CHAPTER VIII.
Streets of New York: Drunkenness: Prostitution: Lotteries: Hospitality: Bankruptcy: Women and young girls: Luxury: Hotels: Police: Anecdote: number of passengers arriving at New York from 1818 till 1819.
On returning from our voyage up the Hudson, general Lafayette expressed his desire to enjoy the calm of private life, that he might consecrate some moments to the kind intimacy which a great number of his old friends demanded. In consequence public entertainments were suspended, the citizens resumed their usual occupations; and I had leisureto examine with advantage the customs and physiognomy of the people of this great city, which until now I had only beheld in gala dress.
My first excursion had naturally for object to visit the whole length of Broadway, which is the bazar of American industry, as it is of the productions of all the world. Its length of about three miles, the width of the side walks, solidly constructed and flagged with broad stones, the elegance of the buildings, the richness and variety of its stores, and the ever active crowd by which it is enlivened, makes this beautiful street, one of the most interesting objects for the traveller, who has time for observation. A single circumstance renders it unpleasant, in my opinion, which is that the immense grave yard of Trinity church is separated from the streets by nothing but an iron railing. This view contrasts in a painful manner with the gay groups of young ladies, continually passing lightly along by this sad receptacle of the dead. I am astonished that the wisdom of the corporation of New York, which has done so much for the improvement and health of the city, has not yet thought of removing this focus of putrid exhalations, which in some seasons of the year may become fatal to the whole population.[16]
The greater number of the streets which open into Broadway, are also very clean and regular; but those running in the vicinity of the wharves are commonly disagreeable enough. There are a great many dirty and badly built frame houses, which serve as retreats for drunkenness and debauchery. Drunkenness produces frightful ravages, and annually plunges a great number of victims into the prisons and hospitals. A vast number of crimes and diseases have no other cause. The extreme facility with which the poorest wretches acquire money, the low price of spirituous liquors, which pay no duty, and perhaps also the excessive heat of the climate, are without doubt the principal causes of this disgusting passion. It is said that New York contains more than three thousand grog-shops, in which are annually retailed at least three millions of dollars worth of wine and strong liquors. This appears afrightful amount when compared with that of the population.
Prostitution is less common here than one would suppose, in a large commercial city constantly thronged with strangers and sailors. There are not more than three thousand public women, which is scarcely a sixtieth part of the population. This would be a very small proportion for Paris, and especially for London, where these unfortunates commonly form a twentieth of the population. If we seek for the causes of this great difference, it will be found principally in the early and frequent marriages of the inhabitants. Men usually marry here, from the age of twenty to twenty-five, and the women from sixteen to twenty. Moreover the marriageable age is not determined by law, neither is there any law by which parents are authorized to prevent the marriages of their children. The religious ceremony alone constitutes the act of marriage, and difference of sect never prevents a minister of another persuasion from bestowing the nuptial benediction upon those who ask it of him. Always sure of obtaining the means of support for himself and companion, the young American is never deterred by considerations of fortune to determine his choice which is almost always according to his feelings. Hence there are fewer single men in society, and consequently fewer causes of corruption. A third scourge more terrible than drunkenness or prostitution, extends its ravages through the city of New York, and daily taints the public morals: I wish to speak of those bottomless gulfs, which swallow indiscriminately the wealth of the rich merchant, and the savings of the poor labourer: which are the wreck of so many long-tried good characters, and which in exchange for the money which is paid them, make no other return but disgrace and misery—In short I mean theLottery Offices.
The laws of the state of New York forbid the establishment of new lotteries, but the legislature have thought it right to respect those already existing, because they have been founded in virtue of privileges anterior to the constitution. Is not this respect for an evil consecrated by time, a culpable weakness? Some persons with whom I have spoken, have answered that the lotteries of New York do not produce as much immorality as those of Europe, becausetheir product does not go to the treasury of the government, but in the support of the hospitals; nor are they as dangerous to the working classes, because the high price of tickets render them only accessible to the rich. These arguments appear to me to be very weak, and by no means reconciled me to the lotteries.
