To give a summary character of the American people, or even of any considerable portion of them, is beyond the reach of my observation and intellect. It may be safe to state, that they are much diversified by education, local circumstances, and the sources from which the population has been derived. The manners of Britain seem to predominate. The want of schools is a great desideratum in new settlements. Hence it is, that in travelling from the coast into the interior, the proportion of uneducated persons appears to be the greater the farther to the westward: a fact that has been noticed by many, and one showing that civilization follows in the rear of population. His Excellency James Munro, President of the United States, is now on a tour through the southern and western parts of the country.[83] On the 24th current, three of our citizens, deputed by the inhabitants of the town, went to congratulate him, on his arrival in the neighbourhood, and to invite him to visit Jeffersonville. On accidentally meeting with them returning, I felt myself at a loss for a trite phrase in congratulating them, and could only tell them bluntly, that in Europe we should say, You are very _loyal_. One of them was polite enough to set me right, by informing me, that the object of their mission was to make an expression {147} of _public respect_. Should you consider the loyalty of Europe, and the public respect of America as convertible terms, you will also have occasion to be set right, and this may perhaps be best done by telling you, that the President does not engage in dubbing knights or granting sinecures:--That public officers are not appointed by his fiat, nor with the concurrence of a privy council of his choice; but in conjunction with the Senate, whose members are elected by the people. These officers are not only few, but their salaries are merely remunerations for the services which they perform. In short, the President is not regarded as a dispenser of public money. On his part he has to regard public greetings as the spontaneous sentiments of disinterested and independent men, without repulsing any one in the language of James the First of Scotland, “What does the cunning loon want?”