% 
 
 
 
 
fn. 
 
LETTER 
 
 TO A LADY IN FRANCE, 
 
 IN ANSWER TO ENQUIRIES CONCERNING 
 
 THE LATE IMPUTATIONS OF DISHONOR 
 
 UPON THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 

 
LETTER '^i 
 
 Q r U 
 
 A LADY IN FRANCE 
 
 ON 
 
 THE SUPPOSED FAILURE OF A NATIONAL BANK, 
 
 THE SUPPOSED 
 
 DELINQUENCY OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, 
 THE DEBTS OF THE SEVERAL STATES, 
 
 AND 
 
 REPUDIATION; 
 
 WITH ANSWERS TO ENaUIRIES CONCERNING THE BOOKS 
 
 OF 
 
 CAPT. MARRYAT AND MR. DICKENS. 
 
 BY THOMAS G. GARY. ^ p>' '^ ' 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 BENJAMIN H. GREENE. 
 
 1844. 
 
 
 / 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1843, 
 
 BV BENJAMIN H. GREENE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of tlie District of Massachusetts. 
 
 Andrews, Prentiss ^ Studley, Printers, 
 4 Devonshire Street. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 An American lady, who went to Europe while very young, and 
 when all was tranquil and flourishing in the United States, lately 
 wrote to a lady here, to enquire what ground there could possibly 
 be for the dreadful accusations which she hears against us every- 
 where abroad. The following letter was written, at the request of 
 her correspondent, in answer to the enquiry. In order that any 
 future allusion to it might be understood, it was shown to some of 
 her old friends here, who had ridiculed the idea of any attempt at 
 exculpation, supposing that the nation was dishonored, past hope. 
 They were not only surprised at what could be said to the con- 
 trary, but so much relieved by a simple statement of the facts, that 
 they urged the printing of the letter, here, as well as sending it to 
 France. 
 
 Perhaps those who are thoroughly informed on public affairs, 
 may smile at their simplicity in both respects. But there seem to 
 be many people, ladies in particular, and young persons, who 
 know little on the subject but what they gather from detached re- 
 marks ; who are puzzled by the confusion of national institutions 
 with those of the separate states, in the use of names ; and who, 
 having no ready means of examining the subject, avoid it, as one 
 that will not bear investigation. 
 
IV 
 
 To all such, a clear statement, in familiar language, which is 
 attempted in the following letter, may give the pleasure that fairly 
 belongs to those who shrink from every thought of dishonor ; and 
 may renew their confidence in our system of self-government. 
 
 For the convenience of the reader, the principal subjects of re- 
 mark are noted under separate heads, as they occur ; but, as the 
 letter was written without them, the divisions are not, in every 
 case, exact. 
 
SUBJECTS OF REMARK. 
 
 Page 
 
 Bank of the United States, 8 
 
 Pdblic Debts, 15 
 
 National Debts, 18 
 
 Debts of the Separate States, 19 
 
 Books of Travellers, .....---27 
 
 Love of Money, 29 
 
 Gravity of Manners, 29 
 
 Slavery, .....------31 
 
 Lynch Law, &c., 34 
 
 Success of our Form of Government, 37 
 
 Selfishness, &c., 39 
 
 Dishonesty, 40 
 
 Coarseness of Manners, 41 
 
 Tyranny of Public Opinion, 42 
 
 Security of Property, 45 
 
 Elections, their Frequency, «&c., 46 
 
 Popular Violence, Mobs, &c. 48 
 
 Strength of the Government, 52 
 
 General Results of our Experiment, 54 
 
 Grovping Attachment to the Union, 56 
 
 Note, 59 
 
LETTER 
 
 TO 
 
 MISS H , 
 
 FRANCE 
 
 / 
 BOSTON, Oct. 31, 1843. 
 
 My Dear E : 
 
 I occasionally see your letters, always with 
 interest, but more so of late, because some of your 
 enquiries show that you feel concerned on a subject 
 that warmly engages my own feelings, — the reputa- 
 tion and the true character of the United States. The 
 expressions which show that your regard for the land 
 of your nativity has endured an absence of so many 
 years with new associations, prompt me to offer you 
 an explanation of some of the changes that appear to 
 have come over us. It is a formidable undertaking to 
 address a young lady on national matters ; but, if you 
 have the patience to read, I may venture to promise 
 you some relief from the humiliation which an Ameri- 
 can in Europe is now compelled to endure. If I 
 cannot furnish the means of repelling, at once, the 
 odium that we suffer, you will, at least, have the satis- 
 
8 
 
 faction of perceiving that it is not entirely deserved ; 
 for I think I can convince you that it has not arisen 
 from any intention to defraud, on the part of our 
 people. 
 
 UNITED STATES BANK. 
 
 You will want to know something of that great 
 bank which failed, called " The Bank of the United 
 States." It is a matter of deep concern in Europe, 
 for a large portion of its stock was owned there. 1 
 must remind you that our national government is 
 formed by a combination among the people of differ- 
 ent independent states, each of which manages its 
 own domestic concerns, while all of them choose to be 
 represented together, as one, in their intercourse with 
 tlie rest of the world. The powers necessary for this 
 latter purpose were given to that government, and it 
 was the intention of the several states that it should 
 have no more. One of the first questions which arose 
 in its administration was, whether the power to estab- 
 lish a bank had been given. It was not expressed ; 
 but Washington thought it a necessary incident, and 
 a bank was established for a limited time, in opposi- 
 tion to the opinions of a numerous class of politicians. 
 When the limited time expired, this class of men had 
 prevailed. A renewal of the bank was refused. Its 
 affairs were brought to a close ; and every stockholder 
 received back his share of the capital, in full. 
 
 After some years, it was concluded, that, on the 
 whole, the bank had been useful. Some men changed 
 their opinions ; and a new bank was created, also for 
 
a limited term. When that term drew near its close, 
 President Jackson, who was in power, declared him- 
 self opposed to a renewal ; and, finally, refused his 
 consent, without which it could not be obtained. The 
 bank, therefore, prepared to bring its affairs to a 
 close, as was done in the former case. I was at that 
 time a director in one of its branches, and I speak 
 from personal observation. My position did not ena- 
 ble me to get complete information ; but I believe 
 that the bank was then sound ; and that if the stock- 
 holders had chosen to receive back their capital, as 
 they were at liberty to do, each one would have had 
 his share of it entire. It is true, that, in the earnest 
 discussions that preceded, an unexpected prominence 
 was given to Mr. Biddle, the president of the bank ; 
 and he may have used some part of its funds injudi- 
 ciously or improperly, to increase its strength, in a 
 contest somewhat of a political character. But I think 
 there is sufficient proof, that if there were any defi- 
 ciency then, it must have been a very small one ; and 
 that, in the final division, if the stockholders had 
 chosen to have it, they would have found that the 
 investment had, on the whole, been a good one for 
 them. 
 
 When the term expired, my duty, and that of my 
 fellow directors, ceased. The portion of the capital 
 used in our branch was returned entire, after yielding 
 large profits ; and we have had no connection with 
 the affairs of the institution since. There then ceased 
 to be a national bank ; and, from that time to this, we 
 have had no such bank in this country. 
 
 But Mr. Biddle was determined not to lose the irn- 
 2 
 
10 
 
 portance which his position had given him. If he 
 could not be the head of a national bank, he thought 
 a substitute might be found in a bank of his own state. 
 He, therefore, represented to the legislature of the 
 State of Pennsylvania, that here was a large capital, 
 belonging in a great measure to foreigners ; that to 
 send it back to Europe would check our prosperity, 
 particularly that of their own state ; but that, if they 
 would grant the necessary privileges for a new bank, 
 he should probably be authorized to pay them several 
 millions of dollars as a bonus, to aid their public insti- 
 tutions and works, in return. That state agreed to 
 do so. He then represented to the stockholders of 
 the national bank, who were preparing to receive 
 back their money, what I think he believed, that, al- 
 though he had now no connection with the govern- 
 ment, he could use their capital as profitably as before. 
 He desired them, in a circular letter, to decide whether 
 they would take shares in the new bank, and to au- 
 thorize some one to act for each of them. They 
 generally decided that they would do so ; and almost 
 all of them gave their power of acting to him, a cir- 
 cumstance that proved particularly unfortunate in the 
 end. Such as preferred to have their money, obtained 
 it readily, and more, by selling their shares to others. 
 He seemed now to be completely successful. He 
 had been led to think that he divided the favors of the 
 nation with its President, General Jackson, in a grand 
 warfare ; and he thought himself the conqueror. He 
 was intoxicated with a supposed omnipotence in bank- 
 ing. Perhaps, as some people believe, he hoped to 
 make himself President of the United States. If he 
 
11 
 
 was too wise to indulge in such a dream, I know that 
 some of his friends were foohsh enough to think of 
 that elevation for him. 
 
 The new institution received the name of the " Bank 
 of the United States," as if it had been a renewal of 
 that which had just been closed. Now, as you know, 
 the United States are considered as belonging to "the 
 people " ; and all the world adopt the name, if they 
 like. Every city, where there are ships, has a "United 
 States " insurance office. If an unusually large tavern 
 is built, it is called the " United States " hotel ; and if 
 you step into an omnibus, it is very likely that you find 
 it is called the " United States." Really, the United 
 States, as a nation, had no more to do with this bank, 
 than they have to do with an omnibus coach. This 
 fact was well understood at the time, or ought to have 
 been, by the stockholders ; but was probably soon 
 forgotten. The bank is now supposed by great num- 
 bers in Europe, I believe, to have been a national 
 establishment ; and is spoken of as such by some who 
 know that it was not, but wish it to be believed so, 
 that they may strengthen the case against us as a 
 nation. 
 
 You will ask, perhaps, why some of our own people 
 did not come forward to explain all this ? A large 
 part of the nation were loud in doing so. All those 
 opposed to any national bank were forward in de- 
 nouncing this attempt at a substitute. Those who 
 were in favor of a national bank and hoped that this 
 might answer the purpose, thought that enough was 
 said from the other side ; and many of them were 
 wilhng to put their own money at risk in it, particu- 
 
12 
 
 larly those who were nearest to the scene of action, 
 in Philadelphia, and who are now among the greatest 
 sufferers. 
 
