The Colonization herald and general register

              ficraft
AND GENERAL REGISTER.
CONDUCTED BY   THE   PENNSYLVANIA   COLONIZATION  SOCIETY.
WHATSOEVER  YE   WOULD   THAT  MEN  SHOULD   DO  TO   YOU,   DO  YE   EVEN  SO   TO   THEM.
Vol. I.—NEW SERIES.
PIIII-ADEI-PIIIA,  WEDNESDAY,  NOVEMBER   14,   1888
IVO. 4«,
A LECTURE,
Delivered at Philadelphia, on the 13.A April, 1838,
before the Athenian Institute and Mercantile Li¬
brary Company.
ON THE MORAL AND SOCIAL INFLUENCES OF THE AMERI¬
CAN REVOLUTION.
By Job R. Tyson.
The object of the present lecture is to exhibit some
ofthe effects ofthe American Revolution upon America
itself and the world at large. *******
The first colonists of North America, or their early
successors, brought with them from England the seeds
ofthe revolution. They had felt the blessings which
were conferred on Europe by lhe establishment of free
towns. They had drunk in the doctrines of Milton and
Bacon, and wre prepared for the lessons of Sidney,
Fairfax, and Hampden. They had imbibed the whole
epirit of the reformation. Independent, for the most
p.rt, in their fortunes, they were alike removed fiom
nobility and mean bnth. They not only possessed
much ofthe learning of the period, but, in proportion
to their number, a greater amo. at of intelligence than
is to be found in any European nation of the present
day-
It is not necessary to inquire how far the spirit of
the men who were laying the foundations of empire in
the new world contributed to the first revolution in
England—to the royal tragedy of 1648. Cromwell,
and Hampden, and Haselrig, themselves forcibly pre¬
vented by Charles, whom they brought to the block,
from emigrating to Amenca, were animated by the
_ame puritanical fever which raged wilh greater heat
in the American colonies. Il is easy to perceive, in
the events of the new world, the aid which was thence
obtained for the revolution of 1688. The elements
were at work which were silently but effectually to
demoli.-h the time-honoured structure of Rome; and,
in its room, to lay the foundations of that edifice which
was fimlly reared by tie act of settlement.
But the doctrines which brought Charles to the scaf¬
fold, and placed William and Mary upon the English
throne, did not originate in the new world. They
were the effect of circumstances favourable to the de¬
velopment of a principle whose birth was coeval with
the dawn of intellectual light in Europe. It sprang
from the Pandects of Justinian; from the commerce
introduced by the crusades; and was nursed by the
press, that mighty agent of modern civilization. No¬
thing was wanting but the free doctrines of the pilgrim
fathers, and the more beautiful, because more consist¬
ent, institutions of William Penn, to give energy to a
principle which was already perceptible in its influ¬
ence upon mankind.
The settlers, in seeking an asylum from persecution,
had no wish to sever the bonds which connected them
with their native land. No Briton in the "sea-girt
isle," surrounded by the pomp and circumstance of
privileged orders of society, could more stoutly defend
the political institutions of England than the pilgrims
of Plymouth, the founders of Maryland, nnd the com¬
panions of William Penn. They proudly felt them¬
selves a part of
" That happy breed of men, that little world,
That precious gem set in a silver sea."
They had been nurtured in the peculiar forms of a
society which was endeared to them by the ties of an¬
cestry, by the genius which gives effulgence to the
literature of modern Europe, and by those proud
achievements which have encircled, as with a halo,
the page of English history.
But their situation was favourable te the growth of
those germs of liberty, which were kindly plnnted in
their father-land, while it repressed tho.e weeds of
which they had felt the noxious influence. Left alone
in lhe boundless solitude of a new country, their minds
sympathised with lhe untmmnieled freedom of nature,
and expanded with the contemplation of the things
around them. It was here that toleration and lhe sa¬
cred rights of conscience were first proclaimed by Cod-
dington, Williams, Baltimore, and Penn. It was here
those seeds were sown of political equality, which the
destruction of the English rule of primogeniture could
not fail to scatter.
