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blood!
 The blood of my enemies, Alice!
 The blood of the subjects of your natural prince! The blood of those who
breathe the air you first breathed, and who were taught the same holy lessons
of instruction that you were first taught; but which, I fear, you have too
soon forgotten!
 The blood of the slaves of despotism! he sternly interrupted her;  the
blood of the enemies of freedom! you have dwelt so long in this dull
retirement, and you have cherished so blindly the prejudices of your youth,
that the promise of those noble sentiments I once thought I could see budding
in Alice Dunscombe, has not been fulfilled.
 I have lived and thought only as a woman, as become my sex and station,
Alice meekly replied;  and when it shall be necessary for me to live and think
otherwise, I should wish to die.
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 Ay, there lie the first seeds of slavery! A dependant woman is sure to make
the mother of craven and abject wretches, who dishonour the name of man!
 I shall never be the mother of children good or bad --said Alice, with that
resignation in her tones that showed she had abandoned the natural hopes of
her sex.-- Singly and unsupported have I lived; alone and unlamented must I be
carried to my grave.
The exquisite pathos of her voice, as she uttered this placid speech, blended
as it was with the sweet and calm dignity of virgin pride, touched the heart
of her listener, and he continued silent many moments, as if in reverence of
her determination. Her sentiments awakened in his own breast those feelings of
generosity and disinterestedness, which had nearly been smothered in restless
ambition and the pride of success. He resumed the discourse, therefore, more
mildly, and with a much greater exhibition of deep feeling, and less of
passion, in his manner.
 I know not, Alice, that I ought, situated as I am, and contented, if not
happy, as you are, even to attempt to revive in your bosom those sentiments
which I was once led to think existed there. It cannot, after all, be a
desirable fate, to share the lot of a rover like myself; one who may be termed
a Quixotte in the behalf of liberal principles, and who may be hourly called
to seal the truth of those principles with his life.
 There never existed any sentiment in my breast, in which you are concerned,
that does not exist there still, and unchanged, returned Alice, with her
single-hearted sincerity.
 Do I hear you aright! or have I misconceived your resolution to abide in
England! or have I not rather mistaken your early feelings?
 You have fallen into no error now nor then. The weakness may still exist,
John, but the strength to struggle with it, has, by the goodness of God, grown
with my years. It is not, however, of myself, but of you, that I would speak.
I have lived like one of our simple daisies, which in the budding may have
caught your eye; and I shall also wilt like the humble flower, when the winter
of my time arrives, without being missed from the fields that have known me
for a season. But your fall, John, will be like that of the oak that now
supports us, and men shall pronounce on the beauty and grandeur of the noble
stem while standing, as well as of its usefulness when felled.
 Let them pronounce as they will! returned the proud stranger.  The truth
must be finally known, and when that hour shall come, they will say, he was a
faithful and gallant warrior in his day; and a worthy lesson for all who are
born in slavery, but would live in freedom, shall be found in his example!
 Such may be the language of that distant people, whom ye have adopted in the
place of those that once formed home and kin to ye, said Alice, glancing her
eye timidly at his countenance, as if to discern how far she might venture,
without awakening his resentment;  but what will the men of the land of your
birth transmit to their children, who will be the children of those that are
of your own blood?
 They will say, Alice, whatever their crooked policy may suggest, or their
disappointed vanity can urge. But the picture must be drawn by the friends of
the hero as well as by his enemies! Think you that there are not pens as well
as swords in America?
 I have heard that America called a land, John, where God has lavished his
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favours with an unsparing hand; where he has bestowed many climes with their
several fruits, and where his power is exhibited no less than his mercy. It is
said her rivers are without any known end, and that lakes are found in her
bosom, which would put our German ocean to shame! That plains, teeming with
verdure, are spread over wide degrees, and yet those sweet valleys, which a
single heart can hold, are not wanting. In short, John, I hear it is a broad
land, that can furnish food for each passion, and contain objects for every
affection.
 Ay, you have found those, Alice, in your solitude, who have been willing to
do her justice! It is a country, that can form a world of itself; and why
should they who inherit it, look to other nations for their laws?
 I pretend not to reason on the right of the children of that soil, to do
whatever they may deem most meet for their own welfare, returned Alice-- but
can men be born in such a land, and not know the feeling which binds a human
being to the place of his birth?
 Can you doubt that they should be patriotic? exclaimed the Pilot, in
surprise.  Do not their efforts in this sacred cause--their patient
sufferings-- their long privations, speak loudly in their behalf?
 And will they, who know so well how to love home, sing the praises of him,
who has turned his ruthless hand against the land of his fathers?
 Forever harping on that word, home! said the Pilot, who now detected the
timid approaches of Alice to her hidden meaning.  Is man a stick or a stone,
that he must be cast into the fire, or buried in a wall, wherever his fate may
have doomed him to appear on the earth? The sound of home is said to feed the
vanity of an Englishman, let him go where he will; but it would seem to have a
still more powerful charm with English women!
 It is the dearest of all terms to every woman, John, for it embraces the
dearest of all ties! If your dames of America are ignorant of its charm, all
the favours which God has lavished on their land, will avail their happiness
but little.
 Alice, said the Pilot, rising in his agitation,  I see but too well the
object of your allusions. But on this subject we can never agree; for not even
your power can draw me from the path of glory in which I am now treading. Our
time is growing brief; let us then talk of other things.-- This may be the
last time that I shall ever put foot on the island of Britain.
Alice paused to struggle with the feelings excited by this remark, before she
pursued the discourse. But, soon shaking off the weakness, she added, with a
rigid adherence to that course which she believed to he her duty--
 And now, John, that you have landed, is the breaking up of a peaceful
family, and the violence ye have shown towards an aged man, a fit exploit for
one whose object is the glory of which ye have spoken?
 Think you that I have landed, and placed my life in the hands of my enemies,
for so unworthy an object! No, Alice, my motive for this undertaking has been [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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