Tl LETTERS FROM LONDON WRITTEN DURING THE YEARS 1802 er 1803. ay WILLIAM AUSTIN. 1 » His ego gratiorn diiilu all.i esse scio : sed me vera prrt, and in my opiiiicn. tlic best part of the Eng- lish Corittitution. [ 14 3 their feelings, and operates most visibly on the low- est. If all people are presumed to know enough of the laws of their country to answer for their infrac- tion, it would be singular, if they should be ignorant o those laws whence they derive all their conse- quence. Preserve the entirety of common law, and I be- lieve the people would scarcely miss the constitu- tion : but every good has its attendant evil. The common law is in continual danger of that terrier of parliament, statute law : so that the English may one day find themselves buried under a mass of statutes. Adieu. LETTER IV. LOKDOK, AUGUST loth. vJNE can know nothing of this people with- out mixing with them, they seem most of them to have two charadlers ; one repellant, especially to strangers, the other, quite accommodating and dis- posed to confidence, if you are willing to shew them a little deference. Nothing is lost by this, for they generously disclaim that superiority which is granted. I have also discovered a remarkable desire in those who affedl to rank among the better sort, to pass themselves offin the presence of strangers for gentle- men of fortune and consequence. Last Sunday morning I visited Kensington Garden, so early, that but one person was there before me. We passed and repassed each other many times ; but he dis- covered no disposition to speak, or to be spoken to : at length I ventured to accost him ; and to whom do you think I had the honour to address myself ? It appeared in the sequel that he was a member of parliament, possessed of an immense landed proper- ty in Kent, and that he had frequently been offered a [ 16 ] pension by Mr. Pitt, if he would support the minis- try, which had been as frequently refused from a motive of patriotism. He said he had foreseen, and advised Mr. Pitt of the termination of the war. I observed he must also have known Mr. Burke. " Poor fellow,'* said he, "Burke lost his senses a long time before he died : he quarrelled with mc at last, after an intimacy of thirty years." This man might possibly have been a member of parliament, notwithstanding the attrition of time had effe6led one considerable breach in his hat and two others in his coat. The English are said to hold all other people in contempt — the usual fault of islanders. But the English indulge a sentiment of disdain arising from comparison, rather than from any other cause. I am led to the above remark, from an occurrence which lately happened to myself. In travelling to London in a stage coach, I had become so intimate with one of the passengers, that just before the jour- ney was finished, he politely gave me his address. I told him, I could not in return give him mine, for being a stranger in the country, I knew not where I should take lodgings. I thought the man was sud- denly taken ill, so altered was his countenance in a moment. *' Are you not an Englishman ?" he ask- ed, with a tone which partly betrayed mortification [ 17 ] that he should have made such a mistake, and partly regret that he should have done me so much honour as to have taken me for an Englishman. " No, I am a citizen of the United States." He seemed to say, " so much the worse," wrapped himself up in a reverie, and was silent the remainder of the passage. This repelling trait of character, for which the English are noted, does not arise, in my opinion, en- tirely from their dispositions. In a country like this, a commercial country, where the interest of each in- dividual interferes in some form or other, with his neighbour's, where, the people mutually thrive at each other's expense, and where, even the pious, if they put up a prayer in the morning for a blessing on the day, the substance of it must be the overreaching of their fellows. Among such, there is no room for cordiality, and when attentions are proffered, their motive ought to be suspected. All will be suspicious of those with whom they are unacquainted ; especial- ly in such a city as this, to which rogues of all descrip- tions resort, either to hide their infamy, or sell it for a higher price. Hence the first maxim should be to know nobody by whom they are not likely to profit. An apostle among such people would command no more attention than a ballad singer, and would afford speculation to no one but a Jew clothesman. D [ 18 3 How far these observations apply to our own coun- try, I leave you to judge. I believe commerce pre- serves the same character in all countries and in all ages. The merchant of Alexandria who arrived in a time of famine at Rhodes with a cargo of corn — the bankers of Syracuse who sold Cannius the Roman knight a farm, with a fish pond in it — the merchants of Amsterdam who cut down the cinnamon trees in the East — ^the Hamburghers who betrayed Napper Tandy — the merchants of Liverpool who pray God, not to change the colour of the negroes, and certain merchants of Boston who dream of wars in Europe as the greatest blessing which Providence can send, are all allied to the same family. How applicable to to the present is the following remark, made nearly nineteen centuries since, ^od si qui proscribunt Fillam bonam^ beneque edificatam^ non existimantur fefellisse etiam si ilia nee bona est, nee xdificata ra- tione. Cicero de Officiis. Thank God, the United States are rather an agri- cultural , than a commercial, country ; otherwise, in spite of the constitution, our republic would soon be lost in an odious aristocracy, and what is still worse, a rom//zd'm^/ aristrocracy , which experience proves to be the most inexorable, relentless, and coldblooded of all tyrannies : whose maxims are founded in cau- tious speculation, and a6led on in all the varieties of [ 19 ] monopoly : maxims which, fortified by law, fortify the powerful at the expense of the weak. Fortunate for us, the citizens, lords of their farms, will have interests different from the merchants, and \\'ill be forever a check on the spirit of commerce. Were it not for this last circumstance, there \\ould not be virtue sufficient in the country to support our form ofgovernment, but for a very short period. I know not if these sentiments meet yours, but from what I have already observed here, I am confirmed in them : it is neither the king, nor the nobles, nor the commons, who govern England ; but stockjobbers, commercial companies and monopolizers. Parlia- mentis only a sort of attorney to draw up their rules and regulations, and ratify them according to law. Adieu. LETTER V. LONDON, AUGUST 20th. X HE ele6lion of members of parliament, for Westminster, recurred in July. Every thing rel- ative to this popular prerogative will interest a citi- zen of the United States. He cannot observe the Hustings, without a warm reverence for the great original of his own freedom. The theory of elec- tion is a political sublimity, which a democrat cannot contemplate without rapture : it pra6lically brings society back to first principles, checks the tendency of government to usurpation, arrests the bolt of power in the hands of the wicked ; and though fre- quently perverted, in pra6lice, and made tosan6lion its own destruction, yet ele6\ion keeps alive the principle, and asserts the virtue, at least, of a part of the people. The following notices I made in Covent Garden, the scene of the eledlion. The candidates were Mr. Fox, admiral Lord Gardner, and Mr. Graham, an au6\ioneer. All was quiet until the candidates appeared. First came Mr. Fox : on showing himself on the front of the stage, [ 20 ] elevated a little above the heads of the spe6lators, a violent uproar of applause commenced with, " Good morning Charley," which scarcely ceased, when Lord Gardner and Mr. Graham appeared. The pop- ular suffrage seemed to be divided between tliese two : Fox was not opposed ; so a scattering hissing and clapping, at short intervals, commenced wiien either Gardner or Graham appeared on the front of the stage. Whether or not the people, from some cause, are weary of the popular branch of their government ; or whether they consider an ele61ion, a mere mockery, or an affair which concerns only the candidates, or whether Mr. Graham was not a man of sufficient weight to contest * the election seriously, I know- not ; but certain it is, the ele6lion appeared to me a a sort of Bartholomew Fair, to which the people came, some for amusement, some to pick pockets, and some merely to increase the crowd :. while the candidates afforded the entertainment, which was not without humour. You know the English fan- cy tliemselves free, once in seven years — this elec- tion brought to my mind the Roman Saturnalia. During the Hustings, likewise, every thing is taken in good part by the candidates, who affe61 the ut- • The randidntcs have usurped the word " contest :" one would imagine th:it the people should content an cleftion, not the candidates. [ 22 ] most popularity, not disdaining, sometimes, to be carried home on the shoulders of the people. The candidates usually address the crowd at the close of each day's poll, and return them their most sincere thanks for their support, and sometimes lay their hands on their hearts, and urge their friends to come forward, the next day, with redoubled ardour. Those who are not in the habit of public speaking, frequently, at least it was thus in the present instance, authorise some friend to represent themselves to their future constituents. The daily state of the poll is painted in a conspic- uous place, to satisfy the curious : this I imagine is absolutely necessary; for John Bull would think himself imposed on, if not permitted every day to see how the eledlion went. Sometimes, the electors are disposed to shake hands with their representatives ; one of whom with seeming cordiality said, "Ah, Charley, it is seven years since I had the pleasure of shaking hands with you — how have you done all that time." " Ah," groaned another man among the crowd, " It is only once, in seven years, that the two parties do shake hands." Lord Gardner was not so civilly received ; but he bore the sarcasms of the populace with much good humour, and seemed by his demeanour to be con- [ 23 ] tident of his ele^ion — in spite of the people. A sailor stripped off his jacket and shirt, before the Hustings, and asked, " If he remembered when he gave him that flogging ?" At the same time another threw a halter at him, telling him to recolle6l Gov- ernor Wall. The Admiral seemed for a moment mortified at this : he said nothing ; but looked a sort of appeal to the spe6lators " If he merited the charge?" All were softened in his behalf, and by their murmur of applause acquitted him instantly. This ready disposition to espouse the cause of die injured, is one of the finest traits of the plebeian chara^ler of the English. At the close of the poll, Mr. Fox and Lord Gard- ner were declared elected. I could not readily ac- count for this : Fox was not opposed, and yet Gra- ham, who was in Fox's interest, lost his election in favour of Gardner, Mathematically speaking, one might say, such a conclusion was impossible. The eledlion continued eight or ten days. I be- lieve it in the power of either candidate to extend the time, at pleasure. If so, there is an opening to the greatest excesses : for every ele6lion is not con- dueled with such good humour as was this.* Broken limbs, and even homicide, are not unusual *At the three preceding eledtions murder was committed! This circum= stance alone is nearly sufficient to prove there is no liberty in England. [ 24 ] at some ele6lions. How will you account for it ? The citizens of the United States ought to have the prerogative of suffrage, much more at heart, than the subje6ls of England, and yet at no contested ele(5lion was there ever a citizen killed : nor did I ever hear of a broken limb — The cause must be sought in the candidates and not in the people. You will expert a description of Mr. Fox, his ap- pearance and demeanour. You wish to know how he was dressed, how he stood, and how he looked. In his youth he is reported to have been as great a fop as was Aristotle : I will only say, at present, his appearance was altogether against him. He looked as if he had been long in the sea service, and after many a storm, had retired on half pay. His greasy buff waistcoat, threadbare blue coat, and weather- beaten hat, gave him, in connexion with his great corpulency and dark complexion with short dark hair hastening to gray, very much the appearance of a laid up sea captain. He has the countenance of an ancient Englishman^ but long watching has changed the temperature of health to a dun col- our. He would be thought, at present, by oaie who did not know him, to be a noble dispositioned, rather than a great, man. When I hear him in the House of Commons, I will give you my opinion of this great favourite of our citizens : though why he [ 25 ] should be a favourite, I know not ; he is not more a democrat, than Mr. Pitt : nor have his exertions benefited his country : they have only exasperated inveteracy, and strengthened opposition, by calling forth a ministerial energy, which not only touched hard on the true principles of the constitution, but too plainly discovered there was not sufficient affec- tion in the people to support a government for which, if Mr. De Lolme be not a bombast panegyrist, every Briton ought to be proud to die : so that, with all his ability as an orator, and all his logical deduction as a lawyer, he must pass down the current of time, as an Eschines, or Hyperides, a foil, to set off Mr. Pitt^ whose ascendant genius has shone with a blaze suf- ficient to encircle his own head, even amidst the ru- in of his country. For my part, I regard the late administration with an eye less favourable to the glory of Mr. Pitt, than do many of our citizens. The loss of three hundred millions sterling, and the gain of ninety five peers, are trifling, compared with the loss, in a great measure, of that old English spirit, which for- merly distinguished John Bull from all other beings, and which spirit led our ancestors, first to Leyden, and soon after to Plymouth Rock-^an expedition, which might have revolted a Scotchman. But the iate iron handed administration, fearful of every one L 26 J who was not clireCtl)', or inclire6\ly a part oi itself, in the midst of that terror, which it inspired, dis- covered its inibecihty b>' \vhat it was pleased to term its own inherent energy. Who supports our constitution ? Who supports the administration of our government ? Mr. Jeffer- son ? No, no : the strength of the government of the United States is founded only in legitimate strength, in popular sentiment, in popular affe6lion. We have no personal attachment to our presidents and gover- nors, and ought not to have : we respe6\ them on- ly as constitutional statesmen. Such a government might be a laughing stock in Europe — more shame to Europeans. But this is certainly an experienced fa6t, " That those who have once been blessed with a free government, have never lost their freedom until they were unworthy of it : they could not lose their liberties by any accident in the train of world- ly vicissitude. They would not, like the oak, be subject to the whirlwind, nor like the wheat blade, to the silent mildew. Neither force nor fraud ever ultimated in successful slavery. Force and fraud can find nothing on which to a6l, until the people forget their original principle. Sinon in his wooden horse may enter Troy ; but his success depends on the situation of the Trojans.* There is no good • When Sinon entered Troy, they were celebrating a grand Rotd. [ 27 ] reason for doubting Cromwell's sincerity, at first ; af- terwards he thought the nation incapable of a free government, and took the most ready method of as- certaining the point ; and was successful. I never thought worse of Cromwell for his usurpation. He was not a tyrant over those who courted his tyran- ny. If the English were incapable of self govern- ment then, still less so are they at present. Bona- parte has tried the same experiment with still less force, and with still greater success : fugitive from Egypt, he well knew the termination of his journey, the empty chairs of the dire^or5\ The English and the French have both had an opportunity of estab- lishing an equal government. Events have proved that the blood of their sovereigns was offered up to strange gods. These efforts, in both cases, were worth making, but they finally discovered that a legitimate republic required principles to which the people of both nations were altogether strang- ers. When the citizens of the United States be- come strangers to these principles, they are no long- er free. Should I live to see that day, I should tri- umph in their slavery. I cannot find it in my dispo- sition to sympathise with tliose, who, having once felt the sentiment of liberty, could be rendered cold to its influence. The tyrant Tiberius stands ac- quitted before that senate, who mingled tears Avitli [ 28 ] joy, and regret with flattery.* Could John Hamp- den have been recalled to life in the days of the sec- ond Charles, I have often thought, he must have ex- pired in indignation. Adieu. • Vultuque composite, ne lacti extessu principis, n«u trigtiere* primor conscientious : but we do not use the word as defined in the didtionsries. Nor is it used hereexadlly in its prop- er swise : a very clevef fellow, nobody will trust. [ 69 ] tance, to the surprise of tlie whole Fair." "You must have an abundance of anecdotes rcspe^ling the k?iowmg ones and the fiat^^ of those who have triumphed over simplicity, and of those who have come to London in a waggon.