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THE 
 
 FAME AND GLORY OF ENGLAND 
 VINDICATED, 
 
 BEING AN ANSWER TO 
 
 THE GLORY AND SHAME OF ENGLAND." 
 
 ^r 
 
 AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM. 
 
 BY LIBERTAS. 
 
 Some books are lies frae end to end, 
 And some great lies \vere never penn'd — 
 Even ministers t)iey hae been kenn'd 
 
 In holy rapture 
 A rousing wliid at times to tell, 
 
 And nail't wi' Scripture.— J5u?"«a 
 
 NEW YORK & LONDON 
 WILEY AND PUTNAM. 
 
 1842. 
 
'Assd^ 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 FagEo 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Our author's arrival in England, . . .10 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 London, and its Distress, ...... 2f> 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 Poor Laws of Britain, 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Factory System of Britain,. . . . „ 5(? 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 British Corn Laws, ....... 77 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 Taxation on the Working Classes in England and 
 the -United States, . . ^ . . . , 89 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 British and American Commercial Systems, . - 10-5 
 
 CHAPTER VHL 
 
 Vice in England and the United States, . . . 148 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Education in Britain and United States. ,158 
 
IV. CONTENTS. ' 
 
 CHAPTER X. 5 
 
 Church and State, . 170 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 1 
 
 Lord Byron, . . . . . . .190 
 
 CHAPTER XII. I 
 
 The East Indies, China, and Slavery, . . .198 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 N OF England a 
 States^ 247 
 
 General Comparison of England and the United , 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Our attention was first attracted to Mr. Lester's work, 
 entitled " the Glory and Shame of England," by the ex- 
 traordinary nature of that title. After a careful perusal 
 of the work itself, our surprise was entirely removed. 
 We have no doubt the author was seriously puzzled about 
 the name under which his offspring should be ushered 
 into the world. 
 
 The work consists of extracts from English publica- 
 tions, speeches of eminent individuals, alleged conversa- 
 tions with distinguished English authors, fabricated adven- 
 tures, information and anecdotes long since given to the 
 world, with misrepresentation and hatred of England, trans- 
 parent in every page. He might have thrown twenty 
 titles into a ballot box, and whichever he drew out, would 
 have been just as suitable as that he has adopted. 
 
 Mr. Lester passed a few weeks in England, in 1840 ; 
 
 and has ventured, on the faith of that visit, to palm on the 
 
 world a tissue of the most impudent fabrications, that 
 
 were ever published— relating as adventures which he 
 
 2 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. j 
 
 1 
 
 had in that country, circumstances which could not have ^ 
 occurred, and pillaging from other publications in a man- 
 ner entirely his own. =! 
 
 It has been too common to make extracts from other ''i 
 works, without acknowledgment, but the author of " the ' 
 Glory and Shame of England" has not been contented | 
 with the old mode of appropriation, but has introduced a i 
 new and improved system. He first creates certain per- i 
 sonages, with whom he becomes acquainted, invests them ' 
 with extraordinary memories, and makes them repeat to 
 him, almost word for word, long passages from books al- 
 ready published. These passages are given as entirely ' 
 new matter, and they form a considerable part of the book 
 reviewed in the following pages. In order that this sys- ; 
 tern may be rendered acceptable to his readers, the author ' 
 never ceases to pour out the most gross abuse upon Eng- I 
 land and her institutions, and to laud the freedom, and 
 proclaim the perfect happiness of the people of the United ■ 
 States. ; 
 
 The author has paid a poor compliment to his country- ' 
 men, in supposing that such a work would be acceptable ; 
 to them — every well educated and liberal minded Amer- 
 ican, especially those who have visited England, must i 
 turn from his pages with disgust. But he has evidently ., 
 addressed his work to that large class of the commu- ; 
 nity, who know little of Britain, excepting from the j 
 public press, which is too much under the influence 
 of those, w^ho appear to think that they can best forward ; 
 the interests of that party spirit, which covers the Union j 
 like a leprosy, by their unbounded abuse and misrepre- , 
 sentation of their Father-Land. J 
 
INTRODUCTION. "^i 
 
 That he has not erred in his calculation, appears from 
 the favor with which his work has been received, and 
 the complimentary notices it has obtained, both from lit- 
 erary and religious publications. But there have been 
 honorable exceptions to this rule, and it is evident, that 
 the time has passed away, when works of unmeasured 
 calumny and misstatement can be received with universal 
 favor in this country. How much it is to be desired, 
 that all who publish their observations on foreign coun- 
 tries, would take the calm and philosophic Combe for 
 their guide, in the tone and temper of their rem.arks. 
 
 If we have not copied that model, in dealing with the 
 .'.'ork in question, the blame must rest with him, who has 
 made an attack on England, in which truth and decorum 
 are entirely set aside. 
 
 Our first object was to expose the mode in which Mr. 
 Lester's book had been got up, and the numerous mis- 
 statements, and unwarrantable inferences it contains re- 
 specting England, and her institutions. But in the course 
 of our examination, we have been led into the discus- 
 sion of a variety of important subjects, which are pro- 
 minently brought forward, or alluded to in that work. 
 We have not confined our remarks on the English Corn 
 Laws, Poor Laws, British and American Tariffs, Taxation, 
 Education, Church and State, Slavery, and other interest- 
 ing questions, to a mere answer to the loose and calumni- 
 ous statements of that work, but endeavored to give such 
 views of these questions, as we trust, may be read with 
 interest by those who have not seen Mr. Lester's book. 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In reversing the low position, on which he has placed \ 
 Britain and her institutions, and the high elevation he has i 
 assigned to the United States, we conceive that we have ! 
 done no more than justice requires, and which, we feel as- | 
 sured, impartial history will award to the two countries, ; 
 when the transactions of the present generation shall be j 
 placed on record. ,i 
 
 The important statistical information in the following j 
 work, has been drawn from the most authentic sources, i 
 and much care has been bestowed to make no deductions 
 from the facts contained in them, but such as are con- ^ 
 sistent with the most strict limits of truth, or probability, j 
 We hope that there will be found in that part of the work, ; 
 much to arrest the attention, and excite the interest of | 
 the Merchant and Politician. j 
 
 The author will think his time well bestowed, if he j 
 shall succeed in showing the impossibility of such works as 
 •' the Glory and Shame of England" being published with- ■ 
 out risk of detection and exposure, or in throwing any ad- •; 
 ditional light on those questions which are now agitating -i 
 the public on both sides of the Atlantic. j 
 
 LiBERTAS. I 
 
 March, 184 2 i 
 
THE 
 
 FAME AND GLORY OF ENGLAND 
 VINDICATED. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 The first volume of Mr. Lester's work consists of 
 eight Letters ; five of them dated from London, one 
 from Chelmsford, one from Liverpool, all addressed to 
 anonymous Correspondents, and one from Manchester, 
 addressed to Rev. Dr. Channing. 
 
 The second volume contains seven Letters. The 
 first is from London, dated July, 1840, addressed to 
 Washington Irving, Esq. ; the second from Utica,Sept. 
 1841, to Hon. J. C. Calhoun ; the third anonymous 
 address and without date; the fourth to Fitz Green 
 Halleck, Esq., dated July, 1840 ; the fifth is dated Lon- 
 don, 1840, to Esq., New York ; the sixth 
 
 to Hon. John Quincy Adams, dated London, 1840 ; and 
 the seventh from Utica, addressed to Hon. John C. 
 Spencer, without date. It will be observed, that there 
 is here no continuity of dates, and that the order of the 
 letters is as loose and wandering, as the matter they con- 
 tain. We cannot therefore take up the examination of 
 2* 
 
10 author's arrival in ENGLAND. 
 
 them in direct course^ as the same topics are frequently 
 to be found in all the letters. We begin with 
 
 OUR AUTHOR'S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 
 
 Mr. Lester, from his own account, reaches England 
 in May, 1840. It is said he was one of the deputation 
 from the United States to the World's Convention, held 
 in London, in June, 1840. 
 
 The author informs us that he was present at some 
 of the meetings of that body, and gives some account of 
 their proceedings, but he does not say in what capacity 
 he attended. But however this may be, it is evident, 
 from almost every page of his work, that the object of 
 his journey was to make out a case of gross oppression, 
 by the British Government, and deep degradation, and 
 misery of the people, in order to show to the gaze of 
 an admiring world, the free institutions, and perfect 
 happiness of the people of the United States. American 
 Slavery is seldom introduced, and when it is, our au- 
 thor employs language so guarded and submissive, as 
 might serve as a model for an experienced courtier. 
 
 Fully embued with the most patriotic views, our 
 new Knight of La Mancha sets off in quest of adven- 
 tures, and on his landing at Liverpool, meets with a 
 blind woman, begging — " her only covering a tattered 
 skirt, and a ragged handkerchief thrown over her shoul- 
 ders, and an old straw bonnet tied over her head with 
 a coarse string.'^ Now he might meet with a blind 
 
ADVENTURE IN LIVERrOOL. 11 
 
 beggar woman in Liverpool, in London, in New York, 
 or Philadelphia, but that he met any person so dressed, 
 in Liverpool, cannot be true. 
 
 He had heard " so much about the profession of beg- 
 ging, that he determined to examine the case himself." 
 This was a wise resolution, as nothing can be more 
 improper, than to bestow without examination, money, 
 which may thus be given to the shameless impostor, 
 but which might have been far better bestowed on the 
 quiet and submissive sufferer. But what does our au- 
 thor do ? He has a few minutes' conversation with the 
 person applying for relief. He calls that an examina- 
 tion, and down goes complaint number one, against 
 Britain, and a feeling eulogium on himself, as having 
 the " blessing of one ready to perish" on his head. 
 
