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Summary
My chief object in publishing this Journal of a three months' tour in America is to induce other Englishmen to go and judge for themselves what manner of people their American cousins really are, by making trial of their heartiness and hospitality. They will return, I believe, impressed, as I am, with a conviction that any one who can contribute in the smallest degree to make the two nations understand one another better, will be doing good service to both; and that this can only be brought about by increased social intercourse between them.
The attractions offered by a European tour bring a large number of Americans to England; long distances are nothing to American travellers ; but the number of Englishmen who visit America is comparatively small. Mr. Murray has furnished the traveller with a Handbook for every State on the Continent of Europe, but has not yet thought himself justified in speculating in a Handbook for America.
The American travellers who make European tours, when they leave their own shores are the most conservative part of the American nation. They are the successful men, who have made money, and are not disposed to be ultra-Republicans in future. They have feelings and interests in harmony with all that class of Englishmen who are in a position to show them hospitality ; but unless they happen to come with introductions (and how few Americans there are who possess English friends) they return to their own country without having seen the inside of an English house. They return chilled and estranged, willing to believe henceforth anything that they may hear about the ‘cold shade’ and the ‘bloated aristocracy.’
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- Black and WhiteA Journal of a Three Months' Tour in the United States, pp. v - xPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009