ception, to be examined by others. The remarks frequently thrown out concerning the avarice of the Americans are specimens either of very imperfect observation, or illiberal prejudice. If your own books fairly exhibit the character of the people of Great Britain, the difference between you and us, in this respect, is very small; and those of your countrymen, and of other European nations, who settle here, certainly acquire no advantage by being compared with our citizens. Mr. Weld observes repeatedly, that the farmers of this country will sell any thing, for which they can find a good market; and be contented to live miserably, for the sake of a little additional gain. Such remarks are unwarranted respecting the farmers of this country. The manner in which the people of New-England live, I have already described; and will leave it to you to judge, whether they do not live as well, where the settlements are not recent, as those of any other country, who are not possessed of more property.

One of the most extensive kinds of misrepresentation, adopted by European travellers in the United States, is found in the use of the word American. This word, when applied to the character, manners, or morals of the people, who inhabit the United States, is scarcely capable of having any meaning. Like European, it is an almost merely geographical or political term. Suppose I were to describe the manners, morals, or character of the British, or the Spaniards, dipped in melted butter and milk. We were surprised at seeing such a variety of eatables, as it was not a tavern; but the farmer was a man of property, and carried on the farming business to a considerable extent. He showed us a great number of cheeses of his own making; and, for churning butter, he had made a kind of half-barrel, with a place for one of his young boys to sit astride as on horseback. This machine moving up and down answered the double purpose of a churn for making butter, and a rocking horse for his children.

Having made an excellent breakfast, we inquired of our worthy host what we had to pay. He said he should be satisfied with a York shilling (about 7d. sterling); this however we considered too small a sum for the trouble we had given him and his family, and the handsome manner in which he had entertained us; we therefore gave him a quarter of a dollar each, that being the tavern price for breakfast. We then took our leave, and went on board our vessel, equally pleased with the disinterested hospitality of the American farmer, as with the comfortable refreshment we had received at his house."

with the use of this word; and should actually describe the manners of the Turks, Hungarians, or Poles. What Briton, what Spaniard, would be satisfied with the description?

A few observations on the account, given by Mr. Weld of Long-Island, will conclude what I wish to say concerning his work.

Page 548." The dreadful maladies, which of late years have never failed to rage in these places (the large towns on the coast of America), during certain months."

The only malady, which, at the period specified, raged in these places, was the yellow fever, which began in Philadelphia, in the year 1793, two years before the arrival of Mr. Weld in the United States. No other disease had, during the period, which intervened between 1793 and the date of this letter, 1797, in any considerable degree prevailed. The yellow fever had spread twice in Philadelphia; once in New-York; once, to a small extent, in Boston; never in Salem; once in Newburyport; once in Providence; never in Newport. Mr. Weld ought certainly to have been better informed, before he ventured to say that any dreadful maladies had never failed to rage of late years in these places, during certain months.

Page 549. "The permanent residents on Long-Island are chiefly of Dutch extraction."

The number of inhabitants in King's County, in the year 1790, was 4,495: of these, 1,432 were blacks. Subtract this number, and there will remain 3,065. There are more English residents in King's County, by a considerable number, than there are Dutch in the other two counties. The whole number of inhabitants on the island, in 1790, was 36,949; of which, 3,065 is less than a twelfth part. So near is Mr. Weld's assertion to truth. Mr. Weld made a short excursion into King's County; and finding that the greater number of inhabitants there were of Dutch extraction, he concluded that it was so everywhere. "Ex hoc uno disce country usually make

omnia." European travellers in this their general conclusions from single, or, at the best, from a very few insulated facts.

Page 549. "It is a common saying in New-York, that a Long-Island man will conceal himself in the house on the approach of a stranger."

