with conscious pride take our station first among the nations of the earth. Yes, my dear be assured that, "Midst pleasures and palaces though you may roam, XXII. VALEDICTORY. TOUCHING the dismal voyage across the North Sea, my third trip up the Thames, and fourth arrival at London; and how much like getting home again, it seemed, after being so long among people of strange tongues, to tread once more the ever crowded, and now to me familiar thorough-fares of Cheapside, Fleet-street, and the Strand; and of divers and extensive peregrinations to the remote corners of this mighty and overgrown city;* its lanes and alleys, spacious squares and narrow turnstiles;' its noble bridges, (among the most remarkable of its architectural ornaments;) and many other matters heretofore alluded to; and of the final leave-taking; ride to Portsmouth, and a stormy week's delay at the George Hotel of that uncommonly stupid place; and how very magnanimously, on learning that I was a foreigner,' they consented to admit * As a specimen of the walks which we' business men' are obliged to take, remember that from Murray's, in Albemarle-street, to St. Catharine's Dock, (where the American packets come in,) is rather more than four miles. 6 Valedictory. 6 283 me to the dock-yard, provided I would write to the lords of the Admiralty at London for permission!' how we at length espied the star-spangled banner' waving in the harbor, from the spars of the fine ship St. James, and we gathered ourselves and our goods and chattels together, and the dock of Garratt & Gibbon was the last point of land on which the soles of our feet rested in Europe; and how we gave the wink to one of the amphibious genus who had daily attacked us during this sojourn of expectation, with 'for New-York, sir ?-boat, sir?' and at last pushed off, while our beloved captain was yet taking a nap at the Quebec,' which said nap lost us a whole day of fair wind; and how the order was finally given to heave away,' and the anchor was weighed, the canvass spread, and we slowly left the Needles,' passed the place where a vessel had been wrecked a few days before; the Isle of Wight and the setting sun disappearing simultaneously from our view-and we were fairly embarked on our way home. And what happened unto us during the voyage; the gales and the calms; the beautiful operation of speaking a vessel at sea; the 'moving accidents' which befel some of us who were not wary enough to preserve an equilibrium suited to the sudden and coquettish propensities of our vessel, to incline too much on one side during a storm; the fashionable 'Gazette' published in the St. James saloon, wherein the follies and foibles of our miniature world were face:iously set forth; how, after a voyage of forty-one days, both pleasant and tedious, the Highlands of Neversink first appeared between sky and water, and the pilot guiding us skillfully through the Narrows, we came gaily up the harbor, and stepped on our native soil once more, at the foot of Maiden-lane ;-all this and more also, shall be buried in oblivion, lest you should never be the wiser. And so, gentle reader, farewell-and may your journeyings be as prosperous, yea, and much more delectable than mine, and may your discourse thereof be as rich with entertainment, as the present one is dull and unprofitable. NOTE-The Convent on the Great St. Bernard is 8074 feet above the level of the sea, and not 11,000, as erroneously stated on p. 218. It was founded in the year 96, and is undoubtedly the most elevated habitation on either continent. M. de Saussure observed the ther--mometer* there below zero on the first of August, at 1 P. M., and with a bright sun.* *** Every year seven or eight thousand persons traverse the Grand St. Bernard; and sometimes six hundred have passed in a day. In the year 1782, the same evening, there were five hundred sixty-one travellers, who consumed four oxen, twenty sheep, and three large sacks of flour. From 1798 to 1806, one hundred and fifty thousand persons have lodged in this convent, besides which, for a whole year it had a garrison of six hundred men.t + It was far less cold when I visited the convent in Aug. 1836. ↑ Coxe's Switzerland. A FEW COMPARATIVE STATISTICS OF THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN : which may be useful for reference abroad. [N. B-For convenient comparison, the money is estimated, on both sides, in dollars. The data are derived from Custom-House and other official returns. There are a few blanks on the British side, which we have not been able to fill.] Civil List, Foreign Intercourse, &c. Military Service, Fortifications, &c. 9,420,000 21,746,360 1,350,000 $35,430,000+ $311,530,000 3,721,000 This includes England, Scotland, and Ireland only. The population of the whole British Empire, including the East India possessions, colonies, &c., is 123,300,000, on 1,800,000 square miles. † Of this amount, $ 71,000,000 was in American vessels, the remainder in foreign vessels. $71,000,000 of the exports were in the single article of cotton. Cf this amount, about 17 millions were from the customs, and 14 millions from sales of public lands. The Surplus Revenue distributed according to the act of 1836, was $37,468, -5. Thus it appears that while our home territory is 13 times greater than that of the British Isles, and our popu lation now equal to three-fifths of theirs, the whole expenses of our government are scarcely one-eighteenth as large, and our average taxation per head is but one-eighth of that in Great Britain. The amount of our exports is one-half as great as those of Britain. Probably more than one-third of the exports of Great Britain are to this country. The tonnage of our merchant vessels is half the amount of theirs; and the amount of rail-roads and canals is vastly greater in the United States. The proportion of our newspapers to theirs is four to one. It is probable that, although we publish but about one-third as many new works per annum, as are issued in Great Britain, the whole number of volumes printed is even larger in the United States than there. It follows, therefore, that in internal resources and im * Exclusive of Law, Medical, and Theological Seminaries. In Great Britain there are forty colleges, including 13 at Oxford and 13 at Cambridge. |
