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multitudes of our countrymen. The Author of Religio Medici' has a good right to a place in our list; and perhaps there are those who will think that David Hartley has as valid a claim to the title of Theologian as Sir Thomas Browne. We have omitted in their exact order, Des Cartes, and a greater than he, Leibnitz, who, layman as he was, and deeply engaged in scientific and secular pursuits, stood foremost among theologians, as among philosophers.

We will not set a foot upon the stage of more recent literature; much less pay the expected tribute to any of our contemporary lay-divines, who may have been thinking, all along, that our rambling lucubration was to reach its triumphant climax in their names. Not so:-we cut them short (if such there be) with a flat disappointment! Let only our conclusion be received and pondered, which is this: That the services rendered by men not ecclesiastics, to Religion, have been enough, and more than enough, to redeem from contempt the title Lay Theologian; and enough too, to enhearten the secluded endeavours of any who, even now, though not officially invested, may be desiring to lay their gift upon the altar. Yes, and enough to warrant the hope that, in times that are coming, achievements of the most important kind may be effected under this very condition of extra-sacerdotal agency.

Art. V. 1. Three Years in North America. By James Stuart, Esq. 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1833.

2. America and the Americans. By a Citizen of the World. 8vo. pp. xii. 430. London, 1833.

3. Moral and Political Sketch of the United States of North America. By Achille Murat, Ci-devant Prince Royal of the Two Sicilies, and Citizen of the United States. With a Note on Negro Slavery. By Junius Redivivus. 12mo. pp. xl. 402. London, 1833.

4. North American Review, No. LXXVIII. January, 1833. Art. Prince Puckler Muscau and Mrs. Trollope.

MRS. Trollope's trumpery work, we never thought it worth

while to notice. The innate vulgarity of mind, the palpable invention, and the irreligious spirit which it betrayed, worthy of Fanny Wright herself, left us no alternative but either to occupy more time than we could spare in exposing the writer's misdemeanours, or to pass it by in silence. A certain Quarterly Reviewer endeavoured to puff it into notice, pleased to have an opportunity of saying spiteful things about the Americans, and

VOL. IX.-N.S.

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possibly knowing more about the composition of the book than he might care to avow. The North American Reviewer is

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posed to regard the work as to a certain extent pseudepigraphal. That this lady lived and travelled in America, and kept a 'journal of what she saw and fancied she saw, there is no doubt. But,' adds our Transatlantic critic, we have heard some pretty 'distinct rumours that her papers have gone through the mill of a regular book-maker; and there are some things in the volume as it stands, which we cannot think that she or any other lady (not to say gentleman) could have written.' Whoever was the book-maker, the reader must have had no small share of credulity, who could receive its statements as authentic, and no very refined taste, who could be pleased with its unfeminine pertness, flippancy, and profaneness.

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From the very title of Mrs. Trollope's work, however attractive to minds of a certain class, it might have been anticipated, that the contents would be found of the most trivial description. What are to us the domestic manners' of the people of the United States, their style of dress, of conversation, of cookery? A few passing observations on such topics might serve to enliven a chapter of a travelling journal; but, except as furnishing hints to persons about to visit the United States, that may put them on their guard against inconveniences or mistakes, they must surely be regarded as a sort of gossip alike undignified and unprofitable. What we are anxious to know respecting the Americans, is, how the magnificent experiment of their government and social constitution works, as regards the happiness and welfare of the people,the interests of religion, the state of morals, and the efficiency of the public institutions. In America, there is clear ground for the safe evolution of a series of experimental processes, by which conflicting political theories may be brought to the test, and which, in the more crowded countries of the old world, it would be folly to attempt, from the certain cost and doubtful issue. We may, in Europe, enjoy all the benefit, without the risk, provided we do not suffer our self-love on the one hand, or our enthusiasm for freedom on the other, to blind our judgement to the actual results. We can say, for our own part, that we are anxious only to ascertain facts, in respect to the state of things in the United States, whether those facts make for or against any particular theories or anticipations. And we wish to be on our guard more especially against that hasty induction which makes a few detached facts the stepping-stones by which to leap to distant conclusions. The first point to be ascertained is, what is the moral condition of the great mass of the people? This being tolerably well understood, the next inquiry would be, whether the people are what they are found to be in such a political condition, in consequence of their institutions, or in spite of them. And still a third question

would remain to be determined, supposing this second inquiry to turn out in favour of the American system; namely, whether those institutions would be adapted to other countries, and could be naturalized, with advantage, in the old world.

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Mrs. Trollope's book was hailed', it has been remarked, by "those who seem to imagine, that to speak favourably of America, is to speak disparagingly and factiously of Britain.' * This jealousy of the Americans is as mean as it is unintelligent. To speak favourably of America, is to speak honourably of Britain, the parent of all that is excellent in America,-her religion, her laws, and the free spirit of her institutions. We are speaking, of course, of the United States of the North, to compare which, for a moment, with Mexico, Colombia, or Brazil, as to the degree of civilization and of intelligence which characterizes them respectively, would be an insult to the Anglo-Americans. And whence has arisen the vast moral difference between the nations sprung from the English and the Spanish colonies in the new world? Admitting that climate has had some influence in modifying the national character, the essential cause of the immense difference between the North and the South, is undoubtedly the intellectual capital with which the United States started in their political adventure,-the moral wealth which they inherited as Englishmen. If America is not merely a land of promise', but, in some respects, the favoured seat of liberty and religion, which we rejoice to believe, it ought to endear to us the more our common faith, our common laws, and those institutions which are parent to the social constitution of the American Republic.

