73
I consider as the first, or as the most destructive, of these causes, the great abuse which they made of the many advantages and chances, which circumstances afforded them, from the period of the French revolution to the general peace in Europe. Their avarice and ambition were evinced from that time with a portentous excess; they absorbed every thing; they gave an extent to their commerce which they were not capable of filling up: the foundations that supported it, were fragile and precarious; the moment of need arrived, and their commerce was ruined. The period of success, prosperity and splendour, which they enjoyed, fascinated their imagination, and excited their vanity; and an excessive luxury extended itself over the whole Union, and over all classes of the people. This luxury embraced both sexes, from the artizan and simple day labourer, to the richest merchant, and most influential gentleman: it reigned in the large cities, in the towns, in the villages, and in the country to the same extreme, and confounded all classes, for all dressed in clothes alike costly and fashionable. In the furniture and decorations of the houses, the same magnificence and ostentation prevailed. It is true, that in their meals, the Anglo-Americans are neither very delicate nor very profuse, when they have no guests: potatoes and cold salt meat, with a little butter, is the daily sustenance of the wealthiest persons; but a rivalship in luxury pre-
