s peculiar to a country, when it ought rather to be said, of
vices peculiar to a government.

Never, perhaps, was the foundation of a nation laid under such
peculiarly favourable auspices as that of America. The capital they
commenced with was industry, activity, and courage. They had, moreover,
the advantage of the working of genius and wisdom, and the records of
history, as a beacon and a guide; the trial of ages, as to the
respective merits of the various governments to which men have
submitted; the power to select the merits from the demerits in each; a
boundless extent of country, rich in everything that could be of
advantage to man; and they were led by those who where really giants in
those days, a body of men collected and acting together, forming an
aggregate of wisdom and energy, such as probably will not for centuries
be seen again. Never was there such an opportunity of testing the
merits of a republic, of ascertaining if such a form of government could
be maintained--in fact, of proving whether an enlightened people could
govern themselves. And it must be acknowledged that the work was well
begun; Washington, when his career had closed, left the country a pure
republic. He did all that man could do. Miss Martineau asserts that
"America has solved the great problem, that a republic can exist for
fifty years;" but such is not the case. America has proved that, under
peculiar advantages, a people can govern themselves for fifty years; but
if you put the question to an enlightened American, and ask him, "Were
Washington to rise from his grave, would he recognise the present
government of America as the one bequeathed to them?" and the American
will himself answer in the negative. These fifty years have afforded
another proof, were it necessary, how short-sighted and fallible are
men--how impossible it is to keep anything in a state of perfection here
below. Washington left America as an infant nation, a pure and, I may
add, a virtuous republic; but the government of the country has
undergone as much change as everything else, and it has now settled down
into anything but a pure democracy. Nor could it be otherwise; a
republic may be formed and may continue in healthy existence when
regulated by a small body of men, but as men increase and multiply so do
they deteriorate; the closer they are packed the more vicious they
become, and, consequently, the more vicious become their institutions.
Washington a