 There was one important fact that did not receive 
 sufficient attention at the time. Similar plans, though 
 not on so large a scale, had been formed in other 
 states. Our people are apt to go on in a rush for new 
 objects ; and such was the eagerness to take up the 
 business left by the institution which was then closing 
 its affairs, that the capital of new state banks, created 
 for the purpose, was three or four times greater than 
 that of the national one had been. When Mr. Biddle, 
 therefore, attempted, in imitation of the latter, to 
 establish branches in other states, by purchasing some 
 smaller bank in each, he found competitors every- 
 where ; and his intentions were defeated. He, then, 
 began to feel the want of those exclusive privileges, 
 throughout the Union, which the United States Bank 
 had previously enjoyed, and which a single state could 
 not give ; and he was induced, partly by this cause, 
 perhaps, to employ a great deal of money in a kind of 
 loans, for which banks were never designed, — long 
 loans to states and to incorporated companies. 
 
 The capital of the national bank and its branches 
 was thirty-five milhons of dollars. The whole number 
 of others that had been created, in the different states, 
 for ten years before its close, was twenty-two, with a 
 capital of eight millions. Within two years after its 
 close, two hundred and sixty-eight banks were creat- 
 ed, under the authority of the different state govern- 
 ments, with capital amounting to a great deal more 
 than one hundred millions. Many of the latter became 
 
13 
 
 unsound, and their failure contributed to a depression 
 in the value of property, that proved, in the sequel, 
 ruinous to the credit of some of the states. 
 
 Mr. Biddle went on in his own way. Instead of 
 lending the money to commercial men, on their en- 
 gagements, made for a short time, he lent it in immense 
 sums to aid doubtful projects in various states ; mak- 
 ing his power felt, as if to prepare political influence. 
 I believe that he did not mean to do mischief, but he 
 overrated his own sagacity and ability. When any of 
 the directors were disposed to interfere, they felt that 
 he was clothed with power from the distant stock- 
 holders, and could control everything. The bank had 
 become just what it was commonly called, " Biddle's 
 Bank." Some independent men resigned, or were 
 displaced. Concurrent circumstances, which it would 
 be tedious to explain, proved unfavorable ; and, after 
 a short career, this new bank, merely a creature of 
 one of the states, was found to be insolvent. The 
 mischief is done, and without remedy. Nobody but 
 the stockholders at a distance, who had implicit confi- 
 dence in Mr. Biddle, could interfere with him to pre- 
 vent it. In my behef, the power could only come 
 from abroad ; and it seems clear, that if the stock- 
 holders in Europe had occasionally sent sensible men 
 to look after their affairs, and to see how things were 
 managed, the greater part of the loss would have been 
 prevented. 
 
 As the change from the national bank to that of the 
 state was in some degree a matter of form only, you 
 will ask, perhaps, as others have done, what evidence 
 1 have that the misapplication of the funds, which is 
 
14 
 
 admitted in the latter case, had not been practised 
 long before ? I answer, the very best that could be 
 desired ; and the statement of it will serve still farther 
 to explain to you the distinction between the national 
 bank and that which failed ; showing the safeguards 
 that surrounded the one, and the want of them which 
 proved fatal to the other. I assisted, myself, with the 
 other directors of the several branches among which 
 the capital of the national bank was divided, to guard 
 the funds. The greater part of the thirty-five millions 
 was distributed among the several cities of the Union, 
 to a branch in each ; leaving only a small remainder 
 in Philadelphia under the immediate control of the 
 president, Mr. Biddle, and the directors, there, of the 
 mother bank, as it was called. We had, for instance, 
 one million and a half of this capital in Boston ; which 
 it was our duty and our right to lend among the mer- 
 chants here. If there had been any attempt to with- 
 draw a part of it from our control, the community 
 around us would have felt the diminution immediately, 
 and we should have remonstrated. When the charter 
 expired, the officers of our branch returned that 
 amount to Philadelphia. Other branches did the same. 
 Then, for the first time, the whole capital, or nearly 
 so, was brought together in Pennsylvania ; and when 
 Mr. Biddle moved forward again, under a charter 
 from that state, he wielded a power over the whole 
 thirty-five milUons that he never had possessed before. 
 Those wholesome checks were removed which had 
 previously existed in the various boards of directors 
 attached to the several branches, who watched him as 
 he did them ; and the disposal of the whole was after- 
 
15 
 
 wards decided very much by his own will. You may 
 be told that some of the distant branches at the West 
 did not return their portions, making not quite one- 
 fifth part of the capital ; and that there were great 
 losses, eventually, there. Still, there is nothing in this 
 that conflicts materially, with what I have told you, 
 that the national bank was sound at its close. The 
 losses there, were the consequences of the expansion 
 and revulsion that followed some time afterwards. If 
 the stockholders had decided to discontinue the busi- 
 ness of the bank, when it had lost its national character, 
 by far the greater part of this money at the West would 
 have been received back. To recall it would have 
 caused considerable inconvenience there ; but any 
 losses that could possibly have been met with then 
 would probably have been covered by the reserved 
 profits. 
 
 So much for the bank ; a grievous and mortifying 
 business, but not so bad as if an institution corres- 
 ponding to the Bank of England had broken down 
 among us.* 
 
 PUBLIC DEBTS. 
 
 You doubtless hear much about our public debts ; 
 and find " national bankruptcy," " bad faith," " repu- 
 diation," and other hard words, applied to us without 
 discrimination and without measure. A fair statement 
 
 * The term limited for the National Bank of the United States expired in 
 the year 1836, and for the two last years of this terra its operations were 
 confined to the business of closing its affairs. 
 
 The Bank of the United States, as it was called, created by the State of 
 Pennsylvania, was chartered early in that year. 
 
16 
 
 of leading facts will enable you to form an opinion of 
 your own as to the justice of this. 
 
 1 must again refer to the nature of our general gov- 
 ernment, resulting from a union among the people of 
 independent states for national purposes only. The 
 question whether power was given to it to make roads, 
 or other communications of national importance, was 
 one of early interest. The opinion that it ivas given, 
 rather prevailed at first, and some appropriations for 
 purposes of this nature were made. President Jackson 
 gave a decided opinion that it was not, and refused 
 his assent to any further aid. The separate states, 
 then, concluded that they must undertake such works 
 for themselves. The great canal in New York, made 
 through the influence of the governor, De Witt Clin- 
 ton, from Lake Erie to the Hudson, was an example 
 of this use of state power eminently successful. It is 
 rare that the sagacity and skill of an individual, in his 
 private affairs, lead to so profitable a result. Its in- 
 come has been sufficient to pay all interest on the 
 loans made by the state of New York for completing 
 it, and rapidly to accumulate a fund for repaying the 
 cost. It gave an impression that any one of the states 
 could execute such a work within herself; and still 
 further, that any great avenue through a state was 
 hkely to be profitable. The sanguine behef of this 
 had an unfortunate effect. 
 
 Several of the states began operations in this way, 
 and exercised their sovereign powers largely in bor- 
 rowing money for these purposes. But they disre- 
 garded one very important consideration, which was, 
 indeed, likely to escape notice in the trial of a new 
 
17 
 
 system. While they retained rights as separate gov- 
 ernments, they had each rehnquished, for national 
 uses, one important privilege of sovereignty, the right 
 of raising revenue by duties on the importation of 
 merchandise from abroad. The states of Pennsylvania 
 and Maryland, for instance, are now deeply indebted. 
 If the control of the custom-house in Philadelphia 
 were given to the one, and of that in Baltimore to the 
 other, their difficulties would vanish in a day. But 
 that cannot be. The importations at those ports are 
 not solely for their own use, but pass through them 
 for the use of other states ; and the duties, of course, 
 are paid to the government of the United States. 
 This was not sufficiently thought of. 
 
 Several of the states, which thus undertook canals 
 and rail-roads, have found themselves unable to com- 
 plete them ; and, therefore, fail to derive the revenue 
 from them that they expected. They must now tax 
 themselves to pay the interest on the loans ; and here 
 comes the difficulty. There was, in most cases, a 
 large party opposed to these undertakings. It was 
 thought that they were too mighty ; that too many of 
 them came together ; that some of them were ill con- 
 ceived ; and that the people at large were not suffi- 
 ciently aware what liabilities they were exposed to, in 
 case of failure. Most of this has turned out to be 
 true ; particularly the last point. The people were 
 not fully aware that they might have to assume such 
 heavy debts. Now that they are so, they do not refuse 
 to admit their liability ; except in three cases, where 
 it is denied, as to a part of the money, that authority 
 to bind the states had been given. This is called 
 3 
 
18 
 
 repudiation ; and it is made to resound in Europe as 
 if we were all guilty of it ; with what justice, you can 
 judge when I tell you that while the whole debts of 
 the states are two hundred and fourteen millions of 
 dollars, the amount involved in these three cases, 
 where the authority is disputed, is less than nine mil- 
 hons. I do not believe that the people will sanction 
 an improper refusal in any case. They intend to 
 make provision for all that is due. It is true that they 
 seem to be long in doing so ; but when you hear it 
 said that the whole nation is bankrupt, that we are all 
 swindlers, and knaves, &c., just bear in mind, for your 
 own consolation, the truth as it is. 
 
 NATIONAL DEBTS. 
 
