26 est to the subject of Greece, whether an- stored to something of its ancient freedom, trance of the Acropolis, to be built; in transformeven though the splendors of its arts and ing the Piraeus, which was before crowded with arms should remain only in their imperish-ships of war, into a depot for the merchandise of the Greeks, and in raising Athens to be the favourite ent, need not make you doubt the truth of this. able records,-we turn with renewed inter- seat of the Muses. Yet how do our frivolous Athenians reward these services? With ingratitude and scorn. While all neighbouring states admire him, calling his work—for such is our Athens-the jewel of Greece, and cannot express their astonishment that this city,--so limited in its extent, and built on into the shade;-here, in all our public places, our a meagre and stony soil,-should throw monarchies shops and streets, he is calumniated; and all 'ears are open to the senseless babble of those who are envious of him; and who by their calumnies, by their deceitful tattle, and by a hundred other degrading arts, practised only by demagogues, are creeping into favour with the people. Tancred, my son. [Tancred starts.] Fear not. I was thy father! In me behold the poor remains of Baron Rochdale! thou art my son. Thy great resemblance to me, thy hapless parThou art the only heir to all my great estates and all this lordly Castle, for Oh! my son! thy mother was the cruel murderer of thy sire! the death of me and of the Baron Rothsay! she would e'en have been the death of thee, but for the benign interposition of that Almighty Providence to whom nothing can or ever is impossible. But spare thy mother, Tancred, and let thy vengeance fall alone on him, the damned spurrer of all her cruel deeds!-On Lawrence.-Ay! you may well start with horror, for had you not thus effected your escape, you ne'er had seen to-morrow's dawn. He would have murdered thee, my son, as he be fore did murder thy poor father, &c. &c. thor. In this instance, our interest has been sustained through two small volumes, written with a good deal of taste and discrimination, although there is no display of extraordinary genius. The author seems to have a truly Grecian spirit; and, what is better, that fine moral taste, which, where it is truly possessed, will always be perCeived; whatever may be the subject of discussion, and whether truth or fiction employ the pen. Yesterday the contemptible fools had the boldness to think of accusing him openly of tyranny, and of proposing that he should be condemned to be banished from the city." Hide your diminished heads, ye Hamlets, and Banquos, and various other Castle Spectres, for never did ghost so harrow up the soul as this of the late Baron. We know not nor envy him, who could listen to this thrilling tale unmoved. We did suppose that no sepulchre could render up a more appalling spectre than interest the Athenians in their best days. Thus closes the earthly career of the wise. Thus This little work is in the form of dialogues; in which subjects are discussed which we might suppose would occupy and The third dialogue is between Pericles, Aspasia, and Alcibiades. It begins thus: "Aspasia. See with what serene glory the evening sun is sinking into the transparent wave! They are designed to give us a lively did Anaxagoras pass away. the imagination of Shakspeare, &c. had Thou, Alcibiades, already summoned; we did hope that picture of the times and render us, as it wast present. "Alcibiades. Never shall it be forgotten! He spirits had done their worst, and could no were, present with Pericles and Socrates and Alcibiades. "How could I hope," was sitting in this pillared hall; the moon shone more alarm the peacefulness of our solitary hours or disturb the "few rebellious" "par- says the author in his preface, "to render upon his silver hair; he gazed serenely on the starry heavens; then he spoke, with reverence and ticular hairs," which adorn our head; but scenes from a remote antiquity at once awe, of the Creating Spirit who directs the course to a transcendent genius like Mr G. R. pleasing and instructive to my contempo- of countless worlds in the regions of immeasurable Lillibridge, nothing-to use his own lan-raries, had I not sought to invoke the living space. While he was speaking, I saw him fall spirit of that time and that people, to move gently asleep-alas! never again to awake. guage" can or ever is impossible." before them distinctly, holding up, as it Behold there his marble statue, wrought by the were, a mirror to each spectator; thus en-hand of Phidias. Thus intellectual, noble, and abling him to judge for himself?" The sub-benevolent were his features; thus did they remain, "The dema- unchanged, even when the genius of death had jects of these dialogues are : already guided his better soul to Elysium. Often, when I regard the statue in