"Still had I turned with ceaseless pain,
And dragged at each remove, a length'ning
chain."

My mother was the only one up. They had heard nothing of me since the Doctor left us at Barbadoes, for the

letters which I had written home were never received. They knew that the prisoners had been concentrated at Dartmoor, but they were not aware of the certainty of my being among them Let the meeting be conceived.

In England every subject acknowledges a superior. In the United States no citizen admits that he has any. The moment we examine the differential scale of the two political systems, we perceive so little in common, that it is an impossibility that both can sail in the same ship, under the same commander, or with the same creed. But that is no reason why we should set hostile flags, arm ourselves for combat, and labor to run each other under water. It is just as well—nay, infinitely wiser and safer, to agree upon points of difference, than to limit our agreement to points of union. If I find any particular in England essentially different in character and application from the same thing in the United States, as for example, an established church, my inquiry is not whether it be a good or a bad thing to have a church establishment, but whether it be suited to the habits, wants, and circumstances of that country. If it be, it is a good thing for that people. So I think a foreigner travelling in the United States, when he meets, as he certainly will meet with, many particulars differing from those he left in his own country, and in reference to which, inconsistent with fitness and propriety, will do well to inquire whether such particulars are compatible with the circumstances in which the people of the United States are placed, and if so, it is enough. We are exposed to just reproach, not for having those particulars as they are, but for changing them for something that is not.

Although nations cannot and will not unite in one universal form of government, or in one universal mode of worship, yet all may unite in universal benevolence; in alleviating sorrow, and mitigating distress; in bearing one another's burthens, and so fulfilling the law of Christ. If we cast an eye upon the structure of the general and state governments of the United States, we shall recognise so complete and comprehensive a monopoly of political power in the hands of the people; so unlimited a toleration of, and equal protection of religion; so few galling and oppressive restraints of any kind; so perfect an abolition of hereditary rank; so unquenchable an equality of all classes, and so great a jealousy of the accumulation of any unusual share of wealth, or popularity, or distinction, in the person of any individual, that we shall have little difficulty in coming to the conclusion that there is no feudal spirit here. The little that was imported under the flag of royalty perished when that flag was struck. A new career opened to a new nation. The sagacity of thought and of mind drifted away from aristocratic principles of ancient dynasties, and settled down upon the eternal rock of public liberty. The customs, manners, and habits of the whole population naturally and necessarily shaped themselves in conformity with this new state of things.

Europeans are not likely to bring with them anything, in a social point of view, that will benefit our country, and less likely to gather any thing here that

will benefit their own. There is no reciprocity in the case. Nothing imaginable can be more unsuited to each country than the manners and customs of the other. Europeans in the United States must feel themselves restrained by liberty far more than by distinction of rank at home. Every European writer upon America proves it. Checked at every turn by a courteous familiarity to which he is an entire stranger, the spirits flag, and he sighs for rank. The atmosphere of a republic is not congenial, and the rude winds, unrestrained by law and custom, sweeping over the prairies of society, offend. They naturally look to the high and to the low, and when they find neither, are distressed for the want of that appropriate niche in which they can see and feel themselves lodged.

The people of Europe, from generation to generation, time out of mind, have been accustomed to have their eyes dazzled by the splendid trappings of office, and cheerfully and gladly pay for the gratification. Official dignity, if periodical shows may be so called, is far more expensive to the people than official services. In the United States extreme simplicity is the ruling feature. And I suppose if a senator, returned to Congress by the vote of the people, were to set up his coach and four, with liveried servants, postillion, and out-riders bedizened with gold lace, and glittering in state, he would not only soon spend his fortune, but lose his character, and be hooted by the boys in the streets as a fool and a blockhead. So far from supplying a cent for the expense of such exhibitions, no American would tolerate any man who would spend his own money in that way. Such is the feeling and custom of the republic, and right or wrong, immovably and unalterably fixed. Here, that immense class of people who in Europe are boors, and vassals, and operatives, and field-laborers, and tenants at will or upon lease; whose dependance for their daily bread rests, for the most part, upon the will of their masters, and who are partitioned off from the higher ranks of society, ceases, as Bonaparte used to say of conquered kingdoms, to exist. From the deep solitudes of nature God called a new world into light, and peopled it with a race who inherit the hardiness and boldness to think for themselves, to

