Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-05-11
American Character.

An English writer, Mr.. CASEY, in his work
"Two Years on the Farm of Uncle Sam,'' just
published in London, gives the following analy.
sis of American character:
."Yieing with the Parisians in dress-the Eng.
lsh IN energy-cautious as Dutchman-impul.
sive as an Irishman-patriotc as Tell-brave as
Wallace-cool as Wellington-and as royal as
Alexander-there he goes-the American citi-
zen! In answering your questions, or speaking
commonly, his style is that of the ancient Spar
tan; but put him on a stump, with audience OF
Wings, Democrats, and Barnburners, and he be-
comes compoun nd of Tom Crib and Demosthe-
nes-a fountain of eloquence, passion, sentiment,
scarcasm, logic and drollery, altogether different
from anything known or imagined in the Old
World states. Say anything (public men) united
with conventional phraseology, he swings his
rhetorical mace, with avigorous arm, pushing the
antagonistic principle or person into most vii
lainous compound. See him at dinner-he dis
patches his meal with speed which leads you to
suppose him not Illuminating animal; yet enjoy
ng his cigar for an hour afterwards, with the gus
to and ennui of a Spaniard.
"Walking right on, as if it were life against
time, with glass at fever heat; yet taking it cool
in the most serious and pressing manner a COM
pound of the Red Man, Brummell and Franklin,
statesman and laborer-on he goes, divided and
sub-divided in politics and professionally
opposed with keenness of competition in vain
looked form England. Yet let but the national
rights of liberty be threatened, and that vast
dSo dofr tod 1r,ifb
one man and heart, head hand and purse, burn
ing with Roman zeal to defend inviolate the
cause of the commonwealth.
zs'To him who has lived among the Americans
and looked largely at the theory and practice of
their government and its executive, there remains
no possible doubt that the greatest amount of per-
sonal security and freedom has been produced
from the history of all empires, stands the near
est of all earthly systems to perfection; because
it is built on and embodies those principles which
God hath proclaimed its attributes. rs -.
81 noticed that the American sets less value
on life than Europeans; that is he does not think
the loss of life the greatest loss-the ultimatum.
When man dies you see none of that sentiment
Il use the best term / can think Of which sur
rounds such an event in other countries. The
American is silent in manner-embarrassingly SO
at first, extremely accurate in his observation of
human nature, and any man that cannot bear to
be scrutanized had better not come here. The
American judges much by the eye, and has most
enviable power of estimation. Your tempera-
ment, speech, looks and acts, are all taken in by
him; and if you can get tablet of his judgement,
you will find remarkable daguerrotype of your
exact worth written thereon. They are all phre-
nologists and physiognomists, not merely as phi
osophers, but practical appliers of those induc-
tive sciencies; and beneath a show of positive Ia
ziness or languor there is an amount of energy
and action, mental and physical, perfectly sur
prising. They are not averse to the higher
branches of science or literature; but they bend
all to utility, and are, nation, the best arth-
metcians in the world; and this science alone
gives terse matter-of-fact to their mental work
ing; in fact, when man wants to reflect on q
proposition, he says, sWait till figure it up"