With such elements in America, it required but a
tranquil enjoyment of their new abode, or the least en¬
croachment upon their rights, from England, to sepa¬
rate them for ever from their native home. The smooth
current of their calm existence was at length rippled
and disturbed in its unmurmuring and peaceful flow.
The resistance came from a trifling tax, which was im¬
posed by parliament, without the colonial assent. The
subsidy itself was too contemptible for complaint, but
the act imposing it implied an authority to which they
could not yield a voluntary obedience. It was the as¬
sertion of a principle which was inconsistent with popu¬
lar freedom—a mere abstraction, which, in its effects,
was unseen upon lhe wealth, and unfelt upon the hap¬
piness, ofthe people. The spirit of liberty had been
fostered in a genial atmosphere: sustained and nour¬
ished, it was destined not only to found a new and in¬
dependent empire, but to form an era for sending back
to Europe some of those treasures of wisdom which
6hot up and blossomed amidst the solitudes of the new
world.
The revolution was essentially a contest of doctrine.
It resulted in the triumph of a principle, which, though
imperceptible to visions rendered weak by the sunny
pageantry of courts, and the showy glitter of rank and
title, was still existent, and had long been struggling
for ascendancy. That principle was the sovereignty
of the people at large. The sun ofthe American fir¬
mament, it shines in the centre of the American sys-'
tern, dispensing life and warmth to all within its influ¬
ence, and gilding with its ray a distant horizon.
The first effect produced upon a people who had
emerged from the condition of royal colonists to inde¬
pendent republicans, would be perceptible in their ex¬
ternal manners. The friends of power, accustomed to
a royal prism, which could not detect in a republic the
tints of the rainbow, nor the gaudy colours reflected
through such a medium, have voted us unsightly.
Their glass has had the virtue of a powerful lens, in
magnifying the roughness and distorting the agreeable
forms which lie upon the social surface. But, after
all, need the truth be suppressed] Can it be denied
that 6ome ofthe sons of liberty are distinguished by an
air of independence, not te say a certain swagger,
which does not display its effects in the most captiva¬
ting mode. The sense of freedom indeed betrays it¬
self in uncouth and grotesque forms; often amusing,
and sometimes ridiculous. The anecdotes related by
the Duke of Saxe Weimar, partake of this mingled
yarn.    These burning lights of independence
 " love their land because it is their own,
And scorn to give aught other reason why;
Would 6hake hands with a king upon his throne,
And think it kindness to his majesty."
But say what we will, reason as we may, this im¬
portant demeanour, this rude exhibition of the sense of
liberty, seems to be a natural process in the operation
of popular ideas; and springs from elements which, in
a republic, it would hardly be safe to suppress or con¬
trol. An eminent American, now resident at Paris, ofthe state. As politics is the great highway of hon- '■ national fame, partiality it-elf must admit that little esting and striking aspects than before. Let us then
perceives in the lower classes of the inhabitants less our, all are ambitious of entering ft. In this crowd, active aid has been contributed from the public bounty, briefly examine how these expectations have been ful-
of that pliant ductility which formerly marked every ] the high and the low, if such a classification be ad- Astronomical science yet asks for an observatory, and filled, and what contribution has been made in pay-
order of Frenchmen. Something, said Burke, must be j mitted, are jostling each other. Here no illustrious the national library languishes for want of encourage- ment of the debt, which, as a nation, we owe to the
pardoned to the spirit of liberty. j alliance can promote the success of a candidate. Here  ment.    When we compare the pigmy collections of common cause of science and humanity.
