Life and Liberty in America [pp. 515-526]

LIFE AND LIBERTY IN AMERICA.
bent atmosphere. Its steady, unchanging, perpetual current reminds one rather of the stillness of the heavenly bodies,
than of the movement of the hurricane, the (lashing of the
waves, or the fretful precipitancy of the flooded rivulet. Perpetual movement, like this which changes nothing, is but irnmobility, because the distance and relation of objects remain
unchanged. Such is the feeling which it impresses upon the
spectator. Niagara has no compeer; nothing like it in the
world. It stands dissociated and alone, the very genius of
solitude. Surrounding crowds break not in upon its silence,
its immobility, and its solitariness, for its grandeur abstracts
the attention of the beholder from all other objects and subjects, and fills, and absorbs his thoughts. The conception
which swe derive of Niagara, from Doctor Macklay's description, is altogether different from what we had gathered from
other writers. If now called to describe it ourselves, we
should say " After the first shock of surprise is over; when
we have viewed it for some time, and begin to drink in its
beauties, repose, not action, is the idea that it suggests, and
the feeling which it inspires. It now seems still, silent, solitary, and sublime.'Tis the calm, composed presence of Eternity and of Omnipotence."
Our author is correct, felicitous, and appreciative in his description of Washington city; of several other cities, and of
the Mississippi river. His book contains too much useful
statistics, and many wise political suggestions and reflections.
Americans may be well gratified by his account of NewYork, and owe him a debt of gratitude for the boldness and
magnanimity of his admissions. We extract a part of what
he writes on this subject:
" In one of his famous letters to the Pennsylvanian, the late Rev. Sydney Smith
accused the whole American people of pride, conceit, and presumption. Smarting under a sense of injuries inflicted upon him, not by the State, or city of
New-York, which had not the remotest connection with his grievances, real or
supposed, he hurled this sweeping denunciation against all the States ~ declar.
ing, among other odd things, in his own odd way, that this new and vain
people could never forgive England, because Bond street was superior to Broadway.' It is fourteen years since the Rev. Sydney Smith thus disburdened his
mind, prompted to do so, by the fact, disagreeable to him, that his packets had
been previously disburdened by his own desire of making more than five per cent.
by the transatlantic investment of his money. But whatever may have been the
appearance of this great artery of New-York in that remote period of its history,
a period, when, as travellers told us, pigs prowled about the principal thoroughfares, and lay down at night on the marble steps of marble palaces, in snug and
affectionate familiarity with Irish emigrants-Sydney Smith's assertion of the
inferiority of Broadway to Bond street is ludicrously untrue at the present time
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