GERMAN POPULATION OF THIS COUNTRY. THE distinction between the German and American population in this country, does not consist, as some might suppose, in the latter being born on this side of the Atlantic, whilst the native land of the former is Germany; but in the fact that not only the natives of Germany, but also the descendants of German emigrants, as long as they retain the use of the German language, are embraced under the general appellation, of the "German population." It is owing to the peculiar manner in which this foreign element has become an integral part of the American people, that it is out of our power to obtain an exact statistical view of this population. About a hundred and fifty years ago, the first body of the German emigrants removed from the State of New York to Pennsylvania, because they could not agree with the Dutch settlers, who then had entire possession of the valleys of the Hudson and the Mohawk. From that time until the present, great numbers of Germans have arrived every year on our shores, and in many instances have intermingled so entirely with the English portion of the community, that it has been found impracticable to take an exact census of them. It may suffice, then, that thousands and tens of thousands of this German population are spread over almost all the different parts of the Union; and that the influx of German emigrants, has been, and is much more rapid, than the progress of the English language could be, in a community whose national predilections have become proverbial. In directing our attention to the descendants of Germans, we find that a very small portion has carefully fostered those principles of religious and intellectual cultivation, which their forefathers had imbibed in their own country, whilst the great majority, from reasons which we shall endeavor to state, have not only been deprived of the light which their fathers enjoyed, but have been likewise excluded in a great measure, from the influences which operate favorably on the religious, moral, and intellectual state of the American people. It is well known that the great mass of the first Germans, consisted of redemptioners, who fled from the oppression to which they had been subject in their native country. It is also known that by perseverance and industry, they succeeded in benefiting the country which had received them hospitably, and that they obtained a rich return from the produce of their agricultural labors; but it is far less known, how little their religious and moral state corresponds to their physical well-being. The frequent and entire want of instruction, the necessity of gaining their livelihood by great and uninterrupted efforts, and the slow but certain rewards which they obtained from the ground they cultivated, has been the cause that they seem to have become incapable of raising their eyes from that ground, to Him, who gave them both " to will and to do according to his good pleasure." The situation of their ministers almost prevents their usefulness, when they have to attend to the spiritual wants of six or seven congregations; and attempts at extending to them other means of religious instruction, have but too often met with decided opposition, and sometimes have excited the most unexpected and unaccountable suspicions. A very devoted and benevolent friend of mine, for instance, endeavored some time since to form a Sabbath School near the banks of the Lecha. For a long time he could not ascertain why his efforts were so little encouraged, until he finally was informed that he was suspected of forming this school with a view of increasing the tolls of the bridge over which the children had to pass. The state of morality, you may easily imagine, cannot be a very high and elevated one, where religion has so little practical influence. Though the love of self does in some cases apparently supply the want of the purer principles of a heartfelt religion; though, thanks to habit and constitution they fulfil conscientiously many of the common |