On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
846
Untitled Article
Mr . Finch ' s volume contains two wholly distinct publications : A Narrative of Travels in the United States , and an Essay on the Natural Boundaries of Empires . The press has of late brought forth travels in America , in rapid succession . It is to be hoped that they will continue to multiply , until the condition of the inhabitants of that immense country is generally and thoroughly understood by the people of England . The American institutions have often been called experimental , by the enemies of change in this country , and we have been told to wait , and see what would come of them . It was meant , b y this admonition , that Jonathan would , before long , get into such confusion , as willingly to saddle himself again with Church and King , kneeling down penitently to receive the old pair of
panniers , and then bearing , like the strong and contented Issachar , his brace of burdens . The prophecy is not yet quite fulfilled . The assertion was nevertheless true , as to the experimental character of American legislation . The whole constitution was one great experiment : and after the lapse of more than half a century , we may surely begin to set some value by the results . They are the more interesting to us , from having been tried upon
our own kith and kin . The plant which is growing there , is a slip from our own stock . A French precedent for innovation in a popular direction , is easily disposed of . That which may do in France , and produce much good , might yet , we are told , be very mischievous here . We are so very different ; quite another race . But this will not hold as to America ; what will do for Jonathan , will do for John . At any rate , if we do not copy their transatlantic ways , we may yet profit by fully understanding them . The pains which are often taken to mystify the public on American affairs , show that some good is to be gained by an acquaintance with them . What attempts have been made , for instance , to hoax us about the operation of the ballot there , and the management of elections . There is no pleasure in mere lying , even for a traveller . Some sinister object is contemplated in such misrepresentations : we may presume , then , on some public advantage in getting at the truth . So let the press work away at American travels , however large the number already in the market . Being so numerous as they are , our best mode of reviewing Mr . Finch will be simply to state the peculiarities of his publication . It may interest some of our readers to know , that Mr . Finch has been more attentive than most travellers to the geology of * Travels in the United States of America , and Canada , containing some account of their Scientific Institutions , and a few Notices of the Geology and Mineralogy of those Countries . To which is added , an Essay on the Natural Boundaries of Kmpires . By J . Finch , Ksq , Longman , 1833 .
Untitled Article
FINCH'S TRAVELS IN AMERICA . *
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1833, page 846, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2628/page/42/
-