SPECTATOR'S LEXRARY.

Notes on the United States of North America. during a Phrenological Visit to

I838-9-40. By George Combe. In three volumes. Longman and Co. Sketches in Erris and Tyrauly. By the Author ot..• Sketches in Ireland." "A Tour iu Connaught," &c. With a map and other illustrations.

Longman and Co.; Curry, Midis.

NATURAL His-mar,

Horses. The Eqnidie, or Genus Equus of Authors. By Lieutenant.Colonel Charles Hamilton Smith, F.R. and I..S., &c. &c. (The Naturalist's Library. Mammalia. Vol. XII.) Highley; Lizars, Edinburgh.

lboirray.

Hours with the Muses. By Johu Critchley Prince. Rogerson, Manchester.

AITTOHMORAPIIT,

The Early Life and Conversion of William Hone. A Narrative wrilten by Himself. Edited by his Son, William Hone, Author of the " Every-day Book." &c.

Ward and Co.

COMBE'S NOTES ON THE UNITED STATES.

THIS is one of the most impartial and judicious works illustrative of the character and condition of the United States, and at the same time the most unpretending, that has been published. It contains statistical information as valuable as that collected by Mr. STUART; disquisitions on the phsenomena of society and the individual mind as free from commonplace as those of Miss MARTINEAU, less colour- ed by sentiment, and uttered without the note of preparation blown by that lady before her dicta like a herald's trumpet ; and many acute, quiet remarks upon incidents and peculiarities, fit to be classed with those of HALL, TROLLOPE, or MARRYAT. We allude to the authors named, not for the purpose of under- valuing their respective merits, or of saying that in the peculiar walk of each the merits of Mr. COMBE approach to his or her's in degree, but for the purpose of indicating the various qualities com- bined in his view of America.

Mr. COMBE'S book is a true book ; it has in every page internal evidence that the account Mr. COMBE gives of its origin is literally correct. " From my first arrival I kept a note-book, into which I entered from day to day such observations as were suggested by the objects and circumstances around me. At first the novelty of aspect under which even commonplace objects occasionally pre- sented themselves, imparted to many of them an interest which they did not intrinsically possess. But as at that time my journal was written solely for private use, I felt no scruple in entering in its pages many observations and impressions which would never have found a place in it had it been composed originally with a view to publication. In proportion, however, as the country and its affairs opened up to me in more familiar intercourse, higher ob- jects excited attention ; and many passing events, institutions, and social arrangements, suggested reflections, which, judginc, from my own experience, seemed calculated to interest the British public. It was only at a late period that the idea of publishing my ob- servations presented itself; and that the considerations to be after- wards mentioned gradually led to its being realized." Two circumstances have exercised a beneficial influence on the work,—first, the circumstance alluded to by Mr. COMBE, that he did not visit America with a predetermination to publish an account of it ; secondly, that the peculiar bent of his inquiries leads him at all times to scrutinize narrowly the thoughts, feelings, and actions of those by whom he is surrounded. His observations on the United States are a portion of those experiences which it has become almost his profession to accumulate, with a view to enable him to fathom the mystery of human life. He did not sally forth, note-book in band, to collect materials for a work ; but when be found that the materials collected for his own use possessed value and interest in themselves, he made up his mind to publish them. Besides that earnestness in the pursuit of truth to which we adverted in reviewing Mr. COMBE'S Moral Philosophy, and his practice in mental analysis, he had other qualifications for the task. His professional avocations as a solicitor in Edin- burgh had made him familiar with the rise, progress, and con- sequences of the speculative rage which shook Scotland in 1825. There is something in the tastes and habits of Scotchmen- a lingering remnant of the sluttish wellbeing remarked about the domicile of Dandie Dinmont—less likely to be repelled by the want of elegant finish which characterizes the substantial wealth of the United States, than the more fastidious feelings of Englishmen. Mr. COMBS was qualified to judge of the economical relations of the United States, and to detect the real value of their unpolished treasures. In addition to this, the puritanical views which gained the ascendancy in Scotland during our civil broils, laid the foundations of the social institutions of .America. The moral and intellectual struggle which marks the progress of society in Scotland and America is the same—a struggle between the sceptical tendencies of science and a popular faith which had at an earlier period been burnt into the national mind by persecution ; not, as in England, a struggle between the same scientific spirit and the temporal influence of an accomplished and sometimes rather lax, aristocratical hierarchy. The controversies between a voluntary and a compulsory state church—between Cal- vinism and the compromise between Deistical logic and Christian tradition called Unitarianism—are real questions with Yankees and Scotchmen, but which few Englishmen understand and fewer care about. Lastly, Mr. COMBE'S pursuits, making him a zealous advocate of education and amelioration of the penal law, were a masonic password to the confidence and cooperation of the leading spirits of the Union ; and while directly giving. and re- ceiving information on those subjects, he was of necessity indirectly instructed regarding the peculiar position and views of his asso- ciates. With such opportunities and such preparation, an energetic mind like Mr. Comm's, in which an earnestness of purpose -assuming almost the character of religious faith and a true Scotch caution are blended in nearly equal proportions, could not fail to make observations worthy of being preserved. Mr. COMBE arrived in America about the end of September` 1838, and left it in the beginning of June 1840. His most pro- longed visits were to New York, Washington, Philadelphia,

