own feelings as to give thee a full and systematic account of the singular people among whom my disastrous lot has been cast; I can only find leisure from my own individual sorrows to entertain thee, occasionally with some of the most prominent features of their character, and, now and then, a solitary picture of their most preposterous eccentricities.

I have before observed that among the distinguishing characteristics of the people of this logocracy is their invincible love of talking, and that I could compare the nation to nothing but a mighty windmill.-Thou art, doubtless, at a loss to conceive how this mill is supplied with grist; or, in other words, how it is possible to furnish subjects to supply the perpetual motion of so many tongues.

The genius of the nation appears in its highest lustre in this particular, in the discovery, or rather the application, of a subject which seems to supply an inexhaustible mine of words; it is nothing more, my friend, than POLITICS, a word, which I declare to thee has perplexed me almost as much as the redoubtable one of economy. On consulting a dictionary of this language, I found it denoted the science of government, and the relations, situations, and dispositions, of states and empires:-Good, thought I, for a people who boast of governing themselves, there could not be a more important subject of investigation; I, therefore, listened attentively, expecting to hear, from" the most enlightened people under the sun," (for so they modestly term themselves,)* sublime disputations on the science of legislation, and precepts of political wisdom that would not have disgraced our great prophet and legislator himself; but, alas, Asem! how continually are my expectations disappointed; how dignified a meaning does this word bear in the dictionary,how despicable its common application! I find it extending to every contemptible discussion of local animosity, and every petty altercation of insignificant individuals; it embraces alike all manner of concerns, from the organization of a divan, the election of a bashaw, or the levying of an army, to the appointment of a constable, the personal disputes of two miserable slang-whangers, the cleaning of the streets, or the economy of a dirt-cart. A couple of politicians will quarrel, with the most vociferous pertinacity, about the character of a bum-bailiff, whom nobody cares

* I understand this was absolutely affirmed in Congress.

for, or the deportment of a little great man, whom nobody knows; and this is called talking politics; nay, it is but a few days since that I was annoyed by a debate between two of my fellow-lodgers, who were magnanimously employed in condemning a luckless wight to infamy because he chose to wear a red coat, and to entertain certain erroneous opinions some thirty years ago. Shocked at their illiberal and vindictive spirit, I rebuked them for thus indulging in slander and uncharitableness about the colour of a coat, which had, doubtless, for many years been worn out, or the belief in errors which, in all probability, had been long since atoned for and abandoned; but they justified themselves by alleging that they were only engaged in politics, and exerting that liberty of speech and freedom of discussion which was the glory and safeguard of their national independence. "O Mahomet !" thought I, what a country must that be which builds its political safety on ruined characters and the persecution of individuals!"

Into what transports of surprise and incredulity am I continually betrayed, as the character of this eccentric people gradually developes itself to my observations: every new research increases the perplexities in which I am involved, and I am more than ever at a loss where to place them in the scale of my estimation. It is thus the philosopher, in pursuing truth through the labyrinth of doubt, error, and misrepresentation, frequently finds himself bewildered in the mazes of contradictory experience, and almost wishes he could quietly retrace his wandering steps, steal back into the path of honest ignorance, and jog on once more in contented indifference.

How fertile in these contradictions is this extensive logocracy! Men of different nations, manners, and languages, live in this country in the most perfect harmony, and nothing is more common than to see individuals, whose respective governments are at variance, taking each other by the hand and exchanging the offices of friendship. Nay, even on the subject of religion, which, as it affects our dearest interests, our earliest opinions and prejudices, some warmth and heart-burnings might be excused, which even in our enlightened country is so fruitful in difference between man and man,- -even religion occasions no dissention among these people, and it has even been discovered by

one of their sages that believing in one God or twenty gods "neither breaks a man's leg nor picks his pocket." The idolatrous Persian may here bow down before his everlasting fire, and prostrate himself before the glowing east.The Chinese may adore his Fo' or his Josh; the Egyptian his Stork, and the mussulman practise unmolested the divine precepts of our immortal prophet. Nay, even the forlorn abandoned atheist, who lies down at night without committing himself to the protection of heaven, and rises in the morning without returning thanks for his safety; who has no deity but his own will, whose soul, like the sandy desert, is barren of every flower of hope, to throw a solitary bloom over the dead level of sterility and soften the wide extent of desolation ;—whose darkened views extend not beyond the horizon that bounds his cheerless existence; to whom no blissful perspective opens beyond the grave;even he is suffered to indulge in his desperate opinions without exciting one other emotion than pity or contempt.* But this mild and tolerating spirit reaches not beyond the pale of religion; once differ in politics, in mere theories, visions, and chimeras, the growth of interest, of folly, or madness-and deadly warfare ensues; every eye flashes fire, every tongue is loaded with reproach, and every heart is filled with gall and bitterness.