shake off the bonds of servitude and exclusiveness, and to apply the force of native genius, talent and industry to supplying their own wants. In the resumption of the natural energies and independence of mind, there is something signally grand and august; something which pre-supposes that the habitment of servitude, in whatever form, and with whatever address they may have been fitted, must be thrown off; something which beforehand fixes the mind upon the certain result that new manners and new habits must grow up, adapted to the new conditions of society, and totally at variance with the old mildewed notions of monarchial rules. Every individual is equally interested in sustaining his personal sovereignty in the general prosperity of the state; and hence we see a freshness, a vigor, and a growth which, like the, forest oak, shoots far its luxuriant branches, and overshadows the land with rich and gladdening foliage. The majority of republican institutions has no association with that artificial splendor and luxurious idleness which riot in prodigality at the expense of toil and abstinence entailed upon dependants.

The manners of the republic, in their broad and general feature, must be those of farmers, and not of courtiers. They have not leisure nor inclination to study the arts of dissimulation-to teach their minds to resist their thoughts and to decorate themselves in artificial plumes. They handle their minds as they do their ploughs and scythes, for direct purposes of utility. No force of hydraulic pressure can bend their stubborn minds to the gauge of political trickery, and therefore they are of the right stuff to maintain equality of rights and free institutions. Equality of condition is a palpable absurdity-the product of visionary brains, and about as wise as to attempt to make fiddles of the moon and fiddle-sticks of the stars. Seeing the agricultural class constitutes four-fifths of the population of the country, and that there are no hereditary, no exclusive privileges in the keeping of the remainder, it follows that the cultivators of the soil are the real practical sovereigns of the country. The comparatively small commercial and manufacturing portion of the community is necessarily under the government of the landed interest. It is right

and proper therefore that the general aspect of American society should be that of an independent yeomanry. We need not alarm ourselves by the fear of finding any thing like the spirit of feudalism or the subserviency of rank in the whole range of the republic. That spirit has winged its flight to the camp, its native home, and is now under arms; -it holds no place and exercises no influence in American civil society. It will be perceived that the general aspect of society in the United States, compared with that of the courtiers and higher classes of Europe, among whom there is no communion, no intermingling with the laboring population, must, in the nature of things, be what may be called a popular, and not an exclusive aspect.

The moral effects of a state of society composed of such materials, may furnish matter on which philosophers may speculate; but there can be little doubt on the mind of one practically acquainted with the subject, on which side the sum of human enjoyment preponderates. If slavery, the subjection of mind and body to the will of another, be misery, the degree of enjoyment must be just in proportion to the distance removed from it. It is not enough for a man to have the liberty of moving at his will; he must have the means of doing it, or he is in effect a slave still, under whatever class he may range, and by whatever name he may choose to designate himself. If human happiness, in this our pilgrimage state, depends in the slightest degree upon the trappings of office or any external appendages whatever; if wealth, and rank, and titles, and popular distinction, were the real and true sources of individual and national happiness, then, indeed, we must contract the sphere of enjoyment, and yield the palm of victory to the self-devoted aristocrats of Europe. But if we hold that moral influence has any force; that a disenthralment of personal dependance upon others, is liberty; that the true and only reasonable distinction among mankind is individual wealth and intellectual attainments; then we find the elements of greatness in our republican institutions, and may challenge all other systems of social and civilized society to show an equally prosperous and happy population, and bid them go and ridicule, whilst we are

contented to enjoy. Wealth has far less weight and influence in European society than in American. In Europe, rank rides over the head of wealth. The richest commoner is subservient to the poorest baron, and always looks up to him as his superior. In the United States wealth takes, in some measure, the place of rank, and carries ignorance and vanity to an unequal height, at least in the estimation of the possessor; and perhaps we may venture to affirm, that in nothing is the sagacity of our Fathers more clearly manifested, than in cautiously curbing its political influence. Men stand well in public estimation who sustain a correct, moral character; that estimation is enhanced by intellectual attainments, and both strengthened by opulence. The rubbish which encumbers the steep which leads on to fame is swept away, and personal industry, zeal and merit are stimulated in the career of distinction by the fascinating cloudless prospect spread before the aspirant. No matter what a man's father was, the question is, what character does the man himself sustain?

