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which by that treaty she was bound to do. The allied sovereigns were appealed to by both powers, and it is probable that their determination will settle the dispute.

The government of the Netherlands seem to be going on in a satisfactory manner; gradually reconciling their catholic and protestant subjects to each other. The finances of this country are in a better state than those of most other European kingdoms; and the people have less reason to accuse their government of having forgotten or broken their promises, than the people of many of the German states.

The attention of the Austrian government is almost exclusively directed to the amendment of their finances. In no other respect have its proceedings been of any interest or importance. Indeed, the finances of Austria have for a long time been so dilapidated, that the utmost attention and care as well as œconomy of the government, will be indispensably necessary to recruit them.

In the arduous contest which terminated in the overthrow of Bonaparte, no people displayed greater zeal and enthusiasm, or contributed more essentially to that event, than the inhabitants of Prussia: they were animated by one feeling of revenge against the French, and a most firmly made up determination to restore the independence of their country, or to perish in the attempt. Their sovereign had yielded to the tyrant, but they had not: he had given himself up to his own enemies and the enemies of his country; but they rescued him and it. He was sensible of their merits, and he promised them a free constitution. But hitherto, notwithstanding he

has been repeatedly reminded of his promise,-notwithstanding the Prussians have shown that their breasts still burn with that love of liberty which rendered them invincible in defence of their country, a free constitution has not been granted them: their sovereign has not redeemed the pledge he gave them in the hour of his distress.

The disputes between the late king of Wirtemberg and his subjects have been detailed in a former volume. As his son, the present king, during the life of his father, took an open and decided part with the people, it was naturally supposed, that when he came to the throne he would grant them their requests, or at least that he would do away with all real ground for discontent. This, however, has not been the case, and the people of Wirtemberg and their sovereign are still at variance.

Indeed, with the exception of the duke of Saxe Weimar, no German sovereign seems to have recollected that he is indebted for the safety and independence of his kingdom to his people; or to be sensible, that it is the duty of a sovereign to grant to his subjects the fullest portion of liberty which they are capable of enjoying. The agitation given to men's minds by the French revolution, and their own importance and services, of which the Germans became fully aware during the last years of the war, must work out for them the object of their desire, even in spite of the impolitic and ungrateful backwardness of their princes.

The crown prince of Sweden, the only one of Bonaparte's generals who was permitted to retain his rank and power, has manifested

most

most lamentable and ridiculous ignorance of the science of government, during 1817, in his absurd and ineffectual attempts to prevent the use of foreign commodities, under the idea that the import of them impoverished Sweden. His administration, in other respects, seems to be popular; though there was, during this year, a mysterious and not well-explained attempt to assassinate him.

The emperor of Russia's conduct is evidently directed to one grand object; not so much the extension (for the present at least) of his already vast dominions, as the improvement of them. For this purpose, he has not been content with a wise and judicious internal administration of them, with the regulation of the finances and commerce, and with the prepared and gradual introduction of rights and privileges to which the great mass of his subjects were before strangers: but he has also introduced from foreign countries their most useful and important discoveries and improvements. For this purpose he has had in Britain a great number of acute, observant, and well-informed men, who have visited the principal seats of our various manufactures; and who have also made themselves perfectly and familiarly acquainted with the mode in which the education of the poor is conducted, as well as with the plans that have been adopted here for their relief and support. He thus is taking the wisest and most efficient measures to civilize and improve his country, as well as to bring into view and action all its sources of wealth and strength.

In another part of our volume we have inserted the speech of the president of the United States, on

the opening of congress. It is a most interesting document, as it displays the rapid advances of a country which is yet in its infancy, towards the highest possible state of improvement;-that it is flourishing, needs no other proof, than that so soon after the termination of the war with this country, the American government are able to take off all the oppressive taxes, and can exhibit a revenue considerably exceeding the expenditure, and the extreme probability that it will every year be more and more productive.

