The International Magazine, Volume 4, No. 5, December 1851Various
History
The International Magazine, Volume 4, No. 5, December 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
"The so often blamed _national pride_ of the American, if not really
praiseworthy, is at least pardonable; for a nation which could rise
like a single man, and, at every sacrifice, throw off the yoke
of England--a nation which has given birth to such men as GEORGE
WASHINGTON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, and many others whose
names are mentioned with wonder all over this world--a nation which
occupies the first rank in trade, commerce, and industry, _may_ be
proud, and _must_ be proud, as long as its power is free from sloth and
lethargy."
And here we may be permitted to interrupt for an instant our noble
Man of Ross (the reader will observe that he wears the aristocratic
_von_), for the sake of saying a good word over this honest,
hard-fisted go-ahead eulogium of our country. There be those
ultra-Europeanized, or _soi-disant_ refinedly educated Americans,
who will complacently smile at this recapitulation of United States
excellencies, and if slangily inclined, brand it as "pea-nut," "stump
eloquence," and "Fourth-of-Julyism." The sum-total being, that it
is vulgar rhodomontade. With all due respect, we think differently.
Let the reader remember that this is addressed to a German--a
_foreign_--audience, who are greatly in need just at present of a
few scraps of such oratory as this, were it only to counteract the
malignant influences of the English tourists, whose works are far more
extensively read in Germany than we imagine. Mrs. Trollope's work on
America, which, at the present day, is regarded only with contempt or
laughter by the educated in England, has been, and is even yet, read
with a feeling akin to wonder by the honest simple-hearted Germans. A
wonder indeed so intense, at the marvellous marvels therein narrated,
that it generally results in inspiring in the mind of the reader
credulous enough to believe, an intense desire to visit the land of
liberty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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