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the book, we lay it down with the conclusion that ours always has been and always will be a nation of the same distinctive stock; a compound of the Celtic and the Saxon, called, generally, Anglo-Saxon, to the too great exclusion of the Celtic element, which, if there be anything in early history or modern ethnography, we undoubtedly derive from the first races of Britain. Such is our impression, derived from reading. There happens to be a chapter of American history which we all read carelessly, if at all; which we con principally by fragments, in the items of the daily newspaper. It is the chapter of present events. Who casts a second glance at the paragraph which announces the arrival of five hundred German emigrants, in one day, at the port of New York? Who thinks of past eras of emigration, the movements of past ages; of Hengist with his Saxons in England, of the Northmen in France? Yet, in a quiet way, the present is an era of emigration, than which there never, perhaps, was a greater. There has been a constant movement towards the shores of America, almost from the hour when they were discovered. But the emigration of the last ten or fifteen years has been of an extent, a volume, to which even the great emigrations by which this country was settled are small. And in this movement, with the exception, perhaps, of the Irish, the Germans bear the largest part. What shall we say of the fact of over 50,000 Germans landing at one port, New York, in one year, 1847? What shall we say of Ohio, that counts its German citizens by hundreds of thousands? Its German citizens we say; for these emigrants are mostly adults, or persons approaching maturity. In years, they are men; in law, they become citizens not after twenty-one, but after five years' residence, full as soon as they learn enough of our language to understand our politics. These people become tillers of American soil-become American merchants and mechanics. They intermarry with our people, and thus literally, and without figure of speech, the German element is being poured into the veins of our population.

Thus, by the will of Providence, by the fate of History, or whatever it is that orders those events over which man has but indirect control, if any at all, the national blood seems destined to be largely re-enforced in both of its great elements at the same time: in the Saxon, from the pure and unmixed Teutonic of Germany; in the Celtic, from Ireland.

That any one, that any American, can feel unconcerned as to the re. sult of this infusion of new blood, of this new development of nationality, we cannot believe. As a matter of enlightened curiosity, it is interesting to study the temper, the character, the cast of mind of a people who are to give something more than a tinge to a whole nation. To that nation itself, it is a matter of the deepest interest and the gravest concern. That the German is a noble race, full of solid qualities of character and mind, with all the excellences of the Saxon branch, so to speak, of our own national stock, is certainly a satisfactory thought. A volume, like the one before us, is ample evidence of all this, and hence the peculiar, the national utility, so to speak, of such a work; hence the national importance and interest of the study of the German language and literature in general. Nothing can tend more to facilitate and hasten that amalgamation of races which must take place, than a readiness, on the part of the native born, to learn to understand and to sympathize with the German character and mind.

As a specimen of the work, we may here introduce a single translation,

the most appropriate for our Journal. It is from Hamann's Schriften, being the supplement to a translation of Dangeuil's Remarques sur les Avantages et les Desavantages de la France et de la Gr. Bretagne, par Rap. port au Commerce et aux autres Sources de la Puissance, &c.

THE MERCHANT.

Nothing reminds us more impressively of the advantages of union than the benefits which flow from commerce in human society. Through this it is, that that is everywhere, which is anywhere. It satisfies our wants, it prevents satiety by new desires, and these it allays too. It maintains peace among nations, and is their horn of plenty. It furnishes them with arms, and decides their doubtful fortune. Men labor for it, and it rewards their diligence with treasures. It enlarges their intercourse, develops their powers, makes itself not only their weapon, but employs their genius, their courage, their virtues, their vices. Every harbor, every canal, every bridge, every floating palace and army, are its works. Through its influence, the arts are awakened and extended. Our sideboards and the toilets of the ladies are adorned with its gifts. The poisons of our kitchens, and the antidotes of our physicians pass through its hands. It atones for frugality by profusion. Its exercise consists in exact integrity, and from its gains the patriot distributes prizes, and performs his vows.

