to open the eyes of Englishmen to their true interests. The Economy of America is a great and important object for our imitation. The salary of Mr. Bagot, our late Ambassador, was, we believe, rather higher than that of the President of the United States. The Vice-President receives rather less than the second Clerk of the House of Commons; and all salaries, civil and military, are upon the same scale; and yet no country is better served than America! Mr. Hume has at last persuaded the English people to look a little into their accounts, and to see how sadly they are plundered. But we ought to suspend our contempt for America, and consider whether we have not a very momentous lesson to learn from this wise and cautious people on the subject of economy. A lesson on the importance of Religious Toleration, we are determined, it would seem, not to learn, either from America, or from any other quarter of the globe. The high sheriff of New York, last year, was a Jew. It was with the utmost difficulty that a bill was carried this year to allow the first duke of England to carry a gold stick before the King-because he was a Catholic!-and yet we think ourselves entitled to indulge in impertinent sneers at America,-as if civilisation did not depend more upon making wise laws for the promotion of human happiness, than in having good inns, and post-horses, and civil waiters. The circumstances of the Dissenters' Marriage Bill are such as would excite the contempt of a Chictaw or Cherokee, if he could be brought to understand them. A certain class of Dissenters beg they may not be compelled to say that they marry in the name of the Trinity, because they do not believe in the Trinity. Never mind, say the corruptionists, you must go on saying you marry in the name of the Trinity whether you believe in it or not. We know that such a protestation from you will be false: but, unless you make it, your wives shall be concubines, and your children illegitimate. Is it possible to conceive a greater or more useless tyranny than this? "In the religious freedom which America enjoys, I see a more unquestioned superiority. In Britain we enjoy toleration, has a right to grant toleration to any parbut here they enjoy liberty. If Government ticular set of religious opinions, it has also a right to take it away; and such a right with regard to opinions exclusively religious I would deny in all cases, because totally inconsistent with the nature of religion, in the proper meaning of the word, and equally irreconcilable with civil liberty, rightly so called. God has given to each of us his inspired word, and a rational mind to which that word is addressed. He has also made known to us, that each for himself must answer at his tribunal for his principles and conduct. What man, then, or body of men, has a right to tell me, 'You do not think aright on religious subjects, but we will tolerate your error?' The answer is a most obvious one,' Who gave you authority to dictate?-or what exclusive claim have you to infallibility?' If my sentiments do not lead me into conduct inconsistent with the welfare of my fellowcreatures, the question as to their accuracy or fallacy is one between God and my own conscience; and, though a fair subject for argument, is none for compulsion. "The Inquisition undertook to regulate astronomical science, and kings and parliaments have with equal propriety presumed to legislate upon questions of theology. The world has outgrown the former, and it will one day be ashamed that it has been so long of outgrowing the latter. The founders of the American republic saw the absurdity of employing the attorney-general to refute deism and infidelity, or of attempting to influence opinion on abstract subjects by penal enactment; they saw also the injustice of taxing the whole to support the religious opinions of the few, and have set an example which older governments will one day or other be compelled to follow. No "In America the question is not, 'What is his creed?-but, What is his conduct? Jews have all the privileges of Christians; Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Independents, meet on common ground. religious test is required to qualify for public office, except in some cases a mere verbal assent to the truth of the Christian religion; and, in every court throughout the country, it is optional whether you give your affirmation or your oath."-(Duncan's Travels, Vol. II. pp. 328-330.) In fact, it is hardly possible for any nation to show a greater superiority over another than the Americans, in this America is exempted, by its very newness as a nation, from many of the particular, have done over this country. | tion than painted tea-cups, water proof They have fairly and completely, and leather, or broad cloth at two guineas a probably for ever, extinguished that yard. spirit of religious persecution which has been the employment and the curse of mankind for four or five centuries, evils of the old governments of Europe. -not only that persecution which It has no mischievous remains of imprisons and scourges for religious feudal institutions, and no violations of opinions, but the tyranny of incapaci- political economy sanctioned by time, tation, which, by disqualifying from and older than the age of reason. If civil offices, and cutting a man off from a man find a partridge upon his ground the lawful objects of ambition, endea- eating his corn, in any part of Kenvours to strangle religious freedom in tucky or Indiana, he may kill it, even silence, and to enjoy all the advantages, if his father be not a Doctor of Diviwithout the blood, and noise, and fire