can direct his career to any goal he pleases, his energies are unshackled, and in the race the best man must win; there is room for all, and millions more. Let him choose his profession, his career is not checked or foiled by the excess of those who have already embarked in it. In every department there is an opening for talent; and for those inclined to work, work is always to be procured. You have no complaint in this country that every profession is so full that it is impossible to know what to do with your children. There is a vast field, and all may receive the reward due for their labour."

We do not concur in these statements, but beg leave to ask what Captain Marryatt can possibly have to say against the political institutions of a country under which, if we are to believe his testimony, such a state of things is to be fouud? His complaints are, that the people have acquired more power than they used to have; that candidates for public offices defer to public opinion; that in a country where there is no hereditary wealthy class, all the people are engaged in advancing their fortunes, and are therefore more sordid than the hereditary landowners of Britain, who, it may be here once more repeated, are able to keep up their importance by a vicious political system. His complaint in substance is, that shopkeepers and farmers have not the souls of great aristocrats, but actually devote a large part of their attention to trafficking; and he sighs for an hereditary aristocracy with high-sounding titles.

Captain Marryatt quotes largely from Lord Durham's report on the Canadas, where the condition of the Canadians is contrasted with that of their republican neighbours. His lordship states that the condition of the French Canadians has of late years been getting worse, which he attributes, and no doubt correctly so, to the want of a good system of government; and refers to "that amazing progress, and that great material prosperity, which every day's experience shows them (the Canadians) is the lot of the people of the United States." Captain Marryatt thinks that one great cause of the prosperity of the United States is the system of local self-government. No doubt he is quite correct in this opinion. A people who govern themselves will always become, and continue, intelligent, vigilant, and prosperous; whilst those who are governed by a favoured class will be poor and stupid.

The system of local self-government is part of the great system of democracy; and, if one part of it is found to be so efficacious as Captain Marryatt admits it to be, may not the same system in other respects contribute largely to that prosperity which Captain Marryatt has endeavoured to account for, by attributing it to the abundance of land? There is an abundance of land in every kingdom in Europe for the use of the present population.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE TESTIMONY OF EUROPEAN WRITERS ON AMERICA

(continued).

I. Mr. Charles Dickens' Notes on America.

II. "Travels in North America, in the years 1841-42." By C. Lyell, Esq.
III. Miss Martineau's Works on America.

IV. "Three Years in North America." By J. Stuart, Esq.

V. "America-Historical, Statistic, and Descriptive." By J. S. Buckingham, Esq. VI. "Hochelaga; or, England in the New World." Edited by the author of "The Crescent and the Cross."

VII. Vast importance of the Question as to the effect of Democratic InstitutionsExtension of American Principles-Necessity for studying the Great Problem.

I.

Mr. Charles Dickens' Notes on America.-Mr. Dickens was a short time in the United States, in the year 1842. He saw much to admire in the free States, but speaks severely of slavery and the slave States. Boston, he says, is a beautiful city; the private dwellings are for the most part large and elegant, the shops extremely good, and the public buildings handsome. "The public institutions and charities of Boston are as nearly perfect as the most considerate wisdom, benevolence, and humanity can make them." He considers that America has set an example to other countries on the subject of prison discipline. It is true that some of the States have done so. We regard the praise of the Boston public institutions and charities as exaggerated.

Mr. Dickens saw no beggars even in New York city. He visited Lowell, the American Manchester. The factory girls looked healthy, and were well dressed. The rooms in which they worked were well ordered. They reside at various boarding-houses, which are under the control of the mill-owners. In a great many of these boarding-houses there is a joint-stock piano. Nearly all the girls subscribe to circulating libraries; and they have got up among themselves a periodical, called The Lowell Offering; a repository of original articles, written exclusively by females actively employed in the mills." It will, he thinks, compare advantageously with a great many English annuals.

Let us stop here for a moment to inquire how this state of things can be ascribed to the abundance of land. As well might we attribute the education of the people and the splendid system of administering justice to that circumstance.

Mr. Dickens says he was informed that on the occasion of a visit from

one of the presidents, he walked through three miles and a half of these young ladies, at Lowell, all dressed out with parasols and silk stockings. These girls are often the daughters of small farmers, and come from other States, remain a few years in the mills, and then go home for good. Speaking of the New England States, he says that every little colony of houses has its church and school-house. All the buildings looked new. Philadelphia and Cincinnati are described as very beautiful cities. The incidents of travel are humourously detailed, and the sturdy independence of the people is particularly noticed. Mr. Dickens went to the president's levee. He says that the company comprehended many grades and classes, but the utmost decorum and propriety of behaviour prevailed. The republican institutions of America, says he, undoubtedly lead the people to assert their self-respect and their equality. With respect to religion, he does not think that there is more fanaticism than in England. He thinks that American literature should be protected by a copyright law. He found that literary men were highly esteemed. He says that Washington Irving was more caressed whilst he (Mr. Dickens) was at Washington than any great politician would have been in the same circle. He denounces some of the political newspapers for their violence and personal abuse, which, in our opinion, he has greatly exaggerated. With respect to the administration of justice, Mr. Dickens speaks favourably. He contrasts the behaviour of American counsel with that insolent bearing and language so frequent in the English courts of law among the profession.