the light of the starry heavens, it seems to me as if it were alive; the of imperishable wisdom flow from them. After this terrific ghost has departed, the invisible voices, or four female spectres" make their appearance, but having left their voices behind them, they only point at a door; it takes four to make Tancred perfectly sensible which door he was to gogues; ostracism; the character of Per- Pericles. His death was beautiful as his life. go out at, he was so much astounded by ed by the common people; on the wise lips appear to open; and, to my fancy, the words the late Baron. We have room but for one more quotation, and that shall be Tancred's determination as touching the ghost; but we trust we have said and shown enough to induce our readers to delight themselves with the perusal of this interesting drama. " The mention of Lawrence's treachery, but above all the discovery of the Cavern, which is a secret to every human being but ourselves. It was my father's spirit that I have seen; I am resolved at all events to follow the admonitions of my murdered sire, and others that have privilege here.I will once more return to the castle." guidance of the people; Aristophanes' satire of the Sophists; the influence of the fine arts; the Grecian tragedy in its influence on the character of the nation; the difference between the wisdom of Socrates and that of the Sophists; the funeral celebration of the Athenians fallen in battle; the love of the marvellous among the Athenians; the death of Pericles; the habits of the females; the credulity of an Athenian mechanic; the policy of Cleon, the demagogue; the reverence paid to the gods; and the condemnation of Socrates." These are well chosen subjects, it will be Das Volksleben zu Athen, im Zeitalter des acknowledged; and we think they are, in Perikles, nach Griechischen Schriften.-general, well treated. Manners of the Athenians, drawn from Grecian works. By J. H. von Wessenburg. Part 1st, Zurich, 1821. Part 2d, 1823. 12mo. pp. 132. We hope this work will be translated and republished here; it would be not only useful to those who are studying the history and institutions of ancient Greece, but interesting to those who are acquainted with them. There is another reason why we should give our readers a somewhat minute analysis of its contents. At the present moment, when the Greeks seem to be rousing themselves from their long slumber, and other nations are looking at their fine country with the hope that it may be re Pericles is the author's hero, of course, and he places his dignity and moral worth in the strongest contrast with the sophistry, artifice, and flattery of the demagogues, who were deceiving the people for their own aggrandizement. In the second dialogue-on the Ostracism-between Socrates and Crito, the following passage occurs: Alcibiades. How sacred is this statue in my eyes. Once, O Pericles, didst thou lead me to it, when I was trembling on the borders of a frightful precipice; when an unholy ambition would have drawn me into its whirling vortex. Here did I swear to Pallas, the goddess of the Athenians, that, faithful to the instructions of Anaxagoras, I would subdue my ambition, whenever its indulgence would interfere with the welfare of my country. hast kept thy oath, as a noble Athenian should do. "Pericles. And hitherto, my dear son, thou "Alcibiades. If I have done so, if I now love my country more than fame, to whom do I owe it, but to thee, Pericles, to thee, Aspasia, and to our Socrates? I earnestly strive to attain thine excellence, O Pericles; but there is one of thy virtues, in view of which I must ever despair. "Aspasia. And which is that? "Alcibiades. The unshaken coolness of his deportment in the tumult of popular commotion; this compels my admiration, but is beyond my imita tion. "Pericles. Why so? The blood already flows the welfare of the Republic has taken place of that more slowly in your veins, and a judicious zeal for youthful impetuosity, with which, like another Theseus, you used to attack every thing which seemed to you unjust or inexpedient. Age and experience will complete the work. "Alcibiades. Allow me, however, to confess "Crito. You are not ignorant, Socrates, with that, when the populace, excited by their flatterwhat triumphant splendour Pericles has terminated ers, speak contemptuously of thy wisdom; when the war; how wisely he has freed Athens of vast the Demagogues shamefully misinterpret thy good numbers of dangerous idlers by the foundation of deeds, and draw, with deceptive sophistry, from colonies. What a beautiful use has he made of thy very services, grounds of accusation against the booty taken from the enemy, by converting it " ee; when the hypocritical orators,-their own into splendid temples in honour of the gods; inckets well filled, bring as witnesses against causing the Odeum and Propylæum, at