There are many striking circumstances in the condition of America which cannot be beheld with indifference; and we feel ourselves interested in all such details of her policy and domestic history as tend to throw light on those great and powerful principles by which she is borne forward in her irresistible pace to greatness and dominion. America no longer presents a band of feeble colonists planted on a hostile shore, alternately sinking under the casualties of war or famine; nor yet of a dependent colony, regulated in her trade and policy according to the views and interests of a remote state. By her own natural vigour she has shaken off every inconvenient obstruction to the development of her strength, and she now marches forward with gigantic steps, fulfilling her destinies, and grasping in her own steady hand the sceptre of imperial power. The political system of America is founded on the principles of freedom; her government is a democracy, and her domestic œconomy is free from many of those restraints which have prevailed from time immemorial in the old world, and which, indeed, it would now be difficult to abolish. Commerce is controlled

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trolled by no burdensome regulations; there are no corporation laws in any of the towns; every man is free throughout the wide precincts of this extensive country to choose whatever mode of directing his industry he may judge most expedient. And with all these advantages the inhabitants of America have before them an untouched and fertile country; in extent, from their most remote settlements to the Pacific Ocean, about 2000 miles, in which, for centuries to come, their expanding population will have full scope for all its energies. It is in this view that the American people present so singular and imposing a spectacleyear after year they are narrowing the boundaries of the desertcrowds of adventurous emigrants, from notions of independence, which are no doubt visionary, are continually resorting to the verge of civilization, there to breathe the free air of that wild region, exempted from the restraints of social life. Here they act in the double capacity of cultivator and huntsman, partly civilized and partly savage, until, by the progress of improvement, they are gradually surrounded with settlers, and are at length again brought within the pale of order and law. Wearied of the uniformity of social pursuits, they dispose of their lands to emigrants of more settled habits, and again take their station on the verge of the desert, there to bear the brunt of savage hostility to hunt and to cultivate; and by their wild and ferocious habits, to act the part of successful pioneers in clearing the way for the great mass of the American population. It is in this manner that the country gradually assumes an aspect of civilization. The woods are cleared away-the fields are

cultivated-and the dwellings of men usurp the place of the haunts of wild beasts.

The peopling of the American continent was considerably interrupted by the American war; but since the United States have become independent, this great work has never halted for a moment; and the only circumstance which might have proved an obstacle to the national increase and prosperity was foreseen in time, and prevented by the prudence of the government. As our readers may not be aware of this circumstance, the following explanation of it may be necessary, in order that they may fully comprehend the views and plans of the American government.

The Allegany mountains, it is well known, extend through North America in a direction W. of S. from the 42d to the 34th degree of N. lat. and for a long period they formed the western boundary of the American population. These mountains preserve, throughout their whole range, nearly an equal distance of 250 miles from the Atlantic ocean, into which all the waters which have their rise in them flow in a variety of insulated streams; and as the progress of population began from the Atlantic along the banks of the navigable rivers, the whole stream was necessarily within the territory occupied by the new settlers. But when they began to surmount this mountainous barrier in their progress westward, they found a different configuration of the ground, and the rivers of the country making their way to the ocean upon an entirely new principle. In place of a variety of small and unconnected streams, all the waters which rise in the immense valley which extends between the Allegany and the Rocky moun

tains,

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tains, to the breadth of from 1500 to 2000 miles, are poured by a variety of tributary streams into one common recipient, namely, the channel of the Mississippi,which falls into the Gulf of Mexico, and of which the lower part was consequently wholly without the precincts of American authority. The rivers which descend the western declivity of the Allegany mountains, the great river Ohio, the Illinois, with their numerous tributary waters, to within sixty miles of the Canadian lakes, including a range of territory 1000 miles in extent from north to south, ultimately terminate in the Mississippi; and thus this vast territory, consisting of part of Pennsylvania and Virginia, of the states of Kentucky, Tenessee, Georgia, would have been entirely at the mercy of a foreign power, for a maritime outlet to their vast produce. Such a state of things could not possibly exist. The command of the course of the Mississippi, which was the key to such a large portion of America, must either be obtained by negotiation or the sword. The first method succeeded; Louisiana is now ceded in full sovereignty to the United States, and a resort to force was thus happily rendered un

necessary.

