sents as insufferable degradation, any admixture with that which runs in plebeian veins. Nowhere is there a broader gulf between the hereditary aristocrasy and the middle classes, than in England. Nowhere is the distinction of rank and wealth more strongly defined. But the pride of wealth, so natural in a commercial country, does not isolate the rich man from his fellows so completely as does the pride of birth, which passes for honour and virtue among those of the order. With the general body of his countrymen, the titled noble has little sympathy or sense of common interest: if they were actually of a different race,-as he is apt to imagine them to be,-it could scarcely add to the essential haughtiness of his feelings towards them. But, happily, our laws make no distinction between the aristocrasy and the other classes; and the substantial power is in the hands of the people, who are consequently not affected by the unsocial arrogance and ideal dignity of the pageant caste.

Now, if the coloured race in the United States formed the bulk of the community, including the whole commercial class, and having a preponderance in the State Legislatures and Federal Congress,-if the white aristocrasy were confined to the exclusive circle of a red book,-the antipathies of these Christian Brahmins against the inferior castes might be laughed to scorn by the sable commoners. But when the despised caste are a small minority destitute of political power, (as was the case with the Jews of Europe in the middle ages, or with the Moors of the Peninsula,) their condition is as helpless as it is intolerable. It is, in fact, admitted by American authorities, that the free blacks among them have nothing of freedom but the name.' The insolence of oppression is probably most acutely felt by those of mixed blood; yet, those of darker skin writhe under it. • Some years ago,' says Mr. Abdy, one of those whom this pride of blood delights to mortify and insult, was living at Hartford, possessed of a handsome competency, and respected as far as his external appearance would admit. This man was frequently heard to say, in 'the most solemn and emphatic manner, that he would joyfully "submit to be flayed alive, if he could rise from the operation ' with a white skin. The very same expression was used by a black woman, who lived as a servant with the person from whom our Author had this anecdote. Though treated with great kindness in the family, she felt she was a Pariah, and could not be ' happy.'

6

Absolute as is now the white ascendancy in the United States, the severity of the recent laws against the coloured population, and the African colonization scheme itself, indicate a growing uneasiness as to the operation of causes which threaten its permanence; and the extreme virulence of the prejudice is, no doubt, in part to be accounted for, as aggravated by apprehensions with

regard to the future. In two ways, this ascendancy may be endangered; by the multiplication of the African race, and by the amalgamation of the races. In the South, the growing numbers of the slave population form the only subject of jealousy. In the North, the mixture of the races is most pathetically deprecated. In Maryland and North Carolina, the black population increases more than twice as fast as the white; and in Virginia, 6 more than one-third faster.' More than thirty years ago, the Rev. David Rice said, in a speech delivered at Danville in Kentucky: It may be proved with mathematical certainty, that if 'things go on in the present channel, the future inhabitants of 'America will inevitably be mulattoes. Now it is this idea which is so utterly intolerable to the white of the northern states, that his blood boils at the thought.

It is,' says Mr. Abdy, in the highest degree ludicrous to witness the anxious interest expressed by the present generation of whites for the condition and complexion of their distant descendants. They deprecate amalgamation as something abhorrent to nature; an unheard of and an unutterable monster:- as if the realization of their fears would not be the surest evidence of their absurdity; or as if they did not know that the half-castes and quadroons, and the diluted subdivisions of the intermixture in the South, are almost, if not quite as numerous as the pure blacks. If the two races intermarry, there can be no natural repugnance between them. If there be a natural repugnance they cannot intermarry.

Another cause of uneasiness to these timid "children of a larger growth," arises from the dread they entertain that the species will be deteriorated by "crossing the breed;" though every one knows, who is capable of comparing forms and figures, that the finest specimens of beauty and symmetry are to be found among those whose veins are filled with mixed blood.' Vol. I., pp. 352, 3.

