[Speech of Robert C. Winthrop made at the public dinner given to
Amin Bey by the merchants of Boston, Mass., November 4, 1850.]
MR. PRESIDENT:--I am greatly honored by the sentiment just
proposed, and I beg my good friend, the Vice-President [Hon. Benjamin
Seaver], to accept my hearty thanks for the kind and complimentary terms
in which he has presented my name to the company. I am most grateful for
the opportunity of meeting with so large a number of the intelligent and
enterprising merchants of Boston, and of uniting with them in a tender
of deserved hospitality, and in a tribute of just respect, to the
Commissioner of his Imperial Majesty, the Sultan of Turkey.
And yet, I cannot but reflect, even as I pronounce these words, how
strangely they would have sounded in the ears of our fathers not many
generations back, or even in our own ears not many years ago. A deserved
tender of hospitality, a just tribute of respect, to the Representative
of the Grand Turk! Sir, the country from which your amiable and
distinguished guest has come, was not altogether unknown to some of the
early American discoverers and settlers. John Smith--do not smile too
soon, Mr. President, for though the name has become proverbially generic
in these latter days, it was once identified and individualized as the
name of one of the most gallant navigators and captains which the world
has ever known--that John Smith who first gave the cherished name of New
England to what the Pilgrims of the Mayflower called "these Northern
parts of Virginia"--he, I say, was well acquainted with Turkey; and two
centuries and a half ago, he gave the name of a Turkish lady to one of
the capes of our own Massachusetts Bay. But he knew Turkey as a prison
and a dungeon, and he called what is now Cape Ann, Cape Tragabigzanda,
only to commemorate his affection for one who had soothed the rigors of
a long and loathsome captivity.
Nor was Turkey an unknown land to at least one of those Winthrops of the
olden time, with whom the Vice-President has so kindly connected me. In
turning over some old family papers since my return home, I have
stumbled on the original autograph of a note from John Winthrop, the
younger, dated "December 26th, 1628, at the Castles of the Hellespont,"
whither he had gone, as is supposed, as the Secretary of Sir Peter Wich,
the British Ambassador at Constantinople. The associations of that day,
however, with those remote regions, were by no means agreeable, and I
should hardly dare to dwell longer upon them on this occasion and in
this presence. I rejoice that events have occurred to break the spell of
that hereditary prejudice, which has so long prevailed in the minds of
not a few of us, toward the Ottoman Empire. I rejoice that our
associations with Turkey are no longer those only of the plague and the
bowstring; that we are encouraged and authorized to look to her
hereafter for something better than a little coarse wool for our
blankets, or a few figs for our dessert, or even a little opium or
rhubarb for our medicine-chests; that, in a word, we are encouraged and
warranted to look to her, under the auspices and administration of her
young, gallant, and generous Sultan, for examples of reform, of
toleration, of liberality, of a magnanimous and chivalrous humanity,
which are worthy of the admiration and imitation of all mankind. I
rejoice, especially, that an occasion has been afforded for testifying
the deep sense which is entertained throughout our country, of the noble
conduct of the Sublime Porte in regard to the unfortunate exiles of
Hungary.
The influence which the Ottoman Empire seems destined to exert over the
relations of Eastern and Western Europe, is of the most interesting and
important character; and, while we all hold steadfastly to the great
principle of neutrality which Washington established and enforced, we
yet cannot suppress our satisfaction that this influence is now in the
hands of one who seems determined to wield it fearlessly for the best
interests of civilization and humanity.
And now, sir, let us hope that our distinguished friend, Amin Bey, may
return home with some not less favorable impressions of our own land. Of
our enterprise, of our industry, of our immense material production, of
our rapid progress in arts and improvements of every kind, of our vast
territorial extent, he cannot fail to testify. Let us hope that he may
be able to speak also of internal order, of domestic tranquillity, of
wise and just laws, faithfully administered and promptly obeyed, of a
happy, contented, and united people, commending by their practice and
example, as well as by their principles and precepts, the institutions
under which they live.
The distinguished gentleman who preceded me [Mr. Webster], and whom I
have been under the disadvantage of following in other scenes as well as
here, has spoken of the Union of these States. There is no language so
strong or so emphatic, which even he can use, as to the importance of
preserving that Union, which does not meet with a prompt and cordial
echo in my own bosom. To the eyes of Amin Bey, and to the eyes of all
foreign nations, we are indeed but one country, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific. To them there is no Boston or New York, no Carolina or
Louisiana. Our commerce goes forth under one and the same flag, whether
from the Bay of Massachusetts or from the "Golden Gate" of California.
Under that flag, it has been protected, prospered, and extended beyond
example. Under that flag, new fields are opening to it, and new triumphs
are before it. May our distinguished guest take home with him an
assurance, founded upon all that he has seen and all that he has heard,
of the resolution of us all, that the flag of our Union shall still and
always remain one and the same, from ocean to ocean, untorn and
untarnished, proof alike against everything of foreign assault and
everything of domestic dissension! [Great applause.]