genuously with you, I
believe I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made on the
vanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled towards the north
before I visited France.

The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a rising
people has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of the
enthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of the
depravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the nation;
yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than during the two
last years by the common people of France, and in their armies? I am
obliged sometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I have
either witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the account of
horrors, alas! but too true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe that
the gross vices which I have always seem allied with simplicity of
manners, are the concomitants of ignorance.

What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system,
been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of reason?
And could poor reason make considerable advances when it was reckoned the
highest degree of virtue to do violence to its dictates? Lutherans,
preaching reformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the same
foundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regular
attendance on public worship, and their other observances, make them a
whit more true in their affections, or honest in their private
transactions. It seems, indeed, quite as easy to prevaricate with
religious injunctions as human laws, when the exercise of their reason
does not lead people to acquire principles for themselves to be the
criterion of all those they receive from others.

If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to be
adopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visited
before the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements even
of the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the various
shades in different countries. But, when visiting distant climes, a
momentary social sympathy should not be allowed to influence the
conclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently leads
travellers, especially those who travel in search of pleasure, to make a
false estimate of the virtues of a nation, which, I am now convinced,
bear an exact proportion to their scientific improvements.

Adieu.

L