UNITED STATES. 5l such as a meeting-house, blacksmith's forge, saw¬ mill, corn-mill, shops, and taverns, appear on the banks of a river, where a forest occupied the ground a few months before. It is remarked by almost all travellers, that the Americans are perpetually boasting of the excel¬ lence of their constitution. This is certainly the case, and do not like generally to hear it. Yet we boast of ours, and why not let the citi¬ zens of the United States, if they find themselves happy and blessed under their republican form of government, enjoy its full benefit, whether real or imaginary? At farthest, we can only make it a charge of very pardonable national vanity, which we ought to esteem rather than blame them for. As to the state of society and the manners of the people of , we must not, although there are no titles, believe that there is no distinction of ranks, and that the people live on a perfect footing of equality. There is, in fact, a more nice discrimi¬ nation of classes created by the people themselves, than the lines of demarcation marked out by the here¬ ditary titles of our English aristocracy. Wealth and knowledge, which, together, form power in all countries, constitute what, in a moral point, may be termed the aristocratic rights of . These people consist of the respectable families of the talented men who figured in the revolutionary war ; the leading men of Congress, and of public depart¬ ments ; gentlemen of the learned professions ; mer¬ chants of education and property ; and all others of