The Patriotism Of The West Has Been Quite
As Keen As That Of The North, And Has Produced Results As
Memorable; But It Has Sprung From A Different Source, And Been
Conducted And Animated By A Different Sentiment.
National
greatness and support of the law have been the idea of the North;
national greatness and abolition of slavery have been those of the
West.
How they are to agree as to terms when between them they
have crushed the South - that is the difficulty.
At Dubuque in Iowa, I ate the best apple that I ever encountered.
I make that statement with the purpose of doing justice to the
Americans on a matter which is to them one of considerable
importance. Americans, as rule, do not believe in English apples.
They declare that there are none, and receive accounts of
Devonshire cider with manifest incredulity. "But at any rate there
are no apples in England equal to ours." That is an assertion to
which an Englishman is called upon to give an absolute assent; and
I hereby give it. Apples so excellent as some which were given to
us at Dubuque I have never eaten in England. There is a great
jealousy respecting all the fruits of the earth. "Your peaches are
fine to look at," was said to me, "but they have no flavor." This
was the assertion of a lady, and I made no answer. My idea had
been that American peaches had no flavor; that French peaches had
none; that those of Italy had none; that little as there might be
of which England could boast with truth, she might at any rate
boast of her peaches without fear of contradiction. Indeed, my
idea had been that good peaches were to be got in England only. I
am beginning to doubt whether my belief on the matter has not been
the product of insular ignorance and idolatrous self-worship. It
may be that a peach should be a combination of an apple and a
turnip. "My great objection to your country, sir," said another,
"is that you have got no vegetables." Had he told me that we had
got no sea-board, or no coals, he would not have surprised me more.
No vegetables in England! I could not restrain myself altogether,
and replied by a confession "that we 'raised' no squash." Squash
is the pulp of the pumpkin, and is much used in the States, both as
a vegetable and for pies. No vegetables in England! Did my
surprise arise from the insular ignorance and idolatrous self-
worship of a Britisher, or was my American friend laboring under a
delusion? Is Covent Garden well supplied with vegetables, or is it
not? Do we cultivate our kitchen-gardens with success, or am I
under a delusion on that subject? Do I dream, or is it true that
out of my own little patches at home I have enough, for all
domestic purposes, of peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, celery,
beet-root, onions, carrots, parsnips, turnips, sea-kale, asparagus,
French beans, artichokes, vegetable marrow, cucumbers, tomatoes,
endive, lettuce, as well as herbs of many kinds, cabbages
throughout the year, and potatoes?
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