LETTERI.
Arrival on the Coast of America.—Trees the first Object visible.—Description of the Bay and River of Delaware.—Passengers bound for Philadelphia not suffered to land till examined by the Health Officers.—Arrival at Philadelphia.—Poor Appearance of the City from the Water.—Plan of the City.—Wharfs.—Public and private Buildings.—Some Account of the Hospital, and of the Gaol.
MY DEAR SIR, Philadelphia, November, 1795.
OUR passage across the Atlantic was disagreeable in the extreme. The weather for the most part was bad, and calms and heavy adverse gales so frequently retarded our progress to the westward, that it was not until the fifty-ninth day from that on which we left Ireland, that we discovered the American coast. I shall not attempt to describe the joy which the sight of land, a sightthat at once relieved the eye from the uninteresting and wearisome view of sky and water, and that afforded to each individual a speedy prospect of delivery from the narrow confines of a small trading vessel, diffused amongst the passengers. You, who have yourself made a long voyage, can best imagine what it must have been.
The first objects which meet the eye on approaching the American coast, south of New York, are the tops of trees, with which the shore is thickly covered to the very edge of the water. These, at a distance, have the appearance of small islands; but as you draw nearer they are seen to unite; and the tall forest rising gradually out of the ocean, at last presents itself in all its majesty to your view. The land which we made was situated very near to the bay of Delaware, and before noon we passed between the capes Henlopen and May, which guard the entrance of the bay. The capes are only eighteen miles apart, but within them the bay expands to the breadth of thirty miles. It afterwards becomes gradually narrower, until it is lost in the river of the same name, at Bombay Hook, seven leagues distant from the Atlantic. The river Delaware, at this place, is about six miles wide; at Reedy Island, twenty miles higher up, it is three miles wide; and at Philadelphia,one hundred and twenty miles from the sea, one mile wide.
SHORES OF THE DELAWARE.
The shores of the bay and of the river Delaware, for a very considerable distance upwards, are low; and they are covered, like the coast, with one vast forest, excepting merely in a few places, where extensive marshes intervene. Nothing, however, could be more pleasing than the views with which we were entertained as we sailed up to Philadelphia. The trees had not yet quite lost their foliage, and the rich red and yellow tints which autumn had suffused over the leaves of the oaks and poplars appeared beautifully blended with the sombre green of the lofty pines; whilst the river, winding slowly and smoothly along under the banks, reflected in its glassy surface the varied colours of the objects on shore, as well as the images of multitudes of vessels of various sizes, which, as far as the eye could reach, were seen gliding silently along with the tide. As you approach towards Philadelphia, the banks of the river become more elevated; and on the left hand side, where they are much cleared, they are interspersed with numberless neat farm houses, with villages and towns; and are in some parts cultivated down to the very edge of the water. The New Jersey shore, on the righthand side, remains thickly wooded, even as far as the city.
Vessels very commonly ascend to Philadelphia, when the wind is favourable, in twenty-four hours; but unfortunately, as our ship entered the river, the wind died away, and she had to depend solely upon the tide, which flows at the rate of about three miles only in the hour. Finding that the passage up to the city was likely therefore to become tedious, I would fain have gone on shore far below it; but this the captain would not permit me to do. By the laws of Pennsylvania, enacted in consequence of the dreadful pestilence which raged in the capital in the year 1793, the master of any vessel bound for that port is made subject to a very heavy fine, if he suffers any person from on board her, whether mariner or passenger, to go on shore in any part of the state, before his vessel is examined by the health officer: and any person that goes on shore, contrary to the will of the master of the vessel, is liable to be imprisoned for a considerable length of time. In case the existence of this law should not be known on board a vessel bound for a port in Pennsylvania, it is the business of the pilot to furnish the matter and the passengers on board with copies of it, with which he always comes provided. Thehealth officer, who is a regular bred physician, resides at Mifflin Fort, four miles below the city, where there is a small garrison kept. A boat is always sent on shore for him from the ship. After having been tossed about on the ocean for nine weeks nearly, nothing could be more tantalizing than to be kept thus close to the shore without being permitted to land.
PHILADELPHIA.