The great ness ofthe change which has been effected  no one Philadelphia and Cambridge, the largest libraries in      The experiment of self-government—that is, the
in the popular manners, may be understood, by com- j        "Stands for fame on his forefather's feet, \fmrn country, with the magnificent cabinets of Paris,   competency ol man to govern himself—was the great
paring the shamefaced and retiring Englishmen of Ca- j jj„ heraldry proved valiant or discreet." | Vienna, London, and many others, it need not be con-   problem which we solemnly engaged, in the eyea of
'-' •'-'•' " Europe and the world, to solve.    We assumed ta is
in adopting a form of government which Mon-
ly tread I seal appendant of moral and intellectual superiority.      ,,,u"em «< ;;™»". °nu sc.ei.ee, our Co.,ec..uuB ouiui  i_«iuieu and other speculative philosophers had de-
Brings from the dust the sound of liberty." I     A contest in which a nation at large form the judges,  embrace all which the want* of the learned student, nounced as impracticable, in a large community.  Hi*
_    •     ■ ' I must he as nnhlir as the tribunal  which oronounces  de,nand-    The life of Columbus, by Irving, a work   tory presented no instance of success in a republic, and
Without manufactures, without commerce, and over-; ^ De " P „'* f -™torJ"„f J certain order ia col deetined to imperishable fame, could not, from the ab- no example whatever, upon the basis of representation,
whelmed by nearly the whole force of that pernicious, ^Sl^^Jsh^ZflkL^inhZm-!* So aT_.iimil _■ ihP ' sence of materials, have been written in America. Mr. In the democracies of Greece, the people were not nu-
and inhuman traffic of the mother country, which, j i^1 2°„1 hl.T 1^ hTnl Id » i»t nn : Whealon coukl not have bro,^ht tf1 completion his ! merous, and the territories were small. They im»
while it desolated Africa, has perpetuated injustice lfJ*^W^25nS«^SmSS from col ' ,earned and e,e?ant history of the Northmen, except bled in a plain, and performed these acts of legislation,
here, our manners and our fortunes were alike provin-!, ia'Kers- J ne *inP'in? J"°. £__«__• *hp ' f in Europe. The admirable work on Ferdinand and which, in larger and more populous districts, could on-
cial. Canada enjoys many advantages, and is exempt-1 "fVj* ^^"Ih^^ZJl .2Uho __rt__rT.h._w i I*"bella, by Mr. Prescott. though written on this side ly have been accomplished through the agency ef re¬
ed from various burthens to which we were exposed ]***** SffSffJlrl S^i^L^ £L £!__!_. H. I ofthe Atlantic, was chiefly dependant for its materials   presentativee
paring Ihe shamefaced and retiring J__nglishmen ot Ca-           jj„ heraldry proved valiant or discreet."                 | Vienna, lxmdon, and many others, it need not be con- proble
nada, wilh the upright mien and lofty port ofthe free- j No              f  ^j,.     -n recognisedt except that which  f.ea,ed that *• na,ionaI r*j*» ****** a w°und-   .'■ a11 ,E^
born citizens ofthe United States:                                  has ^ conferred by bountiful nature, with the great  *** var,ous Apartments of history, (except domestic) task i
" Men whose stately tread                                     I seal appendant of moral and intellectual superiority.     ■ modern Ut*n*a™; and 6C,er'ce< ourL c,» lec,:oJn8 do"ot *****
by the prevalence of a less liberal and enlightened po- I donin£ bis easel and his studio, have been known to  §n jf      (j   r
licy.    The people were ambitious of grandeur, without ; W th,s obJect ■ temporary devotion.
the means of supporting it.    They longed for the arti- >    'B"1 what 18 *he kmd of cultivation which an art so
ficial distinctions of the old world."   They sympathised j much practised receives]    Does the oratorical aspi-
in its feelings-adopted its sentiments-imitated its ™nt> l»ke Demosthenes, form his manner and fashion
example.    All these are now only the dim and shadowy '' h,s sty.,e by lhe diligent study and tre
pageants of the past; the reminiscences of a day which jtlon ot a 8'reR.t model ? . Doe? he' }}**
belongs to history. * | necessary to
In a country of such vast geographical extent, the | _.ar>t Jearnin
mott striking differences of character and custom must! wnicn nereq....... , .....     ._-,_. now undent
prevail.    The two extremes of society, at the east and I,he bench ^fore whlch *)* Prices h.s frothy decla-1 >
the west, are distinguished by opposing contrarieties. ™tlon> ,s a [oarin? and tumultuous town meeting.
