therefore well be assumed as one of the leading features and principal causes of her so amazingly increased commercial and agricultural prosperity. Of the possibility of extending similar advantages to Ireland, the Parliamentary committees appointed to inquire into the subject, have repeatedly given the very strongest assurances, and indeed common sense alone finds little difficulty in arriving at a like conclusion. The report of the last committee, after a detailed account, and the most conclusive proofs, of the valuable effect of the judicious and well-directed expenditure of public money in Scotland, and of small sums even in Ireland itself, proceeds to sum up the question in the following pregnant words :"From these facts it appears to your committee that the following conclusions may be drawn :

1. That on an experience of fifteen years from 1802 to 1817, a system of public works appears to have been adopted in the Highlands of Scotland, which, according to the evidence of Mr. Telford, has improved the habits, excited the industry of the people, and has advanced the country 100 years.

2. That successive parliamentary committees in the years 1819, 1822, 1823, and 1829, have recommended the application of an analogous system in Ireland.

3. That public works have been carried on in Ireland since the year 1822, which though not conducted on any permanent or well-digested system, have, in all respects, confirmed the recommendation of the select committees, and supported the example given in Scotland.

4. That the effects produced by these public works appear to have been, extended cultivation, improved habits of industry, a better administration of justice, the re-establishment of peace and tranquillity in disturbed districts, a domestic colonization of a population in excess in certain districts, a diminution of illicit distillation, and a very considerable increase of revenue.

It is scarcely necessary to add, that your committee most strongly recommend to the House the extended application of a principle proved to be advantageous in so many important particulars." What could mortal men say more? And their conclusions are fully borne out by a voluminous mass of

most conclusive evidence, which they present upon the subject. On the single question of extending inland navigation, to which we have almost_confined ourselves for this time, in order to bring our present speculations within a definite and narrow limit, they truly tell us that-" Much of very important and valuable evidence on the subject of the canals of Ireland will be found in the minutes. The effect of opening lines of inland navigation, when formed upon proper scientific principles, and executed with due economy, have been, by the concurrence of all testimony, the extension of improved agriculture, the drainage of considerable tracts of bog, the equalization of prices of fuel and potatoes in different districts, the diminishing the danger of scarcity in both of these necessaries of life, and advancing the general improvement of the condition of the people, by the creation of a new, vigorous, and continued demand for labour. If the canals executed have not been profitable to the undertakers, the reason is stated to have been the want of skill and science which was shewn in their construction, the extravagant rate of expense, and the spirit of jobbing which then prevailed. Even independently of these considerations, your committee see abundant reasons to conclude that the application of the power of steam to the navigation of the Shannon, makes in itself a sufficient alteration in the case to render any failure in the canals in Ireland in former times, no reason for scepticism with regard to their probable extension in future. As an example of how much may be effected for a small sum, your committee refer to the evidence of Mr. Mullins, by which it appears that the completion of a short navigation, near the town of Boyle, at an expense of six thousand pounds, would open a line of water carriage into the interior of forty miles extent."

"On these grounds your committee consider the inland navigation of Ireland to come fairly within the scope of the principles they have laid down under the head of public works. It would appear that grand juries also may, with advantage, be allowed a power of presenting, if they shall think fit, in aid of the small piers and landing-places on the banks of navigable ri ers." So far the committee, and so far so well. But

alas and alack-a-day! as Lord Brougham loves to exclaim in the House of Lords, what avail these high-sounding and fair-promising conclusions upon paper? The mountains rumble and the people run to gaze on their portentous bringing-forth, when behold! a ridiculous mouse is born. The government of the United Kingdom, in accordance with the earnest recommendations of a series of parliamentary committees, and in pursuance of the provisions of a legislative act for the relief of Ireland, has actually lent (upon unquestionable security, however, so that no risk of a national bankruptcy will, it is hoped, ensue,) the magnificent sum of nine thousand two hundred pounds sterling, for the joint purposes of promoting inland navigatiou, and building fishery piers. Risum teneatis amici? And yet, my boys, if you do laugh, it will scarcely be upon the principle by which old Cobbett accounted for the ministerial benches laughing at him when he exposed the jobbery and cheating of certain government proceedings in England-" Aye, aye," exclaimed the sturdy old bone-grubber, "honorable gentlemen can laugh, and no wonder; it's an old saying that those may laugh that win-they that pocket the money can enjoy the joke." This observation rather sobered the merriment of the Treasury bench; but seriously, this most lame and impotent conclusion of a solemn inquiry into the evils of Ireland and their remedies, is rather