* Pray give us an in- stance how far a knowing one is capable of outwit- ting a man of common caution." " Why, there is a story sometimes mentioned, at the Fair, that Sir Matthew Hale, in passing through Rosemary Lane, was made prize of by a shopmaji, who, from Sir Matthew's slovenly appearJmcef and threadbare coat, thought him a good speculation. The shop- man led him by the arm up stairs into a dark room, and told him he was resolved to sell him a new coat, for his was no longer decent. Sir Matthew submit- ted to try on several coats, but insisted no one would fit him,^nd at length was going away with- out purchasing, when the clothesman said he had one more whicii he was sure would fit him, and brought one which Sir Matthew said fitted him as well as his old one, the difference between which being paid. Sir Matthew went away." " Well, where is the wit of all this ?" " Why, Sir Matthew wore the same coat out that he wore in. " ' ' But this is an * A waggon load of fools ai-e said to come to London every day . tit is hardly necessary to mention the anecdote of Sir Matthew's being tak- en up by a press gang and carried on boai'd a tender, whence he was obliged to ■vv-rite to the Secretary of the Navy, before he was liberated. [ 70 ] old story, anct its authenticity rather doubtful : tell us one that happened lately." " I can give you an instance which lately occurred within my own no- tice, of a man who in broad day light bought his old hat twice for a new one. " ' ' How was that done ?" " The Jew went on board a ship just arrived, and pur- chased, among other things, an old hat ; but it being only weatherworn, he soon put a new gloss on it, and within a day or two, carried it with several oth- ers on board the ship, and sold it to the same man of whom he bought \i,for it fitted him exactly. Soon after, the polish wearing off discovered the old hat. In due time the Jew went on board again, and after receiving very meekly all the abuse which was of- fered, purchased the hat : fortunately it had a very broad brim ; h,e cut it smaller, put it into another shape, gave it a new gloss, and fitted it a second time on the same head." Just as he finished this, a boy, in appearance not more than ten years of age, passed by, with as many old clothes slung over his back, as he could carry. " Do you see that little Jew?" said the man, "by the time he is twenty he will be the envy of every body. He did an exploit last week which will not soon be forgotten. The servants of a gentleman at the west end of tha town had sold a quantity of their master's cast off clothes to a certain Jew with [ 71 ] whom that boy was acquainted. The purchase coming to his knowledge, he bought them of his friend, and the next morning with the clothes slung over his back he proceeded to the gentleman's house, and pacing to and fro before the door, began to bawl ' Mr. 's old clothes to sell. ' The ser- vants hearing their master's name repeated, came to the door, and after discovering the Jew's design, found it expedient to buy them back at his own price." *' Aye, there was some wit in this ; but any one in the trade might have new glossed an old hat, or cut a broad brim narrower." " No," said he, " though it is very easy to overreach the same man twice, yet to deceive him twice in the same article, belongs only to Rag Fair. " "Pray, do yourselves never buy bad bargains, and do you know just how long a coat has been worn ?" *'Yes, we can generally tell within an hour; and not only how long worn, but the style of life of the wearer. This coat was an au6lionecr's, who was left handed ; you see, though apparently a new coat it is quite threadbare under the left arm : wlien worn most at the back, that is the mark of a gentleman ; if at the left elbow and at the right cuff, of an author ; if at the shoulder, of a lounger ; if at the pockets, it is a sign of a merchant, stockjobber or attorney." "How do you judge of small clothes?" "We [ 72 ] can speak more positively to them : the professioji is generally found under the hip ; and if they had no profession, it is easily ascertained whether they were sedate or restless, whether their gait was long or short. Here was a poor fellow who led a very un- happy life : see, his breeches are worn equally on both knees, in the seat, and behind, and are nearly threadbare, though they could not have been worn more than three ^veeks. Here was one who had the gout to a cruel degree." — " But," said I, "can you conscientiously sell these clothes for new, could you find a purchaser ? They would be sent back to Rag Fair again, the next day." " And why," said he, * ' should this be the only honest trade in London : In these times a poor man>cannot be honest." Adieu. LETTER XII. LONDON, NOVSMBER zjik. 1 HE observations which will escape me in this letter will necessarily be invidious ; yet, as they will conduce to a knowledge of the English sys- tem, I shall not forbear them. I seem to have found a new religion, so different is its aspevould sink in [ 80 ] the degree, in which a few of the most intriguing and ambitious were exalted : this is the case in England, where thousands of poor devils are bound to a sys- tem which renders them the contempt of their own body. This letter is already sufficiently lengthy, there- fore. Adieu. LETTER XIII. LONDON, DECEMBER i6th. 1 HAVE at present, only a few street observa- tions to make, so shall fill up this letter with any matter that occurs. Nothing has afforded me more amusement, than the exhibition of a certain class of Englishmen : the description to which I allude is composed, of those who have unexpectedly come to wealth, some few of those who are earnesdy in pursuit of fortune, and whose affairs are flourishing, but principally of those who have spent their fortunes, and yet are re- solved to support appearances. These charadlers sport themselves before the public on all occasions, and are as tenacious of the gentleman, as though they expected every passen- ger was about to dispute the point with them. When they appear in public they do not seem to observe any body, yet they indirectly tell you, themselves are the only persons in the street : still there is a certain something hanging about their demeanour, which courts the attention of the pas- sengers with a " Look at m^." M [ 82 ] Many of them appear to be in a pillory, owing to the quantity of cravat, and to the two wings of their shirt coUar, for fear of discomposing which, they are obhged to turn their whole bodies with their heads : hence, if they wish to view the whole hor- izon, they are obliged to make several right angles. One eye would answer all the purposes of these gentlemen, if it was fixed in their foreheads. Of the various expedients of raising money to which Mr. Pitt has resorted, that of laying a tax on strutting would not have been the most unpopular. For the generality of the English, who attach any consequence to themselves, are addi6led to this bombast manner of walking. Some of these gentlemen, you might imagine, must meet with the saddest accidents : for they resolutely proceed straigiit forward, in defiance of all opposition, whether from wheelbarrows, posts, or from those of their own description, who are approaching with an air equally determined. Yet, I know uot how it happens, they meet with few serious misfortunes, though I have seen a collision between two, when it was necessary for each, be- fore they could pass, to make an angle, of forty five degrees. But they are liable to another acci- dent, much more serious than a flesh wound. In the rainy seasons, the square stones on the way side sometimes become loose,, and mischievous [ 83 ] boys, by removing the earth from under them, bal- ance them on props, and form what they inhuman- ly call beau traps. Now a man who never looks lower than horizontally is very likely to fall into these insidious snares. Why should the generality of mankind differ so much in their demeanour ? The scholar, the sol- dier and the sailor, with some others, have profes- sional peculiarities : but the great body of the people in a free country ought to discover that in- genuous carriage which bespeaks a conscious dig- nity, equally distant from insolence or servility. It is scarcely expelled, in England, that a poor man should have the principle of fixed virtue ; and if one in authority neglects the opportunity of robbing tlic public, that is accounted a rare effort of virtue, and worthy of a monument : on the other hand, if one of the lowest class should by mistake receive a guinea in the dark, instead of a shilling, and re- turn it the next morning, it is matter for the public papers. Carere vino, habetur pro liirtute. Those of the lowest class, both men and women, discover a careless, undefined, abandoned carriage, which marks their consciousness of being little bet- ter than outlaws from the community. Yet they are far from being destitute of generous feehngs, though in appearance, they have not even the out- side of humanity. [ 84 ] The character of the Enghsh is the most com- plex of any in Europe. I shall in some future letter take occasion to inquire into the cause of this, oth- erwise one is in danger of knowing this people only by halves. Part of their character might induce you to imagine them a feeble, inefficient, secon- dary race of men : but you would be greatly mista- ken ; the English are never greater, than on those occasions when most men would despair. They are restless under uncertainty, fearful from contin- gency, undone from anticipation : but mark out the time when, with its duration, and the place where ; let the sum total of what they are required to endure, be precisely calculated ; conne6l these circumstanc- es with the honour of Old England, and they are equal to all occasions. They submit to phantoms of their own creation, but can bear real misfortune with complacency. I have imagined, I know not with what degree of truth, that the English, more than any other peo- ple, require some obje*5l of attention, without which they seem to stagnate. The Spaniard, if he have nothing to do, will swing in his hammock until he is weary, and will after that swing himself to rest. The Dutchman will sit in a happy vacancy until some avocation rouses him. The Frenchman is in no hurry to force himself on opportunity, but is ready to embrace it when offered ; and in the mean C 85 ] time is contented to give himself up to levity. Not so the Englishman ; his mind preys on itself in that state of calmness, which to some is the most perfect moment of beatitude. That happy lan- guor, which is the repose of the soul, sinks his heart to despondency. Wake him to a6livity, ag- itate him^ rouse him even to desperation ; but do not expe6l to soothe him with the happy leisure, or monotonous panegyric of the blessed. — Otherwise, how can you account for it, that a man, who, from a humble situation and humbler prospe6ls, should raise himself to great fortune, and to the proudest name of all his contemporaries, who discovered a readiness of expediency in times of the utmost dif- ficulty, which propped, restored, and established a tottering empire, should, after retiring with all which wealth and honour could confer, hang him- self in the prime of life ? — Such a man was Robert Lord Clive. But this is an extreme case, and ought not to be extended beyond an individual illustration, like that of the Roman, in the reign of Nero, who came to a resolution to starve himself, and persisted in his design, notwithstanding the urgent request of Nero to the contrary, with whom he was on terms of intimacy : for Nero, tender of his own reputation, observed, " His enemies would attribute the secret cause of his friend's death to himself." [ 86 3 The entire history of this people proves them ai singular compound of strength and weakness. They are utterly incapable of enjoying what their valour has so frequently accomplished, and are ignorant of exerting their strength to any personal advantage. If main force only be requisite, they can wield the club of Theseus, and like him bend the stoutest tree of the forest, but they cannot, like The- seus, follo\v Ariadne's clue through the labyrinth. After having conquered their enemies by force of arms, they have generally in their turn been con- quered by force of treaty. But nothing more strongly marks the domestic chara^er of this peo- ple, than their famous condu6l at the close of the revolution of 1688. They had then a fine oppor- tunity of making the best possible bargain for them- selves with their rulers : but by a most stupid contrail, they conveyed themselves and poster- ity to the House of Hanover. Mr. Burke advanced seriously the same thing, which not a littie surpris- ed the nation, who, for more than a century, had fancied themselves free. I believe it is not known in England, that De Lolme, who wrote without ref- erence to party, has established the same point in his Essay on the constitution of England. Adieu. LETTER XIV. LONDON, DECEMBER 26th. 1 HE English, who visit the United States, complain of the want of attention of those who wait on them. For my part, I am disposed to complain from a very different reason. I am even incommod- ed, and not unfrequently disconcerted, to be so offi- ciously attended, as one is obliged to be by the En- glish servants. I had refledled, when in the United States, that the lowest classes of the English ought naturally to be the most insolent, knotty, and unac- commodating of all beings. Enjoying under the constitution the same degree of liberty with the higher orders, and yet, in reality, retained eternally in a situation from which no docihty of nature, and no impulse of ambition, can redeem them, they ought to possess the ferocity of die savage, without his generous sentiments. Matthew Prior is the only Englishman that 1 rec- olle6l, who ever burst the cearments of servitude, and rose to eminence. This instance is not a fair one : Prior was a vine which must forever have run on the ground, had he not met witli a great man [ 88 ] around whom to twine. Prior discovered after- wards, it is true, abilities of the first order ; but had not Prior been a poet, and fond of Horace, his abili- ties would only have rendered him a worse servant. It was thought a wonderful occurrence that, Philip York should become Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. Yet Philip York had in tlie early part of his life as great advantages as the sons of noblemen usually en- joy. What would an Englishman say, were he told, the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States was born in Scotland, and not many years since, sold himself for his passage, and redeemed himself by manual labour ? What do you imagine is the tye which restrains the English servants in this ready servility to their masters ? You observe I use the terms, servants and masters: a servant is not offended if you ask him, " Where his master is ?" It is but a day or two since a brave fellow of forty told me if I would wait a moment, his master would be at home : presendy a young man appeared. " That," said he, " is my master.'^* Should one ask a person in the United States, *' Where his master was ?" he would doubt- less meet with a rough reply : for in truth, there are no such characters in the United States as masters and servants. I will now tell you the reason why the English make such excellent servants. They [ 89 ] have three things before their eyes, servitude for life, Botany Bay and the gallows. Servitude they most commonly esteem the least of the three evils. But servitude has its terrors : for, if their masters dismiss them without a charafter, they are undone. Their habits and education, or rather want of edu- cation, rendering them useless, they are forced to en- ter the lowest class of that great body of men, who live at the public expense in England. Yet the English complain of their servants, and think them the most worthless fellows on earth. So do I — But if they had to deal with the generality of our servants, they would soon change their tone, or what is more likely, change places with them. Voltaire says the vulgar in England, less than in any other country in the world, fashion their man- ners after those of the nobility. This ought to ex- cite a smile : should one of the common people here endeavour to imitate a nobleman, his impu- dence would either mark him for an idiot, or ex- clude him from all employment. The servants in England are not exactly what they ought to be : where the fathers and sons, for many generations, are likely to be servants during their lives, it is of great consequence they should possess as little as possible, either of the dress, manners, form or feelings of men. They should be [ 90 ] bred in the most profound ignorance, and they should be taught from their infancy to consider themselves a distindl species. To impress this more deeply, they should be disfigured as much as might be consistent with their usefulness : both of their ears might be spared ; so might their noses. It might injure their healths to paint them, but it is a pity that a certain dyestuff could not be invent- ed, through which perspiration might pass. In short, they should in all respe6ls be treated like beasts of burden ; though I hardly go so far as Cato the Cen- sor, who advises, when they are grown old and in- firm, to sell them. The surprising difference which obtains between the English servants and ours, is not entirely owing to the influence which the Federal Constitution has on their characters. The English servant is chain- ed to servitude ; in many respects, little removed from helotism. He has no imagination, no ambi- tion ; a holiday or a debauch bounds his hopes, and consummates his wishes. In the United States, on the contrary, a servant's imagination is ever on the wing ; he calculates even to a day, and that day is not distant, when he shall be independent as the person whom he serves. He indulges the most flattering prospects, feels himself already a freeman, and wanders, in romance, through scenes of future [ 91 ] life, or reposes from labour in the cool of his own shade. As he approaches personal independence, he expe6ls the deference of his master, and of his fellow citizens, while his master, foreseeing how soon his servant may be his equal, is disposed to fa- cilitate the approaching equality. Hence, he discov- ers nothing of that humble, debasing demeanour, which is so apparent in the English servant. I confess, the majestic carriage of our servants would revolt the feelings of one accustomed to trav- el the Bath road ; for he might be in danger of starving, before he could learn the language of the country. Adieu, LETTER XV. LONDON, JANUARY xith, 1803. 