the en- ee the liberty and prosperity of the state, for which they have done nothing themselves; then | locutors are Philistus, an advocate; Damo- "Pericles. You seem to forget that I am a disciple of Anaxagoras. From my earliest youth I was destined to hold public offices. Anaxagoras knew this, and often pointed out to me the image of the most perfect government in the wonderful processes of nature and the harmonious course of the stars. Observe how various, how unlike, are the powers of nature; they encounter each other, at times, peacefully; at other times, as enemies; the one restrains or encourages the other; at times a violent struggle takes place between them; but this always results in peace and tranquillity, in more luxuriant growth, in more abundant fertility. The mysterious first cause, which gave the direction to each separate power, still works in secret, unseen and unheard." The discourse ends with the remark of Aspasia, that "Pericles is governed by the wish to raise Athens to the rank of the first city in Greece; this has brought all his thoughts and feelings into harmony; it gives him a steady purpose and persevering courage; it has kept his soul so free from covetousness or corruption, that he has not increased, by a single drachma, his paternal estate. Oh that it might become the ruling passion of all Athenians!" "Philistus. [Sitting at the corner of a street.] Philistus. But the sun is yet high in the heavens; how is it that you leave your workshop so early? Philistus. News from Persia? Artaxerxes is dead, I suppose; and the Persian court has sent you orders for mourning dresses. "Damocles. Dead in good truth; dead as a rat. From Damocles. From neither witch nor sorceress. "Philistus. In truth, most authentic vouchers! But from whom, I pray, did the steward of Eucrates receive the intelligence? 64 Damocles. That, surely, needs no explanation. From whom should he but his master? "Philistus. See, there comes Zeusippus, a trader with Persia in rich goods. He will give us, perhaps, some more direct account. Good even ing, Zeusippus! Any thing new from Ecbatana? Zeusippus. It is but half an hour since I arrived from thence. I made the journey with great speed, for I was in haste. 66 Zeusippus.] Doubtless as the messenger of mighty from Attica. "Damocles. [Aside to Philistus.] See how he keeps back the truth; he speaks figuratively, Philistus. Is Xerxes then yet alive, and no revolution broken out? 66 Zeusippus. Are you dreaming? Who has strung together such improbabilities? On the very day of my departure I saw Xerxes reviewing his troops; and it is as quiet throughout Persia as in a burying-place. This is followed by an amusing dialogue between Socrates and his shoemaker, in which the latter complains of the increased price of leather, the impositions of the tanners and the heavier amount of taxes; all which evils he ascribes to Pericles, "who," he says, "wants to make himself king." Socrates, however, makes him acknowledge that he lives as well as ever; that he makes the purchasers of his shoes pay his taxes as well as the additional cost of his leather; that he can prove nothing against Pericles, Zeusippus. I bring no other, than that the having taken his opinion from common re-great king, out of special regard to the Athenians, port; and that, as it regards his personal has taken off the duty on oil and honey imported observation of him, he has nothing to object to, but the ugliness of his half-boots; upon which Socrates relates the following anecdote : "Zeuxis had just finished a splendid picture. Among the persons who came to see it was a shoemaker who found fault with the shoes of the principal figure, which was a king. The painter took the shoemaker's remark in good part, thanked him for it, and improved the shoes. A few days after, the shoemaker came again, and, vain at the success of his critique, began to find fault with the arms and the head of the hero of the piece. These criticisms Zeuxis rejected with a smile, saying-I advise thee, my friend, to confine thyself in future to thy last." One of the most amusing dialogues, illustrative of the credulity of the Athenians and their love of the marvellous, reminds an American of feelings and practices nearer home, although there is fortunately a practical good sense among us, which, without preventing the circulation of ill founded reports for all purposes of amusement, and sometimes not of the most Zeusippus. Worse and worse! Have you innocent kind, yet almost always interfer been drinking at this time of day? or are you banto prevent the belief of them being in attering me? Good day. [Retires quickly.] degree injurious to one's self. The inte "Philistus. Now, Damocles, how stands your Damocles. [Aside to Philistus.] He deceives, or is himself deceived. I dare say the troops have rebelled, and murdered Artaxerxes, and the people [To Zeusippus.] Yes, I dare say, Persia appears have made it appear to be only a review of troops. like a burying-place. No doubt many thousands in this revolution have bitten the dust, and many more are almost dead with terror. Zeusippus. You are mad! I tell you again, as certainly as Zeusippus stands before you, nothing bloody has happened in Persia, except it be a wolf or tiger hunt, in which the nobles engage almost daily. "Philistus. [Aside.] Very well; we will put it to the proof. [To Lisiman. That seems to be a noble, a superb animal. He is already disposed of, I suppose? "Lisiman. The bargain is not yet concluded. Would that Alcibiades were in Athens! He would not hesitate at the highest price. But if you incline to purchase the charger, I shall be moderate, very moderate. "Philistus. I don't doubt it. In a few weeks,→→ what do I say?-in a few days more probably, the finest Persian steeds will be sold for a song in our market. “Lisiman. [Much surprised.] How so? These horses never were in so great demand as at this moment. "Philistus. Were; but there's an end of all that. Have not you heard the last news? "Damocles. [Rapidly.] Artaxerxes is murdered, his throne overturned; Persia acknowledges the sway of Athens. Messengers from Persia are expected every moment. "Lisiman. By Jupiter! I have not heard a syllable of all this. But you only mean to perplex me? "Philistus. Not in the least. Damocles knows how authentic the reports are. They come from undoubted authority; from the house of an Archon, the rich Eucrates. You know, perhaps, this man has great dealings with Persia. What do I see? You turn pale, Lisiman! Don't be cast down! There is, indeed, no time to lose. I advise you to sell your Persian horse as soon as possible, even for less than half the market price. "Lisiman. Oh, miserable, ruined man that I am! My stables are full of these animals. What can be done with them? "Philistus. Do you hesitate? You must sell them, to be sure; and quickly too. Will you wait till the Persians themselves are here, and the market overstocked? Get down at once from your steed, and let me mount him. I am in haste. There are five hundred drachms for you; take them at once. Tomorrow you would hardly obtain half as much. "Lisiman. By the infernal deities! but this is hard. The horse is worth at least three thousand. But there's no use in fretting. Not to lose every thing, I must lower my price, and hasten to find purchasers for the rest." The crafty advocate makes another bargain, equally advantageous to himself, with the credulous Damocles, in a purchase of Persian shawls; and, as Damocles is retiring, exclaims: "But see, there comes Eucrates. 28 "Eucrates. The lying rascal! My house? How did he make that out? "Philistus. He says your steward received the Som er will declare itself ind perhaps the Indian English raise the standard of natio and the mild and docile country will gladly gather beneath its shadow the re ity of a common empire, never enjoyed since the d zebe. order, dismounts, and is going away.] Stop a mo- from Canada to Chili, into colonial states | pendent, India will soon f ment. I had forgotten something. Just now, as I and provinces ;-then this same spirit turn- course; not by freeing he was coming through the marketplace, I heard a ed itself eastward, and filled New Holland age, for that cannot be; t curious story passing from one to another. The sagacious tradespeople were saying that Persia and the eastern isles with European estab- been so long without exe was in a state of complete uproar, and that an am-lishments, and conquered India, and peopled like a political will, that bassador was on the way to pray for the protection the shores and capes of Southern Africa. be deemed extinct; but th of Athens. They are asking each other, in good Europe became the head and sovereign of be an end, probably a spee earnest, whether it will be well to grant the request. the earth. She had sent out her children end, to the wonderful anor Have you heard any thing of it? "Philistus. I heard something of the sort just to take possession of a large proportion, ish empire in India. now from Damocles, the tailor,-one of our most and controlled, directly or indirectly, alsimple and credulous quid-nuncs. But do you most all the remainder. She took away know that he mentioned your house as the source the precious metals from Potosi, Peru, and of this strange news? Mexico, by the right of ownership; and with them, and the fabrics of her workshops, and the strength and terror of her arms, she commanded the comforts and the luxuries of all the world to be brought home to her storehouses, and spread abroad for the universal enjoyment of her nations. All climes poured into her lap the tribute of all their products; China wove her silks and gathered her teas; India contributed her shawls and muslins, and spices