Philadelphia, as you approach by the river, is not seen farther off than three miles, a point of land covered with trees concealing it from the view. On weathering this point it suddenly opens upon you, and at that distance it looks extremely well; but on a nearer approach, the city makes a poor appearance, as nothing is visible from the water but confused heaps of wooden storehouses, crowded upon each other, the chief of which are built upon platforms of artificial ground, and wharfs which project a considerable way into the river. The wharfs are of a rectangular form, and built of wood; they jut out in every direction, and are well adapted for the accommodation of shipping, the largest merchant vessels being able to lie close alongside them. Behind these wharfs, and parallel to the river, runs Water-street. This is the first street which you usually enter after landing, and it does not serve to give a stranger a very favourable opinion either of the neatness or commodiousness ofthe public ways of Philadelphia. It is no more than thirty feet wide; and immediately behind the houses, which stand on the side farthest from the water, a high bank, supposed to be the old bank of the river, rises, which renders the air very confined. Added to this, such stenches at times prevail in it, owing in part to the quantity of filth and dirt that is suffered to remain on the pavement, and in part to what is deposited in waste houses, of which there are several in the street, that it is really dreadful to pass through it. It was here that the malignant yellow fever broke out in the year 1793, which made such terrible ravages; and in the summer season, in general, the street is found extremely unhealthy. That the inhabitants, after suffering so much from the sickness that originated in it, should remain thus inattentive to the cleanliness of Water-street is truly surprising; more especially so, when it is considered, that the streets in the other parts of the town are as much distinguished for the neatness that prevails throughout them, as this one is for its dirty condition.
PHILADELPHIA.
On the level plot of ground on the top of the bank which rises behind Water-street, the city of Philadelphia was originally laid out, and it was intended by the founder that no houses should have been erected at the bottomof it; however, as there was no positive law to this effect, the convenience of the situation soon tempted numbers to build there, and they are now encroaching, annually, on the river, by throwing wharfs farther out into the stream. In another respect also the original plan of the city was not adhered to. The ground allotted for it was in the form of an oblong square, two miles in length, reaching from the river Schuylkill to the Delaware, and one mile in breadth. Pursuant to this scheme, the houses were begun on the Delaware side; but instead of having been carried on towards the Schuylkill, the current of building has kept entirely on one side. The houses extend for two miles nearly along the Delaware, but, on an average, not more than half a mile towards the Schuylkill: this is to be attributed to the great superiority of the one river over the other. All the houses built beyond the boundary line of the oblong square are said to be in the “Liberties,” as the jurisdiction of the corporation does not extend to that part of the town. Here the streets are very irregularly built, but in the city they all intersect each other at right angles, according to the original plan. The principal street is one hundred feet wide; the others vary from eighty to fifty. They are all tolerably well paved with pebble stones in the middle; andon each side, for the convenience of passengers, there is a footway paved with red brick.
The houses within the limits of the city are for the most part built of brick; a few, and a few only, are of wood.
In the old parts of the town they are in general small, heavy, and inconvenient; but amongst those which have been lately erected, many are to be found that are light, airy, and commodious. In the whole city, however, there are only two or three houses that particularly attract the attention, on account of their size and architecture, and but little beauty is observable in the designs of any of these. The most spacious and the most remarkable one amongst them stands in Chesnut-street, but it is not yet quite finished. At present it appears a huge mass of red brick and pale blue marble, which bids defiance to simplicity and elegance. This superb mansion, according to report, has already cost upwards of fifty thousand guineas, and stands as a monument of the increasing luxury of the city of Philadelphia.
As for the public buildings, they are all heavy tasteless piles of red brick, ornamented with the same sort of blue marble as that already mentioned, and which but ill accord together, unless indeed we except the new Bank of the United States, and the presbyterianchurch in High-street. The latter building is ornamented with a handsome portico in front, supported by six pillars in the Corinthian order; but it is seen to great disadvantage on account of the market house, which occupies the center of the street before it. The buildings next to these, that are most deserving of notice, are the State House, the President’s House, the Hospital, the Bettering House, and the Gaol.
PHILADELPHIA.
The State House is situated in Chesnut-street; and, considering that no more than fifty-three years elapsed from the time the first cabin was built on the spot marked out for the city, until it was erected, the architecture calls forth both our surprise and admiration. The State House is appropriated to the use of the legislative bodies of the state. Attached to this edifice are the congress and the city-halls. In the former, the congress of the United States meets to transact business. The room allotted to the representatives of the lower house is about sixty feet in length, and fitted up in the plainest manner. At one end of it is a gallery, open to every person that chuses to enter it; the stair-case leading to which runs directly from the public street. The senate chamber is in the story above this, and it is furnished and fitted up in a much superior style to that of thelower house. In the city hall the courts of justice are held, the supreme court of the United States, as well as that of the state of Pennsylvania, and those of the city.