What happy changes may not the world promise itself from the commercial spirit, now beginning to prevail, if it should be purified by insight and noble impulses? Perhaps we may not vainly flatter ourselves with the hope that, through its influence, the love of the public good will be re-established, and the virtues of the citizen raised from their ashes to their original splendor.

The demand of commerce for liberty promises to hasten the happy return of that blessing to man. The unrestrained energy, the unimpeded skill of each individual, and all that each undertakes not at variance with the common good, will gradually banish that unbridled audacity with which every one in our times allows himself in every thing, and aims to make possible whatever he considers useful to himself alone.

Inestimable good! without which men can neither think nor act, whose loss robs him of every privilege! By thee, trade blooms, and extends through all ranks! Each resumes his ancient and natural rights, which we had renounced from servile passions and prejudices!

Holland has, to the advantage of her trade, abolished tyrannical persecution for conscience' sake, and adopted among her fundamental laws that freedom of opinion which is as reasonable as it is beneficial. Why should it not tend to the renown of the Roman tax-gatherers, that they were the first who concerned themselves to relieve their countrymen from the blindness of superstition ?*

The spirit of trade may perhaps abolish in time the inequality of ranks, and level those heights, those hills, which vanity and avarice have thrown up, in order not only to receive sacrifices thereon, but to control with more advantage the course of nature. The incapacity of the idle ceases to be a mark of distinction gratifying to his pride, where the effort, and labor, and sweat of contemporaries make their life costly, and alone claim consideration and favor. The laurels wither with the decay of the fathers. Their rest on the bed of honor has become to us more indifferent than to their useless posterity, who enjoy the same repose on the cushions of prosperity and tedium. These dead are here, to bury completely the glory of their dead. Trade is, at the same time, the shovel which stirs the heaped-up gold, like the corn, and preserves it either for the bosom of the earth, or for the enjoyment of her children. Through it, gold is not only increased and made fruitful, but also useful, and a medium of life for man. But where it stands

Cicero says, De Nat. Deor. III. 19, that they were the first who considered it absurd to believe those gods who had been men. Self-interest led them to this rational conclusion, because the lands consecrated to the Immortals were exempt from taxes. Whether we have profited more from distempered and false, or suffered more from great and noble views, may be a problem.

highest, the citizen must be most moderate in his gains, since, were all the world to have enough, none would have too much or too little.

Men knew formerly very little of the principles of trade. It was pursued rudely, and was so much contemned, as to be left almost entirely to the Jews. Now, on the other hand, men have with much sagacity aimed to make a science of commerce. Although its objects and ideas are in part arbitrary, and depend on the imagination; yet men have attempted to unite the theory of trade, and its exercise with as much exactness as the astronomers to found their reckonings on imaginary lines and hypotheses. How much weighty insight, have not the prince and the people gained besides, by a thorough examination of the sources of trade?

That instructive satire on monarchs, which the inventor of chess, according to the fancy of a distinguished poet, had in mind, is no longer a picture of our kings. They have better learned to appreciate the worth of their subjects. They now know that the state becomes great, only when they promote population by abun dant sustenance, regard idleness as an injury to their violated majesty, punish it with contempt and hunger, consider it the masterpiece of their wisdom, to multiply the hands of diligence, as well as to lighten its labor, and watch over the education of orphans and foundlings.

The subject has learnt better to understand and to employ the fruits of the soil and his own sweat. Philosophy is no longer sculpture. The scholar is called back from the Spanish castles of the intellectual world, and from the shades of the library, to the great theatre of nature and her doings, to living art, and her implements to social employments, and their moving springs. He is an attentive spectator, a scholar, an intimate of the peasant, the artisan, the merchant, and through universal observation and research, becomes the helper and teacher of all.

When even the common man becomes an object of importance to the state, because its strength flows from his preservation, industry, and increase, then the interest, which the commonwealth takes in the industry of every day-laborer, is sure to instil into him, in time, nobler sentiments. If those artisans had known,' says Plutarch, that through their labor, Amphion would surround a city with walls, or Thales still a tumult of the people, with what ambition, what delight, had they carved the lyres of these men!'

