it is there every where a real sentiment, is more especially a sentiment of habit; all the ardour of the moment is employed about the means of speedily improving worldly prosperity; and hence results the chief cause of the entire calm of the Americans, respecting every thing which is not, according to this constitution of their minds, either a medium or an obstacle."

The next pages are occupied in stating very accurately the kind of connection between the English and American merchants, the reasons of the preference given by the latter to the former, and the extreme difficulty of interrupting or dissolving relations of this nature, when once contracted. He takes care however to put his hearers upon their guard against supposing us under the political domination of England, and is led to make some remarks on our national character. Here we must indulge ourselves with a long

extract.

"Let us take care, however, in thus considering the Americans in a single point of view, not to judge of them individually with too much severity. As individuals, we may find amongst them the seeds of every social quality; but as a people newly constituted, and formed of different elements, their national character is not yet decided. Doubtless they remain English from ancient habit; but perhaps also because they have not yet had time to become completely Americans. It has been observed that their climate is not yet formed; their character is still less so.

"If we consider those populous cities filled with English, Germans, Irish, and Dutch, as well as with their indigenous inhabitants; those remote towns, so distant from one another; those vast uncultivated tracts of soil, traversed rather than inhabited by men who belong to no country; what common bond can we conceive in the midst of so many incongruities? It is a novel sight to the traveller, who, setting out from a principal city, where society is in perfection, passes in succession through all the degrees of civilization and industry, which he finds constantly growing weaker and weaker, until in a few days he arrive at a misshapen and rude cabin, formed of the trunks of trees lately cut down. Such a journey is a sort of practical and living analysis of the origin of people and states; we set out from the most compounded mixture, to arrive at the most simple ingredients; at the end of every day we lose sight of some of those inventions which our wants, as they have increased, have rendered necessary; and it appears as if we travelled backwards in the history of the progress of the human mind. If such a sight lays a strong hold upon the imagination; if we please ourselves by finding in the succession of space what appears to belong only to the succession of time, we must make up our minds to behold but few social connections, and no common character, amongst men who appear so little to belong to the same association.

"In many districts the sea and the woods have formed fishermen, and woodcutters. Now such men, properly speaking, have no country; and their social morality is reduced within a very small compass. It has long ago been said that man is the disciple of that which surrounds him; and it is true. Hence he whose bounds are circumscribed by nothing but deserts, cannot receive lessons with regard to the social comforts of life. The idea of the need which men have one of another does not exist in him; and it is merely by decomposing the trade which he exercises, that one can find out the principles of his affections, and the sum of his morality.

"The American woodcutter does not interest himself in any thing; every sensible idea is remote from him. Those branches so agreeably disposed by nature; beautiful foliage; the bright colour which enlivens one part of the wood; the darker green which gives a melancholy shade to another; these things are nothing to him; he pays them no attention; the number of strokes of his axe required to fell a tree fills all his thoughts. He never planted; he knows not the pleasures of it. A tree of his own planting would be good for nothing, in his estimation; for it would never, during his life, be large enough to fell. It is by destruction that he lives; he is a destroyer wherever he goes. Thus every place is equally good in his eyes; he has no attachment to the spot on which he has spent his labour; for his labour is only fatigue, and is unconnected with any idea of pleasure. In the effects of his toil he has not witnessed those gradual increases of growth, so captivating to the planter; he

regards not the destination of his productions; he knows not the charm of new attempts; and if, in quitting the abode of many years, he does not by chance forget his axe, he leaves no regret behind him.

"The vocation of an American fisherman begets an apathy, almost equal to that of the woodcutter. His affections, his interest, his life, are on the side of that society to which it is thought that he belongs. But it would be a prejudice to suppose that he is a very useful member of it. For we must not compare these fishermen to those of Europe, and think that the fisheries, here are, like them, a nursery for seamen. In America, with the exception of the inhabitants of Nantucket, who fish for whales, fishing is an idle employment. Two leagues from the coast, when they have no dread of foul weather, a single mile when the weather is uncertain, is the sum of the courage which they display; and the line is the only instrument with whose use they are practically acquainted. Thus their knowledge is but a trifling trick; and their action, which consists in constantly hanging one arm over the side of the boat, is little short of idleness. They are attached to no place; their only connection with the land is by means of a wretched house which they inhabit. It is the sea that affords them nourishment; hence a few codfish, more or less, determine their country. If the number of these seems to diminish in any particular quarter, they emigrate, in search of another country, where they are more abundant. When it was remarked, by some political writers, that fishing was a sort of agriculture, the remark was brilliant, but not solid. All the qualities, all the virtues, which are attached to agriculture, are wanting in the man who lives by fishing. Agriculture produces a patriot in the truest acceptation of the word; fishing can alone succeed in forming a cosmopolite.

