They are among the things which one
would fain remember as one remembers a dream. Look back on it as a
vision and it is all pleasant; but if you realize your vision and
believe your dream to be a fact, all your pleasure is obliterated by
regret.
I know that I shall never again be at Boston, and that I have said
that about the Americans which would make me unwelcome as a guest if
I were there. It is in this that my regret consists; for this
reason that I would wish to remember so many social hours as though
they had been passed in sleep. They who will expect blessings from
me, will say among themselves that I have cursed them. As I read
the pages which I have written, I feel that words which I intended
for blessings when I prepared to utter them have gone nigh to turn
themselves into curses.
I have ever admired the United States as a nation. I have loved
their liberty, their prowess, their intelligence, and their
progress. I have sympathized with a people who themselves have had
no sympathy with passive security and inaction. I have felt
confidence in them, and have known, as it were, that their industry
must enable them to succeed as a people while their freedom would
insure to them success as a nation. With these convictions I went
among them wishing to write of them good words - words which might be
pleasant for them to read, while they might assist perhaps in
producing a true impression of them here at home.
