chosen by the whole male population of the state. In this mountainous district, peopled by a race of simple agriculturists, the science of legislation may be supposed to present few questions of difficulty; nor has it been found necessary to impede the process of law-making by forcing a projected statute to pass through two ordeals. You find in the constitution of Vermont another peculiarity which marks a people Argus-eyed to their liberties. In the other republics, the people have thought it sufficient to preserve to themselves the power of summoning a convention, to alter or amend their plan of government whenever they may judge it expedient; but the Vermontese, as if unwilling to trust to their own vigilance, have decreed the stated election of a Council of Censors, to be convened for one year at the end of every seven years, whose business it is to examine whether the constitution has been preserved inviolate; "whether the legislative or executive branches of government have performed their duty as guardians of the people, or assumed to themselves, or exercised other or greater powers than they are entitled to by the constitution;" to take in review, in short, every public act, with the whole course of administration pursued since the last meeting of the censors. If any acts appear to them to have been unconstitutional, their business is to refer them to the legislative assembly then sitting, stating the grounds of their objection, and recommending a revisal of the same. They are farther empowered to judge of the propriety of revising the existing constitution; and should any article appear defective, or not clearly defined, to promulgate the articles objected to, and the amendments proposed, which, being considered and approved by the people, other delegates are appointed to decree the same in convention, according to the instructions received from their constituents.

The assembly now meets in the little town of Montpelier, situated in a secluded valley in the centre of the state.

Having gained the centre, the seat of government is now probably fixed. It is a strange novelty in the eyes of a European to find legislators assembled in a humble and lonely village to discuss affairs of state. How strangely has liberty been libelled! Behold her in the mountains of Vermont, animating a people, who, at the first sound of oppression, would rise like lions from their lair, but who, in the free exercise of undisputed rights, and, walking erect among their hills with a spirit untamed, and thought unshackled, live on a life of peace and industry, unharming and unharmed, proud as the noble in feudal seigniory, and peaceful as the flocks which graze upon their mountains!

The men of Vermont are familiarly known by the name of Green-mountain boys; a name which they themselves are proud of, and which, I have remarked, is spoken with much complacency, and not unfrequently with a tone of admiration or affection, by the citizens of the neighbouring states.

Before leaving Vermont, I would observe, that the Scotch emigrant would probably find it peculiarly suited to his habits and constitution. A healthy climate, a hilly country, affording either pasture or arable land, -- the frugal, hardy, and industrious Scotch farmer might here find himself at home, or rather in a home somewhat improved. There are many valuable tracts unreclaimed in the lower valleys, and much land of moderate value on the sides of the mountains. Our sons of the mist might here see their Grampians and Cheviots swelling out of a better soil, and smiling under a purer heaven. They would find too a race, of industry and intelligence equal or superior to their own, and animated with a spirit of independence that they might imbibe with advantage. *

European emigrants are, perhaps, given to roam too far into the interior of this continent. The older states have * There is one Scotch settlement in Vermont in a very flourishing condition, and, I believe, stragglers continue occasionally to join it.

still sufficient of vacant lands to settle down multitudes, and, as I have before remarked, men have usually many things to learn when they arrive in this country. The American enters the western wilderness skilled to vanquish all difficulties; and understanding to train his children in the love of their country, founded upon a knowledge of its history, and an appreciation of its institutions, he is fitted to form the advanced guard of civilivation ; the foreigner, in general, will be better placed in the main body, where he may himself receive instructions, and imbibe feelings suited to his newly assumed character as a citizen of a republic.

44

I REGRET that the circumstances which constrained us to cut short our journey through the eastern states, have also prevented me, for some time past, from writing with my usual punctuality.

*

*

*

*

*

*

With this short summary, you must allow me to pass over the remainder of our tour, and come at once to the subject of your letter, now before me. I will do my best to reply to * *'s inquiries, not pretending, however, to give a better solution of them than I apprehend others may have given before.

*

It has been common of late years to summon the literature of America to the European bar, and to pass a verdict against American wit and American science. More liberal foreigners, in alluding to the paucity of standing American works in prose or rhyme, are wont to ascribe it to the infant state of society in this country; others read this explanation, I incline to think at least, without affixing a just meaning to the words. Is it not commonly received in England, that the American nation is in a sort of middle state between barbarism and refinement? I remember, that, on coming to this country, I had

myself but a very confused notion of the people that I was to find in it; sometimes they had been depicted to me as a tribe of wild colts, chewing the bit just put into their mouths, and fretting under the curb of law, carelessly administered, and yet too strict withal for their untamed spirits; at other times I understood them to be a race of shrewd artificers, speculating merchants, and plodding farmers, with just enough of manners to grow! an answer when questioned, and enough of learning to read a newspaper, drive a hard bargain, keep accounts, and reason phlegmatically upon the advantages of free trade and popular government. These portraits appeared to me to have few features of resemblance; the one seemed nearly to image out a Dutchman, and the other a wild Arab. To conceive the two characters combined were not very possible; I looked at both, and could make nothing of either.

The history of this people seemed to declare that they were brave, high-minded, and animated with the soul of liberty; their institutions, that they were enlightened ; their laws, that they were humane; and their policy, that they were peaceful, and kept good faith; but I was told that they were none of these. Judge a man by his works, it is said; but to judge a nation by its works was no adage, and, I was taught, was quite ridiculous. To judge a nation by the reports of its enemies, however, seemed equally ridiculous; so I determined not to judge at all, but to land in the country without knowing any thing about it, and wait until it should speak for itself. The impressions that I have received, I have occasionally attempted to impart to you; they were such at first as greatly to surprise me, for it is scarcely possible to keep the mind unbiassed by current reports, however contradictory their nature, and however intent we may be to let them pass unheeded.

There is little here that bespeaks the infancy of society in the sense that foreigners usually suppose it applica