o a certain degree, to hold their independence. Dr Channing
has proved himself an honour to his country and to the world. Mr
Cooper has also great merit in this point and no man has certainly shewn
more moral courage, let his case be good or not, than Garrison, the
leader of the abolition party.

But with these few and remarkable exceptions, moral courage is almost
prostrate in the United States. The most decided specimen I met with to
the contrary was at Cincinnati, when a large portion of the principal
inhabitants ventured to express their opinion, contrary to the will of
the majority, in my defence, and boldly proclaimed their opinions by
inviting me to a public dinner. I told them my opinion of their
behaviour, and I gave them my thanks. I repeat my opinion and my thanks
now; they had much to contend with, but they resisted boldly; and not
only from that remarkable instance of daring to oppose public opinion
when all others quailed, but from many other circumstances, I have an
idea that Cincinnati will one day take an important lead, as much from
the spirit and courage of her citizens, as from her peculiarly fortunate
position. I had a striking instance to the contrary at St Louis, when
they paraded me in effigy through the streets. Certain young
Bostonians, who would have been glad enough to have seized my hand when
in the Eastern States, before I had happened to affront the majority,
kept aloof, or shuffled away, so as not to be obliged to recognise me.
Such have been the demoralising effects of the tyranny of public opinion
in the short space of fifty years, and I will now wind up this chapter
by submitting to the reader extracts from the two French authors, one of
whom describes America in 1782, and the other in 1835.

AMERICA IN 1782.

"Je vais, disais-je, mettre a la voile aujour-d'hui; je m'eloigne avec
un regret infini d'un pays ou l'on est, sans obstacle et sans
inconvenient, ce qu'on devrait etre partout, sincere et libre."--"On y
pense, on y dit, on y fait ce qu'on veut. Rien ne vous oblige d'y etre
ni faux, ni bas, ni flatteur. Personne ne se choque de la singularite
de vos manieres ni de vos gouts."--_Memoires ou Souvenirs de Monsieur de
Segur_, volume I, page 409.

AMERICA IN 1835.

"L'Amerique est donc un pays de liberte, ou pour ne blesser personne, on
ne doit parler librement, ni des gouvernans, ni des gouvernes, ni des
eutreprises publiques, ni des entreprises privees; de rien, enfin,