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It is true, that an indiscriminate and credulous admiration of every thing American, may put on a factious character; may be allied to a spirit of turbulent discontent or of rash speculation. Or, originating in a more generous feeling, in the re-action produced by the mean and calumnious disparagement of our American brethren, it may nevertheless lead to serious mistakes and erroneous, perhaps mischievous conclusions. The mild enthusiasm of some excellent persons leads them to regard America as a Utopia realised, and to mistake the crude experiment of yesterday for the matured perfection of a model or the certain results of science. We have also met with instances of an amiable humility which would offer incense to the inordinate vanity of the Americans, by conceding and confessing the inferiority of England to her well-grown daughter. We love brother Jonathan sincerely, in spite of the serious flaws in his character; but we feel somewhat like Joseph's brethren, at the representation which makes our sheaves stand round about to make obeisance to his

* Edinb. Rev. CXII. p. 460.

sheaf. If he has dreamed a dream, that the sun, and the moon, and the stars of the social system, are to make obeisance to him, this shall not make us hate our brother, but we must at least distinguish between the prediction and the fact. Whatever the future may develop, we cannot at present bring ourselves to do homage to the young Heir of the New World. What is more, we must withstand him openly, when we think him to be blamed. In our last Number, in advocating the Claims of the Blacks, we had to bring under the immediate attention of our readers, a startling and repulsive disclosure of the extent to which the plague-spot, slavery', has vitiated the moral feeling and disordered the social constitution of the Americans. We shall say little more upon the subject at present, but cannot refrain from citing from Mr. Stewart's very sensible and dispassionate journal, some statements which but too strongly confirm and justify our remarks in that article. We rejoice to find, at the same time, that his details respecting the state of education, and of religion, in the Northern States, are, upon the whole, very favourable to the character of their citizens; furnishing a complete exposure of the falsehood of Mrs. Trollope's representations, who appears never to have set her foot in New England, and who drew her observations chiefly from the North-western States, the most newly settled portion of the country. It ought always to be borne in mind, by those who wish either to understand the real condition of society in America, or to do justice to the Americans, that the United States comprise countries differing from each other, in their interior condition, scarcely less widely than Yorkshire, Devonshire, and Jamaica. Upon this point, the ci-devant Prince Royal of the two Sicilies, now Citizen Achilles Murat, has undertaken to set right the erroneous notions of travellers We shall transcribe the passage as a specimen of his performance, which, though just such a work as might be expected from the son of a soldier of fortune, cradled in European revolutions, and thrown upon the republicanism of the Southern States,contains, with much flippancy and some inaccuracies, a considerable portion of acceptable information. We need only premise, that the Ex-prince never travelled in the north eastern portion of the United States; that he has only hearsay to guide him in his guesses respecting the people and the state of society in those states; and that he is a warm advocate for the advantages of slavery; like many other republicans who love freedom too well to wish to see it cheapened and thrown away upon the blacks.

Another great distinction observable in the character of the people, is among the inhabitants of the South, of the North-east, of the West, and of the Centre. It is so strong, as to change entirely the aspect of the country.

" The six New England states, Massachusets, Connecticut, New

Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, and Rhode Island, form of themselves a constellation extremely remarkable among the States of the Union. Their interests, their prejudices, their laws, even their follies and very accent are the same. They are what in the rest of the Union we call Yankees; a name which the English have very erroneously extended to all the nation. These six republics are one fraternity. Their industry and capital are immense; they cover the ocean with our flag, and furnish our navy and merchantships with seamen; they have also given birth to many of our greatest men. Their character is very remarkable, and admits of comparison with no other people on the earth. The most gigantic enterprises do not frighten them, nor are they above engaging in those of small detail; all which they conduct with a spirit of order and minuteness quite peculiar to themselves. These men seem born to calculate shillings and pence, but they raise themselves thereby to count by millions, without losing anything of their exactness, or of the littleness of their ordinary views. They betray a shameless avidity after profit, and, like Petit-Jean, candidly tell you,

"Que sans argent honneur n'est qu'une maladie."

This spirit of calculation and avarice is strangely blended with the strict observance of the Sunday, which they call Sabbath, and of all the puritanical practices of the Presbyterian religion, which they have generally adopted. They are in this respect so scrupulous, that a brewer was reproved in church for having brewed on the Saturday, by which the beer had been exposed to work on the Sabbath. They call this morality, which, according to them, consists much more in not swearing, singing, dancing, or walking, on Sunday, than in not making a fraudulent bankruptcy. This species of religious hypocrisy is so natural to them, that the greater number practise it as a thing of course. They glory in calling themselves "the country of steady habits," not because they are more virtuous than other people, but because they assume a contrite air once a week, and eat nothing on Saturdays but cod-fish and apple pies. Boston, their capital, abounds, however, in men of literary eminence: it is the Athens of the Union; it was the cradle of liberty, and produced many of its most zealous champions in the council as well as in the field. Instruction is much more generally diffused there, than in any other part of the world. They possess, in fact, all the elements of greatness, and evince enlarged views, without foregoing anything of that petty spirit of detail which mixes itself with all their proceedings. Everywhere, a Yankee may be recognized by his adroitness in asking questions about what he already knows, by the evasive manner in which he answers questions addressed to himself without ever affirming anything, and particularly by the address with which he manages to eclipse himself when there is something for him to pay. In politics, these six States are united: they vote as one man. Here is the seat of the commercial interest, although since some years, they turn their attention to manufactures also, with the success which accompanies all that they undertake. The country is very populous, very well cultivated, and even in it, the

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