 The next adventure is with a very pretty, but pale 
 faced girl, who offers him a companion. Our Rev. au- 
 thor, [we draw from the preface of his work that he is 
 entitled to that address) very naturally asks, whether it 
 is a gentleman, or a lady, when the pretty pale-faced girl 
 replies, with a smile, that it is a companion " more in- 
 telligent than a gentleman, and less troublesome than 
 a lady." Having delivered this speech, \vhich must 
 have struck our author as no unfavorable specimen of 
 the talents of the country he was visiting, she proceeds 
 to offer him a book, called " the Railway Companion." 
 But after all, this speech may have been learnt off the 
 hook, as we shall show is customary with our author's 
 speeches, and those of his friends. Be this as it may, 
 
12 LESTER S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 
 
 the Rev. gentleman was " interested in the girl's ap- 
 pearance," and finds this case number two. " She 
 was in poor health/' and besides was pretty, and pale 
 faced, which must have reminded him of the charac- 
 teristics of domestic beauty. So he goes on to question 
 her, confining his inquiries, as in the former case to the 
 party herself alone. But here he appears to have 
 caught a tartar, for the pale faced girl proceeds to tell 
 him, that she has a brother in America, that she thinks 
 a deal of the 4th of July," " and that there is no such 
 country in the world as America," and that she should 
 think " that her brother liked it better than his own." 
 Our author is not contented with these hints, but asks, 
 " pray how did you know that I was an American ?" 
 and she replies, " well Sir, I can hardly tell you," (no 
 wonder) " but there is something about an American 
 gentleman, that strikes me the first moment I see him." 
 Now this was really too severe of the pale faced girl — 
 we know many American gentlemen, who dislike the 
 unpolite practice of chewing tobacco, (which was no 
 doubt the thing she felt delicacy in mentioning) as 
 much as any gentleman in England, and we rejoice to 
 observe, that the disgusting practice is every day de- 
 clining in America. Our traveller goes on notwith- 
 standing, with his inquiries, and the girl informs him 
 that her mother was ill of " the consumption," a phrase 
 never used but in America. 
 
 He then, on being informed that the girl had resid- 
 ed some time in Bristol, asks " if she had ever heard 
 
THE FALE-FACED GIRL. 13 
 
 Robert Hall preach." Now that celebrated preacher, 
 and excellent man died, in 1831, and supposing the 
 pale faced girl to be fourteen or fifteen, what could a 
 child of five or six tell about Robert Hall's sermons 1 
 But our author, determined she should be a character, 
 makes her reply, that she not only remembers Robert 
 Hall, but that he often used to drink tea at her mo- 
 ther's house, and always had in his pockets " some- 
 thing good for us." 
 
 Our author here commences a course, which he fol- 
 lows up throughout his whole work, of making extracts 
 from published works, and making these extracts to 
 be delivered to him in conversation with people, whom 
 he professes to have met with in England. This we 
 will make apparent as our work advances. In Mr. 
 Hall's biography, page 67, it is stated, that in the 
 early part of his ministry, " he used occasionally to 
 take tea with the poorer members of his congrega- 
 tion when he resided at Cambridge and Leicester; 
 on which occasions he used to take tea and sugar in 
 his pocket, and leave whatever was not used behind 
 him." On this statement doubtless, has this story 
 been founded. Mr. Hall was twice minister at Bris- 
 tol, first, from 1784 to 1790, when the pale faced girl 
 could scarcely have received a visit from him, and 
 second, from 1827 to 1831, when he died. During 
 this last period, his biographer informs us, page 192, 
 " that he was not able to visit the poorer members of 
 his flock, as he used to do, at their own habitations. 
 
14 LESTER S ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND. 
 
 when at Cambridge and Leicester." But the truth of 
 the story was of no consequence, so as it would form a 
 little episode, in the tale of England's distress. 
 
 We might dismiss the pale faced girl here, but there is 
 a statement put into her mouth, by the Rev. author, 
 which we cannot overlook. In page 19, we are informed 
 '* that she and her family would be pretty comfortable, 
 but for their being obliged to pay the surgeon so much for 
 cutting off Charles's arms." This is a little brother, 
 who had been so injured at a factory, as to render 
 it necessary to have his arms cut off. When we read 
 thus far, we began to doubt whether the author had 
 ever been in England ; and if we had not been in pos- 
 session of better evidence than his own, we should 
 certainly have concluded that he had never been there. 
 It is so monstrous to suppose, that if such circumstances 
 had occurred, the proprietors of the factory would not 
 pay all expenses attending so distressing an accident, 
 when it is notorious that this is uniformly done, and 
 that in most cases, permanent relief is given to the un- 
 fortunate sufferers. But if any proprietor could even 
 be found, so forgetful of what was due to justice and 
 humanity, there are abundance of humane surgeons, 
 who would at once interpose their skill gratuitously 
 on such an occasion, and hospitals in every considera- 
 ble town and city, where such cases receive the most 
 prompt and skilful attention, without fee or reward. 
 Every inhabitant of Britian knows this to be the fact, 
 and so must every American traveller, who is at the 
 
THE PALE-FACED GIRL. 15 
 
 pains to examine the institutions of the country. To 
 them we confidently appeal for the correctness of 
 our statement. The ignorant only can be imposed 
 upon, by this bare faced libel on the country, and 
 on the honorable and useful prolfession alluded to. 
 We repeat, that there is not a town in Great Britian, 
 where gratis medical and surgical attendance, as well 
 as gratis medicine, cannot at once be procured. 
 
 The pale faced girl still farther gratifies our author by 
 stating, that " there are thousands in England who have 
 nothing but what they get by begging," and that 
 '^many go naked and hungry." Why, this girl is 
 quite a philosopher. How fortunate our author is in 
 his acquaintances. They seem to know by intuition 
 what will please him. If there are such people as 
 this girl represents, it is their own choice to remain 
 beggars, as the law provides support for all unable to 
 maintain themselves. This the girl admits, but she 
 very properly dislikes the work-house ; — no won- 
 der ; having hobnobbed at tea parties with Robert 
 Hall, her taste must be somewhat elevated. 
 
 We now leave this part of the " Shame of England " 
 to introduce a new character, expressing our unquali- 
 fied conviction that the whole story of the pale-faced 
 girl is a tissue of falsehoods ; the honor of which may 
 be divided between her and the author. 
 
16 
 
 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 We are informed by our author, (page 20,) that af- 
 ter he had received his book, " the girl turned away to 
 seek another customer ; " and that " an accomplished 
 and fine-looking man, of youthful appearance, who 
 had been seated near us, and overheard our conversa- 
 tion, called her back, and gave her a sovereign for one 
 of her books." Now, we can understand how a fine 
 looking man can be at once discerned ; but how an 
 accomplished man can be known, before he opens his 
 mouth, is beyond our comprehension. But, patience ! 
 the discernment of our author is not at fault, although 
 he had determined " to contemplate the society and 
 institutions of England with the eyes of a Republican." 
 (page 47.) He knows a nobleman intuitively ; and 
 vrho does the new comer turn out to be, but an Irish 
 nobleman, a real genuine live nobleman. Commend 
 us to a repubhcan, for at once finding out a man of 
 rank. On his lordship's polite introduction of himself, 
 our author at once accepts the offer of another com- 
 fanion for his journey to London, and expresses " his 
 satisfaction at riding with him, no less as an Irishman 
 than a nobleman." 
 
 Now this, though a very clumsy, was a very com- 
 plimentary speech. We would seriously recommend 
 that Congress, or the State Legislatures, should look 
 after those stray republicans. The few weeks of Mr. 
 
THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 17 
 
 Lester's stay have evidently not injured his principles. 
 But if men of weaker minds are to be allowed to travel 
 in such dangerous places, some gag-law (which they 
 know well how to manage in the United States) should 
 be passed, restraining these men from liberty of speech 
 when they meet with fascinating noblemen. Why 
 should the salutary rule of restraint of speech be mo- 
 nopolized by those who sit in high places, when it 
 might be made so generally useful, and afford, in all 
 places, such a judicious and delightful commentary on 
 ^* the free institutions of the New World V 
 
 But we shall see whether our author maintains the 
 accomplished character of his nobleman in the narra- 
 tive. He begins by saying, " Your Repubhcanism I 
 do respect, after alV After all what 1 Is it possible 
 he had begun already to annoy his lordship in the way 
 so waggishly alluded to, by the pale-faced girl % If 
 such was the case, his lordship's good humor must have 
 soon returned, as he is represented as giving much in- 
 formation about the curiosities and antiquities of the 
 country through which they were now passing, on their 
 way to Birmingham. 
 
 Twelve pages are occupied with a speech of his 
 lordship about gambling in Crockford's, and other 
 houses in London, all of which, we think, we have seen 
 somewhere hefore. Here it is; and we earnestly re- 
 quest the reader's attention to what follows. Our 
 traveller, after having received these twelve pages 
 of a speech, asks permission, on parting with " his 
 3 
 
18 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 noble fellow traveller," (page 46,) " to make the con- 
 versation public, suppressing all the names of parties, 
 when it was necessary;" and informs us that this per- 
 mission " was cheerfully given." Now what shall be 
 thought of the matchless assurance of the man who can 
 pass to the world as recent information, from an Irish 
 nobleman, statements which, in almost every particu- 
 lar, have, years ago, been laid before the American 
 public 1 Yet so it is. 
 
 In Mr. Foster's Cabinet Miscellany, published in 
 New York, in 1837, is a work originally published in 
 London, entitled, the " Great Metropolis," believed to 
 be by Mr. Grant, of that city. The whole of his lord- 
 ship's speech, excepting a few things, which have been 
 most likely taken from some other work, is to be 
 found in the " Metropolis ; " some change being, of 
 course, made in the language, in order to conceal the 
 deception. We give some specimens from both works, 
 which our readers will compare. 
 