1 WAS at the theatre, last evening, where I saw their Majesties, with three of the princesses. Nunc sew quid sint Rex et Regina. They all be- haved with great deference to the spe^lators : the queen, particularly, seemed happy. We, half civil- ized folks in the United States, can form no concep- tion of the solemn pomp, the dignified importance and sacred reverence, which append to these awful exhibitions of royal personage. The cold feelings of our citizens, on these happy occasions, would look like pointed disaffe6\ion. The box, in which their Majesties sat, was fitted up on purpose, while the trappings carried you back to the style of Persian monarchs. How ^vould an English courtier have laughed to have seen the late President and lady, without a guard, without any at- tendance, without any peculiarity to distinguish them from the other citizens, take their seats in the theatre at Boston I Soon as their Majesties appeared in the front of their box, a tumult of applause commenced, which, / [ 93 ] had it been cordial, must have been really pleasing : but as all this was nothing to me, I sunk into a reve- rie, and thought of Timagoras the Athenian. After the noise was over, their Majesties sat down, and the favourite song of" God save great George our King'''** commenced : this being sung several times by the whole posse theatri finished the royal reception. When the entertainments were con- cluded, the same solemnities finished the evening. The king is a fine, healthy looking man, and is good^ if he do not die of apoplexy, for fifteen or twenty years^ as the life insurers say. He wore a sort of half wig, so I could not discover whether hard times had hastened his hair prematurely to gray. Poor man, I could not but pity him, for it is not altogether his fault, that he has fallen into so many bad hands. He made constant use of an op- era glass ; it is a royal custom, I suppose, to see with artificial eyes. If the countenance be allowed to indicate the dis- position, his Majesty has a very good heart ; and he has more intellect, than you would judge from his countenance on the coin. On the whole, I contem- plated him with a considerable degree of compla- cency : for though kingly government might original- * Not so the generous Gathmor : he retired when his praise was sung. " The voice of Fonar rose in praise of Gathmor, son of Larthon : but Gathmor did not hear his praise. He lay at the roar of a stream." Ossian. Temoia. [ 94 ] ly have been elective, and all hereditary govern- ment is founded, dire^lly, or indire6lly, in usurpa- tion ; yet, where a people acquiesce, this usurpation, at least during the acquiescence, receives a popular sanation. The three princesses were to me obje6ls of com- miseration. I viewed them as the wretched vic- tims of political expediency. ' ' Born under the ago- nies of self denial and renounced desire,"*' amidst the mockery of a court, they endure the penance of a nunnery. The virgin's innocence is dear to her, only with reference to opinion, and she preserves it only in hope of bestowing it on the proper obje6l. But in what estimation can a woman hold her chas- tity, if she is condemned to carry it with her to the grave ? Or how can that woman be happy, who feels herself alone in the midst of millions, not one of whom regards her more than a piece of state furni- ture ? The heart must have some obje^ on which to repose, or it will prey on itself : the trappings of royalty, the idiotical applause of thousands, and the elevation of momentary pride, heightened by com- parison, leave but transient impressions, which lose their importance with every recurrence. In such a miserable state there is not even play for a woman's vanity : for she is above the temptation to be vain : * Lavater's Aphorisms. [ 95 ] nor can she have any desire to please, for a withered « heart knows no pleasure. Behind their Majesties and the princesses stood certain ladies and gentlemen " in waiting.'''' I ob- served them standing a very considerable time, and thinking it rather singular, I asked the person who sat next to me, " Why they did not sit down ?" for they had now been standing two hours. He smiled at my ignorance, and told me it was etiquette. Those who stood behind their Majesties were Earls : I know not what may be the sentiments or feelings of Earls, but of this I am sure, there is not an earldom in England, which could tempt me to stand two hours* behind their Majesties' chairs. At the close of the entertainment, the royal family were escorted home, under a 'uery strong guards •with drawn cutlasses. After witnessing all this etiquette, and solemn cer- emony, which certainly was well calculated to as- tonish weak minds, I could not help reverting to our own country, and figuring to myself George Wash- ington, after his return to private life, sitting as foreman of a country jury : or to give a stronger contrast to European mummery, I might mention the late President Adams, who, at a conflagration in • The fadl is, the gentlemen in waiting, stand four hours, or during the whole entertainment : the ladies are relieved every two hours. [ 96 ] Philadelphia, stood two hours handing buckets of water. Certainly, no man can contemplate with indiffer- ence the chief magistrate of six millions of people, dispari genere^ alius, alio more "ji'uentes,^ mixing like a plebeian witb plebeians, and feeling more se- cure in the midst of his fellow citizens, than if he were guarded with a legion of cavalry. Would not Mr. Jefferson be mortified if Congress should vote him a guard ? Would he not say, " I never feel more secure, than when surrounded with my fellow citizens : have I lost their confidence that personal protedlion is thought necessary ?" I should love to dwell on this subjeft, but it might appear invidious. Adieu. • Sallust. LETTER XVI. LONDONj JANUARi' 30th, A ou are quite voluminous in your ques- tions ; but they are all interesting, as well to myself, as to you. The most important, "Whether the Constitution of the United States appears, at this distance, more or less capable of supporting itself on its own inherent strength," demands an entire letter ; and to satisfy you, a more laboured one than I can at present write : therefore, permit me to echo back the sentiments of yours. Literature cannot be expelled, at present, to flour- ish in the United States, so luxuriantly, as it will in a few years. The useful naturally precedes the or- namental : cottages were built long before the Temple of the Muses. The equality of condition In the United States, together with the excellent policy of dividing estates equally among all the children, obliges the citizens to become the fabricators of their own fortunes. Either agriculture or com- merce ensures the decencies of life to industry or en- terprise : and the young man, whose talents might have ranked him high on the hill of science, scarce- o [ 98 ] ly hesitates, whether to prefer a habitation on the fertile banks of the Mississippi, to a more elevated seat on Parnassus. Hence, you find many more men of talent, not to say genius, than scholars. We have a few passable scholars, but not one of them happens to be a man of genius ; and we have many citizens of first rate ability, but none of them are scholars. The mere scholar can never claim more' than the merit of scholarship ; the man of genius, for the reason just stated, is obliged in the early part of life, to negle6l his scholarship for worldly pur- suits, and by the time he is in easy circumstances, it is too late to become a scholar. Had D***** P****** L****** or J***** pre- ferred the society of the Muses to the courts of law, or the practice of physic, the banks of the Thames had as frequently echoed their labours, as the banks of the Ohio resound with the periods of Burke, the dignified narrative of Robertson, or the more stately tenor of Gibbon : while England, though she could not boast of them as subjeQs, would assert her claim to them as authors. It is really a loss to the community, that such men, capable of attaining to the highest style of literature, and who might have produced new truths, or destroyed san6lioned er- ror, should suffer their abilities to evaporate with the fleeting occun^ences which give rise to their [ 99 ] exertions. Those whom God has indued with su- perior powers, owe it to patriotism, to their fellow citizens, to posterity, to leave behind them some monument, more dural^le than a tombstone, and more interesting than " Here lies the body." What though the architecture of their minds indicate dif- ferent orders ! In the collision of contending princi- ples the brightest sparks are elicited. What though the world can scarcely contain the conflicting parties when living, the same monument becomes their me- morial when dead ! Rousseau and Voltaire met at last in the Pantheon : while Butler and Milton may shake hands in Westminster Abbey. Nor is the benefit to posterity less on this account. The la- bours of Burke and Paine find a place on the same shelf; nor do the bickerings of Sailust and Cice- ro derogate from their individual merit. Nature has wisely ordained, that amidst the vicissitudes of human life, the human mind should partake of that vicissitude : otherwise, if eternal principles were adopted, mankind A\'ould become too deeply ~, rooted in habit, would be rendered incapable of pur- suing the expedient, and would forever conflict with - emergency, accident and novel circumstance. A few great moral principles are, and ever have been, acknowledged : but the minor morals and all diose principles founded in convenience, vary with time, [' 100 ] are subje6l to revolution, and obedient to contin- gency. When the sciences are cultivated in the United States, those branches which relate to civil polity, or to speak more generally, all that which is connected with, or relative to man, will be treated in a man- ner, which must shock the feelings of all Europe, and oppose the principles of all ages. From the Stagy- rite, down to the no less powerful oracle of Lichfield, the legitimacy of those hoary sanations of establish- ed authority will be disputed : while the great ad- vantage, which the United States will afford, of ap- pealing to fa6ts,* and to the successful operation of principles which have hitherto been deemed impracticable, merely because they were never per- mitted an opportunity of trial, will challenge respe6l on this side of the Atlantic, and what is all-impor- tant, will confirm our fellow citizens in their attach- ment to a constitution, which seems to embrace all possible good, with least possible evil. But you must not imagine the people of England are more intelligent, than the people of the United States. It is the re\'erse ; there is much more use- ful information and producible common sense among our citizens, than among the generality of • " Human experience/' says Dr. Johnson, " which is constantly contradlfting, is the great test of tru'^h." But in Europe^ human experience has never had a fajr trial. I 101 ] the English. In the United States, a man's mind is early awakened to refle^lion and comparison. He feels himself one of the body politic : he takes a live- ly interest in the public affairs, and, probably, looks forward to some office in his town, county or state. Hence, the country people, in the United States, whose occupation in England would be an evidence of their profound ignorance, frequently surprise you with information, which no man would have been at the trouble of acquiring, had he not foreseen a possibility of producing it to public view. Not long since, I found a shoemaker reading De Lolme on the English constitution, while his leather was soak- ing in the tub. Taking it into my hand, I observed he had marked the following passage, which refers to the condudl of a popular assembly in the a6t of legislating. " But, as very few among them have previously considered the subject on which they are called upon to determine, very few carry along with them any opinion or inclination, or at least, any in- clination of their own, and to which tlvjy are resolv- ed to adhere. As, however, it is necessary at last to come to some resolution, the major part of them are determined by reasons which tb.ey would blush to pay any regard to, on much less serious occa- sions. An unusual sight, a change of the ordinary place of the assembly, a sudden disturbance, a ru- [ 102 ] mour, are, amidst the general want of a spirit of de- cision, the sufficiens ratio of the determination of the greatest part : and from this assemblage of separate wills, thus formed hastily, and without reflection, a general will results, which is also void of reflec- tion."*—" Why," said he, " Mr. De Lolme attrib- utes this condu6l to the Romans, and is happy to take occasion from such instances, to abuse the de- mocratic form of government : now, our govern- ment is much more popular than the ancient democ- racies, except in the particular instance he has men- tioned, oi direct legislation; and the temporary re- signing of which, into the hands of those whom we from time to time delegate, is not in fa6l disclaiming the prerogative, but legislating by proxy : so De Lolme's observations do not, in this respe6l, apply • to our democratic system." "But," added he, " I am not disposed to quarrel with De Lolme ; he could not foresee that we should spoil certain of his positions : his work is a fine panegyric, and de- serves from the English a statue." No, the republic of letters has not become an aris- tocracy in our country : knowledge seems to follow the law of inheritance, and is pretty equally distribu- ted. Thus a competent portion of learning is found • De Lolme on the Constitution of England^ Book ii. Chap. 5. [ 103 ] in every town ; and though Pope's famous couplet may be obje^led, A Uttle learning is a dangerous thing ; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring. Yet, like many more of his verses, they are peife6l nonsense. A little learning, with a 'weak head will often be less beneficial, than profound ignorance ; but even in this case, a little will be less dangerous than deep learning, h. man of common sense is never rendered a fool by a little learning. Mr. Pope owes his fame to his genius, not to his education. There is not a schoolboy now a days, who has not more learning than had Socrates ; yet Socrates was never intoxicated with the shallow draught. A man of great strength of mind is less likely to exercise his own powers with great than with moderate learning. No man of genius was ever fond of thumbing a dic- tionary, while the learned man is breaking the nut- shell, the other has found the kernel. The United States, on every emergency, have produced men full grown, who have acquitted themselves with all the propriety of a Dr. Beniley^ or a Julius Scallger ! I cannot better illustrate this point, than by a com- parison of our Congress, with the British Parlia- ment. There is a reason why each should have a preeminence over the other. The peer is born to a seat in the House of Lords ; or, if created, he must. [ 104 ] like Jenkinson^ be great in some way or other. Hence, the House of Lords must be composed of a few legislators of first rate ability ; and even the gen- erality, from education, ought to possess superior minds : after all, you will find many stupid fellows among them. However, they are not to blame, they could not help being born legislators. With respe^l to the House of Commons the same reason partially obtains. Many of them, like Pitt and Fox, were educated for the House of Commons. Some few, of commanding abilities and popular address, claim a seat in the House ; no matter who their fath- ers were : such was Burke, and such is Sheridan. Beside, the greatest, and most dangerous or useful of the commoners, are often created peers, and thereby keep up the ability and dignity of a body of men, which could otherwise scarcely support itself on a hereditary principle : for if one should look in- to the House of Lords, during the absence of all those who have been created in the present reign, he might forget to take off his hat. Now the probabil- ity is, that you will find in parliament, a few mem- bers of first rate powers, the generality rather above mediocrity, and a certain number who would puz- zle a predestinarian to tell how they came there. In the United States, we have neither these advan- tages nor disadvantages. The legislator is some- [ 105 ] times taken from the plough, sometimes from the counting-house, but more frequently from the law- shop. An Englishman, I know, must smile at this, and imagine our members would bring their profes- sions with them to Congress, and prove, illustrate, and embellish their positions from the farm yard, the warehouse, or the attorney's office. But it is wor- thy of remark, that our members of Congress have most of them been in business, consequently know more of human life, than the English peers; and though they may at first be deficient in forms and precedents, they are likely to bring more mind to the public service. As they are considerably ad- vanced in life, and have already discovered their abilities before they are delegated, their former agri- cultural, commercial and legal pursuits, coalescing, serve to equalise the laws, before they receive their san(Slion. Plus poller e multorum mgen'ia consil- iaque* These considerations give our members a decid- ed superiority over the English peers : I mean there will be more capacity in the one body, than in the other, notwithstanding there will ever be a few pre- eminent members in the House of Lords of recent creation. This does not apply to the House of Commons : for though there are many rotten bor- * Livy. P [ 106 ] oughsaiid no little ministerial influence at eledlionsj yet this does not proscribe any ability from the House, for the minister will naturally seek the man of greatest capacity. Hence, you find Windham, Laurence, Canning and others in the House, who would be very loath to be questioned respecting the Hustings. The happy days, which we have experienced un- der the