RATIONALE 01` THE AMERICAN BONFFACE.

To one who has been accustomed to the extortion of the inns and hotels in England and the Old Continent, nothing at first is more remarkable than to find that there are more remains of the former American purity of manners and primitive simplicity to be observed in their establishments for the enter- tainment of man and horse, than in any other portion of public or private life. Such is the case, and the causes of the anomaly are to be explained. I presume that the origin of hotels and inns has been much the same in all

countries. At first the solitary traveller is received, welcomed, ands hospitably entertained ; but as the wayfarers multiply, what was at first a pleasure becomes a tax. For instance, let us take Western Virginia, through which the first ir- ruptiou to the Far West may be said to have taken place. At first every one was received and accommodated by those who had settled there ; but as this gradually became inconvenient, not only from interfering with their domestic privacy, but from their not being prepared to meet the wants of the travellers, the inhabitants of any small settlement met together and agreed upon one of them keeping the house of reception : this was not done with a view of profit, the travellers being only charged the actual value of the articles consumed. Such is still the case in many places in the Far West. A friend of mine told TOO that he put up at the house of a widow woman ; he supped, slept, had his breakfast, and his horse was also well supplied. When he was leaving, he in- quired what he hail to pay ? the woman replied, " Well, if I don't charge something, I suppose y.int will be affronted. Give me a shilling "—a sum not sufficient to pay for the horse's corn. The American innkeeper, therefore, is still looked upon in the light of your host : he and his wife sit at the head. of the table-1116k at meal-times ; when you arrive, he greets you with a welcome, shaking your hand ; if you arrive in company with those who know him, you are introduced to him ; he is consi- dered on a level with you; you. meet him in the most respectable companies ; and it is but justice to say that, in most instances, they are a very respectable portion of society. Of course, his authority, like that of the captains of the steam-boats, is undisputed : indeed, the captains of these boats may be partly considered as classed under the same head.

This is one of the most pleasing features in American society ; and I think it is likely to last longer than most others in this land of chau,ss, because it is upheld by public opinion, which is so despotic. The mania for travelling among the people of the Polled States, renders it nue,t important that every thing connected with locomotion should be well arranged : society demands it, public opinion enforces it, and therefore, with few exceptions, it is so. The respect shown to the toaster of an hotel induces people of the highest charac- ter to embark in the profession ; the contiuual stream of travellers which pours through the country gives sufficient support, by moderate profits, to enable the innkeeper to abstain from excessive charges ; the price of every thing is known by all, and no more is cherged to the President of the 'United States than to other people. Every one knows his expenses : there is no surcharge ; and fees to waiters are voluntary, and never asked for. At first, I used to examine the bill when preseoted ; but latterly I looked only at the sum total at the bottom, and paid it at once, reserving- the examination of it for my leisure ; and I never in one instance found that I had been imposed upon. This is very remark- able, and shows the force of public opinion in America ; for it can produce, when required, a very scarce article all over the world, and still more scarce in the profession referred to—honesty.

On the subject of mint-julep Mr. MURRAY was eloquent and general. Captain Mattaxix is equally eloquent, but more precise. And the potations of Queen VICTORIA'S Master of the House- hold seem to have been of a milder composition than those of the naval officer. As JOHNSON says, " brandy for heroes." Here is a gift to the bibacious.

A RECIPE FOR MLNT-JULEP.

I must, however, descant a little upon the mint-julep, as it is, with the thermometer at WO degrees, one of the most delightful and. insinuating pota- tions that ever was invented, and may be drunk with equal satisfaction when the thermometer is a; low as 70 degrees. There are irony varieties—such as those composed of claret, medeira, St.se. ; but the ingredients of the real mint- julep are as follows. I learnt how to make them, and succeeded pretty well. Put into a tumbler about a dozen sprigs of the tender shoots of mint ; upon them put a spoonful uf white sugar, and equal proportions of peach and, com- mon brandy, Sc, as to fill it up one-third, or perhaps a little less ; then take rasped or puunded ice, aml fill up the tumbler. Epicures rub the lips of the tumbler with a piece of fresh pine-apple, and the tumbler itself is very often incrusted outside with stalactites of ice. As the ice melts you drink. I once overhears! two ladies talking in the next room to me, and one of them said, " Well, if I have a weakness for any one thing, it is Mr a mint-julep,"—a very amiable weakness, and proving her good. sense and good taste. They are, in fact, like the American ladies, irresistible.

