agreeable to matter of fact, or less gratifying to the race from which they have descended A c "As regards the morality and virtue of American ladies, it will suffice to say that they are not inferior to the English, who are universally acknowledged to be the best wives and mothers in Europe. The slightest suspicion against the character of a lady, is, in America, as in England, sufficient to exclude her from society; but, in America, public opinion is equally severe on men, and this is cer tainly a considerable improvement. cordingly, there is no country in which scandal, even amongst the most fashionable circles, is so rare as in the United States, or where the term "intrigue" is less known and understood. I shall always remember the observation of a French gentleman who could find nothing to interest him in American society; because it precluded the very idea of a liaison.' 6 Ah,' exclaimed he, c'est le paradis des maris !' " The houses of worship in North America, Mr. Grund acknowledges, are far inferior to what might be looked for amongst a people who are, decidedly, not without a deep sense of religion. But this is to be accounted for, chiefly, by the combined influence of their republican and puritanical predi lections. "At the beginning of this work I proposed to myself not to give descriptions of inanimate objects, further than might be necessary to illustrate the manners of the people. Whether works of architecture come under this head or not, I am unable to decide; but I think it not inconsistent with the general plan of the work to offer a few remarks on American church es. The greater number of these, when compared to the wealth of their respective congregations, are decidedly mean, both in their exterior and interior appearance; and there exists, in this respect, an infinitely greater disparity between them and the houses of worship in Europe, than between the dwellings of the rich and the palaces of European princes. If republicans are at all permitted to display splendour and magnificence without offending the pride of their fellow-citizens, it is certainly in the edifices of public worship, and in the halls of their legislative assemblies. With regard to the latter, the Americans possess, already, a proud monument of national grandeur. The capital at Washington, situated on an eminence commanding an unobstructed view of many miles in circumference, is an edifice of the most imposing structure and proportions; and, from its very position, incredibly superior to any of the public palaces in Europe. The interior, too, corresponds well with the dignity of the design: but the most sublime effect is produced by its standing high, free, and alone, as the institutions it guards in its bosom; overshadowing hills, and valleys, and rivers, of the mighty land over which it extends the benign influence of law and justice. "But proud as the Americans may be of their halls of congress, they have not, as yet, a single place of worship at all to be compared to the finer churches in Europe, where they might render thanks to the Omnipotent Being for the unexampled happiness and prosperity with which he has blessed their country. Some not altogether unsuccessful attempts have been made in Boston and Baltimore, at what might be called a cathedral; but neither the size nor the order, nor even the materials, are resembling those of the nobler specimens of Gothic architecture in Europe. "Our feelings and emotions are always tinged with the reflections from the objects around us; and I cannot, therefore, divest myself of the opinion that a superior style of architecture in an edifice of public worship may materially assist the imagination, and enable the mind to turn from mere worldly objects to the contemplation of heaven and the adoration of God. I have known persons who could never pray so fervently as when encompassed by the sombre vaults of a gothic. cathedral, and I have, myself experienced the same feelings on similar occasions. "But in addition to the deficiency in style and ornament, there exists, in America, an almost universal practice of building churches, or at least the steeples, of wood, to which are frequently given the most grotesque figures, partaking of all orders of architecture, from the time of Noah to the present day. There is scarce an excuse for this corruption of taste, except the cheapness of the material, which may recommend the custom in practice. A church ought to be the symbol of immutability and eternity, the attributes of the Infinite Being; but nothing can be more averse to either, than its construction of so frail a material as wood. imitation of stone-work is still more objectionable, as it appears like an attempt at deceit; a sort of architectural counterfeiting least pardonable in a house of prayer. Such an edifice seems to be unworthy of its noble purpose; a sordid mockery of grandeur which, without elevating the mind, represents to it only the melancholy picture of human frailties." An Mr. Grund is a decided advocate for the voluntary system, which he defends with a flippancy and an ignorance, which, we doubt not, would earn for him the loud applauses of Daniel O'Connell and Joseph Hume. He exclaims against the injustice of taxing the unbeliever for the support of the public worship of Almighty God; and can see nothing in the hierarchical form of church government, as it is established amongst us, but that which tends to make Christian professors indolent and lazy; and, as to incorporating Christianity with the state, and making its dignitaries take their seats in the supreme house of legislature, and its precepts and principles part and parcel of the law of the land, that he regards as one of those antiquated prejudices from which the Americans are happily free, and which every succeeding year must, henceforth, continue to dissipate, until it shall have disappeared utterly, from liberalized and enlightened Europe. Our readers do not require, and will not expect, that we should enter into a detailed refutation of the drivelling sciolism of this