nity. The Americans do not exclude of persecution. What passes in the their own citizens from any branch of mind of one mean blockhead is the commerce which they leave open to all general history of all persecution. the rest of the world. "This man pretends to know better "One of them said, that he was well than me-I cannot subdue him by argument; but I will take care he shall acquainted with a British subject, residing at Newark, Upper Canada, who annually never be mayor or alderman of the smuggled from 500 to 1000 chests of tea town in which he lives; I will never into that province from the United States. consent to the repeal of the Test Act He mentioned the name of this man, who or to Catholic Emancipation; I will he said was growing very rich in conse teach the fellow to differ from me in quence; and he stated the manner in which religious opinions!" So says the Epis- the fraud was managed. Now, as all the copalian to the Catholic-and so the tea ought to be brought from England, it is of course very expensive; and therefore Catholic says to the Protestant. But the Canadian tea dealers, after buying one the wisdom of America keeps them all or two chests at Montreal or elsewhere, down-secures to them all their just which have the Custom-house mark upon rights gives to each of them their them, fill them up ever afterwards with tea separate pews, and bells, and steeples brought from the United States. It is cal-makes them all aldermen in their culated that near 10,000 chests are annually turns-and quietly extinguishes the consumed in the Canadas, of which not faggots which each is preparing for the more than 2000 or 3000 come from Europe, combustion of the other. Nor is this Indeed, when I had myself entered Canada, I was told that of every fifteen pounds of indifference to religious subjects in the tea sold there thirteen were smuggled. The American people, but pure civilisation profit upon smuggling this article is from -a thorough comprehension of what 50 to 100 per cent., and, with an extensive is best calculated to secure the public and wild frontier like Canada, cannot be happiness and peace-and a determi-prevented. Indeed it every year increases, nation that this happiness and peace shall not be violated by the insolence of any human being, in the garb, and under the sanction, of religion. In this particular, the Americans are at the head of all the nations of the world: and at the same time they are, especially in the Eastern and Midland States, so far from being indifferent on subjects of religion, that they may be most justly characterised as a very religious people. but they are devout without being unjust (the great problem in religion); a higher proof of civilisa and is brought to a more perfect system. But I suppose that the English Government, which is the perfection of wisdom, will never allow the Canadian merchants to trade direct to China, in order that (from pure charity) the whole profit of the tea trade may be given up to the United States."-(Excursion, pp. 394, 395.) "You will readily conceive, that it is with no small mortification that I hear these American merchants talk of sending their ships to London and Liverpool, to take in goods or specie, with which to purchase tea for the supply of European ports almost within sight of our own shores. They often taunt me, by asking me what our govern ment can possibly mean by prohibiting us from engaging in a profitable trade, which is open to them and to all the world? or where can be our boasted liberties, while we tamely submit to the infraction of our natural rights, to supply a monopoly as absurd as it is unjust, and to honour the caprice of a company who exclude their fellow-subjects from a branch of commerce which they do not pursue themselves, but leave to the enterprise of foreigners, or commercial rivals? On such occasions I can only reply, that both our government and people are growing wiser; and that if the charter of the East India Company be renewed, when it next expires, I will allow them to infer, that the people of England have little influence in the administration of their own affairs.”—(Hodgson's Letters, Vol. II. pp. 128, 129.) Though America is a confederation of republics, they are in many cases much more amalgamated than the various parts of Great Britain. If a citizen of the United States can make a shoe, he is at liberty to make a shoe anywhere between Lake Ontario and New Orleans, he may sole on the Mississippi,-heel on the Missouri, measure Mr. Birkbeck on the little Wabash, or take (which our best politicians do not find an easy matter) the length of Mr. Munro's foot on the banks of the Potowmac. But woe to the cobbler, who, having made Hessian boots for the aldermen of Newcastle, should venture to invest with these coriaceous integuments the leg of a liege subject at York. A yellow ant in a nest of red ants a butcher's dog in a fox kennel-a mouse in a bee-hive,-all feel the effects of untimely intrusion; -but far preferable their fate to that of the misguided artisan, who, misled by sixpenny histories of England, and conceiving his country to have been united at the Heptarchy, goes forth from his native town to stitch .freely within the sea-girt limits of Albion. Him the mayor, him the alderman, him the recorder, him the quarter sessions would worry. Him the justices before trial would long to get into the tread-mill*; and would much lament This puts us in mind of our friend Mr. Headlam, who, we hear, has written an answer to our Observations on the Treadmill before Trial. It would have been a that, by a recent act, they could not do so, even with the