REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 83 



was chiefly with the ruling class; but here again 

 their ideas penetrated to the lower social strata, 

 especially through the clergy, and confirmed the 

 impression that the Americans were an anarchic, 

 godless, brutal crew. In many cases the deter 

 rent effect of such impression was welcomed by 

 authorities of church and state whose charges 

 sought to escape the misery of recurrent agri 

 cultural distress by emigration. Piety and 

 patriotism both required that the emigrant 

 should seek a home on British rather than 

 American soil should turn to the Canadas and 

 avoid the United States. 



After the accession of the Whigs to power, 

 and while their reforms were in progress, British 

 literary judgments about America began to 

 reflect a less hostile spirit. Travellers reported 

 more that was tolerable in the working of 

 democratic customs and institutions, while the 

 reviews conceded the existence of a rudimen 

 tary literature in the writings of Irving, Bryant, 

 Cooper, Simms, and a few others. Harriet 

 Martineau s descriptions and estimates of social 

 and intellectual tendencies, while none too 

 flattering, differed much in sympathy and ac 

 curacy from most that had preceded. Tocque- 

 ville s profound study, appearing in 1835 and 



