Kneel on the grass
That fringed its side,

And made its tide

Her looking-glass.

And when the man of God

From Egypt led his flock, They thirsted, and his rod Smote the Arabian rock,

And forth a still

Of water gushed,

And on they rushed,

And drank their fill.

Would Eden thus have smil'd
Had wine to Eden come?
Would Horeb's parching wild
Have been refreshed with rum?

And had Eve's hair

Been dressed in gin,

Would she have been

Reflected fair?

Had Moses built a still

And dealt out to that host,

To every man his gill,

And pledged him in a toast,
How large a band

Of Israel's sons

Had laid their bones

In Canaan's land?

'Sweet fields, beyond Death's flood,
• Stand dressed in living green,'
For, from the throne of God,

To freshen all the scene,

A river rolls,

Where all who will

May come and fill

Their crystal bowls.

If Eden's strength and bloom
Cold water thus hath given-

If, e'en beyond the tomb,

It is the drink of heaven-
Are not good wells,
And crystal springs,
The very things

For our hotels ?"

As I shall return to the subject of intemperance in my examination of society, I shall conclude this chapter with an extract from Miss Martineau, whose work is a strange compound of the false and the true:-" My own convictions are, that associations, excellent as they are for mechanical objects, are not fit instruments for the achievement of moral aims; that there has been no proof that the principle

of self-restraint has been exalted and strengthened in the United States by the Temperance movement, while the already too great regard to opinion, and subservience to spiritual encroachment, have been much increased; and, therefore, great as may be the visible benefits of the institution, it may at length appear that they have been dearly purchased."

192

LAW.

THE lawyers are the real aristocracy of America; they comprehend nearly the whole of the gentility, talent, and liberal information of the Union. Any one who has had the pleasure of being at one of their meetings, such as the Kent Club at New York, would be satisfied that there is no want of gentlemen with enlightened, liberal ideas in the United States; but it is to the law, the navy, and the army, that you must chiefly look for this class of people. Such must ever be the case in a democracy, where the mass are to be led; the knowledge of the laws of the country, and the habit of public speaking, being essential to those who would preside at the helm or assist in the evolutions: the consequence has been, that in every era of the Union, the lawyers have always been the most promi

nent actors; and it may be added that they ever will play the most distinguished parts. Clay and Webster of the present day are, and all the leading men of the former generation were, lawyers. Their Presidents have almost all been lawyers, and any deviation from this custom has been attended with evil results;. witness the elevation of General Jackson to the presidency, and the heavy price which the Americans have paid for their phantom glory. The names of Judge Marshall and of Chancellor Kent are well known in this country, and most deservedly so indeed, I am informed it has latterly been the custom in our own law courts, to cite as cases the decisions of many of the superior American judges-a just tribute to their discrimination and their worth.

The general arrangement of that part of the American constitution relating to the judicature is extremely good, perhaps the best of all their legislative arrangements, yet it contains some great errors; one of which is, that of dis