In the west, an English traveller thus writes to his cor-' 'he ernPtV- dinWess, no less than the general in-
respondent of an evening parly. " We have just re- \ elegance ofour declaimers, is a theme of standing re¬
turned," says he, "from an American ball, fatigued ■ Proncn •
wilh impertinence, and wet with spittle." Highly " To thump, not reason, their whole force they bend,
wrought and fanciful as the description may appear, we   And all their sense is at their fingers' end."
The government of the United States,
therefore, presents the example of a political structure,
The library of Philadelphia is upwards of a century   which, in its extent and machinery, is wholly new.   It
old.    Its late highly intelligent librarianf computes the ( is daring en ugh to challenge a prototype in the long
_     present number of volumes at 46,000; a number ex-   history of ages.    In an age of paganism or ignorance,
d"freqnen"'tea'nscrio-1 ceedmg'' " 's true' any other library on this side of the . without the aids of the press, and the enlightening
Cicero deem it! Atlantic, but nol commensurate with the growing ; influence of Christianity, 6iich an effort would have
pwarus of /UU.utru vol- oeen me resuns. ii lias qi
umes! The British Museum, founded long since the | in every department of life. It has given to it tho
establishmentof the Philadelphia Library, now amounts I wholesome direction of a more ardent pursuit after
to 240,000 volumes. The value of a library, it is true, j new and beneficial truths. It has turned the attcnti. n
does not depend upon its numerical superiority alone; , of the human mind from the busy idleness of a vain
but there is no doubt, from the bibliographical know- j erudition, into channels more conducive to sound sei-
ledge which guards the Royal Library of Paris, and lence, and the exaltation of the human race.
the British Museum, that the excellence of their con-)     Let us mark the course of this principle, in its on-
recognise in it such a likeness to the original as be-j     Louis XII. was once heard to complain, that the (tents is in proportion to their number. j ward movement, and trace its diffusive and beautiful
ongs to extravagant caricature.    The lineaments of| cause  of  his  growing gray,   was  the   long-winded I     It becomes a wise and  enlightened  people, intent [career in this country and abroad.    Religious freed« m
the picture may be tiue, but the colouring is gross. I
shall nol stay to describe the social peculiarities of our
oriental countrymen. The east most indeed be a hard
subject, which could catch no roseate hue from that
pencil whose creations decked in fanciful splendour
even the sorry realities of the islands of Loo Choo.
Such pictures of lhe national habits remind one of the
portraiture given of Muscat, by a British officer, as de¬
picted by Sir John Malcom, in his Sketches of Persia,
speeches te which he had been doomed to listen. If
long speeches may produce such an effect, the Ameri¬
can nation should be the most grizzled people under the
sun. Our senators and legislators, our convention-men
and judges, our jurors, and the sovereign people them¬
selves, should all be as hoary as badgprs. Unmeaning
verbiage and idle circumlocution are the crying evils
of the land. But let it not be forgotten, that amid this
profusion  of windy   haranguers, we may name an
The ship having touched at Muscat, the commander   Ames, a Patrick Henry, a Pinckney, a Wirt, beside
called for the account which each officer was required, | many illustrious cotemporaries, as worthy of proud
by a rule of the admiralty, to give ofthe people, when
a reluctant tar presented the following graphic deline¬
ation : " The inhabitants of Muscat.—As for man¬
ners, they'have none; and their customs are very
beastly."
Without discussing the social diversities which pre¬
vail in different parts of the confederacy, I will seize
upon features which are common alike to all. We
may discern in the somewhat rugged outlines of the
niches in the great temple of oratory; men who, by
the commanding power and brilliancy of their elo¬
quence, would confer honour upon pny nation of an¬
cient or modern times.
