WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 309 



from three to ten millions. A fine navy has been built ; 

 and everything attended to that could ensure prosperity 

 at home, and respect abroad. 



The former wilds of North America bear ample testi- 

 mony to the achievements of this enterprising people. 

 Forests have been cleared away, swamps drained, canals 

 dug, and nourishing settlements established. From the 

 shores of the Atlantic an immense column of knowledge 

 has rolled into the interior. The Mississippi, the Ohio, 

 the Missouri, and their tributary streams, have been 

 wonderfully benefited by it. It now seems as if it were 

 advancing towards the stony mountains " and probably 

 will not become stationary till it reaches the Pacific 

 Ocean. This almost immeasurable territory affords a 

 shelter and a home to mankind in general: Jew or Gentile, 

 king's-man or republican, he meets with a friendly recep- 

 tion in the United States. His opinions, his persecutions, 

 his errors, or mistakes, however they may have injured 

 him in other countries, are dead, and of no avail on his 

 arrival here. Provided he keeps the peace, he is sure to 

 be at rest. 



Politicians of other countries imagine that intestine 

 feuds will cause a division in this commonwealth ; at 

 present there certainly appears to be no reason for such 

 a conjecture. Heaven forbid that it should happen ! The 

 world at large would suffer by it. For ages yet to come, 

 may this great commonwealth continue to be the United 

 States of North America. 



The sun was now within a week or two of passing into 

 the southern hemisphere, and the mornings and evenings 

 were too cold to be comfortable. I embarked for the 

 island of Antigua, with the intention of calling at the 

 different islands in the Caribbean sea, on my way once 

 more towards the wilds of Guiana. 



