Bridge at Zanesville, OhioBridge at Zanesville, Ohio
We again slept at Wheeling, and again were muchpleased with the situation. Old Major Sprigs48did us the honour to entertain us at his very good house, though it was very perceptible that he, in common with so many more, is not in charity with English blood: as a proof of the feeling, he was complaining of the rats about his premises, none of which vermin, he said, "were to be found in the country before the English brought them!"
This is the beginning of the season for Venison. A man came to the door with a horse-load which the Major bought for threepence sterling per lb., the price asked. Let not the reader long for American venison and fancy it to resemble a fine haunch fed in an English park; it is lean and more like horse-flesh, with very few exceptions.
Many families and other parties were still waiting [147] here, and at other places where we had crossed the Ohio, until the rising of its waters should enable them to pass down to the west: this did not happen, I was told, in the past year until the month of December; and to all appearance it may be as late this season; during the interval these poor people are exhausting their resources, losing their time, and at last will pass down the river at a most unpleasant and dangerous season of the year, if the ice should permit, a circumstance not probable: those travellers therefore, who intend such mode of conveyance, (a very pleasant one in summer,) should not start later than May; as the waters rapidly subside after June, when it frequently happens that none but light and nearly flat-bottomed boats can get down.49—[148] The rivers ofNorth America it must be acknowledged are grand, but this annual loss of water will perhaps ever be a drawback to their utility which no art can remedy. I am more than half inclined, however, to withdraw this opinion, for American enterprise is alive to the object; and two works which I saw in progress, and which by this time may be finished, give promise that much may be accomplished;—one of these is at Louisville, where a canal cut at great expense will enable vessels to avoid the Falls of the Ohio, dangerous at all times, and often impassable;50—another on the Schuylkil, where the aim is to deepen the water sufficiently to render it at all times navigable.51Weirs are carried at certain distances nearly across the river, leaving a space for a short canal with two locks to pass vessels.
View at Fort Cumberland, MarylandView at Fort Cumberland, Maryland
Should this plan become generally adopted on thoserivers where the navigation fails annually from the loss of water, it will, among other good results, conduce essentially to the health of the climate; by preventing the stagnant pools left in hollows, and the exposure of slime and mud to the sun, now the pregnant source of disorders.
Where, or when an American uses water for the purpose of washing more than his face and fingers, [149] does not appear, for no water ever goes up stairs at a tavern unless your own servants take it. Under the shed of the house, water and tin basons are placed in the morning, and each one on coming down rubs his face and hands over;—they may bathe perhaps in the rivers occasionally; if not, they are decidedly dirty people.—An English youth at our inn at Wheeling in order to wash himself a little more effectually, let his shirt down to his waistband; an attempt at cleanliness so unusual, caused a general surprise and laugh among theyahoos.
At a small place called Claysville, a stage from Washington (Pensilvania), a man came to offer to the tavern-keeper for sale a fat pig; the price he demanded was about two shillings and sixpence sterling per stone of fourteen pounds, and I was told that he would have taken a quarter less.—Another proof this, if one were wanting, of the cheapness and plenty of food.52
We stayed a day at Washington, Pensilvania, comfortably received at Mr. Morris's good tavern, and then took a new route by the south-west corner of this State: crossing the Monongahela river we baited at Brownsville,53at an excellent house kept by Mr. Evans, an emigrant; from[150] thence, by a fine new road through Union Town,54we soon entered the picturesque State of Maryland, and arrived at a small town called Fort Cumberland. The traveller by this route will pass the mountains scarcely knowing it, except from the fine views of the subjacent country which are frequently presented to view; that from the top of the hill about eleven or twelve miles west of Cumberland is truly magnificent. Along this well-formed road we pass without once being stopped to pay toll, and I understood it to be the intention of the United States government to finish and support this western road, from Washington the seat of the government down to New Orleans, by a fund to be raised solely for that purpose; a liberal plan and worthy of imitation. Of the few picturesque stations it has been our lot to see, Fort Cumberland stands first; it is not in itself a town of any importance or containing many good buildings, but surrounded as it is by mountains covered with beautiful foliage, and its stream winding through the vale, it forms a whole worthy the pencil of a master: at the distance of about six miles are some natural curiosities of rock, cave, and waterfall, which, owing to the lateness of the season, I did not chuse to lose a day in viewing though invited to it by the respectable old Patriarch of [151] the settlement, who in his ninetieth year yet offered to walk and accompany us to the scene.