"I have, perhaps, dwelt too long on a sketch of these manners; it may seem foreign to this memoir; and yet it completes the object of it; for I had to prove that it was not merely by reason of their origin, of their language, and of their interest, that the Americans so constantly find themselves to be Englishmen; an observation which applies more especially to the inhabitants of the cities. When I cast my eyes upon those people wandering amongst the woods, upon the shores of the sea, and by the banks of the rivers, my general observation was strengthened, with regard to them, by that indolence and want of a native character, which renders this class of Americans more ready to receive and to preserve the impression of a foreign one. Doubtless the latter of these causes will grow weaker, and even disappear altogether, when the constantly increasing population shall, by the cultivation of so many desert lands, have brought the inhabitants nearer together. As for the other causes, they have taken such deep root, that it would, perhaps, require a French establishment in America to counteract their ascendancy with any hopes of success, Undoubtedly such a political project should not be overlooked; but it does not belong to the subject of this memoir."

The brilliancy of this description prevents us from cavilling at all the inaccuracies it contains. The portrait of the woodcutter has just exaggeration enough to make it picturesque; and it is applicable to that intermediate class of people between savage and civilized life, that regularly precedes the permanent settlements on our frontiers. But the description of the American fisherman, which was intended as a companion picture to the woodcutter, is so totally devoid of truth, that even the brilliance of the colouring will not prevent us from considering it a mere fancy piece. It forms a remarkable instance of the caution necessary to all travellers, when so intelligent an observer as Talleyrand has been so grossly mistaken.

The great abundance of fish on our shores makes it unnecessary to resort to many of the modes adopted by European fishermen to catch their prey for the daily consumption of their luxurious cities. The small boats which are occupied in the fishery along the shores of Massachusetts Bay, he appears to have thought comprehended the whole of our efforts; and that the great capital of men and vessels, employed on the banks of Newfoundland, in a life of almost

unequalled hardship, does not furnish a school for seamen, though in fact it is one of the most valuable nurseries in the world. This errour becomes the more remarkable, since, if he had been writing on the subject in his cabinet, without ever having visited our shores, by recurring to the records of his own department he would naturally have inferred the great importance of the Newfoundland fishery, by the earnest, though unavailing efforts his government made to deprive us of it.

That hardy class of citizens, of whom so many generations have adhered to the rocks of Marblehead, or the sands of Cape Cod, would be surprised at being called cosmopolites, and told "that a few codfish, more or less, determine their country." We should almost be willing to suspect, that the prince of Benevento had penned this description from sheer vexation at being deprived of his favourite turbot, by the negligence of our fishermen; and as we have heard it asserted that this fish really exists on our shores, we are willing to admit the truth of his picture, if he will confine it to those fishermen who supply our daily markets.

We are here told, that "all the qualities, all the virtues, which are attached to agriculture, are wanting in the man who lives by fishing. Agriculture produces a patriot in the truest sense of the word; fishing can alone succeed in forming a cosmopolite." These sentiments are fashionable, and, coming from a man like our author, merit attention. It is not our object to inquire into the motives of those who use this kind of cant about the virtues exclusively attached to the pursuit of agriculture; whether, like the descriptions of spring, it was borrowed from the ancients, who inhabited a different climate, and flourished in a different state of society; or whether it is not a remnant of common place language, very just before the invention of the mariner's compass, and the discovery of America, when society was composed of soldiers and peasants? A discussion of these points would lead us into a wide digression, equally beyond our limits and the patience of our readers; but we cannot omit a few of the most prominent reflections that present themselves.

It is quite natural in France, where all the occupations connected with commerce are held in contempt, to consider the holders of land as a superiour class, and the cultivators of it as the most useful body to the state. A despotick government occupies the landed interest in various posts and places of a civil and military capacity, and others have them under their control; while the peasantry are the never failing source of recruits for the army. This state of things was only a modification of the feudal establishment; for the proud, barbarous, tyrannical spirit of that ancient system of Europe, looked down with contempt and distrust upon those occupations created by commerce, whose superiour wealth and activity were continually tending to make individuals independent of its power.

