ramified forms and interests of society, it is the lous intriguers, and the most active demavery heart and fountain of our life; nor are its effects as such, speculations or theories with us, but facts. We study it in its actual phenomena; we see its practical operations; and whether these be for good or ill, we know that they are at least well-authenticated, tangible, and permanent. A recent census of the United States, moreover, places it in our power to show just what they are, what attainments they have made in every sphere of national progress, and to demonstrate triumphantly, as I am sure, the solidity and the beneficence of popular government. Bide a wee! Major, and you will see that it is not quite so easy to get at the returns which are to do all this without paying something handsome for the information. gogues.-These prizes stand glittering in their eyes, and they feel that they have an equal right to contend for them." A little farther on we are told:-"They engage in a strife for plunder, and they offer to divide the spoils, thus employing the offices of the country, its power, and the control of its treasury as means of corruption at once of fatal tendency and extensive operation." Again,-“There is, perhaps, no subject on which the friends of democratic institutions choose to remain under greater delusion and mystification than that of popular elections,-no remedy having been dis covered for the mischiefs attending them, there seems to be a tacit agreement that silence shall be maintained on the subject, least some degree of discredit should be attached to republicanism." Again,-"Our system of elections Such a demonstration is needed all over Europe, and scarcely less in England than elsewhere. This country has never been adequately represented by travellers and statisticians, who have taken its case into their hands. We find ourselves aspersed rather in many quarters, needless to be mentioned here, by the most unfounded statements, the most illogical inferences. the most damaging insinua- presents exactly the conditions which enable tions, and the most outrageous caricatures. Our unscrupulous and unworthy men, to take the prosperity is often ascribed to any but its true chief control of government into their hands. causes; our errors of a day are set down as per interests of the conntry. That worse results have not followed such events may be owing to the fact, that demagogues have no interest in destroying institutions, the working of which they can turn to their private advantage." manent characteristics; the eccentricities of a It furnishes to such men the very means and part of us are imputed to the whole of us, as che- inducements which enable them effectually to rished principles of conduct; occasional rude-sap public morals, and prey upon the vital nesses of conduct are treated as innate vulgarity; and that devotion to practical ends, which is inevitable in a state of youthful and ruddy prosperity, degraded into a mean, prostrate, and abandoned worship of money. Indeed, could we believe some accounts that are given of us, we should be forced to confess that slavery was our only "institution," and a sharp practice with the bowie-knife our most delectable amusement. Meanwhile, these wilful or bigoted tourists do not see the deeper pulses of life beating beneath the surface, and they say nothing of the nobleness and generosity that may be in our heart, nor of the exalted and blissful destiny that we are, consciously and unconsciously, working out for humanity. Hold hard now, Brother Jonathan, and, before going into figures, let us inquire what has been the influence of democracy on your political, moral, and social condition. In page 53 of "Politics for American Christians," a work published by Lippencott, Grambo, and Company, Philadelphia, Anno Domini, 1852, are these remarkable wordsremarkable, we say, when placed in apposition with your glowing description :-"The power of our vast republic, the patronage of its rulers, offices, salaries, the public treasury and its disbursing agencies, distinction and influence are put up, by our system of government, not to the highest bidder, but to be struggled for by the boldest politicians the most unscrupu Most knowing of Majors! look on this picture and on that, reflect on the convulsion into which Brother Jonathan is thrown every four years, and then judge of the solidity and benificence of popular governments. "Let all this pass, however, and let us try, under better information or motives, to come at a truer picture of the condition and prospect of the American people. "The United States, to begin at the beginning, John, are a league or confederation, of thirty-one separate and independent republics. They cover a territory which extends from the 26th degree of latitude south, to the 47th degree north, and, in the other direction, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. Consequently, they enjey every variety of climate, from the freezing to the torrid temperate regions; they possess every kind of zones, though the greater part of them lie in the valuable soil, capable of the diversified productions of every kind; and they are exposed, on hill-sides and valleys, to all the genial heats of the sun, and to all the fertilizing influences of the gentle summer