I have spent about two years in the city of New-York, and never heard this saying mentioned. Had I heard it, I should have known, that it was ridiculously false. It was probably told to Mr. Weld by a mere citizen, who had, perhaps, crossed Brooklyn ferry twice.. Mere citizens in this, and I presume in all other countries, are not uncommonly profoundly ignorant of the regions by which they are surrounded, and of the inhabitants which they contain. Very generally, indeed, they are acquainted with their own business; and this but too often is the boundary of their knowledge. Few worse informants concerning this country can be found than mere citizens; and yet from these men is unhappily derived most of the information acquired concerning it by foreign travellers.

I have visited Long-Island several times, and made the circuit of it. Mr. Weld himself will easily believe, that I have had more intercourse with the inhabitants than he could possibly have. I shall, therefore, beg leave to inform him, that, however awed they might be at his approach, they discover no peculiar marks of terror, or diffidence, in their intercourse with ordinary strangers; but receive them, so far as my knowledge extends, with a cheerful good-will, and a cordial hospitality.

"

Ibid. Widely different from the Anglo-Americans, whose inquisitiveness in similar circumstances would lead them to a thousand troublesome and impertinent inquiries, in order to discover what your business was in that place, and how they could possibly take any advantage of it."

1

This contemptible observation has been so often repeated, that one would think even prejudice itself would be weary of uttering it; and that a little truth would give more pleasure to the tongue, merely as a variety. Mr. Weld has too much understanding, and ought to have too much good-nature, to have stained his pages with it. For my own opinions, I refer you to observations made in preceding parts of this work. ***

Page 550. Immense quantities of grouse and deer are found amidst the brushwood, with which it (the Brushy Plain) is covered, and which is so well calculated to afford shelter to these animals."

Great numbers of deer inhabit, and are annually killed in the forests, by which the interior parts of Long-Island are so extensively covered. But that they are found amidst the

brushwood, with which the Brushy Plain is covered, and found in immense quantities, I have first learned from Mr. Weld. Even now I must beg him to explain what he means by quantities of deer.

Nor can I conceive how brush, which rarely rises to the height of three feet, though it may furnish a convenient shelter for grouse, can be very well calculated to afford shelter to deer.

Ibid. Mr. Weld observes, that several of the Dutch inhabitants have very extensive tracks of land under cultivation.

This must, I think, be a mistake; although Mr. Weld has mentioned the same thing in several places. We have tracts, but I believe no tracks of land in this country. The thing, whatever it be, which the writer means, must certainly be peculiar to Europe, if not to Great Britain; and ought, as well as quantities of deer, to have been explained in a small glossary at the end of the work.

Page 552. "I shall leave it" (that is, America) "without a sigh, and without entertaining the slightest wish to revisit it."

Unless Mr. Weld should revisit this country with a better temper than he displayed in his work, I presume every American, who reads this concluding sentence, will cordially say, Amen.

I am, Sir, &c.

LETTER III.

DEAR SIR;

Duke De La Rochefoucault.

I WILL now proceed to an examination of the Travels of the Duke De La Rochefoucault De Liancourt. It is remarkable, that these three travellers all visited the United States at the same time; and must, one would suppose, since in many instances they visited the same scenes, have met with the same objects. This, however, can hardly have been the fact, if we are to form our conjectures from what they have written.

The Duke De La Rochefoucault is plainly of a superior character in several respects to either of his compeers. He is pleasant, candid, grateful, and honourable; equally remote from the scientific vanity of Volney, and the ill-natured petulance of Weld. He visited the United States for the purpose of learning the nature of the country, and the character of its inhabitants. Whatever object, within his reach, he supposed likely to be worth his investigation, he examined; and often with a patient and vigorous inquisition. To such persons, as he believed capable of giving him useful information, he applied for it; and frequently found those, who furnished it with a good degree of correctness. When he was treated with civility, he was pleased; when with kindness, he was grateful. Generally, he is distinguished from both Volney and Weld, in not deriving general conclusions from a single fact, or a very small number of facts; and from the former particularly, in showing no disposition to originate theories. In fairness of character he leaves Weld out of sight; and in honourable intentions to do justice to the country which he was exploring.

With religion, the Duke had evidently never busied himself; and cannot, therefore, be supposed to have known much of