258 
WANDERINGS IN 
FOURTH 
JOURNEY 
Its laws 
and go¬ 
vern¬ 
ment. 
pulates whole swamps in quest of frogs; a Dutch¬ 
man’s pipe is never out of his mouth; a Russian 
will eat tallow candles ; and the American indulges 
in the cigar. “ De gustibus non estdisputandum.” 
Our western brother is in possession of a country 
replete with every thing that can contribute to the 
happiness and comfort of mankind. His code of 
laws, purified by experience and common sense, has 
fully answered the expectations of the public. By 
acting up to the true spirit of this code, he has 
reaped immense advantages from it. His advance¬ 
ment, as a nation, has been rapid beyond all calcu¬ 
lation ; and, young as he is, it may be remarked, with¬ 
out any impropriety, that he is now actually reading 
a salutary lesson to the rest of the civilized world. 
It is but some forty years ago, that he had the 
dispute 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 absolutely 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 wbth his affairs. 
Since the independence, the population has in¬ 
creased from three to ten millions. A fine navy has 
been built; and every thing attended to that could 
ensure prosperity at home, and respect abroad. 
