of States, the grand exemplar of the correlative equality of individuals; and while truth sheds its effulgence, we cannot retrograde, without dissolving the one and subverting the other. We must onward to the fulfilment of our mission-to the entire development of the principle of our organization-freedom of conscience, freedom of person, freedom of trade and business pursuits, universality of freedom and equality. This is our high destiny, and in nature's eternal, inevitable decree of cause and effect we must accomplish it. All this will be our future history, to establish on earth the moral dignity and salvation of man—the immutable truth and beneficence of God. For this blessed mission to the nations of the world, which are shut out from the life-giving light of truth, has America been chosen; and her high example shall smite unto death the tyranny of kings, hierarchs, and oligarchs, and carry the glad tidings of peace and good will where myriads now endure an existence scarcely more enviable than that of beasts of the field. Who, then, can doubt that our country is destined to be the great nation of futurity? WILLIAM LEGGETT. BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. The earth may ring, from shore to shore, For when the death-frost came to lie The words of fire, that from his pen His love of Truth, too warm, too strong, Burn in the breasts he kindled still. SKETCHES OVER THE SEA. No. II. THE GOTHA CANAL. THE Wener is an inland sea, one hundred and twenty miles long and forty broad, two-thirds the size of Lake Ontario, and, after Ladoga and Onega, is the largest lake in Europe. Its shores are too low for beauty but its situation in the centre of the peninsula; its great extent, forming a line of coast of more than three hundred miles; the many streams running into it from far into the surrounding country, and its ready outlet to the sea, through the Trolhätta canal, and the river Gotha, give it great commercial importance, From Wenersborg, a mean little town of wooden houses, and four thousand inhabitants, scarcely rebuilt after the fire which not long before had laid it in ashes, we set off upon the lake, stretching across its southeastern quarter. The shore is so irregular, that, as we steered in nearly a straight line to the canal, which comes in on the eastern shore, we ran sometimes close under the points of long headlands, or clusters of islands sprinkled along the coast; and then again, far in the open lake, almost beyond sight of land. Early in the morning the water was smooth as the smallest lake; but the wind freshened as the sun went up, and before we had gone far we encountered a heavy, rolling sea. This began soon to produce a visible effect upon the ladies, which some of them frightened off by an expedient I never saw practised before-looking up into the sky, so as to see as little of the motions of the boat and waters as possible; an expedient which seemed to be quite successful. In the afternoon we left the lake, and entered the canal; and before dark stopped for the night near the little lake Wiken. The Gotha Canal is a remarkable work, whether it be regarded in itself as an achievement of art, or in its results, as opening, by an artificial channel of sixty-two miles, navigation of three hundred and forty, forming a circumnavigation between the sea and the two great lakes, and through the heart of the kingdom. The canal around the falls of Trolhätta was first made, and called the Trolhätta canal. It was undertaken by a company of merchants in 1793, and finished in 1800, to serve as an outlet to the Wener, whose little towns it transformed virtually into seaports. Six hundred vessels navigate the lake, and the extent of its commerce may be estimated from the number of vessels, said to be five hundred a month, which pass through the locks at Trolhätta. The canal between the Wener and the Baltic was afterwards undertaken, to complete the navigable line from sea to sea; and the whole is now generally desig nated as the Gotha canal or navigation. There are seventy-two locks VOL. VI. NO. XXIII.-1839. Сс and thirty-six bridges. Its elevation above the Baltic, at the summit level, is three hundred and eight feet. None but masted vessels, such as can navigate the lakes, are to be seen upon it; and these are drawn chiefly by oxen. The bridges are, for the most part, of iron, not elevated much above the canal, but thrown straight across, from bank to bank, and instead, of being like ours, drawn up and pulled backwards, upon rollers, so as to permit vessels to pass. In the canal the rate of speed allowed to the steamers is four miles the hour; and our boat is steered with such precision, that it is made to shoot through the parted bridges, when there are not more than two feet to spare on each side, at nearly this rate of full speed. Two swivels swung on pivots at the bow railing, are used to give signal of our approach to the locks and bridges; and I have often watched with almost breathless anxiety our little steamer rushing towards these bridges, while they are yet opening, and then darting through them without even turning back her wheels. Travelling in this way one loses some of the opportunities of observation which he might have upon the high road. But there are, on the other hand, some advantages to compensate him for the loss. He is travelling with a larger number of persons, principally natives of the country, whose characters, habits, and manners, he has the best opportunity of observing; whenever the boat is detained by the locks he can step ashore and walk into the neighbouring cottages or hamlets; while, so far as the aspect of the country is concerned, he can see quite as much, if not more, of it. But travellers are, in all circumstances, liable to great mistakes. A long and intimate acquaintance with a people can alone qualify us to pronounce a positive and unqualified judgment upon their social or political condition. There are, however, in all countries, some peculiarities which meet the stranger on his way, and fasten themselves upon his attention, however brief may be his sojourn in the land. And let him travel as he will, to remain a longer or shorter time, it is his best course, from the moment of his arrival, to mark the impressions as they arise, while they are yet vivid, and before custom has blunted the edge of his curiosity, leaving subsequent observations and other observers to correct his mistakes. There is no deception in such cases, if it be only understood that he professes to record no more than the impressions which the passing scenes, as he views them, make upon his mind, and the information that he receives from others; that the inferences which he draws may be just or not; and that the information given him may be wrong. Great allowance should always be made for him, for it is one of the most difficult