Of all the cities in the United States, New York is certainly the one in which society has lost most of the national character. The great number of foreigners which incessantly flow into it, is a continually operating cause. However we still find there some principal, strongly marked features, which preserve in its physiognomy the character of nationality. One of these features is hospitality. A single letter of recommendation here suffices to give strangers an entrance into the most distinguished society, and if their character and conduct correspond honorably to the kindness which every one is disposed to show them, it is easy for them in a short time to derive therefrom both pleasure and profit. Unfortunately many show themselves unworthy of this kind reception, and I can scarcely comprehend how, after so many unfortunate experiments the New Yorkers can expose themselves again voluntarily to have their generous hospitality returned by fraud, treachery or calumny. It is not rare to find Europeans, who, when interrogated on the character of the Americans, answer with effrontery, “They are all corrupt, hypocritical egotists.” If we take the trouble to examine the conduct of those who accuse with so much asperity we are altogether astounded to discover that one dare not appear in presence of a certain individual, because he has been long in his debt, is insolvent and unworthy; and that another received at first with confidence into a particular family, has been turned out of doors for having attempted the basest seduction; and in short, that a third is at present an object of public contempt, having at first conciliated public opinion under the mask of virtues, which he was totally incapable of exercising. It would be easy for me to prove my assertion and name some of these wretches: but it would be far more agreeable to me, if I did not fear to wound their feelings, to name Messrs. P. B. M. G. &c. who by their intelligence have secured themselves an honourable existence, and by the nobleness of their charactershave preserved the French name from the contempt into which it would otherwise have been plunged by so many adventurers.
Among so many calumnies diffused by ignorant and malevolent travellers, there are some disagreeable truths concerning which it would be weakness to remain silent. Thus, I shall not pass by the numerous bankruptcies which at New York, as in all the large commercial cities of the union, inflict as severe injuries upon public morals as upon that confidence and security which commerce every where demands, as a basis indispensable to its existence and prosperity. A faithless man is not withheld in his commercial dealings by any restrictive law, and it must be confessed that the justice of public opinion is not always sufficiently severe. However, for some years past the correct and upright part of the commercial society of New York, forming an immense majority, have raised their voice powerfully to ask of congress a law which shall secure to the creditors of a broken merchant, an equal right to share in the dividend of what he gives up, and to prevent a merchant who finds his affairs embarrassed, from assigning before-hand, all that he possesses for the payment of a few confidential friends, who have lent him their names and money, by the aid of which they have betrayed the confidence of the public. Congress has not been deaf to the chamber of commerce of New York and many other cities; it has already carefully examined into the possibility of making a law which shall repress these terrible abuses, without interfering with the absolute liberty essential to the existence of commerce. The difficulties have appeared great to the legislators, but not insurmountable. Much is expected from their conscientious and enlightened zeal.
The ladies here dress in the French taste, but their manners are still entirely American; that is, they devote almost their whole existence to the management of the household, and the education of their children. They generally live much retired, and although many of them possess very agreeable and excellent powers of conversation, they do not however occupy much attention in society, where the young ladies appear to have the exclusive right of reigning. These latter, it is true, have from nature and education,all the means of pleasing. The unlimited liberty they enjoy, without ever abusing it, gives a grace and frankness to their manners, and a modest ease, which is sought in vain in our companies, where, under the name of reserve, the most painful insignificance is imposed upon our young ladies.
The American ladies are not more remarkable for their severe conjugal fidelity, than the girls are for their constancy to theirengagements. At parties I have often had pointed out to me young ladies of eighteen or nineteen, who had beenengaged, and of whose future husbands, one was in Europe pursuing his studies; another in China, attending to commercial business, and a third dangerously employed in the whale fishery, in the most distant seas. Young girls thusengaged, hold the middle place in society between their still disengaged companions and the married ladies. They have already lost some of the thoughtless gaiety of the former, and assumed a slight tinge of the gravity of the other. The numerous aspirants, designated here by the name ofbeaux, which at first surrounded them, and were received until a choice was made, still bestow upon them delicate attentions, but by no means so particular as formerly, and should one of them, either from ignorance or obstinate hopes, persist in offering his heart and hand, the answer “I am engaged,” given with a sweet frankness and an indulgent smile, soon destroys all his illusions, without wounding his pride. Engagements of this sort, preceding marriage, are very common, not only in New York, but throughout the United States; and it is exceedingly rare that they are not fulfilled with religious fidelity. Public opinion is very severe on this point, and does not spare either of the two parties which may dispose of themselves without the consent of the other.