Equality of rights by no means argues equality of condition. Inequality of condition is the inseparable result of inequality of mind, of industry, and adventitious circumstances. The idea that the condition of society should be such that all shall have sufficient, is preposterous, contrary to common sense, the unbroken testimony of experience and the will of heaven."The poor ye always have with you.” To suppose the idle spendthrift vagabond should make himself master of the same enjoyments, and the same standing in society as the frugal and industrious, is to suppose the primary laws of the great Universal Governor abrogated, and all the inducements which stimulate individuals and advance nations removed, which is to suppose an impossibility. It may suit the wild speculations of coxcomical theorists, but never has had, and never can have, anything practical within its scope. Equality of rights is all for which we contend. Inequality in their use is an individual concern, and spreads itself over the whole human family.

Paupers, foreign and domestic, exist in our land; but a pauper population,

kindred to that matured in Europe, so long as land is abundant and cheap, cannot be thrown upon American society. We are exempt from that stupendous evil, and owe the exemption to the character of our institutions, and the equality of rights, which guaranties to every citizen the fruits of his labor.

Although the way to every honor and every employment the state can give, is unencumbered and open to all, and the incentive to personal exertion is coordinate with the ambition of the aspiring; yet an important feature at the same time meets us, in the utter impossibility of any one raising himself and family permanently above the general level of society. Whatever wealth he may acquire; whatever attainments he may master, and whatever distinction he may gain, the grave closes upon all, and his descendants must act their own part upon the battle-field of life. They know this, and equip themselves accordingly for the contest. In such a condition of society, where the people are thrown upon their own resources, their manners are simple and rural, denoting strength and energy of purpose, without those nice discriminating arts of refinement, which throw an artificial lustre over the face of society, and rather charm the eye than satisfy the understanding. Hence we see, when occasion calls for action, a bold, independent, determined spirit manifested at once. The man consults himself. He does not bow the knee to a superior lord, nor wait the teachings and instructions of hereditary rulers." If not mustered into the service of his country when an appeal is made to arms, he musters himself; marches at his own expense to the encampment, and, with a native boldness and intrepidity, unchronicled in the history of nations, presents himself a champion in the cause of his country. This is a characteristic of American yeomanry, altogether unique.

66

When I listened to the orators upon Lord Howick's, now Earl Gray's, motion, that the house should resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to consider the distressed state of the country, I was most forcibly struck with the grasping at all the variety of causes, which the mind could imagine, but the right one. No one seemed clearly

to comprehend, what is just as obvious to my mind as the noon-day sun, that the nobility and aristocracy of the country hold the lands of the kingdom: the merchants and manufacturers the money; there is nothing whatever for the working agriculturist and manufacturing operatives to bring to market, but their labor. They have been, and still are, sweated down to the lowest farthing of wages, which will enable them, when in full work, to sustain existence; and when the demand for labor fails, old age, sickness and infirmity disables, there is nothing left for their support. They perish under the withering hand of charity, with cold, nakedness, and famine. Undoubtedly the taxes press so heavily upon the industry of the country, that a large proportion of the population cannot obtain the comforts of life, a still larger proportion can only command the bare necessaries, and beyond them lies a countless multitude that cannot purchase anything at all. The aristocracy, the manufacturers, and the monied nabobs of the country, have swallowed the kingdom, and, under the hammer of the law, just supply the poorhouses, which, by their magnitude and splendor, are a mockery to the poor starving wretches that inhabit them, with just enough to protract death, and furnish ground for the inquest to bring in a verdict, "Died a natural death."

