tellect and precociously rouse the energies. The wide
expanse of territory already occupied--the vast and magnificent rivers--
the boundless regions yet remaining to be peopled--the rapidity of
communication--the dispatch with which everything is effected, are
evident almost to the child. To those who have rivers many thousand
miles in length, the passage across the Atlantic (of 3,500 miles)
appears but a trifle; and the American ladies talk of spending the
winter at Paris with as much indifference as one of our landed
proprietors would, of going up to London for the season.

We must always bear in mind the peculiar and wonderful advantages of
_country_, when we examine America and its form of government; for the
country has had more to do with upholding this democracy than people
might at first imagine. Among the advantages of democracy, the greatest
is, perhaps, that _all start fair_; and the boy who holds the
traveller's horse, as Van Buren is said to have done, may become the
president of the United States. But it is the _country_, and not the
government; which has been productive of such rapid strides as have been
made by America. Indeed it is a query whether the form of government
would have existed down to this day, had it not been for the advantages
derived from the vast extent and boundless resources of the territory in
which it was established. Let the American direct his career to any
goal he pleases, his energies are unshackled; and, in the race, the best
man must win. There is room for all, and millions more. Let him choose
his profession--his career is not checked or foiled by the excess of
those who have already embarked in it. In every department there is an
opening for talent; and for those inclined to work, work is always to be
procured. You have no complaint in this country, that every profession
is so full that it is impossible to know what to do with your children.
There is a vast field, and all may receive the reward due for their
labour.

In a country where the ambition and energies of man have been roused to
such an extent, the great point is to find out worthy incitements for
ambition to feed upon. A virtue undirected into a wrong channel may, by
circumstances, prove little better than (even if it does not sink down
into) actual vice. Hence it is that a democratic form of government is
productive of such demoralising effects. Its rewards are few. Honours
of every description, whic