well-meaning, but most superficial man ; and we allude to it only for the purpose of recommending to his notice a chapter in Mrs. Trollope's late work on France, by the perusal of which, we are not altogether without a hope, that even he might be yet enlightened. That lady discusses the subject, in its bearing upon the state of society, in the spirit of a philosopher, a moralist, and a statesman; and we have not seen, since the days of Edmund Burke, any representation of the benefits to be derived from a richly endowed church, when properly administered, which so fully makes known its inestimable advantages. It is, decidedly, that portion of Mrs. Trollope's writings which gave us the highest idea of her very superior powers of mind; and we venture to promise those of our readers who may, at our recommendation, take up the pages to which we refer, that, however high the expectations with which they may sit down to the perusal of them, they shall not be disappointed. Our author refers to the vast extent of publications of all kinds in America, as a proof that they are both a reading and a thinking people. We think that he would have been wiselier occupied, had he, in good earnest, set about convincing them, that there is a crab-like progress in science and literature, and that it is just possible, with all their ar dour of publication, that they may have been, in reality, crawling back, when they imagined that they were striding forward. Newspapers are the pieces of ordnance, with which the parties in the state fight their political battles; and these must, necessarily, be numerous, in proportion as the Government becomes democraticised. Where stimulants, which they are calculated to supply, are so perpetually operating, the community are but little likely to benefit by the more silent and gentle influences of taste and reason, which, amidst such discordant elements, can be heard but by few, and the number will even be more limited by whom they are not speedily forgotten or unheeded. Undoubtedly, the American government has not been deficient in liberality, in providing for the public instruction of the people : : "The amount of tax raised in the State of Massachussets," Mr. Grund tells us, "for the support of common schools, averaged 350,000 dollars, or £70,000 sterThe State of New ling per annum. York has a school fund of 2,116,000 dollars, or £423,200 sterling, invested in 9580 school-houses; and the expenses of common schools in that State amounted in 1833, to 1,262,670 dollars 97 cents, or £252,514 sterling nearly. "Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, have also adopted the principle of free schools, and other States are gradually following the example. The inhabitants of Boston have made the most ample provisions for the education of children; and the system of free schools in that city has become a model for imitation throughout the United States, where similar institutions are now fast rising into existence. "The ablest and most skilful instructors in the United States are natives from New England; who are generally supposed to be better acquainted with school discipline, and better versed in the art of communicating ideas, than the rest of and the severity of their morals, seem to their countrymen. Their religious habits, qualify them particularly for the task of 'teaching the young idea how to shoot.' It is computed that not less than sixty annually in the instruction of children, in thousand New Englanders are employed the different States; which single fact is the praises which could be bestowed on more creditable to New England, than all the industry and ingenuity of her inhabi tants." So far so good;-but, the quality of the education thus afforded, or, indeed, the quality of the education afforded by more competent instructors to the higher classes, may be fairly doubted, from the fact, than an individual loses caste by becoming a teacher. Mr. Grund ignorantly supposes that the same is the case in England, in opposition to the plain fact, that the clergy, the most honoured class in the community, are the great conductors of national education. But we have no reason, for a moment, to distrust his statement, that the prejudice prevails in America at the present day, almost as strongly as it did with Jack Cade, in the early period of the history of Eng land, who, in hanging a schoolmaster, because he knew how to write, suspended an ink-horn to his breast, that his exit might be the more ignominious. The following are Mr. Grund's observations: “I am afraid, however, that the pecuniary advantages of these gentlemen are not in proportion to their exertions, and that the vocation of an instructor is, after all, not the most honoured in the United States. Much as the Americans appreciate the services of a teacher, they neither reward or esteem him according to his merits, and are hardly ever willing to associate with him on terms of fair reciprocity and friendship. The same feeling exists, in a still higher degree, in most parts of Europe, especially in England; but then there is no reason why it should continue in America, in a country, in which no disgrace ought to attach to any honest pursuit; but in which, on the contrary, men should be honoured, in proportion as they contribute to the moral and intellectual advancement of the State. "The correctness of this doctrine, however, is so well understood in the United States, that the people are ashamed of their own sentiments, and leave no opportunity unimproved to evince that respect for the vocation in private, which they are most deficient of showing on all important occasions. Many a fashionable gentleman of the large cities would be glad of the company of the instructor of his children to a family dinner; but would be unwilling to introduce him to a party of friends, and would think himself disgraced, were he to be seen with him on 'change. "The Americans have a nice sense of justice, and understand their own interest too well, to be entirely neglectful of the attention due to instructors of