This feeling has been considerably modified in every part of Europe, but no where so remarkably as in England. Still there is a conflict between old modes of thinking and expression, and the modern state of things. The time was, when the landed interest in every nation, was every thing, and all other interests nothing. Commerce has changed the face of society in this respect, and must con

tinue to produce most beneficial changes. The state of the world, as now modified, will not admit, except in despotick countries, that every occupation but that of tiller of the earth shall be held in contempt. Look at the actual situation of prosperous countries, to what do they owe their wealth, their prosperity, and their independence? What was Florence, when she was governed by merchants? What was Holland, when her commerce was flourishing? What is Great Britain now? In civilization and refinement, in all the arts and charities that embellish and support society, are our commercial states inferiour to our agricultural ones? We dislike the practice, we deprecate the effects of establishing one class of citizens above another. In a free country they have all equal claims to respect, and equal incitements to obtain it. When sacrifices are to be made to the pubiick good, and national burthens to be borne, we should calculate with as much certainty on the publick spirit of the merchant, as on that of the planter; and when our country is to be defended, he who will not confide as much in the fisherman to encounter the invader before he reaches the shore, as on the ploughman to meet him after he has landed, is ignorant of the character of the former. "As for the other causes, they have taken such deep root, that it would, perhaps, require a French establishment in America to counteract their ascendancy with any hopes of success. Undoubtedly such a political project should not be overlooked; but it does not belong to the subject of this memoir."

When this natural, unguarded, and, in the author, perhaps laudable sentiment was delivered, he could not foresee, that he was destined to be the prime minister of the most able, the most ambitious sovereign that ever disturbed society; and that he should afterwards be tranquilly occupied in putting the new plan of Europe together as he pleased, after his master had cut the old map to pieces with his sword. He could not foresee, that he should serve a monarch with views so much more gigantick than his own; that he should follow him at a distance with hesitation; a man who would not talk about counteracting by another establishment, but promptly manoeuvre to take possession of the obnoxious citadel itself.

A French establishment in America to counteract......what? A state of things which the author has so ably shewn to be natural and useful; to counteract these.....in what manner? It is not our object to say whether it be better to crouch to, or stand erect against menacing events, nor can our opinion be doubted; but, were all other acts and events overlooked, if our statesmen from perusing this pamphlet, will not believe what they would have to contend with, if the British navy were removed, then would they not believe though one should rise from the dead.

At the commencement of this review, we spoke of what we considered a meanness, it is in the note to the following sentence...... "Parties, factions, hatreds, have all disappeared." The note was written after he became minister.

"This was literally true when the present memoir was read to the Institute. If, since that time, parties have been formed afresh; if there is one of them which, to its shame be it spoken, labours to replace America under the yoke of Great Britain; this would confirm but too clearly what I have esta

blished in the course of this memoir, viz. that the Americans are still English. But every thing leads me to believe that that party will not triumph; and that the wisdom of the French government has disconcerted its hopes; and I shall not have to retract the good which I have here said of a people, of whom I have a pleasure in recollecting that they are English only by habits which affect not their political independence, and not by a sentiment that would cause them to regret the having effected that independence.

"(Note of Citizen Talleyrand, in the month of Ventose, year vii.)"

This came appropriately from the bureau of foreign affairs, at the very time France was intriguing to make our government subservient to their politicks, but is really unworthy of the author of this memoir.

"The essay on the advantages to be derived from new colonies in the existing circumstances," though it has not such a direct bearing on our affairs, is hardly less interesting to us; and we could willingly make many quotations from it, if this article were not already so extended. One observation results from the perusal, that the author did not foresee the changes that have since taken place, and which have superceded the necessity of some of the motives he has alleged. We shall extract only the conclusion of it, for the sake of adding a few remarks.

"From all that has been here advanced, it follows, that every consideration urges us to occupy ourselves with new colonies; the example of the most wise people, who have made them one of the greatest means of their tranquillity; the necessity of preparing for the replacing of our present colonies, in order that we may not be found behind hand with events; the convenience of placing the cultivation of our colonial products nearer to their true cultivators; the necessity of forming with the colonies the most natural relations, more easy, no doubt, in new than in old establishments; the advantage of not allowing ourselves to be outdone by a rival nation, for whom every one of our oversights, every instance of our delay in this respect, is a conquest; the opinion of enlightened men, who have bestowed their attention and their researches upon this object. In short, the pleasure of being able to attach to these enterprises so many restless men who have need of projects, so many unfortunate men who have need of hope.'

It is a fruitful, a sublime subject of reflection and delight, the planting of colonies in North America by Great Britain. What were the colonies of the Greeks and Romans, of the French, or even of the Spaniards, compared with these? Colonies that in a few years will equal the mother country in population. What other nation has ever, if I may use the expression, been able thus to give a second edition of itself? And, if states are inevitably destined to decay, made a provision for a second existence, in an enlarged form? What generous mind that does not expand at the idea, that, from the Mississippi to Hudson's bay, the English language, and the immortal works it contains, English laws, and the English spirit of freedom and independence, the inheritance of Americans, will hereafter animate, enlighten, and govern two hundred millions of people? If the present contest be prolonged by England, till the vast military power of France perishes with its illustrious leader, then we may calculate that the descendants of Englishmen will continue to hold this vast territory, then indeed will the French, numerous and powerful as they are, "be found behind hand with events;" then we may believe that the English language will in future times. be the predominant language among civilized men.

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