The Old World And The New

Paius, Deo. 26t.li, 18GA. It is veiy natural tbat tlie voysger at bis journey'a end should takt; a aort of general review of the route passed over, aud eudeavor to answer a cjuesüon or two which alwajs present tlieiuaelves "Wliich country di you like best ! " is ever at the tonguo's eni), and for me it. is always tbe most difficult to auswer. - God has bo divorsified his gifts ou eartli, that (ifien a naüon like au individual is favorecí in somo particular tbing more tliun anothor. It vvere casj to fiud iu eveiy conutrv, liowover low or poor, gomo eharactoristic which makcs it happy; it wóre not diffioult to disuovcr iu every nation, however high or prosperous, some evil that inakes it wruUliod. T bus thc voyagcr is compelled Uv divido his adruiratinn, leaving here a ]i Itle and tliere a little as ho passos ovemation aílcr nation, ard iiot roserving all liis prèiêe to cast at length in volume upon a single pOüple. For wildnesa and grundeur oí soöiiery, the A.lps of Switzorland mOuSt impresa tlio soul; for a i.;lorious liisiory anda love of the beautiful, Italy, " tbo mother of arts, as ouce of arras," stands preemineat; for general intel'igeuce, and a remarkitble development of an educational sys'.cm, Prussia is the níition par excellence; lor rrianufiiotures and commuroial industry, Belgium, perhaps, with its mines and its Birminghamshire air, takes the íirst rank ; and for military power, for consolidaron of govornmtnt, for aristooracy of letters, FraDoe is the moat reinarkable. However, wben tbe question, wbich is the happiest? presenta itself, I feel that I can answer imiiiediutoly, Switzerland. Poihaps my republican educai.ion makes me look through prejudiced eyes, but I can not but consider the littie republic amid tbe Alps, as tbe bappiest of nutions. And why ? On account of tbe wealth of ita inhabitants? Not at all - for ts inbabitants in general are pooi' ; on acoouut of the fertility ot its land? not at all - for in genera! the land is sterile ; on account of its national power? pot at a!l it has no voice in European affairs; on account of its extent of territery ? no - a provioce of France is larger. Why then ? Eeause Switzerlund is the living example of that piinciple of individual, civil, and re!igiou9 liborty which uiakes happy the oitizen and the nation, where a peopie goverDB itself, wbere each mrfn thiiika biniself repponsible for the welfare of bis country, where tbe governorsare not tbe despots but the servants of their fellow citizens, where eaoh ranu can edúcate himself and mount according to bis merit; and, above all, where no Eerious división of interest and no bitter opposition of public sentiment prevail there, there has been, there is, and there ever will be the greatest amour.t of national liappiness. In euch a nation thero is not a continual atruggle between the governing and the govei ned. There is no chance for tho minoderat. ambitiou of one man to mount 8 o high as to en daiiger the liborty of the whole nation. There each individual eau eay, I am the governor of my oountry ; I am intorested in my oountry's existeneo as in my owu; my country and myself - that's ouo and the same. Again the qneation presenta itself ; in what general marnier does tbe old world diller fiom the new ? I answer, iu its souvenirs af the past and iu its oontiuual lesson on instubility and death. The voyager traverges the tombs of uations. tío stands upoi) the ruins of other ages. He sees the delrü of other civilizations Uoes he travel in Italy ! he regaras the "wreek of another world, whose asAres still are warm." Does he travele Germany, a hundred. chiefless castles, breatlnng stern farewells, From gray butjtaiy walls, wUerenun gveeuly dwells,' gpeak of an age and of a civiliaation kone ocs lje euter ifranoe- lie stands before souvenirs without number of other men, of otbtr goverumants whicb have passed away. Tlius, everywhere seems to be written tho word deith - Man, iustitutions, nations, have lolt its scepter. The history of the past is but a recital of its ravages In Amones one ís not tnus i.uprcsseu with the instability of thirgs human. - Surrounded as lio is by everything new, nis thoughts are. uat attraoted by what ia oíd. He has n chance of companng the prosen1: and past, the modem with the aticient ei viliz'ition. Ho seos liberty in its full developmcnt, and forgets how uiany confliots and how many ages have been neecssary for its growth. Tlicn no 'niouldenng towcr, dim witb the mist of yoars" spcaUs of a Ramas sway ; no roiigh arrow-head, pioked up by accident, recites tbe hietory of a barbarie iuvasiou; no ruineel castle, mute but eloquent, retaifldi one öf chivalry ; no old catkedral, ehurohiried,.disoour.sescn religious revolutioiis. Europe bas been the battlefield, America the receptum hall oí graat refovnis. Thuf when the European n-garding lueroly tlie age of America, say to me, "Pohè Amerioa has no history," "uo, thank Heaven 1 nono of yow bistory," I ,reily. For wliat is it but a glimpse of ignorance, blood shed, ard humanityl - The 'av of the growth of nations bging the same as tlml of man, they are boru, they grow. But Americu i.an exceptie to thut law. She sprang iuto life full giwvn, strang in the principies wbitth governud htT- t'fle oouflux of the development of the ages. No, Amurica has no bistovy, if age alone wakes histwy.- Iiut if history i.s the stovy. cf liberly devclopcd and of humanity elevated, then a ,,.nvi,,,i lm a histoiv vhcb uill regnund