View at Fort Cumberland, MarylandView at Fort Cumberland, Maryland
The reader will be mistaken if, from what has been said of good roads and fine weather, he supposes we meet with nothing else; from a few miles off Wheeling until this day or two, the air has been filled with what in England would be thought a thick fog,—here they say it is smokearising from burning barrens and prairies which are yearly at this time set on fire; indeed we have lately passed near enough to woodland on fire to see the flames and to hear the crackling of the timber; to our eyes a melancholy sight, accustomed as they have been to value and admire the forest growth. This brings to remembrance what has been told me of the great danger, and of lives lost in the Prairie country, from the custom of setting fire to the long grass in order to obtain a fine beautiful herbage, which, in a few weeks after succeeds it: the devouring element assisted by the wind advances so quickly that the speed of a horse has sometimes proved unavailing. The effect upon the long rushy grass as the fire reaches it, is frightfully grand; the heat first elevates and then throws it forward like waves, thus crossing the country at a rate inconceivably rapid;—instances have occurred of houses, cattle, and people suddenly falling a sacrifice to this rash [152] method of clearing the ground: the way to avoid such a catastrophe, the neglect of which occasioned to Mr. Flower the loss of some stacks, is to mow the herbage to a sufficient distance round the premises.
Nor is this danger to be apprehended only in the Prairie country. An emigrant, crossing the mountains some few years ago, wrote thus back to his alarmed friends, "the fire is before and behind me, I dare neither go forward nor return, and what will become of me I know not:" as his letter came safe we will hope he escaped.
Within this week a considerable number of waggons laden with goods and people have passed on their way to the Western country: as this Indian summer cannot last much longer, these parties would seem to be some of the improvident of the earth not to have moved earlier to their destination.
November 13th.The journey to-day, though over high hills and tremendous rocky ways, has been one of the pleasantest drives we have experienced: the clouds were just sufficiently broken to throw as they flew, endless and varied light and shade over the most beautiful and extensive views; rocks of various forms presented their rugged surfaces amongst the thick growing Pines and Oaks which, though small and stunted compared [153] to those in the Western country, are not on that account the less picturesque; and though the land is also equally inferior, yet such scenery, healthy air, and good water, must I conceive render Maryland a desirable residence to the man of refinement and property, in preference to any part that I have seen.
14th.A day more beautiful never opened or continued throughout. The national road not being finished we had twelve miles of the old track yet to pass, over rocks and gullies.
Maryland is a country of high narrow ridges, much rock, and but little land of prime quality; the timber, chiefly pine and oak, is small,—the rock which on this route everywhere abounds, is much of it strongly impregnated with iron; there is also much of it limestone and granite. Ridge after ridge we passed, rewarded by many an extensive and beautiful view, until at length after an hour's toil up Sidling Hill we entered upon the new road and bowled along down to the small town of Hancock near the Potomac, skirting that beautiful river to Fredericktown.
18th.Fredericktown55stands in a good situation, having a fine view of the ridges of hills immediately west of it. The place is about half the size of Lexington (Kentucky): the inhabitants seem to be rich, having erected many good [154] buildings both public and private, the latter very tastefully and expensively furnished. The Court-house, a handsome building, stands in a square which isyet to begravelled; on one side we remarked a lofty shed under which were hung an enormous pair of scales, seemingly typical of the purposes to which the central building is devoted. Churches are plentiful, nine in number and some of them well built. Talbot's tavern excellent and good attendance, but charges, as they are every where on this road, very high.
This is a Slave State; an institution hateful to English ears; yet I will observe again that after travelling through three slave States, I am obliged to go back to theory to raise any abhorence of it: not once during the journey did I witness an instance of cruel treatment, nor could I discover anything to excite commiseration in the faces or gait of the people of colour—they walk, talk, and appear at least as independent as their masters; in animal spirits they have greatly the advantage: doubtless there may be instances of cruelty, but I am inclined to think that such are of rare occurrence, and this for other reasons, as before remarked, besides those of humanity. Upon the question "What is the proper place of the Black in the order of creation?" (a subject which, after so much has been said on both sides, yet remains [155] in dispute,) the tendency of the above observations may seem to place him subordinate to the white—the next link in that chain of gradation, almost imperceptible to us, which nature exhibits throughout all her works: yet is the man of colour in general orderly in his conduct under the every-day duties of life, and also instances are not wanting of superior abilities among them, though they have not had perhaps fair-play shewn them in this respect. I may have occasion to observe more hereafter on this subject, meanwhile let it console the philanthropist, that if the black is not in his proper place, yet he possesses comforts, and appears very contented.
