circumstances to reflect upon the
condition of this country, he was, he tells us, driven to the conclusion
that we are a declining people, destined in no short period to exhibit
to mankind a fearful spectacle of misery and ruin. Some persons have
thought, that the many manifestations of material wealth and power which
must have presented themselves to the eyes and mind of M. Ledru Rollin,
even on the most casual observation, should have induced him in his
character of philosoper to hesitate in deciding so hastily, and with
such emphasis, that our destruction is imminent. But in our opinion
there are events of everyday occurrence connected with our social habits
and customs--events which from their frequency cease to excite our
attention--which should be deemed still more important and significant,
and which to one really deserving the name of a philosopher would appear
more powerful guarantees for the future happiness of a people among whom
they occur than any afforded by mere proofs of great wealth, power, or
skill. It is much the fashion with those who delight to deal in doleful
vaticinations as to the future destiny of England, to dwell with great
emphasis upon the amazing diversity of conditions to be seen here--to
exaggerate the suffering of the millions of our poor, and to place them
in a sort of rhetorical contrast with the extravagant wealth of a
favored few. But there is still something in the mutual relations of all
classes of society in this country that proves a healthy condition to
exist in our body politic, that shows that we are really brethren, and
that whether interest or kind sympathies govern us we are still one
people--with great differences of opinion among us indeed, openly
expressed by all, but still with a feeling prevalent in all classes of
the community that we form one people, and that we are, from the most
powerful to the most weak, bound together by ties of great regard as
well as national brotherhood."

* * * * *

THE LATE CATASTROPHE ON LAKE ERIE.--Our whole country has been once more
shocked by an appalling and unnecessary loss of life, from the burning
of the steamer Griffith. We use the expression, _unnecessary loss of
life_, not from any hasty impulse, or undue excitement, but in view of
the evident and undeniable fact, that two hundred and fifty human beings
have been sacrificed for a culpable neglect on the part of the
proprietors of the steamer to fu