 Irish Nobleman. Metropolis. 
 
 In page 25, our author's The Metropolis (page 80,) 
 
 Nobleman says, " There is a says, " Crockford'sis the larg- 
 
 vast number of gaming houses est gaming establishment in 
 
 in London, but the chief of this metropolis, perhaps in 
 
 all is Crockford's ; it is proba- the world. It was built at 
 
 bly the most extensive ga- the enormous expense of 
 
 raiiig establishment in the £60,000, while the furnishing 
 
 world; it is supposed, that of it cost £35,000, making 
 
 the household furniture cost altogether a sum, not much 
 
 £100,000." short of £100,000." 
 
GAMBLING. 
 
 19 
 
 Irish Nobleman. 
 
 The jMobleman, 
 ing of Crockford's 
 merits, p. 26, says, ' 
 dinner, and liberal 
 choice wines, will 
 spire a disposition 
 bling, when it did 
 before." 
 
 in speak- 
 entertain- 
 A superb 
 supply of 
 often in- 
 for gam- 
 not exist 
 
 Page 26— "Crockford's wine 
 cellar, which is the great 
 agent that insures the success 
 of the house, is 300 feet long, 
 and filled with the choicest 
 wines and liquors in the 
 world; it contains 300,000 
 bottles and innumerable 
 casks," 
 
 Paofe 27 
 
 Crockford's 
 
 cook, the celebrated Mon- 
 
 seiur , I forget his name," 
 
 (cunning little Isaac,) " has 
 a salary of one thousand gui- 
 neas." 
 
 Page 27 — In speaking of 
 the gaming at the hazard 
 table. '* Crockford's delicious 
 wines once more sparkle on 
 the table afresh, and the 
 game once more goes on ; an 
 immense stake is laid, exceed- 
 ing the aggregate of all that 
 had gone before; the throw 
 
 'Metropolis. 
 
 The Metropolis says, "A 
 superb supper, with a liberal 
 supply of the choicest wines 
 which London can afford, 
 often inspire a disposition to 
 gamble, when nothing else 
 will." 
 
 Page 83— *'The wines are 
 of the choicest sort;" and 
 again, " the number of bot- 
 tles which I saw shelved be- 
 fore me, independent of in- 
 numerable hogsheads, was 
 300,000. 
 
 Page 83 — " Crockford's 
 cook is the celebrated Mon- 
 sieur Ude. His salary is a 
 thousand guineas per an- 
 num." 
 
 Page 85 — In speaking of 
 the hazard table: "The 
 stakes are unusually high. 
 He loses perhaps a fourth 
 part of his fortune in less than 
 an hour; he tables another 
 fourth — he loses again. He 
 becomes desperate. In the 
 delirium or madness (for that 
 
20 
 
 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 Irish Nobleman. 
 is made — he loses it ! He 
 now feels that unless he can 
 recover himself by one fortu- 
 nate throw, he is a ruined 
 man; and in the random of 
 desperation, he resolves to 
 make or mar his fortune for- 
 ever. ' He stakes his all.' 
 The next cast of the dice 
 makes the young nobleman a 
 beggar." 
 
 Page 29 — Not many years 
 
 ago, Lord , paid down 
 
 on his coming of age, for 
 debts of honor contracted at 
 Crockford's, before he was 
 twenty-one years old, the 
 enormous sum of j£100,000. 
 
 Page 29—" Lord , the 
 
 grandson of an aged and ven- 
 erable Earl, lost £30,000 in 
 one night." 
 
 Page 29— "It is well 
 known that the Marquis of 
 
 H , has at different times, 
 
 won over a million and a half 
 sterling, and spent the greater 
 part of it in dissipation." 
 
 Metropolis. 
 is the proper word) of the 
 moment, he determines on 
 staking his all on one throw. 
 The dice turn up. All is lost. 
 He, who a few hours before 
 was a rich man, is now a beg- 
 gar." 
 
 Page 83 — Some years ago, 
 a noble lord paid down 
 £100,000 on his coming of 
 age, for debts of honor he 
 had contracted at Crock- 
 ford's." 
 
 Page 86 — " It is only three 
 years ago, since a noble lord, 
 the grandson of an aged and 
 noble earl, lost £30,000 in 
 one night." 
 
 Page 86—" It is said that 
 one nobleman, has from first 
 to last, in the course of his 
 life, won upwards of £1,500,- 
 000 ; how it has been spent, 
 for it is understood to have 
 been for the most part spent, 
 is pretty generally known to 
 the public." 
 
GAMBLING. 
 
 21 
 
 Irish Nobleman. 
 
 Page 29—'* If a gentleman 
 whose estate is sufficiently- 
 large, offers to play for a 
 stake of £100,000, at Crock- 
 ford's, he is instantly accept- 
 ed." 
 
 Page 33— Crockford was 
 once a small fishmonger in 
 Temple bar, as ignorant as 
 he was low." 
 
 Page 33— "He purchased 
 a small share in a gambling 
 bank; afterwards he engaged 
 in a large establishment, 
 which cleared in one season, 
 £200,000; loaded dice, and 
 other means of foul play, 
 which were afterwards found 
 in that place by the magis- 
 trates, insured their success." 
 
 Page 33— "He (Crockford) 
 is still an exceedingly illiter- 
 ate fellow, and speaks in the 
 style of a hackney coachman." 
 
 Metropolis. 
 
 Page 87—" Let any noble- 
 man or gentleman whose for- 
 tune is sufficiently larg^, offer 
 to play for a stake of £100,- 
 000, and he is accepted by 
 Crockford in a moment." 
 
 Page 92— In speaking of 
 Crockford : " He was original- 
 ly a small fishmonger, with- 
 out a penny in the world, in the 
 neighborhood of Templebar." 
 
 Page 93—'- Crockford pur- 
 chased for £100, the fourth 
 share of a gambling bank, at 
 No. 5 King street, St. James." 
 
 Page 94 — "In one season, 
 according to the statement of 
 a gentleman who lost to a 
 very considerable amount the 
 proprietors must have divided 
 among them, the sum of 
 £200,000. At this place, 
 loaded dice were found." 
 
 Page 94—^*1 have men- 
 tioned that he (Crockford) is 
 quite an illiterate person, not- 
 withstanding the polished so- 
 ciety into which circumstan- 
 ces have brought him for 
 many years past; he still 
 speaks in the same hackney 
 coachman style as formerly." 
 
22 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 Irish Nobleman. Metropolis. 
 
 Page 34—'' Why it is stat- 
 ed, and probably was true, 
 that the late aid-de-camp of 
 Lord Hutchinson, after hav- 
 ing ruined himself by play, 
 cut his throat in a fit of des- 
 pair. It happened, however, 
 that his life was saved, and 
 after some weeks he recover- 
 ed. The first place he went 
 to, after he was allowed by 
 his surgeon to go out, was the 
 very gaming house where he 
 had lost his money, and form- 
 ed the desperate purpose of 
 destroying himself" 
 
 103— "But perhaps 
 the most extraordinary proof 
 ever furnished, of the diffi- 
 culty, if not impossibility, of 
 curing the propensity, was 
 that afforded by a late aid-de- 
 camp of Lord Hutchinson. 
 This gentleman, after having 
 ruined himself by play, went 
 one day, in the depth of his 
 despair, and cut his throat 
 with a razor. It chanced, 
 however, that the wound, 
 though so dreadful, that no 
 hopes of recovery were for 
 some days entertained, did 
 not prove fatal. Aided by 
 the first surgical skill and 
 care, he recovered. Where 
 does the reader suppose he 
 went to on the first day he 
 was allowed ? to the very 
 gaming house in which he 
 had lost the money, the loss 
 of which had made him 
 form the resolution of destroy- 
 ing himself" 
 
 We could multiply proofs of the identity of the two 
 books on the subject of gambling, but have done 
 enough. In page 33, the Irish nobleman is represent- 
 
TRULY MARVELLOUS. 23 
 
 ed as referring to Mr. Grant for one of his facts, viz. 
 that eight millions sterling are annually lost in the 
 different gambling houses in London. If the author in- 
 tended this as a resource in case of detection, it cannot 
 avail him, as the object is too apparent. The slightest 
 examination of this part of the author's work, will show, 
 that he could not have received the information about 
 gambling, in the way he has stated. He was travelling 
 from Liverpool to London by rail-road, and before 
 reaching the capital, he parted with his Irish friend. 
 Can any man suppose that travelling at the rate of 
 from twenty to thirty miles an hour, he could put 
 so much matter in a shape for publication ? The Irish 
 nobleman's memory in reciting so many facts, with 
 names, sums of money, &c. must be the most extraor- 
 dinary that the world has ever witnessed ; to say noth- 
 ing of the hero of the story himself. We submit to 
 every reader of these pages, that the author of the 
 " Glory and Shame of England" made up this portion 
 of his w^ork, from Foster's Miscellany, published some 
 years ago, and \vi\h a hardihood which has never been 
 exceeded, put the facts in the mouth of an Irish nobleman, 
 a character, that every one must be satisfied never had 
 an existence. 
 
 But it may be said, that from whatever source these 
 statements have been derived, they reflect much on 
 the character of England. We admit that nothing 
 can be more disgraceful and pernicious than gam- 
 bling, being alike dangerous to the welfare of 
 
24 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 those who indulge in the practice, in time and eter- 
 nity. We may however remark, that there is evident- 
 ly much loose and hasty statement, in the work of Mr. 
 Grant. So much is this believed, that the American edi- 
 tor of the Miscellany (page 109) has appended the fol- 
 lowing note at the conclusion of these statements. " It is 
 almost needless to say that these accounts are grossly ex- 
 aggerated, received upon hearsay, by a credulous as well 
 as prejudiced mind, and retailed as facts without exami- 
 nation." An impartial writer in copying from this 
 book would have given the above note also, but that 
 "would have both detracted something from his charge 
 against England, and have discovered the source from 
 which he had derived his information. 
 