and pearls; and Africa offered up her gold and ivory and ebony; the ocean became her highway, and mountains sank down before her enterprise and energies; her search extended and her hand reached every where, and every where she gathered into her garners all that was valuable for its beauty or its use. account. Eucrates. How? The sharper! I'll put an end to such doings. He shall leave my house at once. "Philistus. Be not wroth, Eucrates! Moder ate thy righteous indignation. I will give you a key to the mystery. My friend Perdiccas, the great merchant, amused himself, when he last dined with you, by telling this tale to your major-domo, instead of a fee when he left the door, being well acquainted with his credulity. Thus you see, respected Archon, how the news of the day is got up in Athens, and by what means our people are kept continually in a condition between dreaming and drunkenness." [To be continued.] MISCELLANY. THOUGHTS UPON THE CHARACTER OF THE The colonies on the coast Holland, and the isles of chipelago, while they rem ments, existing only by t Europe, and drawing their their mother-lands like u need not be taken into th when they too grow to be n not linger long behind the What then will Europe be nations will differ from their only as the parent is enf while the offspring rejoice i the strength of youth and doing America no justice, will then be the equal of E will not then be her equal. from which were born the continent, were for the mos her very essence. True it America was originally con for whom no more fitting found than that of demons; for many years, cruelty, ra manner of wickedness flouri uriantly;-but it is also t then and there, it was the those countries, that they v thoroughly imbued with all their most remarkable men, in their histories with undu These individuals were not peans there; nor had they press their own characters institutions and manners o and after Pizarro and Corte and Orando had passed away existed only to be accursed, a ty and piety and various ex When America was known to exist, it across the waters, and the was without delay taken possession of by southern continent were mar Europe, and, from that day to the achievefootsteps by them who were ment of our independence, was an append- The system of colonization, was suggest-ple and civilize a land which age-a suburban out-lying domain to that ed and commenced by the conquest of covered. At this moment t continent. This possession was peopled; South America; that system, with its con- litical regeneration is worki tenants were put into the vacant fields, and sequences, forms one of the distinctive intense activity. It encou and were encouraged to cultivate them, the characteristics of the period which has fol- character of the people and fee always remaining in the crowns of lowed, and must be referred to the discove- tions, a resistance greater be Europe, who exacted from their transatlan-ry of this country, as its first cause. So son than any which opposed tic estates a very sufficient rent in the the emancipation of this continent from derives great aid from the vi shape of colonial trade and commercial | European sovereignty, which is now all but of the very abuses it seeks to We think we are living in one of those epochas which occasionally occur to divide the succession of time into distinct periods of uncertain and various duration. One such period extended from the foundation of the Roman empire to its overthrow by the irruption of northern nations; another was denominated the dark ages; a third began with the discoveries of Columbus and is now about to end. It would not be difficult to show, that each of these periods has its distinct character,-though perhaps not enough so, to make this classification of ages perfectly exact. Still there were in each of them certain general modes of feeling and thinking, and certain active principles of large extent and unresisted operation, which may be every where recognised with more or less accuracy. Our present concern is with the character of those periods, of which we suppose one to be approaching its end, and the other to be beginning. The chain of her dominion enwrapped the whole earth; but the emancipation of these states severed its continuity, and the links are now falling asunder every where. As the supremacy of Europe was founded on the commerce which grew principally out of the colonial system, and upon her unquestionable superiority over other quarters of the globe in arts and arms; so this power must be destroyed by the establishment of new empires, upon a new continent, acknowledging in her no moral or political supremacy, and at least as independent of her as she is of them. The establishment of such empires must be the inevitable consequence,-nay, it is the actual consequence of our independence. These new nations are and will be possessed of