402 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



others ; and the indications of the times strongly show that this 

 use of wealth is becoming as necessary to its security as it is 

 conducive to its true enjoyment. 



I must add again, that the parks of London, including Ken 

 sington Gardens, for extent and beauty, are nowhere surpassed : 

 and the neatness and order in which the grounds and walks are 

 kept, is, in the highest degree, exemplary. The government 

 likewise have opened a new park of large extent, Victoria Park, 

 in a part of London where the poorest inhabitants reside, for 

 their health and recreation, and are fast progressing in its em 

 bellishment and improvement. They have other plans for pro 

 viding public grounds for the inhabitants, which are as creditable 

 to the liberal views of the government, as they are serviceable 

 to the health, and, I will add, to the moral improvement of the 

 population. 



But what are we to say in the United States, where, in a 

 country in which the rapid acquisitions of wealth almost realize 

 the fables of romance, and where old cities are becoming crowded, 

 and cities and towns are fast multiplying, to be filled with the 

 children of industry and toil, there is very little or no provision 

 of this kind for the public health and recreation, or for the im 

 provement of the public taste and education by ornamental and 

 embellished gardens and grounds ? This seems to me a cardinal 

 omission ; and it is not a little humiliating, that while, under 

 monarchical and despotic governments, the most liberal provision 

 is made for these objects, and the freest liberty accorded, yet in 

 a republican country, where the people have all the power in 

 their own hands, they will do nothing for themselves. It re 

 quires no great sagacity to foresee, that, with our rapidly increas 

 ing population, this improvidence to use no stronger term will 

 be to be deeply deplored, and when those who come after us 

 will learn how much more easy it would have been to prevent 

 than to cure an evil or supply an omission. 



This subject is one of great importance, and especially in a 

 country where institutions are in the progress of formation, 

 which are to affect the destinies of unborn millions ; and where 

 no childish and slavish reverence for antiquity prevents the 

 most independent inquiry into what is just, what is expedient, 

 and what is useful. Too much pains cannot be taken, too 

 much attention cannot be given, and scarcely too much expense 



