Baltic is ready; another hour and I shall have left England and this
Continent, probably for ever. With a fervent good-bye to the friends I
leave on this side of the Atlantic, I turn my steps gladly and proudly
toward my own loved Western home--toward the land wherein Man enjoys
larger opportunities than elsewhere to develop the better and the worse
aspects of his nature, and where Evil and Good have a freer course, a
wider arena for their inevitable struggles, than is allowed them among
the heavy fetters and cast-iron forms of this rigid and wrinkled Old
World. Doubtless, those struggles will long be arduous and trying:
doubtless, the dictates of Duty will there often bear sternly away from
the halcyon bowers of Popularity; doubtless, he who would be singly and
wholly right must there encounter ordeals as severe as those which here
try the souls of the would-be champions of Progress and Liberty. But
Political Freedom, such as white men enjoy in the United States, and
the mass do not enjoy in Europe, not even in Britain, is a basis for
confident and well-grounded hope; the running stream, though turbid,
tends ever to self-purification; the obstructed, stagnant pool grows
daily more dank and loathsome. Believing most firmly in the ultimate and
perfect triumph of Good over Evil, I rejoice in the existence and
diffusion of that Liberty which, while it intensifies the contest,
accelerates the consummation. Neither blind to her errors nor a pander
to her vices, I rejoice to feel that every hour henceforth till I see
her shores must lessen the distance which divides me from my country,
whose advantages and blessings this four months' absence has taught me
to appreciate more clearly and to prize more deeply than before. With a
glow of unwonted rapture I see our stately vessel's prow turned toward
the setting sun, and strive to realize that only some ten days separate
me from those I know and love best on earth. Hark! the last gun
announces that the mail-boat has left us, and that we are fairly afloat
on our ocean journey: the shores of Europe recede from our vision; the
watery waste is all around us; and now, with God above and Death below,
our gallant bark and her clustered company together brave the dangers of
the mighty deep. May Infinite Mercy watch over our onward path and bring
us safely to our several homes; for to die away from home and kindred
seems one of the saddest calamities that could befall me. This mortal
tenement would rest uneasily in an ocean shroud; this spirit reluctantly
resign that tenement to the chill and pitiless brine; these eyes close
regretfully on the stranger skies and bleak inhospitality of the sullen
and stormy main. No! let me see once more the scenes so well remembered
and beloved; let me grasp, if but once again, the hand of Friendship and
hear the thrilling accents of proved Affection, and when sooner or later
the hour of mortal agony shall come, let my last gaze be fixed on eyes
that will not forget me when I am gone, and let my ashes repose in that
congenial soil which, however I may there be esteemed or hated, is still
"My own green land forever!"
THE END.
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| Transcriber's Note: |
| |
| Inconsistent hyphenation, punctuation and |
| spelling in the original document have been |
| preserved. |
| |
| Periods have been added to dollar amounts. |
| |
| Typographical errors corrected in the text: |
| |
| Page 16 merchandize changed to merchandise |
| Page 26 Sythes changed to Scythes |
| Page 31 Ignots changed to ingots |
| Page 57 skilful changed to skillful |
| Page 60 Coeoperative changed to Cooeperative |
| Page 63 then changed to than |
| Page 151 Germains changed to Germain |
| Page 161 armfull changed to armful |
| Page 166 extraneous double quote removed |
| Page 181 warming changed to warning |
| Page 195 Belvidere changed to Belvedere |
| Page 207 Belvidere changed to Belvedere |
| Page 212 Reactionist changed to Reaectionist |
| Page 213 Hew-Haven changed to New-Haven |
| Page 277 bofogged changed to befogged |
| Page 310 detrimen changed to detriment |
| Page 349 Believng changed to Believing |
| |
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