236 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



It is but some forty years ago that he had the dis- 

 pute with his nurse about a dish of tea. She wanted 

 to force the boy to drink it according to her own 

 receipt. He said, he did not like it, and that it abso- 

 lutely made him ill. After a good deal of sparring, 

 she took up the birch rod, and began to whip him with 

 an uncommon degree of asperity. When the poor lad 

 found that he must either drink the nauseous dish of 

 tea or be flogged to death, he turned upon her in self- 

 defence ; showed her to the outside of the nursery door 

 and never more allowed her to meddle with his affairs. 



Since the independence, the population has increased 

 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 flourishing 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 reception in the United States. His 

 opinions, his persecutions, his errors, or mistakes, how- 

 ever 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. 



