LESSON CCXIX.-ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES.-E. [From a Speech before the British Scientific Association.] There seems to be something peculiar in the relation between England and the United States, well calculated to form a basis, as I trust it does and ever will, of kind feelings between both. The relation of colony and 5 mother country, which formerly subsisted between England and the United States, is, of course, not new in the world. From the beginning of history, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, sent out their colonies to relieve a superabundant population, or in the spirit of commercial enterprise, 10 or to consolidate their distant conquests; but there can, in the nature of things, be no other example of such a relation as exists between us. Only consider the separate companies of adventurers, some of them actuated by the highest and noblest feelings 15 that can influence the heart and govern the conduct of men, traversing a mighty ocean which bears them all at once from the mature arts of civilization to the wildest nature,-from the mother country into a savage wilderness, unknown, till then, to the rest of man20 kind. Here they laid the deep and broad foundations of free states, destined, under a multitude of causes, which it is impossible for me here even to glance at, in the maturity of time to grow up into a great family of communities, independent, at least politically, of the mother country; 25 but still, in their common language and kindred blood, forming, with that mother country, one commercial, social, and intellectual community, destined, I believe, as such, to fulfil the highest ends in the order of Providence. Suppose, that a similarity were traced by one of your 30 members, between the geological formations of our two countries. Suppose, that, landing on the coast of America, he should find there the most peculiar strata and the most characteristic fossils of Great Britain, proving, beyond doubt, that, in the primeval ages, our two countries were 35 part and parcel of the same continent; would not this discovery be hailed with pleasure, and this splendid generalization be welcomed, by every man of science, into the circle of his favorite theories? Then I ask you, gentlemen, is it a less interesting fact, 40 that, in crossing this mighty ocean to America, you find there the traces, not of similar strata of coal and gypsum, not like formations of sandstone and granite and graywacke, but the traces of kindred families of rational beings? Is it not a delightful fact, that the foot-prints that you first meet there, are not merely those of the fossil ani5 mals, whose paradoxical existence was terminated in ages into which history strives in vain to penetrate, even to the vestibule, but the footsteps of men, of kindred men, of men descended from your blood and your revered ancestry, and called, with you, hand in hand, to walk together 10 over the great stage of accountable existence, and to engage, with you, in the investigation of all those high and grand problems that are tasking the minds of civilized men, in this age of the world? It seems to me, that, if it be the great object of all 15 science, as Sir John Herschell has said, to expand and elevate the mind; that, among the topics considered this day, there is not one more calculated to expand and elevate the rational mind, than such a connection between two great countries. Why, it is only since 20 the reign of James the Second, and Charles the First, which is but as yesterday, in the long line of British history, that a few adventurers rather stole across the ocean, than navigated it. Two hundred years have passed away; and out of that little insignificant germ of national exist25 ence, millions and millions have grown up, and formed a great and mighty nation, in close connection with your own. And, in whatever light we regard each other, commercial, political, literary, social, or moral, we are destined ! to exercise an all-powerful influence upon each other, I 30 believe I may say, without exaggeration, to the end of time. In the world of science, I would rather say, there has never been a separation between us. There are no boundary questions in that pacific realm. The first patron that ever Sir Humphrey Davy had, (if it be not a shame to 35 pronounce the word patron, in connection with such a name,) the first individual who had the honor of helping him into notice was an American citizen; for under the somewhat lofty disguise of "Count Rumford," lies concealed plain "Benjamin Thompson," the son of a New 40 England farmer. Dr. Franklin was first led to turn his attention to electricity by experiments exhibited by an itinerant British lecturer, in the large towns of the then British colonies; and he pursued his inquiries in this branch of science with a few articles of apparatus sent out to him by a friend in London. The result was his brilliant discovery of the identity of lightning with the electric fluid. In modern times, the merit of our modest and self-taught mathematician, Bowditch, the American translator and 5 commentator of La Place, had nowhere been better known and appreciated than here; and, in reference to science, in general, I wish it to be constantly borne in mind by every votary of its pursuit in this country, that fourteen days are enough to elapse after the publication to the sci10 entific world here, of his speculations or discoveries, before they are liberally received, considered and appreciated, according to their merit, by the only other people on the face of the globe, speaking the same language, and belonging to the same school of civilization. 