far from having attained its perfection. It could only have been dictated by an illiberal preference of the soil on which we have been accidentally cast, and a contempt for all other nations whose habits, manners, and improvements, are not similar to those of our own country. A philanthropist will pause, before he consigns to oblivion the fairest portion of our planet; and a philosopher will forget that he has any other country than the Globe itself, while he pierces with ardent gaze the mysteries of nature. If we cast our eyes over the map of America, we shall perceive that nature has not merely consulted its convenience or happiness in the distribution of her favors; she has done more; she has put forth all her strength, and erected monuments to her own glory. She has worked on a scale of grandeur and magnificence, before which the boasted prodigies of Europe hide their diminished heads. Where will Europe shew her Andes which heave their snow-capt summits above the clouds? Where are her Amazon and La Plata, which would be regarded as fabulous, did not authentic history attest them? Where will she exhibit lakes like those of Canada, which connected with each other and with the ocean, bind all the Northern part of this great continent in one indissoluble commercial chain? The most enthusiastic admirers of European excellence must shrink from this comparison; and so far must acknowledge that nature is here at least as bold in her sketches and as vigorous in her productions as on the Eastern Continent.

When these truths present themselves to our minds with irresistible force, are we to conclude that the hand which has lavished such unequalled favors, has penuriously withheld the more estimable endowments of the mind and the heart? Has a paradise been given to degenerate souls who are insensible to its charms? Is not the mind of the American sufficiently expanded to take in these vast objects in all their magnitude and sublimity? I will not insult my countrymen by addressing the question to them. I perceive a glow of indignation on every cheek, and, while I write, I feel it difficult to suppress my own. But it will be a more instructive task to examine the basis of these exalted pretensions; to pay the just tribute of deference and homage to European superiority, if it should be established by investigation; or to render to the insulted American the honors which nature

has conferred upon him, but which human ignorance has vainly endeavoured to obscure.

It has been a question of endless speculation among the curious, at what time America was peopled, and whether her inhabitants are her own offspring, or emigrants from the old continent. If we are to suppose America coeval with the world, and that she became peopled as soon as the other parts of the earth, we may be asked with triumph, upon what principle we are to account for her vast inferiority in intellectual improvement? Why did the adventurous bands of enlightened Europe, who first explored our shores, find the native American, naked, ignorant and ferocious? Upon the supposition of equal talents and equal advantages of soil and climate, we may be told, that we have a right to expect an equal progression in the arts and sciences in any given time. The same causes must always produce the same effects. If the American genius had been equal to the European, it ought in the same lapse of years to have explored as many sciences, invented as many arts, and humanized and polished manners in an equal degree.

This reasoning is at first sight specious and imposing; but cannot withstand the test of rigid enquiry. I shall assume the hypothesis most disadvantageous to my position; that America is as old and has been as long peopled as Europe, Asia or Africa. I shall also make the comparison, with the most enlightened part of the old world. When I select Europe for this purpose, it ought not however to be forgotten, that the arts and sciences have not originated with her, but have sprung up in Asia; from thence have been transplanted to the southern parts of Europe, and by very slow degrees have spread themselves into more Northern climates. It is also worthy of remark, that those countries into which the sciences were first received, where they were most patronized, and flourished with richest luxuriance, are now the gloomy residence of want, ignorance and despotism.

Whoever has observed the progress of the human mind, must have perceived that its first struggles with ignorance are always more painful and difficult, than its subsequent cfforts. The steps by which we ascend from discovery to discovery, from science to science, are short, gradual, natuG

ral and easy. But to leap at once from absolute ignorance even to the humblest rudiment of knowledge, is indeed an Herculean task, and more frequently results from lucky accident, than any effort of the mind. This remark, which is here applied to the general progress of mankind in the career of improvement, is exemplified and fully established, by their advances in every particular science. Until the. beginning of the eighteenth century, the world had adopted. the ideas of Aristotle on all metaphysical subjects, and it would have been blasphemy to have doubted their orthodoxy. Locke explored the inlets of the understanding, and explained some of its processes; and what has been the consequence? Within the course of one century a galaxy of illustrious philosophers have arisen, who seem to have left scarcely any thing to be discovered hereafter. For many ages astronomers had vibrated from one absurdity to another, which were all at length swallowed up in the vortices of Descartes; a greater absurdity than all the rest. Newton appeared; recalled the mind from its devious eccentric track; gave it a projectile impulse, and taught it to move in the orbit of truth. The world has not since produced a Newton; but a thousand humble followers have arisen, who have carried the science of astronomy beyond the utmost limits, which even his ætherial genius could reach. These examples are sufficient to establish the position, that the first step in the progress of the human mind is the most difficult, and that when this is attained, all the rest will naturally follow.