19th.At Baltimore. The view is fine from an eminence about half a mile from the town, nor are you disappointed on entering the city; though not so large, it is yet the most pleasing by far of the three eastern ports we have visited: whether the beauty and taste, the variety and neatness of the buildings, both public and private be considered, or the plan and situation—the whole is indeed strikingly interesting. A beautiful marble column is in part finished, a national monument to the memory of those who fell in the battle at North Point;56not far from this is in progress a superb Catholic cathedral, and close to it stands a Unitarian church, an edifice not surpassed [156] in beauty by any in the city. Besides these there are a variety of churches and other public buildings: one of the most prominent the College of Physicians, a very heavy combination, and not rendered the more pleasant by, we will hope, the inappropriate neighbourhood of a burial ground. On the whole the traveller cannot but be pleased with a view of Baltimore and the State of which it is the chief town.
On leaving Baltimore about half a mile, a large burial ground presents itself on the road side: the Americans inclose these places with little or no fence, and very frequently bury their dead with little or no ceremony;—as we passed this ground a man within it was carrying a child's coffin under his arm, which he was going to inter apparently by himself.—Mr. Birkbeck mentions the summary method in the western country of felling a tree across the spot where they inhume a body: but the tree had sometimes been removed, and we frequently drove over hillocks in the wilderness under which lay the bones of the departed.
The road now led along the western edge of the grand bay of Chesapeak, of which we caught frequent and delightful views—here indeed may America justly pride herself; her bays and rivers stretching to a great distance from the coast—[157] surely nothing in nature can exceed for grandeur or utility. Havre de Grace at the mouth of the Susquehannah is a small place, but beautifully and healthfully situated: it was burned by us during the last war, they say upon very small provocation, which has given a blow to the little prosperity it enjoyed; and a bridge now building at a short distance up the river, by rendering the ferry useless and turning the present road, will further hurt it. One of the greatest dainties, the canvas-back duck, is here obtained in great numbers and sent to Philadelphia and Baltimore markets; though this was the season for them, we were not so fortunate as to feast upon the delicacy. The Susquehannah is navigable for large vessels to the bridge, and for small craft, I was informed, for near five hundred miles up the country.
The tavern at Havre de Grace is far better than that on the opposite shore; we had good beds and attendance.The ferry, about a mile wide, is well managed; on landing, we drove on through Elkton, Christiana, and Newport to Wilmington, a large town near the Delaware, and a place of some trade: the State Bank is a good building. At night reached Chester; the first inn was quite full and the next nearly so, which appeared very unaccountable; but on enquiry learned that it is [158] the chiefretiring placefor Debtors, where in about five weeks residence they get cleared of theDun diseaseand come out themselves again.
23d.A beautiful day: breakfasted near the small town of Darby, and shortly after once again entered Philadelphia, after an absence of four months, and a journey of above two thousand five hundred miles performed in good health and with much interest throughout.