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Trade has served for a demonstration of all these truths, and the pursuit of it has confirmed their force. When, therefore, the deceitful, lying, avaricious disposition, of an ancient nation* is ascribed to their calling, when reference is made to a modern country, rendered habitable by skilful industry, and powerful by trade, where the moral virtues, and the smallest offices of human love are regarded as wares; when it is said that with the art of calculation that resoluteness cannot exist, by which the renunciation of selfishness, and magnanimous sentiments are attained, that attention to trifles limits the circle of mental vision, and reduces elevation of thought, it is certainly the duty of the merchant to refute these charges.

Was it the fault of religion, that in those dark times of superstition, the spiritual order adopted a sort of assiento-contract, that the priest carried on a most lucra tive stock-jobbing, derived premiums from the fear of hell, sold the church-soil to the dead, taxed the early days of marriage, and made a profit on sins, which he for the most part invented himself?

We laugh at the wise Montaigne, who was anxious, lest the introduction of powder and shot should annihilate bravery. Let us feel a more earnest anxiety for the moral results of trade. Much pains have been taken certainly to perfect the science, but perhaps too little thought has been given to forming the merchant. The spirit of trade should be the spirit of traders, and their morals, the groundwork of its reputation. Both should be better encouraged by rewards, supported by laws, and upheld by examples.

* The Carthaginians, Cicero's second oration against Rullus.

† A contract between the King of Spain and other powers for introducing negro-slaves into the Spanish colonies.

'The occupation most useful to society," says an ancient writer, ' should assuredly be followed with emulation, I mean agriculture, which would prosper greatly, if rewards were offered, giving it the preference. The commonwealth would hereby gain infinite advantage, the public revenues be increased, and sobriety be associated with improved industry. The more assiduous the citizens became in their occupations, the less would extravagance prevail. In a republic favorably situated for commerce, honors shown to trade would multiply merchants and commodities. If on any one who discovered a new source of gain, without detriment to the commonwealth, a mark of honor should be conferred, public spirit would never be extinguished. In short, were every one convinced, that rewards would accompany whatever was done to promote the public good, this would be a great impulse to discover something valuable. But the more men have at heart the general welfare, the more will be devised and undertaken for its sake.' This rich passage exhausts almost all I could say, or could wish to say. My readers will therefore be content with the gleaning only of a few remarks.

Our merchants should above all be stimulated by these considerations, to make their calling, not merely a gainful trade, but a respected rank. I remember to have read, that in Guinea, the merchant is the nobleman, and that he pursue trade by virtue of his dignity, and royal privileges. On his elevation to that rank, the king forbids the waves to injure the new nobleman, or merchant. This monarch doubtless prizes his merchants highly, because from them comes his greatness, and wonders perhaps that our kings grant nobility only to soldiers and cour. tiers, or even drive a trade with it, and sell it for ready money.

The nobility of the merchant must not be confounded with military nobility. The prerogatives of the latter are founded on the circumstances of the times when it arose. Nations plundered one another, remained nowhere at home, lived like robbers, or had to defend themselves against robbers. Kings believed they could immortalize themselves only by conquests. These required blood and noble blood. The military order had consequently the highest rank, and whoever distinguished himself in this, was ennobled. The pretensions of these heroes were allowed to descend to their children, that, inflamed by the deeds of their ancestors, they might make it their glory, like them, to die. This was an artifice, to transmit a certain spirit to the children, and to elevate the military class, which at that time was the only privileged one. This being the origin and the purpose of their nobility, those are the genuine knights, who, born in the counting-rooms of acquisitiveness instead of the tent, are trained to be voluptuaries and cowardly prodigals. They might make use of their weapons, like the discarded patron of Venice.f Our times are no longer warlike, and the deeds of the most renowned heroes,

From Macedonia's madman to the Swede,'

will appear to us soon like the adventures of Don Quixote. The nation, which distinguished itself by the sword to the last, has become much more honorable and mighty through the plough. Men no longer desolate other lands by conquests, but conquer their own by trade. If war is still carried on, it is as a defence against jealous rivals, or to establish the balance of power. We prepare, not now for triumphs, but to enjoy peace; and the time is perhaps near, when the peasant and citizen will ennoble their class.