youth; but the more genteel part of the community are too modest to exhibit their sentiments in public. Much, however, has lately been done for the improvement of the condition of teachers; and it is to be hoped that the newly formed ‹ American Institute of instruction,' which, among its members, numbers already some of the most influential and wealthy men of the country, will at last succeed in raising the character of instructors, and thereby increase the sphere of their usefulness. "The salaries of teachers in the public schools in most of the States, are mere pittances, when compared with the remuthe counting rooms of respectable merneration of professional men, or clerks in chants. The compensation of private inof too sordid a character to enable them structors is, in general, higher; but still to live as gentlemen." The following extract from the annual report of the superintendent of the common schools of the State of New York, made so late as January, 1835, tion in which the people of the United is quite decisive as to the low estimaStates as yet hold their teachers :— "The incompetency of teachers,' says the report, is the great evil of the common school system of this State, and it may, indeed, be said to be the source of the only other material defect which pertains to it, a low standard of education in most of the schools. The evil however is by no means universal. There are many teachers of ample qualifications, and many schools of high standing, both as regards the nature and extent of their acquirements. The principal obstacle to improvement is the low wages of teachers; and, as this is left altogether to be regulated by contract between them and their employers, there would seem to be no effectual remedy for the evil, but to inspire the latter with more just conceptions of the nature of the vocation, and its high responsibilities; and of the necessity of awarding to those who pursue it, a compensation in some degree suited to its arduous duties and requirements. So long as the compensation of teachers is on a level with that which is commanded by the most ordinary employments, it is not to be expected that men of the necessary talents will prepare themselves for the business of teaching; but it may justly be said that there is scarcely any vocation, in which the best talents can be employed to greater advantage. The practice of paying 'low wages' has, as might be expected, introduced into the common schools, teachers wholly incompetent to execute their trusts; who have brought in bad methods of teaching, and kept down the standard of requirement for their pupils on a level with that by which their employers have measured their qualifications.' 66 6 665,000 dollars. Although the compensation of teachers is still extremely low, it is gratifying to reflect that it is increasing. In the districts heard from the number of schools kept during the year 1833, an average period of eight months was 9392. The amount annually paid for teachers' wages in the same district was about This sum divided by the schools would give each teacher 8 dollars 85 cents a month. But it is supposed that female teachers are employed about half the time at a compensation of about 5 dollars (a guinea) a month. In this case the average compensation of male teachers would be 12 dollars and 70 cents (£2 10s. 5d.) nearly. By a similar estimate for the year 1831, contained in the report of the superintendent made in 1833, it appears that the average rate of wages was but 11 dollars 85 cents (£2 8s. 5d.) A similar estimate for 1832, would give 12 dollars 22 cents (£2 9s. 5d.) Thus it appears that the rate of wages is regularly advancing, although still altogether inadequate to the services rendered.' So far the report, upon which Mr. Grund makes the following just observations : "This report which was evidently drawn up by a gentleman engaged in improving the system of instruction of common schools, appears, nevertheless, from the unhappy choice of terms, replete if not with contempt, at least with little consideration for the vocation of teachers. A regret is expressed that instructors are not better paid; because low wages' are not apt to act as a premium on the skill and application of workmen; but the idea does not seem for one moment lost sight of, that teachers are hirelings, whose labours are always to be commanded with money, as the services of journeymen mechanics. I am not inclined to believe that the character of teachers in the State of New York will improve as long as they receive wages;' and am fully convinced that half the number of teachers employed in that State, if they were qualified for the business, would be more serviceable to the public, than two or three times their actual number, with their present inferior acquirements, joined to the disadvantages of their position." It is, therefore, quite evident that the Americans have not as yet become an intellectual people, and that their mercantile and agricultural pursuits are, and will be, for a length of time to come, so engrossing as to leave but a small portion of their time to be disposed of in mental improvement. This is one of the natural consequences of their precise condition in the social state, which is almost as inevitable as any other incident of their existence; and we allude to it, as illustrative of the state of society, and not, by any They are precisely what any other means, in disparagement of themselves. Englishmen should be, in a country where there was a perpetual demand for physical energy, and personal enterprise, and where there must be a respite from labour before there can be any very extensive or effectual cultivation of mind. But yet, Mr. Grund tells us, and we are very much disposed to acquiesce in his statement "There are two branches of instruction, however, which I consider to be better taught in America than even in Germany. I would refer to reading and speaking. The Americans, in general, take more care to teach a correct pronunciation to their children, than the English; and the Germans are almost