288. ARMY AND NAVY. -The peace establishment of the army of the United States did not exceed 10,000 men, who are distributed in the various fortresses on the sea coast, and on the Indian frontier. The militia, which includes all the inhabitants liable to bear arms, amounted in the returns in 1816 to 748,566. They are only called out for exercise a few days in a year; and therefore cannot be regarded as an efficient force of much importance, except in case of invasion. The navy of the United States consists of fourteen ships of the line, thirteen frigates, and twenty sloops of war, and smaller vessels, amounting in the whole to forty-seven sail. Sixteen of these were in commission in 1823. VOL. II.

289. RELIGION. - The United States present the first, and almost the only example of a nation which allows no superiority; and refuses no privilege or office on account of any religious opinion. It is not uncommon to find a Jew holding a civil office. This undistinguishing protection of all sects has not produced a greater variety of religious opinions than in other countries. Most of them are derived from England; and the few which had their origin in America, do not exceed in number or in fanaticism those which are found in Europe. The want of an establishment leads to a more open avowal of sentiment than in those countries where conformity is connected with promotion, and aids

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the projects of avarice or ambition; or where dissent exposes to the loss of privileges and respectability, or the infliction of penalties and fines. The line of division between the believer in Christianity and the infidel is more strongly marked; and infidel sentiments are expressed more boldly from this cause, and from that bold independence of character which has been charged upon the American as preventing even the proper attention to the civilities of life. Certain it is that in the most populous portion of this country, the northern states, religion is decidedly and generally respected; and infidelity discountenanced, as a matter of opinion, by the mass of the community.

290. The most prevalent denomination of Christians are the Presbyterians, if we may be allowed to use this term as it is sometimes employed by the persons in question, as a convenient generic term, referring to those who maintain the equality of all Presbyters in opposition to Episcopacy. They are divided into two portions, the Presbyterians strictly so called; and the Congregationalists, more nearly resembling the English Independents.

The Presbyterians are governed by representative bodies of the clergy and laity, as in the established churches of Scotland and Holland. This is the prevailing denomination in the Middle United States; and probably the most nu merous south of the Hudson River. One portion of the Presbyterians, in the states of New York and New Jersey, form a distinct body under the name of the Dutch Reformed Church; it is composed almost entirely of descendants from Dutch emigrants.

The Congregationalists are distinguished from Presbyterians chiefly by the fact that each congregation claims the right of governing itself; except in those cases where it voluntarily submits to the authority of others convened in council. They embrace most of the inhabitants of

the eastern United States. Most churches of these denominations maintain Calvinistic opinions. Among the Congregationalists of Massachusetts and New Hampshire there are many Unitarian churches; and their opinions are extending into other states, but the number is not known. The Baptists are probably the next denomination in point of numbers, and are rapidly increasing: they are spread throughout all the states; but two-thirds of the whole are in the southern and western states.

291. The Wesleyan Methodists form a large and increasing body, embracing 312,000 members. Of these 200,000 are in the southern and western states, 90,000 in the middle states, and 20,000 in the eastern.

292. The Episcopalians, or those who adopt the government and liturgy of the Church of England, form a highly respectable but less numerous class than the preceding. It embraces ten bishoprics, and two or three theological seminaries, but possesses none of the wealth, and has none of the immense stipends to bestow on its dignitaries, which are found in the mother church.

293. The German Lutherans are found almost exclusively in the middle states. A few Moravian

settlements are scattered in different parts of the country.

294. The Quakers or Friends are chiefly in the middle states: they form a large proportion of the inhabitants in some parts of Pennsylvania, which was originally settled by them.

295. The Catholics, from a mere mission in 1790, have become quite numerous. The people of Louisiana, Missouri, and Florida, are chiefly catholics; and they are numerous in Maryland. All these states were settled by Catholics. The whole number in the United States is estimated at 140,000; comprised in eighty or one hundred churches, with 160 clergyınen. They have also a number of literary and religious institutions; and it is singular that the Jesuits were established here when they were expelled from Europe. There is an incorporated society of Jesuits at Georgetown, containing ninety-three members, and a Sulpitian Monastery at Baltimore. There are convents at Georgetown, Port Tobacco, and Emmetsburg in Maryland, others at Boston and New York, three in Kentucky, one in Missouri, containing in all from 100 to 200 nuns. The Catholics have colleges at Baltimore, Georgetown, New Orleans, and St. Louis; and seminaries at several other places.

