable occasion whatsoever and where
soever, to express my high and grateful
sense of my second reception in America,
and to bear my honest testimony to the na-
iional generosity and magnanimity.
Cheering Also, TO declare how aston
lshed have been by the amazing changes
that | have seen around me on everv side
changes, moral, changes physical, changes in
the amount Of land peopled, changes in the
rise of vast new cities, changes in the
growth of older cities, changes in the graces
and amenities of life, changes in the press
without whose advancement no advance
ment can take place any where Nor am
/, believe me, SO arrogant as to suppose
that IN i've and twenty years there have
been no changes IN me, and that / had
nothing 10 learn, aud no false impressions
10 correct, formed when / was here first.
lAPplause. But gentlemen, this brings
me 10 point on which have, ever since
1 landed here last November, observed a
strict silence, though sometimes tempted TO
break 1t; aud an reference 10 il / will, with |
your good leave, take you into my con-
tidence. tCries Of hear, hear7 / fad |
the press, being human, may be sometimes |
mistaken or misinformed. Bnt | rather |
think | have, In one or two rare instances,
known its information TO be not perfectly |
correct, laughter, with reference to my |
self Indeed, | have now and again |
been more surprised by printed |
news that | have read of myself |
than by any printed news that / |
have read IN my present state of |
existence. The vigor and{ perseyer.
ance with which 1 have for many
months been collecting materials and ham |
mering away at a new book on America, is |
much, as 1t might seem, thongh all that |
time IT has been perfectly we'll known to |
my publishers, on both sides ofthe Atlantic, |
that i positively declared no consideration |
on earth should induce me to write But
what | have intended, what ] have re- |
solved upon, is and this is the confidence | |
seek TO place in You, that on my return to |
England, in every English journal, man
fully, promptly, plainly, in my own per-
son, TO bear, for the behoof of my country
men, such testimony to the gigantic changes |
in this country as | have hinted at. Ap- |
plause Also to recall that wherever / |
have been, in the smallest places equally |
with the largest, have been received with
unsurpassable Poiteness, delicacy, sweet
temper, hospitality, consideration, and
with unsurpassable respect for the privacy
daily enforced upon me by the nature of
my avocation here and the state of my
health. This testimony, so long "a | live
and so long az my descendants have any
legal right in my books, shall cause to
be published asan appendix to every copy of
those two books ofmine in which | have re-
ferred to America. Applause. And this
| will do, and cause to be done, not in my
loving thankfulness, but because / regard
it as an act of plain Justice and honor.
Gentlemen, this expression of my own
feelings of an interest in America, and
and those of the most of my countrymen,
seems to me but natural one, whether or
not do | make it an express object. ] was
asked liz this very city, about last Christmas
time, whether an American was not at some
disadvantage in England as a foreigner.
The notion Of an American being regarded
as a foreigner at all of his ever being
thought OF, or spoken of in that character,
was 80 incongruous and absurd to me that
my gravity was, for the moment, quite over
powered. As soon az il was restored, / said
that for years past | had hoped / had as
many American friends, and received az
many American visitors as almost any
Englishman living. Applause. And
that my unvaried experience, fortified by
Others was that it was enough in England
TO be an American TO be received with
most earnest respect and recognition any
where.