societies name their own magistrates, their officers of justice and police, put themselves in a state of defence against the Indians, and make their own regulations, to which they render an exemplary obedience. One of these associations, composed of three hundred families, took possession of a district lying on the borders of the Red River; the new society had not to encounter the weakness of infancy; it possessed from the beginning the vigour of mature age, and, a few years after its establishment, it became part of one of the new states.

It may be remarked, in reading the acts which have emanated from congress during a period of thirty years, that they have seldom for their object the old states of the Union. The names of some of them do not occur a single time. Firmly established on imperishable foundations, they have only occasion for local laws, and even these are not numerous. Their constitutions being formed, and their fundamental principles well consolidated, the protection of congress is no longer necessary to the old states. On the other hand, it is constantly occupied with those new communities, which have been founded to the east and west of the Mississippi, since the general peace of 1783. At first districts, then territories, and at length admitted to the rank of states, they enjoy all the rights of the old members of the confederacy. Until they have attained their strength, it is necessary that congress should guide them, instruct them and defend them from their own errors; and, as its authority is only exercised for their advantage, it rarely encounters any obstacles. From

whence, indeed, could resistance arise? These new communities are not like ancient or modern colonies formed by a superabundant population, of which the mother country wished to relieve herself, by sending it beyond the seas to people desert or savage countries. The new states that are formed exist by themselves and for themselves, without being subjected to the state from which the emigration proceeded, and without alarming it by their complaints and their insurrections. The system called colonization is at an end. It would be vain to attempt new enterprises of this sort. No people are either sufficiently rich or sufficiently powerful at sea to imitate what the English have done in New Holland, and the settlements which other nations would form there would only have with Europe the relations of commerce and navigation, not those of political subjection. To attempt at this day to found dependent colonies, is to waste, without advantage, human life and public treasure. Year after year, however, these attempts are prolonged, and the fear of admitting that we have been deceived might have prolonged them indefinitely, if the United States had not declared that they could not hereafter approve such attempts in America.

France, England, and Spain have all of them in turn, through jealousy, prevented the rival nation from founding new colonies. War was near breaking out in 1770, on account of the Falkland Islands, and more recently on the subject of Nootka Sound. It was tacitly agreed that these countries should remain desert. The Ame

ricans, more just and more powerful in these regions, wish that they should be peopled, and they proclaim, at the same time, with a sort of authority, and perhaps with too much haughtiness, that they will not henceforth suffer any European colony to be established in the new world. Thus another Europe, a Europe truly free, rises up in this vast continent; and, before the end of a century, the United States will count one hundred millions of inhabitants of the white race. Whether they remain united in one single confederacy or separate into several, the forms of government which they have adopted do not leave any opportunity for ambitious aggrandizement, and the wisdom of their laws will preserve among them a friendly understanding. If Europe must lose her pre-eminence, she can never lose the many treasures of science and intelligence which centuries have accumulated. It depends on the people and on their rulers to retain advantages which will not be inferior to those of any people of the world. They will be retained, if, instead of repelling the advantages of a just liberty, we only avoid its extravagance and licentiousness; to effect which, education wisely and universally diffused throughout the nation is the most certain means.

There is not one of the American constitutions which does not contain provisions relative to education and the advancement of science. Commissioners, chosen by the inhabitants, superintend the education of youth. They with pleasure see them instructed by a master, who has a wife and children, and who teaches them by

his example to become one day good heads of families. They have avoided, with great care, confiding them exclusively to military men, to lawyers, or to priests. They believe that to form useful citizens, it is proper that a young man should enter into society without factitious inclinations, without prejudices, and free to choose the profession to which his taste and natural capacity incline him.

Their legal code was originally drawn from that of ( England. They have not yet entirely removed the confusion with which huge commentaries have embarrassed the distribution of justice in the mother country. They are, however, engaged in this reform, and even now their laws no where offer any traces of feudality. The rights of confiscation, of primogeniture, the disabilities on the inheritance of aliens exist no more.. There are no longer advantages accorded to men to the prejudice of women in the distribution of family

estates.

The law once promulgated, the tribunals have not to fear either the influence of the legislative or executive power. Oral evidence, which the laws of other countries only admit with a great deal of caution, is very much used in the United States. It is not observed that any abuses result from it, and this respect for the declaration of a witness, who has taken an oath to tell the truth, is a homage rendered to the national probity.

The general constitution and those of all the states prohibit with great care the granting of any titles of

nobility. There are, in fact, in the United States, no institutions which distinguish certain hereditary classes, and yet it would not be rigorously true to say that they do not acknowledge high descent. There are in the country several families, settled there at a remote period, who are known by their hereditary merits. It is never in vain that citizens have recourse to the counsels and assistance of these patricians. Their virtues are revered, and a homage is paid without difficulty to a nobility, which consists in services rendered to individuals and to the republic. The names are important, so long as the children preserve the high qualities of their fathers. It is on this condition that all the good which their race has done is carried to their account. If they forget the duties which their eminent standing imposes on them, they fall lower than those who had never been thus distinguished; and other citizens, the names of whose ancestors are unknown, become equal in reputation to the most illustrious men of their time.* Such is nobility in America, and it has in it nothing that offends the principles of equality. This exception is the work of those, who, in abolishing the nobility of birth, have preserved that of virtue.

At the opening of a session of the legislature in one of the recently formed states, the governor addressed the following words to a numerous auditory:†

* Nam genus et proavos et quæ non fecimus ipsi Vix ea nostra voco!

OVID. Metam. lib. xiii.

† Our author is mistaken as to the source from whence the extract in the text is derived. It is taken from a speech delivered by Judge Story, in the Massachusetts convention of 1820.-TRANSL.