296. The following table contains the most recent statements of the number of churches and preachers of each denomination :

297. From the above account, which does not embrace several small sects, and a number of seceding churches of each class, it appears that there are 9,800 places of worship, or one to every 1,000 people in the United States; and 8,570 of the regular clergy, or one for 1200 persons-a supply as great as that of London.

298. The clergy of the United States are supported entirely by voluntary contribution, either directly in the form of subscription, or indirectly by a tax laid by the votes of every con

gregation upon themselves. The states of Massachusetts and New Hampshire alone retain a law, which formerly existed in some of the other states, by which every one is compelled to pay a tax to some denomination of Christians, but is left to choose for himself. The number of churches is very small which possess any fund, except as the common stock of those who belong to it, and subject it to their control. The mere fact of the erection of só large a number of churches, and the support of so large a body of clergy, is an indication that religion is regarded with general respect; and the maintenance and increase of this body is a strong testimonial of their general character. From the nature of the case there cannot be non-residents or pensionaries except among the superannuated; no living is ever placed in the gift of any individual; and the sale of church-benefices is impracticable.

299. EDUCATION. Great care has been taken to provide for the general education of the people in the United States; and the results have been proportionally happy. It is stated, in a work which has usually expressed no favourable opinion of the United States, that 'the great body of the American people is better educated than the bulk of any European community.' Edinburgh Review. In many of the United States, provision is made by law for the support of common schools, either by the appropriation of a fund, or the imposition of taxes.

300. The Eastern, or New England States, are peculiarly favoured with means of instruction of this kind. The people are thickly settled in towns and villages. Every town is divided into districts, each of which is obliged to support a school during the whole or a part of the year; and it is rare to meet with a native of these states who cannot read and write. Academies are also numerous; and in Massachusetts a classical school is required by law in all places of sufficient size. Connecticut has a fund of 1,700,000 dollars for the support of schools; and thus distributes to the people a greater amount annually for the education of their children, than they pay for the expenses of the state government. 301. The middle states have been subject to a great influx of emigrants from Europe of the labouring class, many of whom are of course ignorant, and have entailed this misfortune upon their families by neglect: the state of education is much inferior to that of New England on this account. The prevalence of the Dutch and German languages in some parts of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, has also been an obstacle to the improvement of the people.

302. The state of New York has united all public literary institutions into one body under the name of the university. It has a fund of a million of dollars for the support of common schools, under the direction of the regents of the university; and in 1820 it was found that nine-tenths of the children received instruction. This state has a distinct fund of 100,000 dollars for the encouragement of literature, which is appropriated to colleges and academies at the discretion of the regents. Pennsylvania has also commenced a system of public education.

303. In the southern states the people gene. rally live on extensive plantations, or in settlements spread over a large tract, so that it is difficult for a sufficient number to unite for the establishment of institutions for literary and religious instruction. On this account the means of education are not easily procured, except by the rich. The slaves of these states are rarely taught even to read; and in many parts of the country it is considered dangerous by the planters to give them any instruction. Virginia has established a fund of more than a million of dollars for the purposes of education, of which 45,000 are annually appropriated to common schools. Georgia and South Carolina also make some provision for the support of schools. The western states have been so recently settled, and are yet so thinly populated, that it is difficult to establish and support the means of instruction, and often difficult to obtain competent teachers, either literary or religious. In most of these states, however, a portion of land has generally been reserved by congress for the purposes of education. A foundation is thus laid for the promotion of knowledge, which will doubtless produce the most salutary effects, when the state of the country shall permit the advantageous employment of these funds. In Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, 1-36th of each township is devoted to schools, besides an appropriation for the establishment of colleges, sufficient, if properly managed, to found and support institutions superior to any now existing in the country.

304. The system of mutual instruction has been introduced in most of the large cities of the United States, and is gradually extending to other places where the population is sufficiently dense to render it important. Sunday-schools are very extensively introduced, not usually for the sake of elementary instruction, which is accessible to almost every one except the poor of the cities, so much as for the communication of religious instruction.

305. Extensive efforts are making to improve the system of education by the formation of schools on the plan of those of Yverdun and Hoffwyl in Switzerland; and an institution of some celebrity has been formed and conducted on the principle of applying military discipline as the instrument of government, and the means of developing the physical powers.

306. Peculiar attention has also been paid of late years to female education. Attempts have been made to found public establishments in which the sex shall be furnished with those privileges, and provided with those safeguards, arising from the employment of responsible instructors and established rules of discipline, which have hitherto been inaccessible to them from the independence and imperfection of private schools. The success which has attended these efforts thus far, is such as to encourage the hope of a favourable result, and open, impor-tant improvement in the education of those who form the early character of the future guardians and governors of the state.