I now take leave of the Western country of the United States; and although the reader may perhaps be enabled to gather from the foregoing observations sufficient whereon to judge for himself, yet it may be proper to sum up that which I have to say upon it; and it may be done in a few words:—First addressing all those who are possessed of capital, I will state, that if they are content to undergo for their own lives many difficulties, and to make a certain sacrifice of many of the little comforts they can possess and have been used to enjoy at a moderate cost in England, they may then for a trifling sum establish their posterity upon a good estate in America, which hereafter may placethemin affluence; and this may be accomplished at a distance far short of the Prairies of Illinois;—but let them be again reminded [159] that it must be done at some risk, much trouble, and a certain sacrifice of many of their own comforts: so much for those who look forward.As to immediate prospects, taking the different ranks, professions, and businesses in turn, I must first assure the gentleman and the idle man that they haveno businessin any part of the territory. The farmer who has been accustomed to the regular markets, the constant labourers, and the comforts of an English hearth, will here find the reverse of all these and more; not so bad perhaps in the country nearest to the eastern cities as in the west, where labour to manage more than a small portion of his land is not to be had; and if it could, there is either no market, or it is so distant that the small price he can obtain for his grain renders it little worth growing; whilst this very distance from market which thus acts against him, also renders the price of all groceries at least double that which it is in the Eastern States.57For professional men I saw no opening, unless it may be for dissenting teachers in religion.—There are many young physicians spread about the country who keep taverns for their support; as to lawyers, there are enough for the population. [160] For manufacturers there may perhaps be found some employ: but it is principally the young poor man who can turn his hand to anything—the stout agricultural labourer, for whom this country is at present calculated; here such men may, with reasonable labour and activity, in a short time realise a little property, and after living in comparative plenty and comfort, leave their families to enjoy the same with independence. It is emphatically the country for the poor man; but he must not go thither, as many have done, expecting no difficulties to be encountered, no privations to be endured; nor must he be disheartened atfinding a cool reception, and work not immediately offered on his arrival at the Eastern ports;—he must push forward westward without idly stopping to spend his money and waste his time; work his way if money runs short (he may at all places get food at least for his services,) until he arrives at a place where hands are wanted and good wages are offered for them; he has then a fair and near prospect of comfort, taking care only to be industrious, frugal, and especially to avoid habits of drinking, a vice the most difficult to withstand where the spirits of the country are to be obtained for half a crown the gallon.
There are people with us in England who object [161] to giving the poor man any facility of emigration, and who are disposed to condemn prospects held out to him of improving his present condition by a change of country; I shall not stop to argue with such narrow policy and truly anti-christian reasoners more than to say, that I will leave them to point out, for I cannot, even in a political point of view, any loss to a country arising from the emigration of aredundantpopulation.
Though a winter passage across the Atlantic may be quick it is almost always unpleasant; this thought, aided by a wish to see a little more of the climate and people ere I should bid to both farewell, determined me to stay till spring. The following notes and reflections are the fruit of the protracted residence, and they are presented to the reader nearly as they stand in my journal: in their nature they must be desultory, and by essaying to render them more connected, the little interest they may possess might be made yet less.
December6th. A beautiful day, even warm, as indeed the mid-day has hitherto been, yet the [162] thermometer in an east room window opened at early morning stood at 33°.
Rode with D***** to the view on the Schuylkil called the "Flat Rock." On the way called at Mr. Fletcher's screw factory,—Mr. F. took pains to explain to us the machinery, though after all we best understood theresult; one of the machines cut the iron rod into proper lengths and turned out seven screws complete per minute; with only the attendance of a boy, it forms thirty-five gross per day. Two miles more partly along the bank of the river, and amongst its beautiful scenery, brought us to the Flat Rock, and we crossed by an inclosed wood bridge. One of the dams which have been already mentioned is here formed, and there is a canal on one side with locks for the passage of vessels;—the broad cascade of the silvery waters sparkling in the sun over the dam, and the high, broken, and wooded banks of the river, presented a scene, even without the aid of foliage, enchanting. We returned by the old Lancaster road, making a pleasant ride of about twenty miles. In the evening called with D**** on Mr. H. This gentleman's life affords an instance of successful industry, by no means uncommon in this country of enterprise and speculation; it is also interwoven with some extraordinary incidents. At setting out in life's [163] career he and a brother laid out their several portions in goods such as they judged best for the market, and with them sailed for this country: the venture proved fortunate; the goods were quickly sold to great profit, and his brother again set sail for England to purchase more with the produce. But here a cruel disappointment awaited Mr. H., for his relative instead of pursuing the intentions of hisvoyage, engaged on his arrival in Europe in other speculations, lost the whole of the money, and his anxious partner in America, when riches seemed already to be within his grasp, received notice of his brother's misconduct, and found himself suddenly reduced to his last shilling, in a foreign land, and without a friend! Young and active, however, his mind bore up against poverty, and, though at the age now of three and twenty, he took the resolution to bind himself apprentice to a trade of which he already knew a little; at this he served his time; by steadiness and application perfected himself in the business; then set up for himself in prosperous times, and rapidly made a handsome income, which he now comfortably enjoys. Let us here venture reverentially to trace the moral justice of Providence in the life of the brother, who, though enterprising and at one period apparently prosperous, was reduced by successive losses;—[164] was taken by the French and imprisoned for several years;—being at length set at liberty he got together sufficient money to freight a vessel at one of the southern ports of that country, but which in coming round from thence for England was lost; and himself also soon after perished at sea.
