*It  has  prevailed  more  generally  heretofore  than  at  pre^pnt,  but  it  is  now  not  much  more  obvious
than  in  the  people  of  any  other  country. The  uecesntf/or  it  no  longer  exitts. That  the  Americans
are  proud  of  having  won  their  independence  at  the  pmnt  of  the  sword,  (h>m  the  most  powerfbl  na-
tion  in  the  world,  under  all  the  manifold  disadvantages  of  poverty,  dispersion,  disunion,  want  of  dis-
cipline in  their  soldiers,  and  experience  in  their  officers,  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. They  have  reason  to
be  proud  of  it. It  is  the  greatest  achievement  of  modem  times. That  they  are  proud  of  the  consum-
mate skill  of  their  forefathers  in  IVaming  a  constitution  the  best  suited  to  their  position  and  their
wants,  and  one  withal  the  most  difficult  in  the  world  to  adjust,  not  only  with  proper  checks  and  balan-
ces, but  with  any  checks  at  all, — at  a  time  too  when  there  was  no  model  for  them,  and  all  experience
against  them,  is  still  less  to  be  wondered  at. Nor  have  we  any  reason  to  object  to  the  honest  pride
they  exhibit  of  their  noble  country,  their  enlightened  and  enterprising  people,  their  beantil\il  cities,
their  magnificent  rivers,  their  ginntic  undertakings. The  sudden  rise  of  nations,  like  the  sudden
rise  of  individuals,  begets  under  similar  circumstances  similar  effects. While  there  was  the  freshness
of  novelty  about  sJl  these  things,  there  was  national  vanity. It  is  now  an  old  story — their  laurels  sit
easy  on  them. They  are  accustomed  to  them,  and  they  occupy  less  of  their  thoughts,  and  of  course
less  of  their  conversation,  than  formerly. At  first,  too,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  exitted  a  netet^
nhffor  iL  Good  policy  dictated  the  expediency  of  cultivating  this  self-complacency  in  the  people,
however  much  good  taste  might  forbid  it. As  their  constitution  was  based  on  self-government,  it  was
indispensable  to  raise  the  people  in  their  own  estimation,  and  to  make  them  feel  the  heavy  responsi-
bility that  rested  upon  them,  in  order  that  they  might  qualify  themselves  for  the  part  the^  were  called
upon  to  act  As  they  were  weak,  it  was  needf^il  to  confirm  their  courage  by  strenghtening  their  self-
reliance. 