The most wealthy do not generally spend their money in plate and jewellery. There are few instances of such opulence as could enable its owners, without inconvenience, to lavish thousands in pictures, ottomans, and vases, or on floral conservatories and the mere embelishments of art; nor does there seem the disposition to such extravagance.

In such a country there are means of profitable outlay for every shilling of accumulated capital; and the Americans in general are too prudent a people to invest, in objects of mere taste, that which would not tend to their material wealth.

The American population may be said to be almost wholly devoted to the acquisition of wealth; not so much, perhaps, for its own intrinsic charms, and the comforts and luxuries it procures, as for the influence it confers, and its devotion to patriotic and philanthropic objects. All actual capital is kept in action, and almost all the population pursue some line of business, profession, or trade.

It is a somewhat remarkable fact that in the last census of the Union there is no return of persons enjoying independent incomes; while in the last British census, the names of persons returned in such circumstances amount to half a million.

All are in active habits, from the highest to the lowest. Everything has a fair trial, and every bias of the mind its sphere and its place of action, to the benefit of the many-sided developments of the human spirit, and without detriment to any. The inhabitants, in general, are rather gainers than spenders of money.

Americans have been stigmatised by Europeans as peculiarly characterised by an all-absorbing lust of gold; they have been called a mammon-worshipping people, idolators of national wealth and commercial prosperity, and blamed for their disproportionate estimate of those who individually possess abundant wealth and political influence and wisdom. To a considerable degree, indeed, this imputation is just. It is true, that to some extent wealth has usurped what has elsewhere been the prerogative of birth; that its creation is the grand object to which the efforts and aspirations of all are directed; and that the science which investigates its sources and reveals the most effectual means of its augmentation has secured general attention. Covetousness and ambition of power, however, no more apply to American citizens generally than to those of Europe. It is greatly to be feared that this is the governing passion of Americans,

their besetting sin,-but worshippers of mammon are not exclusively found among them. Gold is becoming the universal Moloch, the monster idol of the world, and selfishness the all-prevailing passion. Even in England money over-rides everything but law, and sometimes even that is not an exception. Even in England the lust of wealth has seized almost all hearts and enslaved them, though concealed by a thousand schemes and pretexts.

If money in America is the nobility, money in England is queen, lords, and commons. Of all the passions that tyrannize over the human heart there is perhaps none that attains so permanent and boundless an influence as avarice. Sensuality is generally found to decay with decaying nature. Ambition also

yields to time; but avarice is usually found to exercise its most tyrannic sway at the moment when the wretched victim is most evidently tottering on the brink of the grave. Such also is the influence of the same pitiful passion on states.

CHAPTER IX.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.-Absence of expensive, courtly, and civic paraphernalia, antiquated costumes, splendid retinues, and aristocratic distinctions. Character of the inhabitants of the different States. Their intimate relation to each other, and assimilation of rich and poor. Rate of wages to working men. Cheapness of means of subsistence. Their abundance. Economy of travelling. Politeness of American gentlemen towards the female sex. Rights of women. In what they consist. Extent to which recognised. The influence of the female sex on society at large. Uncharitable representations of both men and manners in America, by European Tourists. Prevailing hospitality. General politeness and urbanity of American gentlemen.

As you see in America no nobles and civil officers gorgeously arrayed, lounging in splendid carriages and luxuriating in their wealth, the result of enormous incomes from the State,-so there are no Lord Mayor's Shows, with their gew-gaw trappings, mocking the misery of perambulating beggars; nor evidences of pinching want and squalid misery within-doors; no palaces or habitations in which an ordinary family is lost, and hovels too small for human endurance.

Property is not accumulated in a few hands, and political power confined to certain privileged orders; nor do the middle and higher ranks enjoy, in the fruits of wealth, exuberance and luxury, while large sections of the population are either entirely destitute of the means of subsistence, or earn them by unrequited toil and degradation. And the opposite ingredients in her social and political state are not only the source of the social welfare of America, but the basis on which her political institutions rest. While living is on the whole cheaper than in England, rates and taxes so inconsiderable, and wages high, among American workmen in general there is no degrading penury,-no hereditary inferiority of class. An American artisan, as well as labourer, is a superior being to one of the same class in Europe: he is not only in better circumstances as to food, but in a better position generally, having the prospect of that advancement, as the reward of industry, to which all aspire. A kind of caste exists in England, in consequence of which a labourer or artisan can scarcely ever hope to rise to the rank of a master. Even the

poorest and most intractable of the native Irish, on arriving in this country, sets to work vigorously, and strains every nerve, as if to falsify the low estimate put upon his qualities. He appears as if determined to be avenged upon fortune herself, by showing that he can dispense with her favours.