rains. The public lands, belonging to the central government alone, amount to lions of acres, which, according to the present more than (12,000,000,000) twelve thousand milestimates of the population of the world, is more than an acre a piece for every man, woman, and child on the globe. Adding to this, the land belonging to the separate States, and that in the possession of private individuals, and you have an area of three millions, two hundred and twentyone thousand, five hundred and ninety-five square miles (3,221,000) in extent. Now Great Britain, exclusive of Ireland, contains 84,000 square miles. The extent of the United States is therefore 95 times as great as that of the island of Great Britain. France contains an area of 197,400 square miles a territory less than one-fifteenth the size of that of the United States. Austria, including Hungary and the Italian dependencies, contains but 300,000 square miles. Russia is the only nation which exceeds the United States in extent of territory. She has, including her immense Asiatic possessions, a territory of about 4,000,000 square miles. The whole of Europe contains only 3,807,195 square miles, which exceeds by less than one-fifth, or 545,000 square miles, the territory of the United States. The greater part of these immense tracts is almost spontaneously fertile; wherever you strike in the spade or the plough, the corn springs and waves; mines of iron, more extensive than those of Sweden, and of coal, as inexhaustible as those of England, to say nothing of the gold of California, are deposited in its bowels; rivers, which, with one exccption, are the largest in the world, and inland lakes, like seas, connect and lace its fields; its immeasurable forests stand thick with oak, hickory, locust, fir, and woods of the finest fibre; while the great watery highway of the nations stand ready to roll its products to Europe on the one side, and on the other to India, and the farthest East. "Such is the theatre on which the Americans are called to play their parts, and you see that Providence has placed no physical obstacle, at least, in the way of the freest action. Never, indeed, was a more rich, varied, or magnificent residence prepared for any portion of our race. Europe is ten thousand fold more splendid in the accumulations of art; in grand historical monuments; in the treasures of libraries; in the means and appliances of luxurious living; in the numbers of its people: but in all that nature can do to make a dwelling-place for men, the New World is beautiful and blessed beyond measure. "But who are the actors who are placed in this new theatre ? Are they worthy of the great drama in which their parts are cast? and will they conduct it to a catastrophe or a triumph? That The American people are almost as varied in character as the origins from which they sprung, or the climates under which they live. stereotyped Yankee, in a long-tailed blue coat, and short striped pantaloons, with a nasal twang to his voice, and a prodigious fondness for exaggerated stories; who appears periodically upon your stage, and who furnishes the staple of stale wit to Nova Sectia book-makers, is an amusing fellow enough, and he would be nowhere more amusing and wonderful than in nearly every part of the United States. He is the type of a class unknown to all, save diligent antiquarians, or those who sedulously explore the curiosities of natural • Vide Martin Chuzzlewit's description of Eden.-P.D. No. 3. history. Some remote and scarcely decipherable antetype of him, might be found in the nooks of New England, but at the West and the South, he would seem to every body about as much like an American, as a dodo resembles an eagle, or the hippopotamus a cart-horse. The American, John, with some odd variations here and there-don't start!-is an Englishman, without his caution, his reserve, his fixed habits, his cant, and his stolidity. He has all the independence of the original stock, all the pluck and determination, with more of quick and restless enterprise. At the East, he displays some of the canpiness or cunning of the Scot; at the South, the vivacity, and light graceful air of the Frank, and at the West, the humor of the Irish crossed with German enthusiasm. But everywhere practical energy predominates in his composition. He is facile, changeable, ever open to adventure, taking up a business in the morning which he discards at night, and sleeping in his boots, that he may be ready for a fresh start the next day. Yet if success beckons him to the end of any race, he will persist in it for years, will pursue doggedly for a lifetime what others despise, and if he fails at last, unbroken by care or old age, he will "pick up his traps," and move onward with his children to a new settlement. His weary bones are never laid until he is quite dead, when some successor, indefatigable and elastic as himself, resumes and continues his projects. The house of his prosperity and comfort is always a building and never built. It is no part of his life plan to retire on a plum; he eats his plum as he makes it; then makes and eats it again. In short, then, the American is an inventive, intelligent, driving, and invincible man, with an unexampled adaptability to circumstances." Certainly a modest picture, and not at all overdrawn-what says our other friend, however? does he invest his Yankee brethren with the same attributes? Let us hear him?" We shrink from the use of such terms as would suffice aptly to depict the individual characters of a large majority of the members of the present (1852) Congress, and the legislative character of the whole body.