Boston, and the vicinity of Portland in Maine. He visited Canada, but did not penetrate into the Southern and Western

States of the Union. His personal observation is confined to the well-peopled part of the Union—to the great centres of its commercial and manufacturing industry—to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and the seat of the Central Government. His remarks apply to that portion of the Union, which, except in its closer propinquity and the equality of political privilege, stands to the Southern and Western States nearly in the same relation that Great Britain does to its Tropical and Australasian Colonies—to that part of the nation in which the centralization of trading activity and accumulated capital has placed the preponderance of power. The armies of the Union (should it need or think it needs them) must be in a great measure recruited from the hardy pioneers of the West, and officered by the reckless chivalry of the South ; but the larger share of political influence must remain with the capitalists of the North-east. The almost nomade independ- ence of the inhabitants of the Western territory, and the voice which they have in the Legislature and appointment of the Ex- ecutive, will always oblige an American Government to regard their views and wishes respectfully ; but the nucleus of the Ame- rican state, the seat of its vitality, is in the districts visited by Mr. COMBE. It is this portion of the nation, therefore, which is mainly interesting to foreigners ; especially to us, seeing that the centre of American action is situated in close proximity to the remote frontiers of our possessions.

Mr. COMBE visited the United States at a period particularly favourable to the observation of the peculiar forms and workings of their civil and social institutions. The nakedness of the machinery of government in that democracy renders its routine workings at all times visible ; but Mr. COMBE had the good fortune to see that machinery tried by a period of national excitement. During his stay, the Union underwent a commercial panic and a fit of warlike mania. He found the country in a state of high prosperity, and re- mained long enough to witness the alarm and stagnation occasioned by the suspension of the Western banks, at the time when the con- test for ascendancy between the Bank and the President had con- verted the Government party into a minority of the people, (as has since been shown,) and driven Mr. BIDDLE to resign. He was present while the spirit of enmity towards England, excited by the disputes on the Canadian frontier and about the Maine boundary, raged most fiercely. Moments of high excitement like these throw nations as well as men off their guard ; and Mr. Comm has profited by them. He has placed many of the workings of the economical system of the United States in a new light. He has recorded many facts bearing upon the question of the permanency of the Union. These are topics that might lead us into too wide a field of discussion : we select in preference, Mr. Comm's remarks upon the national character of the Americans.

He thus judiciously treats the frequent charge against Americans of too exclusive a direction to the pursuit of wealth ; and shows bow even excessive application to such a pursuit does not neces- sarily imply sordid motives-

" The Americans are taunted by the British for their exclusive devotion to the pursuit of wealth ; but in this respect, as well as in many others, they are the genuine heirs of English dispositions, with a better apology for their con- duct. One of the earliest injunctions of the Creator to man was, ' to multiply and replenish the earth.' The Americans have a fertile country of vast ex- tent placed before them, inviting them to fulfil this commandment ; and it would argue mental lethargy or imbecility were they to disobey the call. But how can a wilderness be peopled and replenished without the creation of wealth? Houses must be built and furnished, clothes and implements of husbandry must be manufactured, animals must be reared; yet these are the constituent elements of wealth. The fertile soil of the West, therefore, invites the active and enterprising spirits of each generation to advance and take possession of it. Within two years after it is cleared, it places in the hands of the occupier a surplus produce after supplying his own wants. He sends this surplus to the Eastern cities to be sold, and receives in exchange the various manufactured articles which constitute the conveniences and ornaments of civilized life. The demand of the West on the capital and industry of the East is incessant and increasing. The rich lands of the West, aided by the rapid increase of popula- tion, present investments which can scarcely fail, after a few years, to yield an immense profit to the adventurer ; and this legitimate drain for capital affects profits and interest and the value of property all over the Union. There are revulsions, no doubt, but the wave never recedes so far as it had advanced; and those who fail are generally men who have engaged in enterprises far beyond the measure of their capital and legitimate credit. Were the people of the East, therefore, to despise riches, and to become merely the cultivators of lite- rature, philosophy, the fine arts, and all the social graces, they would be fit subjects for their own lunatic-asylums. The physique must precede the morale in the order of nature. We must be well lodged, clothed, nourished, and alto- gether physically comfortable, before we can bend our minds successfully to re- finement, philosophy, and the investigations of abstract science. The people of the United States, therefore, are only fulfilling a law of nature. They are peopling and replenishing the desert, and devoting themselves to this duty with a degree of energy, assiduity, and success, that is truly astonishing. It is in vain to blame their institutions or their manners for these results. They owe their origin to nature.

