clinton'b introductory discourse. 29 



long time used, and the people were separated from each other by 

 a diversity of manners and opinions, and strong natural prejudices. 

 How, then, was it possible to combine their energies in any common 

 effort? Two centuries have not entirely extinguished the lines of na- 

 tional separation. The Dutch and German languages are still spoken 

 in some settlements. Five or six generations have, in a great measure, 

 amalgamated these discordant elements. National antipathies have sub- 

 sided, a national character has been formed, and a national physiognomy 

 is supposed to be established. The triumph and general adoption 

 of the English language have been the principal means of melting us 

 down into one people, and of extinguishing those stubborn prejudices 

 and violent animosities which formed a wall of partition between the 

 inhabitants of the same land. In a country whose population was thus 

 composed, it was not to be expected that a great taste for literature 

 would be considered an essential accompaniment. 



The government of Great Britain discountenanced emigrations. 

 Transportation to the colonies was declared to be the punishment for 

 many felonies. " It is a shameful and unblessed thing," said Bacon, " to 

 take the scum of people, and wicked, condemned men to be the people 

 with whom you plant; and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation." 

 This measure was, no doubt, the result of design, the dictate of policy. 

 It inculcated upon the public mind that the colonies were a place of 

 punishment, not a country enjoying the blessings of life ; and it pre- 

 vented that copious flow of migration which the necessities of the peo- 

 ple, and the hope of enjoying better fortunes in another land, would have 

 unquestionably effected. Although the relegation of convicts to this 

 country could not seriously affect the morals of the American people, 

 or materially disturb their internal tranquillity, yet it certainly injured 

 our character in the general estimation of Europe. The British govern- 

 ment has established one great settlement for convicts; there can be 