15 It is unnecessary to speak before this company,―to which the name of Fulton is as familiar as those of Bolton or Watt, of the part alternately performed by the science of England and America, in bringing about the use of steam as a locomotive power, by land and by water,— 20 the great philosophical and mechanical improvement of the day. In literature, (though I know it is not proper before this company to wander far beyond the pale of science,) yet I know you will pardon me for saying that it is our boast 25 and joy, that Shakspeare and Milton were the countrymen of our fathers. We worship at the same altars; we reverence the same canonized names as you. The great modern names of your literary Pantheon, the Addisons, Johnsons, and Goldsmiths of the last century, the Scotts 30 and Byrons of this, are not more familiar to you than to And may I not say, that the names that adorn the nascent literature of my own country, our Irvings, our Prescotts, our Coopers, our Pierponts, our Bryants, our Bancrofts, and our Channings, may I not say, that they 35 are scarcely better known to us than to you? us. I know it is thought that a great difference exists be tween our political institutions, and certainly it is in some respects considerable, and those institutions, of course, have a great influence on the character of a nation. 40 But all republicans as we are, (and I have seen something of the continent of Europe as well as Great Britain,) all republican as we are, taking our systems through and through, I think the candid observer will admit that there is a much greater similarity between you and us, even politically speaking, than between England and any of her sister monarchies. I believe we may boast, that we are children of the British school of freedom. Though we are ardently, passionately attached to liberty, it is liberty en5 shrined in constitutions, and organized by laws. On your part, if I am not too presumptuous, as a stranger, in forming an opinion, I think I may say that it is your boast, that the pillars of the state are laid deep in those representative institutions, by which the power, the will, and the affec10 tions of the people, are brought to the support of the throne. And do we not,-English or American,-do we not derive our only hope of a name and praise in the world, politically speaking, from our attachment to those old British muniments of liberty, trial by jury, the habeas corpus, free15 dom of speech, and liberty of the press ?-do we not derive it from that ardent love of self-government, tempered by a proud submission to lawful sway which flowed in the veins of Englishmen for centuries before America began to be? and will, I trust, flow in the veins of Englishmen, and 20 their descendants in America, to the end of time. LESSON CCXX.-MASSACHUSETTS AND NEW YORK.- [From an address at the meeting of the Legislatures of the two States, to celebrate the completion of the Western Railroad.] We cannot forget, that it was Massachusetts that encountered first, and suffered most, from the tyranny which resulted in our national independence; that the first blood shed in that sacred cause, flowed at Lexington; and that 5 Liberty's earliest rampart was established upon Bunker's Hill. Nevertheless, the struggles and sacrifices of Massachusetts, have, until now, been known to us through traditions not her own; and seem to be those of a distant, though an allied people,-of a country separated from us 10 by mountain barriers, such as divide every continent into states and empires. But what a change is here! This morning's sun was just greeting the site of old Fort Orange, as we took our leave; and now, when he has scarcely reached the meri15 dian, we have crossed that hitherto impassable barrier, and met you here, on the shore of the Connecticut, the battle ground of King Philip's cruel wars; and, before that sun shall set, we might ascend the heights of Charlestown, or rest upon the rock that was wet with blood flowing from feet of the pilgrim fathers.. the weary New York has been addressed here in language of magnanimity. It would not become me to speak of her position, 5 her resources, or her influence. And yet I may, without offending against the delicacy of her representatives here, and of her people at home, claim that she is not altogether unworthy of admiration. Our mountains, cataracts, and lakes, cannot be surveyed without lifting the soul on high. 10 Our metropolis and our inland cities, our canals and railroads, our colleges and schools, and our twelve thousand libraries, evince emulation and a desire to promote the welfare of our country, the progress of civilization, and the happiness of mankind. 15 While we acknowledge that it was your Warren who offered up his life at Charlestown, your Adams and your Hancock, who were the proscribed leaders in the revolution, and your Franklin, whose wisdom swayed its counsels; we cannot forget that Ticonderoga and Saratoga are 20 within our borders; that it was a son of New York who first fell in scaling the heights of Abraham; that another of her sons shaped every pillar of the constitution, and twined the evergreen around its capital; that our Fulton sent forth the mighty agent that is revolutionizing the 25 world; and that, but for our Clinton, his lofty genius and undaunted perseverance, the events of this day, and all its joyous anticipations, had slept together in the womb of futurity. The grandeur of this occasion oppresses me. It is not, 30 as some have supposed, the first time that states have met. On many occasions, in all ages, states, nations, and empires, have come together; but the trumpet heralded their approach; they met in the shock of war; one or the other sunk to rise no more; and desolation marked, for 35 the warning of mankind, the scene of the fearful encounter. And if sometimes chivalry asked an armistice, it was but to light up with evanescent smiles the stern visage of war. How different is this scene! Here are no contending 40 hosts, no destructive engines, nor the terrors, nor even the pomp of war. Not a helmet, sword, or plume, is seen in all this vast assemblage. Nor is this a hollow truce between contending states. We are not met upon a cloth of gold, and under a silken canopy, to practise deceitful |