all the intelligence, science, and energy which have placed Europe in advance of her sister continents; and enjoy all these advantages, without the oppressive institutions, which are fastened upon her various nations by the amalgamation of the principles and institutions proper to Roman despotism, with those which the free and military savages, who overran the empire, brought with them from their northern forests. follow in the same herself from bondthe Hindoos have xerting any thing faculty may well there will no doubt eedy and a sudden omaly of the Britne European powdependent there; sh themselves will tional sovereignty, e millions of that er around, to find repose and secur which they have days of Aurengeasts of Africa, New of the Eastern Armain weak settlethe protection of -ir life-blood from unweaned infants, the account; but nations they can. eir predecessors. e? Her various r many children, feebled by age, in the spirit and manhood. It is to say that she Europe; Europe -The colonies e nations of this st part formed of is, that Spanish nquered by men, - name can be ; true it is, that pacity, and all rished there luxtrue, that even he misfortune of who were most iniquity, were , and stand forth ue prominence. at all the Euroy power to imdeeply upon the of the colonies; es, Albuquerque , their memory and men of puriExcellence came - shores of our rked with many worthy to peoColumbus disThe spirit of poing there with unters in the their institu eyond compari it here; but it iolent reaction Co extirpate. It conquer, and nination to the our origin to the boldest and strongest spirits Europe | lieve that the ages we endeavour to antici- | vest, the sur We see no good reason for supposing that Europe will not find means to retain a good share of that skill which earns money and of commercial intercourse; on the contrary we not only believe she will retain a fair measure of these things, but will also enjoy many blessings she has not yet known. fit. cial restrictio ousies betwee or between t now exist be our national will be cultiv bellishment of happiness wil practised, and will be more cessfully achi days of turbu The condit may seem so ent state of s possible, that either exist w ent objects, p man, that such altogether ch bered, howeve tion, there is of a cause whi developement The author of "Europe" gives many very strong reasons for supposing that the present violent and universal commotion among the political elements of Europe may subside into the form of one general European state. We shall not repeat his arguments, for we could not present them to our readers in a more clear or striking light;-but we believe with him, that this great result may happen, either by the absorption of the smaller states into some one of preponderating power, or by the voluntary compact of the whole. When this yet manifeste shall take place, and there never was sisting or dist a time when it could seem so near to not now decay probability as now,-all the resources of progress of h the different parts of Europe will be appli- ions in the pa ed, not to counteract and destroy each deprecate the other, but to their mutual and universal speculation is expansion and increase. Her power would fantastic vision then be sufficient not only to rid her of suppose, that t many sore incumbrances, but to open new pate will occu resources. The encampment of the Turks twenty years;upon her most fertile, most beautiful, and question is, w most sacred soil, may be broken up, and the that man will g crescent driven to wane and set beyond short in his car the Euphrates. The north of Africa may it more probab be wrested from the pirates, for whose sake advance, and its very soil is accursed into barrenness, sound common and energetic and systematic efforts made sion. If the pa to people Anatolia, the solitary wastes of light into the Tartary, and the shores of the Black sea motion of life and the Caspian, with that redundant popu- why may not t lation, which now the waste of war cannot lustrate the a consume fast enough. There, for many brightly as any ages, all whom their mother-land will not But no possible support, may find a fruitful soil, ready to pugnant to all, welcome the husbandman to a new home; has taught, as th his industry will be repaid with a rich har-ed a resting-pla We are perfectly aware that the hypotheses which endeavour to anticipate the coming condition of Europe and America, must be in a great measure uncertain, but we are also well persuaded, that they need not be wholly so. History may be made to prophesy, if not with utterance so distinct that no tone can be lost and no word mistaken, yet with a voice, which we may hear if we will listen, and which it is not wise to disregard. We do not pursue this inquiry, or rather these reflections, because they lead to glorious anticipations of our country's absolute