As one proof, among thousands I could adduce, of the extent to which this vile feeling is carried, I may mention what I witnessed at Nahant. I had said, in the hearing of several persons, that a time would come when all colors would be blended in one by an intermixture of the different races, and the human species exhibit, at its termination, as at its commencement, but one complexion. "If things continue in this country," I added, "as they are now, the blacks will out-number the whites: and they must associate together, or the latter will be driven out." "If I thought your prediction would ever be verified," exclaimed a man who called himself an Englishman, “I would rather see my children, dearly as I love them, perish before my eyes, than bear the idea that their posterity, however remote, should one day sit down to table with a colored man "; a very silly as well as a very malignant speech by the by; for he who uttered it was, by anticipation, condemning his descendants for the very thing he was doing himself-acting in conformity with public opinion.' Ib., p. 182.

The Normans of other days felt thus, perhaps, with regard to

our Saxon progenitors. It was a feeling worthy of those proud barbarians. But that, in this age of philosophy, in a country which boasts of its emancipation from the prejudices of the Old World, under a government which proclaims as its fundamental principle, the political equality of all its citizens, those citizens being gathered from all the nations of Europe, so senseless an antipathy as this should be cherished and gloried in, is, at first view, surprising and unaccountable. But let us look a little more closely into the matter, and we shall discover, perhaps, in the political condition of the Americans, one reason of the strength of this aristocratic prejudice.

Every one who has visited the Transatlantic States has been struck with one prominent feature of the American character; to wit, the extreme and morbid sensitiveness of the cultivated classes to the opinions of foreigners respecting themselves and their institutions. The excessive national vanity which leads them to esteem themselves the first people in the world, the freest, bravest, most enlightened of nations, is accompanied with a feverish solicitude to be so thought of by the European public. Their republican dignity is, to use a significant expression, exceedingly thin-skinned. Their writers, while full of bluster, may be found bitterly complaining, not without reason, of the treatment which their country has met with from Tory Reviewers and other party journalists, as well as from gossiping travellers, male and female, of the Trollope school. While safely defying the power of Britain, they cannot withdraw themselves from the moral control of English opinion. But it must be remarked, that this sensibility to foreign opinion, discovers itself much less in reference to moral characteristics, than in matters of taste, fashion, manners, and pretence. Mr. Abdy makes too unqualified an assertion, we suspect, when he affirms, that much more regard is paid, in the United States, to dress and external appearance, than with us. It may be so at New York, but surely it cannot be general. This proceeds,' he goes on to say, from the same source as the love of money. Where no distinction is attached to rank or birth, it is natural that other outward and visible ⚫signs should supply their places, and be proportionably valued.

'I was often reminded that allowance should be made for a new country that has not yet acquired the graces and elegances of older communities; but never did I hear any thing like regret expressed, (except by the abolitionists, who are stigmatised as unworthy citizens for lamenting it,) that European morality was not as much aimed at as European fashions. It was amusing to see the same persons tremblingly alive to any imputation of wanting that nice polish which is supposed to distinguish the best society in England, yet totally insensible to the charge of as vile a narrow-mindedness as ever disgraced

VOL. XIV.-N.S.

the lowest. The "Patricians" will readily listen to you when you describe the usages of our fashionables; but, if you state that a man's complexion is no bar to admittance anywhere, your remark is received with a sneer of indifference or a smile of scornful incredulity. To be quizzed and caricatured for vulgarity is intolerable to the same people, who seem not to know, or not to care, that you despise them for their prejudices. Hint to them that they eat pease with a knife, and they are highly entaged: tell them that their conduct to the "niggers" is inhuman and unmanly, and they laugh in your face. They look to Europe for "mint and cummin," and leave her "the weightier matters of the law." Purity of language is more valued than generosity of sentiment or nobleness of behavior. To speak with more grammatical accuracy than an Englishman, is matter of general boasting; but to be his inferior in the kind and benevolent feelings he exhibits to every member of the human family, neither excites reflection nor inspires shame.' Vol. I., pp. 76, 77.

