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north america-2-第45部分
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irtues and vices of the North。 The bond that ties them to the North is to them a Mezentian marriage; and they hate their Northern spouses with a Mezentian hatred。 They would be anything sooner than citizens of the United States。 They see to what Mexico has come; and the republics of Central America; but the prospect of even that degradation is less bitter to them than a share in the glory of the stars and stripes。 Better; with them; to reign in hell than serve in heaven! It is not only in politics that they will be beaten; if they be beaten; as one party with us may be beaten by another; but they will be beaten as we should be beaten if France annexed us; and directed that we should live under French rule。 Let an Englishman digest and realize that idea; and he will comprehend the feelings of a Southern gentleman as he contemplates the probability that his State will be brought back into the Union。 And the Northern feeling is as strong。 The Northern man has founded his national ambition on the territorial greatness of his nation。 He has panted for new lands; and for still extended boundaries。 The Western World has opened her arms to him; and has seemed to welcome him as her only lord。 British America has tempted him toward the north; and Mexico has been as a prey to him on the south。 He has made maps of his empire; including all the continent; and has preached the Monroe doctrine as though it had been decreed by the gods。 He has told the world of his increasing millions; and has never yet known his store to diminish。 He has pawed in the valley; and rejoiced in his strength。 He has said among the trumpets; ha! ha! He has boasted aloud in his pride; and called on all men to look at his glory。 And now shall he be divided and shorn? Shall he be hemmed in from his ocean; and shut off from his rivers? Shall he have a hook run into his nostrils; and a thorn driven into his jaw? Shall men say that his day is over; when he has hardly yet tasted the full cup of his success? Has his young life been a dream; and not a truth? Shall he never reach that giant manhood which the growth of his boyish years has promised him? If the South goes from him; he will be divided; shorn; and hemmed in。 The hook will have pierced his nose; and the thorn will fester in his jaw。 Men will taunt him with his former boastings; and he will awake to find himself but a mortal among mortals。 Such is the light in which the struggle is regarded by the two parties; and such the hopes and feelings which have been engendered。 It may therefore be surmised with what amount of neighborly love secessionists and Northern neighbors regarded each other in such towns as Baltimore and Washington。 Of course there was hatred of the deepest dye; of course there were muttered curses; or curses which sometimes were not simply muttered。 Of course there was wretchedness; heart…burnings; and fearful divisions in families。 That; perhaps; was the worst of all。 The daughter's husband would be in the Northern ranks; while the son was fighting in the South; or two sons would hold equal rank in the two armies; sometimes sending to each other frightful threats of personal vengeance。 Old friends would meet each other in the street; passing without speaking; or; worse still; would utter words of insult for which payment is to be demanded when a Southern gentleman may again be allowed to quarrel in his own defense。 And yet society went on。 Women still smiled; and men were happy to whom such smiles were given。 Cakes and ale were going; and ginger was still hot in the mouth。 When many were together no words of unhappiness were heard。 It was at those small meetings of two or three that women would weep instead of smiling; and that men would run their hands through their hair and sit in silence; thinking of their ruined hopes and divided children。 I have spoken of Southern hopes and Northern fears; and have endeavored to explain the feelings of each party。 For myself I think that the Southerners have been wrong in their hopes; and that those of the North have been wrong in their fears。 It is not better to rule in hell than serve in heaven。 Of course a Southern gentleman will not admit the premises which are here by me taken for granted。 The hell to which I allude is; the sad position of a low and debased nation。 Such; I think; will be the fate of the Gulf States; if they succeed in obtaining secessionof a low and debased nation; or; worse still; of many low and debased nations。 They will have lost their cotton monopoly by the competition created during the period of the war; and will have no material of greatness on which either to found themselves or to flourish。 That they had much to bear when linked with the North; much to endure on account of that slavery from which it was all but impossible that they should disentangle themselves; may probably be true。 But so have all political parties among all free nations much to bear from political opponents; and yet other free nations do not go to pieces。 Had it been possible that the slaveowners and slave properties should have been scattered in parts through all the States and not congregated in the South; the slave party would have maintained itself as other parties do; but in such case; as a matter of course; it would not have thought of secession。 It has been the close vicinity of slaveowners to each other; the fact that their lands have been coterminous; that theirs was especially a cotton district; which has tempted them to secession。 They have been tempted to secession; and will; as I think; still achieve it in those Gulf States; much to their misfortune。 And the fears of the North are; I think; equally wrong。 That they will be deceived as to that Monroe doctrine is no doubt more than probable。 That ambition for an entire continent under one rule will not; I should say; be gratified。 But not on that account need the nation be less great; or its civilization less extensive。 That hook in its nose and that thorn in its jaw will; after all; be but a hook of the imagination and an ideal thorn。 Do not all great men suffer such ere their greatness be established and acknowledged? There is scope enough for all that manhood can do between the Atlantic and the Pacific; even though those hot; swampy cotton fields be taken away; even though the snows of the British provinces be denied to them。 And as for those rivers and that sea…board; the Americans of the North will have lost much of their old energy and usual force of will if any Southern confederacy be allowed to deny their right of way or to stop their commercial enterprises。 I believe that the South will be badly off without the North; but I feel certain that the North will never miss the South when once the wounds to her pride have been closed。 From Washington I journeyed back to Boston through the cities which I had visited in coming thither; and stayed again on my route; for a few days; at Baltimore; at Philadelphia; and at New York。 At each town there were those whom I now regarded almost as old friends; and as the time of my departure drew near I felt a sorrow that I was not to be allowed to stay longer。 As the general result of my sojourn in the country; I must declare that I was always happy and comfortable in the Eastern cities; and generally unhappy and uncomfortable in the West。 I had previously been inclined to think that I should like the roughness of the West; and that in the East I should encounter an arrogance which would have kept me always on the verge of hot water; but in both these surmises I found myself to have been wrong。 And I think that most English travelers would come to the same conclusion。 The Western people do not mean to be harsh or uncivil; but they do not make themselves pleasant。 In all the Eastern citiesI speak of the Eastern cities north of Washingtona society may be found which must be esteemed as agreeable by Englishmen who like clever; genial men; and who love clever; pretty women。 I was forced to pass twice again over the road between New York and Boston; as the packet by which I intended to leave America was fixed to sail from the former port。 I had promised myself; and had promised others; that I would spend in Boston the last week of my sojourn in the States; and this was a promise which I was by no means inclined to break。 If there be a gratification in this world which has no alloy; it is that of going to an assured welcome。 The belief that arms and hearts are open to receive oneand the arms and hearts of women; too; as far as they allow themselves to open themis the salt of the earth; the sole remedy against sea… sickness; the only cure for the tedium of railways; the one preservative amid all the miseries and fatigue of travail。 These matters are private; and should hardly be told of in a book; but in writing of the States; I should not do justice to my own convictions of the country if I did not say how pleasantly social intercourse there will ripen into friendship; and how full of love that friendship may become。 I became enamored of Boston at last。 Beacon Street was very pleasant to me; and the view over Boston Common was dear to my eyes。 Even the State House; with its great yellow… painted dome; became s
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