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that relates to us. Other nations, it is true, have feasts and festivals in commemoration of great events in their history, but they are events, which chiefly affected their sovereigns and princes. Our great anniversary, on the contrary, is truly a national one; a commemoration of blessings, extended equally to every individual of the land. Nor is this the only occasion afforded to the people of our country, of calling up the great events of their history. They hear of them at every political and municipal meeting, on the fast and feast days appointed by the civil government, and at the public academic and other literary exercises, which are so frequent among us; so that little as they may learn of them by reading of treatises, they cannot yet be ignorant of them. We would not, however, be understood to say, that this is all the knowledge of our history, which we are bound to cultivate. The remarks were made only in explanation of our apparent indifference to the study. But the historical is a small part only of the work under consideration; its main object is statistics. This is a science of recent origin, for though it embraces most of the subjects assigned both in England and in this country to geography, they are in fact entirely distinct, when the latter is kept within its proper limits. Geography treats the earth in relation only to its mathematical figure, its physical characters, and its political divisions; statistics is a philosophical account of whatever has an influence on a state, as such. The former, therefore, must confine its descriptions to territory, but the latter includes both people and territory. The earliest work we have of a statistical nature, is the Del governo e amministrazione di diversi regni e republiche' of Francisco Sansovino, published at Venice in 1567, and which was compiled from materials, collected by the ministers of the Venetian republic at the several courts of Europe, by order of the senate. The collection commonly called Republicæ Elzevirianæ, first published at Leyden in 1625, of which Grotius was one of the principal compilers, is also statistical; but there was no systematic work of this description, before the time of Achenwall, who was professor at Göttingen in Hannover, in the middle of the last century. He was the father of the science, and first made it a subject of lectures in the Universities; and it is now taught in this way throughout the continent of Europe. In 1749, he published his Abriss der neuesten Staatswissenschaft der heutigen vornehmsten Europäischen Reiche und Republi

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ed as a mode divisions and ed for the mo

it is in conse republic. In sents us with progress, and have never s compass, no The languag sound, and these respect professed pro the author, w bad transferre under which to determine

'It was a fa the country wa most enlighten Fariety of hap of its worst p peopled by son the state of the leading part of tion and priest liberal ideas th progress in ar considered their after they had the Indians, the was an unoccup climate, spread the skill and ind the arts necessa acquired till its progress of societ by vicious arrang Most of the military habits, a prejudices, chec New Series.

ken,' which has already passed through seven editions, and served as a model for all later works on the same subject. The divisions and subdivisions laid down by him have been adopted for the most part by our author, and where departed from, it is in consequence of the peculiar political character of our republic. In an introduction of fifty pages, Mr Warden presents us with a summary and admirable view of the history, progress, and present condition of the United States. We have never seen more information condensed into so small a compass, nor ever looked on a finer picture of our country. The language of it is elegant, the style forcible, the reasoning sound, and the descriptions beautiful and eloquent. In all these respects it is so unlike the body of the work, that if some professed preface-writer, like Dr Johnson, had been near the author, we should have been unjust enough to think he bad transferred his pen to another hand. The circumstances under which our country was settled, and which have served to determine our character, are thus pointed out by him.

It was a favorable circumstance for the United States, that the country was colonized chiefly by population drawn from the most enlightened nations of the old world, and at a period, when a variety of happy changes had disabused the human mind of some of its worst prejudices. What would have been its situation, if peopled by some of the other nations of Europe, is apparent from the state of the Spanish colonies. The English, who formed the leading part of the colonists, had been emancipated from superstition and priestcraft by the reformation, they had imbibed more liberal ideas than other nations in politics, and had made greater progress in arts and industry. The first settlers, no doubt, considered their removal to this country a painful sacrifice, but after they had acquired strength to maintain themselves against the Indians, the advantages of their situation began to appear. It was an unoccupied world, of the richest soil, and most favored climate, spread out before a small number of men, who possessed the skill and industry of a mature society. In the ancient world, the arts necessary to draw forth the riches of the earth were not acquired till its surface was in general appropriated; and the progress of society was checked, first by ignorance, and afterwards by vicious arrangements.' p. xviii.

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Most of the old colonies were planted when the prevalence of military habits, and of a dark superstition, with a host of errors and prejudices, checked the march of industry and improvement. New Series. No. 7.

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The North American colonists on the other hand, left Europe when the military spirit had no longer a baleful ascendency; when the effects of industry, the true source of national wealth, had begun to develop themselves; when civil liberty began to be understood and valued; when religion was stripped of many of its corruptions; when knowledge was advancing, and society had begun to settle on its right basis. The colonists, placed in the new settlements, had only to avail themselves of the advantages of their situation. Their society, held together by common wants, and moulded by their circumstances, was disencumbered of many of those corruptions and abuses, which time and accident accumulate in all old communities. A fortunate combination of circumstances, by bringing them all under one government, left them free from the destructions of war; and they had no powerful neighbour, jealous of their prosperity, to compel them to load themselves with a great military establishment. They were placed at too great a distance from Europe, to be often embroiled in its quarrels and yet near enough to share the benefits of its commerce and improvements.' p. xx.

