Capt. Marryatt, Part I [pp. 253-276]

258 Capt. Marryalt and hi8 Thary. [APRIL,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
England, on the contrary, London is the great reservoir,
where all that is dignified, learned and polite, is annually
collected; and from that city, as from a focus, light and refinemenit are diffused throughout the land. Whether the
evils, arising from the disproportioned magnitude of that
overgrown emporium do not more than counterbalance
these superficial advantages, is a question well worthy the
consideration of the moral and political philosopher. We
are no advocates for those innovations which some of our
citizens, less influential than wise in their own conceit,
have attempted to engraft upon the language; nor do we
believe that our literary men are disposed to encourage
their adoption. Without disputing Capt. Marryatt's veracity, we must be permitted to conjecture, that the American, who asserted that " Webster's Dictionary was the
only one used in the Court of St. James by the king,
queen and princesses, and that by royal order," merely intended to perpetrate a hoax; or, if he was serious, must
have been on a par in point of information with that
"learned Theban," mentioned by our author, who gravely
affirmed, that "King Charles III. was a printer. and not
unfrequently worked at the trade after he ascended the
throne of England." That some words have crept into the
language, as spoken here, unauthorized by the classic writers of the English tongue, is not to be denied; and it is
equally unquestionable, that even in Britain, large accessions have been made to it since the Augustan age of Queen
Anne; whether to its improvoment in force or elegance
may well be doubted. For ourselves we have an insuperable aversior to these exotics, believing that if they continue to be tolerated, the writings of our time will be as unintelligible to our posterity, without a glossary, as the poetry of Chaucer is to us.
To entitle Capt. Marryatt to pronounce with such an air
of confidence on American character, he should have spent
years in this country; have mingled with us familiarly in
public and private; and frequented not only the society of
towns and cities, but the hospitable dwellings of our rural
population. By his own acknowledgment, he shunned designedly the invitations proffered to him by the courtesy of
our citizens. His observations were circumscribed, in a
great measure, to the inhabitants of towns and cities; to the
company at a few fashionable watering-places; and to the
motley throng, who crowd our hotels, mail-coaches and
steamboats. He had scarcely a glimpse of that numerous
and intelligent class, who are engaged in tillage. We cannot discover from his Diary that he visited any part of that
immnense tract, embraced-in the limits of the southern and
south-western states, except Western Virginia; and he
must therefore have known nothing of that lawless and bar barous region, as he describes it, but from the report of
others. Though many men of worth and intelligence are
found in our cities, their population consists chiefly of needy
adventurers in pursuit of gain, of a lawless rabble, and of a
numerous body of discontented and turbulent emigrants,
the very refuse of Europe. There are said to be forty thou sand Irish in New York alone. In such an assemblage of
heterogeneous materials, it is not surprising that vice should
predominate; and indeed, according to Capt. Marryatt's own
hypothesis, nothing can be more demoralizing than to pack
men in masses within a narrow space. The same causes
are at work in the cities of Europe, and with results, if we
may judge from our author's opinion, equally disastrous to
the interests of virtue.
The population of the towns and cities in this country
constitute but a small fraction of its inhabitants. Our peo ple are essentially agricultural. In the allodial owners and
cultivators of the soil reside the physical and political power
of the United States, and among them still flourish the un corrupted manners, the republican simplicity, the generous
hospitality, the unobtrusive yet manly virtues of our fathers;
qualities which languish and wither in the polluted atmosphere of cities. Many of these hardy freemen have liberal
and enlightened minds; but scattered over an extensive
surface, and absorbed in their own quiet and usefill pursuits, they are less clamorous than others, and are destitute
of those facilities of political concert and combination which
are enjoyed by the manufacturing and commercial classes.
Hence travellers, who, from their position, look necessarily
on the mere superficies of things, seldom suspect the value
of what lies beneath, and never have leisure to explore the
moral wealth of this broad and solid substratum of American
society and institutions. Hence, too, the influence of our
agricultural class in elections is not always commensurate
with their numbers; but when once roused they are irresistible. From their insulated situation they are more easily
misled by the false and delusive statements of artful men,
and more slow in detecting political imposture, than the
quick-witted and watchful inhabitants of towns and cities;
but their purposes as a mass are always honest and patriotic. With this important body, the bone and sinew of our
country, Capt. Marryatt must have had a very slight and
imperfect acquaintance, when he promulgated his severe
and unqualified strictures on American morals. His time
was spent chiefly in hotels, stages and steamboats, and it is
therefore not at all remarkable that he should have charged
intemperance on us as a national vice; for it is to such
places that the votaries of the bottle usually resort for the
gratification of their ruling propensity. Though we are a
migratory people, thousands nevertheless traverse the United States annually with their own conveniences for travelling; and hence the bulk of those, who avail themselves
of public conveyances, are by no means the elite of our
population. It is notorious to every man at all conversant with such matters, that there is a class of people who
hang very loosely on society, and who, having no regular
occupation or permanenrt abiding place, infest all our great
thoroughfares in considerable numbers. The habits and
manners of such men are surely no fair index of American
character. We ask then emphatically, can a traveller,
whose view has been limited to the streets and hotels of
our cities, to a few of our watering-places, and to the casual
passengers in steamboats and stages, with such glimpses of
the country and its inhabitants as could be obtained in his
rapid transit from one town to another, be qualified to pronounce judgment of condemnation on us morally and politically? Yet, for aught that can be gathered from his
scanty narrative, such is the predicament of Capt. Marryatt;
and we submit it to an impartial world to decide what credit
his testimony, under such circumstances, is entitled to.
Had our author formed his opinions on that cautious induction, exacted not more by the dictates of philosophy than
the obligations of justice; had he been less astute in dis cerning subjects of censure, and more open to favorable im pressions, we had been spared this virulent attack on the
United States; and what perhaps is a still heavier inflic tion, so many tiresome, lumnbering pages of political disqui sition. But he felt himself the Atlas of conservatism, and,
resolving to demolish what to his diseased imagination
seemed the strong hold of radical principles, he run a tilt at
a government and people, who, without the aid of kings or
nobles, had pursued a career of unexampled prosperity for
nearly seventy years. Little did we think, that a simple
traveller, with no higher credentials than a captain's com mission in the British navy, and coming here apparently on
a mere excursion of curiosity or amusement, was big with
the fate of empires; and was preparing to arrest, by a
stroke of his pen, the fearful progress of revolution.
The gallant captain avers that he should not have uttered
this libel against the United States but in defence of his
own country; the logic of which ingenious apology amounts
to this, that the vilification of his neighbor is the most con
Capt. Marryalt and his Diary.
LA riti r,,
258