Whatever may be their qualities in other respects, in drinking our author pronounces the Americans the first of men. He was in the habit of assigning the palm to the Swiss and the English, but the Americans beat them hollow. There are many causes he says for this,—the heat of the climate, the coldness of the cli- mate, the changeableness of the climate ; the cheapness of liquor, social circumstances, and the pleasantness, variety, and amenity of the potations. But though a drinking they are not a drunken nation, ever tippling yet never ebriate. The virtuoso will find a good deal of information as to the quality and prices of wines— which are very dens; and perhaps it may gratify him to learn that our cousins-german only excel us in madeira.

" Claret and the other Frencls wines do very well in America; but where the Americans beat us out of the field, is in their Madeira, which certainly is of a quality which we cannot procure hi England. This is owing to the extreme beat and cold of the climate, which ripens this wine ; indeed I may almost say that I never tasted good Madeira until I arrived in the United States. The price of wines, generally speaking, is very high, considering what a trifling duty is paid, but the price of good Madeira is surprising. There are certain brands which, if exposed to public auction, will be certain to fetch from twelve to twenty, and I have been told even forty dollars a bottle."

Owing to the American love of motion, either in tours or per- manent migration—to the difficulty of getting servants for a house, and to the early age at which young people marry, and their con- sequent slender means—a considerable part of the middle classes live either in boarding-houses or hotels. On the mischievous effects to domestic life which flow from this practice, Captain MARRTAT agrees with his antipodes Miss MARTINEAU : but, though he rates sexual virtue no higher in America than anywhere else, he ,deems gallantry less frequent, from the force of circum- stances. Divorces are more easily obtained, (and on the bene- fits of this he again agrees with Miss MARTINEAU') whilst the Americans are too busy to allow of intrigue. If a man was absent a day from business, he would be inquired after ; and if found attending upon another man's wife, scandal would at once arise. From the Captain's panegyric upon the gentility of lawyers and naval officers, we should infer that they are or will be a very dangerous class—especially as he places the men so much below the women in intellect, knowledge, and accomplishments ; and so

few love-matches take place in America, (though this may be a safeguard,) if love as a sentiment exists at all. This is his pie- tare of

AMERICAN WOMEN AND MARRIED LIFE.

All the men in America are busy ; their whole time is engrossed by their accumulation of money. They breakfast early, and repair to their stores or count-

ing-houses : the majority of them do not go home to dinner, but cat at the nearest tavern or oyster-cellar ; for they generally live at a considerable distance from the business part of the town, and time is too precious to be thrown away. It would be supposed that they would be home to an early tea : many are, but the majority are not. After fagging, they require recreation, and the recrea- tions of most Americans are politics and news, besides the chance of doing

little more business, all of which, with drink, are to be obtained at the bars of the principal commercial hotels in the city. The consequence is, that the major portion of them come home late, tired, and go to bed ; early the nest morning they are off to their business again. Here it is evident that the women do not have much of their husband's "society; nor do I consider this arising from any want of inclination on the part of the husbands, as there is an absolute necessity that they should work as hard as others if they wish to do well, and what one does the other must do. Even frequenting the bar is almost a necessity, for it is there that they obtain all the mthrmatiou of the

day. But the result is, that the married WOMell are left alone : their husbands

are not their companions ; and if they could be, still the majority of the husbands would not be suitable companions, for the following reasons. An American starts into life at so early an age, that what he has gained at school, with the exception of that portion brought into use from his business, is lost. He has no time for reading, except the newspaper ; all his thoughts and ideas

are centred in his employment ; be becomes perfect in that, acquires a great deal of practical knowledge usetnl for making money, but for little else. 'This he must do if he would succeed, and, the major portion confine themselves to such knowledge alone. But with the women it is different : their education is much more extended than that of the men, because they are more docile, and easier to control in their youth ; and when they are married, although their duties are much more onerous than with us, still, (luring the long days and.even- ings during which they wait for the return of their husbands, they have time to finish, 1 may say, their own educations and. improve their minds by reading. The consequence of this, with other adjuncts is that their minds become, and really are, much more cultivated and refined than those of their husbands; and when the universal practice of using tobacco and drinking among the latter is borne in mind, it will be readily admitted that they are also much more refined in their persons.