supremacy; for the facts from which we argue refuse to open to our imaginations any such prospect. We do however believe,—because is seems to us a plain inference, clearly deducible by the severest logic from acknowledged facts, that we must enjoy, for more ages than man's thought can penetrate, some very valuable advantages over Europe. We do not assert that the sovereignty of the earth will follow the steps of our fathers, and come to abide in our land; but we certainly think abundant reason exists for believing that America will be filled with civilized, cultivated, and improving nations, and that improvement of every sort will meet with more encouragement and less resistance in this, than in any other continent. We be ever. ent. should be said. Other nations have a right, an indefeasible and sacred right, to have their attention directed by us to those things in our history, character, and condition, which make us what they are not, and what they are very far from being, but should strenuously strive to become, how long or arduous soever the struggle may be. It cannot be ;-man will go on or vanity is apt to do, it often mistook the mathe will go back,-and let him who asks ters upon which it might look with justifiawhich path his destiny will take, look at ble complacency. We did not,-nay, we the state of Europe five centuries ago, do not think so much of the simplicity, when it contained the civilization of the equality, and thorough freedom which our earth. Was it not desolated by private institutions secure, or of our deliverance wars, and darkened with ignorance and mon- from the delusions, which taint with universtrous superstition, and bound hand and sal poison the whole mass of European foot in the slavery of those laws which thought and feeling, as of the victory Even this will be called vain boasting by made her millions the born thralls of a few which our fathers achieved. We assume many, for that happens to be the tone of untamed and untaught fighting savages; and the fact as self-evident, that, inheriting as this day; but is it boasting to tell the simwould the change from the present condition, children the liberty thus won, we take with ple truth, if that truth be denied or unto such an one as we have anticipated, be it, as heirlooms of the inheritance, the wis known? Is it vain boasting, or is it our greater than that which has been already dom and courage which conquered. We duty, our bounden and imperative duty, to effected? The obvious truth, the distinct re- have in past days been yet more apt than impress that truth upon ourselves and make ply of sober judgment is, that we have far in the present, to consider European na- it known unto the world, when it is the more reason to expect that condition, than tions as, of necessity, less sensible, less most important political truth ever revealthey, in those days, had to expect the pres- valiant, or less vigorous than we, because ed to mankind? For the first time since Where then,-in what facts or argu. they are less free; forgetting that we take nations gathered together, an opportunity ments, shall we find a right to say, that our pure liberty as they take their want of offered to try the great experiment, wheththe progressive and expansive energies of it, by descent, and that our fathers who er men might be governed by law made by human nature must now be suddenly check-conquered for us, having always been free, them and for them, instead of the fluctuated; that our Creator has given his children never put on the chains which nations ac- ing and arbitrary pleasure or passion of an no capacity for happiness on earth, which customed to them must find it so difficult to individual or a mob; whether nations could has not been filled to its last drop;-that put off. Of course there was a great deal hold together with no other inequalities He who alone could say, "Thus far shalt of absurdity and folly in our national feel- than those which grow out of the essential thou come," hath fixed the impassable limit ings, which was seen abroad, and seen difference of character, with no bondage at this stage of our progress, and now through a mist of much ignorance, and but that which binds together the strong stands ready to bid the flowing tide of hu- greatly exaggerated. The charge of ridic- and the weak, the high and the low, for man improvement recoil, and whelm with ulous vanity was brought against us con- mutual protection, and with full acknowlits refluent wave the good things He has giv- tinually; throughout Europe it was an es- edgment of these inequalities and absoen? We answer, nowhere; it is unreason- tablished thing, that America was the very lute obedience to this bondage. The exable so to say, it is unnecessary so to fear. land of self-conceit, and all her sons were periment has been tried; the history of the We repeat that we do