The merchant has thus, as it were, taken the place of the soldier. Does not his rank, consequently, deserve to be elevated by like respect, and like means? The profession of arms has become great through the nobility. Commerce must become great through merchants, that is, such merchants, as do not think it necessary to gain honor by purchased privileges merely, but place their dignity in the prosperity of trade, and hold those gains unworthy, which would poison its

* Xenophon, in the Conversation between Hiero and Simonides.

+ St. Theodore, whose statue is in St. Mark's place, holding a shield in the right hand, and lance in the left. The Venitians, instead of this martial saint, have taken St. Mark for their patron since his bones were brought to the city by their merchants.-Amelot de la Houssage.

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sources. To devastate, to destroy, to become rich, this is the only thing, in which the military spirit of the nobility shows itself in the mercantile profession.

The rewards, marks of honor, and privileges of the merchant must give him in the eyes of his countrymen a visible distinction, that continually admonishes him to uphold the flourishing prosperity of the country, which the soldier must devastate against his own will, with the same courage, ambition, and elevation of mind.

Thanks be to the age in which we live! our merchants need as little to be cheats, as our nobility ignoramuses. If there are yet among Christians, persons, whose whole soul is made up of avarice, who aim to enrich themselves by usury and deceit, they must not be ennobled. Besides, what avail them those certificates of liberality, for which ancestors are assigned them, but to make them exhibit a ridiculous resemblance to that species of mouse whose wings render his rank among animals ambiguous?

I come to the morals of the mercantile class, on which depends the pursuit, as well as the prosperity of trade. Good faith, honesty, love of the commonwealth, must he here the moving springs, like diligence in manufactures, workshops, and agriculture;-double objects of equal elevation, which claim all the care and thought of the government, because from their union springs the good of the whole nation.

If the merchants were regarded as mediators between the different members of the State,* with how much right would their avocations become more public and solemn! The common weal, as it were, compensates them. On its preservation depend their rank and occupation. It must therefore take more interest in their condition; but on the other hand, the merchant should be more mindful of the obligations they are under to the public, and the consideration they owe it on this

account.

Public credit is the soul of trade; it rests on the confidence which individual citizens acquire through honorable dealing. This sum of the private credit of numerous citizens of the same place, taken together, is a deposit, which should be sacred to all the members of the community, because it involves in itself the immediate interest of each member, to support according to his means, the credit of the rest, and to protect it from all adulteration and diminution. Whoever brings the public faith under suspicion, deserves severer punishment than the man who robs the public coffer entrusted to him.

Readiness to pay is a result of the moral character of the debtor, which speaks well to the creditor for his wisdom and honesty. This readiness furnishes not only the best security for the gold committed to strange hands, but serves as a pledge against possible misfortunes. The virtue of a merchant should thus bear the same relation to his good name, as the ware to the coin.

But chiefly the merchant presupposes the upright citizen, because the welfare of trade must be often in opposition to his own private advantage. To maintain the former, demands therefore sacrifices from the disinterestedness and self-denial of the latter. Mere rapacity renders the merchant sharp-sighted to the greatness of the advantage, without his picturing to himself the consequences to his fellowcitizens and to commerce. He swallows down each bit, and considers neither the wants of the future nor the bones with which he will be choked. The present and the certain prevent his discerning a greater good, which might compel an expenditure of time, or which he must share with others. Thus he disregards for the sake of his own advantage, not only the public revenue, but even the interests of his own posterity. The stream may fail, the harbor be destroyed-nothing but his own loss is of importance in his eyes, and the profits of a year will be preferred, without a scruple of conscience, to the gain of a century.

Platot describes both the riches and the poverty of the artisan as the ruin of his profession. Is he rich,' says he, think you he will be anxious about his work? No, he and his art will be ruined by indolence and neglect. Is he needy, how can he procure suitable implements? He is clumsy, and leaves behind him,

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