Another remarkable circumstance is, that the Americans discover much greater solicitude to stand well with the polite world of Europe, than with the more liberal and religious portion of the great community. It has been asserted by a Colonial journalist, that all the whites of Jamaica are Tories. Of course they are; and so are the slave-holders of Carolina and Georgia, for the same reason. Whigs and Anti-Slavery reformers would be viewed in much the same light by the white aristocracy of the West India Islands, and of the ci-devant Colonies of the Continent. But this is not the sole reason of the marked preference shewn by the citizens even of the northern States for English Toryism, and the little sympathy manifested with the cause of civil and religious freedom in this country. It arises from a notion of the gentility of Conservatism, and from the wish of the wealthy parvenu of the New World, known under the name of Brother Jonathan, to ally himself to all that is patrician, while he affects to despise the titles and pomp of his elder relative. This Conservative taste, which so strongly and ludicrously contrasts itself with republican institutions, is conspicuous in the writings of Washington Irving. Let no English Radical expect a cordial reception from American republicans; unless it be those of the back woods*. He will be viewed at best in the light of a vulgar rela

* M. de Beaumont, a recent French Traveller in the United States, was struck with the apparent inconsistency in these republicans, of their passion for titles of nobility. Whether you shall be received with enthusiasm in America, very well, decently well, or coldly, depends,' he says, ' on whether you are duke, marquis, count, or nothing.' Heraldic insignia are much affected; and they are fond of blazoning them on the panels of their carriages.

tion. The Americans, while affecting to despise rank, are particularly alive to niceties of caste; and a high-caste Englishman is sure of a respectful homage.

Every white American considers himself of course as ranking with Englishmen of the highest caste; and he prides himself upon his white skin and his correct pronunciation, as the testimonials of his nobility. Hence his horror at the idea of any mixture of blood that might deteriorate his title. In proportion as ranks are confounded in society, the pride of caste is called into action, and imaginary barriers are thrown up in place of the more -palpable gradations. In America, the only visible scale is that

In support of these remarks, we cannot refrain from adducing the following paragraphs from Mr. Charles Lushington's admirable Guide Book to the Continental Tourist, (it aspires to no higher character,) entitled "Dates and Distances"; a volume distinguished by what are not often combined, sound sense and vivacity. People in Germany', he says, are content to enjoy an indulgence as a concession, and deem it no humiliation to be obliged to their superiors. Indeed, these obligations are conferred so much as a matter of course, that they are hardly perceived to be such. It is their habits, combined with the more even dissemination of riches, which create so much harmony among all ranks of society on the Continent, especially in Germany, and render the inferior classes so attached to those above them. few who have immense wealth contrive to conciliate the great body of the people, by making them partakers of their luxuries, by opening to them their parks, gardens, and palaces, and by giving public fêtes and entertainments.

The

Descending a little lower, official men, military officers, and rich citizens, do not disdain to sit down with a respectable artisan at the table d'hôte, at which the treatment is equal, the conversation general, and reciprocal courtesy prevails. In the country, too, the substantial proprietor travels about (especially on Sundays) with his family to dine at some inn-ordinary, where he is sure to meet with a numerous company, and where the distinction of ranks and wealth is forgotten in the levelling enjoyment of sociality. On all these occasions, moreover, females take their part, without their titles, except those of respectability, being rigidly scrutinized; so that a commandant, or the wearer of an order, does not decline to offer civilities to a bourgeoise, tendered, too, not in the de haut en bas manner in which an Englishman would address a tradesman's wife, but in that language of deference which they consider due to the sex in general, and which the sex know full well how to appreciate. The consequence is, that their influence is added to the disposition entertained by their husbands, fathers, and brothers, to maintain a liberal and friendly connexion with those who, excelling them in rank and wealth, do not mortify them by neglect, or the more humiliating display of ostentatious condescension. Hence, as far as I could observe and collect during rapid progress