418 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



lands confer on them the title of fi'eemen, and to that 

 title every benefit is affixed which man can possibly re- 

 quire. This is the great operation daily performed by 

 our laws. From whence proceed these laws ? From our 

 government. Whence that government? It is derived 

 from the original genius and strong desire of the people 

 ratified and confirmed by the crown. This is the great 

 chain which links us all, this is the picture which every 

 province exhibits. . . . 



' ' He is an American, who leaving behind him all his 

 ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from 

 the new mode of life he has embraced, the new govern- 

 ment he obeys and the new rank he holds. He becomes 

 an American by being received in the broad lap of our 

 great Alma Mater. Here individuals of all nations are 

 melted into a new race of men, whose labours and poster- 

 ity will one day cause great changes in the world. Amer- 

 Meited Into a jcaus are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along 



New Race i & 7 job 



with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and 

 industry which began long since in the east ; they will 

 finish the great circle. The Americans were once scat- 

 tered all over Europe ; here they are incorporated into 

 one of the finest systems of population which has ever 

 appeared, and which will hereafter become distinct by 

 the power of the different climates they inhabit. The 

 American ought therefore to love this country much bet- 

 ter than that wherein either he or his forefathers were 

 born. Here the rewards of his industry follow with 

 equal steps the progress of his labour ; his labour is 

 founded on the basis of nature, self-interest ; can it want 

 New Man of a strougcr allurcmeut 1 Wives and children, who before 

 in vain demanded of him a morsel of bread, now, fat and 

 frolicsome, gladly help their father to clear those fields 

 whence exuberant crops are to arise to feed and to clothe 

 them all ; without any part being claimed, either by a 

 despotic prince, a rich abbot, or a mighty lord. Here 

 religion demands but little of him ; a small voluntary 