 First, the national government is not involved in 
 the loans that I have mentioned. It has always per- 
 formed its engagements. It has, at one time, within 
 your day, been burthened with an immense debt, about 
 two hundred milhons of dollars ; and has paid every 
 dollar of it, principal and interest. For several years 
 afterward, it was entirely free from debt. But, owing 
 to some changes in revenue laws, &c., it lately requir- 
 ed a new loan of a moderate sum, less than its income 
 for a single year. The capitalists in Europe declined 
 lending this ; partly, perhaps, from real doubts of the 
 solidity of our institutions, and partly, probably, with a 
 view to make us all feel discredit so sensibly, that our 
 national government should be induced to assume, as 
 it has no right to do, the debts of the delinquent states. 
 The money was lent, however, by our own people ; 
 
19 
 
 and the only subject of regret with them is, that the 
 government will not keep it longer than it is likely to 
 do. Every man who has lent it a hundred dollars, 
 can now receive one hundred and fourteen for the 
 engagement that he holds. Our national government, 
 then, is not bankrupt ; but has performed all its en- 
 gagements with punctuality and honor. 
 
 DEBTS OF SEPARATE STATES. 
 
 Next, let us look at the separate governments of the 
 states. There are twenty-six of them. Beginning at 
 the north, on the line of the British territory, Maine 
 has a small debt, perfectly safe ; and if any one, to 
 whom a part of it is due, wishes for the money, he can 
 have it, and more, from others who stand ready to 
 purchase his security. Massachusetts is responsible 
 for a considerable amount, raised, however, for great 
 public works, that are now completed and productive ; 
 and her engagements are perfectly good. Those who 
 hold them, can dispose of them without loss ; and, for 
 this state, I can assure you that we mean never to 
 suffer her name to bear discredit. New Hampshire, 
 Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island are free of 
 debt to Europe. New York owes a large amount 
 still ; but it rests chiefly on the security of her great 
 canals, and there is no delinquency there. New Jersey 
 owes nothing. 
 
 Here, then, from the St. John's river, at the extreme 
 north, up to your own beautiful Delaware, are eight 
 states, nearly one-third of the whole Union, either 
 entirely free from debt, or performing all their obliga- 
 
20 
 
 tions. We then come to Pennsylvania. She owes a 
 great amount (expended rather unprofitably,) and 
 ought to provide for paying it, for she has still great 
 wealth ; and I think she will do so. But, although 
 the delay casts discredit on us all, nobody, out of the 
 state, can interfere to direct her measures. The 
 failure of her own great bank, which I have described, 
 reduced many of her principal people to poverty ; and 
 she has within her limits a large German population, 
 still speaking only their own language, ignorant of 
 much that relates to national character or reputation 
 abroad, and not easily convinced of the necessity of 
 taxation for the payment of such debts ; but wielding 
 a political power that outweighs the influence of all 
 the gentlemen in Philadelphia. If the decision lay 
 with the latter, provision would be promptly made. 
 
 Maryland is deeply indebted ; and being neither a 
 large, nor a very productive state, 1 apprehend that 
 she must struggle hard to clear herself. Virginia 
 owes a considerable sum, but has met her engage- 
 ments, though occasionally, perhaps, with difficulty. 
 North Carolina owes nothing. South Carolina has 
 borrowed money, but pays punctually. 
 
 Without taking you the full round of the states, I 
 may say, in short terms, that two-thirds of them are 
 either out of debt, or pay punctually what they have 
 engaged to pay ; and that one-third, or less, of them 
 have failed, not to repay their loans, for they are not 
 yet due, but to pay the interest on them, under the 
 following circumstances : 
 
 There had been a simultaneous impulse in a large 
 number of states to engage in great works, absorbing, 
 
21 
 
 together, an immense amount of European capital ; 
 when one or two should have been suffered to com- 
 plete their enterprises, and render them productive, 
 before others began. 
 
 Then, some of these works, as the plans became 
 developed, have been found to conflict with others. 
 Prudence required that they should be abandoned, 
 even if the means for completing them were at hand. 
 Some of them have been given up. Of course, what 
 had been expended on these is entirely lost. 
 
 In addition to these circumstances, other causes 
 were at work, about the same time, to produce a 
 great depression in the value of all property in this 
 country ; so that it has been a much more difficult 
 matter than is generally supposed, for several of the 
 states, from the day of their first discredit, nearly up 
 to the present time, to meet their engagements, how- 
 ever they may have wished to do so. 
 
 The great increase of loans from Europe to the 
 states here had begun to make the want of money felt 
 there, and the payment of all debts actually due from 
 this country was urgently pressed. The unfortunate 
 bank in Pennsylvania just described, overloaded with 
 unmanageable securities, fell and was crushed when 
 pubhc confidence was shaken. Thirty-five millions 
 were thus withdrawn from use, before the country was 
 fully aware of it. Fifteen millions of the most valua- 
 ble commercial property in the city of New York had 
 been annihilated by a terrific fire ; and the mischief, 
 from which that city has scarcely yet entirely recover- 
 ed, was heightened by unwise attempts to go on as if 
 nothing had happened. If every man who received 
 
22 
 
 his death-blow on that occasion had confessed it and 
 failed, twenty millions less of property would probably 
 have been imported from Europe in the following 
 year, which was eventually paid for at such an ad- 
 vance in the rate of exchange as was scarcely ever 
 heard of here before. 
 
 The dominant party in politics, when they put an 
 end to the bank of the United States, had resolved, if 
 possible, to substitute gold and silver coins for bank 
 bills in all payments. You will easily perceive that, 
 so far as they succeeded, they very much diminished 
 the quantity of what had passed as money. For, as 
 bank bills had been received for dollars, if their use 
 were abolished, the number of dollars must be greatly 
 reduced. A large number of minor banks had failed, 
 too, and ceased to furnish a circulating medium. 
 Thus, each dollar was made to represent a greater 
 amount of property than it had done before. That is, 
 property fell in value, surprisingly. Where a bushel 
 of corn had procured a dollar before, two bushels, or 
 more, were required afterward. Yet the dollar, when 
 obtained, would go no further than it had ever done, 
 in cancelhng an old debt. Think, then, of the situa- 
 tion of newly-settled states, like Indiana and Illinois, 
 beyond the Alleghany Mountains ; and what was the 
 natural language of the inhabitants, until the present 
 year, when their affairs are improving. They went 
 there to settle, because they were poor. They had 
 become prosperous, but not yet rich. " We meant no 
 dishonesty," they said, " in borrowing this money. 
 We were told that the canals and rail-roads would 
 repay it. Had we understood the real danger, we 
 
23 
 
 would not have suffered the loans to be made. We 
 find ourselves indebted to a frightful amount, for 
 works that are rather premature in a new country ; 
 and, at the same moment, we find, from a change of 
 currency, that the surplus of our products, from which 
 we were deriving wealth, has become of too little 
 value to bear the cost of transportation to a market. 
 To tax ourselves, would look well ; but it would be al- 
 most useless. Unless we can sell our produce, the tax 
 could not be paid. We may offer our property for 
 sale, but there are no purchasers at any price. The 
 money is not here." This was very much the lan- 
 guage that they were obliged to use with respect to 
 their private debts. I speak of it as merely temporary ; 
 and it could never have been used, with justice, in 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 The case, however, is not unhke one that frequently 
 happens in the affairs of individual men. The capi- 
 talist, tempted by a high rate of interest, lends more 
 money than is prudent to an enterprising, sanguine 
 man, who undertakes too much, and finds that he 
 cannot get on. The capitalist looks into the matter ; 
 perceives that the man meant fairly ; finds that, though 
 both parties have been imprudent, the schemes in 
 themselves are good ; and concludes that his wisest 
 way is, to lend more money to complete them. If the 
 same thing is now proposed by the states, they are 
 asked if they suppose the people in Europe " are so 
 easily duped " as to do that. They are told to apply 
 first to their own general government to guaranty the 
 payment of their debts. This is about as reasonable 
 as it would be to ask Queen Victoria, in England, to 
 
24 
 
 assume a few of the powers of the Pope, in order to 
 settle the affairs of Ireland. It probably never can be 
 done ; for it was never intended to give the national 
 government that power. The proposal is mischievous 
 to the creditors, who hope to be benefited by it ; for 
 it tends to relax exertions of another nature, on which 
 their best reliance is founded. I mean the exertions 
 of those states who owe the money, and who must 
 repay it from their own means. It is best that the 
 world should now understand on whom alone they 
 have to depend, in lending money to one of our states. 
 And if the consequence should be, that no future loan 
 should ever be made us from Europe, it would, per- 
 haps, be rather fortunate than otherwise for us all. I 
 should be very glad to know that such might be the 
 result. 
 
 It is said that we are indifferent to the disgrace of 
 our position. I think that the imputation is unjust. 
 Our pubhc men omit no opportunity of enlarging 
 upon it, and urging speedy payment. Our men of 
 education and property use their influence to the same 
 end. Each one, however, has but a vote ; and that 
 can only be used in his own state, where, perhaps, all 
 engagements have been faithfully met. Let me offer 
 my own case, as an instance. A considerable amount 
 of money from Europe has been under my control in 
 this country, and is duly repaid. In one case I caused 
 a large sum to be invested in an old-fashioned security, 
 called bond and mortgage, for a British peer, who had 
 asked my advice. It remained here several years, 
 yielding punctually the rate of interest that was looked 
 for ; and when recalled lately, was all safely returned, 
 
26 
 
 to the last dollar. The state in which 1 live, and the 
 national government, through which it is represented 
 to the world, are, as I have explained to you, both of 
 them free from reproach in all pecuniary affairs. In 
 these three relations, then, private and political, I have 
 a right to exemption from blame. Yet I find myself 
 involved, with the rest of the nation, in indiscriminate 
 censure, because some of those who unite with us 
 under the same government, in Pennsylvania and 
 Mississippi, are dehnquent. Still, I have no power to 
 act there. The debts are too mighty for any private 
 subscription to be of use. If the city of Edinburgh 
 were indebted to foreigners for money borrowed for 
 improvements of her own, the city of London would 
 hardly undertake to repay it ; nor would the ministry 
 consent that the Chancellor of the Exchequer should 
 include it in his estimate for supplies from the parlia- 
 ment. Neither can it be expected, then, that one 
 state will pay for another ; or that the nation will pay 
 for either. When the money was lent, these distinc- 
 tions were clearly perceived ; and a higher rate of 
 interest was required and allowed, for the very reason 
 that the faith of the nation was not pledged. To 
 affect not to comprehend them now, is something 
 worse than idle. 
 