-When we reflect that these men have been chosen by the free suffrages of the citizens of this great, proud, and intelligent nation, we are filled with astonishment, if not dismay, and we exclaim,—If self-respect, if the cause of self-government, if the interests of humanity could not save us this flagrant disgrace, could not the Christians of the country have averted such a calamity.” Complimentary this, Major, and not at all at variance with the character already drawn. There is, however, one drop left to sweeten this bitter cup-there is yet left some good in Yankeedom-some hope for the house of DOODLE. Hark!" There is yet a remnant of good men in Congress, but they are hopelessly overpowered,―their virtue may remain, but favors of Congress are thus constantly strug their courage is withered." Alas, alas! is it gled for by hosts of impassioned suitors utterly even so? Must all our hopes that, Brother regardless of the dignity or reputation of that Jonathan, was not quite so irretrievably body." "Details could be furnished of Conruined, be frustrated? Must we have the congressional shame and degradation which would viction forced on us, that men laugh in deri- far more than justify the language we have sion at the idea of honesty and patriotism as used." But, asks some one, surely a host compatible with legislation,-that there runs of impassioned men on the floor of Congress not in Congress the slightest perceivable cur- are "wearying high heaven" for justice, on rent of morality, or wisdom, or public virtue. behalf of some expectant and deserving clai-Och! Thunder and turf!-Tare and ages! mant, of course they are. Judge gentle no! Must we, can we be expected to believe reader for yourself." Who can tell the num that any member who ventures to speak on a bers of the destitute and suffering who are now measure designed for the public benefit is waiting Congressional justice, without the regarded as "super-serviceable, over-righteous, slightest prospect of suceess? The debts, asand eminently verdant." Must the hard con- sumed by the United States, to the claimants viction be forced on us that the A.D. 1852 upon the French government, now fifty years American has but exchanged the fixed habits, old, are not yet paid-France became indebted cant and stolidity of the Britisher for-worse, to citizens of the United States, in a large sum, -but so it is, according to our friend. "The for merchandise and ships taken by her crui extent to which this moral prostitution has gone, under the shadow of our capitol, can be fully credited only by those who ascertain it on the spot. How many there may be of those Congressional brokers-they deserve a name more descriptive of their calling-it is difficult to tell; they may be numbered by scores or hundreds.* They fill a great variety of grades, from those who procure special legislation for one, two, or three hundred thousand dollars to the humbler police of this hungry pack, whose office it may be to keep members in their seats at the hour of voting, or to keep them away, or to lead them to the gamingtable to win their money, or to lend it; for all which, and manifold otherlike services, they may receive a few dollars daily, and a share of the plunder when a great prize is secured. These men pervade the whole atmosphere of Congress and the capitol, they hunt singly, in pairs, and in whole packs; and when fairly on foot for prey, no hounds in the world are more greedy, more keen of scent, more fleet, or sure of their wind, in pursuit of game, than those which follow at the heels of members of Congress." sers-after a long period the Government of Louis Philippe acknowledged the debt and paid the money into the treasury of the United States, where it remains* through the refusal of Congress to order it to be paid to the rightful owners. Many of our merchants, whose property was thus taken away from them, were ruined by the loss. They passed the remnant of their lives in fruitless applications to the justice of Congress. Their widows and orphans have grown old in poverty and in suffering, whilst continuing these fruitless appli cations." Just one short quotation more and we will leave this flattering picture of inven tive, intelligent men who have divested themselves of the fixed habits and cant of the Britishers:-" The returns of the census of 1850, containing information of the highest importance to the country at large, and of great interest to all the world, lie useless in the office, in which they have long been com pleted, the expense of printing being merely the ostensible cause, the real difficulty being that the two great parties which divide the country, are contending for the spoils of the printing. This printing will be eventually perSo much for the actors who pull the wires- formed in a manner alike disgraceful to the what says our honest friend of the puppets!-art, to the nation, and the subject.