The president’s house, as it is called, was erected for the residence of the president, before the removal of the seat of the federal government from Philadelphia was agitated. The original plan of this building was drawn by a private gentleman, resident in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and was possessed, it is said, of no small share of merit; but the committee of citizens, that was appointed to take the plan into consideration, and to direct the building, conceiving that it could be improved upon, reversed the positions of the upper and lower stories, placing the latter at top, so that the pilasters, with which it is ornamented, appear suspended in the air. The committee also contrived, that the windows of the principal apartments, instead of opening into a spacious area in front of the house, as was designed at first, should face towards the confined back yards of the adjoining houses. This building is not yet finished, and as the removal of the seat of government to the federal city of Washington is so shortly to take place, it is most probable that it will never be occupied by the president. To what purpose it will be now applied is yet undetermined.Some imagine, that it will be converted into a city hotel; others, that it will be destined for the residence of the governor of the state. For the latter purpose, it would be unfit in the extreme, the salary of the governor being so inconsiderable, that it would not enable him to keep up an establishment suitable to a dwelling of one-fourth part the size of it.
PHILADELPHIA.
The hospital, for its airiness, for its convenient accommodation for the sick and infirm, and for the neatness exhibited throughout every part of it, cannot be surpassed by any institution of the kind in the world. The plan of the building is in the form of the letter H. At present but one wing and a part of the center are finished; but the rest of the building is in a state of forwardness. It is two stories high, and underneath the whole are cells for lunatics. Persons labouring under any disorder of body or mind are received into this hospital, excepting such as have diseases that are contagious, and of a malignant nature; such patients, however, have the advice of the attending physicians gratis, and are supplied with medicine from the hospital dispensary.
The productive stock of this hospital, in the year 1793, was estimated £.17,065 currency; besides which there are estates belonging to itthat as yet produce nothing. The same year, the legislature granted £.10,000 for enlarging the building, and adding thereto a Lying-in and Foundling hospital. The annual private donations are very considerable. Those that contribute a certain sum have the power of electing the directors, who are twelve in number, and chosen yearly. The directors appoint six of the most skilful surgeons and physicians in the city to attend; there is also a surgeon and apothecary resident in the home. From the year 1756, when it was built, to the year 1793 inclusive, nearly 9,000 patients were admitted into this hospital, upwards of 6,000 of whom were relieved or cured. The hospital stands within the limits of the city, but it is more than a quarter of a mile removed from any of the other buildings. There are spacious walks within the inclosure for such of the patients as are in a state of convalescence.
The Bettering House, which is under the care of the overseers of the poor, stands in the same neighbourhood, somewhat farther removed from the houses of the city. It is a spacious building of brick, with extensive walks and gardens. The poor of the city and neighbourhood are here furnished with employment, and comfortably lodged and dieted. During the severity of the winter season, manyaged and reduced persons seek refuge in this place, and leave it again on the return of spring. Whilst they stay there, they are under very little restraint, and go in and out when they please; they must, however, behave orderly. This institution is supported by a tax on the town.
PHILADELPHIA.
The gaol is a spacious building of common stone, one hundred feet in front. It is fitted up with solitary cells, on the new plan, and the apartments are all arched, to prevent the communication of fire. Behind the building are extensive yards, which are secured by lofty walls. This gaol is better regulated, perhaps, than any other on the face of the globe. By the new penal laws of Pennsylvania, lately enacted, no crime is punishable with death, excepting murder of the first degree, by which is meant, murder that is perpetrated by wilful premeditated intention, or in attempts to commit rape, robbery, or the like. Every other offence, according to its enormity, is punished by solitary imprisonment of a determined duration. Objections may be made to this mode of punishment, as not being sufficiently severe on the individual to atone for an atrocious crime; nor capable, because not inflicted in public, of deterring evil-minded persons in the community from the commission of offences which incur the rigour of the law; but on aclose examination, it will be found to be very severe; and as far as an opinion can be formed from the trial that has been hitherto made by the state of Pennsylvania, it seems better calculated to restrain the excesses of the people than any other. If any public punishment could strike terror into the lawless part of the multitude, it is as likely that the infliction of death would do it as any whatsoever: but death is divested of many of his terrors, after being often presented to our view; so that we find in countries, for instance in England, where it occurs often as punishment, the salutary effects that might be expected from it are in a great measure lost. The unfortunate wretch, who is doomed to forfeit his life in expiation of the crimes he has committed, in numberless instances, looks forward with apparent unconcern to the moment in which he is to be launched into eternity; his companions around him only condole with him, because his career of iniquity has so suddenly been impeded by the course of justice: or, if he is not too much hardened in the paths of vice, but falls a prey to remorse, and sees all the horrors of his impending fate, they endeavour to rally his broken spirits by the consoling remembrance, that the pangs he has to endure are but the pangs of a moment, which they illustrate by the speedy exit of one whosedeath he was perhaps himself witness to but a few weeks before. A month does not pass over in England without repeated executions; and there is scarcely a vagabond to be met with in the country, who has seen a fellow creature suspended from the gallows. We all know what little good effect such spectacles produce. But immured in darkness and solitude, the prisoner suffers pangs worse than death a hundred times in the day: he is left to his own bitter reflections; there is no one thing to divert his attention, and he endeavours in vain to escape from the horrors which continually haunt his imagination. In such a situation the most hardened offender is soon reduced to a state of repentance.