 On the whole, nothing can be done but by each de- 
 linquent state, acting separately ; and I have hopes 
 that they will do all that is requisite at no distant 
 period ; for they seem to me to be fast recovering 
 from the misfortunes that have embarrassed them, and 
 indeed actually disabled most of them, within the last 
 six years. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 However humbling the delay* may be to us all, 1 
 think that those who will examine the subject, will be 
 convinced that, at least, there was no intention among 
 any of us to defraud. 
 
 You might suppose, from what you hear said, that 
 no individual among us could get credit from Europe 
 for any sum, however small. Quite the reverse is the 
 truth. In commerce, our people get credit as far as 
 it is at all desirable. Although much of the evil that 
 has befallen our commercial world of late, has arisen 
 from the dangerous facility of obtaining foreign capi- 
 tal, there are now agents of European bankers in this 
 country, ready, for a small commission, to furnish 
 credit for new enterprises to the full extent to which 
 it is prudent for any of us to engage in them. If 1 
 were to describe to you the readiness with which 
 credit has been furnished here by foreign agents, I 
 may say the imprudence and folly with which it has 
 been urged upon the inexperienced among us within 
 fifteen years past, through a novel invention for trad- 
 ing in any part of the world with no other capital than 
 a bill on London, you would be less surprised at the 
 number of engagements that have been broken here 
 than at the vast amount of those that have been faith- 
 fully met under all the embarrassments alluded to. 
 
 * Kote to 3rf Edition. — Since this letter was published the Legislature of 
 Pennsylvania have passed a lavir for taxation and the sale of property that 
 will probably make ample provision for the debts of that state. 
 
27 
 
 BOOKS OF TRAVELLERS. 
 
 You ask if the accounts given of us by Captain 
 Marryat and Mr. Dickens can be just ; and add that, 
 if so, the country must have been sadly changed since 
 you left it. But if you should come among us again, 
 I think you v^^ould say that we have not changed for 
 the worse, but rather improved, notwithstanding their 
 descriptions. In his answer to the Edinburgh Review, 
 Captain Marryat says, " My great object was to do 
 serious injury to democracy. To effect this, it w^as 
 necessary that I should write a book which should be 
 universally read. I wrote the work with this object ; 
 and I wrote it accordingly." He lets it be understood 
 that " the occasional, and apparently careless hits at 
 democracy, in the jfirst part," had an important aim, 
 and were only preparatory to others more severe in 
 the second part, which would be read, he thought, 
 with equal avidity, if made amusing. With such law- 
 yer-hke skill as he possessed, he made the most of his 
 case on the part of monarchy, and presented the worst 
 side of ours. 
 
 If you take Mr. Dickens's account, you will think 
 very unfavorably of us ; and if you take his account of 
 England, you will not think at all better of the state of 
 society there. His style partakes of caricature ; and 
 he seems more desirous to fill out the picture that he 
 offers to the reader with matter for amusement and 
 wonder, than to present an accurate view of facts. 
 He says that a party in Boston is very much like a 
 party in London ; but he describes the people whom 
 he saw in the steam-boats as uncouth in their man- 
 
28 
 
 ners, and disagreeable. He says, " They put their 
 knives in their mouths," &c., and he did not hke to sit 
 at the cabin-table with them. Now, how would it be 
 with such people in Europe ? Probably they would 
 not be seen in the cabin at all. They would be deck 
 passengers, at half price. Mr. Dickens might say that 
 they would be in their proper place. They would say, 
 themselves, that they have now the advantage of see- 
 ing others who may have enjoyed greater privileges, 
 and have thus an opportunity of learning something. 
 And many of them do learn. They receive almost an 
 education from society. There is a constant advance- 
 ment, going forward here, upwards, from the condition 
 and habits of the mere laborer to the manners and 
 intelligence of wealth and cultivation. Men who have 
 commenced their career in boyhood with little instruc- 
 tion and without a penny, are sending their children 
 to colleges or to travel in Europe ; and I could give 
 you instances of such people becoming, themselves, 
 efficient patrons of the fine arts. After the dainty 
 aversion with which these gentlemen looked upon 
 those whom they met in traveUing, it is agreeable to 
 remember the remark of an English lady, widow of an 
 officer, I beheve, in her diary of a trip through this 
 country. She says, " After all, I like the Americans. 
 They are warm-hearted in the interest that they show 
 towards their fellow-travellers. They are kind and 
 ready to oblige. If they are inquisitive, they are 
 equally ready to communicate ; and the interchange is 
 frequently quite agreeable." 
 
29 
 
 LOVE OF MONEY. 
 
 When it is said, as it often is, with scorn, that our 
 conversation, in this country, relates too much to 
 money matters, that we talk about dollars, &c., it is 
 but fair to remember that, notwithstanding all that 
 some of our own writers have thought proper to con- 
 cede, money is regarded here as the means of progress 
 rather than the end in view. It is power in any part 
 of the world ; and where difference of rank is abolished, 
 and the highest places are open to the competition of 
 every one, it is great power, since it enables a man to 
 raise those who depend upon him to the enjoyments 
 and advantages of which he may have felt the want. 
 Probably there is no part of the world where the 
 character of the miser is more uncommon than here ; 
 and I have often thought, in noticing the ways of 
 foreigners who come here, that, if we talk more about 
 dollars than they do, they think more of them than we 
 do, by far. 
 
 GRAVITY OF MANNERS. 
 
 As a consequence of the eagerness for money, sup- 
 posed to exist among us, it is said that our people 
 have no mirth in their character. Still, they have 
 mirth enough among themselves, although a foreigner 
 may not be likely to elicit it by the kind of address 
 with which he encourages the peasantry at home to a 
 jest. The people here do not thank him for his con- 
 descension. A German baron, who was collecting 
 materials for a book about us, once repeated this 
 
so 
 
 remark upon our gravity, to me. " Oh ! " he said, 
 " if you could only see the people in my country 
 dance ! when notice is given, on the estate of some 
 great landholder, that there will be music. It is yvith 
 all their soul." I took him to Lowell, a large manu- 
 facturing town, where six thousand girls are employed 
 in spinning and weaving cotton, of whom an English- 
 man, familiar with manufactures at home, once 
 remarked to me, that he " should not have supposed 
 that any of those young women had ever seen a cotton 
 factory ; that they rather resembled, in appearance, 
 the daughters of middling men, shopkeepers, &c., in 
 England." As we passed through the country, the 
 German inquired of me as to the wages of the laborers 
 in the fields. I told him they were twelve or fifteen 
 dollars a month, beside board and lodging ; and that 
 the industrious and enterprising often obtained more 
 and became owners of land themselves, early in hfe. 
 " Indeed !" said he, " Now, in my country, if a man 
 received fifteen dollars for a year, with a pair or two 
 of shoes, and a small supply of flour, he would expect 
 nothing more." At Lowell, he made similar inquiries 
 as to the wages of the factory girls. 1 told him that 
 they were about a dollar and a half per week, besides 
 an allowance that procures them comfortable board 
 and lodging ; and that the most industrious and skillful 
 frequently obtain nearly double that sum. He express- 
 ed surprise ; and remarked, that a young woman in 
 his country would be satisfied with the usual supply of 
 shoes and flour, and five or six dollars fo7' a ivhole 
 year ! I then asked him, whether, if the peasants in 
 his country could obtain the same wages as our labor- 
 
31 
 
 ing people do, (the pay of a whole year in a month, 
 with the prospect of greatly increasing it by industry 
 and care,) they would continue to take the same inter- 
 est in dancing ? He answered, " Most certainly they 
 would not." I told him that I could show him people, 
 on the estates of great landholders, in this country, 
 who enjoy dancing with all the light-hearted mirth 
 that he spoke of; whose festivities at Christmas, for 
 instance, perhaps exceed in gayety those of any other 
 people on earth. But, for the present, they are slaves! 
 divested of political rights and of hope, as they are of 
 care for the future. 
 
 SLAVERY. 
 
 We are reproached with the slavery that exists in 
 the South ; and particularly by the English, who point 
 to the West Indies, and tell us what they have done. 
 And what is that ? In England, where there is no 
 slavery, but where the power to control the whole 
 empire resides, it was determined that a fixed sum 
 should be raised, and that the planters should be com- 
 pelled to take it, or take nothing, and free their 
 negroes. If the same sum could rid us of the evil, it 
 would very soon be raised. But just suppose a case 
 parallel to ours ; that the West India islands had been 
 represented in parliament when this vote was passed ; 
 that nearly one-half of the House of Commons had 
 consisted of planters, and that exactly one-half of the 
 House of Lords had been made up of such nobles as a 
 duke of Jamaica, a marquis of Trinidad, an earl of 
 Barbadoes, &c. I think you will believe, with me, 
 
32 
 
 that, up to this day, no vote for any such measure 
 could have been obtained there. Our difficulties on 
 the subject are of this nature. Nearly one-half of the 
 national House of Representatives, and exactly one- 
 half of the Senate, are men who expect to have their 
 own throats cut, with those of their wives and chil- 
 dren, as an immediate consequence of any sudden 
 emancipation ; while the other half have neither the 
 power nor the right to control them in this matter. 
 The action of the national government being limited 
 to certain particulars essential for union and foreign 
 intercourse, it has no authority to change the domes- 
 tic institutions of either of the states. Any approach 
 to interference from the free states, therefore, is worse 
 than useless ; for it tends to blind the people of the 
 South, by giving the aspect of a mere domestic quar- 
 rel to a question that exists between the slave-holder 
 and the human race. It impedes the current of a 
 broader influence, which I heard recognized, not long 
 ago, by a legislator at the South, in a debate upon a 
 new regulation in respect to property in negroes. 
 When I expected to hear only an explosion of wrath 
 against the Northern States, he exclaimed without 
 referring to them, — "I beg the senate to pause. 
 The eyes of the ivorld are upon us in this matter. 
 The spirit of the age is against us." 
 
