ca be
classed as _ignorant_ in regard to other matters, who have not the
remotest idea as to the nature or geography of our country. An instance
has come to our knowledge of an intelligent Hungarian who, by intercourse
with the world, had acquired a fluency in five languages, and who inquired
of an American gentleman if his country were not situated somewhere in
England. The late Mr. Cooper, when placing his daughters at a celebrated
seminary on the continent, found a great curiosity had been created by the
rumor that they were coming, some supposing they were black, some that
they were copper-colored, and all unprepared to see American girls looking
for all the world like the young German ladies. We have heard of a similar
instance in which an English _gentleman_--a Cambridge graduate--inquired of
an American what was the current language of the United States. Lastly, we
may cite the case of an English author, well known to our own public, and
favorably mentioned not long since in these pages, who was under the
impression that owing to the great emigration from Germany, the English
language must with us, in a very few years, yield to that of the
_Vaterland_. Now our commercial and industrial relations are seriously
hindered by this absurd ignorance of America, which in a word prevails to
such an extent, that we have known an American, who--probably from having
been over-questioned and speered at in New England--had imbibed such a
wholesome hatred of inquisitiveness, that he wished the French government
would hang up, for the benefit of all concerned, the following list of
questions, with satisfactory answers annexed, in all the _cafes_ of the
politest nation in Europe:

Whether America is an island or a continent?
What is the color of its inhabitants?
What language do they speak?
Have they a religion and what is it?
What is the state of their morals and cookery?
Have they a correct state of feeling as regards the opera?

The reader is not to infer that this is the general state of knowledge
regarding our country. But it is worth nothing as a curious illustration
of the vast number of individuals who derive their ideas, not from what is
going on at the present day, or from available sources of information, but
from the antiquated views of a by-gone generation. And we trust it will
not be deemed inappropriate that we here speak a word of the want of
opportunities of acquiring very ge