9th. Just returned from a shooting excursion in Jersey. We saw pheasants, partridges, and rabbits, but few of any of these were shot: the American pheasant seems half grouse, the partridge half quail, and the rabbit half hare.58Buffon and the Abbè Raynal59have both remarked thatthe animals of this continent are larger than those of Europe, but the fox, pheasant, partridge and woodcock are all certainly much smaller.—The Jersey horses are excellent hacknies, for a pair of them drew us in a lumbering vehicle eight miles with ease in about an hour along a heavy sandy road.
We have been told there are no taxes in America, or that they are few and light; I insert therefore a copy of a tax paper handed to me by a gentleman of Philadelphia.
[165] Besides these there are still levied a poll-tax of one dollar; a dog-tax of one dollar, and I believe some others. During the last war, a tax was laid upon top-boots, watch-chains, part of household furniture, and various other articles.—Horses and carriages are also virtually taxed, for the assessor calling to put his queries in order to make out the assessment asks, among other questions, "Does Mr. ***** keep a horse or mare, a gig or other carriage?" and upon being answered in the affirmative he increases the poll-tax in proportion: this district or parish officer has, or I am misinformed, in great measure discretionary powers, and as he is elected byallthe inhabitants of the district, whether they do possess property or not, the consequence may be easily foreseen.—Thus are the Americans pretty well taxed according to their means of paying: in the country indeed taxes are very little if at all paid, for the reason that the government either cannot or dare not levy them; hardly indeed, in some places darethe owners claim the land itself from theSquatters. An instance of this lately occurred in a distant part of Pensilvania: a proprietor having heard of several settlers upon his land without purchase or permission, mounted his horse and journeying to his allotment soon came up to a good log house; a Squatter was at his door, [166] and the owner, by way of entering into conversation with him, observed that he had erected a comfortable dwelling there; to which the other assented.—"But, my friend, I am told that you and several more have built here without any title to the land, and the owner is coming to remove you." The man, who had his rifle in his hand, immediately pointing to a pig at a distance took aim and shot it dead; then turning to the alarmed proprietor told him, that if the owner should ever come to disturb him he would serve him as he had served that pig.
Sunday12th. In the morning attended the episcopal church, a building handsomely decorated withinside: near the pulpit, which was placed within the altar, sat a Bishop in his lawn sleeves, &c. supported in a chair of state of carved wood, the mitre surmounting the back;—he took no part in the service, but I understood he would officiate in the ceremony of admission to a young minister. In the middle of the service, otherwise conducted with decency, a man with a money box came into every pew to levy contributions for the support of the church. In the evening went to the Presbyterian church, where we heard much singing. Here a purse at the end of a long stick was thrust into every pew for contributions: this mode of raising funds for whatever purpose is an abomination.
[167] Marriage is here a civil contract, though some parties have the ceremony read by a minister; in general they may and do go before the Mayor, a Justice, or asthey are called here a 'Squire, and declaring their resolution to take each other for man and wife, the contract is binding. As to registers I understand they are very inaccurately kept, if at all in many places, of either marriages, christenings, or burials, which must occasion most profitable confusion for the lawyers.
Went with ***** to one of the many billiard tables in this city; the game usually played is the four balls, two red and two white. This seemed to me a very childish play and well suiting the table-keeper, as from the facility ofcannoningthe game is soon finished. Returning home my companion proposed to dive into one of the Oyster Cellars, to which agreeing we vanished in a trice, and entering the infernal abode, the heat of which was at least that of a hot-house, we found a room well lighted and boxes arranged like our coffee-houses, except that the partitions were carried to the ceiling and the addition of curtains in front.—We supped well upon stewed oysters brought upon a chaffing dish, and a sallad of finely shredded raw cabbage and celery, which I found very palatable; for these with beer we paid half a dollar, and again rose to encounter the keen air of a [168] frosty night. It is I apprehend these constant sudden changes of temperature, and not severity of climate, which destroy the constitutions of many here, and render the use of flannel next the skin indispensable.
