CHAPTER VIII. A WORD AT PARTING. WRITERS ON AMERICA, AND THE NATURE OF THEIR WRITINGS -THE COMIC VERSUS THE SERIOUS POLITICS AND THEIR PREVALENCE-SHAKSPEARE'S VALUE OF PUBLIC OPINIONTHE RESPECTIVE MERITS OF GENERAL SCOTT, DANIEL WEBSTER, AND GENERAL PIERCE-A PRESIDENT'S "TURN OUT," A NEW RAILROAD INTRODUCED BY THE AFRICAN SLAVE -CAVALIERS OF THE SOUTH AND PURITANS OF THE NORTH AN ENGLISH JUDGE -- AN AMERICAN BARRISTER AND PREVALENT PRINCIPLES OF BOSTON -HUMOUR OF HALI BURTON-PROVISIONS AND THE PRICE OF THEM-A FAMOUS FAMILY RECEIPT-JONATHAN'S OPINION OF TRAFALGAR AND WATERLOO-THE REPUTED SOURCE AND PRESENT EXTENT OF SWAGGERING-PIGS, AND A SPEEDY WAY OF DISPOSING OF THEM THE SPIRIT OF INQUIRY, AND WHAT POINT TO CARRY IT TO-AMERICAN MÉFIANCE AND ENGLISH OPENNESS-THE ONLY DIFFERENCE WHICH OUGHT TO BE BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES PEEP AT AMERICA A HUNDRED YEARS HENCE THE ONLY WAY TO VISIT AMERICA-THE DISTANCE TO ACCOMPLISH IT-A CALIFORNIAN-FOUR DRINKS TO ONE DOLLAR-ONE WAY TO VISIT ENGLAND-BOSTON SAUCE AND BOSTON SWEETS-AN INDIAN MEAL-RESPECT IN 1773, and BOUNCE IN 1853-EIGHTY YEARS HAVE DONE WONDERS -MOUNT AUBURN AND OTHER CEMETERIES-PLACES FOR THE LIVING TO CRY IN, AND FOR THE DEAD TO LIE INADIEU TO AMERICA-CHANCES OF THE AUTHOR'S RETURNING TRERE. THE reader will be thoroughly convinced, by this time, that the intention with which we entered upon these pages has been fully carried out; that we pretended not to be, nor can we be detected in being, historians of the United States of America, but simply chroniclers of the odd sayings and doings that pass under a traveller's observation in every country he goes through, and in none more plentifully than in the one under discussion. Aware of the existence of such authorities as "Warden's Account of the United States of America," of the writings of Bradbury, Mackenzie, Colden, Hearne, and Adair, of Pike's, M'Iver's, and Major Long's, of Franklin's Journal and Fearon's Travels, of Jefferson's and Halkett's Notes, and Playfare's Outlines, of James's Expedition, and Hunter's Memoirs of sketches of the North American Indians, and accounts of South American adventure, of various histories of the American war, and sundry disquisitions on the American peace, and, in short, of all minutiæ relating to this colossal country, from the early period of its discovery down to the latest moments of its progression, we say, that with all this collection of matter, and plenty more we have already referred to, so thoroughly descriptive of every spot we have visited (leaving out of the question those places we have not, and those people we have had no opportunity of dwelling amongst) lying before us, we should have looked upon ourselves as denuded of common sense to have attempted a serious work upon a nation so minutely analysed as America has been-or in reality to have attempted anything serious, where there is a prevalence of so much of the comic. There are several points upon which any one visiting our transatlantic neighbours, and venturing to publish what he has witnessed, will be expected to speak out; but upon many of them we are purposely silent. We are no politicians, but every man in America is one; and to hear him talk, you would think he had nothing else on earth to do, but to regulate the affairs of his country. Could any living writer satisfy, or reconcile the views they take of things, when almost every other man he meets is for ever taking a different view? As their political bias is perpetually undergoing some change, arising out of circumstance much more than principle, it evidently cannot be relied upon, and therefore should never be appealed to. The want of consistency in their political notions is too apparent to entice any one into controversy; and therefore, even if able to sustain it with the utmost fluency of ability, we should prefer not entering upon such dissertation at all. A truer sentence than this one delivered by Caius Martius, could not be applied to a large body of America's politicians : "With every minute you do change a mind, The last President-election savoured strongly of this character. If America ever gave birth to a man whose gigantic mind was capable of directing her affairs, and of guiding the helm of her State, in whatever turbulent sea she might be floundering, Daniel Webster was that man. If America ever possessed a chieftain, whose military genius and whose renown warranted his elevation to the curule chair, General Scott is that chieftain; and yet in the absurd fatality of politics, the merits of the one, and the vast services he had rendered his country, were so lost sight of, that his name was not even put in nomination; and the brilliant career of the other suffered partial eclipse; while an almost obscure gentleman was dug out of the seclusions of New Hampshire, to be the shuttle-cock of his countrymen's political battledoors (something on the same principle that Polk was chosen vice Clay in 1844). General Pierce, beyond a fair share of prowess in the Mexican war, has done nothing to entitle himself to the special favour of his fellowcitizens; yet Webster (broken down by the cares of State, and perhaps broken-hearted by the ingratitude of his countrymen), was buried within a day or two of Pierce's election; while the elevation in military rank proposed to be extended to Scott, by way of atonement for his defeat, has never yet been confirmed by Congress. It does not require the brains of a goose to determine what will be Pierce's eventual position. He has displayed no talentnay, not even common discernment-in the selection of his cabinet, and he appears thus far to have |