It was not likely that a society composed of such
men as emigrated to this country, would long permit
science to be in its cradle. Every thing around them,
indeed, invited to practical labour. The deep forests
and the glassy streams spoke a language which could
social landscape, one gentler spot upon which Ihe eye   not be misunderstood.    But no sooner had the austeri
may rest with pleasure. It is a trait in the American
character, which belongs rather to a chivalric and po¬
etic, than to a plodding and commercial age. Let the
boorish Gel man and lhe _.o!fish Briton complain ofthe
inconveniences and privations which it imposes. Let
the great chimpion of female rights herself inveigh
against its influence  upon the sex, while she felt, at
ties of nature assumed the more pleasing garb of cul¬
tivation, and were made capable of ministering to con¬
venience, than money gave up tosciei _e a part of that
dominion which slio had previously -_.i,joj-c«J. Ov~r
this little principality, the powers of theology and verse
disputed for a time the palm of empire. The rule
which theology asserted, was marked by copious effu
upon a high destiny, to adopt the means necessary to I was too intimately blended with political liberty, to be
subserve it. It was one evidence of decay, that in a | overlooked in the category of human rights. A free-
luxurious age ofthe Roman empire, the reading of Re-; born conscience demanded that religion should be puii-
man senators was confined to Marius Maximus and \ fied from the taint of intolerance, and that no man
Juveml. In a country in which native energy has not i should be excluded from office, nor rest under civil dis-
been debilitated hy luxury; where mind, untrammeled, {ability, on account of his religious belief. The princi-
roves with perpetual activity, explores new regions of j pies of Coddington, Williams, Baltimore, and Penn,
thought, and penetrates new sources of truth and in- j were at once engrafted into the constitution of the go-
telligence; where every man is a reader, and all have I vernment established at the revolution. They found
a keen appetite for knowledge; the means should be in their adopted trunk a soil prepared for their
multiplied commensurately with its importance and reception. They sent forth their heaven directed
necessity. Without dwelling longer upon a theme branches high into the air—offering to the bereav-
which might be amplified by eo many reflections, it is ed and outcast sectary, of every creed, a shade and
enough to say, that no act would confer higher lite- security from the heats of persecution. What but
rary glory upon the United States, than adding to the j these have removed tbe legal burthens of the Jews in
treasures of its public library.    The government of Maryland, and the catholics in North Carolina 1  What
but  these  were the means of proclaiming protestant
emancipation in France, and  more recently, catholic
vcry step of her American pilgrimage, its humanizing j sions of ink, if not of blood. A close and cautious spi-
off-cts. It is too nearly connected with manly virtue I rjt of investigation succeeded. We are indebted to
«nd native generosity, ever to be lost or neglected. I this spirit for such a benefactor as Godfrey. To this,
allude to tho respect which, in America, is ever and at  and the superadded impulsion of a subsequent age, we
all times paid to woman. The American will cherish
this spirit of courtesy, as a distinctive quality, as a no¬
ble characteristic. Without aspiring to tbe extrava¬
gant romance of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia, he may
bp ever ready to contend, with generous ardour, for the
rights and honour of his countrywomen.
With many estimable points in the national man
are to ascribe a Rittenhouse and a Franklin; men
whom no situation but that in which they were placed,
and no institutions but those of America, could have
fostered and formed. The genius of these men bore
upon it the impress of their birth-place. The authors
ofthe planetarium and electricity, not to mention the
maxims of Poor Richard, were the spontaneous growth
France requires a copy to be deposited in the Royal
Library of every work which is issued from the press,
throughout the kingdom. A similar regulation ob¬
tains in Austria and Russia, for the benefit of the royal
libraries of Vienna and St. Petersburg!). From the
operation of so wise and salutary a provision, these li¬
braries are monuments of honour and renown to those
despotic  nations.    The  British Museum, which has
prov»_, ,,j Pnglnnd. the {_-re"t. nt.reery of iverit, the
light of genius, the ladder to eminence, has been fos¬
tered by the same liberali'y, aided by the direct muni¬
ficence of tee sovereign. Congress has already pur¬
chased the papers of Washington and Madison. It
could present adequate inducements to private persons
for the opening of their private cabinets, in which are
emancipation in Great Britain ; and exciting in the
latter kingdom the late, though unsuccessful attempt
in behalf of the Jews? What but these have pro¬
claimed religious freedom in the kingdom of Denmark,
and the cantons of Switzerland ? And what but these
are sundering the fetters imposed by bigotry and su¬
perstition in other parts of Europe?
From the recognition of political and religious liber¬
ty, as the proper attribute of man, it might be inferred
that the destruction of legal servitude would follow.