—But we how dance they when set in motion?" The may as well pause from the attempt at enumeration, and say there is no assignable limits to the perfidy, to the injustice, to the corrupt We are very far from including in this class, many respectable gentlemen whose knowledge and services are really invaluable to those who have business before Congress. The cleverest of these men are among the sufferers by the state of things we so much deplore. Does it?-P. D., No 4. L practices, to the breaches of trust, and breaches of oaths, and other official and private immoralities which are committed in and about the Congress of the United States. They are such as, if brought to light in equal intensity of iniquity, in any profession, or department of social life, would bring on the perpetrators such a storm of indignation and scorn, as would drive them from society with a reputation, from which the pillory and the penitentiary would alike shrink with loathing and disgust." Now, my dear Major, what are we to believe, —it is from statements, precisely similar to the one we have been quoting from, relating to other countries, that Brother Jonathan adduces his superiority in everything—so, may we not fairly infer, from Messrs Lippencotte and Grambo's pamphlet, that he is not quite such a fine fellow as he imagines himself to be, nor his family quite so orderly or well principled as he imagines. * We can prove from our own books, which have been very well brought up lately by Mr. Smith, that, as far as we are concerned, our balance sheet is a better one than Brother Jonathan's.-Let us compare figures, if but to satisfy you: "Every year adds more than a quarter of a million of the population of the old world to the new. The sedate and prudent Englishman, the impulsive Irishman, the volatile Frenchman, and the plodding German, a rush to our "fresh fields and pastures new;" but they are soon caught up and absorbed by the influences around them, and long before the second generation, they are dashed forward with the prevailing activity. They forget the stale habits of thought, and of manner, which they left behind them, and they soon exhibit as much eagerness, courage and enterprise, as the "oldest inhabitant." Thus, an incessant bustle and tumult comes to characterize our society; a noise of awakening life and busy preparation; of vast industrial hosts going forth to battle with the stormy elements, and stubborn glebe; of a young, hardy, glowing nation, putting in order and embellishing the homes of uncounted millions yet to come. In comparison with this universal mobility, the slow advances of Europe seem like the decrepit and tottering steps of an old man, whose life, rich though it be, is hidden in the dim past; while we are the supple and smart youth, radiant with the flushes of undisci plined vigor, and rushing impulsively on to a future filled with images of increasing splendor and power. The most favored portions of Europe grow only at the rate of 14 per cent. per annum, Population. 23,138,004 46,276,008 92,552,016 five years, which is less than the actual rate of "Supposing population to double every twentyincrease. Thus, you find, that the child is living who will see one hundred millions of brother freemen on this side of the Atlantic." Just one moment, Major,out of the "one hundred millions of brother freemen," how many will there be, do you suppose, who, because they are not quite so white as Brother Jonathan, will be, not brother freemen, but chattels. "Well, having before you the scene and the actors-an open, broad theatre, and a free, ener getic people in the possession of it-the next point, that interests us, is how the play is going forward. We are democrats, operating unob an almost unlimited space to operate in-what, structedly under mere democratic impulses, with thus far, are the results?" Here again, Major, we will, before going into Brother Jonathan's results, submit for your inspection a few statements respecting ourselves, and, for the sake of securing all possible exactness, we will take Mr. Smith's figures as quoted by Mr. Lillie. We will just put aside Jonathan's result of figures for a few moments:: lations agree) and 1834, a rise takes place from "Between 1824 (from which period the calcu 151,097 to 320,693; which is doubling in ten years, with 18,499 over. The next fourteen years bring us up from 320,693 to 791,000-the return for 1850. Within the brief space of a 151,097 to 791,000; which gives us at the close quarter of a century there is an advance from of that period over five times our population at its beginning-more than ten times our popula tion in 1811, or according to Smith, close upon ten times that of 1806. from 423,630 to 791,000; the same number with "Lower Canada during the same time, rose the Upper Province; being an increase of nearly 90 per cent. · increased from 60,000 to 1,582,000 in 90 years. Taking Canada as a whole its population has Hence in 1850 it was over 26 times what it was in 1760; more considerably than 24 times what it was in 1815, when it numbered 581,657. What "availeth" it, some of us peevishly exclaim, that we are growing at a rate which cannot be denied to be rapid, so long as our neighbors on the other side of the Line are so far outstripping us? How far do you con ceive are they outstripping us? Let us look at the facts, however terrible they may prove to