not pretend to see swollen with self-exaltation, for the want last centuries, is but the story of its prepaindications of a sudden ripening of earth of those things which constitute the pride ration; a virgin and unvexed soil was apinto heaven, but that we believe the cre- and glory of elder nations. Look at Eng-pointed for its theatre; our fathers and puscular gleamings of reason and science land; till within a few years, very few books, ourselves for its subjects; our condition and and virtue and religion and happiness, which which could by possibility be stretched and character, our progress and our prospects, are now visible, declare, that future genera- twisted far enough to reach America, have are its great result; and what right have tions shall see a fuller radiance and more been published there, without the spicery we,-to put it on that ground alone,-to be unquestionable light and purer peace and of some witty sneer and sarcasm upon our withheld from proclaiming this result to goodness, as surely as the gilded clouds of republican conceit; and this weary descant the world, and thus teaching to the world a morning prophesy of noon. was for a long season sung by their poets lesson it cannot so well learn without our and declaimed by their mob orators, in and aid, but which, when learned, will be almost out of parliament, and repeated by their omnipotent of good? How wretchedly detravellers in every possible variety of lie. graded must we become, ere we can be Within a short time things have changed thus withheld by the abject fear, that the vastly for the better; perhaps we have re- nations who should learn this lesson, may ceived so much castigation, our vanity is turn round upon us, and in their rooted and really mortified and sickened; however vain ignorance, tell us we are vain ? this may be, the castigation has ceased to We shall pursue this subject in another be very excessive. We are generally treat-number, by remarking upon the true chared by foreign authors of this day with acteristics of this country, and the inferengreat courtesy, which we would gladly re- ces which should be drawn from them. If ciprocate.* We would admit at once, that our work crosses the ocean, it must meet we used to have, and have still much of an outcry of "American conceit," uttered the foolish conceit which is apt to befall to be sure less loudly and unanimously smart youths, until they get out into the than heretofore, but still so uttered there, world and find their true measure, and as to be echoed here. Let those, who, from would readily grant that our peculiar ad- the bosom of this land, respond to or awake vantages are not without their peculiar in- that cry, look well to their motives; let conveniences. But something more than this them examine if they would not love very much to exchange our simplicity, our com* We say this, the last Quarterly notwithstand-parative poverty, our equality, with all their ing. It was always a pity, that the ruffian who con- train of evils and inconveniences, for the ducted that journal, had talents enough to give to his virulence lamentable efficacy; but it is certainly comforts and luxuries, the respectful homfit matter for rejoicing, that at last a scoundrel and age and the prompt servility, which, in the a fool (an utter fool quoad hoc, being dementated old world, wealth and station have ever at The conquest of our independence ex-by excess of malignity), can tell falsehoods about command. It is not strange, that those cited, and almost justified considerable whose tastes or habits render them pecuvanity in our countrymen; the successful liarly sensible of our unquestionable disexperiment of our unprecedented governcomforts, and, moreover, disable them from ment of laws inflamed this vanity, and, as understanding or enjoying our unprecedent We had intended to remark more particularly upon the condition and prospects of our own land, and the relations it sustains with others, as we believe the spirit and tendency of this age to be in nothing so manifest as in the characteristics of this country and in our influence upon elder nations; but we cannot, in this number, do more than consider a few preliminary points. It would be idle to pretend to look forward into the futurity of this country with exactness and certainty; it would be worse than idle not to see and not to say, that all the circumstances of our political condition bear united testimony to the high destinies which are opening upon us. A sober and sedulous inquiry into this subject certainly seems to us justifiable, to say no more; still we cannot begin it, but we are met by the fear of that reproach, which it is the fashion to cast upon us in Europe, and in some degree on our own side of the water; let us examine the grounds and the justice of this reproach. us, in England, of which the malice may be seen |