6591. PEOPLE, French.—[further continued]
I cannot leave this great
and good country without expressing my sense
of its preeminence of character among the nations
of the earth. A more benevolent people
I have never known, nor greater warmth and
devotedness in their select friendships. Their
kindness and accommodation to strangers is unparalleled,
and the hospitality of Paris is beyond
anything I had conceived to be practicable
in a large city. Their eminence, too, in science,
the communicative dispositions of their scientific
men, the politeness of the general manners,
the ease and vivacity of their conversation, give
a charm to their society, to be found nowhere
else. In a comparison of this with other countries,
we have the proof of primacy, which was
given to Themistocles after the battle of Salamis.
Every general voted to himself the first
reward of valor, and the second to Themistocles.
So, ask the travelled inhabitant of any
nation, in what country on earth would you
rather live? Certainly, in my own, where are
all my friends, my relations, and the earliest
and sweetest affections and recollections of
my life. Which would be your second choice?
France.—
Autobiography. Washington ed. i, 107.
Ford ed., i, 148.
(1821)
