LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR DAUBENY. 175 



you fourteen years ago at New Haven, and to be intro- 

 duced to the other members of your family who accom- 

 panied you. 



Events have tended, I think, to draw together more 

 closely than ever the bonds of union between our transat- 

 lantic brethren and ourselves. A little time ago, it might 

 have been doubted, whether, notwithstanding our common 

 origin, manners, and language, the aristocratical element 

 which holds a place in our constitution did not interpose a 

 broader line of demarcation between us than existed in the 

 case of those continental nations amongst whom democracy 

 seemed then to have established itself. 



The changes, however, that have just occurred in France, 

 induce us to place but little dependence on the continuance 

 of liberal institutions anywhere on the European Continent, 

 and make one fear that freedom will shortly be able to 

 raise its head nowhere except amongst the Anglo-Saxon 

 race. Indeed, the false security in which our nation indulges 

 in the face of an army of 500,000 men, within sight of 

 our shores, under an unscrupulous leader, makes one feel 

 some diffidence as to what may be our own fate hereafter, 

 whilst as to Belgium and Piedmont the prospect is even 

 darker 



FROM PROFESSOR DAUBENY. 



May 3, 1852. 



.... THE Oxford Commissioners have just delivered in 

 their report, and it is ordered to be printed, so that I doubt 

 not but that it will shortly be easy to obtain. It contains a 

 large and valuable body of evidence, but as it was under- 

 taken under the auspices of the late ministry, it is less 

 probable that the present will found any substantial measure 

 of reform upon it. In the meantime, however, some prog- 

 ress is making here in the promotion of scientific studies. 

 I am now in hopes that the University will vote me a 

 sum of money, not less than 3000, for the reception and 