 That the practice of gambling is carried on in London, 
 to a great extent, is notorious. That it is greater in pro- 
 portion to its enormous size, and wealth, than in other 
 large cities we do not believe. Government, on whose 
 head all the evils of society are heaped by our author, is 
 in no respect to blame for it. The London magistrates 
 have done every thing in their power to discourage it, 
 and have been most dihgent in detecting, and suppress- 
 ing the " hells," as they are called, where foul play is 
 practised. We fear this is one of those vices, which 
 nothing but the force of conscience, acted on by the 
 reception of genuine religion and morality, will ever fully 
 eradicate. The gambling in Paris, Brussels, Ham- 
 burgh, Vienna, and other large cities on the continent 
 
LOTTERIES. 25 
 
 of Europe, is known to be carried on to an enormous 
 extent ; and if the reverend author would have cast his 
 eyes over the gambling houses of New York, and other 
 large American cities, and above all in New Orleans, 
 he would have found ample grounds for lamentation 
 and reproof. We have little doubt that the last men- 
 tioned city, taking its comparative size and wealth into 
 account, is more addicted to gambling, than any other 
 in the world. 
 
 One branch of gambling, viz : Lotteries, the only 
 one on which Government could exercise any posi- 
 tive prohibition, and which yielded a large public 
 revenue, was many years ago put down by Act 
 of Parliament. This example has been wisely followed 
 by some of the Northern states in the American Union. 
 In others it still flourishes in all its vigor, to the 
 great injury of the morals of the people. Recommend- 
 ing this subject to the consideration of Mr. Lester in 
 his next edition, we return for a short time to his Irish 
 friend. 
 
 In page 36, our author says, " When the cars stopt 
 at Birmingham we were charged at the refreshment 
 rooms for a cold slice of beef, and a single but- 
 tered roll, half a crown {62^ cents,) which reminded 
 me that Englishmen are not always the immaculate 
 creatures as some would have us suppose.^^ What a 
 non sequiter ! " There must have been between 250 
 and 300 persons in the hall — Lord — " (i. e. the Irish 
 
26 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN ELOQUENT. 
 
 nobleman,) " requested the company^ to listen for one 
 moment. — ^^ Gentlemen, said be, I find tbat we are most 
 rudely insulted at tbis bouse, in being called upon to 
 pay half a crown for a cold slice, and a roll. For one 
 I will not do it ; not because I am unwilling to pay 
 any reasonable charge, but because it is both unjust and 
 abusive. Besides, I do not wish my companion, who 
 is an American, nor any other stranger who may be 
 present, to suppose, that we do not know when we 
 are well treated, or will submit to an insult like this^ 
 from our own countrymen. I propose that we pay the 
 usual charge for such an entertainment, and leave our 
 good will for the house, or else pay the bill this fellow 
 presents, and let the house suffer the consequences. 
 Injustice is never to be borne by free Englishmen." 
 
 Now we ask, if such an amount of vulgar nonsense 
 could have been uttered by an accomplished JYobleman, 
 That any person of rank would have come forward on 
 such an occasion, is not likely ; that any educated man 
 could have spoken in such magniloquent terms ; calling 
 an overcharge, an insult, is preposterous. But the finale, 
 on such an occasion, about " free Englishmen," would 
 be too bombastical even for a set of New York firemen, 
 swearing by the blood of their Revolutionary fathers, 
 that they should have the election of their own fore- 
 man, or that No. 30 should have the glorious liberty 
 of mauling No. 40, ad libitum. 
 
CHARGES AT HOTELS. 27 
 
 Before parting with his distinguished companion, our 
 author has a chapter on charges for servants at Hotels. 
 It is customary, in setthng the bills, to allow a small sum 
 for Waiter, Chambermaid, and Boots, which, those who 
 are accustomed to travel in Britian do, by adding the 
 allowance to their bill, and paying the whole at once, 
 without any separate transaction w^ith the servants. 
 Strangers unacquainted with this custom, find it occa- 
 sions them some annoyance from the servants, by appli- 
 cations for the usual allowance, when they are leav- 
 ing the house. We think the custom a bad one, and 
 prefer the practice of all charges being at once includ- 
 ed, and are pleased to learn that it is likely to be dis- 
 continued, many houses having already adopted the 
 latter principle, which will, no doubt, soon become 
 general. Our author as usual, destroys his case by 
 overstatement. He represents the chambermaids, as 
 charging for chambers " you never enter, nor never 
 will." This is a mere fabrication, no such charge being 
 made, as every American who has visited Britain, must 
 know. He adds, " you submit to these ancient, (and of 
 course, venerable) customs of England, as you do to the 
 everlasting drizzling of its cKmate," &c. Now this is 
 a very improper remark from a clergyman. If the 
 sky and climate of England are not so clear as in the 
 Western Hemisphere, it has other natural advantages 
 bestowed on it by the Heavenly Author of our world, 
 which counterbalance any drawbacks ; the best proof 
 of which is, that the average duration of human life is 
 
28 THE IRISH NOBLEMAN. 
 
 much greater in England than in America. We have 
 often heard it alleged, that some Americans think they 
 had something to do in making their own sky and 
 climate. Is it possible that the reverend author is a 
 heretic of that school ? 
 
CHAPTER IL 
 
 LONDON, AND ITS DISTRESS. 
 
 Our hero at last reaches London. On his passage 
 from the " Railway station at Easton Square" he says, 
 (page 14) " to avoid the throng, we passed through 
 different bye streets, where not a lamp was to be seen, 
 nor a voice heard, save the noise of low debauchery, 
 coming up from some foul and dismal cellar." How 
 can this statement be consistent with truth ? our author 
 from his own account, was quietly seated in his " gloo- 
 my apartment in the Guildhall tavern," and had begun 
 his first letter, from London, before twelve o'clock, and 
 it is notorious that no lamps are extinguished in Lon- 
 don, or any other large city in Britain, till two or three 
 o'clock in the morning. 
 
 Again, what quick ears must the Rev. author have, 
 if he could know what was taking place, even in the 
 bye streets of London, as he passed rapidly through 
 in a cab or hackney coach. 
 
 Our author (page 47) commences his second letter in 
 the following terms : " My first acquaintance in the me- 
 tropolis, I formed under peculiar circumstances. This 
 morning before breakfast, as I was turning a corner in 
 4 
 
30 LONDON AND ITS DISTRESS. 
 
 the Hall, under rapid motion, I came in contact with a 
 gentleman, who was advancing as fast towards me, and 
 the shock was so violent, that it threw us both upon 
 the floor. Our hats went in one direction, and canes in 
 another, and our persons were displayed at full length 
 upon the carpet, very much to the amusement of the 
 chambermaid, who had the impudence to laugh at our 
 misfortune." Now we think we have long ago read 
 this, perhaps in Humphrey Chnker, or in some book of 
 equal veracity, but we have not the means of quot- 
 ing chapter and verse, as in other cases. Some of our 
 readers will probably remember the original. 
 
 This rencounter produces a successor to the Irish no- 
 bleman, in the person of a Captain Manners, which our 
 author tells us is not the gentleman's real name, as if 
 it was necessary to give us that piece of information. 
 
 This third co7npanion has, of course, " nothing to do" 
 but to show all the lions of London to the Rev. author. 
 He shows him the Thames, the bridges, and many other 
 wonders, and we are informed that the New London 
 Bridge is made of " Scotland granite.''^ 
 
 Our Rev. author makes quick work of the ten thou- 
 sand streets in London, and proceeds (page 56) to his 
 congenial region, viz. " the poverty stricken, and squalid 
 abodes of Spitalfields." — After an examination, of what 
 kind we are not informed, as he does not allege that he 
 entered any house in that quarter, he says, that " he loves 
 the spirit of American democracy better than ever, the 
 interminable woods and prairies, which stretch away to^ 
 
SPITALFIELDS. 31 
 
 wards the shores of the Pacific, offering a home to the 
 poor oppressed, taxed, degraded, lower class of Great 
 Britain." 
 
 These most patriotic remarks are followed up by a 
 speech from companion No. 3, to the following effect : 
 " Half the time," said my companion, "they cannot find 
 employment, and when they can, what do they get for 
 their labor ? Not enough to satisfy the simplest wants 
 of nature." " In England the poor must labor or 
 starve ; and they must let their employers fix the 
 price of their labor." He then informs us, " that he 
 had seen more wretchedness, and pinching poverty, 
 more disgusting and heart-sickening degradation, in 
 one Lane in Spitalfields, than during eighteen months, 
 on a visit to the United States." — " He does not meddle 
 much with politics, but is of opinion that oppres- 
 sion and misrule have produced very much of this suf- 
 fering and vice." 
 
 Now our author and his Cicerone, here make som_e 
 singular statements. First, when the former looked 
 on the wretchedness of Spitalfields, he thought of 
 American democracy and the broad prairies. Now it 
 was natural for him to think of the only country scenes, 
 which he had probably ever seen, except on his run 
 from Liverpool to London. But if he wanted to make 
 country scenery delightful by contrast, he need not have 
 travelled so far, but have gone to the Five Points at 
 New York, or to Orange street, and there he would have 
 found squalid misery enough. But he must away across 
 the Atlantic, to spy out the misery of other lands, not 
 
32 LONDON AND ITS DISTRESS. 
 
 from any benevolent object of suggesting improve- 
 ment, but that his vanity may be gratified by con- 
 trasting it v^rith the country, " which affords a home 
 to the oppressed of Great Britain." 
 