No one will again say that this country is free from paupers when he learns that there are subscriptions for the support of public soup establishments, which find plenty of employment throughout the winter. 'Tis true the poor here seem to be more fastidious than with us, for a pauper in my hearing the other day objected to some good cold meat offered to her, because it was too cold forher stomach, and said she would prefer some money if the giver pleased.
Sunday26th. Went with ***** to a Roman Catholic church: the altar very handsome, but the architecture and decorations more calculated for a temple dedicated to Venus, than for the sanctity of a christian church. Between the pillars of corinthian order which supported the altar was a view of the Holy City and the Temple, well painted in distemper, and before this full as large as life the Crucifixion, the first view of which sight of horror, must make a sickening impression; but its constant presence deadens the feelings, and renders devotion grounded upon it a mere ceremony, as the "nods and becks and wreathed [169] smiles" between acquaintances coming in during the prayers plainly proved. The priest on his entrance, being finely enrobed in a scarlet velvet and worked muslin petticoat, commenced his operations by a very hearty and plentiful use of his pocket handkerchief, which "I thought to myself" might as well have been done before his entrée; he then with a voice like a bull-frog began prayers, but after some progress turned short round from the altar to the congregation and in very familiar language said he was too hoarse to preach, but would, as I understood, give them more prayers instead. He again during prayers took sudden occasion to remind them of some particular day in the ensuing week, and then finished the orisons;—the priest's voice was very pleasingly relieved by the singing from the organ-loft, it was fine and impressive. The ceremony of the purse was here too gone through and then we departed, the organ playing very well but not very àpropos "Adeste fideles."
An affair occurred last week at New York which caused a considerable sensation,—a young man in a fit of angrymalice stabbed another in the open street with a concealed cane dirk. He fled, but was pursued and taken: when brought before the magistrates twenty thousand dollars were offered as bail for his appearance, which [170] has not been in this case accepted; though I am told it is not at all uncommon here to take bail in cases of murder, or rather manslaughter to speak technically. No wonder then that duels of that assassin character are of so frequent occurrence. It is common to practise beforehand on giving or receiving a challenge, and I believe rifle-barrelled pistols have been used; if after this a man is admitted to bail, let the assassin go free.
31st. After a long continuance of fine mild weather, in the mid-day sometimes even hot, winter comes clothed in his thickest fleecy covering, ushered in by as fine and gentle a rain as ever fell in autumn; the snow is already a foot deep, and sleds, or as they are called here sleighs, are moving in all directions. These carriages are not only applied to the useful purposes of life at this season, but they also afford an amusement much indulged in by all who can afford it;—there are sleighs of various sizes drawn by from one to four horses, and some of these carriages are of a form elegant enough, and handsomely covered within by the rich furry skins of the Bear and Buffalo; the horses wear belts of bells round their necks and bodies, and also some at their ears; this, which is a legal regulation intended to give notice of their approach, and thus to prevent accidents, [171] is rendered an affair of ornament to delight the eye and the ear, the bells being nicely assorted to harmonize, and affixed to handsome leather belts. The fun and frolic consists in large parties forming a cavalcade of these sleighs to some place of public resort at a distance, where when arrived, the dance isstruck up, hot wines are drunk as a refreshment, and in the night, after a good supper, wrapped in furs and huddled together, they drive helter skelter home not "alone by the light of the moon."
Americans make amends for the want of originality of invention by a quick perception and adoption of whatever is useful in other nations; without owning that they do so, they servilely copy us in every thing; for examples among so many, Savings Banks are adopted to great extent. Lotteries are of as frequent occurrence as with us; schemes are for ever publishing, and without any other difference than the substitution of dollars for pounds; head prize, 20,000 dollars, second 10,000, and so on down to 10 and 5. The state of pauperism has even obliged them to adopt the before-mentioned soup institutions, which are now in daily action at each quarter of the city, besides other places where bread, and at some, clothing, is given away to proper objects of the charity; many of whom they say are Emigrants [172] out of employ.60The newspapers indeed are full of advertisements for employ, and societies are established by Englishmen to relieve and forward poor emigrants to where their services may be wanted; but I am informed by a subscriber that the applications to them for working hands are just now but few: work would be plentiful, but money is wanting, meanwhile Penitentiaries and prisons and poor-houses are full! This does not form an inviting picture to the emigrant.
