dent would give some generic peculiarities; and that permutation of the consonants, which we see among the Algonquin bands, would, in the end, leave little besides the vowel sounds, and the interchangeable consonants, to identify tribes long separated by time and by distance, without means of intercommunication, without letters, and without arts. If compared by these principles, there is reason to believe philologists would find the primitive languages of America extremely few, and their grammatical principles either identical, or partaking largely of the same features. And to this result the tendency of inquiry on this side the Atlantic is slowly verging, however it may contravene the theories of learned and ingenious philologists in Europe. The inquiry is fraught with deep interest to the philosophical mind, and it offers a field for intellectual achievement, which it may be hoped will not be left unculti vated by the pens of piety, philosophy, or genius."

We have been tempted by the hitherto unexplored part of the Mississipi, and by the more serious observations of Mr. Schoolcraft, to a greater length than we had at first contemplated; and our limits will not now allow of our following the expedition to the Des Corbeaux, where they saw the murderer of Governor Semple; nor to the exploring of the St. Croix and Burntwood (or. Brulé) rivers. All we can do then is to assure our readers that they reached home in safety, having been entirely successful in the geographical part of their undertaking. We could have wished, however, for some more decided data for the position of the places visited, as we do not in any instance hear of means having been taken for ascertaining their latitudes and longitudes. It was long also before we could accustom ourselves (to reconcile such expressions would be impossible) to the American phraseology, in which the book abounds, such 66 as a clever brook"-" a man who is called upon to debark"-" being thus rendered tense between bank and bank"-" their medicinism is nothing more"-" not seeing how the meal could be suitably got along with"-the application of the word "essentially," so different from the bearing given it by Europeans, &c. &c. We have heard Americans pride themselves on retaining the English language in its purity, and, if this be true, we rejoice in our corruption. We could further have wished for a little more enthusiasm in Mr. Schoolcraft's description of his journey, which is heavy and monotonous; a little of that heat which carries us along with the traveller; and a little of that graphic power which gives the reader also a peep at the scenes he has it not in his power to visit. A very full appendix, containing statistics, language, official papers, &c., forms nearly half the volume.

We have now a quarto volume before us, consisting of 364 pages, and containing a technical and statistical account of the principal canals, rail-roads, and other public improvements of the

United States, written and compiled by a Monsieur Guillaume Tell Poussin, (a curious combination of names bye the bye,) exmajor in the American Engineers, who it seems was driven from France at the period of her great internal convulsion, and entered the service of the United States. Monsieur Poussin is now returned to his native country, where he has published the work of which we speak. For ourselves, we must confess there is nothing more uninteresting than a canal or a rail-road, and we never hear of our fair fields and green hedgerows being cut up for their formation without a sigh of regret; much to the horror of our utility, time-saving, money-making neighbours, who never will be at rest till they have converted the whole of our lovely, gardenlike island into one vast city. However, we have no such regrets respecting Brother Jonathan, who has "ample room and verge enough" for such undertakings. The sole feeling we possess towards his improvements is a sort of half-surprised, halfjealous uneasiness at their magnificence and extent. Our readers will pardon the dry catalogue we here present to them, but the mere enumeration of the works undertaken since 1824, and described by M. Poussin, will impress them with some idea of the gigantic labours of a nation to which we are the progenitors.

CANALS.

1. From Chesapeake to Ohio.

2.

12245

Chesapeake to the Delaware.

the Delaware to Rariton.

4. Canal Morris.

of the Junction of the Mississipi and Pontchartrain,
of Pensylvania.

of Lehigh.

of Hudson.

of New York.

of Champlain.

of Middlesex.

of Erie.

RAIL-ROADS.

Besides these, there are projected canals and rail-roads, which we suppose are by this time rapidly advancing; and post-roads, breakwaters, &c. already executed.

It will be recollected that the United States, at a rough calculation, comprehend 57 degrees of longitude, and 27 of latitude, and, according to the estimate of M. Poussin, cover an extent of 2,037,165 English square miles; and to defend the enormous frontiers of such a country, as well as to promote internal communication, many of the above-mentioned labours were performed. A commission was appointed by Act of Congress in 1816. General Bernard (to whom M. William Tell Poussin has dedicated his book) was connected with it, and M. Poussin was attached to him as his aide-de-camp. During the presidency of Mr. James Monro, in 1824, a law was made to authorize the funds necessary for a supply of plans, and the information required before operations could be commenced; and surveys of the country were instantly taken, which occupied four years. On the results of these all the future plans were based, and the government liberally assisted the various companies that were incorporated. Some obstacles, however, were afterwards raised by those who were not gifted with an equally liberal spirit; but, the love of enterprise being increased rather than diminished, the government was in a manner forced to yield assistance towards rendering several rivers navigable. These, with various improvements on the coasts for the protection of commerce, being considered as a national concern, the proper supplies were annually voted. The canals have been mostly accomplished by companies of individuals, and in some of the states by a general fund established solely for furthering improvements, and administered by a select committee. Pensylvania, for instance, which contains a population of 1,348,233 souls, spread over a surface of 35,776 square miles, has, in the space of four years, and up to 1833, spent 195 millions of francs in rendering rivers navigable, in the construction of bridges, in macadamized roads, canals and rail-roads. This state has consequently 702 miles of canals and rail-roads completed, traversing it in every direction.