" But while I thus hold the Americans as not meriting disapprobation for pursuing wealth as their national vocation, I regard the impulse which prompts them to do so, as one which needs to be watched, and within certain limits re- sisted, lest it should swallow up all other virtues. Their real prosperity, de- pends on the coordinate activity of their acquisitive with their moral and in- tellectual faculties. If their external circumstances stimulate acquisitiveness

with a power equal to 10, they should put on a power of moral, religious, and intellectual cultivation equal to 15, to guide and restrain it. They are endea- vouring to do so by their public schools; and if they succeed, they will in due season become a magnificently great nation—great equally in the possession of physical and moral civilization. " The Americans, although highly acquisitive, are not sordid as a nation. They expend their wealth freely; and where the object meets with tbeirappro- bation, they are even munificent in their donations. The sums contributed by them to religious and benevolent societies, to the building of churches and col- leges, and to the support of hospitals and similar institutions, are very large."

Still more important is our author's exposition of the warlike tendency of the American public, and its causes—

"The opinion is generally entertained in Britain, that the Americans are so intensely devoted to gain and so averse to taxation, that they are not a warlike nation : but my conviction is different. The history of their country, which, in one form or another, constitutes the staple of their instruction at school, records heart .stirring adventures of their ancestors in their contests with the Indians; and afterwards many successful battles in the cause of freedom when they fought for their own independence. Next comes the war with Britain in 1813, in which the existing generation boasts of many victories. All these achievements are described in the most fervid language ; and every battle in which the Americans were victorious is illustrated by engravings or cuts, and celebrated in songs. In the hotels, and in innumerable private houses, pic- tures representing their triumphs by sea and land adorn the walls ; the panels of some of their stage-coaches are ornamented with representations of their frigates capturing their British antagonists ; in short, in the United States, the mind of eachgeneration is rendered familiar with tales of war, and excited by their stirring influence from the first dawn of reason till manhood.

