Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 1 of 2]Weld, Isaac
History
Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 1 of 2]
Weld, Isaac
Canada -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; United States -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
The Germans give themselves but little trouble about politics; they
elect their representatives to serve in congress and the state
assemblies; and satisfied that deserving men have been chosen by the
people at large, they trust that these men do what is best for the
public good, and therefore abide patiently by their decisions: they
revere the constitution, conscious that they live happily under it, and
express no wishes to have it altered. The Americans, however, are for
ever cavilling at some of the public measures; something or other is
always wrong, and they never appear perfectly satisfied. If any great
measure is before congress for discussion, seemingly distrustful of the
abilities or the integrity of the men they have elected, they meet
together in their towns or districts, canvass the matter themselves, and
then send forward instructions to their representatives how to act. They
never consider that any important question is more likely to meet with a
fair discussion in an assembly where able men are collected together
from all parts of the states than in an obscure corner, where a few
individuals are assembled, who have no opportunity of getting general
information on the subject. Party spirit is for ever creating
dissentions amongst them, and one man is continually endeavouring to
obtrude his political creed upon another. If it is found out that a
stranger is from Great Britain or Ireland, they immediately begin to
boast of their own constitution and freedom, and give him to understand,
that they think every Englishman a slave, because he submits to be
called a subject. Their opinions are for the most part crude and
dogmatical, and principally borrowed from newspapers, which are
wretchedly compiled from the pamphlets of the day, having read a few of
which, they think themselves arrived at the summit of intellectual
excellence, and qualified for making the deepest political researches.
[Sidenote: THE SUSQUEHANNAH.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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