Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Lately Published
- LETTER I To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER II To the Abbate Giromachi
- LETTER III To the Same
- LETTER IV To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER V To the Baron Von Kemperfelt
- LETTER VI To the Abbate Giromachi
- LETTER VII To the Same
- LETTER VIII To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER IX To the Professor Christian Jansen
- LETTER X To Sir Edward Waller, Bart
- LETTER XI To the Same
- LETTER XII To the Professor Jansen
- LETTER XIII To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER XIV To the Abbate Giromachi
- LETTER XV To the Professor Christian Jansen
- LETTER XVI To Sir Edward Waller, Bart
- LETTER XVII To the Same
- LETTER XVIII To the Same
- LETTER XIX To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER XX To the Same
- LETTER XXI To Sir Edward Waller, Bart
- NOTES
LETTER XX - To the Same
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Lately Published
- LETTER I To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER II To the Abbate Giromachi
- LETTER III To the Same
- LETTER IV To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER V To the Baron Von Kemperfelt
- LETTER VI To the Abbate Giromachi
- LETTER VII To the Same
- LETTER VIII To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER IX To the Professor Christian Jansen
- LETTER X To Sir Edward Waller, Bart
- LETTER XI To the Same
- LETTER XII To the Professor Jansen
- LETTER XIII To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER XIV To the Abbate Giromachi
- LETTER XV To the Professor Christian Jansen
- LETTER XVI To Sir Edward Waller, Bart
- LETTER XVII To the Same
- LETTER XVIII To the Same
- LETTER XIX To the Count Jules de Béthizy
- LETTER XX To the Same
- LETTER XXI To Sir Edward Waller, Bart
- NOTES
Summary
My pen grows weary, for I have seen so much, and written so little to the purpose, that I feel disposed to throw it away altogether. After making the tour of the coast of New England, and seeing all its large towns, I have returned here to prepare for my departure. I cannot quit the country, however, without giving you a summary of the information I have gained, or without indulging a little in speculations to which that information must naturally give rise.
The first reflection that is excited in the mind of an intelligent foreigner, after visiting these states, is an inquiry into the causes that have effected so much with means so limited, and in a time so short. A century ago the whole of the 1,000,000 of square miles that are now more or less occupied by these people, did not contain a million of souls. So late as the year 1776, the population was materially under 3,000,000, nor at the time did they actually cover more than 200,000 square miles, if indeed they covered as much. But since the peace of 1783, activity, enterprise, intelligence, and skill, appear to have been contending with each other, and they have certainly produced a result that the world has never before witnessed. I have heard Europeans say, that when they have heard that the Americans, of whom they had been accustomed to think as dwellers in remote and dark forests, possessed a million of tons of shipping, they believed their neutral character had made their flag a cloak for the enterprise and wealth of other nations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Notions of the AmericansPicked Up by a Travelling Bachelor, pp. 421 - 442Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009