Matthew F. Ward, whose work is sent
forth to the public from one of the most respectable publishers in New
York--D. Appleton and Co., Broadway.

Before I present the reader specimens of ore from this valuable mine I
must make a few observations. The author is the son of one of the
wealthiest families in Kentucky, a man of education and travel, and has
appeared before the public in a work entitled _The Three Continents:_ I
have given extracts from the opinions of the Press at greater length
than I otherwise should have done, because I think after the reader has
followed me through a short review of _English Items,_ he will see what
strong internal testimony they bear to the truth of my previous
observations. I would also remark that I am not at all thin-skinned as
to travellers giving vent to their true feelings with regard to my own
country. All countries have their weaknesses, their follies, and their
wickednesses. Public opinion in England, taken as a whole, is decidedly
good, and therefore the more the wrong is laid bare the more hope for
its correction; but, while admitting this right in its fullest extent,
it is under two conditions: one that the author speak the truth, the
other that his language be not an outrage on decency or good manners.
Now then, come forth, _thou aggregate outburst of the great American
heart_![BJ] Speak for thyself--let the public be thy judge.

The following extracts are from the chapter on "Our Individual Relations
with England," the chaste style whereof must gratify the reader:--"I am
sorry to observe that it is becoming more and more the fashion,
especially among travelled Americans, to pet the British beast; ...
instead of treating him like other refractory brutes, they
pusillanimously strive to soothe him by a forbearance he cannot
appreciate; ... beasts are ruled through fear, not kindness: they
submissively lick the hand that wields the lash." Then follow
instructions for his treatment, so terrible as to make future tourists
to America tremble:--"Seize him fearlessly by the throat, and once
strangle him into involuntary silence, and the British lion will
hereafter be as fawning as he has been hitherto spiteful." He then
informs his countrymen that the English "cannot appreciate the retiring
nature of true gentility ... nor can they realize how a nation can fail
to be blustering except from cowardice." Towards the conclusion of the
chapter he explains that "hard blows are the only l