ation, they were
entitled, he received them at Court most graciously, and those very
ladies are now classed among the peeresses of Great Britain. Still the
difficulty remained, as it was almost impossible for the aristocracy,
abroad or at home, to ascertain the justness of the claims which were
made by those of a nation who professed the equality of all classes, and
of whom many of the pretenders to be well received did not by their
appearance warrant the supposition that their claims were valid. It
being impossible to give any other rank but that of office, the American
Government hit upon a plan which was attended with very evil
consequences. They granted supernumerary attache-ships to those
Americans who wished to travel; and as, on the Old Continent, the very
circumstance of being an _attache_ to a foreign minister warranted the
respectability of the party, those who obtained this distinction were
well received, and, unfortunately, sometimes did no credit to their
appointments. The fact was that these favours were granted without
discrimination, and all who received them being put down as specimens of
American gentlemen, the character of the Americans lost ground by the
very efforts made to establish it. The true American gentlemen who
travelled (and there is no lack of them) were supposed to be English,
while the spurious were put down as samples of the gentility of the
United States.

That the principles of equality were one great cause of the
indiscriminate distribution of those marks of distinction by the highest
quarters in the Union, and of the facility of obtaining letters of
recommendation from them there is no doubt; but the principal and still
existing causes, are the extended and domineering power of the press,
and the high state of excitement of the political parties. Those in
power are positively afraid to refuse literary men, or those who have
assisted them in their political career; they have not the moral courage
to do so, however undeserving the parties may really be. But, as is
generally the case, they really do not know the parties; it is
sufficient that the favour, considered trifling, is demanded, and it is
instantly granted. Now, as at the accession of General Jackson, and the
subsequent raising of Mr Van Buren to the presidency, the democratical,
or Loco Foco party came into power, it is to their friends and
supporters, the least respectable portion of the American community, to
whom