As regards the effects of emigration and migration, Captain num-AT confirms the representations of the author of Aristocracy in America and Mrs. CLAVERS'S Glimpses of Western Life. Fo- reigners are more democratic than the native Americans, and of these the Irish are by far the most unruly and violent. The persons who cherish the greatest hatred to England are chiefly emigrants from the United Kingdom; but as a body, the English are discon- tented with their lot, and regret the step they have taken. The manners of the people do not suit them, and they cannot retain the practice of fair dealing, or at least practice their ideas of it, and compete with the Yankees : they must sink to their moral level to live. Of the emigrants, the most useful, contented, and quiet, are the German ; but for the latter quality there seems a

sufficient reason, in the fact that few of them talk any thing but their native tongue.

Of the Southerners Captain MARRYAT appears to pass a very different opinion from that of all previous writers. We say appears, because, as we understand him, he limits his remarks to the new Southern States bordering upon the Mississippi or its tributaries, and does not include the old Southerners of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, who are the real gentlemen of America, with the re- mains of immense territorial estates, and having noble or gentle British blood in their veins. The worst of the Mississippi Southern- ers, the first settlers, are drawn in terrible colours—lawless, bloody, and treacherous. Of the better class, we have this sketch.

A FAR-OFF SOUTHERNER.

Although some of the towns have, as I have pointed out, effected a great re formation, the state of society in general in these States is still most lamenta- ble, and there is little or no security for life and property ; and what is to be much deplored, the evil exteuds to other States which otherwise would mach sooner become civilized.

This arises from the Southern habits of migrating to the other States during the unhealthy months. For the rest of the year they remain on their proper- ties, living perhaps in a miserable log-house, and almost in a state of nature, laying up dollars aud attending carefully to their business. But as soon as the autumn comes, it is the time for holyday : they dress themselves in their best clothes, and set off to amuse themselves, spend their money, and pass for gen- tlemen. Their resorts are chiefly the States of Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio ; where the Springs, Cincinnati, Louisville, and other towns, are crowded with them : they pass their time in constant revelling, many of them being seldom free from the effects of liquor ; and I must say, that I never in my life heard such awful swearing as many of them are guilty of. Every sentence is commenced with some tremendous oath, which really horrifies you ; in fact, although in the dress of gentlemen, in no other point can they lay any preten- sions to the title. Of course I am now speaking of the mass; there are many exceptions, but even these go with the stream, and make no efforts to resist it. Content with not practising these vices themselves, they have not the courage to protest against them in others.

Of the manners, and what may be called the personal character of the people, Captain MARRYAT speaks favourably, attributing to peculiarity what others have called insolence. The gentry he does not notice distinctly, appearing from his incidental remarks to have found them like other gentlemen ; but he complains bitterly of the laxity with which letters of introduction are asked for and given by Americans ; a friend of his in England having been chal- lenged for not showing sufficient attention to some party implement who had, by a succession of demands and facile compliances, vinitedThiniself up to- within one of the Captain. But the example orpbor M. Phosr, the election-magistrate, shows that greater greatness than a Captain's may be imposed upon in this way. The patiOges, hoivever, upon American letters of introduction, from the President downwards, and the habit of granting travelling attac1i6 hips, may be read with advantage now an excursion across the Atlantic is so easy. This, according to our Captain, is the

PRESENT PLIGET Or TRE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR.

Every fortnight a hundred and sixty passengers will arrive by the Great Western, or some other steamer. Most of them are American citizens, armed with their letters of recommendation ; and the situation of the American Minister has become one of peculiar difficulty. By one steam-packet alone he has had seventy-five people, or families, with letters of introduction to him, mostly obtained by the means which I have

described; and. there is not one of these parties who do not expect as much attention as if the American Minister had nothing else to do but to be at his vonimand. They leave their cards with him : if the cards are not returned in two or three days, they send a letter to know why he has not called upon them ? and if the visit is returned, send a letter to know whether the Minister

Called in person, or not ? With a stipend from his own Government quite in- adequate to time purpose, he is expected, to the great detriment of his private

fortune, to receive and entertain all these people. I have it from the best authority, that some of these parties have called and inquired whether the Minister was at home : being answered in the negative, they have gone into a room, taken a chair, and deelared their determination not to leave the house

until they had seen him. Most of them expect him to obtain admittance for them into the Houses of Lords and Commons, and to present them at Court. In some instances, when the Minister has stated the necessity of a Court dress, they have remonstrated, thinking it au expense wholly unnecessary. " They were American citizens, and would be introduced as such ; they had to do with Court dresses, and all that nonsense." And thus, since the steam- . vessels have increased the communication between the two countries, has the American Minister been in a state of annoyance to which it is impossible that lie or any other who may be appointed in his place can possibly submit.

