ters of heralds, they felt assured that they were recorded in the Book of Life. If their steps were not accompanied by a splendid train of menials, legions of ministering angels had charge over them. Their palaces were houses not made with hands; their diadems, crowns of glory which should never fade away. On the rich and the eloquent, on nobles and priests, they looked down with contempt: for they esteemed themselves rich in a more precious treasure, and eloquent in a more sublime language; nobles by the right of an earlier creation, and priests by the imposition of a mightier hand. The very meanest of them was a being to whose fate a mysterious and terrible importance belonged; on whose slightest action the spirits of light and darkness looked with anxious interest; who had been destined, before the heavens and the earth were created, to enjoy a felicity which should continue when heaven and earth should have passed away. Events, which short-sighted politicians ascribed to earthly causes, had been ordained on his account. For his sake empires had risen, and flourished, and decayed. For his sake the Almighty had proclaimed his will, by the pen of the evangelist, and the harp of the prophet. He had been rescued by no common Deliverer from the grasp of no common foe. He had been ransomed by the sweat of no vulgar agony, by the blood of no earthly sacrifice. It was for him that the sun had been darkened, that the rocks had been rent, that the dead had arisen, that all nature had shuddered at the sufferings of her expiring God."*

CHAPTER XII.

A BRIEF NOTICE OF THE FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA.

SOME knowledge of the civil and political structure of the government, is almost indispensable to a correct investigation of the religious economy of the United States; for although there is no longer a union there between Church and State, still the interests of religion come into contact, in many ways, with the political organizations of the General and State Governments.

The government of the United States must appear extremely complicated, to a foreigner accustomed to the unity that distinguishes most monarchical polities-and complicated it is in fact. We shall endeavor to describe its leading features as briefly as possible. The whole country, then, is subject to what is called the National *Edinburgh Review, vol. xlii.,

p. 339.

or General Government, composed of three branches: 1. The Executive; 2. The Legislative; 3. The Judicial.

The executive power is lodged in one man, the President: who is appointed for four years, by electors chosen for that purpose, each State being allowed as many as it has members of Congress. These are chosen differently in different States, but generally by districts, each district choosing one elector, and that for the sole purpose of electing the President and Vice-President. The latter presides over the Senate, but his office is almost nominal: should the President die, the Vice-President immediately steps into his place. This contingency has already twice occurred.

The President appoints the secretaries of state, or ministers of the various departments of the administration, such as the treasury, navy, war-office, etc., and, directly or indirectly, he appoints to all offices in the National or General Government; in the case of the more important ones, however, only with the consent and approbation of the Senate.

The legislation of the National Government is committed to the Congress a body which has two branches-the Senate, and the House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of two persons from each State in the Union, chosen by the legislatures of the States respectively, and for the period of six years. The House of Representatives is chosen by the people of the States, generally by districts, and for the period of two years.* Their number is from time to time determined by law. The House of Representatives represents the People; the Senate represents the States. No act of Congress has the force of law without the President's signature, unless when two thirds of each House have voted in favor of an act which he refuses to sign. All matters falling within the legislative jurisdiction of the Congress, are specified in the Constitution of the United States; such as are not specifically mentioned there, are reserved for the legisla tion of the individual States.

The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court, consisting, at present, of nine judges, appointed by the President, with the consent of the Senate. They can be removed only by impeachment before the Senate, and hold a yearly winter session at Washington, the capital of the United States. When not thus united there, they hold circuit courts in different parts of the country. The whole country is divided also into districts, each having a judge appointed by the President, for the decision of causes that fall within the cognizance of the United States' courts, and from whose decisions an appeal lies * By a recent law, the members of the House of Representatives are hereafter to be uniformly chosen by districts.

to the Supreme Court. That court decides how far the laws passed by the National Congress, or by the legislatures of the different States, are consistent with the Constitution; also, all questions between individual States, or between the United States and an individual State, and questions arising between a foreigner and either the United States or any one State.

The government of the States, individually, closely resembles that of the Confederation, the jurisdiction of each being confined, of course, to its own territory. Each has its own governor and its own legislature; the latter, in all cases, consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives, besides a Supreme Law Court, with subordinate district and county courts. The legislature of each State embraces a vast variety of subjects, falling within the compass of its own internal interests. The different States vary materially on several points, such as the term during which the governor holds office, and the extent of his power; the terms for which the senators and representatives are elected, and for which the judges are appointed; the salaries of those functionaries, and so forth.

