From “A Year’s Residence in the United States,” 1828.

THE CAUSES of hypocrisy are the fear of loss and the hope of gain. Men crawl to those, whom, in their hearts, they despise, because they fear the effects of their ill-will and hope to gain by their good-will. The circumstances of all ranks are so easy here, that there is no cause for hypocrisy; and the thing is not of so fascinating a nature that men should love it for its own sake.

  The boasting of wealth, and the endeavoring to disguise poverty, these two acts, so painful to contemplate, are almost total strangers in this country; for no man can gain adulation or respect by his wealth, and no man dreads the effects of poverty, because no man sees any dreadful effects arising from poverty.

  That anxious eagerness to get on, which is seldom unaccompanied with some degree of envy of more successful neighbors, and which has its foundation first in a dread of future want, and next in a desire to obtain distinction by means of wealth; this anxious eagerness, so unamiable in itself, and so unpleasant an inmate of the breast, so great a sourer of the temper, is a stranger to America, where accidents and losses, which would drive an Englishman half mad, produce but very little agitation.

  From the absence of so many causes of uneasiness, of envy, of jealousy, of rivalship, and of mutual dislike, society, that is to say, the intercourse between man and man, family and family, becomes easy and pleasant; while the universal plenty is the cause of universal hospitality….

  This American way of life puts one in mind of Fortesque’s fine description of the happy state of the English, produced by their good laws, which kept every man’s property sacred, even from the grasp of the king. “Every inhabitant is at his liberty fully to use and enjoy whatever his farm produceth, the Fruits of the Earth, the Increase of his Flock, and the like: All the Improvements he makes, whether by his own proper industry, or of those he retains in his service, are his own to use and enjoy without the Lett, Interruption, or Denial of any: If he be in any wise injured or oppressed, he shall have his Amends and Satisfaction against the party offending: Hence it is, that the Inhabitants are rich in Gold, Silver, and in all the Necessaries and Conveniences of Life. They drink no Water, unless at certain Times, upon a Religious Score, and by way of doing Penance. They are fed, in great Abundance, with all sorts of Flesh and Fish, of which they have plenty everywhere; they are clothed throughout in good Woolens; their Bedding and other Furniture in their Houses are of Wool, and that in great Store: They are also well provided with all other Sorts of Household Goods, and necessary Implements for Husbandry: Every one, according to his Rank, hath all Things which conduce to make Life easy and happy. They are not sued at Law, but before the Ordinary Judges, where they are treated with Mercy and Justice, according to the Laws of the Land; neither are they impleaded in Point of Property, or arraigned for any Capital Crime, how heinous soever, but before the King’s Judges, and according to the Laws of the Land. These are the Advantages consequent from that Political Mixt Government which obtains in England ——.”

  This passage, which was first pointed out to me by Sir Francis Burdett, describes the state of England four hundred years ago; and this, with the polish of modern times added, is now the state of the Americans. Their forefathers brought the “English hospitality” with them; for when they left the country, the infernal Boroughmongers’ Funding system had not begun. The Stuarts were religious and prerogative tyrants; but they were not, like their successors, the Boroughmongers, taxing, plundering tyrants. Their quarrels with their subjects were about mere words; with the Boroughmongers it is a question of purses and strong-boxes, of goods and chattels, lands and tenements. “Confiscation” is their word; and you must submit, be hanged, or flee. They take away men’s property at their pleasure, without any appeal to any tribunal. They appoint commissioners to seize what they choose. There is, in fact, no law of property left. The bishop-begotten and hell-born system of Funding has stripped England of every vestige of what was her ancient character. Her hospitality along with her freedom have crossed the Atlantic; and here they are to shame our ruffian tyrants, if they were sensible of shame, and to give shelter to those who may be disposed to deal them distant blows.

  It is not with a little bit of dry toast so neatly put in a rack: a bit of butter so round and small; a little milk-pot so pretty and so empty; an egg for you, the host and hostess not liking eggs. Is it not with looks that seem to say, “Don’t eat too much, for the tax gatherer is coming.” It is not thus that you are received in America. You are not much asked, not much pressed, to eat and drink; but such an abundance is spread before you, and so hearty and so cordial is your reception, that you instantly lose all restraint, and are tempted to feast whether you be hungry or not. And though the manner and style are widely different in different houses, the abundance everywhere prevails. This is the strength of the government: a happy people; and no government ought to have any other strength.

  But you may say, perhaps, that plenty, however great, is not all that is wanted. Very true; for the mind is of more account than the carcass. But here is mind too. These repasts, amongst people of any figure, come forth under the superintendence of industrious and accomplished housewives, or their daughters, who all read a great deal, and in whom that gentle treatment from parents and husbands, which arises from an absence of raking anxiety, has created an habitual and even an hereditary good humor. These ladies can converse with you upon almost any subject, and the ease and gracefulness of their behavior are surpassed by those of none of even our best-tempered Englishwomen. They fade at an earlier age than in England; but, till then, they are as beautiful as the women in Cornwall, which contains, to my thinking, the prettiest women in our country. However, young or old, blooming or fading, well or ill, rich or poor, they still preserve their good humor.

  This beautiful passage, from the most beautiful of poets, which ought to be fastened in large print upon every lady’s dressing table, the American women of all ranks seem to have by heart. Even amongst the very lowest of the people you seldom hear of that torment which the old proverb makes the twin of a smoky house.

  There are very few really ignorant men in America of native growth. Every farmer is more or less of a reader. There is no brogue, no provincial dialect. No class like that which the French call peasantry, and which degrading appellation the miscreant spawn of the Funds have, of late years, applied to the whole mass of the most useful of the people in England, those who do the work and fight the battles. And as to the men who would naturally form your acquaintances, they, I know from experience, are as kind, frank, and sensible men as are, on the general run, to be found in England, even with the power of selection. They are all well informed; modest without shyness; always free to communicate what they know, and never ashamed to acknowledge that they have yet to learn. You never hear them boast of their possessions, and you never hear them complaining of their wants. They have all been readers from their youth up; and there are few subjects upon which they cannot converse with you, whether of a political or scientific nature. At any rate, they always hear with patience. I do not know that I ever heard a native American interrupt another man while he was speaking. Their sedateness and coolness, the deliberate manner in which they say and do everything, and the slowness and reserve with which they express their assent,—these are very wrongly estimated, when they are taken for marks of a want of feeling. It must be a tale of woe indeed, that will bring a tear from an American’s eye; but any trumped-up story will send his hand to his pocket, as the embassadors from the beggars of France, Italy, and Germany can fully testify.

  However, you will not, for a long while know what to do for want of the quick responses of the English tongue, and the decided tone of the English expression. The loud voice; the hard squeeze by the hand; the instant assent or dissent; the clamorous joy; the bitter wailing; the ardent friendship; the deadly enmity; the love that makes people kill themselves; the hatred that makes them kill others: all these belong to the characters of Englishmen, in whose mind and hearts every feeling exists in the extreme. To decide the question, which character is, upon the whole, best, the American or the English, we must appeal to some third party. But it is no matter: we cannot change our natures. For my part, who can, in nothing, think or act by halves, I must belie my very nature if I said that I did not like the character of my own countrymen best. We all like our own parents and children better than other people’s parents and children; not because they are better, but because they are ours; because they belong to us and we to them, and because we must resemble each other. There are some Americans that I like full as well as I do any man in England; but if, nation against nation, I put the question home to my heart, it instantly decides in favor of my countrymen.