 With regard to No. 3, whom our author conveniently 
 makes out to have been eighteen months in the United 
 States, in order that he may join him in drawing the 
 contrast, it is plain that in many places, both in Eng- 
 land and America, either he or his friend might have 
 lived eighteen years, without seeing any squalid misery. 
 The only difference is, that in Britain they sought 
 out the poverty, and misery. In America, they looked 
 on the surface, because if they had gone a little lower, 
 discoveries might have been made, that Americans 
 '' were not quite the immaculate creatures they would 
 have us beheve." 
 
 One would suppose, on reading many passages in this 
 work, that all the poor of Britain and other European 
 countries, had received support on their arrival in the 
 United States, without giving any equivalent on their 
 part ; when the fact is, that the United States guard, 
 with the greatest jealousy, against the introduction of 
 mere paupers, into the country. She imposes a tax on 
 all emigrants on their arrival, to cover the risk of pau- 
 perism. This is not done in Britain, in similar circum- 
 stances, and we are not aware of any facilities given 
 to foreigners, which are not afforded in all other coun- 
 tries. She has done nothing for them that has not 
 been dictated by interest, or state policy. With a 
 country capable of supporting ten times its present 
 
SILK MANUFACTURE. 33 
 
 number of inhabitants, she has been wise enough not to 
 impose any heavy burdens on foreigners. The conse- 
 quence has been, that her population has increased six 
 fold since the revolution, and how vast is the propor- 
 tion of this increase arising from immigration. 
 
 Her fields have been cultivated, her bridges and houses 
 have been built, her canals and railroads formed, chiefly 
 by foreigners, and to their skill and labor is she chiefly 
 indebted for the progress she has made in manufactures. 
 Her political privileges have been readily and unwisely 
 bestowed on these foreigners, for every day's experi- 
 ence is showing, that these privileges in the hands of 
 multitudes who enjoy them, are alike injurious to the 
 holders themselves, and to the Union at large. 
 
 No. 3 says, the laborer in England must work or starve. 
 In what country, we ask, is labor not required of those 
 who have not the means of support otherwise ? We 
 know none. It is certainly not in the United States. 
 But it is asserted that in Britain the laborers must work 
 at the price their employers choose to give. It is sin- 
 gular that our author should make such a statement, 
 especially in connection with Spitalfields. 
 
 The silk manufacture was originally founded in that 
 district, by Protestant refugees from France, and was an 
 object of the special protection of the British government. 
 
 To prevent the decline of wages, an act of Parlia- 
 ment was passed in 1778, authorizing the magistrates 
 of Middlesex to fix the rate of wages for the weavers, 
 and prohibiting masters and workmen from paying or 
 4* 
 
34 LONDON AND ITS DISTRESS. 
 
 receiving other rates. Under this most pernicious act, 
 the silk trade languished, and m seasons of commercial 
 embarrassment, far more distress was of course expe- 
 rienced by the workmen, than in places where the 
 trade was free. In 1824 this act was repealed, and 
 we believe it is the only instance of such an absurd 
 regulation having existed in Britain, except during the 
 dark ages of her history. 
 
 The silk trade has, smce the abrogation of that law, 
 made rapid progress, and is carried on to great extent, 
 in its old seat, in Manchester, in Macclesfield, and 
 other places in Lancashire. Spilalfields is, hke other 
 manufacturing places, exposed to all the fluctuations 
 arising from foreign and domestic trade. That the 
 operatives are oppressed, either there,|^or in any part of 
 Britain, is utterly untrue. Direct taxes they do not pay 
 at all. The working-man in America pays more taxes 
 than the working-man in Britain, as we shall after- 
 wards show. 
 
 No. 3 takes our author to Westminster Abbey, and 
 gives us a speech of several pages, but so superior to 
 our author's style, that it has most likely been copied 
 from the hook. A long comment then follows on 
 various characters, whose earthly ashes slumber in that 
 interesting place of repose. This is so strangely 
 mixed up by our author with Lexington, Bunker's 
 Hill, Pilgrim Fathers, whipping the Enghsh, ethoc 
 omne genus, that its paternity to a certain extent, can- 
 not be doubted. Another piece of better composition, 
 is interjected from page 83 to 93. 
 
WESTMINSTER GIRL. 35 
 
 On leaving the Abbey, a most moving scene takes 
 place. The Rev. author sees" a very pretty girl" (he 
 never seems at fault on this subject) " watering a York 
 and Lancaster rose." He wishes to have this rose, as a 
 token, but it is the only one. " Will you part with that 
 rose, to a stranger, my dear ?" " Oh I no sir, I have 
 tended it for several months, and cannot think of parting 
 with it, and it's the only flowerl have in the world too." 
 He threw down half a crown. It must have been on 
 the ground, as there could be no tables in the walk— 
 what a generous man ! and done so gracefully too ! 
 It is thrown down, however, and the girl does not 
 throw it at him, as his rudeness deserved, but breaks 
 the stem, and gives him the rose. Our author relents. 
 It was a cruel thing to take a rose from a girl (he 
 says) shut up in brick walls, " where the fresh coun- 
 try air never moves," although this is close upon those 
 magnificent parks, which are the very lungs of London. 
 He turns and otfers back the rose. The girl is in 
 tears. He gives her another crown. She tells him 
 he is generous, and he is kind, and as the best of 
 friends must part at last, he in the end parts with this 
 pretty girl also. 
 
 This repubhcan seems to have a great fancy for 
 crowns, a term rarely used in England in reference to 
 money, shillings being always employed when speak- 
 mg of sums below a pound, although half a crown 
 is occasionally mentioned. The pale-faced girl's book 
 IS a crown. The Birmingham lunch is half a crown. 
 
36 LONDON AND ITS DISTRESS. 
 
 The Westminster girl's rose is half a crown, and a 
 crown, and all the Americans are declared by the Irish 
 nobleman, to be heirs apparent to the crown. We 
 have seldom read a piece of namby pamby nonsense 
 equal to the story of the Westminster girl. 
 
 Our traveller next makes his appearance at page 
 98, when on his way to the World's Convention with 
 "one of the distinguished philanthropists of Great 
 Britain." 
 
 As a matter of course, he meets wdth an adventure, 
 two children about eight years old are begging in a 
 small street near Pater Noster Row. This must be 
 Ave Maria Lane, if there is any truth in the story 
 at all. The gentleman accompanying our author 
 wishes to go on, but Mr. Lester prefers the advent- 
 ure with the children, and here his usual powers of 
 romance display themselves. The children are clothed 
 " in a coarse hempen sack, with holes for the neck 
 and arms." They kneel on the pavement to our hero 
 and his friend, and leave the fresh blood on the stones, 
 when they are desired to get up. 
 
 We have been in London often, and in most of 
 the large cities in Britain, but never did we see such a 
 dress as that described, and we appeal to all who have 
 had the same opportunity of observation, for the cor- 
 rectness of what we say. We believe the slaves in 
 America sometimes are clothed in dresses of coarse 
 canvas or osnaburgh, and the author may have drawn 
 on his imagination, and tranferred the scene of their 
 exhibition, from a slave region, to a free country. 
 
LONDON BEGGARS. 37 
 
 That any person in England would kneel to a fellow 
 creature, and leave the blood behind him, is too absurd 
 to be noticed ; miserable slaves we believe often kneel 
 to their masters, to implore the remission of punish- 
 ment, when masters are about to give them prac- 
 tical illustrations " that all m.en are born free and 
 equal ;" and some recollection of this kind must have 
 floated through the author's brain, when he penned 
 this part of his narrative. 
 
 We have already convicted our author of glaring 
 fabrications. If he wishes to escape having this ad- 
 ded to the number, let him bring forward the philan- 
 thropist, who can have no object in refusing his testi- 
 mony. Our author, in his usual style of examining 
 facts, puts questions to the children. Little must 
 he have been accustomed to give charity, or he 
 would have drawn no conclusion, till the children's 
 story was corroborated by other testimony. 
 
 They offer to sell him a penny book which they had 
 stolen from a stall. They say that *• they 5ee" the book 
 on a stall, a phrase never used in Britain. The lan- 
 guage of such children may be inaccurate enough in 
 many respects, but in speakmg of what is past, the most 
 ignorant never use the present time in any word. It 
 belongs to this side of the water. The children are 
 represented as saying, that they stay all day in the 
 streets, and at night " where the policemen puts us." 
 
 This is pure fabrication. Street begging is strictly 
 prohibited, and on its being detected, the police officers 
 convey the parties to the nearest office of the mendi- 
 
•38 MR. Lester's modesty. 
 
 city society, which gives them temporary relief, till they 
 can forward them to the Parish, which is bound by law 
 to give them support. This is well known to be the 
 practice all over the country. Our author lectures 
 " the philanthropist" in a rude and ostentatious man- 
 ner for his conduct to these children. How much he 
 is unlike the man — 
 
 " Who did good by stealth 
 And blushed to find it fame." 
 
 He contrasts his own conduct, with that of his com- 
 panion, and closes the subject by an affecting allusion 
 to his reward in a better world, which he appears sat- 
 isfied he has secured. Our author gives a long extract 
 from evidence taken by the House of Commons, show- 
 ing the vast extent of frauds practised in begging. 
 
 If Mr. Lester had, in his short visit to England, met 
 with such applications for relief, and if he had been really 
 desirous to serve the parties, he would have given some 
 immediate assistance, and then endeavored to make 
 such an arrangement, in the proper quarter, as would 
 be likely to ensure a permanent change in their habits. 
 The truth is, that of all the classes of poor people, 
 there are none entitled to so little compassion as the 
 common importunate beggars, especially in countries 
 where the law relieves, in all cases of real distress ; 
 and while on this subject, we shall give our next 
 chapter on the Poor Laws of Britain. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 POOR LAWS IN BRITAIN. 
 
