the sea to live upon a common, they would permit their friends at home to build up those walls about them.’  A black coming in at this moment with a jug of spring water, I could not repress a smile, which the general at once interpreted.  ‘This may seem a contradiction,’ he continued, ’but I think you must perceive that it is neither a crime nor an absurdity.  When we profess, as our fundamental principle, that liberty is the inalienable right of every man, we do not include madmen or idiots; liberty in their hands would become a scourge.  Till the mind of the slave has been educated to perceive what are the obligations of a state of freedom, and not confound a man’s with a brute’s, the gift would insure its abuse.  We might as well be asked to pull down our old warehouses before trade has increased to demand enlarged new ones.  Both houses and slaves were bequeathed to us by Europeans, and time alone can change them; an event, sir, which, you may believe me, no man desires more heartily than I do.  Not only do I pray for it, on the score of human dignity, but I can already foresee that nothing but the rooting out of slavery can perpetuate the existence of our Union, by consolidating it in a common bond of principle.’

“I now referred to the pleasant hours I had passed in Philadelphia, and my agreeable surprise at finding there so many men of talent, at which his face lit up vividly.  ’I am glad to hear you, sir, who are an Englishman, say so, because you must now perceive how ungenerous are the assertions people are always making on your side of the water.  One gentleman, of high literary standing,—­I allude to the Abbe Raynal,—­has demanded whether America has yet produced one great poet, statesman, or philosopher.  The question shows anything but observation, because it is easy to perceive the causes which have combined to render the genius of this country scientific rather than imaginative.  And, in this respect, America has surely furnished her quota.  Franklin, Rittenhouse, and Rush are no mean names, to which, without shame, I may append those of Jefferson and Adams, as politicians; while I am told that the works of President Edwards of Rhode Island are a text-book in polemics in many European colleges.’

“Of the replies which I made to his inquiries respecting England, he listened to none with so much interest as to those which described the character of my royal patron, the Prince of Wales.  ’He holds out every promise,’ remarked the general, ’of a brilliant career.  He has been well educated by events, and I doubt not that, in his time, England will receive the benefit of her child’s emancipation.  She is at present bent double, and has to walk with crutches; but her offspring may teach her the secret of regaining strength, erectness, and independence.’  In reference to my own pursuits he repeated the sentiments of Franklin.  He feared the country was too poor to be a patron of the drama, and that only arts of a practical nature