PHILADELPHIA.
But punishment by imprisonment, according to the laws of Pennsylvania, is imposed, not only as an expiation of past offences, and an example to the guilty part of society, but for another purpose, regarded by few penal codes in the world, the reform of the criminal. The regulations of the gaol, are calculated to promote this effect as soon as possible, so that the building, indeed, deserves the name of a penitentiary house more than that of a gaol. As soon as a criminal is committed to the prison he is made to wash; his hair is shorn, and if not decently clothed, he is furnished with clean apparel; then he is thrown into a solitarycell, about nine feet long and four wide, where he remains debarred from the sight of every living being excepting his gaoler, whose duty it is to attend to the bare necessities of his nature, but who is forbidden, on any account, to speak to him without there is absolute occasion. If a prisoner is at all refractory, or if the offence for which he is imprisoned is of a very atrocious nature, he is then confined in a cell secluded even from the light of heaven. This is the worst that can be inflicted upon him.
PHILADELPHIA.
The gaol is inspected twice every week by twelve persons appointed for that purpose, who are chosen annually from amongst the citizens of Philadelphia. Nor is it a difficult matter to procure these men, who readily and voluntarily take it upon them to go through the troublesome functions of the office without any fee or emolument whatever. They divide themselves into committees; each of these takes it in turn, for a stated period, to visit every part of the prison; and a report is made to the inspectors at large, who meet together at times regularly appointed. From the report of the committee an opinion is formed by the inspectors, who, with the consent of the judges, regulate the treatment of each individual prisoner during his confinement. This is varied according to his crime,and according to his subsequent repentance. Solitary confinement in a dark cell is looked upon as the severest usage; next, solitary confinement in a cell with the admission of light; next, confinement in a cell where the prisoner is allowed to do some sort of work; lastly, labour in company with others. The prisoners are obliged to bathe twice every week, proper conveniencies for that purpose being provided within the walls of the prison, and also to change their linen, with which they are regularly provided. Those in solitary confinement are kept upon bread and water; but those who labour are allowed broth, porridge, puddings, and the like: meat is dispensed only in small quantities, twice in the week. Their drink is water; on no pretence is any other beverage suffered to be brought into the prison. This diet is found, by experience, to afford the prisoners strength sufficient to perform the labour that is imposed upon them; whereas a more generous one would only serve to render their minds less humble and submissive. Those who labour, are employed in the particular trade to which they have been accustomed, provided it can be carried on in the prison; if not acquainted with any, something is soon found that they can do. One room is set apart for shoemakers, another for taylors, a third for carpenters,and so on; and in the yards are stone-cutters, smiths, nailers, &c. &c.
PHILADELPHIA.
Excepting the cells, which are at a remote part of the building, the prison has the appearance of a large manufactory. Good order and decency prevail throughout, and the eye of a spectator is never assailed by the sight of such ghastly and squalid figures as are continually to be met with in our prisons; so far, also, is a visitor from being insulted, that he is scarcely noticed as he passes through the different wards. The prisoners are forbidden to speak to each other without there is necessity; they are also forbidden to laugh, or to sing, or to make the smallest disturbance. An overseer attends continually to see that every one performs his work diligently; and in case of the smallest resistance to any of the regulations, the offender is immediately cast into a solitary cell, to subsist on bread and water till he returns to a proper sense of his behaviour; but the dread all those have of this treatment, who have once experienced it, is such, that it is seldom found necessary to repeat it. The women are kept totally apart from the men, and are employed in a manner suitable to their sex. The labourers all eat together in one large apartment; and regularly, every Sunday, there is divine service, at which all attend. It is the duty of the chaplain to converse at timeswith the prisoners, and endeavour to reform their minds and principles. The inspectors, when they visit the prison, also do the same; so that when a prisoner is liberated, he goes out, as it were, a new man; he has been habituated to employment, and has received good instructions. The greatest care is also taken to find him employment the moment he quits the place of his confinement. According to the regulations, no person is allowed to visit the prison without permission of the inspectors. The greatest care is also taken to preserve the health of the prisoners, and for those who are sick there are proper apartments and good advice provided. The longest period of confinement is for a rape, which is not to be less than ten years, but not to exceed twenty-one. For high treason, the length of confinement is not to be less than six nor more than twelve years. There are prisons in every county throughout Pennsylvania, but none as yet are established on the same plan as that which has been described. Criminals are frequently sent from other parts of the state to receive punishment in the prison of Philadelphia.
So well is this gaol conducted, that instead of being an expense, it now annually produces a considerable revenue to the state.