constitution of the United States, have scarce- ly offered, since its adoption, two important occa- sions of calling forth the abilities of Congress. The question of the Judiciary gave rise to the most spir- ited and well contested debate which was ever wit- nessed in a deliberative assembly : while the digni- ty and moderation, with which it was conducted, proved the empire of reason over passion and per- sonality. Had such a question, a question which called forth the whole force of political feeling in ev- ery individual of the legislature, been agitated in the House of Commons, you might have heard Mr. Fox pant across the Thames ; Mr. Pitt would have for- gotten his usual senatorial dignity ; Dr. Laurence would have frothed at the mouth ; Mr. Windham, forgetting the point in question, would have hurled Greek at his opponents from the philippics of De- mosthenes ; and Mr. Erskine would have been car- ried out. [ 107 ] Not less surprised were the members of Congress, than their fellow citizens, at this unexpected display of close argument, arrayed in the most brilliant elo- quence. The public mind was immediately con- vinced, when Breckenridge spoke to his motion, and supported it with a force and simplicity, desti- tute of the least appeal to popular sentiment. But when Morris rose, his wild eloquence threw a mist before the eyes of every one, and served to keep in agitation, a question supposed to be settled. Yet Mason, \vith a steady, piercing eye, sa\v through the labyrinth of party coloured rhetoric, and, revert- ing to first principles, brought back the question to its former state. These great efforts in the Senate, roused all the ability of the House, and called forth faculties, which had either slept for years, or were not supposed to exist. The modest Hemphill, with the simplicity of his stSi, supported his opinion, with a dignity peculiar to himself; while Giles and Bayard, veterans in debate, knowing each other, and conscious of the public expe6lation, reserved them- selves to the last, and came prepared with a sort of sobriety, to the arduous conflidl. Adieu, LETTER XVII. LONDON, FEBRUART i8f/i. jlx. government which owes its greatness to the vicious passions, and whose stability is found- ed on an artificial basis, should endeavour, as much as possible, to substitute for real patriotism, ideal glory ; and should call the attention of the people to the consideration of what their fathers have been, not to what themselves are. For a ruined country, like a ruined woman, may support itself a certain time on the credit of its former reputation. Fortunately for England, she has many obje6\s to engage the affeQions of her subjects, ^^'hich serve the purpose of a sort of bastard patriotism. This bias to our country, when principle is want- ing, is absolutely necessarj'', otherwise the people will be beggared with a standing army. In the advantage of external attachments, England stands preeminent over all nations. In the first place, she is small in territory, in the next, she is an island. Such circumstances may operate on a people ■without their knowledge : but England has food for her pride, which is the strongest trait in her [ 109 ] ^ charader. It is a property of the human mind, in its most miserable state, to rest with a degree of complacency either on some object, or, if that fails, on some delusion. If a nation be no longer great, they console themselves on past greatness, if no longer brave, they are ready to appeal to their an- cestors. Great men, great vi6lories, magnificent public buildings, stupendous monuments, pompous equipages, nay, a long line of kings and nobles, secretly operate in Europe instead of greater force, and produce a counterfeit patriotism. I say coun- terfeit : for most of those, who are emphatically styl- ed great men, have been public burdens. Great victories have usually originated a second war, while the first originated in a spirit of plunder, or what more frequently happens in our days, a spirit of commerce. Magnificent public buildings are a sure mark of slavery and oppression : the pyramids do no honour to Egypt. Stupendous monuments not unfrequently rise in honour of the tyrant, and at the expense of slaves ; are an incentive to false am- bition, and perpetuate and sanction the princi- ple to which they were reared. Kings* and * Monarchy doubtless originated in the infmcy and weakness of society, when an able, bold, populax man was ehSed to proteit and unite the discordant interests of his own tribe or clan. Thus, though simple monarchy may boast an elder origin than republics, all /isreA/ar^i authority is founded in usurpation, and ha ccntiniieS Uiurpaticn.—l might easily demonstrate this, so could Lord Thurlow. C no ] nobles arc the severest libel which any people can suffer : they had their origin in the weakness of mankind, at length usurped an hereditary authority, and now have their continuance through the base- ness of mankind. And when these orders are once instituted, it is their constant policy to discourage every advance to former virtue. Said the late Cath- arine of Russia, " Did men better listen to the dictates of reason and justice, they would have no occasion for us or others upon thrones. I was al- ways fond of philosophy, and my mind has ever been altogether republican. This my innate love and regard to liberty, to be sure, forms a strange con- trast with my boundless power."* Good God ! if these are the sentiments of a despot, a woman who held twenty four millions of slaves in chains, what ought to be the feelings of freemen ! If we do not guard the sacred j^re with which we are entrusted, we shall deserve to be governed by a woman, and when dead, torn from our sepulchres by posterity, and have our dust scattered to the winds of heaven : There is no spark in Europe, at which to light an- other torch. The chains of slavery no longer clank, restlessness no longer brightens them, they are re- posing in rust. If liberty be not cherished by us, • Catharine wrote this in a letter to Zimmerman : her letters to Diderot and D'Alembert were probably in the same style. Persons like Catharine carry with them their own excuse. Those who tuill not be free, deserve to be slaves. [ 111 ] she will retire beyond the Apalachian mountains ; her cause in Europe is hopeless. The blood of Hampden was offered in vain, and soon after, one day rendered ineffectual the efforts of years. The labours of Sidney ended in constructive trea- son, and the fair prospedts of Brissot, of the Ro- lands and others, closed in despair. It is you, my countrymen, on whom all Europe is looking, most with indifference, a few with sympathy, but her kings and nobles with the eagle eye of despots^ to seek in your miscarriage a sanction for their own pri?iciples.* What though we have no magnificent palaces ? Mannius Curius lived in a cottage. What though we have no hereditary nobility ? " One family is as ancient as another."! What though the simplicity of our temples, unindebted to the quarry, com- mand no admiration from the passenger ? The pat- tern of humility was born in a manger. What though we have no marble monuments ? A rude pile of stones could once affeSl the heart with no other inscription than, Sta mator, calcas heroem. But to return to the English — In addition to many natural and adventitious causes of attachment, which are common to all the subje^Sts, there are oth- • C. p. Sumner's Eulogy oaWashington. t Frederic 11. Memoirs of th« House of Brandenburg. [ 112 ] ers which not less influence those who feel them- selves of some little weight in the democratic branch of the constitution. These attachments to which I allude, you readily perceive, are all of a political na- ture. This class, if they have the least knowledge of their own history, ought to feel elevated in refledl- ing that, even in the dark ages, there was sufficient spirit in England to give law to a king fully disposed to be a tyrant : and though in succeeding times, the people, bandied about by York and Lancaster, at one moment, rejoiced in a vi6lory, which had no popular prerogative for its object, at the next, were happy to escape in a general amnesty : yet under Richard Third there was spirit enough to overturn an usurpation at*the third year, though supported by first rate abilities and heroic valour.* If the na- tional spirit departed for a century, it returned to take vengeance for three former reigns, on a man who was comparatively a mild prince. But what ought to elate them more than all this, there was found, not long after, a power in the nation capable of dropping a fool, of excluding his posterity and estab- lishing a new family on the throne. This power, it must be confessed, was not exerted in consequence * I know not why the charafler of Richard the Third should be treated with peculiar severity. There is little or nothing with which to reproach him after he came to the throne. The tyranny of Richard never reached the people ; and he was less a villain, in order to acquire a crown, than were some of his successors after they had gotten one. [ 113 ] of the sovereignty* of the people of England : yet its exertion under any circumstances discovers the difference between this people and the mo- notonous history of other nations, where, if " By the grace of God" they are afflicted with a tyrant, or a fool, he is feared as a demon, or worshipped as a sage. All these historical traits have their influ- ence ; for an Englishman discovers there is a pow- er residing somewhere in the nation capable of cre- ating all things anew. Hence, the class of English- men to which I allude at present, cannot but feel a proud preeminence in comparing themselves with their neighbours. Doubtless, the extorting of magna charta from King John, the beheading of Charles the First, the dismission of James the Sec- ond, and the establishment of a new monarchy, are the finest portions of English history. A nation which thus knows how, either to reduce to reason, dismiss forever, or speak in thunder to their ill dis- posed or incorrigible rulers, cannot for a long time endure either the stork, the serpent, or the tyranny of ministers under a harmless king log, though there may not be sufficient virtue in the nation to estab- lish a legitimate government. For the English are not quite yet, like the Ottomans : nor is their em- • In Europe it looks like afTedlatioii or irony, to say The sovereign peoph'- It is so. But nothing was more usual at Rome, than for the orators ,to style a popular assembly the sovereign people— «/ impcfium popuU Romani itujiitasque cv'ner'^aretur. Cic pro Rath to- [ 114 ] pire quite like theirs, weak in proportion to its wide extended territory, and poor in proportion to its nat- ural fertility. If the common people, and the humblest of that class who are allowed the privilege of voting, feel a refledlive consequence in viewing their country, the gentry and nobility must naturally be the best pat- riots in the world : since the latter rise with the prosperity of their country, though they suffer little in its distress. Indeed, the nobility in all nations, have discovered as much love for their country, as the leech feels for a plethora. I confess, if my country had experienced the va- rious revolutions and modifications which England has undergone, and the people in every contest with royal authority had added to their own prerogative, it would be matter of proud contemplation. But our country has done more : instead of amending and modifying an indefinite and unintelligible constitution, and advancing and retreating in the maze of politics, she has, by one great effort, brought back the social compa6l to its first princi- ples, restored a small portion of humanity to its original respectability, and left their posterity a form of government which merits to be hated by kings and nobles. Adieu. LETTER XVIII. LOKDOK MARCH 7th. A ou inquire respefting the climate of Eng- land. That climate must be happy which has pro- duced so many great men. Yet I ^voukl not seem to attach too much to climate. Those climates most congenial to human temperature do not con- stantly produce the greatest men. It is reported in history, that the Dutch were once generous and noble, that the Spaniards were once brave, and Livy is either erroneous, or too much given to irony, if Italy did not once produce men. If the English have a single prejudice, it is cer- tainly not in favour of their climate. Their cari- caturists, who for broad humour are unrivalled, hit off John Bull in a cloudy day with great success. The weather here is of such public concern, they sometimes take notice of it in the newspapers. There are perhaps more \Aeathercocks in London, than in all the world beside : though it ought to be considered London is the scat of government. Among the various modes of insurance, \^'hich the wit of man has invented in this city, I am not a [ 116 ] little surprised, no one has ever opened an office for for the insurance of fair weather. All those who are in pursuit of pleasure or business ; all those who have delicate constitutions, and are liable to suffer from the wind being a point, or half a point variant from their favourite quarter ; all those who were in- commoded on journies, might be compensated in money for mental or corporeal inconvenience. This might appear rather ridiculous in prospeiStus ; but it is only an improvement on marine insurance ; . and is much more rational, than insurance on lives. I have no doubt the lawjers will improve this hint : it would afford rare sport at Westminster and Guild- hall. All the dull rogues in town would insure, for the author who wrote on a dull day, would recover special damage, if his book did not sell. All the ladies at the west end of the town would insure, though I know not what damages would be given for a disappointed rout. All those who frequent the places of public amusement, as well as the proprie- tors, would insure, the one for disappointment of pleasure, the other for disappointment of money. If many of the English have degenerated into a mongrel sort of beings, if the mane of the lion has given place to more ear than formerly, if a thousand nervous afft6lions have rendered them women with- out the spirit; of women, I am not disposed to attrib^ [ 117 ] ute it to the climate, which is now as good as when Boadicea led the van of her countrymen. Let us, for a moment, consider what efFeage of the white man, who has come from the other side of the great water to behold the Little Toad Eater /"* Neither the chief nor his compan- ions smiled ; that might have discomposed the white man. Neither did the chief know how to re- ply : but suspecting from his posture, that he was quite exhausted, with true civility he asked him, If he tiiishedfor any thing to eat ! The interpreter re- plied. They had just eaten and drunk abundantly. This perplexed the chief and his companions, who wondered why the white man preferred to continue on his knees. At length the white man, thinking it a great breach of politeness to be left in such a sit- uation, asked, " How long he should continue on his knees?" The chief replied, " As long as he pleas- ed.^^ — This was natural : the child of nature being ignorant of the reason of his placing himself on his knees, knew no reason why at any particular time he should rise. Not a little of the national character may be dis- covered at the courts of law. The examination of * The name »f the cUef. [ 151 ] witnesses is a great i^lief to the judges, to the law- yers and to the jury, in the frequently tecftous tragi- comedy of law. A poor man comes into court witli a presentiment of being covered with abuse and in- sult. The counsellor frequently inquires his occu- pation, his mode of life and his circumstances, with a view to ridicule him. Cowardly condutSl, to abuse a defenceless man, under the covert of law, from behind a chief justice. But a man of fortune is treated very differently, and if any thing offensive should escape the counsel, there is immediate room made for an apology, which more than satisfies his delicate feelings. I know that, witnesses often give their evidence in a manner Avhich lays them open to fair remark ; but if this sometimes happen, it is not a sufficient reason for abusing an honest man. Should our citizens receive such treatment in our courts, as the poorer class of English suffer at Westminster and Guildhall, they would first call up- on the judge to protetH: them, in the same moment, if not protected, they would protect themselves. But here an innocent man is obliged to suffer, in cross-examination, the meditated brutality of a se- cure attack, while the judge stands ready to commit him to Newgate, if he dare assert his dignity. I am daily more and more surprised at the differ- ence between the English nationally, and indmdual' [ 132 ] ly. Themselves seem conscious of the difference. Individuals are more ready to resent national, than personal attacks. The man, who will sit patiently, and hear his neighbours abused, discovers instantly a spirit of opposition, if it be questioned, Whether the English were free under Queen Elizabeth ? It is the part of most men to take little care of their pri- vate, so long as their public, character stands fair. Dan Prior, after spending part of the evening with Pope, Swift and Oxford, would close it with a sold- ier and his wife, over a pot of porter in Long Acre. Jf the English think they have no circumstantial, prescriptive right to assume, they readily acquiesce in inferiority, and still assume as much as they dare. Not so our citizens, they attach voluntary respe6l to merit, but do not allow even superiority to assume any thing. I am happy to notice the following anecdote, as it discovers a rare species of magnanimity. I was late- ly in company with some of those happy mortals, who, having already enjoyed a competency of fame, are now reposing under their own statues. They were speaking of vulgar prejudices : one of them said he had been stoned several times, in passing through a certain country village, " because his hair naturally curled ^ I asked him. How long since I 133 ] this happened ? He replied, " When he was ^LJour- net/man