CHAP. XXXII.] EQUALITY AND LEVELLING. 223 



who had places in the first cabin. Among all who 

 have paid for these, a recognition of perfect equality 

 is scrupulously exacted. Not only would a man of 

 rank or ancient family, but one of the most refined 

 manners, and superior knowledge and education, find 

 himself treated as entitled to no more deference or 

 respect than the rudest traveller. Plato s definition 

 of a man, &quot; bipes implume,&quot; &quot; a featherless biped,&quot; 

 would be most appropriate to one who was journey 

 ing in such company. To a certain extent, however, 

 the manners of the ruder members of this society 

 are improved by such intercourse, and there is some 

 levelling up as well as levelling down. The European 

 traveller must also bear in mind, that it would be no 

 discredit to those who are settling in this wilderness 

 especially when Europe pours into it, annually, 

 her hundreds of thousands of ignorant and disap 

 pointed emigrants if the accommodation was of 

 the rudest kind ; if there were no steamers in whose 

 machinery the latest improvements had been adopted, 

 many of them invented in the United States ; and if 

 the cabin was not provided with good libraries, or 

 the table covered with newspapers, literary magazines, 

 and reviews. It is precisely because there is so much 

 civilisation in the Western States, that foreigners 

 criticise them unfairly, contrasting their condition 

 with the highest standard of older countries. 



The authority of the captain is absolute, and he 

 does not hesitate, if any unruly spirit is refractory, 

 and refuses to conform to the regulations of the ship, 

 to put him ashore at the nearest place on the bank 



L 4 



