From
the absence of a display of gallantry and tenderness between the
sexes, they argue also, in them, the nonexistence of love, and
its kindred passions. This we think unjust, as it robs them of
the honours of a system of education, which is life-long, and whose
sole object is to attain the mastery of all feeling, physical or
mental. The view taken of this subject by Robertson, in his History
of America, to us, seems most accordant with truth. He says: "The
amazing steadiness with which the Americans endure the most exquisite
torments, has induced some authors to suppose that, from the peculiar
feebleness of their frame, their sensibility is not so acute as
that of other people; as women, and persons of a relaxed habit, are
observed to be robust men, whose nerves are more firmly braced. But
the constitution of the Americans is not so different in its texture,
from that of the rest of the human species, as to account for this
diversity in their behaviour. It flows from a principle of honour,
instilled early and cultivated with such care, as to inspire him
in his rudest state with a heroic magnanimity, to which philosophy
hath endeavoured in vain to form him, when more highly improved and
polished.
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