shoemaker^ about thirty years since." I cannot better illustrate the subje6l of the present Jetjter, than by quoting the following famous speech of Beckford to George the Third. This speech is inscribed on Beckford's monument in Guildhall, in large, fair chara6ters. It is supposed to do the city of London great honour : there certainly is, in the last paragraph a wonderful degree of dignity for a Lord Mayor : but the Asiatic style of the rest will be received in the United States, for sarcastic rail- lery. "MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREICH, " WILL your Majesty he pleased so far to condescend as to permit the mayor of your loyal city of London to declare in your royal pres- ence, on behalf of his fellow citizens, how much the bare apprehension of your Majesty's displeasure, would, at all times, affe6t their minds : the declara- tion of that displeasure has already filled them with inexpressible anxiety, and with the deepest afflic- tion. Permit me, sire, to assure your Majesty, that your Majesty has not in all your dominions, any sub- jedls more faithful, more dutiful, or more affection- ate, to your Majesty's person and family, or more ready to sacrifice their liyes and fortunes to the I 134 ] maintenancfe of the true honour and dignity of your crown. ** We do, therefore, with the greatest humility and submission, most earnestly supplicate your Majesty, that you will not dismiss us from your presence, without expressing a more favourable opinion of your faithful citizens, and without some comfort, without some prospe6l at least of redress. *' Permit me, sire, further to observe, that whoev- er has already dared, or shall hereafter endeavour by felse insinuations and suggestions to alienate your Majesty's affetSlions from your loyal subjedls in gen- eral, and from the city of London in particular, and to withdraw your confidence in, and regard for, your people, is an enemy to your Majesty's person and family, a violator of the public peace, and a betrayer of our happy constitution as it was established at the glorious revolution." Thus ended this famous speech : but his hard hearted majesty would scarcely sit in his chair, to hear the supplications of his poor, disconsdate citi- zens. Beckford was dismissed ^^ without prospect of comfort i and without redress. ^^ Alas, broken hearted citizens of London ! But I challenge all the archives of Asia to match the following : C 135 ] " The Lords, spiritual and temporal, and Coni' mons, do, in the name of all the people of England, most humbly an,d faithfully submit themselves, their heirs and posterity forever, " &c. I am sick of such stuff. Adieu. LETTER XXL LONDON, MARCH 'itth- Xxad Theophrastus made a voyage to Brit- ain, he might have embellished his treatise De Lap- idibus with numberless lusi naturae. That Spar- tan was, no doubt, a wag, who asked the Athenian *' If trees grew square in his country ?" Yet I know not why trees at Athens should not have been square, as well as that the quarries in England should produce stones of all dimensions, some in the form of cylinders, others square, and some round. Nor is this all ; they not only grow in these convenient geometrical figures, but grow as smooth as the hand of art could polish thenri r and not a few of them seem to be fluted, as though a chisel had been employed, particularly those in the form of cylinders. Among all the curiosities in the British Museum, I saw not one of these natural productions ; a striking instance, how little man- kind regard the greatest natural miracles which are within the observation of every body, Should one of these fluted columns be discovered in New- England, every man would turn antiquary'. Yet I [ 137 3 should be sorry to see any of these fluted columns in our country, for our citizens would be so pleased with them, they might endeavour to force our quar- ries to conform to those of England, and that would be an endless undertaking. With these ready made materials, it is no wonder, if many of their public buildings should be founded on a magnificent scale. St. Paul's is one, grand, entire, vast edifice, which does great honour to the Saint, and argues no little piety in the nation : yet where so much money is made by religion, it would look like ingratitude not to shew some litde exter- nal respedl to its founders. Yet St. Paul's is rather a niggardly building for a people who have sport- ed away so much money. St. Paul's cost only £ 1 ,500,000 sterling. Comparing the value of mon- ey at the period it was built, with the present val- ue of money, we may suppose it cost ;^3, 500,000 : a trifle, which could never have been missed from the treasury, and which might have been re- imbursed the nation in exchequer bills in two days. The front of St. Martin's, its bold design, its ma- jestic pillars, its elevated ground work, rising so gradually that the eye commands it without an ef- fort, its weighty pedestals and spacious portico, fre- quently delay the stranger until divine service is over. I might thus run over, in description, the T [ 138 ] Royal Exchange, Somerset House, Westmin- ster Abbey with a hundred others : but they con- vey no sentiment to the heart, no food to the mind, and scarcely the skeleton of an image to the imagina- tion. Yet the Parliament House, I must particu- larly mention. It is a very old building, and from a western view, seems to have fallen from the clouds in disjunQa membra, and to have been blown together by a violent wind ; so that the parliament and Parliament House are perfectly congenial. At different periods this building has undergone many improvements. There is quite a small por- tion of it called the House of Commons, which was formerly St. Stephen's chapel, which, a long period of time past, was devoted to what was then called religion. This part of the building is thought by many to be out of repair : but unfortunately it is situate so near the centre, and the approach to it is through so many windings, that you might as well pull down the whole edifice as undertake a repair. Beside, many of the occupiers of this apartment have an interest in the premises, and are naturally attached to a house which has cost them so much money ; but, like many other people, rather than re- pair their house, they are willing to hazard its falling on their heads. Perhaps no human invention was ever more criticised, than this apartment. For in- [ 139 ] stance : some have obsen'ed that it appears very well defined at a distance, but that internally it is litde better than a labyrinth, that those who enter soon get bewildered, no longer know their former friends, and seldom return the same way they enter- ed. Others have compared it to a \\'orsted purse, extremely accommodating, capable either of con- traction or expansion, at pleasure. Some have more ludicrously compared it to a puppet show, and have stretched the comparison beyond all bounds of toleration. After all, 1 think it the best room in the house. A little lower down is another famous apartment, rather ornamental, than useful, called the House of Lords. Its size is a little less than the House of Commons. I never was in any place so well calcu- lated for lounging, and I believe it a just remark, that most of those who find themselves on these satin seats lounge away the rest of their days. In- deed, government not unfrequently places resdess men there to make them easy, such a wonderful in- fluence have these satin seats on the spirits of men. A violent fever of ten or twentj'^ years, has been known to change to a lethargy for life. Calypso never possessed a stronger influence over the na- ture of men, than do these satin seats. [ 140 ] There are many small apartments on the area, well worthy the notice of a stranger. Those term- ed the courts of King's Bench and Equity are the most remarkable of the several courts. The court of Equity is a very small apartment, nearly circular, in allusion to the circle, I suppose, the most per- fe61: of figures : though a person, whose case had been in Equity five and twenty years, might sup- pose the allusion to point to time, as the circle has no end. All these courts of law are so exceedingly circumscribed, you might imagine they were calcu- lated only for the lawyers. The entrance to them is through a spacious hall, but the distance is so great, the suitors are frequently lost before they can find them : so, this spacious hall, though built for the public service, is chiefly devoted to the entertain- ment of a few lawyers. It is a pity these courts cannot be rendered more commodious and easy of access ; but there is very litde prospect of this ; for the bare proposition would resound a Nolumus mu- tare through the country. I shall speak more distinctly in my next letter. Adieu. LETTER XXII. LOi^DOS, APRIL Ath- A HE conclusion of my last letter has given occasion to the present. Human laws, however well adapted to a people's circumstances, however ably defined or mildly exe- cuted, are of unequal operation. There is, in all societies, a certain number of characters, who hang so loosely on the social compa6l, that they may be considered privileged persons, and paramount the law : while a certain other portion, though seeming- ly born for the operation of law on themselves, yet contrive, through life, to shp the noose of justice. These two descriptions are little affe6led, whether the laws operate kindly, or with the greatest severi- ty. However, the number of these people will scarcely be troublesome under a polity, where all the members have it in their power, by industry, to live in decent respeClability. Our own country is an illustrious proof of this : the conveniences of life are there procured with such facility, and the gov- ernment fashioned so easy to the shoulders of its cit- izens, that the most ab^doned European rogues [ 142 ] find it their interest, on their arrival, to become lion- est. — ^But the burden of law forever bears hardest on that class of men, who in most countries are the majority, I mean those who have sufficient honesty to keep within the limits of law, yet not sufficient property to feel perfe6\ly easy under its authority. Hence, the daring observation of Beccaria will be found practically true, that, " The generality of laws are exclusive privileges, the tribute of all to tlie advantage of a few." Now, if the association of the rich and poor for the support of law, be a very unequal association; and if the poor sufter the chief burden of that estab- lishment, which protcdls the rich ; and if law will, from necessity, even in a government founded on the broad basis of political equality, that is, on public utility, operate in this manner, the man, who, con- fiding in the protection of law, which has received its sanction from the highest human authority, ex- periences, from whatever cause, its inefficacy, and finds himself ruined, though the law, in its sarcastic mockery, may give him a verdiCt, must feel his moral sense weakened, and feel disposed, in the mo- ment of indignation, to make reprisal. These observations are necessary, in order to con- vince you, I am serious in what I shall advance in the present letter : though I cannot reasonably ex- peCl one word of it will be believed. t 143 1 It was the policy of Alfred, says history, to bring justice home to every man's door. Now this is either an ornamental story in the annals of that age, or madam Justice has for many years been too proud to enter the door of a cottage. It is the boast of the English, that they live under equal laws, and that the meanest man in the king- dom, in the eye of the law, ranks with the greatest. Though this were a vain boast, it bespeaks a people not entirely uninfluenced by noble sentiments. But it has unfortunately happened to other people beside the Romans, to appeal to laws engraven on twehe tables y but which, in process of time, attract the no- tice of the lawyer less, than that of the antiquary. A modern Roman may dig up a broken piece of an old column, which shall contain the whole spirit of Roman liberty, and on this authority, assert himself a freeman. So may an Englishman produce from l\is dusty archives Magna Charta, and quote you the proud passage, " Nulli vefidcffius, ?iuUi fiegabimics, aut d'lfferemiis, justitiam i^el rectum^'''' and I will send him to the court of King's Bench or Common Pleas to recover the sum of ;^10. A form of gov- ernment, or a code of laws may command our ad- miration, but unless they operate in practice, they serve only to betray the weak more easily to the wary. The operation of the laws is la%v, not their theory. [ 144 ) A le^itimite government, that is, a government founded on public will, should make it a first concern that the laws of property* should set as easy as possi- ble on the shoulders of poverty. The greatest praise, which a code of laws can receive, is the high estima- tion in which it is holden by the poor : but if their operation be oppressive, they naturally transfer their hatredfrom theabuses to the laws themselves. Hence, the embrio of revolution. It is unfortunate, that in all governments, destitute of a regenerative princi- ple, the first abuse merges in the second, and the last, in the suGceeding one, so that at length, accumu- lated abuses lay claim to prescription and outbrave the law itself ! Otherwise it never could have happen- ed that in England, famous throughout the world for just judges and well defined law, a poor man whom injury has overwhelmed, is necessitated to fly from remedy, lest the justice of his country should double his distress. Indeed, I caught the following obser- vation from Lord Chancellor Eldon,t while on his seat in chancery, " That a man who trusts to his neighbour's honesty^ without taking any security^ in many instances^ stands a better chance^of obtaining justice, than if he brings his case into chancery on the • Criminal law, however severe, in all countries, operates more equally than the laws which regulate private property. t Better kiiown in the United States by Sir John Scot. [ 145 ] faith of parchment.'" The cliancellor delivered this with a vehemence which did him honour, in just indignation at the perversion of justice, which, in his own court, under his own eye, obtains so fre- quently in spite of himself— But this was in the court of chancery. It is the inferior courts M'hich most interest the great mass of the people. In chan- cery, if the scales of justice sometimes labour, the suitors in general can afford to oil them. Let the laws take care of the poor ; the rich can take care of themselves : the widow's cruise I wish to spare. I shall now shew you, by a single fa61:, the prac- tical operation of law in England. In the year 1793, the number of writs, from ;^10 to ;^20 only, which issued in Middlesex, amounted to 5719. The sums sued for amounted to ;^81,791. If not one of these writs had been defended, the costs would have amounted to ;^68,728. Had they been defended, the amount of costs would have aris- en to ;^285,950 ! This I do not expe6t you will be- lieve. What havoc among the poor ! Sir WiUiam Blackstone says, the impartial administration of jus- tice is the great end of civil society. But such jus- tice as the above, one would suppose would soon be the complete end of civil society. Coleman, in his comedy of the Poor Gentleman^ imagines the following dialogue between Sir Rob- [ 146 ] ert Bramble and Humphrey. Sir Rob. " Is there auy distresses in the parish ? Read the morning list, Humphrey." Humph. " Jonathan Haggens of Muck Mead is put in prison." Sir Rob. " Why, it was but last week, Gripe, the attorney, receiv- ed two cottages for him by law, worth sixty pounds. " Humph. ' ' And charged a hundred and ten for his trouble ; so, seized the cottages for part of his bill, and threw Jonathan in jail for the re- mainder." I know not where I read the following story, which though in the oriental style, was doubtless fabricated in England. Tanghi, a young and gay Chinese, had married the daughter of a wealthy Arab, whose dowry was three horses. Who was so happy as Tanghi ! He had a very pretty wife, and what, in some countries., is still more valuable than women, three of the fin- est horses in the empire. It is no wonder that Tanghi was disposed to make a gay appearance : he sported his horses to the admiration or envy of all Peking, But if wisdom is sometimes rash, how should folly know where to, stop ? Tanghi soon sported away his property, and in a moment of dis- tress, sold his finest horse, on a short credit. Tchin-chan, the purchaser, had a very particular friend, a lawyer, who commanded no little practice [ 147 ] at Peking. This friend had long expelled to be- come the proprietor of at least one of these Arabian horses ; and when his friend Tchin-chan informed him of the purchase, the lawyer naturally inquired, if the money was paid ? To oblige his friend, Tchin- chan promised to refuse payment. The lau yer im- mediately wrote a note to Tanghi, informing him, that Tchin-chan designed to refuse payment, and politely offered his services in recovering the money. At the end of nine months, Tanghi got judgment for the whole sum with interest. But Tchin-chan, by the admce of his friend^ appealed to a higher tri- bunal ; but Tanghi still recovered the money with interest. After another appeal in tlie last resort, final judgment with costs and interest was given in favour of Tanghi — For they think, in China, with Sir William Blackstone that, impartial justice is the great end of civil society. — The story adds, that just before final judgment, Tanghi's two other horses were attached by his lawyer. Is it not remarkable that legislation, which ought to be the first, has in all countries been the last con- cern of nations ? While people are making tele- scopes, twenty feet long, to discover new systems, they are regardless of man, the glory of their own system ! Could not an Englishman visit the United States, and retort much of this letter back again ? / believe he might. [ 148 ] "There is one petty institution in London which merits all my admiration. It is the only instance which I haiie ener' founds of a discrimination between the rich and the poor* This institution