Excerpt from My Diary in America in the Midst of War, Vol. 1 of 2 Dear Sir, you may be anxious to know what on earth this can have to do with the justificatory remarks prefixed to my Diary in America in the Midst of War. I will tell you. I have a little story to relate, and this is the introduction to it. When I first set foot on board the Arabia, bound for Boston, and with the intent of remaining eight months in the United States, I made two solemn resolves - the first, to tell the truth so far as my lights would permit me the next, to hold my tongue. A dumb dog I did not intend to be; and during the eight months, and their extension to twelve, I took a fair share in very many pleasant and edifying parleys with your countrymen and countrywomen but I determined never to speak in public. Of old and aforetime I knew, from meeting you in Europe, what ready speakers you were and I was painfully aware of the oratorical deficiencies of that nation of which I was to be, in a foreign and hostile land, the humblest representative. Yes, dear Sir, you are very fond of us, but you are always looking out for the joints in our armour, and you would like to smite us under the fifth rib if you could. You know you would. So I said to myself, I speak neither better nor worse than the general run of my compatriots I know how well the Americans can speak, and therefore I will not speak at all. With respect to the manner in which I kept my first resolve, I leave the decision to candid and impartial men on both sides the Atlantic. If the verdict be that I have Lied, I will never set my foot in America again still I hope to walk up Broadway once more before I am grey. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.