wholly unmindful as to the correctness of utterance, or elegance of language. They are so much attached to the substance of thoughts, that they heed little in what form the latter are expressed; and are satisfied with teaching their pupils to understand what they are reading, or to comprehend with the eye what they are unable to express with clearness and precision. A German boy knows often more than he can express in his abstract and unmanageable language: an American says at least as much as he knows; and is seldom embarrassed except with the difficulty of the subject. "This readiness of the Americans to express with promptness and precision what they have once been able to understand, is as much owing to their system of education, as to the practical genius of the nation, and of immense advantage in the common business of life. An American is not as manysided' as a German; but whatever he has learned he has at his fingers' ends, and he is always ready to apply it. A little, in this manner, will go a great way; and the amount of intellect and application which is thus penetrating every corner of the United States is prodigious, when compared to the seemingly slender means by which it is produced. Propose a question to a German, and he will ransack heaven and earth for an answer. He will descend to the remotest antiquity to seek for precedents; and, after having compared the histories of all nations, and the best commentaries on them in half a dozen lan of necessary at times for the purpose expediting the progress of tardy-gaited justice. With what complacency he contemplates the tarring and feathering of some unfortunate individual whose only crime is that his opinions, during a season of political heat, ran counter to those of the tyrannous majority! Undoubtedly, such an offence could not be reached by any existing guages, he will be so perplexed with the contradictory statements of athors, that his conscientiousness will hardly allow him to venture an opinion of his own. He will give you a most erudite resumé of the subject; acquaint you with all that has been said on it in Sanscrit and Arabic, and, after having made some remarks on the respective credibility of these writers, leave the conclusion to your own ingenuity. An American, with hardly onetenth of the learning, would have sub-law: but is it not delightful to think, mitted the subject to common sense, and, ten chances to one, would have given you a satisfactory answer. The Germans are the best people in the world for collecting materials; but the Americans understand best how to use them. I know no better combination of character than that of German and American; and there is probably no better system of instruction than a medium between the theoretical rigour of the former, and the practical applications of the Americans." "During a residence of many years in the United States, I have had frequent intercourse with all classes of society, but do not remember having heard a single individual complain of misfortunes; and I have never known a native American to ask for charity. No country in the world has such a small number of persons supported at the public expense; and of that small number one half are foreign paupers. An American, embarrassed in his pecuniary circumstances, can hardly be prevailed upon to ask or accept the assistance of his own relations; and will, in many instances, scorn to have recourse to his own parents. Even an unsuccessful politician will leave the field without a groan, not to appear overcome by his antagonist; and, whatever be his secret anguish, show a bright countenance to the public. Happiness and prosperity are so popular in the United States, that no one dares to show himself an exception to the rule; and avoiding carefully the semblance of misfortune, they generally succeed in reality, and become that which they have always been striving to appear." The reader will be surprised to learn that "Lynch law" has found an advocate in so ardent a lover of liberty as Mr. Grund, who can regard it only as a species of supplementary common law, that in such a country as America, the offender nevertheless cannot escape a summary visitation of vindictive justice! But it is still more surprising that the practice of domestic slavery should find some favour in his eyes. Not that, in the abstract, he is an advocate for the system; but the peculiar circumstances under which it exists in the Southern States are such, he thinks, as greatly mitigate its evils, while its sudden abolition might be attended by evils of another kind, without any compensating advantages. We have, in truth, ever looked upon the system as equally injurious to the master and the slave. By it the latter is brutified, while the former is but too often demonized. The very idea of regarding a fellow-creature as chattel property, is, in itself, so unnatural and monstrous, as to place those by whom it is familiarly entertained almost without the pale of humanity; and it cannot surely be constantly acted upon, without producing and perpetuating human degradation. But the liberal Mr. Grund seems to have no notion of this. He thus writes, in justification of the practice. "The slaves in the southern states are the property of the planters; a kind of property which is not transferrable, except amongst themselves; and which would be of no value to the inhabitants of the northern states. When the northern states emancipated their slaves, it was really because the expense of maintaining them was greater than the profits obtained from their labour; and because the same kind of work could be obtained as cheap, or cheaper, by hiring the services of the whites. The negroes, moreover, are the foundation of every other species of property in the southern states: for without them real estate would be of no value; as it is physically proved that neither the climate nor the soil will ever admit of the independent labour of the whites. It is evident then, that if the negroes be emancipated, they must be retained to cultivate the plantations, and |