, be
requested to address the meeting. "Ay"--"No;" but the "Ayes" had it.
"Now, John Brough," said a droll-looking Irishman, apparently a
hod-carrier, who was at my elbow,--
"Now, John Brough,
Out with the stuff."
Here was Paddy on the western side of the Allegany Mountains, with his
native accent and native wit as fresh and unimpaired as if he had but
just left his green isle, and landed on one of the quays at Liverpool.
But John Brough again declined the honour conferred upon him! Then it
was moved and seconded and "ayed" that So-and-so, Esq., be requested to
address the meeting, but _he_ also was not forthcoming! _Nil
desperandum_. It was moved and seconded and "ayed" that--Callaghan,
Esq., be requested to address the meeting. After some hesitation, and a
reference to his own "proverbial modesty," he proceeded to foam, and
stamp, and thump, and bluster for "the vigorous prosecution of the
war," till the American eagle should "stretch his wings over the halls
of the Montezumas." At this stage of the proceedings, the spitting and
smoke had become so offensive that I was compelled to retire; and I did
so with no very high notions of the intelligence and respectability of
the American democrats.
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