Writers on the United States have too much said thething which is not, and too little the thing which is; consequently I entered the country with impressions whichhave almost all been totally changed by actual observation. We have been told that suits at law are here quickly heard and as quickly determined: walking the other day in Philadelphia with a gentleman, he pointed to some buildings we were passing, and surprised me by observing that he had formany yearsbeen disputing at law the possession of them. My landlady too is engaged in a lawsuit of many years standing, and of which she knows not the probable termination. Whether these evils are some for which they may thank our administration is [173] not here worth enquiring, as a wise nation should have remedied them when it formed for itself a Constitution; but in this and many other instances they still suffer under many of the evils of which we complain.
In a statement of grievances drawn up by a Grand Jury at a late county Assize in Pensilvania, it is complained that improper persons are put into the commission of the peace, and of the improper conduct of such in their magistracy: it also contains a strong remonstrance against the practice in prisons of putting the tried and untried culprits together: the bringing before the Grand Jury causes of a petty nature, and which therefore should have been tried in inferior courts, is also objected to.
The militia laws here bear hard upon the Foreigner, towards whom they are a vexatious tax. A residence in the country of, I believe, only six months renders him liable to be called out, and enrolled, or to pay a fine for absence; yet were a war to take place with the government to which an enrolled stranger is subject, he is sent up the country, instead of accepting of his military services; as it happened to the English who were resident here during the last war, to the great detriment of their affairs. The foreigner of course generally submits to pay the finerather than be [174] subject to the demand of a military duty so unjust towards him; but that the practice of procuring substitutes, should be gaining ground among the citizens themselves, proves pretty clearly a falling off from the republican spirit. I have somewhere met with the remark that the Athenians were so wholly devoted to public life that they neglected the private virtues: the moderns on the contrary, and the remark may be applicable equally elsewhere as here, may be said to neglect their public interests in a constant attention to their private affairs; when this is the case, parties may hold intemperate language, journalists may snarl at each other, but all will not preserve the liberties of a people who have ceased to be true to themselves, when, from whatever cause, they shall hold back from their public duties, more especially those which are military; they then soon sink into effeminacy, lose that manliness of character which such exercises would give them, and becoming indifferent to all else but sordid gain, let their liberties sooner or later become the sacrifice to despotism. A militia may not go through its evolutions so quick and exact as a standing army—the latter is also a fine spectacle on a field-day, when the sun shines—it is likewise, it must be confessed, very enticing to indolence to be able to sit at home and nurse "its dainty [175] sympathies" while the army is abroad fighting its battles; but the Republic that would long preserve its freedom, that would truly enjoy the shade of its own vine and fig-tree, must keep the sword belted to its own side; must know how to use it, and submit with chearfulness and energy to its military duties. A standing army and disarmed population is the awful lever wherewith despotism and crooked policy have everywhere overturned the temple of liberty.
But whither is fancy leading me to wander? forgetful that I am where true liberty is unknown, or where the Goddess has only deigned to shed the rays of her intelligence on the favoured head of a Washington, a Franklin and a few others; while a spirit totally irreconcileable with the noble, disinterested, high minded, true republican pervades each bosom—money—gain—sordid gain is the predominant, almost the sole passion; scarcely leaving room for vanity; which shews itself not only in a firm belief and modest assertion that they alone among the nations of the earth hold the palm in Arts, Arms, and Science, but also in the important object of decorating the person. Reader—know, that the tailor, hatter, bootmaker, here give to our modern Republican his rank; and by the cut of his habiliments is known the circle in which he moves, and in which he [176] must continue to move. As unbending an order of aristocracy exists here as in any old court of Europe; and if an unfortunate individual is known ever to have appeared in an inferior circle, the ostracism banishes him for ever from the double refined society of this upper order of store keepers.
January31st, 1820. Went last evening to attend service at the African Church: a charity sermon was preached and the whole very decently conducted. Contemplating however the sable countenances around us, the observation that the black forms a grade just below the white again occurred; 'tis true the former seems capable of all the common mental exertions, so nearly equal with the white man that it must be confessed he treads close upon his heels, yet notwithstanding, perhaps the result of a close examination and comparison of their mental faculties might shew as much difference between them as may be observed in the features of the countenance. On whichever side the truth of the question may lie, the general opinion in those States which have formally and publicly called the men of colour "Men and Brothers" is pretty clearly shewn in various ways—separate churches—civil disabilities, besides such common advertisements in the daily papers as the following; which I copy from the Aurora61of Friday, 25th March, 1820:—
[177] BAKER'SEXCHANGE AND INTELLIGENCE-OFFICE
Thus in free Pensilvania are blacks positively sold for a limited period, and though the law does not allow the purchaser the power of life and death over this sort of slave, yet to all other intents and purposes he is in as complete subjection as any slave in Virginia or Kentucky.