is a Court of Requests, without appeal, for the recovery of debts under forty shil- * It is very true, the laws of property make no distinftion between man and man. A poor man is secure of justice, •when his cause comes before the sacred tri- hitnal, but if he do not perish before it arrives there, he may possibly find himself bu- ried at last under a load of justice. Of all the emperors of the East, Selim was the most just. Not a day passed in which it was not proclaimed from the tow- er of the palace, Selim is just I Selim never sleeps luhile injustice triumphs. The name of Selim mingled itself with the religion of his subjedls ; no praises ascended to Alia, in which Selim was not named, no tears were shed which accused Selim, no wrinkles of age dated a deeper furrow to the account of Selini. His presence among his people was benign as the dew of heaven to the tropic latitudes. Razai lived far from the capital, content to cultivate a few paternal acres. An opulent neighbour in draining his own lands, had overflowed the little patrimony of Razai. In vain Kazai remonstrated, and then proceeded to the capital to throw himself at the feet of Selim, often repeating by the way, Selim is just I Not a day passes in which is not pfoclaimed from the tower of the palace, Selim never sleeps while injustice tri' timphs. Razai had never seen the capital, and when he entered it, his inquiring eyes and earnest looks, arrested the attention of every body. He told his story an hundred times before he arrived at the palace, every one telling him, that Selim loas just, that it was daily proclaimed from the tower that, Selim never slept -while injustice triumphed. He approached the palace, and just before he entered, he heard the sound of a trumpet proclaiming, Selim is just ! Selim nev- er sleeps ivhile injustice triumphs. Razai's heart was in liis eyes, his heart was all over him, he exclaimed, in tlie warmth of Us feelings, Selim is just ! and I shall return a hapjiy man to Schirah. Razai entered the palace, and thought he found himself already in the ])resence of Selim, so splendid was the person who received him. It was one of Selim's favourite officers of the household. Razai related his case, and the officer responded, Selim is just I But all who approach Selim must first purify themselves, at the entrance of the palace, with an ofTer- ing to justice. He was then condudled one step nearer to the throne of Selim, who was sitting in j udgment. He was received by another splendid personage : Razai re- lated his story, and the officer replied, Selim is just '. Behold the eternal light of jus. tice ! bright as the sun, and pure as his rays : but all who approach Selim, nmst first nourish this lamp with oil. This done, Razai was diredledtothe chief Aga. Here- iatedhis story to the chief Aga, who responded, Selim is just ! But all who approach ——At this moment, Razai saw several persons returning from the royal presence. With a hc.ut bmsting, dubious, alarmed, he cried out, "Is Selim just I" With one voice they all exclaimed, " Selim is just ! But, alas ! we perish under a load of justice!" [ 149 ] lings, at the expense of ten pence !* There are a multitude of these petty courts distributed through Westminster, and if they operate without abuse, these institutions, in my opinion, are not less illus- trious, than that of the most noble order of the Garter. Such institutions in the capital towns of the Unit- ed States, would prove an alleviation from one of the greatest pressures under which the poor labour. Such courts would command the whole pra^lice under ten dollars, and if the emolument of the office would not engage a man of integrity and talents, let him be remunerated from the county treasury. It would not be less glorious, than beneficial to the United States, should congress commission, at the expense of the nation, a number of intelligent men to bring home all that is better in other coun- tries, both in Economy, Law, Agriculture and the Arts of Life. — Rome was not ashamed to send to Athens, and copy the laws of ♦Solon. Missi legati Athenas Sp. Postumius Albus, A. Manlius, P. Sulpicius Camerinus; jussique inclytas leges Solonis descnbere^ et alianim Gracia chitatum insti- tuta, mores, juraque noscere.f. Adieu. • sterling. t Livy. LETTER XXIIL LOlfDON, APRIL 9th, xVn Englishman once recommended to his son, who was about to travel, to go forty miles to see a man of letters, rather than five, to see a famous city. The republic of letters has lost nothing of its ancient liberality. It is only necessary to wish to see learned men, in order to be admitted to their so- ciety. I discovered this so soon, that I burnt most of my merchant-letters of introdu6lion. I am acquainted with a gentleman who seems to have studied mankind with considerable success. He is learned, intelligent and communicative : and what renders these qualities still more valuable, be is not an author. Of two men in all respedls equal, one of whom is not an author, I prefer the company of him who has not written a book.* Mr. L. I im- agine, is past fifty : this with me is a recommenda- tion ; his age and intelligence give him an authority, which, in general, I have no right to dispute, while my deference disposes him to confidence, and raises * Tliose who have written books are sometimes more precise, but generally, dogmatical, angular and systematic. [ 151 ] us above rivalry. He invited me, sometime since, to visit St. Paul's, on some pleasant morning, and from its eminence to take a view of the city, for he had not overlooked it, he said, for more than twenty years. I waited on him yesterday morning, and was hap- py to find him disposed to dissipate the day. It will be a memorable occasion with me, and not uninter- esting to you : I shall therefore commemorate it with a long letter. He observed, " He had always been fond of culti- vating the society of foreigners, for this was a surer means of understanding the peculiarities of a people, than reading either their history, or the fictions of travellers. Those minutiae, which distinguish the domestic character of one people from another, are either overlooked, or thought too trifling to claim the notice of the historian, while the traveller is equally ready to embeUish or deform. Hence, one nation knows very little of another, except of their more prominent or excrescent features. You have heard, that the Englishman is a more downright, positive character, than the Frenchman ; but you will understand this chara^eristic better, if you wit- ness a conversation between them : the one will use the indicative, the other frequently the subjundlive, mode." He added, "No man can be acquainted [ 152 ] -with foreigners, if they have their proper chara(Slers, without esteeming their nation more, than if he had never seen any individual of that nation. You, sir," addressing himself more particularly to me, " esteem the English more than you did before you visited them." " That is very true, sir, but I es- teem England less.^^ " That distinction I expell- ed you would make ; but I would permit no other foreigner to make it ; he should say, with you, he es- teemed Englishmen, but admired England. " 1 ought to have premised that Mr. L. is re- markably liberal, except when a subje6l is started which may possibly touch hard on England : and though a bitter dissenter, he is not less an En- glishman. He then asked me, if I took notes of whatever made new impressions ? ** Yes, sir," I replied, " I shall note the particulars of our present conver- sation." "I fear you will prove'a severe judge." *' Why so, sir ?" " Your education and principles will lead you to brandish the scourge of satire, rath- er than wanton with the plume of panegyric : you regard society as a wilderness, which mocks at the pruning hook, and will only yield to the ploughshare. You ought not to speak of England, before you have observed the state of society on the continent." *' In what respect, sir, do you think I shall suffer [ 153 ] my prejudices to bias me ?" " Why , for instance, you cannot behold a nobleman's country seat with any pleasure : the cottages of the tenants renew the feu- dal system : you cannot patiently see a fine equip- age ; the servants, before and behind, affe6l you with convulsions : nor can you contemplate his Majesty with any complacency ; his guards revive the pretorian bands : in short, you are not pleased to see a rich man ; for you immediately begin to cal- culate the number of poor, one rich man supposes. But, sir, your feelings carry you too far ; so long as civil society exists, a large portion of mankind must be comparatively poor : riches and poverty are con- vertible terms, and the distin6lions among men founded in nature : as in a forest, you may observe a few trees, kings of the wood, many on an equality, and of respedlable height, but a yet greater number, mere dwarfs, which nature stints, (and these in re- sentment grow crooked and knotty,) beside a great quantity of furze and underwood, which are found below the latter." "Nay, sir, you have no right to use this inanimate illustration : did these dwarfs, this furze, and this underwood, suffer,* by being overshadowed by these kings of the wood, your ex- position were happy : beside, sir, nature, to whom you appeal, is not so capricious ; you have coupled • Dr. Darwin might allow this to be a euceessful elucidation. W [ 154 ] together, trees, furze and underwood, three differ- ent species : now we find in inanimate nature a cer- tain deference to equality, among members of the same species. But, sir, if an Upas tree were to spring up on the equator, and threaten to overshadow^ the whole world, would not every tree of the wood, be interested to destroy the poisonous influence of this tyrant Upas ? You carry your principles too far, sir." He smikd at my impetuosity. In passing down Fleet Street, we saw, at a dis- tance, a man of enormous and disproportionate body. ' ' Do you see that man," said Mr. L. " who is approaching with such hard labour ? Twenty years since, he was as healthy, a6live, and well pro- portioned as any man in London ; but unfortunately, a distant relation left him a large fortune. This proved his ruin ; he abandoned himself to indolence and high living, consequently to gout and grossness. The fat soon began to grow about his eyes, so that now, you see, he is almost blind ; another twelve- month, I expedl, will hermetically seal both of his eyes." Soon after, he pointed to a litde court, which we passed, observing, " a man lived in a back apartment there, who could not give a better account of him- self for the last twenty years, than could the person we had just seen." I asked, who he might be? [ 155 ] " He is an alchymist," said Mr. L. "in search of the philosopher's stone ; but," added he, " I have never known but one man who attained the secret : he knew the gra?id art of being happy without it.'" *' But, sir, how can you account for it, that people in this age, should attempt to realise fortunes from those speculations, wherein thousands have misera- bly failed, and not one has ever succeeded ? Noth- ing equals this, in the annals of madness and extrav- agance." *' Yes," said Mr. L. '' notwithstanding every preceding adventurer has been ruined, not- withstanding the ridicule attached to the pursuit, notwithstanding repeatedly abortive experiments, still there are alchymists who persevere in search of the philosopher's stone. But there arc anomalies in the minds of men, which perplex the deepest re- search. We have on record several instances of chara6lers not less extraordinary, than the alchym- ists of our days. The charafiler of Proxenus, for instance, near the end of the second book of Xeno- phon's Retreat of the Ten Thousand, TaSr* Sv V »)jj v^ /SAseSii? attUTM veMftitv' s|o» ^l fxBvfiitv, /3»;il]«< ■?roviiv u'^i ttaA- TToiilv. Not less unaccountable was the bias of the mind of Pyrrhus, who proposed the most arduous and im- possible exploits, as the means of attaining to that [ 156 ] situation which he already enjoyed. No country, like this, offers so much encouragement to novelty, whether useful, capricious or elegant : hence, every new theory, whether of utility or monstrous deform- ity, is laboured into perfection. And, as amidst the boundless extravagance of this metropolis, nothing is lost, so among the sti'il more extravagant imagina- tions of men, no idea which can he wrouglit into a mechanical, scientific, or literary coiximodity is suf- fered to float in vacuum, but is fashioned or tortured into profit. Hence, you find thousands of quacks of all descriptions, whose success gives them a degree of respe6lability, not a few of whom have probably become dupes to their own quackery." "Why, then sir, all mankind are quacks, for I have never known a man, who was not fully persuaded of many errors, in support of which, he would have set a contrary convi6lion at defiance." " Nay, sir, they are not quacks, until they expose their commodities to the public, or protrude their sentiments on man- kind. If a man really believe he has discovered a panacea, he is not a quack if the secret remain in his own breast. You would not have ihought Mahom- et an impostor, if after his death you had found the Koran in his cabinet." — At this moment a quack advertisement was put into my hands — " There, sir, if that man should swallow all his own pills, he [ 157 1 might be a fool, but would not be a quack." *' With deference, sir, I obje6l to Mahomet; why would he not have been an impostor ?" "He would so, if mankind had been weak enough to have be- lieved him : so would the author of the Arabian Night's Entertainments, so would Jacob Bhemen and Emanuel Swedenbourg have been impostors, so far as their works were thought to be real history or divine authority, rather than the recreations of fancy, or the impulses of delirium." We now approached Ludgate Hill, on the emi- nence of which stands St. Paul's. We visited sev- eral apartments before we ascended the cupola ; in one of which there is the ancient model, from which St. Paul's was built. Being ignorant of architec- ture, I improved the opportunity of informing my- self of a few technical terms. I asked what a certain part was denominated. "That is the w^-y^," said the person who waited on us. " Did you not know," said Mr. L, "that there is usually a na'ue in a church .^" He added, " Your churches are dif- ferendy modelled." I was proud of the compliment, and told him I believed the clergy in the United States, really were, in point of morality and primi- tive simplicity, an ornament to the country, and not unworthy successors of the apostles." " To what do you attribute this exemplary carriage?" "To [ 158 ] this, sir, that the simplicity of the gospel has not in the United States mingled with politics, and pro- duced a religious aristocracy : you know, sir, we have no church establishment, there is unlimited tol- eration "Without political restriction ; hence, among the various se6ls, there is a spirit of christian emu- lation." " Then you do not think," said Mr. L. *' that Jesus Christ, at his second coming, will be likely to call on my lords the bishops ?" " Our Sav- iour, at his second coming, would, if he visited any one, visit him who shall have most of his own spirit, and will be more likely to enter a cottage, than a pal- ace." " Yes, he doubtless would, ifhe Appeared in his former habit, for he would be obliged to work all his miracles over again, before his lordship would admit him into the parlour. However, I do not think he would come to England." " Why not, sir ?" " They, I do not mean the Jews, would put him to death a second time." " I do not under- stand you, sir." " Then," said Mr. L. " you do not understand the manners of the age." When we had ascended to the cupola, I reminded him of the conversation in the apartment of the church model. He resumed the subje6l, and spoke as follows : ' ' The laws, customs and opinions of ev- ery country, whether good or bad, whether founded in truth or error, must be resped^ed. There are [ 159 ] two species of treason ; one of sentiment, or theo- retical, the other, overt, or pra^ical ; the latter is regarded by all governments with more lenity, than the former : an overt a6l of treason has its particular obje\?t, and the law has defined its nature and pun- ishment. But the first species of treason is too subtle for the law ; it can neither be anticipated nor defined : hence, more dangerous, as it infe^ls the community without suspicion, and tends to revolu- tion without remedy. Hence, we ought not to ad- mire at the jealousy of governments, when new opinions, subversive of old maxims, are pubUshed : for every government which has not a renovating principle, soon becomes a tyranny, and feels inter- ested in supporting a certain set of notions, no mat- ter whether right or wrong. *' The death of Socrates has been considered, in all ages, an enormity of injustice, scarcely surpassed by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The fate of this man has been lamented in the pulpit, and wept in the closet. Who has not sympathised with the old bald philosopher, and been ready to burst the pris- on, and snatch the bowl of hemlock from his hand, and dash it on the floor ! Yet, let us, for a moment, inspe6l the condu6l of this philosopher. The relig- ion of his country 4iad been settled for ages ; yet he enterprised in disquieting the state by introduc- C 160 ] ing new, and disparaging the established gods : he endeavoured, as Cato the Censor justly remarked, to aboHsh the customs of his country, and draw the people over to opinions contrary to the laws. In what country, or in what age, would Socrates have fared better ? Should such a man appear in England, and maintain principles as unconstitutional, and as abhorrent to those of the lords bishops, as those of Socrates were inconsistent with the laws and receiv- ed notions of the Athenians, he would awaken a re- sentment, which might forget for a moment the len- ity of law. " The apostle Paul would meet with a worse re- ception in England, than he did in Greece, or Rome. If we consider for a moment his letters to the Greek and Roman populace, we