An European, When He First Arrives, Seems Limited In His Intentions,
As Well As In His Views; But He Very
Suddenly alters his scale; two
hundred miles formerly appeared a very great distance, it is now but
a trifle; he
No sooner breathes our air than he forms schemes, and
embarks in designs he never would have thought of in his own
country. There the plenitude of society confines many useful ideas,
and often extinguishes the most laudable schemes which here ripen
into maturity. Thus Europeans become Americans.
But how is this accomplished in that crowd of low, indigent people,
who flock here every year from all parts of Europe? I will tell you;
they no sooner arrive than they immediately feel the good effects of
that plenty of provisions we possess: they fare on our best food,
and they are kindly entertained; their talents, character, and
peculiar industry are immediately inquired into; they find
countrymen everywhere disseminated, let them come from whatever part
of Europe. Let me select one as an epitome of the rest; he is hired,
he goes to work, and works moderately; instead of being employed by
a haughty person, he finds himself with his equal, placed at the
substantial table of the farmer, or else at an inferior one as good;
his wages are high, his bed is not like that bed of sorrow on which
he used to lie: if he behaves with propriety, and is faithful, he is
caressed, and becomes as it were a member of the family. He begins
to feel the effects of a sort of resurrection; hitherto he had not
lived, but simply vegetated; he now feels himself a man, because he
is treated as such; the laws of his own country had overlooked him
in his insignificancy; the laws of this cover him with their mantle.
Judge what an alteration there must arise in the mind and thoughts
of this man; he begins to forget his former servitude and
dependence, his heart involuntarily swells and glows; this first
swell inspires him with those new thoughts which constitute an
American. What love can he entertain for a country where his
existence was a burthen to him; if he is a generous good man, the
love of this new adoptive parent will sink deep into his heart. He
looks around, and sees many a prosperous person, who but a few years
before was as poor as himself. This encourages him much, he begins
to form some little scheme, the first, alas, he ever formed in his
life. If he is wise he thus spends two or three years, in which time
he acquires knowledge, the use of tools, the modes of working the
lands, felling trees, etc. This prepares the foundation of a good
name, the most useful acquisition he can make. He is encouraged, he
has gained friends; he is advised and directed, he feels bold, he
purchases some land; he gives all the money he has brought over, as
well as what he has earned, and trusts to the God of harvests for
the discharge of the rest. His good name procures him credit. He is
now possessed of the deed, conveying to him and his posterity the
fee simple and absolute property of two hundred acres of land,
situated on such a river. What an epocha in this man's life! He is
become a freeholder, from perhaps a German boor - he is now an
American, a Pennsylvanian, an English subject. He is naturalised,
his name is enrolled with those of the other citizens of the
province. Instead of being a vagrant, he has a place of residence;
he is called the inhabitant of such a county, or of such a district,
and for the first time in his life counts for something; for
hitherto he has been a cypher. I only repeat what I have heard many
say, and no wonder their hearts should glow, and be agitated with a
multitude of feelings, not easy to describe. From nothing to start
into being; from a servant to the rank of a master; from being the
slave of some despotic prince, to become a free man, invested with
lands, to which every municipal blessing is annexed! What a change
indeed! It is in consequence of that change that he becomes an
American. This great metamorphosis has a double effect, it
extinguishes all his European prejudices, he forgets that mechanism
of subordination, that servility of disposition which poverty had
taught him; and sometimes he is apt to forget too much, often
passing from one extreme to the other. If he is a good man, he forms
schemes of future prosperity, he proposes to educate his children
better than he has been educated himself; he thinks of future modes
of conduct, feels an ardour to labour he never felt before. Pride
steps in and leads him to everything that the laws do not forbid: he
respects them; with a heart-felt gratitude he looks toward the east,
toward that insular government from whose wisdom all his new
felicity is derived, and under whose wings and protection he now
lives. These reflections constitute him the good man and the good
subject. Ye poor Europeans, ye, who sweat, and work for the great -
ye, who are obliged to give so many sheaves to the church, so many
to your lords, so many to your government, and have hardly any left
for yourselves - ye, who are held in less estimation than favourite
hunters or useless lap-dogs - ye, who only breathe the air of nature,
because it cannot be withheld from you; it is here that ye can
conceive the possibility of those feelings I have been describing;
it is here the laws of naturalisation invite every one to partake of
our great labours and felicity, to till unrented, untaxed lands!
Many, corrupted beyond the power of amendment, have brought with
them all their vices, and disregarding the advantages held to them,
have gone on in their former career of iniquity, until they have
been overtaken and punished by our laws.
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