hat human nature is not the same every where. That it
never, to my knowledge, was made public, but invariably hushed up when
discovered, I believe; so is suicide. But _one_ instance came to my
knowledge, during the time that I was in the States, which will give a
very fair idea of American feeling on this subject. It was supposed
that an intrigue had been discovered, or, it had actually been
discovered, I cannot say which, between a foreigner and the wife of an
English gentleman. It was immediately seized upon with ecstasy,
circulated in all the papers with every American embellishment, and was
really the subject of congratulation among them, as if they had gained
some victory over this country. It so happened that an American called
upon the lady, and among other questions put to her, inquired in what
part of England she was born. She replied, "that she was not an
English-woman, but was born in the States, and brought up in an American
city."

It is impossible to imagine how this mere trifling fact, affected the
Americans. She was then an American--they were aghast--and I am
convinced that they would have made any sacrifice, to have been able to
have recalled all that they had done, and have hushed up the matter.

The fact is that human nature _is_ the same every where, and I cannot
help observing, that if their community is so much more moral, as they
pretend that it is, why is it, that they have considered it necessary to
form societies on such an extensive scale, for the prevention of a
crime, from which they declare themselves (comparatively with us, and
other nations,) to be exempt? I once had an argument on this subject
with an elderly American gentleman, and as I took down the minutes of it
after we parted, I think it will be as well to give it to my readers, as
it will shew the American feeling upon it--

"Why, Captain M, you must bear in mind that we are not so vicious and
contaminated here, as you are in the old country. You don't see our
newspapers filled, as your's are, with crim. cons, in high life. No,
sir, our institutions are favourable to virtue and morality, and our
women are as virtuous as our men are brave."

"I have no reason to deny either one assertion or the other, as far as I
am acquainted with your men and women; but still I do not judge from the
surface, as many have done who have visited you. Because there are no
crim. cons. in your papers, it does not prove that conjugal infid