capacity, secures to a man ease, splendor, and power, and situation alone binds him to obscurity, want, and insignificance; while merit without position will do little to render him comfortable, successful, or distinguished. This is the point which makes the essential difference between the social condition of Europe and America; and which order of things is the best for the mass does not admit of a question for a moment in the mind of a reflecting person. And if it is best for the mass to stand as we do here, it is not very easy to see why it is not best for all, the distinguished as well as the undistinguished, the rich as well as the poor. Where shall the line be drawn between the many for whom our state of society is good, and the few for whom it is not good? In truth, there is no such line practicable; and it is one of the great results of the condition of things in New England, that it proves the identity of interests of all the component parts of society. No one can say to any other, You are not wanted; we can do without you. There is a mutual dependence far more widely felt, and not only felt, but acknowledged, here than elsewhere; and as the political institutions of the country are adapted to continue this state of things, it may be hoped that it will long endure to produce the fruits which we have been contemplating.

One proof of the existence of this sentiment has already been intimated; namely, that it is not left, as in monarchical or aristocratic forms of government it is usually left, to the political powers to do every thing, whether for weal or woe, which can be done by society. Here, the subject takes much of the matter into his own hands, and does many things far better than any government could possibly do them; and at the same time he requires his government to do well all that it can do; and it is a fact, that a much larger amount has been distributed by the individual inhabitants of Boston than by the City government, in the same term of time, for the same, or similar, purposes. This is done freely, voluntarily, by no compulsion of any sort, from the motive that springs up in the breast of one, and is communicated to many, be it benevolence, vanity, love of influence, ambition, or whatever else may be imagined. It is desirable to believe, that, in general, it is benevolence which produces these effects; but if it be any of the other less worthy motives, still it produces active sympathy, — sympathy between those who

act in concert, and sympathy with those to whose benefit their action is directed. Thus is society knit together by feelings and by interests intertwining in every direction, and scarcely can one bond be broken without its being widely felt and speedily repaired. It is needless to say, that a society in such a condition stands firmer, more consolidated, and less likely to be dissolved by internal convulsion or external violence, than one where a mutual feeling of hostility, opposing interests, and conflicting claims is always, or frequently, uppermost in the minds and hearts of which it is composed.

It should be a subject of common congratulation that such a state of things can be found here. The wise and the good will, of course, rejoice in it; and it would be a reason for greater rejoicing, if there could be produced in the minds of those who call themselves, and are called by others, the laboring classes here, a proper perception of the immense difference between their condition and that of the corresponding classes in Europe. The cultivators and the proprietors of the soil are not there, as here, the same persons, but one is the lord, the other the vassal; the one is rich by the labor of those about him, the other is destitute of property, because he cannot appropriate to himself the proceeds of his own labor. Neither party can change his station; the higher cannot fall from his rank, whatever may be his personal character, and the lower cannot rise above his original condition, be his personal merits what they may. Now is there any thing here at all approaching to this? Is not every farmer lord of his own manor; can he not appropriate to his own use every dollar of his earnings? Who is there above him, to whom he must bow the knee, and on whom he must feel dependent? If he chance to pay rent, does it make him feel dependent? Certainly not. He knows his landlord is just as dependent upon him as he is upon the landlord. And the condition of the mechanic is quite as favorably contrasted with that of the mechanic of Europe. On the one continent, the profession is esteemed, and even honored; on the other, it is despised, and treated with a contempt which would be as galling as it is unknown to the high-spirited and often highly cultivated mechanic of New England.

But persons who are farmers or mechanics in this country often use a language and exhibit a tone of feeling which are inconsistent with the state of things here, and are applicable

