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Untitled Article
institutions , are all gone-by relics of the dark ages . This , and the vastness of their naked territory , make up the flattering unction which is laid upon the soul , as an antidote to the little misgivings which from time to time arise , lest their large country be not of quite so much importance among the nations , as a certain paltry , old-fashioned little place that they wot of . * —( p . 225 . )
' I took some pains to ascertain what they meant by their glorious institutions ; and it is with no affectation of ignorance that I profess I never could comprehend the meaning of the phrase , which is , however , on the lip of every American , when he talks of his country . '—( p . 227 . ) c Their unequalled freedom , I think , I understand better . Their code of common law is built upon ours ; and the difference between us is this , —in England the laws are acted upon , in America they are not /—( p . 228 . )
In discussing questions relating to their government , and its effects on the social and moral condition of the people , Mrs . Trollope resorts to the old expedient of taking benefit of sanctuary , and deprecating criticism , on the plea of sex ; now , if she understand the subjects upon which she attempts to write , there surely needs no apology for stating her opinion ; if she were conscious that she did not understand them , it would have been wise to
have left them untouched . The old custpm of making gentle critiques for gentle authors is , we hope , falling fast into disuse ; and women , as well as men , must be content that their works , and not themselves , form the subject of judgment . Let both one and the other write only of what they feel and understand ; the time is passed for the toleration of crudeness and vapidity under shelter of either sex or rank . Here is one of those sweeping decisions in which our author loves to indulge ; its severity somewhat mitigated by the saving clause of which we have spoken : — * All the freedom enjoyed in America , beyond what is enjoyed in England , is enjoyed solely by the disorderly , at the expense of the orderly ; and were I a stout knight , either of the sword or of the pen , I would fearlessly throw down my gauntlet , and challenge the whole Republic to prove the contrary ; but being , as I am , a feeble looker on , with a needle for my spear , and 1 talk , " for my
device , I must be contented with the power of stating the fact , perfectly certain that I shall be contradicted by one loud shout from Maine to Georgia . ' ( p . 148 . ) As an amusing instance of the determination to find fault , of pretended humility , and of inconsequent conclusion , take the following remarks : If I mistake not , every debate I listened to in the American Congress was upon one and the same subject ; namely , the entire independence of each individual state , with regard to the federal
Untitled Article
404 Domestic Manners of the Americans .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 404, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/44/
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