operations of the understanding, to separate and assort the mass of impressions which must be rapidly cast upon it, and, in some measure, blended there; and he is obliged to draw his general conclusions from a number, too limited it may be, of single facts; and he must accept information from those who are as ignorant perhaps as himself. Travelling, more than any thing else, makes us charitable towards the mistakes of travellers. ap Rocky, vast, and barren, compared with most of the other parts of Europe, Sweden has to me, more than any other country I ever saw, the pearance of an immense rock, on which the soil has been for ages gradually deposited, but yet so light that the rock is still bare at innumerable points, and on almost all the great elevations. The mountains are not high; but there is an endless succession and variety of hills, some of them bare, and the rest covered with stinted pine. Though there is a great deal of birch and beech, pine is the most common trẻe, and you may see forests of it covering the hills, that swell, one after the other, to the utmost verge of the horizon. There is a species of birch I never saw elsewhere, drooping or weeping birch, drooping like the weeping willow, very luxuriant and beautiful. There is, as might be expected, an infinite number of green, secluded, quiet valleys. Along the streams, in the valleys, and on the shores of the lakes, there is a beautiful vegetation-beautiful in itself, more beautiful from contrast with the bare rocks or pine forests, and from its fringing so many charming lakes. Those lakes form perhaps the most striking feature in the countrysprinkling its whole surface, so much as almost to make you doubt whether there is the more land or water within the limits of the kingdom. They lie at the bottom of all the valleys, and so near to each other that it is natural to fancy the peninsula might once have been an aggregation of an infinite number of islands, which subsiding waters have united, leaving the lakes behind. The beauty and variety these lakes give to the scenery can scarcely be imagined by one who has not seen them. The valleys are cultivated, but the agriculture strikes me as imperfect. It was now the season of harvest, and the ripe grain was waving in the fields, some of which were of great extent, but the crop looked light. The country is thinly peopled; and there are strong evidences of poverty in the dwellings and dress of the inhabitants. Both the fashion and the material of the dress are rude; coarse linen trowsers, and an ill-shapen coat of coarse cloth The houses are almost always built of timber; logs hewn square, laid horizontally upon each other, dove-tailed at the corners, and filled in, at the interstices, with moss and pitch. The better class are painted red, with a white border around the windows. The people are very civil and kind, and very curious. I have never been asked so many questions in any part of my own country. Where are you from? where are you going? what is your name? and for what did you come here? are questions put to me half a dozen times a day. Lively and versatile, they remind me often of the French; the scene I saw at an inn to-day was just such a one as I have seen in France, a party sitting over a table, talking all at the same time, in the most earnest and impassioned manner. July twenty-sixth.-To-day we have entered one of the richest provinces in Sweden, Ostgotha. We started at three o'clock, passed through the charming Wiken, where the overhanging woods bent gracefully over as if to kiss the pure water, and wave and tree both smiled in the morning sun; and then ran down the Botter-sjou, an arm of the Wetter, where The wheels were we met the steamer from Stockholm, full of people. stopped; friends recognized each other; greetings were exchanged; inquiries made and answered; and the boats passed each on its way. By ten o'clock we were in the midst of the Wetter, the second lake in Sweden, passing its islands and admiring its varied shores. On the opposite side we entered the canal at Motala, one of the most industrious and flourishing villages of the country. Here we went ashore to see the great manufactory of steam-engines, for which Motala is remarkable, and then walked along a mile or so, to watch the boat, while she was descending the five locks into the lake of Bören. On the banks of the canal is the tomb of Von Platen, its projector and author. There is a striking appropriateness in placing the tomb of a great man by the side of his works, and in the midst of scenes where living he loved to dwell; as if the spirit would watch over the fruits of its labors, or linger with more pleasure in a familiar spot; and because the living may thus be led to think more of their obligations to the dead, and incited to emulate their example. Napoleon wished to be buried " on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom he had loved so well." Washington has a more appropriate grave in the shades of Mount Vernon than under the dome of the Capitol. New York would do herself honor if she were to place the tomb of her Clinton on the banks of her great canal, his work and witness. Arriving at the upper locks, we saw the Bören spread out before us, a lake remarkable even here for its picturesque shores. The boat was waiting for us at the last lock; the company was soon gathered; and we went our way through the Bören and down the canal. The weather was as fine as it was possible to be; the scenery was perpetually changing, and at times full of beauty; now a gentle hill, next a mountain green with pines, then a valley ready for the reapers, or a lake, with winding shores, or studded with islands. Sometimes we wound along a hill-side, overlooking, on the one hand, a valley, or perhaps a lake below, while the trees waved above us on the other. Before entering into the Roxen, another of this chain of lakes, the canal descends an hundred and thirtysix feet; then from the brow of the hill we overlooked not only the Roxen, for many miles, but a wide valley, containing several churches and hamlets, and could see Linköping, six miles to the right, one of the most considerable towns in this part of the country, and the seat of a bishop, whose old cathedral appeared in the midst. The Roxen was the station for the night; and, as there were yet two or three hours to nightfall, a drive to Linköping was proposed, and instantly agreed to by half a dozen of the party. We went to the nearest post-house, or Skyd's station, and ordered postwagons and horses. The house was of a rude exterior, built of logs and unpainted; but within there were several nice rooms, strewn with pine boughs in place of sand carpets. A book called the dag-book was handed us to inscribe our names, station, residence and destination; without which you cannot demand post-horses. This book is kept at each |