be. Wise men hold it well in very bad cases to know the worst. Compare we then Upper Canada, first with the Free States of the Union, then with the State of New York, and lastly with Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois conjoined; and see what the result will be. According to the American Almanac for 1851, page 212, and "The World's Progress" (a "Dictionary of Dates" published by Putnam of New York in 1851) page 481, the free population of the United States, was, in 1800, 5,305,925. The latter work, (Appendix. p. 704) states it to amount to 20,250,000 in 1851, In 1810 it was 7,239,814, (page 481. "Thus it is in 1850 about (not quite) four times what it was at the commencement of the century; while Upper Canada contains, as we have seen, over ten times the population it posséssed in 1811; or, at the lowest calculation, ten times its amonnt in 1806. The slow growth therefore turns out to be a rate of progress not much under thrice that of our neighbors who are supposed to be moving ahead of us so fast. Slow growth this of rather an anomalous description. Taking the ten years between 1840 and 1850, the difference is less though during that time we have advanced at a rate fully twice that of the Free States, whose increase has been 45 per cent. (that of the whole states being 334; World's Progress, p. 704), while ours has been 94 or 95 per cent. rison fair for the West; and secondly, because our statistics enable us to take in a longer period than we could have done in the case of some other states which we should else have been disposed to include. "Availing ourselves once more of the aid of our old friend "The World's Progress," we ascertain the united population of these three states to have been in 1810, 247,570-namely, Ohio, 230,760; Michigan, 4,528; and Illinois, 12,282. They stand as follows in 1850-Ohio, 2,200,000; Michigan, 305,000; and Illinois, 1,000,000: in all 3,505,006, or fourteen one-sixth times their num bers, forty years before. This assuredly is a splendid increase; enough, and more than enough to justify the most glowing of the descriptions we hear of what the West is to become." How will poor Canada West stand in comparison now? Let us see. "As already observed the Board of Registration and statistics gives the population of Upper Canada as 77,000 in 1811. Between that and 1850, when it is set down at 791,000, there intervenes a period of 39 years, within which we have an advance of close upon thirteen times (twelve six-sevenths) to set over against fourteen one-sixth times in 40 years. Does not this bring them suf ficiently near to prevent their despising one another; to make them regard one another with respect and interest? Here, it will be observed, the statement of the Board of Registration is followed. Should it it be objected that Mr. Smith makes the numbers larger in the earlier period, being unwilling to "In Lower Canada the increase for the thir- question the accuracy of that gentleman, who has teen years between 1831 and 1844 was nearly evidently taken great pains to inform himself, and 35 per cent.-to wit, 34.94 (Scobie's Almanac produced a work eminently reliable-thereby lay1850, p. 53.) An increase of 50 per cent. hasing the community under an obligation, of which, taken place within the last seven years in the county of Quebec; which has advanced from 12,800 to 19,074 in 1851. "Let us turn now to the State of New York, one of the best in the Union. That State contained in 959,000 Inhabitants. 1,372,812 2,428,921 3,200,000 do. do. do. [World's Progress, pp. 448, 704.] "In 1850 its population is thus 3 times (a trifle over) what it was forty years before, that of Upper Canada being in the same year close upon 8 times what Smith makes it in 1814; or over ten times its amount in 1811, as stated by the Board of Registration. It is, however, towards the west the tide is flowing, let us pass with it and mark the results. trust, they will show their appreciation in the proper way;-I know only one satisfactory method of disposing of the difficulty, namely, to take as the basis of comparison a period at which the representations substantially coincide. "For 1810 then let us substitute 1830, which will allow twenty years for development and comparison. In that year Ohio, Michigan and Illinois contained in all 1,126,851 inhabitants: Ohio numbering 937,637; Michigan 31,639. and Illinois 157,575. Hence the number in 1850 (3,505,000) was three and one-fifth or one-sixth times that of 1830. Canada West contained in 1830, 210,437. Twenty years after, namely in 1850 (1849, Smith) it numbers as we have seen, 791,000-over three and three-fourth times what it did in the former year; which makes the scale descend handsomely in our favor. Thus it turns out that Canada West is advancing at a rate fully equal to that of the best of the Western States. For the purpose of comparison we have chosen the States of Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois combined, chiefly for these two reasons; These comparisons, triumphantly as it has first, because they have been, we believe, come out of them, can hardly be denied to among the most rapid in their growth-suffi- be unfair to Upper Canada, or at all events ciently rapid at all events to make the compa-to stretch fairness to its utmost limit; because |