Or all countries upon the globe there is none of which the history is more interesting to the American than Great Britain. To most of us it is the country of our ancestors, and is that from which our language and many of our institutions are derived. At the present time there is no nation upon earth of greater resources in learning and science, in wise men and useful arts; no nation, in despite of some traits of character which are neither to be admired or imitated, in which religion and literature, virtue and happiness, liberty of thought and freedom of speech, security of property and authority of law, are so generally enjoyed as in England.
We have only to go back in past time, a little more than eighteen centuries, and we shall find the present highly cultivated, civilized, and wealthy country of Great Britain, the abode of savage and hostile tribes, sunk in heathenism and ignorance, without comfortable habitations or decent garments.
"Time was, when clothing sumptuous or for use
Save their own painted skins, our sires had none."
COWPER'S TASK.
At the present time, (1833,) the country which was once to rude and poor, is not only a powerful and rich kingdom within itself, but its dominion extends to every sea, and every quarter of the globe. The following account of the British Empire is taken from Hale's Geography.