America was supposed to be a beacon of democracy in hidebound old Europe, but instead his country was an object of scorn. He recorded the following impression: “The position of an American traveling in Europe is just now a most unpleasant one. In railway carriages and other public places when he is not known as an American, he is obliged to hear language applied to his country which it is difficult to allow to pass in silence, and yet which he cannot deny to be just.”