" Nor are these seeds sown on a barren soil. The Americans inherit the cerebral organization of the three British nations; in whom the organs of com- bativeness, destructiveness, self-esteem, and firmness, the elements of pugnacity and warlike adventure, are largely developed. In them this endowment is accompanied by a restless activity, of mind, which finds natural and agree- able vent in war, and by a degree of intelligence which renders them capable equally of individual enterprise and of combination in action. Add to all these the influence of extreme youth, and the belligerent spirit of this people is easily accounted for. In mentioning their extreme youth, I do not refer to their short national existence of only sixty-three years since the 4th of July 1776, but to the extraordinary proportion of young persons in their population. It is well known that the population of the United States doubles every twenty-five years by natural increase alone, and every twenty-three years when assisted by immigration ; but I have not observed that any just apprecia- tion has been made by travellers of the influence of this fact on the character of the people. Nearly three generations are on the field at the same time ; and as nearly every male on arriving at twenty-one years of age has a vote, the preponderating influence of the young on the national resolves is very striking. From attending their public political meetings, my conviction is that the majority of their voters are under thirty-five or thirty-six years of age. Here, then, we have a people of naturally pugnacious dispositions, reared in the admiration of warlike deeds, imperfectly instructed in the principles on which the real greatness of nations is founded, possessed of much mental activity, impelled by all the fervour of youth, and unrestrained by experience. It would be matter of surprise if they were not predisposed to rush into a contest, espe- cially with Britain, whom they still regard as their hereditary foe. "Fortunately, however, for the people, and for the interests of civilization throughout the world, there are numerous and strong impediments to the gra- tification of their warlike propensities. Their actual pursuits are all pacific ; they live in plenty, and suffer no grievances except those which flow from their own errors, and which they have the power to remove; they have no warlike neighbours to threaten their frontiers ; and the constitutions of the General Government and of the several States leave the executive power so feeble that it can only add to its own embarrassments by engaging in hostilities. The American standing army consists of only 12,539 men of all arms and all ranks, while its corps of militia are altogether unadapted to aggressive warfare. The nation, therefore, has no force, except seven line-of-battle ships, twelve frigates, and twenty sloops of war, (exclusive of those on the stocks,) with which to maintain a war of aggression. So thoroughly inefficient was the militia found to be in the last war, except as a defensive force, that the General Government resorted to the expedient of engaging volunteers ; and on the present occasion Congress has authorized the raising of 50,000 men on the same terms. Fifty thousand volunteers may not appear to be a very formidable host to those who do not know the American people ; but it would probably be found to consist of tough materials. A proclamation for the inlistment of such a force would call forth that number of young, ardent, enthusiastic men, with heads full of fancies about glory, and temperaments burning for the gratifications arising from enterprise and danger. A. few months would suffice to confer On them the advantages of discipline; and they would then closely resemble the hosts of excited Frenchmen whom Napoleon led to the easy conquest of Italy and Germany. It is a blessing to the civilized world that so many impediments exist to this class of men attaining the ascendancy in the national councils." These remarks have a necessary and important bearing upon the opinions expressed by Mr. COMBE regarding the most prominent defect in American institutions- " One defect in the American institutions and social training, at present, appears to me to be, that they do not sufficiently cultivate habits of deference, prudence, and self-restraint. They powerfully call forth all the faculties that subserve the interests and ambition of the individual, but they leave the higher social qualities imperfectly exercised and ill-directed. There is no training of veneration, except in religious tuition, which is too often confined to vague motel instruction and to the points of faith regarded as essential to salvation. Making allowance for individual exceptions, it may be stated, that an American young man, in emerging from school, has scarcely formed a conception that he is subject to any natural laws, which he must obey in every step of his progress in life, or suffer. He has not been taught the laws of health, the laws by which the production and distribution of wealth are regu- lated, or the laws which determine the progress of society ; nor is be trained to subject his own inclinations and will to those or any similar laws as indis- pensable to his wellbeing and success. On the contrary, he comes forth a free-born, self-willed, sanguine, confident citizen, of what he considers to be the greatest, the best, and the wisest nation on earth; and he com- mences his career in life guided chiefly by the inspirations of his own good pleasure. He votes and acts on the destinies of his country in the same con- dition of mind. In Britain, we cannot boast of much superiority in practical education, but our young men are not ushered into life so early ; they are trained by the institutions and circumstances by which they are surrounded to a greater exercise of prudence and self-restraint; and few of them wield poli- ticalpower. I " t was my endeavour to explain to the Americana the importance of the new philosophy to a people in their present condition. Phrenology brings home to every mind capable of ordinary reflection, that all our functions and faculties, bodily and mental, are regulated by the Creator according to fixed laws ; that within certain limits they produce enjoyment, and beyond these misery. By teaching children this view of their own constitution, and also rendering them familiar with the physical, organic, and moral laws instituted by the Creator, and by training them to obey them, that reckless self-confident spirit, which now animates many of them in the United States, would be sup- planted by a disciplined understanding and regulated affections. Their insti- tutions render them indisposed to reverence man, or human wisdom ; but still they may venerate God, and practically fulfil his laws. Indeed, this species of moral and intellectual discipline appears to me to be indispensable to the per- manence and success of a democracy. If the Americans do not adopt it, and rely on it as their sheet-anchor, no other means which ordinary sagacity can discover will lead them safely through the perils that will rise thicker and thicker in their path in proportion as their population becomes more dense."