 Mr. Dickens, having been annoyed by some simple 
 people who asked him whether he did not admire the 
 heads of our lawmakers at Washington, asserts that 
 an eminent and venerable statesman had, just before, 
 stood for days upon his trial in Congress, " charged 
 with having dared to assert the infamy of that traffic 
 
33 
 
 which has, for its accursed merchandise, men and 
 women with their unborn children." It is not true ; 
 and it is discreditable to him to have made the asser- 
 tion ; for, as he says, the occurrence alluded to took 
 place within a week of his date of the account of it ; 
 and he might have ascertained the facts without 
 trouble. Mr. Adams, formerly president of the United 
 States, but now a national representative, whom he 
 describes in a way not to be mistaken, had presented, 
 on the floor of Congress, a petition, from some people 
 in an Eastern town, for the dissolution of the Union ; 
 that is, the overthrow of our national government. 
 Members were thunderstruck. It appeared that he 
 had no wish that the prayer should be granted ; but, 
 in his zeal for the right of petition, he dared to go to 
 a length that seemed to his own friends like high trea- 
 son. All that he said on this occasion, about the 
 abhorrence of Slavery, which was the ground of the 
 petition, had been said by him repeatedly before, and 
 nobody thought of putting him on trial. But his pres- 
 ent movement was like offering, in the British Parlia- 
 ment, a petition from Mr. O'Connell and his friends, 
 not that Ireland might be suffered peaceably to with- 
 draw from the British empire, but that the crown 
 should be taken from the head of Queen Victoria, and 
 Great Britain carried back to the state of things in the 
 time of Hengist and Horsa, or the Heptarchy, or incur 
 the risk of any other subdivision that might happen to 
 ensue. A vote of censure was proposed. Mr. Adams 
 defended himself with his usual ability, and the matter 
 was dropped ; which, I think you will readily believe, 
 5 
 
34 
 
 would not have been the case, without a more serious 
 trial, if it had occurred in the British parliament. 
 
 This may serve as an instance of the inaccuracy of 
 Mr. Dickens. He, probably, does not mean to mis- 
 represent. But he writes like a man who has not that 
 habitual respect for the weight of his own opinion 
 which would make him careful to ascertain its accu- 
 racy before he utters it. If it would not be tedious 
 to you, I should show you that, whether he speaks of 
 the mode of travelling by rail-roads, or the means by 
 which our statesmen and office-holders obtain their 
 places, he is so heedlessly unjust that one can gather 
 but little that is certain from the greater part of his 
 book. 
 
 LYNCH LAW, &c. 
 
 After all, the most important question seems to be 
 are we improving? I think we have evidence that 
 we are, although some, even of our own men, would 
 say not. 
 
 Captain Hall, fifteen years ago, complained that the 
 people in the stage-coaches drank so much brandy as 
 to be quite offensive. Mr. Dickens now complains, 
 that such is the rigid practice of temperance in the 
 country that he could not get brandy and water for 
 his own use, on some occasion, when the coach 
 stopped. When people can recover from evil habits 
 by their own will, they give some evidence of being 
 qualified for self-government. 1 could give you many 
 proofs of improvement, in this respect and others, 
 among the main body of the people, both in the older 
 
35 
 
 states and the new settlements ; and it is important 
 to enquire, when you hear instances of misconduct 
 among us, whether they occur in the new settlements. 
 
 Captain Marryat, in the first part of his work, tells a 
 story of vulgar behavior in a lady, of which he re- 
 marks, in his second part, that complaints have been 
 made of him for telling such a story, as if it could not 
 be true. But he says the reader will please to re- 
 mark, that he had stated the occurrence to have taken 
 place in Arkansas. It is true that he did so ; but few 
 readers in Europe attach any importance to the dis- 
 tinction between one part of the Union and another, 
 in such matters. Arkansas is a new state, beyond the 
 Mississippi, a thousand miles from Boston ; and, with- 
 in our own day, it was a wild waste, newly purchased 
 from the French. It has been settled partly by Cre- 
 oles of Louisiana, and partly by needy emigrants, 
 who have not yet enjoyed the full advantages of edu- 
 cation, and whose errors in manners are no proof that 
 we are generally uncivihzed. 
 
 The greatest enormities that you hear of amongst 
 us have occurred in those parts of the country where 
 the pioneers of new settlements have found it neces- 
 sary, habitually, to practise something of Indian war- 
 fare, in self-defence. This circumstance has an unfa- 
 vorable influence on manners, but it wears out in a 
 generation, as the settlements fill up. One conse- 
 quence of it has been an irregularity, which, under 
 the name of " Lynch laiv,^^ has a very flagrant aspect. 
 The instances of it have generally occurred where 
 profligate vagabonds, who hve by gambhng, plunder, 
 and villany, in the new states, have united in such 
 
36 
 
 numerous and powerful fraternities, that it became 
 impossible to execute the laws upon them ; and the 
 industrious and honest portion of the community have 
 been in a manner compelled, for their own security, 
 to take the law into their own hands, and inflict sum- 
 mary punishment, even by death, upon the criminals. 
 That such a mode of proceeding is highly dangerous 
 as a precedent, and that it has been resorted to in two 
 or three cases that admit of no excuse or palliation, 
 cannot be denied. But, that there is as yet no proof 
 from this of our being in the habit of destroying each 
 other at pleasure, by mere denunciation to the mob, 
 as some people represent, you will the more readily 
 believe, when I tell you that even Captain Marryat, 
 with all his desire to make out a case against us, looks 
 with no disfavor upon Lynch law. In speaking of 
 those distant settlements in the South and remote 
 West, he says, " The rapid increase of population, and 
 the many respectable people who have lately migrated 
 there, promise very soon to produce a change. 
 Natchez, the lower town of which was a Pandemo- 
 nium, has cleansed herself to a great extent. Vicks- 
 burg has, by its salutary Lynch law, relieved herself of 
 the infamous gamblers ; and New Orleans, in whose 
 streets murders were daily occurring, is now one of 
 the safest towns in the Union." Still, this same 
 Lynch law is an irregularity, the approach of which 
 cannot be regarded without alarm ; such alarm as 
 speedily brings its own remedy. We know well, that 
 no people can exist long, who habitually sufl'er the 
 mob to take the law into their own hands. It is about 
 eight years since the first instance occurred at Vicks- 
 
37 
 
 burg on the Mississippi, and we have now learned the 
 extent of the danger. I shall show you presently, in 
 speaking of mobs, that when a similar disposition, 
 without the same excuse, shows itself elsewhere, as we 
 have warning that it may, there is both the power and 
 the will to put it down. 
 
 SUCCESS OF OUR FORM OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Captain Marryat tells you, in his second part, that 
 we have made " a miserable failure" in our attempt 
 at a republic ; and others cry out the same. Mr. 
 Dickens, in a late number of his " Martin Chuzzlewit," 
 the book that he has now in hand, says, — " that 
 republic, but yesterday let loose upon her noble course, 
 and but to-day so maimed and lame, so full of sores 
 and ulcers, that her best friends turn from the loath- 
 some creature in disgust !" Hard words, these ! to 
 be applied to a republic that has stood firm in war ; 
 that, in peace, has honorably discharged every debt, 
 as 1 have shown you, for which her national faith was 
 pledged ; that gives her citizens all the protection they 
 desire, at home and abroad ; and asks nothing of her 
 friends but to enquire into the truth when they hear 
 her reviled. They are odd words, too, to come from 
 a writer who has been complaining of " ribald slander" 
 from the presses of the daily journals. They even 
 suggest the thought, that the greatest abuse of the art 
 of printing, just now, may not be, after all, among 
 " cheap newspapers." 
 
 If we have attempted, as some people from Europe 
 seem resolved to charge us with having done, and as 
 
38 
 
 some silly newspaper editors among us would have it 
 believed, to present ourselves to the world as choice 
 Greeks and Romans, with a patrician air, divested of 
 its pride, among the rich, and every man at the plough 
 looking as if he had the part of Cincinnatus to per- 
 form, we certainly have failed. But we have simply 
 attempted to inhabit a country of vast extent, compris- 
 ing all varieties of character, from the frozen North to 
 the Tropic, with as little government as is absolutely 
 necessary to enable every man to pursue his own 
 business in quiet, and to secure to him and his family 
 the fruits of his own industry. And I maintain that 
 we have been successful in the attempt. It may seem 
 presumptuous for any of us to make an assertion on 
 the subject. But, since you ask for an opinion as to 
 the justice of the charges against us, we may as well 
 give one, as those who denounce us. Many of them, 
 by the way, might have failed to discover in Cincinna- 
 tus, if they had seen him as he was, a character that 
 was to be admired by the latest posterity ; and 
 although they can perceive nobody like him among us, 
 it is quite possible that we may have men living in 
 quiet obscurity, who would be ready and able to do all 
 that he did, if there were need for them to act. 
 
 Conceding everything that the philosophers or poli- 
 ticians, who rail at us, can urge with justice against 
 us, on the grounds of selfishness, love of money, dis- 
 honesty, coarse manners, tyranny of public opinion, 
 insecurity of property, frequency of elections, disorder, 
 violence. Lynch law and all, I assert that we are as 
 successful, so far, in what we really undertook to do, 
 as any people could ever reasonably expect to be in 
 
39 
 
 the same time, who pass from one form of government 
 to another that was before untried.* I really believe 
 that if we had concluded to adopt the old form of king, 
 nobility and commons, and had been only as success- 
 ful with that as we have been with what was actually 
 designed by our present one, our government would 
 have been admitted to come nearer to what a mon- 
 archy should be than most others that exist. It is re- 
 markable that we have found but few changes of form 
 necessary, where we might have expected that many 
 parts would prove defective. We talk of scarcely any 
 change but one which should prevent the re-election 
 of the president ; and that can easily be shown to be 
 unadvisable, as those who framed our constitution de- 
 cided that it was, after mature dehberation. 
 