Let the Americans understand, that those only go to Court in this country who have claims—as the nobility, the oldest commoners, people in office, the

army and navy, and other liberal professions. There are thousands of families in England, by descent, fortune, and education, very superior to those of Ame- rica, who never think of going to Court, being aware that such is not their

sphere ; and yet every American who comes over here with four or five intro- ductions in his pocket, must, forsooth, be presented. If the Minister refuses, -why then there is an attack upon him in the American prints; and his name and his supposed misdemeanours are bandied about from one end of the Union

to the other. It is hardly credible to what a state of slavery they would re- dace the American representative. One man says, " I understand I can have a Court dress at a Jew's." " Yes you can, 1 believe." " Well now, suppose we step down together ; you amity cheapen it a bit for me, may be." These facts are known to the respectable and gentleman-like Americans, who, after the samples which have conic Over and have obtained admission into society and gone to Court, will not show themselves, but prefer to stay at home. All this is wrong, and a remedy must soon be found, as the evil increases every day.. The Americans cannot take the English Court by storm, or force us to acknowledge their equality in this country.

According to Captain MARRYAT the mass of the Americans are 'hostile to this country ; though the gentry and the respectable classes in the large towns of the old States are friendly towards us, and are very anxious to increase amicable relations. He also affirms, like the German nobleman, that a disposition in favour of aristocracy is growing up in the seabord States of America ; the existence of which, fie conceives, may in time be brought about by

means of wealth. And this latter passion of vanity, perhaps, may

neutralize the hatred. It is to this country that the Americans must look for all historical, poetical, feudal, or heraldic distinction.

England is the cradle of the Yankee race. They can no more get

rid of our ancestral claims, than a man can destroy his own pro- genitors; which, fixed in the irrevocable past, is amongst the things that PLINY declared to be beyond the power of the ads. Already this feeling, or rather the effects of this feeling, are working curi- ously, if the Captain speaks truth ; and if the restriction he hints at were established, who knows whether his speculation on the supremacy of Great Britain might not be realized.

"Since the Americans have come over in such numbers to this country, our Herald's Office has actually been besieged by them, in their anxiety to take out

the arms and achievements of their presumed forefathers: this is also very na- tural and very proper, although it may be at variance with their institutions. The determination to have an aristocracy in America gains head every day a conflict must ensue when the increase of wealth in the country adds suffi-

ciently to the strength of the party. But some line must be drawn in this -Country as to the admission of Americans to the English Court, or, if not

drawn, it will end in a total and therefore unjust exelttiion. As but few of' the Americans can claim any right to aristocracy in their own country from ac- knowledged descent, I should not be surprised if in a few years, now that the two countries arc becoming so intimately connected, a reception at the English Court of this country be considered as an establishment of' their claim. If so, it will be a curious anomaly in the history of a republic, that fifty years after it was established, the republicans should apply to the mother-country, whose institutions they had abjured, to obtain from her a patent of superiority, so as to raise themselves above that hated equality which by their own institutions they profess."