The introduction then touches upon our extent of territory, the ratio of population, the height of our mountains, the length of our rivers, the character of our soil and the nature of its products, the rapid increase of inhabitants, the agriculture, commerce and manufactures, the government, religion and manners of the country, on all which subjects the author's remarks are very striking. If our limits would allow, we should be glad to extract more copiously from this part of the work, but we can only give the concluding paragraph.

Doubtless the government of the United States is not exempt from the errors and imperfections, that adhere to all human institutions. But compare its public conduct with that of the old governments of Europe. How calm and reasonable is its language; always addressing itself to the understanding and the solid interests of the people, never to their passions or prejudices. It seeks no aid from superstition, supports no gainful impostures, and uses none of that disgusting cant, with which the old governments of Europe varnish over the degradation of the people. It is a stranger to state craft and mystery. All its acts are done in the face of day. It promotes knowledge, religion and learning, without the preference of particular sects, and without debasing them by falsehoods beneficial to the ruling powers. It is the only government in the world that dares to put arms freely into the hands of all its citizens. From Maine to Mississippi it commands a prompt and ready obedience, without any other weapon than a constable's

staff. In a w the developm unexampled; and property the most expe When an brings upon

with what th proceed furt present case three volun pages of the other sixtee collecting ma which does n official return of many of t country. Ta our sides whe of the works bales and par commerce of commodities of its operati parts of the st reports to the on the resour by no means ther than the given to their selves. Anoth imperio of our confusion in a of the confeder litical states ar few men that government, w Sovereignties, one in obtaini the bad arrang this objection work, which a

staff. In a word, it secures property, satisfies opinion, promotes the development of industry and talent, with a rapidity hitherto unexampled; and, with the smallest sacrifice of individual rights and property on the part of the people, it accomplishes all that the most expensive and powerful governments pretend to.' p. lxiv.

When an author puts such an introduction to his work, he brings upon himself this evil, that most readers are satisfied with what they learn from it, and do not take the trouble to proceed further. We do not recommend this course in the present case, but we are sure that those, who go through the three volumes, will agree with us in thinking, that the sixty pages of the introduction are worth as much at least as the other sixteen or seventeen hundred. There is a difficulty in collecting materials for a work on the statistics of this country, which does not exist in regard to the states of Europe. No official returns are made and no account is taken in America of many of the objects, which enter into a statistical view of a country. Taxation does not haunt our dwellings, or wait at our sides when we gather in our harvests, or stand at the door of the workshops of our artisans, or put its stamp upon the bales and parcels, which come from our manufactories. The commerce of the interior, in which the transportation of the commodities exchanged is made by land, renders no account of its operations. Hence we find great inaccuracies in those parts of the statistical accounts, in which there are no official reports to the general government for a guide. Bristed's book on the resources of America is full of them, and Warden's is by no means free; but Pitkin and Seybert, by going no further than they were warranted by official documents, have given to their works the authority of the documents themselves. Another difficulty for our author was the imperium in imperio of our confederation, which must necessarily produce confusion in an account of it, when the character and powers of the confederation and of the members composing it as political states are not clearly and distinctly defined. There are few men that have not seen the practical operation of our government, who are able to understand our general and state sovereignties, and we doubt much if Mr Warden would aid one in obtaining a better knowledge of the subject, owing to the bad arrangement he has adopted. To make the justice of this objection apparent, we must give the divisions of his work, which are as follows:

1st. Of the physical features, climate, and natural productions of the country.

2d. Description of the several states and territories comprehended in the Union, with an appendix describing Florida.

3d. Of the federal government and public establishments connected with it, and of the population, agriculture, trade, revenue and resources of the United States.

4th. Of the Indians.

Now we see no reason, why the description of the several states should have been introduced between his first and third parts, especially as it fills two volumes, and thus widely separates the several portions of the account of the country as a single state. The received statistical method does not authorize it, for although political divisions make a subdivision of the first general head of statistics, territory, this subdivision refers merely to local partition. Moreover, did the received method authorize Mr Warden's divisions, it should not have been followed in this instance, on account of the confusion and repetition it brings with it. The states of our confederation are not political divisions, like the counties of England, the departments of France, and the governments of Russia; and great confusion must obviously arise, if they are viewed at the same time as such and as independent sovereignties. The way of avoiding this is easy; consider the United States as to territory and all its physical characters as one, and as to its government as a confederation, describing only the federal rights and powers of the members, which compose it. The individual states may then be described as minutely [as may be wished. A farther examination of the work will show us other objections to its system of arrangement. We have, for example, in the description of the individual states a constant repetition. of what we had learned in the description of the United States. How can it be otherwise, when as to their physical properties, they are but parts of one whole? The general aspect of the country and the nature of the soil, the lakes and rivers, the climate, the products of the fields and forests, the animals, the diseases, in a word every thing which relates to it merely as a territory, have the same character, whether state or federal. Moreover it is a dangerous thing for an author to expose himself in this way to the charge of contradictions; numerous instances of which, we are sorry to say, are to be found in the work before us. Compare volume i. pages 27 and 373, as to

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