The  "  enlightened  European  "  might  disdain  to  look  for  lessons  of  wisdom  to  the  compara
tively  obscure  settlers  of  American  wildernesses  ;  but  it  may  be  successfully  maintained  that
even  from  them  he  could  be  taught.  A  population  laborious  and  sober,  frugal  yet  free,  pos
sessing  and  consulting  the  sacred  records  of  divine  revelation,  and  unobstructed  in  the  reduction
of  their  precepts  into  practical  life,  must  afford  a  development  to  the  human  faculties  rarely
seen.  The  old  world  presents  the  many  as  made  subservient  to  the  few ;  the  new  world
has  afforded  the  prospect  of  the  multitude  engaged  in  promoting  their  own  benefit,  and  framing
their  institutions  in  such  manner  as  to  secure  it.
Let  a  thoughtful  reader  peruse  the  history  of  the  republics  of  Italy,  as  written  by  their
enlightened  and  faithful  historian  SJSMONDI,  and  study  the  tablet  it  presents  of  lawless  ambition,
ruthless  war,  and  keen  suffering,  of  heartless  oppression  and  wrong,  and  that  for  centuries ;
then  let  him  turn  over  the  records  of  our  own  American  states,  and  institute  a  comparison.
Will  he  not  conclude  that  humanity  has  gained  somewhat  in  the  lapse  of  ages  ?

In  MAINE,  for  instance,  an  example  has  been  set  for  the  instruction  of  the  world,  in  the
single  circumstance  of  the  creation  of  its  territory  into  a  sovereign  state,  without  the
shedding  of  a  drop  of  human  blood,  or  the  existence  of  angry  debate.  Peaceful  and  deliberate
discussion,  weighing  critically  the  advantage  or  the  injury,  and  honestly  bringing  each  to  the
light  for  impartial  examination,  formed  the  prelude  ;  and  the  consequent  success  of  the  measure
has  been  between  the  sister  states  a  subject  of  mutual  congratulation,  each  of  the  parties
having  unquestionably  gained.