At this period several unjustifiable and serious injuries, on the part of the barbarians of the British islands, have given a new impulse to the tongue and the pen, and occa

*The toleration which exists with regard to every denomination of religion in the United States is worthy of imitation by us and every nation in Europe. In that country, whatever differences there may be upon the subject of politics, we certainly hear of no disputes concerning religion. Every man follows his own road to heaven, whether it is by the way of purgatory, by the means of grace, the new light, or without any light at all; all are equally eligible to the highest offices; not the least disqualification attaches to any man on account of his religion; we, therefore, never hear of plots and conspiracies in that country to overturn the government, for the purpose of having a president of the true faith. The minds of the people are never disturbed by such visions; " in short, as to temporal matters, religion is only a secondary consideration with them; and, as long as they are allowed to follow the dictates of their own conscience, and to enjoy equal rights and immunities one with another, they look only to the preservation of that form of government, and that system of things, which protects them in the enjoyment of those privileges, and defends them from foreign usurpation."

sioned a terrible wordy fever. Do not suppose, my friend, that I mean to condemn any proper and dignified expression of resentment for injuries; on the contrary, I love to see a word before a blow: for "in the fulness of the heart the tongue moveth." But my long experience has convinced me, that people who talk the most about taking satisfaction for affronts generally content themselves with talking instead of revenging the insult; like the street-women of this country, who, after a prodigious scolding, quietly sit down and fan themselves cool as fast as possible. But to return;-the rage for talking has now, in consequence of the aggressions I alluded to, increased to a degree far beyond what I have observed heretofore. In the gardens of his highness of Tripoli are fifteen thousand bee-hives, three hundred peacocks, and a prodigious number of parrots and baboons; and yet, I declare to thee, Asem, that their buzzing, and squalling, and chattering, is nothing, compared to the wild uproar and war of words now raging within the bosom of this mighty and distracted logocracy. Politics pervade every city, every village, every temple, every porter-house; the universal question is "what is the news?" This is a kind of challenge to political debate; and, as no two men think exactly alike, it is ten to one but, before they finish, all the polite phrases in the language are exhausted, by way of giving fire and energy to argument. What renders this talking fever more alarming is, that the people appear in the unhappy state of a patient whose palate nauseates the medicine best calculated for the cure of his disease, and seem anxious to continue in the full enjoyment of their chattering epidemic. They alarm each other by direful reports and fearful apprehensions, like I have seen a knot of old wives in this country, entertaining themselves with stories of ghosts and goblins, until their imaginations were in a most agonizing panic. Every day begets some new tale big with agitation, and the busy goddess Rumour, (to speak in the poetic language of the Christians,) is constantly in motion; she mounts her rattling stage-waggon, and gallops about the country freighted with a load of "hints," "informations," "extracts of letters from respectable gentlemen," "observations of respectable correspondents," and "unquestionable authorities," which her high priests, the slang-whangers, retail to their sapient followers,

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with all the solemnity and all the authenticity of oracles. True it is, the unfortunate slang-whangers are sometimes at a loss for food to supply this insatiable appetite for intelligence, and are not unfrequently reduced to the necessity of manufacturing dishes suited to the taste of the times, to be served up, at morning and evening repasts, to their disciples.

When the hungry politician is thus full charged with important information, he sallies forth to give due exercise to his tongue, and tell all he knows to every body he meets. Now it is a thousand to one that every person he meets is just as wise as himself, charged with the same articles of information, and possessed of the same violent inclination to give it vent; for in this country every man adopts some particular slang-whanger as the standard of his judgment, and reads every thing he writes, if he reads nothing else, which is, doubtless, the reason why the people of this logoeracy are so marvellously enlightened. So away they tilt at each other with their borrowed lances, advancing to the combat with the opinions and speculations of their respective slang-whangers, which, in all probability, are diametrically opposite; here, then, arises as fair an opportunity for a battle of words as heart could wish; and thou mayest rely upon it, Asem, they do not let it pass unimproved. They sometimes begin with argument, but, in process of time, as the tongue begins to wax wanton, other auxiliaries become necessary: recrimination commences, reproach follows close at his heels;-from political abuse they proceed to personal, and thus often is a friendship of years trampled down by this contemptible enemy-this gigantic dwarf of POLITICS, the mongrel issue of grovelling ambition and aspiring ignorance !

There would be but little harm, indeed, in all this if it ended merely in a broken head, for this might soon be healed, and the scar, if any remained, might serve as a warning ever after against the indulgence of political intemperance-at the worst, the loss of such heads as these would be a gain to the nation.-But the evil extends far deeper; it threatens to impair all social intercourse, and even to sever the sacred union of family and kindred. The convivial table is disturbed, the cheerful fire-side is invaded, the smile of social hilarity is chased away-the bond of so