"First. A new theory and practice in government and in social life,
such as the world has never seen, of which we only perceive the germ as
yet." Already have you indeed presented before the world your "peculiar
institution" of slavery in a light new and striking. Already have you a
"theory and practice" in the government of slaves such as the world
never beheld!

"Second. A literature which shall not only be the proper outgrowth of
the American mind, but which shall form a distinctive school, as
clearly so as the literature of Greece!" Under this head he says, "Very
much would I prefer that our literature should appear even in the guise
of the awkward, speculating, guessing, but still original,
strong-minded _American_ Yankee, than to see it mincing in the costume
of a London dandy. I would rather see it, if need be, showing the wild
rough strength, the naturalness and fervour of the extreme West,
equally prepared to liquor with a stranger or to fight with him, than
to see it clad in the gay but filthy garments of the saloons of Paris.
Nay more, much as every right mind abhors and detests such things, I
would sooner behold our literature holding in one hand the murderous
Bowie knife, and in the other the pistol of the duellist, than to see
her laden with the foul secrets of a London hell, or the gaming-houses
of Paris. * * * If we must meet with vice in our literature, let it be
the growth of our own soil; for I think our own rascality has yet the
healthier aspect."

"Third. A new era in the fine arts, from which future ages shall derive
their models and their inspirations, as we do from Greece and Italy. *
* * So far as scenery is concerned in the moulding of character, we may
safely expect that a country where vastness and beauty are so