Winchester gazette. [volume] (Winchester, Va.) 18??-1826, 1821-10-13

prosperity Of that country, we are ale
ways eager to receive the statements Of
impartial travellers with regard to its
and we gladly embrace the
opportunity which the book We have
quoted offers to lay before our readers
mot any new statistical facts, but the
Testimony Of an intelligent eye witness
to Us growing prosperity, and to the
happy effects Of its political institu
tons.
tits Justly observed, by this enlight.
ened and eloquent writer, that the Eng
iish peop pie have been as i'll represent.
ed in America as at home. Few Britt
ish travellers who have visited that
continent have been qualified either 10
do justice to the country they professed
to describe, or credit TO that which sent
them forth. The best of them, in their
hest efforts to be liberal, have seldom
been able to shake off entirely the
/" begsar elements Of the old worid,-
Hence the strange misrepresentation
which prevail among US, aud unsettle
mems opinions on a subject neither OBJ
scure nor difficult. In porspering
country, with 10 millions Of iuhabit-
ants, some see nothing but forests.
bears, and rattlesnakes--in the inteili-
gent aud virtuous husbandmen of the
Republic, they see nothing but drunken
boors-in her free press, nothing but
negro MISREPRESENTATION her Con-
3r ess, nothing but demagogues-and in
her mild and equitable Government, no
thing but weakness and anarchy
Considering the mischievous effects Of
bad institutions in vitiatius mems NOR.
al perceptions, such distorted views
are not surprising. Fifty years ago,
had any individual affirmed, that such
a Government as that Of the United
States could exist, he would have been
denounced as an enthusiast. That 10
millions Of men could govern them
selves by u. system OF universal suf-
fraSe, aud live in the most perfect or.
der and security, enjoying liberty Of
speech, thought and acton never e.
quailed, without standing armies
without hierarchy Of priests-wiIh.
out a shackled press; without state
prosecutions; without idle pagean,s;
and tsnost strange of ally almost with
out taxes--in short, without force ap.
piled to their persons, or frauds prac
tised on their understandings, is con-
clusion most deyoutly 90 be deprecated
by those who hold mankind in thral
dom, and only slowly believed by the
liberal minded, even after il had re-
ceived a practical demonstration.
ar
honour the men who confided in the
virtue of their species, in, defiance of
power and ridicuie, and made the bold
experiment, the issue Of whic :as raj
sed the destiny of the humaa race
The WashiDgtOns, the Fraaklius, the
Jeffersons, who formed those noble in
stitutiuns, will be forever caaonised in
the hearts of the enlightened and gem
srous, as the greatest benefactors Of
mankind. Their courage aud wisdom
have realized state Of society surpas-
sing all that ancient sages had imagin.
ed in the dreams OF their benevolenee.
While their glorious work exists, were
it even in the remetest corner OF the
globe, there is a hope Of emancipation
for tho most b 'nis';ted nations. But ia
its present state we see but the feeble
beginnings OF that influence which, in
the fullness of its strength, it is destin.
ed to exert over the fate of the world.
II is dedueibie from undisputed data,
that In the short space Of one century,
the United States will contain a hun.
dred millions Of inhabitants. Such
population, speaking one language,
living under one Government, and en-.
ioying the benefit OF institutions calcu-
lated abose all others to deveiope the
energies Of man, will be phenomenon
Of which the past history Of mankind
can scarcely enable us 10 form z con-
ccption. The American Government
will then be at the head Of an amount
of moral and physical force which has
never been equalIed, aud most be irri.
sistihIe. iftyranny shall then exist in
any corner of Europe, it must be by
the suffrance of America.
A Government so constructed il The
greatest achievement Of philosouhy
since philosophy had her birth. And
il is surprising, that an object possess
ing such unrivallsd moral grandeur,
has so seldom awakened corresponding
sentiments in the minds Of those who
have contemplated or described it.
Something must be allowed for the ef-
feet ofihOse modes of thinking which
have grown up amidst the usages Of
the old world which teach us to con-
found grandeur with pageaBtry, and
simplicity with meauness. Notwjth-