The civilization of New England has been like a beacon lit upon a hill, which, after it has diffused its warmth around, tinges the distant horizon with its glow.
[Footnote e: The States of New England are those situated to the east of the Hudson; they are now six in number: 1, Connecticut; 2, Rhode Island; 3, Massachusetts; 4, Vermont; 5, New Hampshire; 6, Maine.] The foundation of New England was a novel spectacle, and all the circumstances attending it were singular and original.

The large majority of colonies have been first inhabited either by men without education and without resources, driven by their poverty and their misconduct from the land which gave them birth, or by speculators and adventurers greedy of gain.

Some settlements cannot even boast so honorable an origin; St.Domingo was founded by buccaneers; and the criminal courts of England originally supplied the population of Australia.
The settlers who established themselves on the shores of New England all belonged to the more independent classes of their native country.

Their union on the soil of America at once presented the singular phenomenon of a society containing neither lords nor common people, neither rich nor poor.

These men possessed, in proportion to their number, a greater mass of intelligence than is to be found in any European nation of our own time.