All through America (the slave states excepted), there is, as already intimated, an absence of that visible wretchedness and degradation to be everywhere seen mingled with the wealth and splendour of European cities. The whole mass of the working classes are better dressed, and appear more cleanly in their persons and attire; conveying the impression to an Englishman that England is the workshop, and America the place where its manufactures and fabrics are consumed. As far as the necessaries of life, and even material comforts are concerned, even the backwoodsman is in circumstances of comfort amidst the affluent solitudes of nature. The assimilation of rich and poor, or of the higher and lower classes of America, is also apparent with regard to the conveniences and comforts of life,as to houses, furniture, gardens, &c. And these remarks apply with still greater truth to personal acquirements. Having mostly to live by their own exertion, and debarred from expensive pleasures, the lower classes are induced to improve themselves with unremitting assiduity; and for this they possess the most ample opportunities.

În a word, America is a country in which every human being is profitably employed, his energies stimulated by requited labour; where every branch of industry is flourishing, and where every industrious man may be prosperous and happy. Everywhere are heard, in her cities and remotest villages, the joyful sounds of enterprising industry, the ringing music of the workman's tools and the anvil, and the ceaseless hurry of commercial occupation.

As has been already intimated, travelling and boarding are nearly as cheap again as in England; and almost all kinds of food are abundant, and obtained on very reasonable terms, although luxuries are dear. In journeying from New York to Philadelphia by water, as also in returning, including 30 miles. of land carriage, the charge is 18s., including breakfast and dinner, the whole distance being 90 miles: and this is the usual rate also on the Hudson towards Albany, and throughout the Middle States. The distance from Boston to Albany is 200 miles, accomplished in eight hours; the charge five dollars. A

passage may be obtained by a packet boat from New York to Utica, a distance of 80 miles, for three dollars, being at the rate of 2d. per mile, including board. Breakfast and dinner generally on board the steam boats are 2s. 6d., and the table is supplied with everything that a moderate appetite can require. family could reside permanently on board of one of the most magnificent of the river steamers, with a separate cabin, and every luxury of living, including a voyage of 150 miles, for 10s. each per diem.

A

It is said that a tourist could occupy a couple of months upon the double journey between the United States and England,visit every State of the Union from Niagara to New Orleans, and live in comfort during his whole journey,—for a smaller sum of money than it would cost him to obtain the same amount of comfort during a two months' tour of the British Isles; and that, although the fare for the steamer, backwards and forwards between England and the States, is £30 each way, thus including the whole transatlantic voyage.

It is even stated that a traveller in the States, residing for two consecutive months in one of their principal cities, would be better provisioned and lodged for £100 sterling than he would in England for £300; and, notwithstanding all the republican bluntness and equality, be treated with far more consideration and respect.

Railway travelling is also much cheaper than in England, although wages are so high, and the rate of interest on loans is so exorbitant. The fare from Montreal to New York, 410 miles, by express, is only 16s. 8d. From New York to Boston, 336 miles, the fare is five dollars, and the rate of travelling 25 miles an hour, en route through New Haven, Hertford, Springfield, Worcester, and the State of Connecticut, passing along the valley of the Connecticut river. From London to Edinburgh, about the same distance, it is twice that sum in the second class. Travelling here by rail, however, is less pleasant than in England, as in parts of the country where coals are used, the passengers are liable, by defect of arrangement, to inhale the smoke, loaded with sulphurated hydrogen, proceeding from the pyritical coal in the furnace, and urged upon them by the wind.

Manners and customs are made to depend so much upon the arbitrary opinions and fashions of a particular country, that no particular standard exists by which to regulate them. A peculiar style of manners, indeed, may pass current in one country, but