 The great objects of compassion, whose cases should 
 ever meet with prompt rehef, are those who from age, 
 or sickness, or other causes, are unable to exercise their 
 wonted industry. These frequently shrink from receiv- 
 ing that relief, from a sense of independence, or the 
 remembrance of brighter days, to which they are both 
 legally and morally entitled. The importunate beg- 
 gar, on the other hand, has no such feelings. If he is 
 relieved in the street, or at the house door, without far- 
 ther inquiry, it is only giving away those means which 
 should have been bestowed on more worthy objects. 
 
 These people do not wish to have parish relief, for 
 their wandering, and predatory habits would then be 
 destroyed ; and it has been frequently ascertained, that 
 the more artful beggars have received six times the 
 amount that would maintain them, which they gener- 
 ally spend in dissipation, and in some cases have been 
 known to hoard up large sums of money, obtained from 
 the mistaken benevolence of their fellow-men. 
 
 The greatest objects of pity are the children of such 
 parents. The only chance of saving them from these 
 habits, which will in all probability effect their ruin, 
 
40 POOR LAWS OF BRITAIN. 
 
 is to take them from their parents, and place them in 
 the Parish Work House, or other public Institution. 
 When orphans are left without means, or friends to take 
 charge of them, this is the course pursued. It is even 
 more necessary with the class we have mentioned, 
 than if they were orphans, as there is no hope of chang- 
 ing their habits, but by withdrawing them from the in- 
 fluence of such bad associations. 
 
 Those who have reflected, and have written much 
 on the subject, have differed materially as to the 
 best mode of relieving the poor. One class, at the 
 head of which is the celebrated Dr. Chalmers, of Scot- 
 land, has contended, that to give fixed parochial relief 
 to the poor is most pernicious, as it tended, by making 
 the working classes look to such assistance, to break 
 down the spirit of frugality, and industry, and to des- 
 troy that independence of mind, which is one of the 
 best features in the peasantry of a country. The Doc- 
 tor contended that all relief should flow either from pri- 
 vate charity, or the benevolence of Christian congre- 
 gations, to their poor members. So far did he carry 
 his favorite theory, that he has said in some of his pub- 
 lications, that he would rather see his native land 
 overrun by hosts of beggars, than have the continuance 
 of regular poor rates, as at present. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the Rev. gentleman 
 was indifferent to such an event. He was merely com- 
 
ANCIENT POOR LAWS OF BRITAIN. 4-1 
 
 paring one admitted evil, with what he viewed as a 
 great evil. No man ever felt, or ever did more for the 
 poor than he did, when he had the charge of a parish. 
 The Doctor's views about the poor have not, however, 
 been so generally adopted, as on other subjects, on 
 which he has published, and it is quite evident, that the 
 public mind in Britain decidedly prefers parochial or 
 public relief, considering it the only practicable means of 
 meeting the evil. 
 
 Much attention has of late years been bestowed, in 
 considering the extent to which that relief should be 
 given. This has differed widely in the great divisions 
 of Britain, viz. England and Scotland. 
 
 The Poor Laws of England were originally established 
 in the reign of Queen Ehzabeth. Previous to that 
 period, the country appears to have been in a state of 
 excessive annoyance, from beggars of every class and 
 description, from the lame, aged, and infirm, who were 
 really objects, to the sturdy vagrant, who preyed on 
 whatever property he could lay hold of, as he passed 
 through the country. The law of Elizabeth provided 
 permanent support for all the poor, aged, sick and in- 
 firm, and for children, who had no means of support 
 otherwise. It is quite evident, that all these classes 
 were proper subjects for parochial relief, but the poor 
 laws did not stop there, but in time, relief was also given 
 to able bodied men, who either could not get work, or 
 alleged that they could not. 
 5 
 
42 POOR LAWS OF BRITAIN. 
 
 Much abuse grew out of this part of the law. The 
 parish paid the unemployed laborers the wages gener- 
 ally received, and frequently hired them out, at a re- 1 
 duced rate of wages, at such work as was to be pro- 
 cured. The effect of this was to reduce the rate of | 
 wages all over the district, and thus to add to the 
 pressure on every class of laborers. 
 
 For a very long period, the administration of the poor | 
 laws in England was on the most liberal scale. Dur- 
 ing the late war, when all expenditure was extrava- ' 
 gant, it was so more particularly. The tables of the j 
 w^ork-houses supplied such fare to the inmates, that it i 
 became, not an object to avoid the work house, but \ 
 rather a desirable place to enter. The natural conse- I 
 quence was, that the springs of industry, and of inde- i 
 pendent feeling, were fearfully relaxed among the 
 working people. The work-houses were crowded with ^ 
 inmates. • The poor rates rose to between seven and \ 
 eight millions sterling, being about one fifth of the in- 
 come of the land of England. ] 
 
 In Scotland a different system prevailed, which had 
 been originally adopted, and persevered in — a system ^ 
 no less consistent with the habitual caution of the 
 Nation, than with their means, which are so much ; 
 below those of their more wealthy brethren in the south. 
 The same classes of individuals unable to work, or in ; 
 infancy, are there entitled to relief as in England. 
 But here they stop. The able bodied, the unemployed, ; 
 have no claim, but are left to the exertions of private j 
 
POOR LAWS OF SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 benevolence. In occasional seasons of great public pri- 
 vations, large voluntary contributions have been made 
 for the relief of the unemployed classes, and sometimes 
 extraordinary assessments have been laid in parti- 
 cular districts, by authority of Parliament. This was 
 done on occasion of the remarkable failure of the crops 
 in 1799 and 1800, on the application of the inhabit- 
 ants of the districts themselves. 
 
 In the administration of relief to the regular parish 
 poor, the utmost frugality has been exercised ; a suffi- 
 cient supply of food and clothing is provided, and a 
 good education for the young is also bestowed in 
 the work-houses, with weekly or monthly pensions to 
 such as live in their own houses, or with their rela- 
 tions. While the North Britons have acted wisely, in 
 not making pauperism a desirable state to fall into, it 
 may be mentioned that, in some places, they have err- 
 ed on the side of too great parsimony. 
 
 We have heard of a humorous story, which occur- 
 red about half a century ago, and which tends to 
 show the different treatment of the poor in the two 
 countries. A Scotch barber, who had long been 
 resident in London, had found it desirable to be ad- 
 mitted into one of the work-houses of that city, where 
 he lived, for some years, in great ease and comfort. 
 It happened, unfortunately for him, that, from some 
 cause or other, it was discovered that he had not lived 
 long enough in any particular parish in London to give 
 him a claim, and that his legal residence was in Scot- 
 
44 POOR LAWS OF BRITAIN. 
 
 land, in a parish not far from the seat of her ancient 
 kings. The work-house of that place was not distin- 
 guished for the goodness of its fare, but Strap was, 
 nevertheless, shipped off by the first Berwick smack for 
 Leith. 
 
 On reaching his new habitation, he proceeded to 
 the kitchen with a rapid pace, and having looked all 
 round, he exclaimed, " Why, where's the jack ? " 
 " We have no jack here," said one of the inmates. 
 
 "How the d — then do you roast your meati" 
 
 " We get neither roasted nor boiled meat here," was 
 the unwelcome reply. The unfortunate barber, who 
 had been used to better things, turned on his heel, ran 
 out of the house, and was never more seen in that 
 quarter of the world. 
 
 It is but justice to the Scotch system to say, that in 
 all the work-houses, butcher-meat now forms part of 
 the diet. 
 
 In 1834, a bill was passed, making material altera- 
 tions in the English poor laws, and it is a measure 
 highly creditable to the Whig ministry, under whose 
 auspices it was carried through. The objects of the 
 bill were — First, to reduce the expense of the poor's 
 system ; and, second, to raise the standard of feeling 
 among those who had been accustomed to receive pa- 
 rochial aid. 
 
 Formerly every parish had its own separate organ- 
 ization, and a local staff of parish officers. In many 
 small parishes, the expense of the staff formed a large 
 
NEW POOR LAWS OF ENGLAND. 45 
 
 proportion of the whole. By the new act the parishes 
 were divided into circles, or groups of considerable ex- 
 tent, by which a great saving in the management took 
 place. All extravagant expenditure was stopt, a suffi- 
 cient supply of wholesome provision being provided, but 
 all luxuries excluded. 
 
 The next object was secured by a gradual reduction 
 of the number of able-bodied men, who professed to be 
 unable to find work. Under the former system, the la- 
 bouring man, who was out of employment, had no 
 inducement to search for it, as the parish was bound 
 by law to pay him his wages ; and it frequently hap- 
 pened, that the man who was maintaining his family 
 by his honest labour, received lower wages than tht' 
 pensioner on the parish. 
 
 The effects of such a system were soon evident. 
 Men became indifferent about satisfying their employ- 
 ers, or maintaining their reputation, when they knew 
 that the claims of the indolent, or profligate, or care- 
 less, were entitled to the same relief as the best mem- 
 bers of the community. Besides, from the desire not to 
 lose their parish claim by change of residence, a larger 
 population frequently grew up within these parishes 
 than the inhabitants were able to employ, the working 
 classes became degraded, while those who were pos- 
 sessed of means, but in the face of these details, were 
 oppressed much by the high poor's rates. 
 
 An injudicious and most mistaken benevolence was 
 the great cause of these evils of the poor law system : 
 
45 POOR LAWS OF BRITAIN. 
 
 but how shameful is it for Mr. Lester to assert, that 
 the poor are oppressed by the aristocracy of England. 
 