Upon the" government and the public character of the people Captain MARRYAT is very severe. He broadly declares, that after"due examination, and calling to mind all he has collected from observation or otherwise, he considers that at this present time the standard of morality is lower in America than in any other portion of the civilized globe." (Vol. II. page 142.) This charge is supported by various instances, in various places, of which the following are the most important. There is throughout the States an utter disregard to truth in the majority, and though many dis- dain to practise falsehood they countenance those who do. Pri- vate calumny, and the lie which calumny involves, produce no tiociil degradation even when detected, though in the South the injured may assassinate his traducer with safety. In public mat- ters, falsehood, with virulence and coarseness superadded, is more rife, and even attended with greater impunity than in private life; and to such a pitch is it carried, that the Captain agrees with the cha• racters,otthe author aAriStoeracy in America, in hOlditits that The respectable classes have'abandoned polities, as a trade' in w'hieh 'Only "blaekguards" can succeed.' The government, our anther page 146) denounces as 46insatiable in its ambitiOn, regarillesS of it faith,: and corrupt in the highest 'degree." Its cOrruptien be 'en- deavours to prove by the numerous unprosecuted public defaulters., the number of places and plaeemen, the corruption- of elections, the clean sweep which is always made down to the lowest' officials on a change of party, and many other ways of rewarding political partisans. Its ambition, or rather the objects on which the Ame- rican Government: exercises its ambition, are not so clear, unless it be in territorial aggrandizement. For examples of its faithless- ness, Captain MAERTAT refers to its treatment of the Indians, the seizure of Texas, and its submission to the virtual rebellion on the Canada borders. The first, no doubt, a gratuitous crime ; the two next, matters in which the executive winked at atrocities it could not or dared not prevent ; and all, abstractedly speaking, measures to which neither a statesman nor a gentleman would have been a party, for the "craft " of one and the spirit of the other would have prevented him from taking the responsibility of measures which he could not control.

We have given the views of Captain MARRYAT as unfolded in his volumes—condensed, no doubt, but we believe without exag- geration. They are of a kind, however, to call for some remark; for he seems to have written rather to injure Democracy than to expound the whole truth. Had he brought to polities the same consideration with which he regarded society, we suspect he would have traced the same resemblance between England and America, that he did in the vanity and assumption of national superiority which John Bull displays as well as brother Jonathan. Some of the facts, then, on which he founds his opinion, seem too singular to build conclusions upon, others too vague. Detraction is, unfor- tunately, prevalent everywhere ; and, we suspect, a man who mis- represented the social behaviour of another at a dinner-table, might, after the explanation of his scandal, be seen "walking arm in arm with the gentlemen and flirting with the ladies" in Eng- land—unless, indeed, he were poor, or shuffled if called to account. Nay, even scandalmoncrers, in what the Americans would term a "fir," do not seem to safer much direct social ignominy. We have not heard that any of the calumniators of Lady Fiona. HasTINGs have lost caste. Perhaps when next our author writes a flaming panegyric upon the English .aristocracy, he will introduce this courtly episode to enforce his position, or hitch it into his own difficulty springing out of Mr. CLAY'S dinner-party. The virulence, violence, coarseness, and falsehood, of the bad part of the American press, are gross enough, we doubt not ; and the effects may be more mischievous in an extensive and thinly- peopled territory, than in a densely-peopled country like ours, from the more contracted minds of the readers. But what can be worse than the private libels of our unstamped press?, Is even the stamped press altogether unobnoxious to the charge of gross partiality, and the suspicion of gross venality ? Nay, look at the disregard of truth, and the equal disregard of reason, displayed in the lies of a day, put forth by the organs of the two great parties. We suspect that Captain MARRYAT in many of his views has regarded the shape rather than the substance. He has looked at words instead of things, and not allowed for American hyperbole, colonial and provincial exaggeration' and that coarseness of mind and manner which must be expected in a new society, constantly receiving accessions from the discontented, the disgraced, or the unfortunate of other countries.

The American complaint, echoed by MARRYAT, that the Mite of society cannot succeed in politics on account of the press, we be- lieve to be exaggerated. The newspapers of England were for- merly virulent enough ; COBBETT was a tolerably good hand at abuse; and since his time, libels as foul as the mind could conceive or the pen write have been scattered about without deterring the aristocracy of England from politics. If the fact is true, there must be other causes at work. Perhaps one is that the grapes are sour.

As regards the general government, we think it very probable that it has too little of that power which, whether in public or pri- vate affairs, is necessary for a confidential agent, to enable him to act for his own credit or to his employer's advantage, and without which power, indeed, no man of spirit or ability will undertake the task.

Captain MAERTAT agrees with DE TOCQUEVILLE, that the execu- tive part of the government duties costs much and is badly done; in other words, the American Government is a dear government. Ile also holds with him, that the taxation an extensive war would involve, will cause so much discontent and State resistance, as to induce some internal crisis, and perhaps bring about the destruc- tion of the Democracy. Such is a cursory view of the principal leading points in Captain MARRYAT'S first and second volumes. We have left ourselves no space to enter into the third. But we may say that the reader will there find the latest and most complete account of the Indian war in Florida ; as well as some very elaborate remarks on the Canadas, many of which are judicious, and all moderate.