ance or
England. There is truth in this accusation, as applied either to a
particular class, or to the body of the American people, only in one
respect. It is undeniable that, as a new nation, with a civilization that
is wanting in so many of its higher qualities, while it is already so far
advanced in those which form the basis of national greatness, money does
not meet with the usual competition among us. The institutions, too, by
dispensing with hereditary consideration, do away with a leading and
prominent source of distinction that is known to other systems, thus
giving to riches an exclusive importance, that is rather apparent,
however, than real. I acknowledge, that little or no consideration is yet
given among us to any of the more intellectual pursuits, the great bulk of
the nation regarding literary men, artists, even professional men, as so
many public servants, that are to be used like any other servants,
respecting them and their labours only as they can contribute to the great
stock of national wealth and renown. This is owing, in part, to the youth
of a country in which most of the material foundation was so recently to
be laid, and in part to the circumstance that men, being under none of the
factitious restraints of other systems, coarse and vulgar-minded
declaimers make themselves heard and felt to a degree that would not be
tolerated elsewhere. Notwithstanding all these defects, which no
intelligent, and least of all, no travelled American should or can justly
deny, I will maintain that gold is not one tittle more the goal of the
American, than it is of the native of other active and energetic
communities. It is true, there is little _besides_ gold, just now, to aim
at in this country, but the great number of young men who devote
themselves to letters and the arts, under such unfavourable circumstances,
a number greatly beyond the knowledge of foreign nations, proves it is
circumstances, and not the grovelling propensities of the people
themselves, that give gold a so nearly undisputed ascendency. The great
numbers who devote themselves to politics among us, certainly any thing
but a money-making pursuit, proves that it is principally the want of
other avenues to distinction that renders gold apparently the sole aim of
American existence. To return from this touch of philosophy to our ships.

The progress of the Dawn soon left us no choice in the course to be
steered. We could see by the charts that th