too bad. An improvement in annual revenue alone was actually proved to have resulted from the small sums hitherto granted for public works in some of the distressed districts, far more than equivalent to the sum laid out, and, in acknowledgment of this great and salutary principle of relief, our paternal government lends "on unquestionable security," £9200 for improving the condition of eight millions of British subjects, while it votes away a grant of twenty millions, in order to place a handful of Blackamoors in some islands a little farther west, in a condition far superior to that of the most comfortable of the British peasantry! We wish our black brethren extremely well; but when we think upon how happy, prosperous, and revenue-yielding a people our own countrymen might have been made by the judicious application of one-half the sum devoted to a project in itself desirable indeed, but so crudely devised as to render its practicability or utility more than doubtful, we cannot but regret that the liberality of our present legislators and execu tive, has not been directed more soundly, and more in conformity with the ancient, but not on that account, in our eyes, less respectable, maxim; to be just before attempting to be generous.

For the present we have done. In a future paper we shall proceed to consider the duties of private individuals, of power and property, with respect to Ireland and the Irish people.

We take it for granted that of the enormous multitude of our readers, (“we are eight millions!") a considerable fraction would be well pleased to become, by means of an hour's study of these pages, as well acquainted with how people look and live, in the United States of America, as if they had spent six months in wandering to and fro in these western regions. It is our present intention, with the aid of the excellent book now before us, to give them this opportunity. We had thoughts of a preliminary dissertation about the importance of a thorough knowledge of America, together with some extremely sage remarks upon the very violent prejudices by which both writers and readers concerning the United States are commonly possessed. We intended, moreover, for the purpose of shewing off our learning, to have mentioned, in a rapid way, all the books that have been written about America from Professor Robertson down to Mrs. Trollope, but in a violent fit of honesty and good nature, which has come over us, we have changed our mind, and determined to proceed without any nonsense whatever, to that which our most reasonable readers will find more pleasant and profitable, namely, a view of American realities, as they are exhibited in society.

A few words, however, before we begin, upon the book which is to be our guide upon this occasion. We do not think we exaggerate its merit when we say, that it is the best and fairest view of society and manners in America that has ever been published. The descriptive parts are admirable-far better in our judgment than the political disquisitions and the philosophical remarks with which en passant the author indulges us, and which will hugely please many, though we think them indifferent enough for a whig newspaper. The epithets "liberal" and "enlightened" occur, we think, about nine hundred and seventy three times, in the course of the two volumes, which we confess rather moved our bill, because the words

and

are for ever in the mouths of the shallow-pated. Of these, the author of Cyril Thornton, however, certainly, is not one, but we fear he is the "laste taste” in life tarred with the stick of liberalism; indeed he says he was considered as a sort of radical at home in Britain. We forgive him, however, for the sake of his acuteness in observing “men and manners," and wish him with all our heart a better way of thinking in matters political, and a more distinct method of expressing his thoughts, than belong to the "liberal and enlightened" as the cant goes, of the present generation. We would like his book better, though we would not approve it so much, if it were written with more heartiness and less cleverness than it is. His pen and ink drawings strike us at once as being admirable likenesses, and the light touches of satire are excellent; but zounds! he never gets into a passion, as he ought to do. He describes filthiness, and impertinence, craft, and insolence, as though he were too fine a gentleman to be disturbed by these or any thing else, or too “liberal” to give way to indignation or disgust. An expression half of pity, half of contempt, is all that he affords to what is abominable, and he takes refuge on the first practicable opportunity, in a private room, napkins, silver forks, iced claret, and his own lofty contemplations, which on those occasions commonly wax benevolent to a fault. But after all, the book, as a source of sound information, is the more valuable from that cool, deliberate lightsomeness, which agrees not with our nervous system. Had we been where our author was, and seen what he saw, we should have written something passionate which the world would have rejected as bad evidence. The most vigorous, and to our taste, one of the very best passages in the whole book is that in which he tells his friend Mr. Wolryche Whitmore, to whom the volumes are inscribed, the immediate motive for their publication. "When," says he, "I found the institutions and experi