 Let us see. Selfishness and love of money ! — I have 
 already remarked that the eagerness for wealth among 
 us is not altogether base in its nature, since its object 
 is change and improvement of condition. 
 
 The foreigner comes here prepossessed with expec- 
 tations founded upon his own notions of an ideal 
 republic, and is disappointed in what he sees. " These 
 people are all selfish," he says, " each one looking out 
 for himself only, in a general scramble. Your republi- 
 canism is all humbug." It might be so, if we had 
 undertaken to alter the nature of man. But we have 
 aimed at nothing so imaginary. They who framed 
 our institutions knew that man is selfish. The his- 
 tories of all republics and monarchies, and if I may 
 say so, the natural history of the animal, had taught 
 
 * See Note at the end. 
 
40 
 
 them this ; and they dealt with him accordingly. 
 They knew that each one is likely to monopolize 
 wealth and power, as far as he can, for himself; and 
 they have left him at liberty to do so. But they give 
 him no aid from the laws to perpetuate either, beyond 
 that security for property to which every one is enti- 
 tled. He may make himself as powerful as he can 
 (even as a king, perhaps) ; but his power ceases with 
 his office, and he can transmit nothing of it to his 
 descendants. He may raise a mountain of wealth if 
 he can ; but the laws fence it with no entail that can- 
 not easily be broken. They allow his children and 
 grand-children to make mole-hills of it ; which they do 
 very soon, and go to work for themselves when they 
 find it necessary. We know that nothing can ever 
 cure improper selfishness in man, but the Christian 
 religion. If any people have discovered a mode of 
 bringing that into daily, practical use, as the rule of 
 action, in its true spirit, throughout society, we shall 
 be glad to learn of them. We beheve that it will be 
 sufficient to correct all evils in politics under any form 
 of government, democratic or despotic, and render 
 the manners of every individual, in his own sphere of 
 action, whether it be high or low, beautifully appro- 
 priate. In the mean time, we leave with every man 
 his own responsibiUty to his Maker; and only take 
 care that he shall do no harm to anybody but himself. 
 Under this arrangement we see a vast deal to regret, 
 and, if possible, to remedy. But it is not particularly 
 when we reflect on what other nations have brought 
 to pass, that we feel most humbled or anxious. 
 
 Dishonesty! — So far as we are guilty, let us be 
 
41 
 
 scourged without mercy. But to the question how 
 far dishonesty exists, I answer that, in my beUef, of 
 the milUons of contracts that are daily made among 
 us, as large a portion are faithfully executed as in any 
 country. Recollect that everything is in action here, 
 and engagements more numerous than elsewhere ; 
 that thousands of needy European adventurers, from 
 the time of the first settlements, have been pouring in 
 among us to find subsistence ; and that the contest 
 for property is open to every one here, with the hope 
 of elevation ; while, under other forms of government, 
 the great mass of the people have litde to do with 
 bargaining of any sort. After all that is said against 
 us, I believe that the faithful performance of engage- 
 ments, according to the fair understanding of them, is 
 as generally the standard of action here as elsewhere ; 
 and that the tone of feeling in that respect has, on the 
 whole, been rather raised than lowered, in the last 
 fifty years.* 
 
 As to coarseness of maimers, there certainly is room 
 for improvement ; and if travellers can cure our 
 people of the unnecessary trick of spitting, and of 
 talking of dollars and business before ladies, they have 
 free leave to abuse us to their own satisfaction, in all 
 such matters. But there is one distinction that 
 
 * Extract of a letter, concerning public and private credit in the United 
 States, from a commercial house in England, of great respectability and of 
 extensive correspondence in Europe and America, written on the receipt 
 of a copy, from a former edition, of this pamphlet : — 
 
 " In matters of Commerce, we, at all events, can testify tliat no country 
 or people has afforded to us such uniform experience, not merely of ujjright- 
 ness, but of that frank and confiding spirit in the transactions of business, 
 which we consider to be the common evidence and the natural fruit of a 
 high order both of sense and principle." 
 
 6 
 
42 
 
 deserves notice. In Europe, vulgarity is classed by 
 itself, and is generally to be found where one would 
 expect nothing better. In this country, where there 
 is no difference of caste strongly marked, and where 
 many people are in a kind of transition state, it is 
 likely to be met with out of place, and, from mere 
 mixture in the mass, it gives an impression of a more 
 general want of refinement than can justly be charged 
 to us. 
 
 PUBLIC OPINION. 
 
 The tyranny of public opinion is matter of triumph- 
 ant outcry against us in Europe. It is very likely 
 that you may be puzzled to know what is meant by 
 this ; for, as it is in political matters, so, on almost 
 every other subject of any public interest, we gener- 
 ally have two or more parties, who stoutly maintain 
 their own views in opposition to each other ; with a 
 sufficient number of those nondescripts who are so 
 peculiar in their own opinions that they cannot agree 
 with any party. I should suppose that any peculiarity 
 that exists among us in this respect, amounts to noth- 
 ing more tlian this. In Europe, where everything 
 appears to stand firmly upon established forms, a man 
 may find fault and give his opinion freely, for the very 
 reason that it goes for little, and changes nothing. In 
 this country, where public action results from a com- 
 bination of individual opinions, people who assume 
 positions opposed to others are expected to maintain 
 them, and to hold themselves in readiness to act con- 
 sistently. They, therefore, speak with something of 
 
43 
 
 caution. It is not, that they have less personal inde- 
 pendence than people of corresponding stations in 
 Europe ; but that it requires more to take a separate 
 stand, where there are but few of the old entrench- 
 ments of society for them to retire within, if pressed. 
 
 The foreign traveller sees, for instance, what seems 
 to him to be wrong among us, and asks the next man 
 whom he meets, on the subject. If they are alone, it 
 is likely enough the man may agree with him, yet do 
 nothing. If there are others present, very likely the 
 man may speak with something of reserve, instead of 
 open censure ; and the traveller notes down " selfish 
 indifference" in the one case, or " want of freedom 
 of opinion" in the other. So many particulars of 
 these cases have been given us by travellers, that it is 
 not difficult for a careful observer to understand to 
 what class the unlucky respondent may belong ; and 
 although little attention ever seems to be paid to that 
 circumstance, it is an important one. 
 
 The man is most likely to be one who has newly 
 risen to his own position, and who has hardly yet 
 secured so firm a foot-hold that he is ready to set the 
 world about him to rights. He probably remembers 
 the matter, however, and subsequently uses his influ- 
 ence to produce a change ; unless he discovers in the 
 mean time, that there are reasons, which had escaped 
 his sagacity and that of the foreigner, why a sudden 
 change would not be productive of good. 
 
 It may be, that the man is of high standing in 
 society, but of little political influence ; disappointed 
 that his own opinion, and that of his friends should 
 have less weight than seems due, and therefore ready 
 
44 
 
 to complain in private, though not inchned to inter- 
 fere with the course of affairs ; a member, for instance, 
 of the old Federal party, whom travellers are par- 
 ticularly fond of quoting, the party of which Wash- 
 ington was the head, out-voted by the followers of 
 Jefferson. That party stood on the principles that are 
 probably the safest for our institutions ; principles to 
 which all parties, since, are sometimes compelled to 
 resort. But its elder members, since their defeat, 
 have been too ready to despair of our eventual suc- 
 cess ; for, although we are not doing the best that we 
 might, it does not follow that we are going headlong 
 to destruction, as some of them apprehend. It is 
 natural enough, that they should not be loud in 
 expressing views which would draw them into collision 
 with others, since they choose to consider themselves 
 absolved from all responsibility for the event, and 
 excused from all serious efforts to prevent it. I know 
 how they talk, for 1 was one of the party, myself, 
 though too young at its dissolution to feel at hberty to 
 sit quietly down and lament, instead of keeping up 
 with the transitions of the age, and taking a part in 
 what has been going on. 
 
 They have some right to complain, however. If 
 the affairs of the country had been administered as 
 they would have had them, it probably would not be 
 necessary to assert, at this day, that we have suc- 
 ceeded. It might have been conceded by acclama- 
 tion, that we had given reality to the ideal that we 
 were supposed to have imagined. The leaders of 
 that party, formed by circumstances, with fresh recol- 
 lections of the old school for a standard, united to the 
 
46 
 
 vigor of free action on a field newly opened, were 
 fitted to respond to the expectations of foreigners who 
 wished to observe the chief ornaments of our society. 
 They are passing away, with the personal respect of 
 those opposed to them ; and are succeeded by men of 
 less polished exterior, though, perhaps, equally able 
 and useful. The tone of manners does not rise so 
 high in some instances as formerly ; but the standard 
 of society, on an average of ail classes, is unquestion- 
 ably raised. 
 
 On the whole, the encounter of an individual with 
 public opinion may be more formidable in a republic 
 than elsewhere ; but, depend upon it, the iron rule of 
 this tyrant, that is said to keep us all in mental slavery, 
 is in a great degree imaginary. 
 
 SECURITY OF PROPERTY. 
 
 As to the insecurity of property here, there have 
 been some defects in the laws as to provision for com- 
 pensation, by the public, to those whose property may 
 have been injured in a riot. The defects have been 
 in some degree supplied, since the necessity has been 
 felt ; and I hope they will be so completely. Corpo- 
 rate bodies are regarded with great jealousy, as rem- 
 nants of the old system of monopoly. There have 
 been some judicial decisions concerning their exclu- 
 sive rights that have given dissatisfaction ; and there 
 are here, as everywhere, some people who insist, 
 when the laws are not administered as they would 
 have them, that there is no law at all in the country ; 
 which foreigners are very ready to repeat, and which 
 
46 
 
 many of our women and children are made sorrowfully 
 to believe. But any man who understands the subject 
 will probably tell you, on calm consideration, that 
 there is no country in the world where the people 
 generally hold their houses, lands, and goods in more 
 undisturbed security, and with less real cause for 
 apprehension of any illegal interference, than here. 
 The mass of the people are interested to maintain this 
 security, for those of full age have property of their 
 own. The young hope to obtain it ; not as something 
 to be snatched at for momentary gratification, but as 
 the reward of laborious attention and severe exertion, 
 the foundation of rational and permanent enjoyment. 
 Some people of property would dispute what I say, 
 but not one of them would pay a premium to be 
 assured against any risks to their possessions, beyond 
 such chances as must be guarded against in all coun- 
 tries. 
 