intruding tradesman's consent; but the moment he was tried, they would push him in with redoubled energy, and leave him to tread himself into a conviction of the barbarous institutions of his corporation-divided country. Too much praise cannot be given to the Americans for their great attention to the subject of Education. All the public lands are surveyed according to the direction of Congress. They are divided into townships of six miles square, by lines running with the cardinal points, and consequently crossing each other at right angles. Every township is divided into 36 sections, each a mile square, and containing 640 acres. One section in each township is reserved, and given in perpetuity for the benefit of common schools. In addition to this the states of Tennessee and Ohio have received grants for the support of colleges and academies. The appropriation generally in the new States for seminaries of the higher orders, amount to one fifth of those for very easy thing for us to have hung Mr. Headlam up as a spectacle to the United land, the principality of Wales, and the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Iretown of Berwick-on-Tweed; but we have no wish to make a worthy and respectable man appear ridiculous. For these reasons we have not even looked at his pamphlet, and we decline entering into a controversy upon a point, where among men of sense and humanity (who had not heated themselves in the dispute), there cannot possibly be any difference of opinion. All members of both Houses of Parliament were unanimous in their condemnation of the odious and nonsensical practice of working prisoners in the tread-mill before trial. It had not one single advocate. Mr. Headlam and the magistrates of the North Riding, in their eagerness to save a relic of their prison system, forgot themselves so far as to petition to be intrusted with the power of putting prisoners to work before trial, with their own consent-the answer of the Legislature was, "We will not trust you."-the severest practical rebuke ever received by any public body. We will leave it to others to determine whether it was deserved. We have no doubt the great body of magistrates meant well. They must have meant well— but they have been sadly misled, and have thrown odium on the subordinate administration of justice, which it is far from deserving on other occasions, in their hands. This strange piece of nonsense is, however, now well ended.-Requiescat in pace! common schools. It appears from Sey- cates for, and admirers of, Americabert's Statistical Annals, that the land, not taking our ideas from the overin the states and territories on the east weening vanity of the weaker part of side of the Mississippi, in which appro- the Americans themselves, but from priations have been made, amounts to what we have observed of their real 237,300 acres; and according to the energy and wisdom. It is very natural ratio above mentioned, the aggregate that we Scotch, who live in a little on the east side of the Mississippi is shabby scraggy corner of a remote 7,900,000. The same system of appro- island, with a climate which cannot priation applied to the west, will make, ripen an apple, should be jealous of the for schools and colleges, 6,600,000; and aggressive pleasantry of more favoured the total appropriation for literary pur-people; but that Americans, who have poses, in the new states and territories, done so much for themselves, and re14,500,000 acres, which, at two dollars ceived so much from nature, should be per acre, would be 29,000,000 dollars. flung into such convulsions by English These facts are very properly quoted Reviews and Magazines, is really a sad by Mr. Hodgson; and it is impossible specimen of Columbian juvenility. We to speak too highly of their value and hardly dare to quote the following acimportance. They quite put into the count of an American rout, for fear of back-ground everything which has having our motives misrepresented,— been done in the Old World for the and strongly suspect that there are but improvement of the lower orders, and few Americans who could be brought confer deservedly upon the Americans to admit that a Philadelphia or Boston the character of a wise, a reflecting, and concern of this nature is not quite equal a virtuous people. to the most brilliant assemblies of London or Paris. It is rather surprising that such a people, spreading rapidly over so vast "A tea party is a serious thing in this a portion of the earth, and cultivating country; and some of those at which I all the liberal and useful arts so suc- have been present in New York and else cessfully, should be so extremely sen- where, have been on a very large scale. In sitive and touchy as the Americans are the modern houses the two principal apartsaid to be. We really thought at one ments are on the first floor, and communitime they would have fitted out an cate by large folding-doors, which on gala armament against the Edinburgh and days throw wide their ample portals, conQuarterly Reviews, and burnt downverting the two apartments into one. At Mr. Murray's and Mr. Constable's the largest party which I have seen, there were about thirty young ladies present, and shops, as we did the American Capitol. more than as many gentlemen. Every We, however, remember no other anti-sofa, chair, and footstool were occupied by American crime of which we were the ladies, and little enough room some of guilty, than a preference of Shakspeare them appeared to have after all. The genand Milton over Joel Barlow and tlemen were obliged to be content with Timothy Dwight. That opinion we walking up and