Litchfield enquirer., 1868-04-30

eS moral. changes phyH1E changes in the amount of land subdned and cultivated,
 changes in the rise of vast new cities, changes in the growth of older cities al.
 most out of rccognition, changes ill the growth of the gfaces and amenities of life, i changes in tue Press, without whose advancement no advancement can
 take place anywhere. Applause. l l Nor am I, believe me, so arrogant as to
 suppose that in five and twenty years there l have been no changes in me, and that l
 pression to correct when I was here first. i Applause And, gentlemen, this brings
 me to point on which have, ever since I
 landed here last November, observed a
 strict silence, however temptet sometimes
 to break it, but in reference 70 which, I
 VII, with your good leave, t;ke you into
 my confidence now. ["Go on' Go on. T
 Even the Press, being human. may some
 times be mistaken or misinfSsmed, and
 rather think that have in c, or two rare 1 instances known it's informazin to be not
 perfectly accurate with referelee to myself.
 Laughter and applause. Itdeed, I have
 now and again been more surprised by
 printed news ithat have Eead of myself,
 than by any other printedasws that I have
 ever read in my present stareof existence.
 Laughter. Thus, the yigr and perse-
 verance with which have fG some months
 past been collecting materiaH for, and ham,
 mering away at, new bool on America,
 have much astonished me enewed laugh
 ter;) seeing that all that tine it has been ;serfectly we'll known to my publishers on
 1otn siaes ~s +ha Atlantic tat I positively
 declared that no consizss4.ion on earth
 should induce me to write one. Laugh
 ter But what I have itended, what I
 nave resolved upon, land this is the conf
 aence seek to place in yu,) is, on my re-
 turn to England, in my oin English jour-
 nal, manfully, promptly plainl y, in my l own person, to bear, for he behoof of my countrymen,. such testim,ny to the gigan-
 JIG changes ln this county as I have hint
 ed tat tonight. [Applalse.] Also to re-
 cord that wherever I hve been, in the
 smallest places equally with the largest, I nave been received with nnsurpassable po-
 llteness, delicacy, sweet ;emper, hospitality
 and consideration, and with unsurpassable
 respect for the privacy daily enforced upon
 me by the nature of myavocation here and
 the state of my health. Applause. This
 testimony, so long as live, and so long as
 my descendants have any legal right in my
 DOORS, l shall cause to be republished, as an appendix to every copy of those two books of mine in which l have referred to A America: Tumultuous applausel And tnls Will do and cause to be done, not in mere love and thankfulness, but because regard It as an act of plain justice and honor. Bravo, and cheers. Gentlemen, the transition from my own feelings to- wards and interest in America to those of natural oz my countrymen, seems tn he a with an express object. I was asked in this is very City. about last Christmas time. wheth- CT an American was not at some disadyan tage In England, as foreigner! The no- ton of an American being regarded in England as foreigner at all, of his ever being thought of or spoken of in that char acter, was uncommonly incongruous and absurd to me that my gravity for the mo- ment Was quite overpowered. As soon as 1t was restored, said that for years and years past. hoped had as many Ameri- can friends, and had received as many American visitors as almost any any En- glishman living, and that my unyarvino experience, fortified by theirs, was that it was enough in England to be an American to be received with the readiest respect and recognition any where. Thereupon. out of half-a-dozen people, suddenly spake out two, one an American gentleman with a cultivated taste for art, who finding him. self on certain Sunday outside the walls ot certain historical English castle. fa- nous for it's pictures, was refused admis- sion there, according to the strict rule of the establishment on that day, but who, on merely representing that he was an Ameri- can gentleman, on his travels, had not on- ly the picture gallery, but the whole clstle placed at his i'm nl:~+~ a;et>---L (L-~eL
 ter. The other was lady, who being in London. and having great desire to see a particular museum, was assured by the En- glish family with whom she stayed that it was impossible, because the place was clos ed for @ week, and she had only three days to remain. Upon that ladyis going to the museum, as she assured me, alone, self-in- troduced as an American lady, the gate flew open, as it were, magically. am un- willingly bound to add, that the lady cer- tainly was young and exceedingly pretty. (Laughter.) Still, the porter of that in- stitution is of an obese habit, and, accord ing to the best of my observation of him, not very impossible. Great laughter and cheering.) Now, gentlemen, refer to these trldes as collateral assurance to you that the Engishman who shall humbly strive, as hope to do, to be in England as faithful to America as to England herself, has no previous conceptions to contend against. ("Good!' "Goodr1 Points of difference there have been, points of diff ference there are, points of difference there probably always will be between the two great peoples. But broadcast in England is sown the sentiment that those two peo- ples are essentially one, (great applause and that it rests with them jointly to up
 hold the great Anglo-Saxon race, to which our President has referred, and all its great achievements before the world. Bravo ) If I know anything of my countrymen, and they give me credit for knowing some- thing, if l know anything of my country men, gentlemen, the English heart is stir red by the futtering of those Stars and Stripes. as it is stirred by no other flag that flies except it's own. Great applause ) If know my countrymen in any and eve " relation toward America, they begin, not as Sir Anthony Absolute recommend ed lovers to begin, with Ca little aversion, '" but with great liking and profound re- spect; and whatever the little sensitiveness of the moment, or the little official pas sion, or the little official policy, now, or then, or here, or there, may be, take my
 word for it, that the first, enduring, great popular consideration in England is a gen. terous construction of justice. Bravo ]