 ELECTIONS. 
 
 The frequency of elections is remarked upon as 
 evil, but I know of no bad result. It is, in one 
 respect, even useful. The young men who are con- 
 stantly coming upon the stage, would hardly under- 
 stand the nature of our institutions if it were not for 
 the constant and earnest discussions that arise from 
 this cause. It is true that we make a deal of noise 
 about them, but the noise does no harm. I remember, 
 when very young, to have heard it proposed to have 
 fairs here, as they do in England. But it was objected 
 that it was dangerous to bring our people together in 
 great numbers, where there is so little control. Now, 
 
47 
 
 on one occasion, during the preparation for the great 
 contest for the presidency between General Harrison 
 and Mr. Van Buren, in 1840, it was computed that 
 one hundred thousand strangers of both parties entered 
 the city of Boston in a day. There was no violence. 
 They separated quietly at evening. There had been 
 no military force to control them ; and there were, I 
 think, fewer than ten individuals who gave occasion 
 for any interference from the police. 
 
 Such vast meetings for political purposes have 
 become common in the country, and give practical 
 contradiction to those predictions of danger to the 
 community from disorder and violence, that are so 
 frequently made. 
 
 It is said, that our elections are merely contests of 
 " the ins and the outs," for office ; and many of our 
 own people will tell you the same ; but it is not so. 
 Deep and important principles lie at the bottom of 
 our political divisions. For more than twenty years, 
 it was a question, hotly disputed, whether the revolu- 
 tion in France and the career of Napoleon deserved 
 our sympathy and support ; or whether they were due 
 to Great Britain, in spite of aggressions upon us. 
 This question terminated in foreign war. Again, it 
 has long been a dispute of deep interest, whether our 
 national government has a right to protect domestic 
 manufactures by duties. This question brought us, 
 ten years ago, as was supposed, to the verge of civil 
 war. I never believed in the danger of this ; but 
 the mere supposition shows that we dispute about 
 something more important than the mere possession of 
 offiice. Should the right of suffrage be extended 
 
equally to all, even to the emigrant but lately settled 
 among us ; or should men of property have additional 
 influence in voting? Should the powers of the gen- 
 eral government be construed with strict jealousy ; or 
 should it be allowed powers incidentally necessary 
 to its action, such as that to create a bank, and to 
 make internal improvements ? These, and other 
 questions of equal magnitude, have divided us ; and 
 the people, in the main, are actuated by an honest 
 belief, in adopting the sides they take, however true it 
 may be that candidates for office often consult merely 
 their own chance of success, in siding with one party 
 or the other. There was one period when all existing 
 questions were nearly laid to rest, and we really had 
 httle to dispute about but office. As a proof how little 
 the people at large are disposed to engage in quarrels 
 for that alone, it should be remembered that President 
 Monroe, representing a party that had been vehe- 
 mently opposed for twenty years, received, on his re- 
 election at that period, the votes of all the electors in 
 the Union but one. 
 
 POPULAR VIOLENCE, MOBS, &c. 
 
 There is one principle of security in our institutions, 
 that operates with surprising effect. It lies in the 
 division of property. It seems at times as if riot and 
 disorder might extend to any degree of mischief; but 
 as soon as it becomes apparent that a man is not safe 
 with his family in his own house, the mob itself 
 becomes conservative ; for almost every man has his 
 household, however small. A striking instance of this 
 
49 
 
 occurred about ten years since in Providence, the 
 chief town in Rhode Island. A quarrel had arisen 
 between the seamen and the blacks, in which so many 
 people took part, that, finally, it spread into an alarm- 
 ing riot, and the whole place was in confusion and 
 danger. When it came to that, the militia, citizens of 
 the place, were ordered out. Proclamation was made 
 by the Governor in due form of law, to the rioters to 
 disperse ; and on their refusal, they were fired upon, 
 and a number of them killed and wounded. They 
 fled instantly. Order was restored at once, and main- 
 tained, from that moment, with ease. The first essay 
 of Napoleon with a mob, in his youth, was not more 
 effective. The submission was probably more com- 
 plete than if the execution had been by soldiers of a 
 standing army ; for the rioters were conscious that 
 nothing but their own guilt, and imperious necessity, 
 could bring their fellow-citizens upon them as a mili- 
 tary force. 
 
 A similar occurrence took place at Baltimore. 
 Owing to the imbecihty of the city authorities, the riot 
 continued for several days, and there was considerable 
 destruction of property. The mayor resigned. One 
 of his predecessors, an old man of experience and 
 decision, was put in his place. He took the measures 
 prescribed by the laws, brought out the military, and 
 restored order forthwith ; though with serious blood- 
 shed. 
 
 Wherever the use of this safeguard has been 
 
 resorted to it has operated with equal force, and has 
 
 proved that, in such cases, power is so clearly on the 
 
 side of order, that it is only necessary to show the 
 
 7 
 
^0 
 
 intention of using it, to produce the desired efTect. 
 Some years ago, owing to the prejudices existing 
 against CathoUcs, and a behef in stories about the 
 crimes of monks, and so on, a violent animosity had 
 been excited at the erection of a convent near here ; 
 and, one night, the convent was suddenly burned to 
 the ground. It was thought that the municipal author- 
 ities of the town in which this happened had not acted 
 with vigor. It was found difficult to convict any one 
 of the crime. Most of the guilty escaped unpunished. 
 The cry of Popery and the Inquisition, with stories of 
 dungeons and torture, became popular ; the ignorant 
 with their instigators became more daring ; and, on the 
 anniversary of the burning, preparations were made to 
 enter Boston in great numbers, with a grand proces- 
 sion, apparently in honor of freedom of rehgion, but, 
 probably, with designs of violence against peaceable 
 Catholics, residing here. Our mayor was a man 
 suited to the occasion, and knew what was coming. 
 The procession was met upon the bridge over which 
 they were approaching, by a deputation of peace 
 officers, with the information, that if they crossed it, a 
 large body of men, prepared to assemble at the tolling 
 of a bell, would be under arms to receive them. 
 After a short consultation, they retired as they had 
 advanced, and quietly dispersed. 
 
 Probably, any one who will examine the subject 
 without prejudice, will be convinced that the principle 
 of security, not only against disorder and violence, 
 (under the naitie of Lynch law, of which 1 have 
 already spoken, or in any other shape,) — but also 
 against serious misrule, is inherent in our institutions ; 
 
61 
 
 firmly founded upon the personal interest which so 
 large a portion of the community have in its preserva- 
 tion. After General Jackson, who was a great favor- 
 ite with the most numerous class as the representative 
 of the ultra democracy of the country, had been in 
 power eight years ; and his successor, acting on the 
 same policy, had been in for about three years ; the 
 people became convinced that the measures which 
 they had pursued were not the best for the country. 
 Whether they were right or wrong, in the behef that a 
 change was necessary, is not important. The people 
 believed that it was necessary for the welfare of the 
 country, and they made it, peaceably, but thoroughly, 
 by an overwhelming majority. It is only necessary to 
 touch this principle, selfish if you please, by convinc- 
 ing them of general danger, to obtain a speedy 
 remedy. 
 
 M. De Tocqueville, in his work on the United 
 States, tells us that it is a mistake to suppose that the 
 democracy of this age has arisen merely from an acci- 
 dental dispute between Great Britain and some of her 
 colonies. He says that it is the result of a struggle 
 between two great principles of humanity, which has 
 been going on for five or six centuries. If this be 
 true, certainly the victors in the struggle, now that 
 their turn has come, may claim the merit of acting 
 with moderation in their success ; even if they do err 
 in some matters of taste. When the most is made of 
 the evils of popular violence, which are promptly 
 reported in their worst shape to the world, they are 
 not great, in comparison with the known oppressions 
 and villanies of the Front-de-Boeufs of petty tyranny ; 
 
62 
 
 even without adding what may be behaved of tales of 
 injustice and horror that can never be fully known, 
 until that great day of retribution when the secrets of 
 arbitrary power shall be laid o|3en. It is computed 
 that the deaths by violence even in the French revolu- 
 tion, not classed under the head of civil war (as the 
 war in La Vendee), were less than those in the mas- 
 sacre of the Huguenots, caused by the court party on 
 the eve of St. Bartholomew in the reign of Charles 
 the Ninth. It is true, that difference in religious belief 
 led to the cruel destruction in this case ; but the 
 arrangements for such a bloody surprise could never 
 have been perfected, without that concentration of 
 power against which the civilized world has been 
 struggling for ages. 
 
 Supposing the computation to be incorrect, as it 
 may be, still, if it be only an approximation to the 
 truth, even if the deaths by the guillotine were double 
 those of the Huguenots, it is a strong case on the side 
 of popular action, considering that the barriers of 
 centuries were suddenly broken away. A few inci- 
 dents from history would make fearful additions to the 
 amount of deliberate destruction on the other side. 
 
 STRENGTH OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It has been asserted by Captain Marryat and others, 
 that our national government has not the strength to 
 enforce the execution of its own laws ; and, as proof 
 of this, a dispute which arose, under the name of 
 " Nullification," about ten years since, is triumphantly 
 referred to. In one of the Southern States, the right 
 
63 
 
 of the government to impose so high duties as had 
 been laid on imported goods was denied, and the 
 leading men threatened that they should not be col- 
 lected there. No actual violence ever took place ; 
 but a law was passed by the general government pro- 
 viding for a gradual annual reduction of these duties. 
 This law, commonly called the compromise act, is 
 frequently spoken of by travellers as a concession 
 from the national government of all that had been 
 demanded by the discontented state, which was said to 
 have " bearded" it. It was not so considered here ; 
 but rather as a loop-hole by which the malecontents 
 were suffered to withdraw from the contest and avoid 
 the appearance of defeat. However this may be, 
 when the term contemplated, by this act for gradual 
 reduction, approached so near its limit that the reduc- 
 tion of duties was found to be inconvenient, the old 
 duties, or nearly the same, were imposed anew. It is 
 insisted at the South that the new law, or tariff, is, in 
 principle, precisely the same, and quite as objectiona- 
 ble to them as the old one. Yet it has been enforced, 
 from the day of its passage, eighteen months since, as 
 thoroughly and quietly, throughout the Union, as any 
 law could be under the most despotic government in 
 Europe. And this has taken place under the admin- 
 istration of a mere vice-president — (the president 
 having died within his term), of a man personally 
 unpopular and by no means remarkable for energy of 
 character. 
 