With the exception of South Carolina and Louisiana, in which the territorial divisions are called districts, all the States are subdivided into counties; having courts of justice attached to each, and officers, likewise, for a great many local objects, such as maintaining the roads, providing for the poor, etc., etc. These counties are subdivided into what are called townships, averaging six or eight miles square, in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and most of the States in the Valley of the Mississippi; in Delaware they are called Hundreds, and in Louisiana Parishes; while in Maryland, Virginia, the two Carolinas, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, the counties form the smallest territorial divisions. In the Territories, the subdivision into townships has been adopted.

**

These townships form important political and civil districts and corporations; the inhabitants meet once a year, or oftener, for local purposes, and for the appointment of local officers and committees. At these primary assemblies the people acquire habits of transacting public business, which are of the greatest importance in fitting them for legislation and government both in national and local affairs. As for the larger towns, they are incorporated as cities and boroughs, and have municipal governments of a threefold kind-legislative, executive, and judicial.

The separation of the colonies from Great Britain, and the re-or

*In the eastern part of Virginia, and a great part of Maryland, the parochial subdivisions that existed previous to the Revolution are still retained for many local purposes, and are even recognized by the law.

ganization of their respective governments, produced changes less essential than at first view might be supposed. The King, Parlia ment, and Justiciary of England were superseded by the President, Congress, and Supreme Court of the United States, the nature of the government remaining essentially the same. For a hereditary sovereign, we have a President, chosen once in four years; for a hereditary House of Peers, a Senate, the members of which are chosen for six years; the powers of the President and Senate being almost identical in most things with those of the corresponding branches of the British Constitution. As for the several colonies, these the Revolution transformed into States, and the old royal charters were superseded by constitutions. Beyond this there was no essential change, and but little alteration even in forms. Instead of being appointed by the British crown, or by proprietary companies or individuals, the governors are chosen by the people themselves. The legislative and judicial branches underwent very little modification.

There are now in the American Union thirty-one organized States, seven Territories, and one District. The Territories are under the government of the President and Congress of the United States, but will become States as soon as the amount of their population entitles them, in the opinion of Congress, to be represented in the National Legislature. They have a legislature of their own, but their governors are appointed by the President.

Under the impression that the National Government should be removed from the immediate influence of any one State, the District of Columbia (at first ten miles square), was taken from Virginia and Maryland, and set apart as the seat of the National Government; and to it, that is, to the President, Congress, and Supreme Court, it is immediately subject. Experience has hardly approved of this measure as either wise or necessary. No part of the country is worse governed, Congress being too much occupied with other matters to pay much attention to so insignificant a Territory.*

The preceding outline will suffice to give the reader some idea of the government of the United States, and prepare him for understanding many things which might otherwise be obscure in the further course of this work.

* The part of the District of Columbia taken from Virginia has been receded to that State, and the District is no longer ten miles square.

CHAPTER XIII.

A BRIEF GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF THE UNITED STATES.

In like manner, a short account of the physical character and resources of the United States will be found useful to the reader.

Upon a survey of the United States, that country will be found to possess physical advantages such as few others enjoy. While, with the exception of Florida, all parts of it comprise a large proportion of excellent soil, many exhibit the most astonishing fertility. It abounds in the most valuable minerals. Iron is found in several States in great abundance. At various points, but particularly in the Middle States, there are vast deposits of coal, which is easily conveyed by water carriage to other parts of the country. Even gold is found in considerable quantities in the western parts of North Carolina, and the adjacent parts of South Carolina and Georgia, and some in Virginia and Tennessee; while the gold mines of California are world-renowned. The almost boundless forests of the interior furnish timber suited to all purposes. Navigable rivers everywhere present facilities for trade. On the Atlantic slope, beginning at the east and advancing southwest, we find in succession the Penobscot, the Kennebec, the Merrimac, the Connecticut, the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the James River, the Roanoke, the Neuse, the Fear, the Pedee, the Santee, the Savannah, the Altamaha, and the St. John's, without reckoning many smaller but important streams, navigable by common boats and small steamers. Many of these rivers, such as the Delaware, the Potomac, the Rappahannock, the James, and the Roanoke, expand into noble estuaries before they fall into the ocean; and the coast is indented, also, with many bays, unrivalled in point of extent and beauty. Beginning at the east, we have Portland or Casco Bay, Portsmouth Bay, Newburyport Bay, Massachusetts Bay, Buzzard's Bay, Narragansett Bay, New York Bay, Amboy Bay, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay (into which twelve wide-mouthed rivers fall,) Wilmington Bay, Charleston Bay, etc., etc.

With the exception of part of the eastern coast of Connecticut, a chain of islands, some inhabited, many not, runs parallel to the shore, beginning at Passamaquoddy Bay, and extending to the southern extremity of Florida, and thence round into the Gulf of Mexico, and along its coast, beyond the western limit of the United States. Thus are formed some of the finest channels for an extensive coast