We have lately attended service at the churches of the Anabaptists, the Swedenborgians, &c.—Contemplating the various sects of religion in the United States, men will be pleased or otherwise, according to their private sentiments, to see the people on a Sunday quietly moving to the places of worship belonging to their several persuasions, without the least symptom of disrespect or rancorous spirittowards each other; thus forming an exception to the rest of the globe.—Whether such a state of religion will long continue, or whether, professing the same end (happiness hereafter,) [178] they may at length unite in the same means, one form of religion, time only will demonstrate: there are indeed people who seem to be of opinion that it will end in no religion at all; and I must confess thus much, that though theoretically it is certainly pleasing to contemplate religion free from state trammels, and each man walking before his God as his unbiassed conscience shall dictate, yet, as religion ought to influence men's conduct in the world, and "a tree is known by its fruit," it would be satisfactory to perceive, as the result of such religious liberty, more probity in the every day dealings between man and man than I have witnessed in the United States. While they talk of the moral and religious principle; of true liberty, honesty, &c. their actions belie their words, and make them appear a nation of unprincipled atheists; by the bye, a description of people perhaps more general over the world than we might be inclined to allow; people, who outwardly profess belief in a Creator and future Judge of our actions, yet whose daily acts contradict their professions. But to return to America, where integrity is at so low an ebb at present, that the nearest relative or friend can scarcely be safely trusted. One instance of baseness and ingratitude, among the many, I will relate. A man some time ago became insolvent—retiredfor the [179] usual period of five or six weeks, during which time he obtained signatures of release from his creditors, and came out whitewashed: one would naturally suppose that at least towards these men he would feel a debt of gratitude as well as of money due, and he had soon an opportunity of shewing it; for one of them, to whom he had beenmost indebted, in his turn got into difficulties,—and what followed—the scoundrel seized the occasion by the help of chicanery to turn his former creditor into the street and sold up his goods! Can either a religious or moral principle prevail where such things arecommonlyperpetrated?—Can the laws be good?—Can the government be efficient? Can a country last where such things pass as clever strokes of practice, and the most successful swindler is praised as thesmartestfellow?
"Such things are;" and while they are, they furnish ground for such philippics as the following; which I will insert, not because any calm unprejudiced person or onenot writing for prefermentcan agree with the pen of gall, but in the hope that America aroused at such anathemas, may exert her better self, give vigour to her laws, and blot out these foul deeds from the page of her history. Speaking of the principle of honour, the writer expresses himself thus:—"Honour alone [180] will indeed never make a great nation, but it will always preserve it from dwindling down into thorough contempt. It has done much more for France than ever virtue did. Without this semi-heroic principle she would have been detestable indeed. I say not that she was ever anything very desirable to boast of with it. America in this respect stands insulated from all the world. She has neither a spark of true magnanimity about her, nor any grace or colouring of it. She is equally destitute of honesty and honour, of substance and semblance. She set off without an established religion, and has now pretty well prepared herself for needing none."
In another place he writes thus, "there is no saying what this same America may turn out in the lapse of ages, or how far that unprincipled Oligarchy may extend her growing plagues into futurity, which, at present, exhibits the youngserpents crawling out of their beds of venom in every direction where the heavens may smile, or the air freshly blow upon them, &c."62
Such sentiments as these, from a man professing himself a minister of "the meek and lowly Jesus," are little calculated to fascinate and render [181] any people the more inclined to a church establishment.
February 3d.What transitions of temperature!—the frost yesterday was severe; the Schuylkill and even the Delaware frozen over, and skating the order of the day; the thermometer at ten degrees below freezing:—last night a heavy mild rain has fallen, and at mid-day now the thermometer is at 40°.
I shall copy the account without comment; it needs none. Perpetrated among a people who call themselves christians, and who boast of being "the most free, the most enlightened, the most humane people on earth."