ence of the United States deliberately quoted in the Reformed Parliament, as affording safe precedent for British legislation, and learned that the drivellers who uttered such nonsense, instead of encountering merited derision, were listened to with patience and approbation, by men as ignorant as themselves, I certainly did feel, that another work on America was yet wanted, and at once determined to undertake a task which inferior considerations would probably have induced me to decline." What Captain Hamilton (the author of the work before us) has said of the political institutions of America, their tendency, and probable results, is of the highest interest, but in the present article, we do not mean to be politicians, but shewmen, so all ye that are impatient for information and criticism on the political condition of America, betake yourselves to Captain Hamilton's volumes at once, and become more wise than half the members of Congress, those who want a sight of society and its ways, may as well tarry a while with us, and study Captain Hamilton at their leisure, afterwards. In the meantime be it remembered that we are indebted to his observations for the knowledge of the facts which we shall endeavour to communicate.

A sea voyage being for the most part a sickening sort of business-a series of things disagreeable, or things detestable, we shall not throw up, or out, any thing upon the subject, but suppose you, worthy Sir, as Captain Hamilton was, in two and thirty days from his departure from Liverpool, safely landed at New York. The first botheration is of course with the Custom House people, and it seems with all the liberality of a Republican government, the regulations are even more vexatious than in our land of monarchical authority. You are first required to swear that the specification given of the contents of your boxes is true, and afterwards by way of making sure, the officers proceed to make a strict search. What the precise use of the oath is, in such a case, does not exactly appear, except that it gives Jonathan an opportunity of shewing how little confidence he places in your most solemn asseveration, or because it lays a trap for the damning of a man's soul, as well as the confiscation of his goods.

Our author thinks the appearance

of New York much like that of an English City, except for the number of blacks, and people of colour, that one encounters in the streets, but there are minute differences which the keen military eye of the Captain soon discovers, in the appearance of the people, and which he thus points out. "They are generally slender in person, somewhat slouching in gait, and without that openness of countenance, and erectness of deportment to which an English eye has been accustomed. Their utterance too is marked by a peculiar modulation, partaking of a snivel, and a drawl, which is by no means laudable on the score of euphony." There are few things that attract us more in man or woman than a pleasant voice, in so much that even our prayers were more delightful to us than usual, when we heard them read by Mr. Chapman of College, or Mr. Mortimer O'Sullivan. horror of a whole city of articulating men, discoursing in a voice half snivel, and half drawl, is quite too much for our nerves. We fainted on first reading these particulars, and it is with no slight effort that we write them down.

The

Another striking difference in the appearance of things, is the intermixture of strange varieties of houses of wood, and brick, adorned with all varieties of fancy colours. There is a want of consistency and compactness in the structure even of the better streets. There are some excellent houses in them all, but these frequently occur in alternation with mere hovels, and collections of rubbish which detract materially from the general effect. But our author is of opinion that the general aspect of New York is unquestionably pleasing. It is full even to overflow of business, and bustle, and crowded with a population devoting their whole energies to the arts of money getting. This is the impression on the first view, and experience confirms it. The announcements over many of the shop doors of the business carried on within, are purely American, that is to say, they are English words, with a signification that does not belong to these words in England, or applied in a way that appears ludicrous from being to us so totally unusual. Thus, "DRY GOOD STORE" signifies a shop for the sale of articles of linen, silk, or woollen. "FLOUR AND FEED STORE" and "OYSTER REFECTORY" are intelligible

though grotesque; so is "COFFIN WAREHOUSE," though rather frightful to one whose European experience has never extended to Cook-street in this good city. But as for the announcement of "HOLLOW WARE, SPIDERS, AND FIRE DOGs, which our author mentions, we can make nothing of it, and he says that it carries with it a certain dim and mystical sublimity, of which he shall not venture to divest it, by any attempt at explanation.