 The act of 1834 has done much to remedy the evils 
 of this system. By this Act, the able-bodied, who 
 professed they could not get work, were offered admis- 
 sion into the work-houses, erected for them within the 
 various unions, and all out-door relief was refused. 
 Many families, at first, took advantage of the offer of 
 admission to the work -house, but the number has grad- 
 ually declined ; and, by the last report of the poor law 
 commissioners, all the able-bodied poor, in districts con- 
 taining a population of seven millions, are now off the 
 roll, and have found employment in other places, 
 where labour is more in demand than in those they 
 have left. 
 
 The moment the means are ready, by the erection 
 of union work-houses, the same principle will be ap- 
 plied to the other half of England. The effect of this 
 change has already lowered the poor's rates from 
 .£7,500,000, which they amounted to in 1834, to 
 ^£5,1 10,000, in 1840. This large saving will be chiefly 
 spent in wages, which, under the direction of the pro- 
 prietors, it may fairly be assumed, will be judiciously 
 spent, and will add materially to the comforts of the 
 working classes. 
 
 But the great object accomplished is the immeasur- 
 able change which the operation of this beneficial act 
 must have made on the characters of those who former- 
 ly depended on parish relief. The reports of the com- 
 
POOR LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 47 
 
 missioners appointed by the act of 1834, contains a 
 mass of information of the highest interest and import- 
 ance to all countries. They have been published annu- 
 ally, up to 1841. They exhibit, in the most striking 
 manner, the care with which the British Parliament 
 watches over the interests of that class of the commu- 
 nity, which Mr. Lester has so untruly stated, is oppress- 
 ed by the laws of the country.'^ 
 
 We have not returns before us of the exact number 
 of individuals, relieved by the English poor laws. In 
 Scotland, in 1821, relief was given to one person for 
 every 47 ^r of the population, being about two per cent, 
 of the whole. It is curious that, in 1838, 15,069 per- 
 sons were relieved in Massachusetts ; which, taking 
 the population at 700,000, is a little above the propor- 
 tion relieved in Scotland. This fact would teach such 
 writers as our author caution, in bringing up raihng 
 accusations. There is no aristocracy in that excellent 
 
 * Great efforts have been made to excite opposition to the 
 working of the New Poor Law System by those interested in the 
 abuses of the old system, or by the political opponents of the 
 Whigs — and unfounded and exaggerated statements have been 
 circulated of the failure of the plan in certain districts. 
 
 There may be a certain amount of truth in these statements, as 
 it is easy to understand how some may have failed to do their 
 duty, among the thousands of agents required to carry into effect 
 so extensive a reform. But the new system is so sound in principle, 
 and fraught with such benefits to the people, that its opponents 
 will not venture seriously to interfere with its operation. 
 
48 DISTRESS IN ENGLAND, 
 
 part af the Union. But such men hate facts and hate 
 figures, for they put to flight many a loose and ilLcon- 
 nected theory. 
 
 He says, " England has laid up for herself a sure 
 store of vengeance." But what would he have Eng- 
 land to do ? We suppose, from a hint he gives, in 
 another part of the work, he wishes an agrarian law 
 passed. But even in America, the people are not ripe 
 for such a measure, and we earnestly hope never will, 
 although the doctrine of State repudiation is equally bad 
 in principle. 
 
 What would be thought of the man who should 
 come over from Britain, land in New York, and at 
 once proceed to an examination of the worst houses 
 in the Five Points, or Anthony-street ; and having 
 met some beggars in the street, should set up a cry 
 that there was no injustice and oppression equal to 
 that of the government of the United States -, that there 
 was no place so wicked as America, and nothing so 
 good as his own fertile plains of Cheshire, or Devon- 
 shire. 
 
 There is much said by our author about the corn 
 laws, and much has been said, and is now saying, 
 on that subject; but w^e reserve the consideration 
 for a separate article, as their importance demands 
 of them. 
 
 Meantime we would say to the reverend author, Why 
 do you confine all your sympathy to one class of the 
 community 1 why not extend it to others of a higher 
 
FROM THE SOVEREIGN PEOPLE's BONDS. 49 
 
 class, who are suffering from the pressure of the times ? 
 Do you think that those who have been more highly- 
 educated, and those who have been accustomed to more 
 comforts, feel the pressure of privation less w^hen it 
 visits them ? 
 
 Cast your eyes on that respectable looking indivi- 
 dual, who is just closing the doors of his counting- 
 house in Liverpool. See the anguish depicted on his 
 countenance. He has been long a merchant, and, by 
 honest industry, had realized a respectable competency. 
 He was about to retire from business, and spend the 
 remainder of his days, with his attached family, in 
 peace and tranquility, on a small property he had 
 bought in the adjoining county of Chester^ 
 
 Some months ago he had been advised by his banker 
 to purchase foreign bonds to the extent of j£40,000, 
 expecting to draw the dividend and to sell off a part of 
 the principal, to pay his remaining obligations, and 
 thus to w^ind up his business. But alas ! the State that 
 issued these Bonds, has refused to pay either interest 
 or principal. It is known that his whole fortune is em- 
 barked in them, his credit is broken, all his savings must 
 go, and his property must be sold. He retires from 
 business pennyless. 
 
 Follow him home, and witness the distress of his 
 family. If he had lost his all, by the ordinary transac- 
 tions of business, the blow would have been sufficiently 
 heavy, but in this way, it is doubly severe. Impru- 
 dent man, you will say, why trust your whole property. 
 
50- DISTRESS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 with one of these South American States, when the 
 government is not yet settled, and the chiefs are little 
 better than robbers ? 
 
 Rev. Sir, you are mistaken. The bonds were issued 
 by one of the States of the American Union, a^ree 
 State, we were going to say, but our pen repudiated 
 the unhallowed union. They are the bonds of the 
 State of Mississippi, the bonds of the Sovereign People . 
 of " the heirs apparent to the throne." No proud and 
 haughty English aristocracy is concerned in this act — 
 only the Cotton aristocracy of the high and chivalrous 
 South. 
 
 Have you no sympathy with this sufferer, and with 
 thousands who are laboring under distress, from the 
 same source ? These cases are on the distress side of 
 England. Say whether they belong to the Glory or 
 Shame side of America. We knov/ there are thou- 
 sands of righteous men in America, who detest, and 
 are ashamed of these base transactions. But they are 
 supported in full force, by those who are styled, par ex- 
 cellencey ultra republican, and ultra democratical. 
 Mercy it is, that the world is not under their unhal- 
 lowed dominion^ 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FACTORY SYSTEM OF BRITAIN. 
 
 Our author says much on this subject. And we 
 begin with some of his remarks. In volume 1, 
 page 161, he says, "There is not a branch of this 
 immense system of manufacture in which there is not a 
 painful sacrifice of health and life. The ignorance, 
 vice, disease, deformity and wretchedness of the Eng- 
 lish operatives as a body almost exceed belief." " I 
 am persuaded the physical miseries of the English 
 operative, are greater by far than the West India 
 Slaves before their emancipation." Page 157, " This 
 general principle may be applied to the whole system 
 of British manufactures, and it is a truth no candid man 
 who has investigated the subject, will question, that 
 while the work is made perfect, the Avorkman is de- 
 stroyed," and in the dedication of the work, the author 
 says, " J would rather see the children of my love bcrn 
 to the heritage of Southern slavery than to see them 
 subjected to the blighting bondage of the poor English 
 operative's life." — " England is a proud and wicked na- 
 tion," &c. We could fill many pages with this foul and 
 abusive language — but shall proceed to examine the 
 proofs he gives of these assertions. 
 
52 LESTEE ]N MANCHESTER. 
 
 . We begin with an adventure of our author's, on which 
 he founds materially. It is contained in his letter to 
 Dr. Channing, but we doubt whether that talented in- 
 dividual will think himself honored by the notice. The 
 Doctor may, however, accept the homage of the author, 
 who is an avowed Abolitionist, although his soul has 
 never felt the love of genuine liberty, for we view him 
 as an apologist of Slavery, who should take rank with 
 the Colonizationists, those reformers of a thousand 
 years. We should however remember, that although 
 the Doctor is also an avowed Abolitionist, and has writ-^) 
 ten ably on the subject, he gives only his patronage 
 to the anti-slavery societies, as the Unitarians give their 
 patronage to Christianity. 
 
 Be this as it may, our author informs us, page 184, 
 that while in Manchester, " he happened to be wan- 
 dering one evening through a dirty lane in the part \ 
 of the town where the operatives are clustered." i 
 Had this been. in Utica, in Babylon, or in Rome, or \ 
 in any place of equal importance in the State of New | 
 York, Mr. Lester would have called it a city, but it ' 
 was only in the town of Manchester in England, with ' 
 its 300,000 inhabitants. 
 
 While " wandering^' in that place, he sees a boy j 
 apparently about twelve or thirteen, "dragging along I 
 a pale little girl, considerably younger than himseK" j 
 Our author immediately descries an adventure. He \ 
 takes hold of the children who had just left the Factory, ] 
 and are on their way home. He is of course conduct- i 
 
LESTER S FEELINGS AROUSED. 53 
 
 ed to a miserable place, and enters the " cellar" 
 where they live. The mother was lying on a low bed 
 of rags in one corner of the apartment. She is " sal- 
 low and consumptive, her forehead large and hand- 
 some." 
 
 He apologises for intruding. She says, " God bless 
 you, I hope you have come to me for good — no one 
 has entered this cellar to-day, except the officer, and 
 he took my last shilling for taxes." " God bless you, 
 woman, I exclaimed, what can a tax gatherer have 
 to do in your house — come to rob a widowed mother, 
 and her hungry children of her last shilling ! ! When 
 I thought of Britain in this light, a shudder went 
 through my frame as though I had been bitten by a 
 serpent." 
 
 We have no doubt, that such is always his feeling, 
 towards Britain. He has given us indelible proofs of 
 it, but does he believe in a judgment to come, when 
 he sits down to palm such monstrous statements on the 
 world ? The house he describes, pays no taxes. 
 