307. The unfortunate have not been quite forgotten in the provision for public education; and five institutions for the instruction of the deaf and dumb have been founded in Hartford, in Connecticut, at Philadelphia, New York, and Kentucky. The three first have received legislative patronage, and some of the states have resolved to grant an annual provision for the education of the deaf and dumb. There are yet no institutions for the blind.

308. UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.-The United States are also well supplied with institutions for classical and scientific education. The universities and colleges of this country usually have a collection of buildings in which the students reside entirely, and live at a common table. They are in other respects organized on the plan of the colleges of Scotland; but several of them pursue a more extended course of study. Instruction is generally continued throughout the year, with short vacations. The students are superintended and taught by a number of professors, who deliver lectures on particular branches; and tutors, who direct their studies more particularly, and examine them in their daily lessons. It is also considered a part of their duty to inspect and regulate their conduct, and exercise a paternal care in forming their character. The course of study is usually four years; and degrees are conferred on examination, after a full course of instruction. The bachelor becomes master at pleasure at the end of three years; but all higher degrees are exclusively honorary, except in medicine, and are not applied for.

309. The eastern states are best provided with colleges, which were established at the first settlement of the country, and have maintained the highest reputation for discipline and learning. The two principal institutions are Harvard University at Cambridge in Massachusetts, and Yale College at New Haven in Connecticut. 310. Harvard university is the oldest in the United States. It holds the first rank in the extent of its funds, library, and means of instruction, and the number of its professors. A theological school at Cambridge, and a medical school in Boston, are connected with it.

311. Yale college at New Haven was next to Harvard in the period of its foundation. It has very limited funds, but an extensive apparatus for chemical and philosophical instruction; and the finest cabinet of minerals in the United States is deposited here by Colonel Gibbs. A medical college and theological school are connected with it.

312. The middle states have a number of seats of learning which hold a respectable rank. New York has three colleges, of which Union college at Schenectady is considered as holding the first rank. There is also an important medical institution in the city of New York. The university of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, is celebrated for its course of medical instruction, and some of its professors have gained great celebrity in Europe. New Jersey has a flourishing college at Princeton styled Nassau Hall, which was among the earliest institutions of the country, and has produced some of its most celebrated men.

313. The southern states are not so well provided with literary institutions, and a large

number of their youth are educated in the northern states. Maryland has distinguished schools of medicine and law at Baltimore, and a Catholic college. In the district of Columbia is a Catholic college at Georgetown; and a Baptist institution. called the Columbian college, has recently been founded in the city of Washington. Virginia has established a university for the state at Charlottesville with ample funds, to which 15,000 dollars are annually appropriated. Extensive and elegant buildings have been erected, comprising 104 dormitories for students, with five hotels or boarding-houses, and several houses for the professors. The expense of their erection absorbed all the funds for some years, and the institution has just come into operation. At Williamsburg is the college of William and Mary, founded in the reign of those sovereigns, which at one period had nearly fallen to decay, but is now revived, North Carolina has a state university at Chapel Hill, liberally patronized, and rapidly advancing in usefulness and respectability. South Carolina has a university at Columbia, founded in 1801, which is richly endowed from the public funds. The university of Georgia consists of a well-endowed college, called Franklin college, at Athens, and a number of academies or preparatory schools, one of which is to be established in each county under the direction of a body styled the Senatus Acade

micus.

314. In the western states a number of colleges have been founded on the appropriation of land made by congress; but several have not gone into operation; and others have not risen above the rank of respectable academies. At Lexington, in Kentucky, is a flourishing institution, styled the Transylvania University, which comprises a law school and a medical institution. It holds the first rank among the institutions of the western states, in the number of its professors and students, and the extent of its course of instruction.

315. Among the most distinguished scientific institutions in the United States is the military academy at West Point, on the Hudson river. It is said to rival or surpass the best establishments of this kind in Europe. A very thorough course of instruction is given in the natural, and especially the mathematical sciences (extending to the highest branches in their application to the military art), the French language, drawing, and the elements of moral and political philosophy. There are 250 students supported by the United States, each for five years. They reside in a large building, live at a common table, and are continually subject to military discipline. They are daily exercised by companies in military manœuvres; and are encamped at least three months in the year. Each in his turn has an opportunity of learning the duties of a common soldier, and of every grade of office. Those who finish the course of five years are considered candidates for any vacancy which may occur among the officers of the army.

316. In addition to the literary institutions described under the name of universities and colleges, and the provision made in a number of them for theological instruction, there are several