Persons who think republican principles incompatible with the enjoyments procurable by wealth, will find the luxury of New York excessive, and may suppose that a people which treads upon the richest English carpets; which profusely pours into gold and crystal, the most delicate wines of France, and runs after pleasure in elegant carriages, cannot long continue their independence. Such persons might with reason be frightened, if luxury here, like that of our princes and courtiers of Europe,sprung from the oppression and toils of the people; but they may comfort themselves by reflecting that this luxury is the offspring of industry, the rich and fruitful daughter of liberty.
If luxury have invaded the dwelling of the banker; if she be seated at the table of the manufacturer, or penetrated even to the cabinet of the man of science, she has not yet crossed the thresholds of the hotels. Nothing can be more simple, nothing can be more modest, I might almost say more incommodious than the boarding-houses of New York, and indeed of all the other cities of the union. The bed-rooms are commonly large halls, containing seven or eight beds, placed not more than three or four feet apart, in which travellers go to rest at night, and quit them very early in the morning. Every one dresses and undresses himself in silence, and as it were in public, as there are neither screens nor curtains to conceal the business of the toilet. Three meals are offered daily to the boarders; in the morning at 8 o’clock, breakfast, composed commonly of bread and butter, eggs, fish, smoked meats, with tea and coffee for beverage: the dinner is amply supplied with large pieces of boiled and roast meat, accompanied by some pastry, and a few unseasoned vegetables; the whole washed down by a large quantity of wines, and other liquors; supper is exactly like the breakfast. These meals are always announced at fixed hours by the ringing of a bell, at the sound of which the boarders move with precipitation to seat themselves at table, at which, with still greater precipitation they take their food, and nothing is heard but the clattering of knives, forks, and dishes, as conversation is rarely carried on between persons entirely unacquainted, unless they have been introduced to each other by a common acquaintance. The parlour, or hall, which the inmates frequent in the intervals of the meals, is commonly a great compensation for the community of the bed-chambers, and the silent precipitation of the dining-room. Here one finds the newspapers; sometimes a piano, and often a select society, the honours of which are almost always gracefully done by the lady of the house, whose education and manners differ essentially from those of boarding-house keepers in Europe. It is especially in the relations of host and hostess, with the guests, that thefeeling of equality which here animates all ranks, displays itself with all its force, and it is not in the least degree more affected by the act of receiving than that of paying money. Servility and arrogance are as uncommon in the boarding-houses of New York as they are said to be frequent in those of London. The mean price of boarding and lodging in New York is about a dollar and a half per day. No deductions are ever made for meals of which the boarder may not have partaken.
Although New York is a very extensive city, containing a numerous population, and annually receiving at least 30,000 foreigners, great disorders are unknown to it, and the slightest crimes but rarely escape the vigilance of the police, which is not less surprising for its activity than for the quietness of its proceedings; from the perfect order which reigns by day and night, it appears to be every where present, and yet it is no where seen in operation. The security which it guarantees to strangers, as to citizens, is not as at Paris the result of the odious combination of assassin soldiers and disgusting spies; the traveller is not obliged on entering to declare his name, rank and business to obtain the protection due to all; in short, after having resided for some time in New York, one is forced to admit that its government, like a good genius, makes its benign influence every where felt, without allowing itself to be any where seen.
Europeans for a long time accustomed to submit to one man or several men, who under the name of government, trammel at their pleasure the exercise of the natural rights of other men, their subjects, with difficulty conceive of a nation, in which all individuals without exception may travel in every direction and for the greatest distances, enter all cities and sleep tranquilly in all the inns, without being obliged to carry with them that ridiculous and tyrannical permission of the government written upon a scrap of paper, called a passport. This unbounded liberty of travelling in all directions causes them a surprise which sometimes amounts to incredulity. The following anecdote which is warranted as true, is a pleasant proof of the foregoing assertion.
