It is a
consequence of this extraordinary freedom of election, that, while the
great picture of American society has been sketched with so much
boldness, a large portion of the filling-up still remains to be done. The
emigrant has consulted his immediate interests; and, while no very
extensive and profitable territory, throughout the whole of our immense
possessions, has been wholly neglected, neither has any particular
district yet attained the finish of improvement. The city is even now,
seen in the wilderness, and the wilderness often continues near the city,
while the latter is sending forth its swarms to distant scenes of
industry. After thirty years of fostering care on the part of the
government, the Capital, itself, presents its disjointed and sickly
villages, in the centre of the deserted 'old-fields' of Maryland, while
numberless youthful rivals are flourishing on the waters of the West, in
spots where the bear has ranged and the wolf howled, long since the former
has been termed a city.
Thus it is that high civilization, a state of infant existence, and
positive barbarity, are often brought so near each other, within the
borders of this republic.
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