nced so unjust by the Americans,
that my curiosity was excited. It appeared strange to me that
travellers whose works showed evident marks of talent should view the
same people through such very different mediums; and that their
gleanings should, generally speaking, be of such meagre materials. Was
there so little to be remarked about America, its government, its
institutions, and the effect which these had upon the people, that the
pages of so many writers upon that country should be filled up with how
the Americans dined or drank wine, and what description of spoons and
forks were used at table? Either the Americans remained purely and
unchangedly English, as when they left their father-land; or the
question required more investigation and deeper research than travellers
in their hasty movements have been able to bestow upon it. Whether I
should be capable of throwing any new light upon the subject, I knew
not, but at all events I made up my mind that I would visit the country
and judge for myself.

On my first arrival I perceived little difference between the city of
New York and one of our principal provincial towns; and, for its people,
not half so much as between the people of Devonshire or Cornwall and
those of Middlesex. I had been two or three weeks in that city, and I
said: There is certainly not much to write about, nor much more than
what has already been continually repeated. No wonder that those who
preceded me have indulged in puerilities to swell out their books. But
in a short time I altered my opinion: even at New York, the English
appearance of the people gradually wore away; my perception of character
became more keen, my observance consequently more nice and close, and I
found that there was a great deal to reflect upon and investigate, and
that America and the American people were indeed an enigma; and I was no
longer surprised at the incongruities which were to be detected in those
works which had attempted to describe the country. I do not assert that
I shall myself succeed, when so many have failed, but at any rate, this
I am certain of, my remarks will be based upon a more sure foundation--
an analysis of human nature.

There are many causes why those who have written upon America have
fallen into error: they have represented the Americans as a nation: now
they are not yet, nor will they for many years be, in the true sense of
the word, a nation--they are a mass of many people cemented