red with his own
stunted cucumbers, which he has raised at ten times the expense which
would have purchased fine ones in the market. It were almost a pity
that the American should be awakened from his dream, if it were not that
the arrogance and conceit arising from it may eventually plunge him into
difficulty.

But let us be fair; America is the country of enthusiasm and hope, and
we must not be too severe upon what from a virgin soil has, sprung up
too luxuriantly. It is but the English _amor patriae_ carried to too
great an excess. The Americans are great boasters; but are we far
behind them? One of our most popular songs runs as follows:--

"We ne'er see our foes, but we wish them to stay;
They never see us, but they wish us away."

What can be more bragging, or more untrue, than the words of these
lines? In the same way in England the common people hold it as a
proverb, that, "one Englishman can beat three Frenchmen," but there are
not many Englishmen who would succeed in the attempt. Nor is it
altogether wrong to encourage these feelings; although arrogance is a
fault in an individual, in a national point of view, it often becomes
the incentive to great actions, and, if not excessive, insures the
success inspired by confidence. As by giving people credit for a virtue
which they have not, you very often produce that virtue in them, I think
it not unwise to implant this feeling in the hearts of the lower
classes, who if they firmly believe that they can beat three Frenchmen,
will at all events attempt to do it. That too great success is
dangerous, and that the feeling of arrogance produced by it may lead us
into the error of despising our enemy, we ourselves showed an example of
in our first contest with America during the last war. In that point
America and England have now changed positions, and from false
education, want of comparison, and unexpected success in their struggle
with us, they are now much more arrogant than we were when most flushed
with victory. They are blind to their own faults and to the merits of
others, and while they are so it is clear that they will offend
strangers, and never improve themselves. I have often laughed at the
false estimate held by the majority in America as to England. One told
me, with a patronising air, that, "in a short time, England would only
be known as having been the mother of America."

"When you go into our interior, Captain," said a New York gen