an indi

But, as

private life they have no genius; self-reliance as vidual virtue is not very prominent among them. a nation, they are very pushing and independent. For all that, however, the leading characteristic of the people is caution, and utility the standard by which everything is weighed. They have not much originality of conception, but are very clear-sighted and practical, and are always active in improving what others originate. Great ingenuity has been displayed by them particularly in all mechanical arts, though the finish of the English producer has not yet been equalled.

As a young nation, America is sensitive to criticism; but we have not read the American character simply to find fault with it. It has many redeeming traits. In America, more than anywhere else, a man is the founder of his own fortune. It is no bar to a man's preferment that his parentage is unworthy. A disreputable father does not disgrace a worthy son. Rank there is none, beyond that accorded to the temporary possession of some elective post, which does not confer particular respect or regard. The wealthy merchant, the successful manufacturer, are looked upon as Nature's aristocrats, and well-prized. In America again, more than anywhere else, service does not demean. There are helps, not servants, which is certainly less degrading to human nature than the servile relations as they exist in other countries. For this reason, also, the servant classes are of higher status, and even respectable people will take service.

The natural associations of the people are English. The recollections of their descent, their connection with English literature, their extensive commercial relations with England and the English dependencies, are calculated to make them English. But this tendency is repelled by an unnatural effort, the stereotyped plea for which is that the wars waged between Great Britain and the United States were all provoked by the conduct of the former, and that the injuries inflicted by her do not admit of being forgotten or condoned. But this surely is a most absurd plea. The

right assumed by the mother-country which led to the Revolution was certainly more than an injustice-for it was a mistake. But having led to resistance and final success on the part of the Americans, they, to say the least of it, have nothing more to resent. The real cause of American ill-will is their deep-seated envy of the greatness of England, which eclipses the greatness they have yet been able to attain. A candid acknowledgment of this feeling would cover them with shame; and so they mouth, and gibe, and gesticulate, and make show that they do not care a bit for England's pretensions, and are only anxious to make her smart for the wrongs she has done them. To the envy of the American people generally is to be added the hatred of their Irish section against England, which accounts for the eager desire expressed by all, in season and out of season, to get up a war between the two countries. It is not, as some explain, a mere party cry. The wish to exchange blows does exist. But with the wish there also exists the conviction that nothing would be gained by such a contest-not even the coveted possession of Canada, and that the loss on the American side would be at least as heavy as anything the Americans could inflict on England.

Brag apart, how does the question really stand? Are the Americans prepared to fight with England, or with any great European power? They have not soldiers enough to man their fortresses, nor navy sufficient to protect their ports; and, with the South in chronic disaffection, it would seem that a few vessels like the Alabama would suffice to dissolve the Union for good. The fact is, their long prosperity and immunity from great wars has blinded them; they require some disappointments and defeats to cure them of their overweening presumption.

The missions of England and America are very distinct. The geographical position of the former is circumscribed, but she has adopted as her mission the exploration and peopling of the distant wildernesses of the earth. America has no similar call; her wildernesses at home are large

enough to engross all her energies. To clear her forests, till her soil, and utilize all her resources without looking beyond her ocean limits, except for commercial purposes, is her destiny. No two countries could have objects so dissimilar; there is no cause, therefore, why they should quarrel. That they emulate each other in commerce can be no reason for their being at loggerheads for ever.

It is scarcely likely, however, that the Americans will get cured of their distemper soon. Not all the unconcern of England, not all her politeness, not all her attempts to please, have smoothed the ruffled temper across the Atlantic. The Alabama concessions of England had no object but to mollify the irritation of her largest customer; the nation of shopkeepers were not afraid of the bravado, but solicitous to preserve the custom of their buyers beyond the ocean: but even those concessions have not elicited a single response of kindliness. It seems unnecessary, therefore, that England should trouble herself further on the subject; and it is time now that the use of such terms as "Brother Jonathan" and "Uncle Sam" should be discontinued. The feeling implied is not reciprocated, and it is humiliating that England on her part should still be at pains to avow it. Money being well appreciated on both sides, to pounds sterling and dollars should be left the preservation of peace between the two countries. Sufferance and soft words are simply

thrown away.

If she be true to her destiny, America ought, sooner or later, to be able, from her natural resources, to outrun England in all agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial enterprises; but this, allowing a longer interval, is equally true of Canada and Australasia. In all three cases such development is merely a work of time. That America precedes the other two in the race is only because she has had the earlier start; but the prospect in her case is scarcely as clear as in theirs. Her present prosperity is undoubtedly great; but we must not allow it to hoodwink She has pushed on her population into the wilderness,

us.

opened new channels and created fresh markets for her traffic, called forth heaps and heaps of new cities into existence. But there is a bee in her bonnet already; it is very doubtful if, constituted as the United States are, they can long be true to themselves. The history of the world, as we read it, seems to indicate most plainly that the distinctions "Federals" and "Confederates" will not die out, and that as much blood will be drawn out of both yet as was shed in the olden times between England and France, and between France and Germany. The continuous development of the greatness of the country will depend on the fulfilment or otherwise of this prophecy. We make a present of it to the Americans, whether they receive it kindly from us or not.

CHAPTER V.

FRANCE, OR THE GRANDE NATION.

THE history of the Grande Nation is one of the most remarkable chapters in the annals of the world. With a civilisation in advance of all other countries, with an intelligence second to none, with aspirations for liberty which have nowhere been equalled, France, throughout the entire period of her existence, has hunted only after shadows after grandeur, glory, and renown-without ever being able to secure more than a moderate share of political independence and social happiness. Naturally, the country has a compact appearance, and the people inhabiting it have always been sympathetic, powerful, and homogeneous, apparently intended by Providence to wield a sovereign influence in the world. But the vanity, fickleness, and impatience of the nation have uniformly perverted the tendency of that intent, not only to the detriment of France herself, but also to the detriment of all her neighbours. The political life of France has consisted merely of a succession of spasmodic efforts to grasp at that which cannot be secured except by patient and persistent exertion; and her social condition has been that of a fire-raiser enjoying the mischief created by himself. A country which gave birth to Montesquieu and Fenelon, to Pascal and Des Cartes, cannot be said to be unable to produce solidity of thought and maturity of judgment; but it is nevertheless true that the nation at large has invariably betrayed a total want of capacity to understand anything that is not absolutely superficial, and has never yet been able to manage with practical intelligence any really efficient government that aimed to secure both liberty and happiness. Theoretically, no one