only to what is found in Europe. They talk of the oppression of the rich; when there is not a rich man in America that can, and perhaps not one that wishes, to oppress them. They talk of others being held in more respect, and of themselves as being despised; when there are as many mechanics and farmers in town, city, county, and state offices, both legislative and executive, as of all other sorts of persons put together; they take as decided a lead in all measures, public or private, as they are personally qualified to do; and very frequently do they throw others completely into the shade. Now, if this be contemptuous treatment, what would be respectful? If this be oppression, who is free? No; such language is entirely erroneous, and they who use it really do not know what they are talking of. They use terms borrowed from Europe, and applicable only there, and apply them to themselves and those about them, when they are in entirely different situations, and hold entirely different relations to each other. It produces a bad effect on their imaginations, (for it cannot influence the reality,) to talk of themselves as if they were poor, or despised, or oppressed. It generates a habit of complaining, which ill becomes the sturdy, ambitious, independent, manly yeomen, that they really are; and it creates ill feelings, for which there is little foundation, against those who are more successful or wealthy than themselves. It is a good thing to learn, in whatsoever state we are, therewith to be content, and not to think ourselves poor because our neighbour has more than we, and not to think him an oppressor merely because he is rich. Riches alone do not enable a man to be much of an oppressor anywhere, and in this country the rich man can make no figure at all in that line. There must be position and privilege superadded to wealth to make it possible to oppress, and in New England neither that position nor that privilege can be attained by any body. So far is the rich man from having attained them, that he is, in truth, farther from them than other persons. He is jealously watched, constantly suspected, and is very commonly regarded as a fair subject for that covert system of attack, which, though in a different way to be sure, is as great a favorite with the Yankee as with his predecessor, the Indian. The language and the conduct of public bodies, especially legislatures, show pretty accurately the tendency of feeling and thought among the mass whom they represent; VOL. LXI.No. 128.

14

and if these be carefully observed, it will be found that they indicate the existence of a jealousy of the rich and prosperous, for which the history of the country has given no good cause, but which, originating elsewhere, and kept up here, in a great degree, by the influx of persons bringing deep-rooted feelings with them from Europe, is alike unjust to the one side and unworthy of the other.

The preceding statements of donations may be confidently appealed to in proof of the unreasonableness of the jealousy. A large portion of the sums stated have, no doubt, arisen from the gathered mites of the generous poor, but another large portion has also been received from the generous rich; and if a man be rich without being generous, he can certainly find many cities which would be more agreeable places of residence to him than Boston. So far as has hitherto appeared, the influence of the rich has been exerted, in this country, only for beneficent purposes; and it is time that the uncharitable constructions put upon their conduct should be abandoned.

But there is one remark which is applicable to all sorts and denominations of persons, and which may be regarded in the light of an offset to some of the merciless reproofs we have received from many of the most, as well as from some of the least, enlightened of our visiters from abroad. Nearly all of them, from De Tocqueville and Major Hamilton to Dickens and Mrs. Trollope, can laugh at, abuse, ridicule, scold, or lament, according to their several tempers, our devotion to money-getting, our sordid greediness, our sacrifice of honor, character, comfort, and respectability to the pursuit of the almighty dollar." And what is the result? It cannot be denied, that we are active and enterprising in our attempts to obtain wealth, and that we succeed in the attempt rather oftener than is usual elsewhere, in consequence of this enterprise and activity; but that we have any stronger passion for money than other people may safely be denied, till some nation is discovered who cannot be reproached in the same way. Till then it may serve to compose the nerves affected by the language referred to, if there be any, to reflect upon the use which is made of a portion of the wealth which is accumulated, and at the same time of the more moderate resources of those who cannot be called wealthy. Look at the lists already presented, and say if money could

be expected to be more freely spent for praiseworthy purposes by any body. Here are a great number of objects, upon some of which all sorts of persons, rich and poor, orthodox and heretic, strong and weak, influential and influenced, male and female, young and old, educated and uneducated, unite their efforts, and the result is such a number and combination of charities as has never before been found in any city of its size. So long as money is freely spent in support of the church, the school, the college, the hospital, and the asylum, for memorials of the departed good and great, for the sustenance of the poor, and the comfort of the prisoner, there is little fear of its being greatly misapplied in luxurious extravagance, wanton waste, or vicious indulgence. If we are greedy of gain, it is not to hoard it with the passion of the miser, but to procure to ourselves the advantages which cannot be obtained without it, the cultivation, the improvement, the luxury of doing good, which are the stimulus, the means, and the reward of virtue.

ART. VI. Four Lectures on Spiritual Christianity, delivered in the Hanover Square Rooms, London, March, 1841. By ISAAC TAYLOR. London: Jackson & Walford. 1841. 12mo. pp. 203.

writer.

HARDLY any author of our own age has exerted a wider influence than the author of the work before us. Not that his books have been generally read; for, in the current acceptation of that term, he is very far from being a popular Nor yet can he have been much read by the class next removed from the many, by the busy, stirring, leading, managing class of people, by those who pull the puppet-wires that move the masses. But ideas of all kinds are put in circulation by very different persons, by those of retired and contemplative habits, who speak and write only when they have somewhat to say, and whose sole aim beyond self-culture is to convince reasonable men of what is true, or to persuade them to what is right. The thoughts