All The Enthusiasm Of My Earliest Years Kindled By The Patriotism Of
The Illustrious Heroes Of Rome.
Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, and
Antony were now revived in my mind; and though all I had just seen
and heard be, in fact, but the semblance of liberty, and that, too,
tribunitial liberty, yet at that moment I thought it charming, and
it warmed my heart.
Yes, depend on it, my friend, when you here see
how, in the happy country, the lowest and meanest member of society
thus unequivocally testifies the interest which he takes in
everything of a public nature; when you see how even women and
children bear a part in the great concerns of their country; in
short, how high and low, rich and poor, all concur in declaring
their feelings and their convictions that a carter, a common tar, or
a scavenger, is still a man - nay, an Englishman, and as such has his
rights and privileges defined and known as exactly and as well as
his king, or as his king's minister - take my word for it, you will
feel yourself very differently affected from what you are when
staring at our soldiers in their exercises at Berlin.
When Fox, who was among the voters, arrived at the beginning of the
election, he too was received with an universal shout of joy. At
length, when it was nearly over, the people took it into their heads
to hear him speak, and every one called out, "Fox! Fox!" I know
not why, but I seemed to catch some of the spirit of the place and
time, and so I also bawled "Fox! Fox!" and he was obliged to come
forward and speak, for no other reason that I could find but that
the people wished to hear him speak. In this speech he again
confirmed, in the presence of the people, his former declaration in
parliament, that he by no means had any influence as minister of
State in this election, but only and merely as a private person.
When the whole was over, the rampant spirit of liberty and the wild
impatience of a genuine English mob were exhibited in perfection.
In a very few minutes the whole scaffolding, benches, and chairs,
and everything else, was completely destroyed. and the mat with
which it had been covered torn into ten thousand long strips, or
pieces, or strings, with which they encircled or enclosed multitudes
of people of all ranks. These they hurried along with them, and
everything else that came in their way, as trophies of joy; and
thus, in the midst of exultation and triumph, they paraded through
many of the most populous streets of London.
Whilst in Prussia poets only speak of the love of country as one of
the dearest of all human affections, here there is no man who does
not feel, and describe with rapture, how much he loves his country.
"Yes, for my country I'll shed the last drop of my blood!" often
exclaims little Jacky, the fine boy here in the house where I live,
who is yet only about twelve years old.
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