Mr. COMBE had occasion, like all other English visiters of Ame- rica, to be struck with the servile deference paid to what is as- sumed to be popular opinion : less one-sided than his predecessors, however, he points out the prevalence of the same weakness at home- " British authors have in general erroneously estimated the comparative influence of public opinion in their own country. and in the United States. It appears to me to be pretty nearly as active and influential in Britain as it is in America, certain differences in its modes of operation being taken into con- sideration. Iu Britain (see p. 100) society. is divided into a number of distinct classes, each of which has standards of opinion of its own. There is a publics opinion peculiar to each class ; and that opinion has acquired definite forms by the influence of ancient institutions. The opinions and modes of feeling of the individuals in each class grow with their growth and strengthen with their strength ; and in the maturity of life these conventional impressions appear to be absolutely naturaL The differences between the grades of society produce corresponding differences in opinion and modes of action; when an observer surveys individuals of each class acting according to thir own perceptions of propriety, he may imagine that, because they differ, each is manifesting a fine moral independence, in following the dictates of his own judgment. But this is an error : in America all men are regarded as equal ; there is no distinct separation into classes with a set of established opinions and feelings peculiar to each. As society is young and the institutions are recent, there are no great influences in operation to mould opinion into definite forms, even within. this one circle, which nominally includes all American citizens. The proper contrast, therefore, is between the power of public opinion in an English grads and in the American single circle ; and if so viewed, the difference will not bie found to be so greatly against the Americans as is generally supposed. " The English candidates for public offices do not bow to popular opinions, because the people have no offices to bestow ; but if we select the fashionable circle in London, and consider how many of the individuals who move in it could be induced by the dictates of reason, or even by motives of moral or re- ligious duty, to brave its opinions and to pursue a line of conduct, however virtuous, that was stigmatized by the whole circle as vulgar or unfashionable, we should find the number very small. The same lack of moral courage which is considered so peculiar to the Americans, would be found almost universally prevalent in it. If we proceed to another grade, the same fear of incurring disapprobation will be found to pervade its members ; and so down to the lowest where public opinion ceases to act. In regard to private conduct the same re- sult presents itself. In Edinburgh, a certain style of entertainment is in use in a certain rank ; and although many condemn the pomp, circumstance, and heavy vanity of the style, not one individual out of fifty will venture to depart from the established usage. In Scotland, instead of the tyranny of the majo- rity, we live under the fear of the folk '; and the moat inattentive observer must have remarked that it is a most potential fear : it sends thousands to church who privately confess that they derive little edification from the exer- cises ; it withholds thousands from countenancing their inferiors in society lest they should be regarded as ungenteel ; and it impels countless multitudes to give an ostensible adherence to opinions and observances of which they in their consciences disapprove."

Amusingly illustrative of American deference for the people are some remarks headed

HOW TO MANAGE THE PEOPLE.

The American people may be led by promptness, good nature, and tact, but they will not be driven. In 1812, previously to the declaration of war against England, the mob of Philadelphia seized the rudder of a British brig lying at the wharf, to prevent her from sailing, there being at that time no legal autho- rity for detaining her. Mr. —, a highly-respectable and well-known citizen, met them dragging the rudder through the streets in triumph ; he joined them, and hauled the rope and cheered with the rest. They proposed to go and break the windows of the' British Consul. He went with them ; and when they came opposite to the house, he addressed them, as if he had never heard: of the proposal to break the windows, and said, " Now, my brave lads, let its give him three cheers, to show that we are not afraid of the British, and be off." He cheered instantly, and they all joined. At the close of the last cheer, he gave the word, " Off to the State-house!" and suited the action to the word so rapidly that nobody had time to suggest or do any thing else. Arrived at the State-house, he said, " Let us give three cheers for America, and lock up the helm in the State-house." " America for ever! Hurrah ! hurrah! " The key of the cellar was obtained, and the helm locked up. Three cheers were given " for ourselves." " Dismiss !" was then uttered, and acted on by his walking away ; and all followed his example. As the whole proceeding had been illegal, Mr. — went quietly to the ship, and desired the captain to send. up to the State-house for his helm in the night. He did so ; put it on ; and when the sun rose, he was down the Delaware on his voyage to England. Another anecdote of the same gentleman is equally characteristic of the " way to manage the people." Between Walnut and Spruce Streets lay a piece of ground named the Potter's Field, or burial-place for strangers. Interments in it had long been prohibited ; but it contained some graves and monuments enclosed by railings. There was a strong desire in the minds of many enlight- ened citizens to clear these away and to turn the ground into an ornamental square, as it now lay in the heart of the city ; but every proposal to obliterate them was resisted by the public sentiment, although no living person could be found who was interested in any of them. Mr. — suggested to a marble- cutter to carry off the monuments quietly and by slow degrees, at dead of night. In the course of two years, they all disappeared mysteriously, nobody knew how. The rails followed. Nobody interfered ; nobody noticed the change until it was complete. He employed men quietly at night to level the surface over the graves. Thus was completed, in less than three years, without any authority whatever, a change which the enlightened residents had in vain soh- cited permission to accomplish. The ground being reduced to a waste, the civic corporation, without any hesitation, voted money to enclose it with a handsome rail, to plant it, and to furnish it with gravel-walks. It is now Washington Square ; one of the greatest ornaments, and a great benefit to the city. We had marked many passages for extract, but find we have already indulged too much. The effect of the work is to inspire faith in the permanence and beneficial tendency of the democratic institutions of the Union ; a faith which seems to have grown up insensibly in the author's mind, dissipating the nightmare appre- Notes will be found beyond all question the best general work that