shall be surprised at the clemency of those statesmen, who so long tolerated a man whose doctrines, with elevated contempt, not only trampled on their whole national mythology, but entered their cities, and expelled the auspicious, presiding Lares ; nay more, which pervaded their social firehearths and exdomesticated the hallowed Penates. What has Paine, Priestly or Price, what has Tooke, Wakefield or Godwin, advanced so of- fensive to the feelings of the present age, as were the principles of Socrates and St. Patil, to the Athenians and Romans ? Now if Christ should appear in En- [ 161 ] gland, or in any other country in Europe, and con- du6l exactly as he did in Judea, what, sir, do you think would be the consequence ? He would, doubt- less, find many followers, but the scribes and phari- sees would feel interested, first to deny, and then to put him to death." This letter is already too long, therefore you may expe^l in another the conclusion of tlie expedition to St. Paul's. Adieu, LETTER XXIV. LONDOif, APRIL i6th. After the notices to which the nave in the church gave rise, Mr. L. pointing round the hor- izon observed, with national complacency, You see now the metropolis of the queen of isles. The name of London is conne6led with the envy, hatred, or admiration of the world. "Her fame expends as far as winds can blow. Or ships or fish upon the waters flow." He added, " There is more public spirit, there is more amor patria^ there is more obstinacy of re. sistance, when oppressed, within the circumference of ten miles, than in all tlie rest of Europe. Then witli an energy, which transported to ancient times, he repeated those famous lines of x^lcmon. Ti^vn rutlcvm at vixu? e^ woA£ [ 224 ] villages but has pervaded the republic of letters, has tricked out philosophy in the garb of the coxcomb, and sent her to dance attendance on the great, in the waiting rooms of their palaces. The remark must be qualified with many excep- tions, but I believe it will generally obtain. That if this people could have their choice of property or happiness^ they would prefer property and trust their happiness to i\\Q fashion. Adieu. LETTER XXXI. LOKDOK, JUNE iCtli. A. DINED yesterday with Mr. L. *' And so," said he, " I have heard you say, you esteem the English more, since you have seen them, but esteem England less." Mr. L. then threw the gaundet, by observing, " The English form of government discovered this remarkable peculiarity, that while all other forms of government had deteriorated, and become victims of their own corruption, it was the fortune of the English constitution, notwithstanding so many revolutions, which frequently ruin what they intend to mend , and the constant collision of party, which as frequently, either relaxes to imbecil- ity, or strains beyond the vigour of law, to stand at this day, the wonder of the world." — " How does it operate on general happiness ? A government may be excellent in theory, and yet its administration be a mockery of its principles : that is, the govern- ment may be nothing more than a /or/Tz." Mr. L. observed, " That the theory of every government was doubtless more pure, than its administration : that the sublimest principles became sullied in their Ff [ 226 ] descent to common life : but that the English con- stitution had co-extended remedy with wrong, and brought that remedj' home to every Englishman's door." — "What, sir, do you define the best form of government?" " That," replied Mr. L. "which operates most extensively on general happiness." " What, then, sir, may be the proportion between the rich and poor in England ?" " And whom do you term poor ?" " All those whose daily industry produces only their daily bread, — and leaves them at the end, as destitute as they were at the beginning, of the year : not only those who have not bread to eat, but all those whose daily labour enriches others, but aifords only a scanty subsistence to them- selves." Madam L. observed, " such were not considered poor, in England, and that I was in a fair way to conclude them a nation of beggars." Mr. L. replied that, " perhaps, four fiftlis of the people would come under this description of poor." I then asked, " What might have been the proportion in the reign of Henry the Eighth, when the pleasure of the king was the law of the land, greater or less ?" " There was, doubtless, then," said Mr. L. " a more equal state of things, for society was not so complicated as at present, the largest possessions did not confer so dangerous and oppressive an influ- ence ; the desire of acquisition had not thrust out of [ 227 ] doors the liberal, chivalrous spirit of hospitality." *' Nor," added I, '* had commerce and manufa6lure enriched a few at the expense of the many." ' ' But what is your view," said Mr. L. " in comparing the state of society between the present and the past ?" " Why, the English would be willing to exchange the reign of his present majesty for that of Henry the Eighth." " Nay, sir, the spirit of the modern English would not tolerate a tyrant, like Henry, on the tlirone ; and if there be at present less general hap- piness in England, than there was in the days of Hen- ry the Eighth, it is not to be attributed to the per- nicious influence of the Constitution of 1692, but to the national debt." " Very plausible," I replied : *' but suppose the English free from debt : if your king happen to be a weak monarch, he falls into the hands of a minister : the consequence of this, let Walpole, Bute and North answer : if he happen to be an Edward First, an Edward Third, or Henry the Fifth, and capable of governing per se^ without a minister, your constitution, pro tempore^ is annul- led : for he must be a very weak prince, who is not stronger, than that constitution which thwarts his wishes. A James the Second, I readily admit, ought not to attempt an usurpation on the constitu- tion. But a bold prince, nay, a woman, like " good queen Bess," might use the constitution as she did [ 228 ] the Earl of Essex, flatter it when pleased, and dis- card it when jealous. Indeed, I hazard a doubt, if your boasted constitution has ever proved a trial of its strength." — "But you seem to be ignorant, sir, that the English have a House of Commons, the proteclor of the constitutional rights of the subje6V, the watchful guardian of the interests of the people, without whose consent not a farthing can be levied : this is the glorious bulwark of an EngUshman's lib- erty — This popular branch of the government, so in- estimable, was peculiar to England, until the wis- dom of your own legislators, adopted it under the name of a House of Representatives." "Your House of Commons," 1 concede, " has been a very economical guardian of the interest of the people : it has only involved them in a debt of 7?'^^ hundred and fifty millions^ since the commencement of the last century. Your House of Commons is the most convenient thing imaginable for a Chancellor of the Exchequer : it affords him colour for those measures, which might have cost former ministers their heads. Hence, one of them said, in imitation of the Roman, " Money and 'votes are equally neces- sary, for witb money lean purchase uotes, and with votes raise money.'''* " But this national debt, which so much alarms you, is not only an imaginary evil, but a positive good : it consolidates the strength of [ 229 3 the nation. The riches of the country have increas- ed with its debt, and she is at this moment, a& com- petent to pay the interest, as she was in the da5^s of George the First or Second." I observed, *' If the landholders and tlie merchants divided between them, the burden of the national debt, there might not be so much cause for complaint ; but the whole burden fell on the poor." " How can you make that appear?" said Mr. L. "Sufficiently evident, for there can be no possible proportion benveen that tax 'which lemes one hundred pounds on him who willne'u- er feel the remotest incon'venience from the imposition, and that which lemes only sixpence on him, who will suffer the depr illation of a single dinner, or zvorktwo extra hours, in consequence of the tax; and this is equally true, whether the tax be direct or indi- rect. Therefore, your national debt does impov- erish the country, and chain the poor to hopeless poverty. It is a tyrant whom no law can bine), no weapon reach, no submission soften, no condition escape : a new species of monster, which would col- le6l within itself the whole world, and then sink be- neath its own weight." *' But," said Mr. L. *' what nation under heaven, ever discriminated in this manner between the rich and poor ? It is utter- ly impossible, if the taxes be indireft. Do they, in your country, discriminate between the rich and poor?" [ 230 ] Thus Mr. L. turned my eyes on our own coun- try.— Certainly, my dear fellow, it is one of the first principles, and it ought to be the operation, of our constitution, to check the tendency of inequality^ to burden those least, whose doors open with a wood- en latch, to facilitate the endeavours of industry, and discountenance the redundancy of wealth. Adieu. LETTER XXXIL LONDOU, JVNS l-rth. X HERE is no description of people in Eng- land, holden in lessrespe6l, than the quakers : yet I have seen no se6l in this country with whom I have been more pleased. The cause of this dislike lies deadly deep. In a corrupted state of society, those who approach nearest to first principles will forever be objedls of dislike, if not of abhorrence, with the rest of the community ; for they will naturally hate those who differ from them in so many important points, and who not only differ from them, but in- terfere with their immediate interests. With respe6l to the rest of the world, the qua- kers certainly are a hopeless and barren set of peo- ple. They hate equally kings and priests. Their consciences revolt at tythes in any sliape, therefore the clergy hate them. Their own meditations serve them instead of preaching, therefore the relig- ious of most other denominations dislike them. Their temperance laughs at the physician, and their honesty starves the lawyer, while their prudence and foresight exalt them above the a6live, injurious [ 232 ] hatred of the world, and elevate them above those who despise them. Their decency of carriage, their unassuming man- ners, their habitual economy, and general spirit of equity, have long, and will, perhaps, forever connect them together in a body, co-existent with their present maxims. There is one characteristic which distinguishes the quakers from all other se6ls. They discover nothing of the spirit of proselytisrn : their favourite sentiments partake nothing of enthusiasm ; they hurl no damnation on the rest of the world, tolerant to every body, they consider all honest men their brethren. There is not a single trait in their char- a6ler incentive to ill will, nor a movement in their condu6l which has ever courted persecution. Their humility has never resisted even oppression ; in suffering patient, they are a6live only in support of their principles. Remote from all hypocrisy, they have never sought after temporal power, nor has their own system ever operated to the prejudice of others. Yet this se6l has been persecuted, and its members been put to death !* The blackest stigma on human nature with which the annals of politics or religion have been stained. Though they live under a monarchy they have contrived, with the sacrifice of all temporal favours, * In New England [ 233 3 to ere6l themselves into a government of their own, approaching as near to a republic as is consistent with any sort of allegiance to the current govern- ment. This is a master piece of policy which has gained them a firm standing in the midst of their enemies, and which ought to teach the rest of man- kind that it is practicable for a virtuous, persevere ing few to counteradl the many. The quakers have contrived to render themselves happy, in the midst of misery, and free, in a great measure, in the midst of slavery. Hence, they have all that nat- ural, unaffected dignity, and all that manly, cordial spirit of accommodation which man discovers to man before he becomes degenerate : and hence, they regard mankind pretty much as that Cherokee did, who, being introduced at Paris, and shewn eve- ry thing which was supposed capable of delighting or surprisiiig him, was asked, after his eyes had swallowed the objcCls of a whole week's exhibi- tion, " What astonished him most ?" answered, " The difference between man and man : " and then being questioned, " PFith ivhat he was most de- lighted P^^ answered, ''He was most delighted to see a passenger help a heavy burden upon the back of another,'''' Although the quakers approach nearer to the relig- ion of nature, notwithstanding their correspondence [ 234 ] with the world, than any systematic se£l which has ever appeared, they still hold to the great principles of the christian religion, though in point di ortho- doxy^ they can hardly be termed christians. Most others, whether eastern sages, or western saints, have retired from the world in the degree they have approached Brama or Jesus, while the quakers, con- tented with this world until they can find a better, have found the secret of living in the midst of soci- ety, and of mingling as much of this world as is con- sistent with heaven, and as much of heaven as is consistent with making the most of this world. I have been led to these observations from a petty circumstance which occurred yesterday. I found on my table, the following printed notice. — " Some of the people called quakers^ intend to hold a meeting this evening ^ at their place of worship, in Martin'' s Court., St. Martinis Lane, to ivhich the neighbours are incited.'*'* In cxpeiSlation of something extraor- dinary, I attended. At the door I was received by one of the friends, who introduced me to a seat among the elders. The house was soon filled, and a profound silence reigned for a few minutes, when one of the brethren rose, and began to speak, but he had not spoken a minute, when an elder said, " We would take it kind of thee^ friend, to sit down,'*^ The speaker looked up to see whence the disappro- C 235 ] bation proceeded ; then nodding, in acquiescence, sat down. Presently, a fine looking, elderly lady, of matronly appearance, dressed in the most elegant simplicity, rose, and after a warm and impressive prayer, delivered extempore, an animated and edi- fying discourse, with a flow of elocution and grace of manner, which, had she been forty years younger, might have inflamed those passions she sought to allay. There is one defedl in the polity of the quak- ers, which will forever subje6t them to the tyranny of the times — They love peace so well, they will not even fight for their liberty. This known principle divests them of all political consequence, when those great political movements are agitated, which some- times involve the deepest consequences to society — . Otherwise, the quakers would gradually efFeth. x\n excursion to Oxford, on foot, with an m- telligent fellow traveller, at this season of the year, will afford all that the charms of nature can give, in addition to what one may colle^Sl as a tourist. Having procured a letter of introduction to a gen- tleman, Mr. Portall, a fellow of St. John's, Oxford, we proceeded by the way of Windsor, the summer residence of their Majesties. Nine miles from the city, on the road to Windsor, is Turnham Green. Here dwells the venerable Dr. Griffiths,* the orig- inal of the Monthly Review. Having formerly been introduced, and received by him with the af- fectionate compliment, " That he had a reverence for the citizens of the United States," we called on this literary patriarch, and ran over fifty years in about an hour and a half. Sociable, as most old men are, when you have their confidence, and high- ly interesting, by having at command the cream of all the literature, with the connecting anecdotes of the last half century, he requires only your atten • Lately deceased. fC 243 ] lion to carry you into the ^-/rf/z room of the republic of letters Fortunately for most celebrated authors, their books live, and their memories perish ; other- >vise the glory of their names would rarely save their chara^ers from contempt. 