Many political placards, we are informed, appeared on the walls, but the contents of only one of them is vouchsafed to us by our text book, and an edifying specimen we must acknowledge it to be, of Republican gracefulness. It ran thus, JACKSON FOR Ever, Go THE WHOLE HOG. The latter expression bears an elegant allusion to an expression of the Pig Slayers of Virginia, and means going to the extreme length, or, "Radical Reform." The connection of this handsome expression, with the name of the most exalted personage in the United States, is equally flattering to that individual, and to the popular taste of the American people.

A breakfast at Bunker's Hotel, New York, appears to be a very substantial affair, and we would not advise any man to read it, while waiting for his modicum of thin toast, his single egg, and cup of tea, in our differently civilized metropolises of Dublin or London. In Edinburgh we happen to know, that they feed particularly well at breakfast. At Bunker's, we are told, that solid viands of all descriptions loaded the table, while in the occasional intervals were distributed dishes of rolls, toast, and cakes of buck-wheat, and Indian corn. The landlady sat at the head of the table distributing tea and coffee, and a group of negroes bustled about, attending to the many wants which were somewhat vociferously intruded on their attention. The Americans however are too philosophic to dwell upon the pleasures of the table. There is no loitering or lounging, no dipping into Newspapers at their hotel-breakfast, no intervals of repose in mastication, all is hurry, bustle, clamour, and voracity. Captain Hamilton is here somewhat particular in his description, and though a little nasty, it is so graphic, that we must go along with him." The strenuous efforts of the company were of course soon rewarded with success.

Departures which had begun even before I took my place at the table, became every instant more numerous, and in a few minutes the apartment had become what Moore beautifully describes in one of his songs, a banquet hall deserted.' The appearance of the table, under such circumstances, was, by no means gracious, either to the eye, or to the fancy. It was strewed thickly with the disjecta membra of the entertainment. Here lay fragments of fish somewhat unpleasantly odoriferous, there the skeleton of a chicken, on the right a mustard pot upset, and the cloth passim defiled with stains of eggs, coffee, gravy, but I will not go on with the picture. One nasty custom however I must notice. Eggs, instead of being eaten from the shell, are poured into a wine glass, and after being duly and disgustingly churned up, with butter, and condiment, the mixture according to its degree of fluidity, is forthwith either spooned into the mouth, or drunk off, like a liquid. The advantage gained by this unpleasant process, I do not profess to be qualified to appreciate, but I can speak from experience, to its sedative effect on the appetites of an unpractised beholder."

Swift, when looking out for a frivolous cause of war, in order to turn the reasons for warfare in general into ridicule, pitched upon a dispute, as to whether the little or the big end of an egg ought to be broken in order to devour its contents, and we are afraid that on this account any war touching the manner that eggs should be introduced to the mouths of egg-eaters, would be deemed ludicrous; but if it were not so, we would instantly petition the crown to send a fleet to New York to demand satisfaction for the outrage done to the world by such a beastly manner of eating or drinking eggs. The manner of despatching breakfast in a steamboat on the Hudson, transcends even that on land. In the boat each man seemed to devour, under the uncontroulable influence of some sudden hurricane of appetite, to which it would be difficult to find any parallel beyond the limits of the Zoological Gardens. A few minutes did the business. The clatter of knives and forks, loud as it was at first, speedily waxed faint and fainter-plates, dishes, cups, and saucers disappeared, as if by magic, and every thing connected with the meal became