MR HAMILTON ON THE PROSPECTS OF THE UNION. 297 



physical power ; reason, justice, and helplessness on the other. 

 The weapons of this fearful contest are already forged ; the 

 hands will soon be born that are to wield them. At all events, 

 let no man appeal to the stability of the American government 

 as being established by experience, till this trial has been 

 overpast. Forty years are no time to test the permanence, or, 

 if I may so speak, the vitality of a constitution, the immediate 

 advantages of which are strongly felt, and the evils latent and 

 comparatively remote.&quot; 



On re-perusing the quoted paragraphs, the love of cham 

 pagne and brandy was conspicuous in the second one, and the 

 whole of them seemed like a maudlin dream, in which truth 

 and probability were altogether wanting, told in strains admi 

 rably fitted to delight the ear and obscure the understanding 

 of the reader. To me, who bad made an extensive tour in 

 the territory of the United States, and from all I had seen 

 personally, and learned from the best sources of information, 

 concluded that nine-tenths of the surface are still unemployed 

 in the production of human sustenance, the idea of an agra 

 rian law was ludicrous in the extreme. Whether there is 

 such a society as &quot; The Workies&quot; and my after enquiries 

 while at New York rendered the point doubtful, did not seem 

 to affect the matter, as the only legitimate inference that could 

 reasonably be deduced from the sentiments which Mr Hamil 

 ton has imputed to its members, is, that America does not 

 exempt humanity from aberrations of mind. This seems to 

 be admitted in the third paragraph, where it is stated, &quot; all 

 this is undoubtedly nonsense,&quot; yet the dream which is con 

 fessedly founded on man s infirmity, has been received by a 

 portion of the British public as infallible wisdom. The quo 

 tations being founded on &quot; nonsense,&quot; do not admit of criti 

 cism. An ordinary mind, however, cannot fail of observing 

 that in almost every paragraph, the author raises up and de 

 molishes a fantasy, and turns from one position to another, 

 like fevered excitement tossing on an uneasy couch. 



The following quotations from &quot; Men and Manners in 

 America&quot; are of a different tenor from the preceding ones. 

 &quot; It is the fashion to call the United States the land of liberty 

 and equality. If the equality be understood simply as im~ 