1 asked, if David Hume did not once reside in that vicinity, and if he was acquainted with him ? He pointed from tlie window to a house, in which he resided while at Turnham Green. He added, *' Both Hume and Rousseau have spent many an hour in this room." I was transported to be con- versing with a man, who had been intimate with Rousseau. I was earnest to colle6l every particular respe6\ins that wonderful character. Dr. Griffith thought Rousseau knew the human Iieart much better in the closet, than he did in tlie world, which led him frequently to discover, notwithstanding the goodness of his heart — " Then," added I, interrupt-' ing him, " he had an excellent heart ?" — " which, notwithstanding the goodness of his heart," re- peated the Dr. " frequently led him to discover a jealousy, which rendered it extremely difficult for people of the world to accommodate themselves to him." — " But, sir, this jealousy was nothing more, than the excess of sensibility ; it did not originate in envy ?" " No, who was there for Rousseau to en- vy ? Rousseau envied no man." " But," added I, [ 244 3 "Voltaire, I suspe6l, envied Rousseau." "No wonder," said the Dr. " the world gave Voltaire a rival, and Voltaire had not sufficient magnanimity to admire a man, who, like Minerva, sprung full grown from the head of Jupiter ; and who seemed to usurp part of that temple, in which Voltaire alone had been so long worshipped. I asked the Dr. " How Rousseau spent his time, when he visited him?" "As little like a philoso- pher," he replied, "as you can imagine. He had a little sagacious dog, called Cupid, which always followed him, and whenever he was urged to con- verse on subje6ls either disagreeable or fatiguing to him, he would begin to sing, at the same moment, Cupid would begin to dance, and thus he would fre- quently spend two hours together, excepting those short intervals, when Cupid would make a blunder, and then Rousseau would fall a laughing. In this manner, would the philosopher of Ermenonville spend many an hour in that window seat, while he resided in this town with Hume." We left this civil old gentleman, who made us promise to come and eat a bit of mutton with him, and proceeded to Windsor. The castle is on a high bill of gentle ascent, and commands from the Round Tower, a fine prospc6lof notless than twelve counties. But nothing gave me more pleasure, than [ 245 ] the prospe6l of Runny mead, so memorable for the extortion of Magna Charta, from King John — if a natural right can ever be said to be extorted — It is a pity that every royal castle had not a Runnymead in sight. The keeper, who pointed out the places of most note, I observed, passed his eye over this fa- mous champaign. Within a short distance, seeming- ly within reach, stands Eton College, noted for good classic scholars. The hills, covered with wheat, which, quite ripe, insured a golden harvest, the stately oaks and trees of less growth, whidi, at every short interval, intercepting, variegated the face of nature, while in the neighbouring plains, the brute creation, grazing at large, or ruminating in fulness, the calmness of the scene around, the approaching decline of day, together with the curling smoke from the kitchen firehearths of many villages, in- spired a serenity of mind which was fast approach- ing to a religious reverie, when a beggar,* who had followed us up to the Round Tower, broke the charm. The castle is ornamented with many fine paint- ings. The cartoons of Raphael were shewn to us. I admired them of course, not that I know an origin- al from a copy, I only aspire to judge of the design and execution, of the moral, or humour of the piece, ♦ The royal waiter who admitted us to the castle. [ 246 ] or if it be true to nature ; and every one can do this. Tlie cartoons are so called by ^vay of eminence, to distinguish six large paintings of Raphael, the sub- je6\s of which are taken from the most interesting passages of the New Testament, whence most of tlie subjects of the Italian masters are taken. You, in the United States, know nothing of the raptures which fine paintings are capable of raising in the arms, face and shoulders of real amateurs. A man is scarcely a critic, unless he can expire in convulsions, or petrify with astonishment, at the sight of a fine new painting. At the late annual ex- hibition at the Royal Academj^, I observed a gen- tleman examining very attentively one of Turner's recent paintings. For my part, I had visited all the rooms and was about to retire, when I saw the same man, fixed in the same place, contemplating the portrait. I walked up by his side, and ventured to ask him, "What he saw in that portrait, which commanded so much of his attention ?" " See !" exclaimed he, "I see something that looks a little like painting. I wish I was chained to that por- trait." I told him, " Lord Thurlow* would have no objection to that, as he was fond of chains and slavery." • It was a most striking likeness of Lord Thurlow. [ 247 ] I lately visited a small colledlion of piiSlures, which cosfthe proprietor ^(^20,000. He had form- erly made the tour of Europe, in search of paintings. He was then gone to Italy to purchase more. Two of them, called by way of eminence the Murillios, which cost him ^^4000 sterling, would scarcely sell at a Boston vendue, for so many pence — only be- cause we don't know the worth of pictures. How- ever,, if the affluent have no worse passion, than a passion for fine paintings, let them enjoy both day and night their sleeping Venuses, or wanton with the houris over the landscapes of Claude Lorrain. The time now approached when the royal family was expedled to walk on the terrace. The terrace is situate on the declivity of the hill, south easterly from the casde ; it is a charming walk, faced with free stone, nearly two thousand feet in length, if my eye was correct. Here, their Majesties, with the princes, and princesses, accompanied by a band of musicians, graciously walk in fine weather, at fix o'clock in the evening, to shew themselves to strang- ers. Behind the royal family there walked several lords in waiting, whom I stupidly mistook for livery servants ; so nearly allied, sometimes, is the height of greatness to the height of meanness. There were as many as a hundred strangers who lined the ter- race to view this royal exhibition. As his Majesty [ 248 ] passed by, they stood uncovered, himself frequently bowing to the spectators. The same evening we proceeded to Maidenhead. Though a sound sleep would have been highly agreeable, all strangers who tarry in that town are obliged to lie awake. A Stentor of a fellow, at every half hour, passed under my window, crying the time of night, and what made the matter worse, he tagged every thirty minutes with " Praise the Lord^ Amen!'''' A monkish reli6l, I suppose. Our land- lord, one of the most civil people in the world, had risen before us, and seemed really sorry to have us go before breakfast. The English inns are, certain- 15^, the most accommodating places in the world : two knocks on the table will immediately produce all the effe6ls of magic. I have never met in Eng- land with but one innkeeper who did not appear to be a gentleman. This was at Newbur>\ It is the custom for most of the English to drink at every inn, at which a stage stops. As they travel day and night in England, an Englishman will sometimes drink about twelve times in the twenty four hours, beside what he drinks at dinner. The landlord having waited on those who were most pressing for drink, at length came up to one of the passengers and asked, " What he would have to drink ?" He assured him, " he had drunk five times since din- [ 249 ] ner, and could not venture on any more. " But thetiy" said he, ''^what shall I make by you ?" '' O, sir, you shall lose nothing by me," replied the pas- senger, " if you will be so good as to dedu6l from a pint of porter the original cost and duties, I will pay you the balance between that amount and the retail price." We breakfasted at Henley, a considerable coun- try town; and while breakfast was preparing, I went into a neighbouring church yard, these being places of most amusement in many country towns, to read the epitaphs, some of which were highly im- pressive, though written in an exquisite bad taste. Sometimes, the writers of these epitaphs, possibly without knowing it, hit upon the sublime of human character. The following epitaph I met with in a country village. "Here lies the body of Henry Steele. He was a good son and a good brother, a good husband and a good father ; and the neigh- bours all followed him to his grave." Between Henley and Oxford, the prospe^ls, scenery, cultivation, the ripe, abundant harvest of wheat, the grateful, mellow temperature of the sea- son, all conspired to enhance those pleasures, which liberal nature offers even to the senses. Surely, said I, this is a delightful country! " Yes," said my companion, " but finish your rhapsody quick, I i [ 250 ] or it will end in a sarcasm." I looked up and saw, at a distance, a company of little gleaners approach- ing, with their arms full of sheaves. *' There," said he, " your first reflection will be that, although Providence has lavished an abundant harvest, this- little company of gleaners will scarcely have, in win- ter, bread to eat, while the granaries, in mockery of Ceres, will hold much of this wheat until it rots. But who can help it, if monopolisers 'will puzzle God's providence ?" As the gleaners passed by, I asked one of them, " Why they went so far to glean, when the reapers were so busy all around ?" " O, sir," said another of the company, who seem- ed to be the brightest, " it is not every farmer that permits us to glean, nor is it a favour granted to ev- ery one." We passed on. '* Ah," said my fel- low traveller, shrugging up his shoulders in raillery, *' this would be a charming country, if there were no men in it !" In the evening we arrived at Oxford, about sixty miles north westerly from London, an inland city, famous all over the world as a nursery of great men, and great scholars. Oxford is particularly an ob- ject of curiosity on account of the variety of Gothic archite^ure. The colleges, twenty in number, are very large, and some of them noble, Gothic build- ings. Separated from each other at spacious dis- 4 [ 251 ] tances, they give the city a most venerable and sol- emn aspecl. Oxford too has the happiness of being visited by the Thames, of all rivers in the world the most adored. The Hindoos do not hold the Ganges in higher veneration, than do the English this river, and should they become idolaters they would pay divine honours to silver Thames. The Cherwell too, and the more humble Isis, are in the neighbourhood of Oxford. We waited, in the morning, on Mr. Portall, I can- not express to you how cordially he received us ; he gave us two days of unwearied attention. Him- self a ripe scholar, and what is more, a man of good sense, seemed to partake of that satisfaction which he afforded, in shewing us every thing remarkable in the different colleges, which he rendered doubly impressive by adding all the interesting particulars which have been coUedling for ages. The Bodleian Library, the largest in the world, except that of the Vatican at Rome, contains many precious, unillumined manuscripts, which, no doubt, in the course of centuries, will enrapture many an antiquary : as will the Arundelian marbles lately arrived from the East. These fragments were im- ported at great expense, and in all probability, when they are deciphered, will amount to nothing more, than some loose couplets to a favourite mistress, [ 252 ] or, what is more pernicious, the apotheosis of some tyrant. Some of these manuscripts are so exceedingly valuable, it is not yet ascertained in what language they are written. It is told with considerable hu- mour, that one of them was presented to a famous antiquary, who, after six months, returned it with a serious opinion that *' The manuscript was a rami- fication of a branch of a diale6l of that language, which the northern Huns spoke, who broke down the Great Wall of China." This immense library was to me a source of va- rious refle6lion. Here, thought I, is collected not a little of the nonsense of the days of monkery, much of the truth and falsehood of antiquity, the romantic extravagance of the days of chivalry, " which now, alas ! are gone forever !" and the more dangerous, because more subtle, dictates of modern tyranny. The wonderful exertion of the human mind which this library discovered, produ- ced a mingled emotion of admiration, pity and con- tempt for the sublimity, perversion and mean- ness of the race of philosophers and authors. Nine tenths of the volumes, here laid up in literary pen- ance, ought to have sent their authors to bedlam j for, CA-^ery famous book filled with more errors, than truths, adds a new link to the chain of error ; [ 253 ] and notwithstanding truth is eternal, and error tem- porary, yet, owing to self interest, passion and vvrong- headedness, there are in all countries ten errors pub- lished for one truth ; hence, we ought not to won- der at the doubt in which men of sense are involv- ed, nor at the inconsistencies into which the thoughtless fall. For truth and error are at first re- ceived by mankind with equal credit, and when these ten errors are discovered, the solitary truth is not secure, for they in resentment turn persecutors. Your fancy cannot figure, either in Arcadia, or in imaginary Parnassus, more charming retreats for contemplation, or more inspiring recesses to build the lofty composition, than the secluded gardens of the colleges afford. Here, the peripatetics might have forgotten their favourite walks, or the more re- fined Epicurus and his disciples their earthly para- dise.* Here, art has successfully introduced the varieties of nature, and administers to the senses at the same time she expands the heart and elevates the mind. No wonder this is classic ground, no • It still remains a doubt whether or not the priitcipki and mode of life of Epi- cuius and his disciples were purely intellefbual, or voluptuous. It is evidently the interest of divines to represent this philosopher a votary cf pleasure : for if it can be fairly proved that his life was faultless, and his contemplations purely intelledlual, he has approached nigher the " spiritual life j" than most saints in the calendar. It is not a little extraordinary, that to many of your sturdy divines should regard the best and wisest heathens with the most bitter hatred. With them, the virtuous Phocion is not to be compared with one of their own parishioners, who, possibly, be- lieves, he knows not why, and prays merely because he is told it is a duty. C 254 ] wonder this University is the nursery of so many veterans in the republic of letters. Whether they prefer to contemplate mankind, explore nature through the various formation and use of the leaf, or leaving the physic garden, to ascend the heavens, they have within their reach every assistance to es- tablish truth, or confute error — Oxford has at pres- ent fifteen hundred students. Here is the largest colle6:ion of paintings, by the great masters, which I have ever seen. Some of the more public apartments of the colleges seem to re- vive the Italian and Flemish schools. Nor do the Dutch make an awkward appearance among the more southern artists ; although a Dutchman rarely considers his painting finished, until he has introdu- ced a dirty table, with pipes and tobacco, and a pot of geneva, together with a fishing smack in a fresh breeze ; but if the latter cannot be introduced, he contents himself to hang up a large ham and several pounds of Bologna sausages over the fire place. At four o'clock we dined with Mr. Portall, at St. John's, with several other fellows of that college. The apartment was decent, and the furniture ele- gant. The dinner was perhaps too sumptuous and gross for those who are labouring up the hill of sci- ence. It may be customary, but more probable it was a compliment to their guests, dinner was scarce- [ 255 ] ly ended when coffee was introduced, and imme- diately after that, supper was on the table ; so we did not rise from dinner, coffee and supper until nearly ten o'clock. If these are usual habits, Aris- tippus would much oftener be found there, than Ze- no. During the entertainment, questions were nat- urally multiplied respecting our own country. They seemed delighted, to hear that their own great men were perhaps more generally known and read in the United States, than in England, It was a ro- mantic pleasure to imagine the reverberating echoes of their own labours in what they were pleased to term the wilderness. But they were not a little sur- prised, when I told them, excepting London, there were no cities in England which could vie with New York, Philadelphia, or even Boston. A re- gret was expressed that we were no longer the same people. I laughingly told them. That was their own fault, for the United States would, doubtless, accept them as a colony. After a morning excursion along the banks of the Isis, made sacred by the poems of Mason and Warton, we took our leave of Mr. Portall, who now added those cordialities which gave a double inter- est to his warm reception of us. We proceeded to Woodstock, about eight miles from Oxford, to take a view of Blenheim House, C 256 ] the seat of the Duke of Marlborough. On our way thither, we stopped at a cottage to buy a draught of beer. There was only an elderly woman with her daughter at home ; the latter of whom appeared to be ten years of age, and was sitting at a table learn- ing to write. The mother regarded us with not the least curiosity, but seemed gratified when we ex- amined the little girl's writing book, and offered to mend her pens and set her some new copies ; those from which she was writing being very little better than her own attempts. When we had ruled her book through, and set her more than twenty copies, she was highly pleased with the fairness of the writing, and shewing it to her mother, said, *' John himself could not write half so well." We then left the cottager. This is no otherwise worthy of notice, than by way of comparison. This woman lived in rustic retirement, and saw less of the world, than if she had lived in a village. Yet, though we were traveUing on foot, an unusual sight in Eng- land, and presuined to enter a prhate dwelling house ^ with no other view, than to buy a draught of beer, a suspicious circumstance, this good woman eyed us with no attention, asked us no questions, and court- ed no knowledge of our pursuit. How different in our own country ! In such a case the good woman would first inquire. Whence we came, and whither [ 257 3 we were going, and what might be our business ? Then, she would contrive to find out our names. Then, pausing a moment to recolle6t if she knew, or had ever heard of the names before, she would ask, if the names were not forgotten, if our grandfa- thers or grandmothers were not related to Mr. or Mrs. Such-a-one. This would naturally lead to all the good woman knew. Woodstock is doubly famous, both on account of the past, and the present. Old Geoffry Chaucer was born here, and spent most of his days at Wood- stock. But in vain I looked for that door stone, which one of our own bards has so happily im- agined — " Chaucer on his door stone sits and sings. And tells liis merry tales of knights and kings '." Woodstock is famous, at present, for the seat of the Duke of Marlborough, and for gentlemen's fash- ionable gloves, and steel watch chains. At the great gate of the ample domain of his Grace, we were received by one of those persons, powdered for the occasion, whom you so frequently find in the service of great men. He was an elderly man, who had accumulated, in the course of perhaps forty years, ten thousand particulars respefting this country seat, which he has told ten thousand times, probably, without the least variation. Thus : " Do, Kk [ 258 ] pray, gentlemen, take a view of the river from this ar- tificial eminence, see how it opens upon that lawn — how pi