The workingman's advocate., 1869-11-20
TRAVELLING SKETCHES.
FROM LIVERPOOL TO LONDON.


ApOlOkloS 1Lc always Al Otucig luoiCaOee
we avail ourselves Of this privilege to an
nounce that two serious though unintention-
al errors, were committed 10 our last By
an almost unaecountabls blunder, we
changed the location Of Ballycotton Island
from the east to the west Of Queenstown,
and also transposed the location of the Great
Northern Railway from London TO Liver
pool. By the substitution Of the words
Northwestern" for Northern our statement
will appear more explicable.
So far, however, we have failed, amidst
the hustle and excitemen attendant upon
our movements, to realize the fact that we
are now upon British soil that the Stars
and Stripes" have been exchanged for the
Ensign" upon which the sun never sets
a republican for monarchical government.
But so 1t is. The dialect, the customs, al
ready observed, denote that we are now .
stranger, il a strange land,-but in a glo-
rious little island, with all her failings-and
she has mGRy-which has carried clYilizA-
ton and Christianity to the uttermost parts
Of the earth, and which has hurled back in
proud defiance any and every attempt to
curtail her freedom or circumscribe the in
alienable rights OF her sons, no matter
whencs they came.
But enough Of this romancing-we are
now travelling at the rate Of go miles an
hour, through the garden OF the world ;
through a section where hill and vale, town
and country are so beautifully blended that
it may successfully challenge competition
"Oh this is England, indeed" shouts an
enthusiastic American. l could tell It with
both eyes blinded" "Begad," rejoins ano-
ther. " like the Queen Of Sheba, can say
that the half has not been told US" Look
here ~ shouts third enthusiast on our left,
Saint that magnificent, beyond description"
I" Yes, and look on this side" cries friend
almost opposite on the right 1 don't
blame John Bull for dong little brag-
ing; by Jove, that is splendid Say -C-n:
I suppose the hag flying from that castle up
yonder denotes that the Queen. or Wales, or
Gladstone, or somebody else belonging to
those telloUS are visiting there. What do
you think ?" "Don't think or care snap
about it, so long as we can be in Paris to-
morrow night" But in spite Of our anxiety
or growing, we cannot help joining in the
almost uninterrupted bursts of rapture in
which our companions indulge, as we are
hurled through a section which no painter
can overdraw. Everything is substantial.
Bridges, canals, hedgerows, ell laid out with
precision which tells Us we are far, far from
our praires, where land can be had for a
bagatelle, and where, when civilization en-
croaches too closely, the frontier settler can
pick up his traps, and g little farther
west.
Town after town is passed; yOnder are
the chimneys Of q manufacturing centre !;
here the magnificent lawn Of grandee's
home the hawthorn IS trimmed like a gar
den hedge; the burrows Of the hills are
straight as parallel lines aud this, all this,
is England. We take dinner at Crew Sta
ton as best We can, an establishment which.
Dickens has lampooned, but as we are hun
gy-vsry hungry-the pork pies there Ob-
tanned are voted by universal consent the
best ever cooked, aud his sarcasD, "a 10
''Martin Ohuzzlewit," altogether uudeservsd.
A dissertation on the injustice Of the game
laws is followed by tribute Of admiration
for the g lassies" playing croquet on yonder
green, and the desire that care and trouble
nay never fash" them more than present
appearances indicate. Bat why Hnger on a
scene which has been 50 truthfully aud so
much more ably describedP We fud, how
ever, that the fault.hnding mood 10 which
our journey was commenced, has deserted
US that enthusiasm and admiration has taken
complete control, and in this eaviable frame
Il mind we find ourselves whired into the
great Metropolis of the world" the grand
old city of LONDON, at whose immeusity, like
many others before Us, We find ourselves
Derplexed. "And this is L0ndon"-no long
sr q city," as French historian wrote hall
! century ago; " but country and q nation
IN ITSELF" we repeat again and again, as
cabby rushes US through street after street,
mile after mile, and eventually brings US up
1t "Charing Cross Hotel"
As we have missed the tram for Newhav- |
%, and find we cannot mend matters BY
retting, we take q hurried glance at this
modern " Babylon" and then retire to rest
On the morrow visit TO 81. Panl's, Ken
Iington Museum, the Horse Guards, she Bank