l
to a century in the old continent. Now, you may pass through a wild
forest, where the elk browses and the panther howls; in ten years, that
very forest, with its denizens, will, most likely, have disappeared, and
in their place you will find towns with thousands of inhabitants; with
arts, manufactures, and machinery, all in full activity.

In reviewing America, we must look upon it as showing the development of
the English character under a new aspect, arising from a new state of
things. If I were to draw a comparison between the English and the
Americans, I should say that there is almost as much difference between
the two nations at this present time, as there has long been between the
English and the Dutch. The latter are considered by us as phlegmatic
and slow; and we may be considered the same, compared with our energetic
descendants. Time to an American is everything, [Note 2] and space he
attempts to reduce to a mere nothing. By the steamboats, rail-roads,
and the wonderful facilities of water-carriage, a journey of five
hundred miles is as little considered in America, as would be here a
journey from London to Brighton. "_Go ahead_" is the real motto of the
country; and every man does push on, to gain in advance of his
neighbour. The American lives twice as long as others; for he does
twice the work during the time that he lives. He begins life sooner: at
fifteen he is considered a man, plunges into the stream of enterprise,
floats and struggles with his fellows. In every trifle an American
shows the value he puts upon time. He rises early, eats his meals with
the rapidity of a wolf, and is the whole day at his business. If he be
a merchant, his money, whatever it may amount to, is seldom invested; it
is all floating--his accumulations remain active; and when he dies, his
wealth has to be collected from the four quarters of the globe.

Now, all this energy and activity is of English origin; and were England
expanded into America, the same results would be produced. To a certain
degree, the English, were in former times, what the Americans are now;
and this it is which has raised our country so high in the scale of
nations; but since we have become so closely packed--so crowded, that
there is hardly room for the population, our activity has been
proportionably cramped and subdued. But, in this vast and favoured
country, the very associations and impressions of childhood foster and
enlighten the in