y, they pass over
in the dawn, and are still before us, casting their shadows to our feet
as guides into the dazzling future. Pre-eminent among them is the Book
which never had any retrospective character in it. It never sanctioned
physical force, pride of ancestry, of valour, of influence, or any other
pride. It never sanctioned arbitrary division of ranks. It never lauded
the virtues of feudalism in their disconnection with other virtues; it
never spared the faults of feudalism, on the ground of their being the
necessary product of feudal circumstances; neither does it now laud and
tolerate the virtues and vices developed by democracy. This guide has
never yet taken up its rest. It is in advance of all existing
democracies, as it ever was of all despotisms. The fact is, that, while
all manifestations of eminent intellectual and moral force have an
imperishable quality, this supreme book has not only an immortal
freshness, but bears no relation to time:--to it "one day is as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."

What are the prevalent virtues and faults which are to be looked for in
the future,--or in those countries which represent somewhat of the
future, as others afford a weakened image of the past? What allowance is
the traveller in America to make? Almost precisely the reverse of what
he would make in Russia.

In-door luxury has succeeded to out-door sports: the mechanical arts
flourish from the elevation of the lower classes, and prowess is gone
out of fashion. The consequence of this is that the traveller sees
ostentation of personal luxury instead of retinue. In the course of
transition to the time when merit will constitute the highest claim to
rank, wealth succeeds to birth: but even already, the claims of wealth
give way before those of intellect. The popular author has more
observance than the millionaire in the United States. This is
honourable, and yields promise of a still better graduation of ranks.
Where moral force is recognized as the moving power of society, it seems
to follow that the condition of Woman must be elevated; that new
pursuits will be opened to her, and a wider and stronger discipline be
afforded to her powers. It is not so in America; but this is owing to
the interference of other circumstances with the full operation of
democratic principles. The absence of an aristocratic or a sovereign
will impels men to find some other will on which to repose their
individual weakn