such kindly intercourse as I was permitted to enjoy. Besides which, a stranger, in spite of himself, is always apt to colour his notes according to his own fancy at the time, and he may often misstate what he has heard, without being conscious of misrepresentation. Thus I find, in looking over my Journal, that one day's memorandum is often flatly contradicted by that which follows; and I frequently discover, that opinions are changed so gradually, that I cannot ascertain the time, or the exact circumstances, which induced the alteration. I can perceive only that at two epochs there have been different views taken of the same subject, and consequently learn that there must have been somewhere a medium point, when the mind was free to take its bias either way, as the impulse might happen to be directed.

It would undoubtedly be satisfactory to the readers, as well as to the writers of travels, if there could be some method devised of making straight so rugged and uncertain a path as journalizing; and that such good reasons for every opinion should be furnished, that no doubt could remain on the mind. But I fear that no observer will be found with a mind so constituted as to take in all the facts strictly necessary to a right judgment of any foreign country, and who at the same time shall have skill enough to satisfy all the parties interest

ed in his statements, that he had done their favourite views justice. While some readers would think his accounts too diffuse, others would declare they were too much condensed; and, in spite of all he could advance, many persons would go on drawing inferences totally different from those he wished should follow a perusal of his writings. It is fair, indeed, that readers should act thus ; and the writer ought to consider it quite enough if his statements of fact, and his own views of them, be understood. Whether or not they are adopted by others, is quite a different matter, and should be no concern of his.

This being the state of the case, it strikes me that travellers should endeavour not so much to give minute details, or entire conversations, or even general views of their subject, in the way of .set, rule-and-compass description, but rather to explain, honestly, from time to time, and as occasion serves, the result produced on their own minds by the sum-total of their investigations.

For my part, I am conscious that I shall be found to advance many opinions respecting America, for which there cannot appear adequate authority; nevertheless, in every instance, the sentiments expressed were actually excited in my mind, by incidents which did occur, at some period or other of my residence in that country. Whether or not

these views furnish to others true pictures of the state of things in that country, I cannot pretend to say. But this I do not hesitate to affirm, that the sketches here given are as faithful representations as I am able to draw of the impressions left upon my own mind, by the whole series of incidents, and observations, which occurred during the Journey, or by the reflections which a more attentive consideration has suggested since it was finished.

During our stay at Albany, we went frequently into company, especially to dinners and to evening parties, both large and small, which afforded us the most agreeable opportunities of seeing and judging of the state of domestic society; one feature of which ought to be mentioned, as it meets a stranger's observation in every quarter of that wide country. I mean the spirit of party-not to call it politics -or rather, to define it more correctly, the spirit of electioneering, which seems to enter as an essential ingredient into the composition of every thing.

The most striking peculiarity of this spirit, in contradistinction to what we see in England, is that its efforts are directed more exclusively to the means, than to any useful end. The Americans, as it appears to me, are infinitely more occupied about bringing in a given candidate, than they are about

the advancement of those measures of which he is conceived to be the supporter. They do occasionally advert to these prospective measures, in their canvassing arguments in defence of their own friends, or in attacks upon the other party; but always, as far as I could see, more as rhetorical flourishes, or as motives to excite the furious acrimony of party spirit, than as distinct or sound anticipations of the line of policy which their candidate, or his antagonist, was likely to follow. The intrigues, the canvassings for votes, all the machinery of newspaper abuse and praise, the speeches and manœuvres in the Legislature, at the bar, by the fireside, and in every hole and corner of the country from end to end, without intermission, form integral parts of the business-apparently far more important than the candidate's wishes-his promises-or even than his character and fitness for the office.

All these things, generally speaking, it would seem, are subordinate considerations; so completely are men's minds swallowed up in the technical details of the election. They discuss the chances of this or that State, town, or parish, or district, going with or against their friend. They overwhelm one another with that most disagreeable of all forms of argument-authorities. They analyze every sentence uttered by any man, dead or alive, who possesses, or ever did possess, influence; not,

it must be observed, to come at any better knowledge of the candidate's pretensions as a public man, but merely to discover how far the weight of such testimony is likely to be thrown into their own scale, or that of the opposite party.

The election of the President, being one affecting the whole country, the respective candidates for that office were made the butts at which all political shafts were aimed, and to which every other election was rendered subservient, not indirectly, but by straight and obvious means. It was of no importance, apparently, whether the choice to be made, at any given election, were that of a governor, a member to Congress, or to the Legislature of the State-or whether it were that of a constable of the obscure ward of an obscure town-it was all the same. The candidates seldom, if ever, that I could see, even professed to take their chief ground as the fittest men for the vacant office

-this was often hardly thought of as they stood forward simply as Adams men or Jackson men— these being the names, it is right to mention, of the two gentlemen aiming at the Presidency. Although the party principles of these candidates for any office, on the subject of the Presidential election, could not-nine cases in ten-afford any index to their capacity for filling the station to which they aspired, their chance of success was frequently