APPENDIX. 465 



:o 3cc;uire fatn?, by devoting thcmfelves to poetry and the tBsthematics. 

 It is the mark and the effeft of fuperior informatioa in human affairs, that 

 their philofophers have laifed their views to hioher objrftb, an;i arc moli 

 of all devoted to the purfuits and improvements which have ihe welfare, 

 the improvement, and the pr'ofperity of their country for their more im- 

 mediate ubjeft ; And whenever thefe arecarried to their proper nerfcclion, 

 all that is really u'edil and T^roperly ornamental, will fucceed of courfcj 

 We rejeft. therefore, the abbe's idea of men of ^e.iius ; and are (■:>rry 

 that he did not know, that the mod fublime work of the human mind, is 

 to improve the civil and mora] ftate of the people, and to render a whole 

 nation more improved, happv, and piofperous. With men of this kind 

 of genius. America every where abounds : And fuch kind of phiHfopherj 

 are infniitelv more ufeful to us, than a few eminent poets aad mathcmati« 

 cians are, or ever cpm be. 



It is n<it therefore degradafion, but a hi^h ftate of improvement, that the 

 men of Europe have acquired in America ; And this improvemen' does 

 hot confill in aiiainments merely fpeculative or orjiarKental ; but in thofc 

 civil, moral, w,id economical virtues tha"; render a country happy, profper- 

 ous and highly floiirlftr"nn;. But vithour enirTieratingeve''y article that be- 

 longs to this fubjcft, the geniral eff:li will be fuScient fairly tojjletermins 

 whell^r this has been the cafe or not. 



In the >ear 1788, the former Britifh provinces were declared by the Eu- 

 ropean powers to be free, fovereign. independent Hates. Since that period 

 the number of inhabitants in the United States has more than doubled. 

 The fame ha5U'eri the cafe with the number and extent of our fettled 

 towus. Our agriculture, in iti produce and cff.'^fti, has iiicreafcd in a fiill 

 higher ratio. Our commerce has fprcad over the globe ; and from the re- 

 duced ftaie of priuaiion and poverty in which our independence found our 

 commerce and finances, in the courle of twenty three years we are becom'? 

 more commercial than any nation in Europe, Great Britain alone except- 

 ed. Our manufactures are carried into alinoft every village and family ; 

 and are in a ftate of ra.id improvement and increafe. An uninterrupted 

 peace has ilmoft univcrrally prevailed in cvzry part of the country ; and a 

 very extenfive. ric'n, and valuable addition has been mride to our territory, 

 The'e arquifitions have been the refult, not of war, dcftruftion, and con- 

 queft, bui of coliiv^ition and the arts of peace. Daring this period, fiercs 

 and repeated attacks have been made on thofe parts of the locial lyftem, 

 wher€ Europe has fuppofed we were the moft weak and vulnerable. Be- 

 lieving that ihe fvftrm of popular elcftion and reprefentalion was naturall,y 

 produftive of faftion and corruption, there have been tliofe in every ftate 

 who have i-mpioyi'd all the arts of mifreprefentation ar.d intrigue to agi« 

 tate and divide the people, and abafe and oppofe the government. But 

 all the 2eal, noife, and ravings of laftion, have not availed to deftroy, ma- 

 terially to alter, or to weaken the government of any one of the American 

 ftates ; or the federal conftitution, which is defigned to embrace and pre- 

 ferve them a!!. Attached 'o their counlrv, the people every where adhere 

 to their republican principles, union, and government, under which they 

 have enjoyed unit;itfrrap"ed peace, profperity, and improvement. Such 

 has been the refuU and elFedl of the republican and political experiment, iri 

 the United States, during the v^hole period of their national cxHtence. 



Europe, if will be allowed, is that part of the globe in which the im«- 

 provement of man and of fociety has been carried to the greatcft degree of 

 pcrfeftion, that has appeared in the eaftern hemifphere. Her (yftem of 

 government is ancient, fully eftablifned, and perfcftly well underllood b'/ 

 the experience and praftice of many ccatuncs ; and that goveriiiaent is ai-' 