Proscribed in 1815 by the restoration, General C. had been obliged to quit Paris precipitately, and seek an asylumnear Havre with a friend, whence he hoped to have an opportunity of passing without danger to some land less inimical to him than his country. An opportunity was soon offered; an American ship captain moved by his sad situation, willingly received him on board and conveyed him to the United States. The joy which General C. experienced at being out of the reach of danger, was the sentiment which at first entirely absorbed him; he forgot that he was flying, perhaps forever, his country, family and friends; the vast ocean and the coming thirty days which separated him from New York, gave him a security, which was not disturbed but by the sight of the new land whose hospitality he came to seek. He then remembered with affright, that he had left Paris so precipitately, that he had not brought a paper with him. Without authentic documents, without a passport, what was to become of him. However, he landed and the custom house officer who questioned him politely as to the contents of his portmanteau, caused him a degree of fear he had never before felt, except when his master the Emperor Napoleon looked at him with an air of dissatisfaction; at the end of a few minutes the custom house officer allowed him to proceed without demanding his passport! doubtless it must have been through inadvertancy, by which he resolved to profit. Our general officer much lighter by half, had his baggage speedily conveyed by a porter to one of the hotels in Broadway; there a servant received him and shewed him into a chamber containing four or five beds, on several of which were lying articles which indicated that they had been taken possession of; he inquired with uneasiness if he could not have a private room. There was but one which contained two beds, which was given him, with a promise that no one else should be introduced there. Once alone, he breathed more freely, and thanked his happy star that he had so fortunately passed so many dangers. The next packet from Havre would bring him letters of credit; he could then make himself known and obtain protection. It was then only necessary to avoid being arrested as an adventuring vagabond or suspected person, to pass fifteen days in his retreat, and to this he was resigned. He had already passed three days in hissolitary confinement, when on the morning of the fourth day, his landlord presented himself and with an air of politenesswithout obtrusion, and of interest without curiosity, said “I am not naturally indiscreet sir, nor am I in the habit of troubling my guests with impertinent questions, but I fear that the severe seclusion to which you appear to have condemned yourself since you have been in my house is provoked by chagrin or by some unfortunate embarrassment, and I come to offer you without ceremony my services, which I wish you to accept in the same manner.” The simple and cordial manner in which this was said, encouraged our poor hermit. “You appear to be a good man,” said he to his host, “and I will confide in you; my situation is unfortunate, as you shall judge.” Then casting an uneasy glance around the chamber and lowering his voice, continued, “I am a French officer, forced in consequence of the great events which you know to have happened, to quit my country, and to seek a refuge from proscription. The Americans and their government are hospitable I know, but here, as well as every where else, the police which watches over the safety of the citizens, demand without doubt that strangers shall make themselves known, and how can I do it, as I have not even a passport? How can I then obtain permission to reside in this city, or to go to another? You offer your assistance; be then my security to the police, that I may reside in and move about without interruption, and my gratitude shall be unbounded.” From this disclosure and the agitation which accompanied it, the American thought the French officer must be mad, and he would have remained in this belief, if the other had not explained to him the indispensable importance and necessity of a passport to a traveller in Europe. He then hastened to quiet his fears by saying, “that the authority which governs us emanates from ourselves, and we have not been so senseless as to give it the absurd power of paralyzing our most natural faculties, as those of going in any direction, or as far as we please. Foreigners landing on our soil are allowed to enjoy all their faculties, which do not interfere with the rights of other men. Go then wherever you wish, from Labrador to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Huron, or remain an inhabitant of New York, and I guarantee you the most perfect security, the most absolute liberty.” The general could scarcely believe the assertion, but experience soon convinced him, and in his first excursions he was less struck by the beautiesof nature and the aspect of an entirely new country, than by the happiness of not being obliged at the entry of every town, or at every change of horses, to show his passport to a police officer.
The movement of the port of New York is one of the most animated and varied pictures that can be imagined. Scarce a half hour elapses without a ship quitting or arriving at the wharves. The wharves are constantly covered by groups of travellers arriving or departing; the variety of their dresses and languages prove that there are few parts of the globe with which the United States have not intercourse. In the midst of the crowd which is animated by various sentiments of surprise or regret, it is easy to distinguish the Americans by their calm, I might almost say their indifference, on returning to or quitting their natal soil, and their friends which accompany them to, or receive them on the shore. Accustomed from infancy to compare together the vast distances which separate the different points of their country, the American is less affected at the moment of sailing from New York to China, than a citizen of Paris would be in going to view the sea at Dieppe. We may perceive the facility with which Americans travel abroad, by glancing at the tables of the number of passengers landed at the different ports of the union: we shall find that the citizens of the United States form a prodigious proportion, in the ratio of their population.
The following table which contains the number of passengers landed at the single port of New York from March 1st 1818, to the 11th of December, 1819, will enable one to judge approximatively of the proportion of passengers which each nation furnishes to the travellers of the United States.