down, talking now with must still take the liberty of retaining. one lady, now with another. There is nothing in Dwight comparable brought in by a couple of blacks, carrying large trays, one covered with cups, the to the finest passages of Paradise Lost, other with cake. Slowly making the round, nor is Mr. Barlow ever humorous or and retiring at intervals for additional suppathetic, as the great Bard of the Eng-plies, the ladies were gradually gone over; lish stage is humorous and pathetic. We have always been strenuous* advo Ancient women, whether in or out of breeches, will of course imagine that we are the enemies of the institutions of our country, because we are the admirers of the institutions of America: but circumstances differ. American institutions are too new, English institutions are ready made to our hands. If we were to build the house Tea was afresh, we might perhaps avail ourselves of the improvements of a new plan; but we have no sort of wish to pull down an excellent house, strong, warm, and comfortable, because, upon second trial, we might be able to alter and amend it,-a principle which would perpetuate demolition and construction. Our plan, where circumstances are tolerable, is to sit down and enjoy ourselves. and after much patience the gentlemen | spirits for six or seven hundred years, began to enjoy the beverage which cheers and seeing nothing but fog and vapour, but not inebriates;' still walking about, or he is out of spirits too; and when there leaning against the wall, with the cup and is no selling or buying, or no business saucer in their hand. to settle, he prefers being alone and looking at the fire. If any gentleman were in distress, he would willingly lend a helping hand; but he thinks it no part of neighbourhood to talk to a person because he happens to be near him. In short, with many excellent qualities, it must be acknowledged that the English are the most disagreeable of all the nations of Europe, -more surly and morose, with less disposition to please, to exert themselves for the good of society, to make small sacrifices, and to put themselves out of their way. They are content with Magna Charter and Trial by Jury; and think they are not bound to excel the rest of the world in small behaviour, if they are superior to them in great institutions. "As soon as the first course was over, the hospitable trays again entered, bearing a chaos of preserves-peaches, pine-apples, ginger, oranges, citrons, pears, &c. in tempting display. A few of the young gentlemen now accompanied the revolution of the trays, and sedulously attended to the pleasure of the ladies. The party was so numerous that the period between the commencement and the termination of the round was sufficient to justify a new solicitation; and so the ceremony continued, with very little intermission, during the whole evening. Wine succeeded the preserves, and dried fruit followed the wine; which, in its turn, was supported by sandwiches in the name of supper, and a forlorn hope of confectionary and frost work. I pitied the poor blacks who, like Tantalus, had such a profusion of dainties the whole evening at their finger ends, without the possibility of partaking of them. A little music and dancing gave variety to the scene; which to some of us was a source of considerable satisfaction; for when a num ber of ladies were on the floor, those who cared not for the dance had the pleasure of getting a seat. About eleven o'clock I did myself the honour of escorting a lady home, and was well pleased to have an excuse for escaping."-(Duncan's Travels, Vol. II. pp. 279, 280.) We are terribly afraid that some Americans spit upon the floor, even when that floor is covered by good carpets. Now all claims to civilisation are suspended till this secretion is otherwise disposed of. No English gentleman has spit upon the floor since the Heptarchy. The curiosity for which the Americans are so much laughed at, is not only venial, but laudable. Where men The coaches must be given up; so live in woods and forests, as is the case, must the roads, and so must the inns. of course, in remote American settleThey are of course what these accom-ments, it is the duty of every man to modations are in all new countries; and much like what English greatgrandfathers talk about as existing in this country at the first period of their recollection. The great inconvenience of American inns, however, in the eyes of an Englishman, is one which more sociable travellers must feel less acutely -we mean the impossibility of being alone, of having a room separate from the rest of the company. There is nothing which an Englishman enjoys more than the pleasure of sulkiness, -of not being forced to hear a word from anybody which may occasion to him the necessity of replying. It is not so much that Mr. Bull disdains to talk, as that Mr. Bull has nothing to say. His forefathers have been out of gratify the inhabitants by telling them his name, place, age, office, virtues, crimes, children, fortune, and remarks: and with fellow-travellers it seems to be almost a matter of necessity to do so. When men ride together for 300 or 400 miles through woods and prairies, it is of the greatest importance that they should be able to guess at subjects most agreeable to each other, and to multiply their common topics. Without knowing who your companion is, it is difficult to know both what to say and what to avoid. You may talk of honour and virtue to an attorney, or contend with a Virginian planter that men of a fair colour have no right to buy and sell men of a dusky colour. The following is a lively description of |