To follow M. Poussin through all the improvements of the United States would not agree with our limits, and we must confine ourselves to one example of the mauner in which he has performed his task.

The object of the canal which reaches from the Chesapeake to Ohio, is to form a line of water communication from the Atlantic to the latter; and it has been constructed at the expense of a company, of which the government, the states of Virginia, Maryland and Pensylvania, the corporations of the three towns of

VOL. XV. NO. XXX.

Washington, Alexandria and Georgetown (composing the district of Columbia), and some individuals, are the shareholders.

The eastern division of this canal begins at Georgetown, near Washington, and extends as far as Cumberland, to the mouth of the Savage river, a tributary of the northern branch of the Potomac. It is 186 miles long, and undergoes a considerable difference of level, redeemed by seventy-four locks, which are built of rough pieces of hewn stone, fastened by hydraulic cement, and flows along the left bank of the valley of the Potomac. The dif ficulties attending this route were very great, for it was necessary to cross a chain of high lands belonging to the Alleghany Mountains; to effect which, excavations were made in the solid rock, and high walls and dykes in many places constructed for supporting the bed of the canal, which was frequently above the bed of the Potomac. The expenses of this part of the enterprise amounted to £1,846,657 sterling.

The central division extends from Cumberland to the mouth of the river Casselman, in the Youghagany, to the west of the Alleghany Mountains. Its length is 70 miles, 1040 yards, and it traverses the high lands by a subterranean passage cut through the rock, a distance of 4 miles and 80 yards. This portion contains 246 locks.

The western division begins a quarter of a mile below the confluence of the Casselman and the Youghagany, and ends at Pittsburg, at the mouth of the rivers Alleghany and Monongohela, in Ohio. It is 85 miles long, and has 78 locks. For the first 27 miles, as far as Connelsville, the land presented the greatest difficulties, in consequence of the narrow defiles to be traversed, the declivities to wind round by a bed cut out of the rock, or immense walls necessary for the support of the body of the canal. The expenses of this division have been estimated at £941,775. The whole of the three divisions will have cost £5,053,117.

We shall not, says M. Poussin, in any country find a work which can be compared to the above canal, either when considered relatively to the labours required in its execution, or to the immense political, commercial, and military advantages which it secures. The districts which it is to benefit contain a population of 1,864,335 inhabitants, and produce coal, lime, building timber and stone, planks, slate, marble, corn, maize, flour, tobacco, hemp, flax, linseed, oxen, pigs, lard, tallow, whiskey, iron, glass, &c.; and M. Poussin calculates, that six years after the opening of the entire canal, the augmentation of the value of these productions, or in other terms, the advantages to those who trade in such commodities, will bear a proportionate value of 1 to the whole expense of the canal. The population has already in

creased at an unusual rate, and scarcely was the canal finished, when it was found insufficient for the rapidly increasing commerce, and new projects were started. Its communication with the bay of the Chesapeake adds to its importance; for this bay, by its central position on the shores of the Atlantic, unites the commerce of the north and the south, and in time of war is protected by the fortifications of the Hampton roads.

We must here take leave of the United States, their magnificent country, and their no less magnificent labours. Every inquiry, every chance atom of information, only impresses on us still more forcibly their rising grandeur. It is not into their drawing-room refinements that we must look for their perfections; from them probably, in our high state of civilization, we shall recoil, and be apt to lose sight of the national greatness in our disgust. We can only be just when we reflect on the natural advantages they possess, and the noble manner in which their inhabitants profit by these advantages.

ART. VI.--1. L'Espagne. Souvenirs de 1823 et de 1833. Par M. Adolphe de Bourgoing. Paris. Dufart et Delaunay.

1834.

2. Finances of Spain. London. Richardson. 1834.

THE City-panic, which occurred only in the last week in May, and which has not yet been allayed, concerning the affairs of Spain, the state of her securities, and her political relations with other powers, renders all information connected with either of these subjects of very great importance. Capitalists, in their eagerness to make investments, have depended, perhaps, too unconditionally on her supposed opulence, and the loyalty and honour so long attributed to the national character. Whatever evils may arise from any misplaced confidence of this kind are tenfold aggravated by the spirit of gambling which ordinarily disgraces the Stock Exchange, and which, in the case of the Spanish securities, is confessed to have been inordinate. Any accident, any event, under such circumstances, is likely to produce the most serious alarm, and to end in fatal consequences. Moreover, the Carlists, according to the perfidious French journals, were annihilated. Sober politicians believed that Don Carlos, with the remnant of his partizans, would be soon compelled to take refuge on the French territory, and then all of a sudden were startled from their propriety by the report that the position of the Christinos had rendered it needful for the Spanish government to make application to the King of the French for assistance. The successes of