But that burthen, which was imposrd by Elizabeth, has
not been rrmoved in the age of Victoria. Though the
ncclaim  of "universal  emancipation,"   which   burst
ners, it cannot be denied that our vain-glory and im- j of the American soil, cherished and nurtured by the
patience under censmre are excessive. The gibes of a j genial spirit ofour home-bred institutions. But apart
vulgar Englishman inflict as much pain as if they were from physical science, nature had placed before the
the offspring of correct judgment and informed criti- learned of America a subject of enquiry peculiarly its
cism. It is said that certain medals and dull jests, in- own. The minds of antiquarians were called into ac-
rented in the United Provinces against Louis XIV., \ tion respecting the antiquities and former condition of
deposited those documents which are so material toil- from these shores, has resounded in the dull ears of
lustrate our national history, and transmit our national j despotic Austria, and penetrated to distant India, the
fame. It could enact a law similar to these which nnomaly of existing bondage is exhibited under the
augment the libraries of France and England, Austria freest form of government, and amidst the contagion
and Russia. It could enrich the present collection by j of the most liberal ideas, which prevail upon earth,
a purchase now offered to its acceptance, of tbe great- i Aside from other considerations, it offers to the philo-
est treasure of one of lhe greatest bibliopolists of this;sophic mind a subject for reflection, under the weight
bibliolhecal age. of which philosophy herself must  stagger.    It shows
But the principle adopted nt the revolution his not  at least how hard it is, by the mere potency of an ab-
mcrely produced a superficial change in the manners stract doctrine, however aided by policy and humanity,
led to the celebrated expedition of that monarch in
1672; and had nearly been the cause of their ruin.
The United States may instance more dull jests from
British teurists than Louis had to complain of. But
thanks to their sharp-sighted and active ill-nature, we
have been made to perceive peculiarities and imper¬
fections in our social state, of which we had not before
discovered the existence.
America has nothing so much to avoid as the adop-
the American continent. They were to explore the
descent, languages, and original state of that remark¬
able race whom our ancestors found in possession of
this country. Nature herself had committed this sub¬
ject to our assiduity and care. As oppression and ra¬
pacity were fast hurrying this devoted race into the
grave, it became us, as an intellectual nation, at least
to gather the scattered and mutilated fragments of
their history, so as to inscribe upon their tomb an in
of the people. It has not only imparted a new com
plexion to literature, and given a new impulse te sci¬
ence. Its effects are deeper and more pervading. An
idea so highly deemed, one which has been preserved
from age to age, though occasionally obscured by un-
propitious accidents, should be distinguished by bene¬
fits corresponding to its high estimation. Let us take
a rapid glance at the blessings it has conferred, and
trace its extended and manifold agency in our own and
in distant lands,
to break down the prejudices which have been nursed
by time, and strengthened by interest. Though the
early and signal effort of colonial Pennsylvania to abol¬
ish the slave trade, in 1712, and that of South Carolina,
in 1760, were frustrated by the cupidity of the British
merchants; yet the effect of the great idea adopted at
the revolution, was soon afterwards felt. The slave
trade was carried on in England with unexampled ra¬
pacity, and under tbe protecting guardianship of her
laws, at a time when Pennsylvania abolished servitude
The state of Europe, at the period of the American itself.    In surveying lhe progressive effects ofthe doc
revolution, is too well known to require elucidation, trines of the revolution, it should not be forgotten, that
On the continent, despotism was personified in the so- in eleven years after that epoch, was formed a memo-
vereigns, and servitude in the people. Political writers rable association, by whose benevolent instrumentality
declaimed about liberty in the abstract; but popular the African slave trade was uprooted in Great Britain.
equality was not supposed to constitute a part of ration- Notwithstanding the power of this combination, and
al freedom.  Religion, over all Europe, wore the frown- the determined vigour by which it was animated—an
ing aspect of intolerance.    That atrocity, known as tbe union composed of the friends of freedom and humani-
African slave trade, received the countenance and
favour of princes. In France, Portugal, and Spain, the
dogma of divine right sustained the supremacy of royal
power; and the selfishness and ambition of kings were
upheld, under the plea of state policy or state necessity,
by the tender mercies of the inquisition. The doctrines
of jurisprudence were perplexed by the subtlety of
feudal dialectics; and the very forms of legal proceed¬
ing, embarrassed by conflicting authorities, or confound¬
ed by opposing principles, were more intricate and com¬
plicated  than   the  ultimate  question  to be decided.