He greatly liked what he saw of society in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. He says that the ladies are singularly beautiful, and that the tone of society is one of perfect politeness, courtesy, and good breeding. But he censures the common practice of chewing tobacco, and the custom of hastily swallowing food. His book gave great offence to the people of the slave States, as he denounced the institution of slavery in unmeasured terms; and the newspaper editors nearly all over the country were offended at his remarks on the press.

But we regard the testimony of Mr. Dickens as corroborative of that of other writers, in proving the successful results of democratic government in all really essential particulars.

II.

Travels in North America, in the years 1841-42. By C. Lyell, Esq.Mr. Lyell, the geologist, was in the United States in 1842, and he has published an account of his geological tour, interspersed with general observations on the state of society.

He defends slavery to some extent, declares himself opposed to the universal suffrage which prevails in most of the States, but admits that in consequence of it the rich are made anxious to secure the education

I

of the poor. He says that the New England States prove that universal suffrage is not incompatible with good government, but he is opposed to its introduction into England.

We quote some of his remarks on the general condition of the people: "Here, instead of dwelling on the past and on the signs of pomp and grandeur which have vanished, the mind is filled with images of coming power and splendour. The vast stride by one generation in a brief moment of time naturally disposes us to magnify and exaggerate the rapid rate of future improvement. The contemplation of so much prosperity, such entire absence of want and poverty, so many school-houses and churches rising everywhere in the woods, and such a general desire of education, with the consciousness that a great continent lies beyond, which has still to be appropriated, fills the traveller with cheering thoughts and sanguine hopes."

In another place, he says:-" We have now seen the two largest cities, many towns and villages, besides some of the back settlements of New York and the New England States; an exemplification, I am told, of a population amounting to about five millions of souls. We have met with no beggars, witnessed no signs of want, but everywhere the most unequivocal proofs of prosperity, and rapid progress in agriculture, commerce, and great public works."

He supposes this prosperity to be occasioned by the abundance of unoccupied land, and not to be the result of a democratic, as compared with a monarchical or aristocratic constitution, nor the fruit of an absolute equality of religious sects, still less of universal suffrage. And yet he admits that other laws and institutions might have marred the natural advantages enjoyed by the Americans. Undoubtedly English institutions would have had that effect; they would have created a few great landowners, and invested them with the government. These aristocrats would have been in favour of a lavish expenditure, the means of which would have been extracted from the labouring classes. A splendid court would have been set up; the people would have been kept in ignorance, and, for the want of due exercise in the rights of freemen, would have been a dull, stupid race, wanting the necessary energy and intellect to subdue and improve a new country. The transfer and division of land, so far from being facilitated, would have been obstructed; and the laws being made to keep up a few great families, the country would have been covered with a race of landless labourers and servants, and humble lick-spittle tradesmen and toadies.

Mr. Lyell explains the system of public education in Massachusetts. The law ordains that every district containing fifty families shall maintain one school, for the support of which the inhabitants are required to tax themselves, and to appoint committees annually for managing the funds, and choosing their own schoolmasters. The Bible is allowed to

be read in all, and is actually read in nearly all the schools; but the law prohibits the use of books calculated to favour the tenets of any particular sect of Christians. In Boston alone, £30,000 per year is paid for public instruction.

He speaks highly of the universities of New England, and compares at great length Harvard College with Oxford and Cambridge, showing the inferiority of both of the latter.

With respect to religion in the United States, Mr. Lyell thought the preaching good, and found two great advantages at least in the voluntary principle-first, that the ministers are in no danger of going to sleep; and, secondly, that they concern themselves much less with politics than is the case in England. He says that the men are as regular in their attendance at church as the women; and that the rapidity with which new churches spring up in the wilderness is probably without example elsewhere.

It may be well in this place to refer briefly to the testimony of the Rev. Mr. Fidler, an English clergyman, who went to New York in the year 1832, with the intention of settling there, and pursuing his profession, but who became dissatisfied, and proceeded to Canada. He states that the churches of New York were well attended, by males as well as females. He never saw in the behaviour, nor heard in the discourse, of an American, a word or action morally improper. He never saw any women conduct themselves indiscreetly. He speaks highly of the episcopal church in the State of New York, and says that he admires the American clergy and their church government.

We will now add a few words respecting the tone of some of the leading writers, distinguished for being more or less favourable to democratic institutions.

III.

Miss Martineau's Works on America.-Miss Martineau was in the United States two or three years. She observes that, with the exception of foreign paupers on the sea-board, and the licentious, there are no poor. She tells us that she was much struck, on her arrival in the United States, at the absence of poverty, ignorance, servility, and insolence; that every man in the towns is an independent citizen, and every man in the country is a landowner. She is opposed to any law for the relief of the poor, as being altogether unnecessary. She says that the mechanics of the northern States are the most favoured class she ever knew, and that the nation must look to them for public and private virtue. She does not speak favourably of the condition and character of the people of the slave States.

It must not be assumed that, in making these quotations, we express our concurrence in the opinions given by the various writers, which are