I must now appeal to my two most powerful allies, candour and justice,
against that invincible demon national prejudice. I am perfectly aware
that it is a hopeless attempt even to imagine that there is the
slightest chance of ameliorating its force. I consider it more
immoveable than a rock, because by dint of time you may cut that away,
or you may blast it with gunpowder; but I know of no means which can
soften the adamantine strength of national prejudice. One might
naturally suppose that a long communication between the two countries, a
mutual interchange of kindnesses, the number of intermarriages by which
the two nations have become so connected with each other, would have
contributed in some degree to diminish the asperity of that bitter
feeling against the French which we acquire in our school-boy days, but
which reason and commerce with the world, it might be expected, would
correct. As there is no argument so powerful as exemplification, I will
here cite two instances amongst the hundreds that have come within my
knowledge, of the extreme incorrigibility of the baneful sentiment to
which I allude. I once travelled with a Mr. Lewis from Paris to Dieppe,
and found him a man of considerable information, very gentlemanly in his
address and manners, and possessing such colloquial powers as
contributed to render the journey particularly agreeable; he was an
enthusiastic admirer of the arts, and was very fond of drawing, and
certainly excelled in that accomplishment, from the very beautiful
sketches he showed me which he had made in different parts of France,
and in fact was an amateur artist of considerable merit. He gave me a
very interesting account of his tour through France and of the kindness
he had met with from the inhabitants; that in many instances when he had
been sketching the chateaux of the nobility and gentry, how often it had
occurred that the proprietors had come out and invited him to breakfast
or dinner, according to the hour, or at any rate to take some
refreshment; and several sent for his portemanteau from the inn where he