s. We tolerate their various religions, and we learn their
language; but in neither faith nor speech have they approached one
tittle toward us. We have raised there no gigantic monument of power
either in pride or for utility; no temples, canals, or roads remain to
remind posterity of our conquest and dominion. Were the English rule
over India suddenly cast off, in a single generation the tradition of
our Eastern empire would appear a splendid but baseless dream, that of
our administration an allegory, of our victories a romance.

In the great social colonies of the West, the very essence of vitality
is their close resemblance to the parent state. Many of the coarser
inherited elements of strength have been increased. Industry and
adventure have been stimulated to an unexampled extent by the natural
advantages of the country, and free institutions have been developed
almost to license by general prosperity and the absence of external
danger. Their stability, in some one form or another, is undoubted: it
rests on the broadest possible basis--on the universal will of the
nation. Our vast empire in India rests only on the narrow basis of the
superiority of a handful of Englishmen: should any untoward fate shake
the Atlas strength that bears the burden, the superincumbent mass must
fall in ruins to the earth. With far better cause may England glory in
the land of her revolted children than in that of her patient slaves:
the prosperous cities and busy sea-ports of America are prouder
memorials of her race than the servile splendor of Calcutta or the
ruined ramparts of Seringapatam. In the earlier periods the British
colonies were only the reflection of Britain; in later days their light
has served to illumine the political darkness of the European Continent.
The attractive example of American democracy proved the most important
cause that has acted upon European society since the Reformation.

Toward the close of George II.'s reign England had reached the lowest
point of national degradation recorded in her history. The disasters of
her fleets and armies abroad were the natural fruits of almost universal
corruption at home. The admirals and generals, chosen by a German king
and a subservient ministry, proved worthy of the mode of their
selection. An obsequious Parliament served but to give the apparent
sanction of the people to the selfish and despotic measures of the
crown. Many of the best blood and of the highest chivalry