64 
 
 GENERAL RESULTS OF OUR EXPERIMENT. 
 
 Certainly, it must be admitted that our system of 
 government is, thus far, successful in the main. If 
 we have committed some mistakes, as other people 
 do who try new inventions, it is rather a hasty con- 
 clusion that our total failure must be the consequence, 
 rather than that the correction of errors, and wiser 
 conduct in future, are to be the result of our experi- 
 ence. 
 
 We have learned, during the last ten years, that one 
 state cannot confer the powers necessary for a national 
 bank ; and we shall not try that again. 
 
 We have learned that rail-roads and canals may 
 possibly prove unproductive ; and that states which 
 guaranty their success must be prepared to make up 
 any deficiency in the tolls, by laying taxes for the 
 deficit. 
 
 We have learned that when states have parted with 
 one of the prerogatives of sovereignty (the right to 
 impose duties on imports), they must be careful in the 
 exercise of another, that of borrowing money. 
 
 We have the satisfaction, too, in our experience 
 under this head, of having found the chief opposition 
 to such borrowing to come from the most democratic 
 party in the country. I say the satisfaction ; for, 
 although I am opposed to their party, it is a satisfac- 
 tion to reflect that they, who might be supposed to be 
 the most needy and most likely to profit by borrowing 
 money abroad should have been unfavorably disposed 
 to that mode of obtaining it; as, according to my 
 
56 
 
 observation, they were to a remarkable degree. It is 
 satisfactory to believe, too, as I do, that, whatever we 
 may think of the demagogues who lead or mislead 
 them at times, the intentions of the mass are right ; 
 that, in order to induce them to do wrong, it is neces- 
 sary to deceive a large portion of them ; and that, 
 when they are convinced that they are doing injustice, 
 they can be induced to change their course. The 
 greatest mistake in relation to them has arisen from 
 want of confidence in their intelligence and sense of 
 right, which are found to be worthy of reliance, when 
 once they are fairly addressed. And, in this business of 
 provision for state debts, those politicians who show 
 the greatest courage to impose taxes and act honestly 
 towards the creditor, will probably be found eventually 
 to be most in favor with the people. 
 
 We have learned from late disasters, that steady 
 industry, in regular occupations, is more likely to 
 secure the means of living comfortably, than dashing 
 attempts at sudden fortune are likely to secure any- 
 thing at all. As proof of this, we see, that, though 
 money has been more abundant, for a year, in a large 
 portion of the country, than it ever was before, and 
 property low, there is none of the readiness to engage 
 in hazardous speculations for which we have been 
 remarkable heretofore, under similar circumstances. 
 There is reason to beheve that we may become a 
 more quiet people ; and that the restless desire for a 
 change of lot in life, which was natural enough when 
 a new system offered such facilities and temptations 
 for it, has received a check. The lessons that we 
 have received have been useful ; and there is ground 
 
66 
 
 for encouragement rather than despondency in the 
 present aspect of the country. 
 
 ^ GROWING ATTACHMENT TO THE UNION. 
 
 Those who can remember how we stood in the 
 early part of this century, and all that was then said 
 of us, probably think, as I believe, that we have a 
 much better prospect of tranquilly passing its close, 
 than we were supposed to have, when it began, of 
 ever reaching the middle of it, with our present 
 government. After all the noise that you hear, the 
 union among our states was never so strong, since its 
 formation, as it is at this day. Many people among 
 us, who go but little from home, would stare at such 
 an assertion ; but those who traverse the states from 
 one extremity to the other, know well that what I tell 
 you is true. 
 
 The numbers who would be ready, if the Union 
 were really in danger, to step forward and maintain 
 it, increase every year. A feeling of fraternal alliance, 
 throughout, is becoming common. This was once 
 happily expressed by a southern acquaintance whom I 
 met, unexpectedly, in one of the streets in Boston, 
 taking a view of the town. He was a man of distinc- 
 tion in his own state ; and, for the first time, found 
 himself nearly a thousand miles from home. " I am 
 not merely surprised," he said, " at what I see ; 1 am 
 even more delighted at the thought that this is not a 
 foreign place, but, still my home / " — I am sure that 
 when I first crossed the Alleghany Mountains to the 
 South-west, many years since, in the winter, by what 
 
57 
 
 was then called the wilderness-route to Kentucky, and, 
 after fording rivers, with rough fare under log-cabins 
 in the deep woods, for a week or two, emerged upon 
 a city in the vast plain beyond, where were equipages 
 that might have rivalled many in New York, I felt the 
 surprise of my Southern friend, at the extent and 
 resources of my own country, and equal pleasure, 
 with him, that it was all one. 
 
 The increase of communication, too, by rail-roads 
 and canals, is strengthening the interest of distant 
 states in each other. It is a fact, of some importance 
 in reference to disputes like that of Nullification, that 
 some of our states most widely separated are even 
 more concerned to keep together, than others that are 
 contiguous. Personal observation in the two states, 
 that, within the last ten or fifteen years, have spoken 
 most slightingly of the Union, leads me to believe that 
 they have, all the time, had more real regard for the 
 rest of the states, than they had for each other, though 
 a single river, the Savannah, divides them. If they 
 could have agreed on the first step necessary for sepa- 
 ration from the Union, they would have been sure to 
 quarrel at the second, on the question which should 
 stand first in a new confederation. Their movements, 
 in any way, would not be of vital importance, unless 
 they could induce states further south to unite with 
 them ; and, in that case, another party, more potent 
 than all of them, would be heard. Away, far at the 
 West and North, are free states, growing yearly like 
 young lions, who look to the " Father of rivers" for 
 access to the sea. If it were necessary, they would 
 join, with overwhelming power, in asserting that the 
 
58 
 
 mouth of the Mississippi is property in which we all 
 have a share ; and that those who have settled around 
 it cannot be suffered to make a foreign nation of 
 themselves, and compel the rest of us to run the gant- 
 let among them, in passing to and fro. 
 
 It may be, as the foes of all attempts at self-govern- 
 ment seem ardently to hope, that our dissolution is to 
 come from slavery, the most dangerous of those 
 " ulcers" upon our body politic that Mr. Dickens talks 
 of. This is a disease, however, which our mother 
 gave us ; and if she adds an occasional malediction, it 
 is perhaps not surprising. 1 have explained to you, 
 that it is impossible for us to rid ourselves of the evil 
 by the same means that she has used in her own case ; 
 and even if it should prove fatal to us, it would by no 
 means follow, that some future republic, of purer birth, 
 may not permanently enjoy the good that we have 
 shown to be possible by fifty years of actual trial. 
 
 If you have read much of this and derived satisfac- 
 tion from it, I have only to ask, in return, that you 
 will do what Jittle may be in your power to make our 
 case understood, even by the Americans whom you 
 see ; some of whom do not go prepared for all the 
 accusations which they may have to meet. 
 
 Under all changes of government or fortune, 
 I remain, always. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 T. G. GARY. 
 
[NOTE, p. 39.] 
 
 Some readers may not be aware that in suffering the national 
 government to act directly upon each individual, instead of trans- 
 mitting its authority through the governments of the different 
 states, who might regard it or not, we have introduced a new 
 principle, which is the distinguishing mark of our form of republic, 
 and which operates with surprising effect. 
 
 We had united, for the war of the revolution by which our inde- 
 pendence was established, under the well-known form of a confede- 
 racy of states ; on the principle that each state should contribute, 
 in its due proportion, towards the maintenance of a general govern- 
 ment. The pressure of external danger kept us together ; but 
 when that was removed we began to suffer from defects inherent 
 in the system. Some of the states were slow to comply with the 
 requisitions made upon them. The wants of the general govern- 
 ment were poorly supplied, and it could never guaranty the faithful 
 observance of treaties made with foreign powers, since infractions 
 could not be punished without the aid of state governments that 
 might rather choose to countenance them. To use compulsion, if 
 a large state should resist, would be civil war, which would never 
 do ; whereas resistance to the power of all the states united, by 
 any one citizen, would have been idle. 
 
 We staggered on, imbecile, uncertain, and poor, until the people 
 of the states were ready to unite and form an efficient national 
 head, whose action, for the purposes for which it was created, 
 should be independent of the state governments. This was done ; 
 and their constitution begins — "We, the people of the United 
 States, in order to form a more perfect government — do establish 
 this constitution," &c. 
 
60 
 
 A celebrated Southern orator, who opposed its adoption, ex- 
 claimed that "On those three little words — we the People — 
 instead of — we the States" — hung changes that, in his view, 
 were vast and fearful. Changes followed ; vast, as he said, but 
 salutary. The new government was organized in the year 1789, 
 and Washington was the first president. At that period our pros- 
 perity may be said to have commenced. 
 
 Those who are desirous of obtaining more full information on 
 the subject, without attempting any laborious investigation, will 
 find it in a book, of moderate compass, entitled " The Federalist." 
 It was written, in short numbers, by Madison, Hamilton, and Jay, 
 for the purpose of explaining to the people of the Union the pecu- 
 liar characteristics of the form of government offered for their 
 adoption. The explanations are so clear, that a few of the num- 
 bers, selected by their titles, will serve to indicate certain distinc- 
 tions in the structure of various forms of government which every 
 one will find it convenient to understand. 
 
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