barous age, famous at least as the parent of modern
duelling, was permitted to deform the boasted system
of English law.    Europe presented, in her penal codes,
ty in America and Europe—it eluded their pursuit, and
resisted their perseverance, for a period of twenty
years! Such a truth conveysa mortifying but impres¬
sive lesson. How great must have been the tenacity
of interest—how dull the insensibility of habit, to re¬
quire a period of twenty years to abolish a traffic,
which is now, by the united voice of civilised 618166'
denounced as inhuman, and punished as piratical!
The natural aliment of that freedom which the na¬
tional independence secured, is intelligence among the
people.    Knowledge is not merely the parent of liber-
Wager of Battel," that barbarous remnant of a bar-  ty, but constituting an element of its nature, is as es
sential to its existence as the air is to animal life. The
child of mental light, epch new idea must impart to it
nourishment and strength; and its growth must be in
tion of modes unsuited to her habits, and uncongenial | telligent epilaph. Without disparagement to the
with her situation ; modes which are recommended by j learned labours of a Bertram, the writersof the Mithri-
no taste, but that arbitrary one which depends upon j dates, a Heckewelder, a Pickering, a Cass, a Schnol-
tl.e ever changing and capricious mutability of foreign j craft, and a Gallatin, il may be said that it was reserved
fashion. That system of society is always the most j for a venerable citizen of Philadelphia* to penetrate
agreeable, which springs out of circumstances, and is I the labyrinths of this intricate subject; and by it to add
the natural and unforced giowth of the soil in which I one ofthe brightest leaves to the American bays,
it flourishes. To all cavillers at the peculiarities ofj In the department of polite and elegant literature,
our social state, let us at least be able to make one re- native genius has imparted celebrity to spots, even in
ply, that it is our own. Let it have the merit of re- ; the new world of America. The original genius of
fleeting the true condition ofthe national mind; let it 1 Cooper, the inimitable pen of Irving, the beautiful page
be devoid of false or fanciful pretensionp. While this ! of Bryant, have made the scenes of their descriptions
system is polished to the highest refinement of which ] classic ground. Bancroft and Sparks are doing for our
social intercourse is capable, let it he American. As | history and historical names, what those are achieving
a nation, we have a right to this system. It forms a I in the walks of external society and external nature.
part of that conquest which was achieved at the revo- | We are not old enough to point the literary pilgrim to
lution; it belongs to our individuality; it springs from j the mouldering tombs of a Westminster Abbey. The
our independence. axe with which our forests have been felled, is still in
If we go beyond the surface of the American charac- ! the hands of the wood-chopper. His sturdy strokes may
ter, an unrestrained impetuosity of action is discover- J almost be heard amid the noise of our cities, which
able. We perceive this feature in the destructive fury | they have 60 lately contributed to build. They are
of an excited multitude, in the frequent commission of j only silenced by lhe greater din of busy life, which ex-
passionate homicide, and the still more frequent occur- ; igency or enterprise has called into being, in spots
rence ofthe duel, that shocking relic of an unenlight- j wheie nature reigned in majestic wildnees and prime-
ened age. Causes greatly inadequate, and often frivo- val solitude. But young as is the country, in its physi-
looa, have led to such disasters. But what shall we cal state, the materials are at hand to form a system
say to a fatal rencontre with bowie knives, in the very of literature, which shall at once be new and im-
hall of a state legislature, and the deadly use of lhe J proved.