If these propositions are correct, it will follow that when we compare two nations with each other, we should first enquire whether their situations have been equally auspicious to their gaining this first step, and whether untoward circumstances have occurred to retard their progress afterwards. I shall endeavour to shew, that the superiority which Europe has enjoyed over savage America, results, in fact, from the fortuitous circumstances which attended her first settlement, by which she was enabled both to make an earlier advance in science, and to pursue her discoveries to a greater extent.

Greece was inhabited by savage and barbarous tribes, when the Phoenicians, a people of Asia, sent forth colonies

who took up their abode within her bosom. These colonists carried with them the arts of the mother country, which were indeed very inconsiderable in themselves, but highly important, as I have already shewn, as they related to the future progress of their possessors. We know but little of Phoenicia, or whether she derived her knowledge from others or gave birth to it herself. But whatever was the mode by which she acquired it, we may presume that it resulted from nearly the same causes which conspired to préserve, enlarge and ripen it, after it was transferred to the Greeks. As this period is more within the compass of history, our conclusions from it will be more just and accurate, than from any prior æra.

These colonists, small in number; surrounded by numerous bands of hostile barbarians; and unable to occupy an extensive territory, contracted themselves within the walls of cities, together with a small margin of land around them. As population encreased, this land became insufficient for their support, and hence they were driven to the invention of new arts; hence they resorted to commerce as a mode of procuring subsistence; hence many turned their enquiries into the walks of literature, and gave to Greece her splendid pre-eminence over the nations of antiquity. Greece lost her liberties, bnt retained her science. The barbarians who came to despoil her of her wealth, carried off also a more precious treasure, of whose value they were unconscious, the seeds of learning and the sublime speculations of ethicks, which required only time to germinate and mature. The rifled flower faded and expired; but its sweets were hoarded up by the industrious plunderers, to become the sources of a more permanent delight. The human mind, which had flowed like a majestic river through the favoured soil of Greece, and dispensed its blessings around, now changed its channel, and by this melancholy alluvion, left its ancient bed a naked, dreary and sterile desert. It happened, fortunately for Europe, that all the countries into which literature was introduced after the ruin and subjugation of the Grecian states, were limited like them in extent of territory, abounding in inhabitants, and condensed within the dimensions of single cities. The necessary consequence of populous communities, is, that a di

vision of labour should take place, which infallibly leads to excellence in all the arts which embellish life, as well as in those which minister to the wants of men. The Arcadian scenes of rural life may be the residence of peace, simplicity, innocence and happiness; but it is in the collision of towns, that the human energies are called forth, and the human mind swells into gigantic stature. It is in towns that the arts and sciences receive their birth; and there also they are carried to perfection. Rome assumed the wreath of the muses which had been plucked from the brow of Greece; and she in her turn resigned it to the Northern barbarians who have founded the present political societies of Europe. From this rapid review of the progress of learning, it appears, that Europe was peculiarly happy, first, in having received the germs of literature from another country; and secondly, in having them deposited in cities, which like hot-beds quickened their growth.

The situation of America was the reverse of all this. A country of unbounded extent; possessing spontaneously every species of wholesome aliment; its forests filled with those animals which invite man to the chace; these apparent advantages of nature are the real causes of the retardation of the human intellect in America. None of those causes existed which could compel the American to take the first steps towards improvement; and men are only to be driven from ignorance by the strong arm of necessity.

America it is true was occupied, like ancient Greece, by inhospitable and ferocious tribes. But this circumstance could only induce them to remove farther from each other, which an unbounded continent enabled them to perform, without limitation. Nor should it be forgotten that uniform experience tells us, that there is a certain fascination in the wild and unrestrained state of nature, which would forever deter men from the yoke of civilization, did not necessity entame them.

Z.