They are delighted to see a native of the United States—­of that republic which has taught that a people can flourish without an aristocracy or a monarch—­of that republic, the example of whose prosperity was gradually undermining thrones and digging a pit for privileged classes—­describing her country as the worst, the most abandoned, the most detestable that ever existed.  Royalty draws a long breath, and privilege recovers from its fears.  Among the people of the continent, especially among the Germans, Italians, and Russians, there are thousands who believe that murder is but a pastime here—­that the bowie-knife and pistol are used upon any provocation—­that, in fact, we are a nation of assassins, without law, without morality, and without religion.  They are taught to believe these things by their newspapers, which, published under the eye of Government, allow no intelligence but of murders, bowie-knife fights, &c., coming from America, to appear in their columns.  By these, therefore, only is America known to their readers; and they are very careful to instil the belief, that if America is a land of murderers, it is so because it has had the folly to establish a republican form of government.

“These ideas are very general in England, even where the hostility is greater than it is on the Continent.  To British avarice we owe slavery in this country.  To British hatred we owe the encouragement of anti-slavery agitation now.  The vile hypocrisy which has characterised the whole proceeding is not the least objectionable part of it.  The English care not one farthing about slavery.  If they did, why do they keep it up in such a terrific form in their own country?  Where was there ever true charity that did not begin at home?  It is because there is a deep-rooted hostility to this country pervading the whole British mind, that these things have taken place.”

The wounded sensitiveness, however, which the foregoing paragraph exhibits, found some consolation from an article which appeared in The Times.  They poured over its lines with intense delight, soothing themselves with each animadversion it made upon the meeting, and deducing from the whole—­though how, I could never understand—­that they had found in the columns of that journal a powerful advocate for slavery.  Thus was peace restored within their indignant breasts, and perhaps a war with the ladies of the British aristocracy averted.  Of two facts, however, I feel perfectly certain; one is, that the animadversions made in America will not in the least degree impair her Grace’s healthy condition; and the other is, that the meeting held at Stafford House will in no way improve the condition of the negro.