rifle, by members of congress? Such enormities do j A national literature does not imply an abandon-
deeper injury to republican institujions, and more vi- ment of those masters of the human heart, who have
tally affect the national character, than the wittiest' traced, with pencils of genius and truth, the great fea-
sarcasm against the homeliness of our domestic so- j tures of human nature. The literature of Rome em-
eiely. J bellished and refined, while it imitated, that of Greece. I
It is much to be retrretted, that a practice so repug- The polite learning of modern Europe is largely in- But Europe had something to expect from a country I . J,"u HOU,'""s U1 iiiisiiicmai uu.uvauon may be found
nant to every principle of sound ethics and good citi- i debted to both, for its elegance and nature. Pope and j „pon which she had bestowed all the benignant influ-! " V . mun.ncenceot me puduc provisions for schools,
zenship, is not branded with indelible odium.   But it : Thompson are suns formed by the converging rays of; ences of her genius, refinement, and knowledge. The j a nJ ™ tJ SJHlT.^ com" i_L fc newsPaPers
cannot be concealed, that while a mortal rencontre is ; less distinguished luminaries Genius cannot be im- j world had something to hope from the recognition of a i """^j ancj e f_rr_red' loa1™™." J™. k*V^U? en
deplored, and the survivor is execrated, the man who ; paired of its gifts, by pondering the fair forms which | new principle, on a new theatre. It might naturally Jm^ °^ _ Daranei fn lnv "fi^ e" t-° W"1C" * ls vam
declines a challenge is persecuted as unmanly, and ' genius itself has created. The fire which was lighted j be expected that human nature, incited by more power- m."_ ee curJQ us t0DiCs of boctl ~* F '°n °*\ne globe,
charged with cowardice.    But we need not despair, i by Prometheus, may be kept alive by the torches of, fijl motives of action, surrounded by new objects, and _ , P _„-.:_. hfSS ?rKlmry which do not
The »mrrt- as well as the literary schoolmaster is Homer and Virgil, of Milton and Shakspeare. America j less shackled bv the restraints and prejudices of older! J " " } „vp pmnlnvpl h fC"e or ^f8'exaltat»on
abroad. Mobs and duels cannot withstand the potency owes it to herself and to mankind, that her system of! systems of society, would exhibit itself in more inter-! 2L™~"' **, ee * P',£; , 2 eup<?rficial attention,
of his influence.    The force of opinion, that tremend-. letters should be her own.   As a mirror, it should re-1  J l *l ***?,S    , A!ner,ca_™ve been exerted in the for-
ous engine, which, in this country, overpowers every  fleet American^ manners; it should embody American |    t George Campbell, Esq., whose scrupulous accuracy | j^SuTllu^!2iZTT( vice n'ni  "r. "i indu£try—in
.    .     i .1,1        ... . ,       .. i .......... i __gajr„.
appreciation of thei
which cannot be silenced,
a spectacle of cruelty, only equalled by the remorseless! exact proportion to the inlets of science. If science
spirit in which they were administered. I be erroneous |or impure, so must that essence be die-
Morality and virtue could scarcely flourish in a soil j eased or healthy, which depends upon it for vitality
so unpropitious to their vegetation.    France, during | and nurture.
the reigns of Louis the Fourteenth and Fifteenth, pre-1 Perhaps no country can present a population more
eented the lowest condition of moral feeling which can intelligent and informed, than the United States. No
characterize a nation at large. In the eloquent Ian- longer confined to the professed scholar, or cloistered
guage of Sir James Mackintosh, a great part of that clerk, knowledge is distributed over the community
period was "the consummation of whatever was af- j with the undistinguishing profusion ofthe breath of
flicting and degrading in the history of the  human ! heaven:
race."    "On the recollection of such scenes," says he, I    ., IIer handmaid, Art, now all our wilds explores
" I blush, 8s a scholar, for the prostitution of letters;!
as a man, I blush for the patience of humanity
Traces our waves, and cultures all our shores.'
have agitated the
and party spirit shall repose from its load of violence
and crimination. * It need hardly be said that reference is here made
One of the effects of universal liberty is, to make  to Mr. Du Ponceau, whose learned labours are uni-
every man a politician, since each citizen forms a part [ versally known.
"climated
never once absent from his post. See " Notes for fl I visions ot speculation, so fruitful ef commotion, anar-
History of the Library Company of Philadelphia,"]™^ a^d„mlsrule-    In the poetical language of Den-
by John J. Smith, Jr., Esq., the present librarian.       J nam, may