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AMERICA,

ITS REALITIES AND RESOURCES:

COMPRISING

IMPORTANT DETAILS

CONNECTED WITH THE

PRESENT SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL,
AND FINANCIAL STATE OF THE COUNTRY,

ITS

LAWS AND CUSTOMS,

A REVIEW

TOGETHER WITH

OF THE POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES THAT LED TO
THE WAR OF 1812, AND PEACE OF 1814-THE "RIGHT OF SEARCH,"

THE TEXAS AND OREGON QUESTIONS,

ETC. ETC.

BY

FRANCIS WYSE, ESQ.

"Amicus Plato, amicus Socrates, sed magis amica veritas."

VOL. I.

LONDON:

T. C. NEWBY, 72, MORTIMER STREET,

CAVENDISH SQUARE.

1846.

Checked
May 1913

PREFACE.

NOTWITHSTANDING the variety of works of travel, the journals of tourists, and published narratives of the numerous other parties who have visited the United States, assuming to present a correct delineation of the American character, the habits and customs of the American people-but little has transpired, amidst these various records, to convey to the discriminating and impartial reader, much less to the British emigrant, any real, solid, or useful information, or beyond the mere detail of the varied incidents in which their respective authors may have been themselves engaged, or the observations resulting from an imperfect or hurried intercourse with a people, who are ever apprehensive of a discovery of their individual and national character, with the imperfections, and many eccentricities by which they are distinguished.

To supply the void that thus exists-to present the British public with some correct data on which to ground its opinions, and to furnish the emigrant of all grades, and professions, with every useful instruction to assist and guide him in his hazardous undertaking, are the objects which the author contemplates in the present work. The real character of the Americans of the United States- their habits,

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