How different is the condition of the

social system in our own country. No complaining in our streets, no crying for bread, comparatively no miserable wretches cast from work-house to work-house, none perishing from want. Labor is always in demand, and the ample wages and cheap provisions enable every one, with ordinary industry, to supply, upon a liberal scale, his own

wants.

If we advert to the moral aspect of the American Republic, we shall find no cause to shrink from a comparison with that of Europe. The author of American Notes, with all his mendacity and sarcastic spirit, does sometimes strike his harpoon, as if by accident, into a fact of inestimable value. On his journey from Boston to Lowell, by rail-road, he remarks:

"There are also a great many ladies who have nobody with them; for any lady

may travel alone, from one end of the United States to the other, and be certain of the most courteous and considerate treatment every where."

Why does he notice this fact; and why so particularly remark upon it? Because, to him, it was a singular fact; because there is no such security for female virtue in his own country, nor any other country in Europe. No lady can travel alone ten miles in England without incurring the greatest risk of being insulted. It is indispensably necessary that she have a protector. The spawn of creation, the rich, pampered, debauched gentry of England, seem to feel, that by virtue of their rank, they are licensed to prey upon female chastity, and to render the lower classes of society as subservient to their lusts as they are to their pecuniary interests. Europe swarms with wretches of rank and wealth, whose sole business is debauchery, in its most disgusting, most outrageous, most unheard-of forms. Girls, innocent, unsuspecting girls, enticed from their parents, and by their consent engaged for dress-makers, milliners, ladies'-maids, and general servants, by men moving in the style, dress, and appearance of gentlemen, are sent up to London from the receiving-houses, in various and all parts of the kingdom, and taken, not to the places for which they were engaged, but to receptacles of ill-fame, established, upheld, maintained and protected by the nobility and gentry of the country. Here, these hell-hounds, compared with whom slave-dealers and slave-drivers, and repudiators, whiten into angelic forms, force, not seduce by the ordinary acts of gallantry, their deluded victims, and when virtue is destroyed, and character is destroyed, and with them all the endearing sympathies and prospects of a happy life are destroyed, they are turned out into the streets to perish with hunger or consume with disease. Tell me, ye libertine scoffers at the religion of my country, ye slanderers of her moral and political character, is this true? Deny it, if ye can. From the height of this aristocratic mount, the streams of moral corruption flow down, until all the inferior classes are infected, and the land

From such

is deluged with impurity. statements I feel that the moral sense of my countrymen will recoil. They can scarcely credit a narrative so horrible in itself, and so dreadful in its consequences. But that it may be seen that I have not overcharged the statement, nor painted imaginary scenes, nor indeed told the half of a most astounding tale, I beg to subjoin an extract from a circular, now before me, issued by the London Society for the Protection of Young Females, in April, 1841:

"No country in the world is so distinguished for philanthropy as England. She

has established institutions to meet almost every description of human misery. Foreign nations have participated in her benevolence, and even the brute creation has engaged the benefit of her sympathies. There is, however, one great exception to this rule. Woman, rendered by her nature dependant upon man, and more especially entitled to his protection, appears to be the only object in this country to which his protection is not afforded, at least as regards the young and helpless, to whom his protection is more especially required. There is a large class of persons in London, and to a greater or less extent in almost every other large town in the kingdom, who have establishments for, and live by the seduction of young females. The latter, from the bad training of chil associations, they frequently find it not dren by their parents, and early corrupt difficult to accomplish. But as innocence offers the greatest advantages to these people, deep laid schemes are constantly adopted to entrap young and modest women into their possession.

"The society once indicted a brothelkeeper, and were in a condition to prove that she allowed a surgeon, who kept a respectable shop, a considerable salary, together with his travelling expenses, besides specified license privileges for himself and his assistant, for supplying her house with young and modest females. This he did, chiefly by going into the country, and hiring them for some respect

able service in London. On their arrival

in London, they were taken to the house and violated without compunction, by the parties who frequented it, without the least chance of escape. Resistance availed them nothing; it only increased their value and price."

This female beast fled to Boulogne, and is now living there upon the fruits of her iniquity.