science of a free government; this it is w st

doctrine, so simple when once revealed, forms the whole gives to modern liberty a character foreign to that which she bore in ancient times; this it is which has made freedom and peace shake hands, and which renders the reign of the one coeval with that of the other.

The representative system, invented, or rather by a train of fortuitous circumstances brought into practice in England, has been carried to perfection in America; by it the body of the people rule in every thing; by it they establish their constitutions; by it they legislate according to the constitutions established; and by it again they amend their constitutions, according to the gradual advance of the public mind in political wisdom. Thus, though the form of government should in some cases be found deficient, yet as the door is ever left open to improvement, in system it may always be pronounced to be perfect."Quelle republiche che, se le non hanno l'ordine perfetto hanno preso il principio buono e atto a diventare migliore, possono, per la occorrenza delli accidenti diventare perfette."*

Considering how greatly the human mind is ennobled by liberty, and how rapidly it becomes humanized when the book of knowledge is thrown open to its inspection, there is no calculating the progress of a people in virtue as well as power, whose successive generations shall be bred up under benign laws and liberal institutions. Who does not sympathize with the playful wish of the benign sage and devoted patriot Franklin, who, when he saw a little fly escape from a bottle in which it had been imprisoned, exclaimed, "I wish I could be corked up as you have been, and let out a hundred years hence, just to see how my dear America is going on?"

*Machiavelli sopra la prima Deca di Tito Livio.

I MUST not leave this city without observing somewhat more distinctly than I have as yet done, upon the general character of the society.

It is difficult to make observations upon the inhabitants of a particular district that shall not more or less apply to the nation at large. This is the case in all countries, but more particularly in these democracies. The universal spread of useful and practical knowledge, the exercise of great political rights, the ease, and, comparatively, the equality of condition, give to this people a character peculiar to themselves. The man of leisure, who is usually for the most part the man of pleasure, may, indeed, find himself somewhat alone in this country. Every hand is occupied, and every head is thinking, not only of the active business of human life, (which usually sits lighter upon this people than many others,) but of matters touching the general weal of a vast empire. Each man being one of a sovereign people, is not only a politician, but a legislator—a partner, in short, in the grand concern of the state and this not a sleeping partner, but one engaged

in narrowly inspecting its operations, balancing its accounts, guarding its authority, and judging of its interests. A people so engaged, are not those with whom a lounger might find it agreeable to associate: he seeks amusement, and he finds business; careless wit, and he finds sense; plain, strait-forward, sober sense. The Americans are very good talkers, and admirable listeners; understand perfectly the exchange of knowledge, for which they employ conversation, and employ it solely. They have a surprising stock of information, but this runs little into the precincts of imagination; facts form the groundwork of their discourse. They are accustomed to rest their opinions on the results of experience, rather than on ingenious theories and abstract reasonings; and are always wont to overturn the one, by a simple appeal to the other. They have much general knowledge, but are best read in philosophy, history, political economy, and the general science of government. The world, however, is the book which they consider most attentively, and make a general practice of turning over the page of every man's mind that comes across them; they do this very quietly, and very civilly, and with the understanding that you are at perfect liberty to do the same by theirs. They are entirely without mauvaise honte, and are equally free from effrontery and officiousness. The constant exercise of the reasoning powers gives to their character and manners a mildness, plainness, and unchanging suavity, such as are often remarked in Europe in men devoted to the abstract sciences. Wonderfully patient and candid in argument, close reasoners, acute observers, and original thinkers. They understand little the play of words, or, as the French more distinctly express it, badinage. When an American, indeed, is pressed into this by some more trifling European, or by some lively woman of his own nation, I have sometimes thought of a quaker striking into a Highland reel. This people have nothing of the

poet in them, nor of the bel esprit, and I think are apt to be tiresome, if they attempt to be either. It is but fair, however, to observe, that they very seldom do attempt this, at least after they are five-and-twenty. On the other hand, they are well-informed and liberal philosophers, who can give you, in half an hour, more solid instruction and enlightened views, than you could receive from the first corps literaire or diplomatique of Europe by listening to them for a whole evening. It is said that every man has his forte, and so, perhaps, has every nation; that of the American is clearly good sense: this sterling quality is the current coin of the country, and it is curious to see how immediately it tries the metal of other minds. In truth, I know no people who sooner make you sensible of your own ignorance. In conversing even with a plain farmer, it has seemed to me, that I had been nothing but a foolish trifler all my life, running after painted butterflies, while he, like the ant, had been laying up winter stores of solid mental food, useful at all times, and in all exigencies.

I must also remark of this people, that they possess an uninterrupted cheerfulness of mind, and an imperturbable evenness of temper, and, moreover, a great share of dry humour, which is the weapon they usually employ when assailed by impertinence or troublesome folly of any kind. I have witnessed many amusing instances of this; and you will find some true specimens in the writings of Franklin, whose humour was truly of native growth.

A story occurs to me at this moment, which, though it perhaps owed something to the manner in which I heard it, may at least serve as an example of the national trait to which I have here alluded. A Prussian officer, who some while since landed in New-York, in his way to Venezuela, having taken up his lodgings at a hotel in Broadway, found himself in company with two British officers, and an American gentleman, who was quietly seated in

the recess of a window, reading the Washington Gazette. The Prussian understood not a word of English, but observed that the two foreigners, in conversing with each other, eternally used the word Yankee. As they leaned out of an open window which looked into Broadway, he heard them repeat it again and again, and seemingly apply it to every citizen that passed before them. "Yankee! Yankee!" at length exclaimed the Prussian ; "Que veut dire ce Yankee ?" and turned, wondering, to the gentleman who sat apparently inattentive to what was passing. "Je vous dirai, monsieur," said the American, gravely looking up from his paper; "cela veut dire, un homme d'une sagesse parfaite, d'un talent extrême, jouissant des biens de la fortune, et de la consideration publique." "En un mot, un sage et un homme distingué.” "Precisément." "Mais, monsieur, que la republique est riche en sages et en hommes distingués!" "Ces messieurs nous font l'honneur de le croire," bowing to the officers.

You may smile to hear that the Prussian took the explanation in sober seriousness, (though you will readily believe that our two countrymen were too petrified to offer it a contradiction,) and failed not in employing the word to comment upon the superabundance of hommes distingués to be found in the city, as well as upon the force of the language, which knew how to convey so many ideas in one word. It was long before I could understand the drift of the Prussian's discourse; when at length I had drawn the above story from him, and that the mystery stood explained, the joke seemed almost to good to put an end to. As I saw, however, that it was his fixed intention to apply the word in its new meaning to every citizen to whom he meant to do honour, and that, in case of an interview with the President himself, he would infallibly, in some flourish of politeness, denominate him