The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-02-13
OLD ENGLAND FOB EVER!
An Enthusiastic Britisher Grows
Warm in Speaking Of his
Country.
SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 10. 80.

may be confessed, when Mra. or Mis-
Harrison, whichever it was, callet
Gu. ielloW-citizen, Mr.. S to acconn
fer bis somewhat scuIvy treatment 0
his native Old England in tina. letteI
in the HERALD. Darn a man Wit
wont stand up and stick up for hi
own country, his native land, thu
land of his birth and his being, say |
whoever and whatever and wherever
be is. But, as Mr.. S., is an ole
neighbor and mutual friend, and 6
pretty good fellow. take him for all il
all, [ suppose [ must excuse hii
Lapsus Gallant, and leave him TO the
stings and slings and arrows and re-
proaches and divers other torments Of
his own outrageous conscience. while
l go on q bit OF tear about Old
England.
turn with sympathetic admiration
to Sir Walter Scott, as be spostrophi-
zes his beloved Scotia
so Caledonia, stern and wild
Meet nurse for a poetic child.
And with still fuller sympathy, as
be asks the searching question
"Breathes there man with soul so dead,
That never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land ?"
II there does, I certainly am not that
man. Rather would l exclaim, with
Helen McGregor-I believe it is Helen
MoGregOr-
"My foot is on my native heAthp'
When l was child l could say
with the poet
81 thank the goodness and the grace,
Which on my birth have smiled,
And made me, in these latter days,
A happy English child"
Now that 1 have grown older and
seen more l can say
ASHAMED of England! No, not l."
And 1 can continue on with the in
spired Psalmist-
Old England, Old England, if forget
thee,
My tongue, may it cleave to the roof of
my mouth,
And my right hand its cunning forget.
And I may say still further, with any
body else
Forget Old England Never, never
Without a single "Hardly ever"
Why, gentlemen, am an English
man, and, whatever any other
country man may do, your true-born
Englishman never denies nor forgets
his country, bis native land. He is
too proud of her, at the bottom of his
heart, for that. Yes, gentlemen, l
am an Englishman, thank God. l
would not sell my English birthright
for anything else on earth. 1t is the
only thing l am proud of. II ] am
enthusiastic about anything eartaly,
it is my native land and her people
and government. I am man Of
peace, a very peacesble man, but if
there is one thing more than another
that should be willing to fight for,
in youth, manhood, or old age, it is
Old England. II any nation or
government deserves TO live, and live
for ages yet to come, it is that OF Old
England. With all her faults, lsve
ner still, for there is nothing like her
in all this wide, wide world. There
is but one Old England. She is
little country, bat none the less be-
loved on that account, for in many
things she is incompatible. l love
her with deep, intense, fervent,
abiding, unquenchatle love. A man
ought to be ashamed of himself to
run down his own country. A man
that would do that does not deserve TO
have a country. He ought TO be
man without a country. My living
children are all Americans by birth,
and they may be as proud of their
native land as | am of mine. But as
long as | live, may God forbid that l
should ever turn traitor to my native
land, or prove 90 ungrateful as ever to
regard her with other than the most
absolute flial affection OF heart and
soul. No migrate for me. Wherever
| am, l am never ashamed of the
land of my birth, nor will l attempt
to belittle it to pleaee anybody. To
me it is the dearest and best land on
earth, and it has the best place in my
heart.
First of all, Old England is the
land of freedom, Of real, solid, sub
stantial, assured, and secured free
dom. Her march is the march Of
progress. 1t is not like the crswfish
march OF this country, from liberty
towards the despoIism of license, but
it is the steady, gradual, forward
march toward still more enlarged
and enlightened liberty, not the
reckless liberty of libertinism, but the
decorous liberty that is indissolubly
married to law. Nowhere in the
world is there greater personal liberty
and real individual independence,
combined with security Of life and
property, and respectful regard for
law and authority, than in Old Eng
land. That is the true spirit of the
trite old legal maxim that Gan
Englishman's house Is his CASTLE"
Old England was in the foremost
rank OF the nations in emancipating
the slave. When she freed the slave
and gave him his freedom, she did
not give it as e cheap and paliry gift.
She did not steal it from her own
subjects, as "an act OF war;" but she
purchased it, bought i, and paid for
it honorably with money, real money,
honest money, hard money, grand
cash, and lots of it. The moment the
/ foot Of slave touched British soil,
be was free. The great complaint Of
the Dutch Beers of South Africa
against the British was that the latter
held the KsHirs as free men, while
the former wanted to treat them as
slaves. The Indians of Canada,
under British rule, have been peace
able, contented, and happy. while
the relations of the United States
with the Indians within its borders
will not bear investigation in the
light OF humanity, and war with the
red men has been almost intermittent
and invariably inglorious. The Brit