fitted out to trace the Missouri to its source, and afterwards to proceed across the Rocky mountains to the Pacific ocean. This enterprise was successfully executed by captains. Lewis and Clarke, an account of whose interesting journey has been since published. The country of Louisiana has also been accurately examined as to its products, and the nature of its territory; and in the hands of its present possessors, its capacities, whatever they be, will not, we may be assured, be allowed to lie neglected. Along the banks of the Mississippi population already begins to make some progress; and even on the Missouri, settlements have been established. The object of the American government, in the arrangements which they now propose, seems to be to give system and unity to the progress of the American population: in place of the insulated advances of individuals, they recommend one general and combined movement along the whole line. With this view, they have negotiated with the Indian tribes for the possession of the territory which runs along the lakes Erie and Michigan, the northern boundaries of the American states; and further to the south, the Indian title to the lands in the district of Ohio has been extinguished, with a moderate reservation in favour of the savage proprietors. Still further to the south, in the state of Georgia, a corresponding tract of land has been purchased; and another arrangement has been made with the Indian tribes, by which they have agreed to evacuate all the land belonging to them eastward of the Mississippi, in exchange for new territory given them to the westward of that river; so that by these negotiations the whole country to the eastward of the Mississippi is now cleared

The American government did not fail to prosecute the advantages of this new acquisition with all its characteristic vigour. An expedition of discovery, under lieutenant (since general) Pike, was immediately sent to explore the source of the Mississippi: and the same officer was sent to discover the sources of the Arkansaw and of Red River, which flow from the Rocky mountains, and from a distance of more than 2000 miles join the Mississippi from the west. A more splendid expedition of discovery was also

of

of its original proprietors, and an ample field is thereby opened for the vast plans of colonization which are now projected by the American go

vernment.

In one view, the interest of this country is intimately connected with the success of these plans. The more rapidly the inhabitants of America increase, the greater will be the demand for British manufactures. For a long period, and notwithstanding all the encouragements given by the government at home, the increasing population of America must be agricultural, and the demand for manufactures must therefore be supplied from abroad. -All the various produce that is necessary for this purpose can only be found in the markets of this country; and however singular it may appear, it is unquestionably true, that the cultivation of the American deserts is intimately connected with the domestic prosperity of Britain. We observe, indeed, that some politicians are beginning to sound an alarm respecting the growing power and maritime resources of America. But of all alarms this is surely the most wild and chimerical. There appears very little probability that the interests of Great Britain and America can ever come into collision. The policy of both powers is decidedly pacific; and we rejoice to observe that in both countries the governments appear to be thoroughly alive to their true interests. Why, then, should we pry into futurity for causes of jealousy and mischief, and dwell upon imaginary dangers until we fancy them real?. Why should we paint in exaggerated colours evils contingent and remote, until we inflame jealousies, and absolutely realize what we only fear? This was precisely the evil of the balancing

system, as it is called, that it never would allow the world to rest. Some accident was always happening to its complicated machinery, which, in the opinion of sagacious politicians, might have occasioned mischiefs some twenty years hence, to avoid which, they plunged the world into the calamity of immediate war. But there is surely no danger that the aggrandizement of America will ever disturb the balance of European power; and we hope, therefore, that it will never be considered in this country as any object of alarm, and far less as any sufficient ground of war.

The affairs of South America are still involved in obscurity; the real state of the insurgents and their opponents cannot possibly be known in its details. Not even the general result of their contests in the various quarters where it is carried on, rests on such authority as can be depended upon. Nearly all that is ascertained is, that the insurgents in the north-eastern provinces have suffered considerably. But the victories, neither of the insurgents nor of the Spanish government, lead to any permanent advantage. The contest still goes on, displaying cruelty and ferocity much more conspicuously than talent. A great many military adventurers have gone from Britain to join the insurgents; but by all accounts they have been grievously disappointed. They have been received with coldness, if not with jealousy; and they have found an army of half-clothed and halfcivilized soldiers, and rulers only fit to direct the operations of such soldiers, instead of men ardent and enlightened in the cause of liberty, and an army well-equipped and disciplined.

In the West Indies nothing of import

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