She Requires Only For The Future The Blessing Of God, So
Freely Accorded To The Nations Which Honour Him, To Make Her Great And
Powerful.
The future of nations, as of individuals, is mercifully veiled
in mystery; we can trace the rise and progress
Of empires, but we know not
the time when they shall droop and decay - when the wealthy and populous
cities of the Present shall be numbered with the Nineveh and Babylon of
the Past. It may be that in future years our mighty nation shall go the
way of all that have been before it; but whether the wise decrees of
Providence doom it to flourish or decline, we can still look with
confident hope to this noble colony in the New World, believing that on
her enlightened and happy shores, under the influence of beneficent
institutions and of a scriptural faith, the Anglo-Saxon race may renew the
vigour of its youth, and realise in time to come the brightest hopes which
have ever been formed of England in the New World.
CHAPTER XV.
Preliminary remarks on re-entering the States - Americanisms - A little
slang - Liquoring up - Eccentricities in dress - A 'cute chap down east -
Conversation on eating - A Kentucky gal - Lake Champlain - Delaval's - A noisy
serenade - Albany - Beauties of the Hudson - The Empire City.
It has been truly observed that a reliable book on the United States yet
remains to be written. The writer of such a volume must neither be a
tourist nor a temporary resident. He must spend years, in the different
States, nicely estimating the different characteristics of each, as well
as the broadly-marked shades of difference between East, West, and South.
He must trace the effect of Republican principles upon the various races
which form this vast community; and, while analysing the prosperity of the
country, he must carefully distinguish between the real, the fictitious,
and the speculative. In England we speak of America as "Brother
Jonathan" in the singular number, without any fraternal feeling however,
and consider it as one nation, possessing uniform distinguishing
characteristics. I saw less difference between Edinburgh and Boston,
than between Boston and Chicago; the dark-haired Celts of the west of
Scotland, and the stirring artisans of our manufacturing cities, have more
in common than the descendants of the Puritans in New England, and the
reckless, lawless inhabitants of the newly-settled territories west of the
Mississippi. It must not be forgotten that the thirty-two States of which
the Union is composed, may be considered in some degree as separate
countries, each possessing its governor and assembly, and framing, to a
considerable extent, its own laws. Beyond the voice which each State
possesses in the Congress and Senate at Washington, there is apparently
little to bind this vast community together; there is no national form of
religion, or state endowed church; Unitarianism may be the prevailing
faith in one State. Presbyterianism in another, and Universalism in a
third; while between the Northern and Southern States there is as wide a
difference as between England and Russia - a difference stamped on the very
soil itself, and which, in the opinion of some, threatens a disseverance
of the Union.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 173 of 249
Words from 89900 to 90434
of 129941
