38 UNITED STATES.

administrations of the presidents who succeeded him.*

We must not, however, forget, that all his succes- sors are considered to rank among good men, and some of them, particularly Mr Jefferson, as great men ; but it must, at the same time, be admitted, that they committed many egregious blunders in their commercial policy; and that the last war With this country was not only rash, but impolitic and unpro- voked.

It has been popular, and even fashionable, in Eu- rope, to think lightly of the Americans. Both French and English travellers, influenced by early associations and customs, have seldom done justice either to the people or to the country. To form a just estimation of both, we must search into the great national re- sources of that vast region, and examine the intellec- tual and physical energies of the people ;——We must ask, what have the Americans done since they became an independent nation ? and not measure their capa- bilities, or stamp their character, by frivolous peculi- arities of language, or habits that have differed from ours merely through the agency of local circum- stances. These may afi'ord materials to a strolling comedian to excite vulgar merriment; but it is cer- tainly unworthy the attention, and beneath the dignity of a respectable traveller, to fill his journals with the cant language and provincialisms of individuals whom he may accidentally meet with in a stage-coach

=x= An exception appears in Mr Madison. He was at heart fond of grandeur, and the effect which splendour gives to a court.