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this supply, there are also large quantities of rum, principally distilled from molasses-and also whiskey distilled from rye, manufactured in the country, and in general consumption; in which capital to the amount of 9,147,000 dollars is invested, giving employment to 12,233 of the population. The best whiskey is made in the State of Pennsylvania, in the district watered by the Monongehela, from which it takes its name, and is in general consumption throughout all parts of the Union. The better description is sold wholesale, at from 37 to 40 cents. or from 1s. 6d. to 1s. 8d. per gallon.

Forgery is also of very frequent occurrence in every part of the United States; contrived with that sagacity and shrewdness so characteristic of the people—and with an ingenuity and daring in which they surpass in crimes of this character, all other nations of the world.

Gaming, especially in the south, is also a habit very general amongst the population-is frequently carried to an extreme-and adopted by many, especially in the southern States, as an acknowledged means of support. Several there are, now considered respectable in American society, who have acquired their wealth by this means, that for years past has been a fruitful source of crime among the population.

CHAPTER X.

Education in the United States-Its universal encouragement— Elementary knowledge secured at the public expense-Remarkable deficiency in the higher branches of Education-Number of incorporated Colleges and Academies in the United StatesNo distinction made as to Religion-Want in the American system of Education-Literature of the United StatesAmerican Copyright Law-Present state of the Fine ArtsPeriodical and Daily Press-Its recklessness and extreme debasement-Aggregate number of Newspapers published from the year 1775 to the present date.

NOTWITHSTANDING the present debased state of morality and religion in the United States, of which we have endeavoured to present a somewhat faithful portraiture in the preceding chapter, there is still, perhaps, no other part of the civilized world, if that we except the Prussian and German States of the European continent, where universal education is more encouraged, or has made more rapid advances amidst the bulk of the population-disseminating its influence throughout every, even the remotest part of the Republic. Elementary schools are everywhere established, supported at the expense, and under the careful supervision of each State, where gratuitous instruction in all the useful branches of education is separately afforded to the youth of both sexes, and which is sought after with a strong and increasing avidity by every description and class of persons. That "knowledge is

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power," is an axiom that seems to be well understood by every American, as necessary to fit him for the enjoyment of whatever of rational liberty he may possess, and in securing to him the other temporal advantages he may hope to derive, from his assiduity and exertions in the world.

It is unusual to find any native-born, however humble and unpretending in his sphere of life, who cannot both read and write. To these advantages, are we to in part attribute their extraordinary intelligence in all business affairs-their aptitude in accommodating themselves to every change of circumstances-to every unexpected or new position in which they may be placed, that distinguishes the American people above every other nation in the world; with that remarkable perception-that sagacity and quickness, with which they adapt themselves in acquiring an intimate acquaintance, or knowledge of any business, to which they may apply their energies:-their inventive and extraordinary mechanical turn, unsurpassed by any other people, and that promoted by this auxiliary, is called into hourly requisition by the restricted means of supplying the wants, created by the inadequacy of manual labour in every part of the Republic.

While elementary instruction is so generally and liberally diffused among the humbler classes, there is still a lamentable deficiency in all the higher branches of polite literature-of sciential and sound classical information, remarkable even in the more

respectable of American citizens, apart from those intended for the professions; and which divests American social intercourse of that high intellectual character-that ease and refined polish, for which the higher grades of European society are SO remarkable. The time appropriated to study in England-the years of boyhood, almost of early manhood, set apart for the progress and completion of a course of collegiate studies, are generally estimated as otherwise of too much value to the American, who, by the time that he might expect to pass through this ordeal, has possibly arrived at the meridian of his experience with the world, and tasted of the ills and difficulties with which his progress is oftentimes beset. He seldom finds leisure from the same unremitting and ceaseless effort that distinguishes his whole life, in adding to his worldly store by the acquisition of new wealth, to devote either to study, or the encouragement of any mere literary pursuit; and rather considers the season set apart for the acquirement of a classical and enlightened education, beyond the purposes to which

it

may be made anciliary in promoting his onward progress in the world, as taken from his resources, and the time that he considers, might be by far more profitably spent in other occupations. On this account, we seldom find the American spending much of his youth in literary cultivation, or his mind improved by instruction, beyond whatever he may possibly derive from that which is generally termed in this country, a good commercial education, and

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that after all, perhaps, better accords with the nature and general character of his intended pursuits, and the position, in which he very probably may afterwards find himself placed in the world. Females in the main are better instructed, and frequently make Greek and Latin a part of their studies; while they generally have more time at their disposal to appropriate for this purpose.

The Eastern, or New England States, are remarkable for the encouragement they afford to literature, and the comparative number of well-educated men they produce beyond all other parts of the Republic. They still preserve the tone and literary taste of the original colonists, who were men of intelligence and information, and who acted on the just and comprehensive principle, that has been adopted in those States where they had first settled, as also in the States successively planted by them, and since added to the Union, that the education of the community should be carried on at the public expense, and under its direct supervision.

The University of Harvard, in Massachusetts, stands preeminent, and at the head of every collegiate institution in the United States-was founded so far back as the year 1638, and with Yale College in Connecticut, founded in 1700, sustains the highest literary reputation of any of the Universities.

There are ninety-two incorporated colleges in America, including seventeen universities; twentyeight medical schools; thirty-seven theological schools, and eight law schools. These latter are