GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 291 



water they should send forth the delicious juices of the grape, 

 though perhaps, to suit the English taste, it should be ale or 

 beer, or what is vulgarly called &quot; half and half,&quot; for that is the 

 Englishman s nectar, and that men should have only to drink jt 

 in at pleasure, or, in common parlance, to enjoy themselves ? I 

 think not. I believe Heaven could send no greater curse than 

 to exempt mankind from all necessity of labor. 



If we look at the condition of the inhabitants of tropical coun 

 tries, where the richest fruits of the earth grow spontaneously, 

 where clothing and shelter are scarcely required, and where men 

 are exempted from the necessity of labor, we shall find them 

 sunk in sensuality, abandoned to animal indulgences, and in 

 intellectual and moral condition at the lowest scale. If we com 

 pare them with the inhabitants of temperate regions, the dis 

 parity will be seen to be great, but vastly in favor of the latter. 

 The intellect is sharpened, as well as the muscular vigor in 

 creased, in proportion to the difficulties with which it has to 

 struggle, and the labor by which it is taxed, provided that la 

 bor is not excessive and unnatural. Though there may be a 

 severity of toil wholly discouraging, and difficulties which are 

 perfectly hopeless and insurmountable, which cases we must of 

 course except, yet, in point of actual enjoyment, there cannot be 

 a doubt on which side the advantage lies ; and that the neces 

 sity of exertion, and every wholesome stimulus to useful and 

 honest labor, is a blessing from Heaven. 



The condition of the Irish peasantry likewise strongly illus 

 trates and confirms these truths. Nothing can exceed the 

 destitution and wretchedness in which millions of these people 

 live. I have been into many of their cabins, and have seen 

 the habitations of thousands and thousands of these miserable 

 people ; and, in regard to external accommodations, I can scarcely 

 think that there is upon earth a lower condition of human 

 existence. Certainly the wigwam of an American savage may 

 often be regarded with envy for its comforts, compared with 

 many an Irish cabin. I have been into those which were mere 

 holes dug into the side of a peat bog, and have put my hand 

 upon the wet and velvety walls, that I might be certain my 

 senses did not deceive me. In these caves, covered with sticks, 

 and straw, and sods ; without chimney, window, or floor ; with a 

 fire of turf slowly burning upon the ground and filling the place 



