the rude country lawyer who became initiatedin the mysteries of Themis and of Blackstone in the Backwoods, all enjoy themselves at the expense of others, uncontrolled and absolute in their dominion. This was not the case fifteen years ago; it was then next to impossible for a gentleman of the bar (in the country at least) to get elected member of Congress. There is no doubt that a revolution in America will never be effected by the bayonet, but by the artifices of the bar this new political catastrophe is in slow but steady progress. As may be supposed, nineteen out of twenty of their lawyers are under the influence of Adams, and in possession of every office of distinction. Their profession is the high road to the Presidency, the Bureaux of the Secretaries of the Departments of the senatorial seats, and of the bench of representatives. They are in exclusive possession of the departments of justice in all their branches, and in the absence of an aristocracy they now constitute the gentry of the country, and inspire that sort of respect which is due to men who have life and property under their almost unbounded control.

CHAPTER XIII.

The Merchant-The Storekeeper-The Pedlar.

Ir must have been a curious spectacle for the people of Kingston and of Jamaica in general, some years ago, immediately before the opening of their ports, to have seen American vessels waiting at the entrance of the harbour, just as the mob is seen crowding the entrance of a theatre to secure the best shilling place, and when the port was opened, to have beheld these vessels rushing in, laden with every article of Yankee husbandry, in the true old republican way, garlics and onions hanging from the sides, and having on deck potatoes, cider, apples, peaches, and well-beloved whisky, just in the order in which you find them in the green market.

There is not indeed a place too distant, too desolate, or too dangerous, to deter Jonathan, if by the voyage he can make a little money. But notwithstanding this highly adventurous, or as they please to call it, enterprising spirit of their citizens, notwithstanding an extensive sea-coast, excellent

harbours, and a corresponding mercantile government, whose every measure is directed to encourage adventurous habits, the balance is still against them; they are falling off every year, the population becomes poorer, and the commerce is rather an evil than a blessing. They have not yet arrived at the point which has been attained, we need not say by Great Britain, but even by the less sagacious Dutchman, that of enjoying a trade and a credit beneficial to the community, as it is to the individuals, and which possesses the confidence of their fellow-citizens, and of foreigners.

One might at first be inclined to ascribe this want of confidence to the swarms of foreigners who have settled in the United States, and who, in their progress from extreme poverty to wealth, might be supposed to have been guilty of such practices as would destroy or endanger the commercial credit. No such thing: they are generally very circumspect, and are among the steadiest people (in the American sense of the -word), in so far that they would rather sell their country than hazard the object for which they came to the Union-MONEY.

The cause of the discredit into which Ame

rica has fallen, may be found in our Yankees themselves, and in that Hebrew spirit which is unfortunately fostered and encouraged by the government. It is a curious fact, which fully justifies the little confidence placed in the American mercantile character, that they are actually apprehensive of passing a bill which might have the effect of curtailing the facility afforded to bankruptcies, leaving these regulations to our well-known honesty. Though a motion was made during the last session of Congress, for introducing such a law, and has been repeated this session, yet it was not proceeded in, but was again laid on the table, and we must of course indulge a hope that it will lay there for several years, either until their credit is entirely gone, or they begin to love themselves less.

There are gentlemen, especially in the highly fashionable city of New York, who do not hesitate to begin a business with a capital of ten thousand dollars, which would require at least ten times the sum; but as something more is requisite for a merchant than mere Yankee tricks, the result is a failure. This, however, does not put his enterprising spirit out of countenance, and he next tries his fortune in Charlestown, establishes

himself with the assistance of friends who are his securities, and with the wreck of his property, and again fails in the following year. On he goes to New Orleans, and meeting there with a similar fate, he moves back to Mobile. Some time ago a Mr. H having failed in New Orleans, he was asked why he did not go to the North: "Where should I go" he replied ingenuously, "I have failed in Boston and in Charlestown, I might still go to Savannah, but I will try my luck in Mobile." A number of the first-rate houses in New York, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, have failed several times. This is considered as a mere trifle, they take another partner and begin again.

> However hazardous may be the speculation, the wholesale merchants are not deterred from embarking in it. An adherence to one line of business, as was formerly the case with the English or with the Dutch, and even with the Germans, is quite out of the question with this commercial people they would "make haste to be rich."

In Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, the merchants are acquiring a better character for steadiness. New York, however, still takes the lead among the adventurous. They will yet have