 The only government house tax in Britain is a win- 
 dow tax, which has been reduced to half its former 
 amount. This tax is only leviable on houses having 
 eight windows and upwards, and the widow's house 
 " had no lia;ht but from the door." Neither does such a 
 hoUvSe pay any local taxes. All large cities have taxes 
 for sui»porting the poor, for the expense of police, and 
 for hghting and cleaning the streets. Generally, ten 
 6 
 
:l 
 
 54 TAXES ON HOUSES. 
 
 pounds is the lowest* annual rent assessable, and the 
 poorer portion of the inhabitants never pay one penny 
 It is only upon the very ignorant that the author could 
 expect to pass such an absurdity for a moment, as 
 that a person in the miserable state he represents this | 
 woman to be in, should be asked for taxes ; and then j 
 the idea of a man taking her last shilling ! How could i 
 he take it ? There is no mode here or in Britain, by j 
 which money can he forced from its possessor, but by ; 
 robbery, and it is not alleged seriously that she was rob- j 
 led. It could not be that she paid it by constraint, for 
 fear of losing her furniture, as she had none to lose, un- 
 less it be the hench, offered to our author to sit on (she 
 having no chairs). Bench is a word unknown in Britain, 
 except a Carpenter's or Judge's bench. What are called 
 benches here, are called forms in Britain, or stools. 
 
 We have already said, that such a house pays no taxes. 
 Not only is this the case, but whenever a case of the j 
 least difficulty, approaching to inability, is brought for- \ 
 ward, a certificate of poverty by a Magistrate or Church * 
 Warden, which is easily procured, gives exemption. 
 Many thousands are exempted in this way every year, 
 particularly the keepers of lodging houses, which are ] 
 often large, and highly rented, and when the occupants \ 
 do not succeed in getting lodgers, they are relieved of ; 
 all taxes. This is the practice over all Britain. ' 
 
 The mother of this family is represented as feeding 
 
 * A House often pounds per annum, (or fifty dollars) in Eng- 
 land, is as commodious as one of two hundred dollars in New York. 
 
widow's tale. 55 
 
 her children with oat-meal gruel, from an iron spoon, 
 and refusing them an additional supply. One of the 
 children tells the other that it is her turn " to have the 
 cup to-night." This and the spoon are taken from 
 Dickens, whom our author professes to admire. Oat 
 meal is scarcely known in Manchester, hut it answered 
 best to get in Oliver Twist's cup, and Dominie Squeers' 
 spoon. 
 
 The widow tells her history, while the children 
 are gone out for food, which our generous author had 
 given her the means of purchasing. She has six chil- 
 dren. Her husband died a twelvemonth ago. Her 
 four eldest were sent to the factory — her husband had 
 been a machine maker. He wrought at his^ business, 
 and she sewed, and her husband's wages supported 
 them pretty comfortably. 
 
 They did not send their children to the factory till 
 they were ten or twelve years of age. " We knew 
 they would grow sickly, and feeble as soon as they 
 went there." Then why not bring them up to some 
 other employment ? She goes on to state, page 189, 
 ^^ that on her husband's death she was much reduced, 
 having sold all her furniture and clothes for the funer- 
 al, and taxes." What taxes 1 Six hungry children 
 were staring her in the face, and she was at length 
 obliged to send her four eldest to be apprenticed, al- 
 though it was as painful to her, as to lay them in their 
 graves. Now how could these four children be starving, 
 or how could they be sent to be apprenticed, when they 
 
56 WIDOW AT ROMANCE. 
 
 had been employed at the mills long before her hus- 
 band's death. She further says, that on her husband's 
 death, she sent Tony to the mill, who only got two 
 shillings per week. 
 
 Alas ! for the blunders of those who make up tales 
 of fiction. When our author met Tony in the street, 
 before he had seen his mother, he informed him, that 
 he had been five years at the mill. Tony had there- 
 fore heeii four years at the mill, according to his own 
 account, before his father's death ; but according to his 
 mother's he did not go till his father died, which was 
 only one year before. 
 
 Tony besides was said by our author to be between 
 twelve and thirteen, say twelve and a half years. 
 He could therefore only be seven and a half years 
 old when he went to the mill, although his truth speak- 
 ing parent declared, she and her husband never sent 
 them till they were ten or twelve years of age. It 
 seems that every person who comes near Mr. Lester, 
 takes the wrong direction in making statements. 
 
 Again, the lour children older than Tony, must 
 have been beyond the time for being apprenticed — the 
 three oldest must have been grown up. 
 
 Our author proceeds to introduce the sacred language 
 of Scripture, in his most veracious narrative. The 
 ideas of this woman, on the subject of religion, are (of 
 course) extremely vague. She says, " I used to go to 
 church, when I had clothes to wear, but I heard what 
 I could never beheve. — When I heard the parson 
 speak of a merciful God, who loves all his creatures so 
 
LESTER AT FAULT. 57 
 
 well that he does not let a sparrow fall to the ground 
 without his notice, I could not forget that I, for no 
 crime, had to toil on in poverty and wretchedness, and 
 see the bread taken from the mouths of my hungry 
 children, to support the rich minister, who never comes 
 near my cellar." 
 
 Mr. Lester never seems to think it necessary, for any 
 of his characters to be consistent in their statements, 
 any more than himself. Surely this woman did not 
 live in a cellar, when she was in good circumstances, 
 had good clothes, and was able to attend the church ; 
 neither could hers be hungry children, at that time. 
 
 In no case does any person in the situation of that 
 family, pay any thing towards the church of England. 
 The Church is supported by tithes on the land, or by 
 funds belonging to the church for ages. Seat rents are 
 in some cases paid, but the liberality in this respect is 
 well known. Any person desirous of having a seat, 
 and unable to pay, is always provided for. There is 
 no city tax for the support of the church, excepting a 
 small sum for supporting the fabrics of the churches, 
 generally amounting to a few shillings for each person, 
 but it is only payable by those who are well able to do 
 it. The amount is fixed each year by the inhabitants 
 themselves. How much must our author have calcu- 
 lated on the ignorance of his readers, in putting forth 
 a story about this woman paying so many " hard emmed 
 dollars^^ to support the church of England. 
 
 He says, that after praying with the widow, he left her, 
 and " was blessed." We make no comment on this, but 
 6* 
 
58 MANCHESTER PORTER. 1 
 
 leave him to the enjoyment of such blessedness as can ^ 
 be derived, from the manufacture of such an amount of | 
 absurdities, as we have already exhibited. 
 
 I 
 
 Page 178, our author meets with a street porter i 
 in Manchester, who of course is in distress. He gains i 
 from two shillings to a crown a day. He has nine , 
 children, some of whom are at the mill. They are all 
 in misery, never eat butcher meat, live on potatoes and | 
 coarse bread. " Almost every thing we get for our work 
 seems to go for taxes." " We are taxed for something 
 almost every week in the year." i 
 
 We have already enumerated all the taxes payable 
 on houses in Britain. The idea of a family Hving j 
 on potatoes and coarse bread paying direct taxes, | 
 will only excite a smile on the face of any person who 
 is acquainted with the truth. ' 
 
 The porter in question cannot afford " a crowm" for 
 a Bible, although he might have got one for half the , 
 money, or without payment at all, if he had been so i 
 disposed. Here the perpetual crown is again intro- ! 
 duced by our author, w^ho generously gives him the 
 means of buying a Bible. ! 
 
 The Factory System engages a large share of our \ 
 author's attention. He favors his readers with some 
 extracts taken from evidence by the House of Commons, 
 from which it appeared that cruelty had been committed | 
 upon certain children employed in two factories. Some I 
 of these extracts have been recently selected, from a large I 
 
FACTORY SYSTEM. 59 
 
 mass of evidence, laid before the British Parliament in 
 1833, and have gone the round of the American papers, 
 as events of recent occurrence, and as proof of the modes 
 in which factories are conducted in Britain ; whereas 
 they show^ the very reverse. They were all that could 
 be found, in the volume of evidence long ago pubhshed, 
 and were exposed to the world, by the w^atchfulness of 
 Parliament over the interests of the people. It might 
 be as well assumed, that because Miss Rogers had 
 been murdered at New York, and Mr. Suydam at 
 New Jersey, that all the people of the United States 
 were murderers. 
 
 That children have been in some cases allowed to 
 work longer hours than their strength warranted, is 
 evident ; that they could be treated with such harsh- 
 ness, as described in some of the extracts, with impunity, 
 on the part of their overseers, we cannot believe. 
 
 We strongly suspect that some part of the statements 
 given by our author, was not taken be fore the House 
 of Commons, as allusion is made by him to other 
 sources. He may have got it in some Chartist publi- 
 cation. Besides, the House of Commons has no power 
 to examine on oath. That belongs to the judicial de- 
 partment. Our doubt arises not from the impossibility of 
 such acts of oppression and cruelty having occurred, 
 although not likely, before so many witnesses, but be- 
 cause we are told of no punishment having followed. 
 
 There is no bar in England to the punishment of 
 crime. The criminal cannot carry his case from court 
 
60 LAWS OF ENGLAND EQUAL. 
 
 to court, till the public feeling is allayed, the crime 
 forgotten, and the ends of justice defeated. Neither 
 does the rank, or money, or birth of the party, make 
 any difference. The law has no practice different for 
 the Native, the Irishman, and the African. Lord 
 Waldgrave lately finished his six months in Jail, for 
 knocking down a watchman. Neither is there any 
 regulation in Parliament, to prevent the humblest of 
 these factory children sending up their petition, which 
 would have at once been respectfully received, and re- 
 mitted to the quarter where the complaint could be 
 legitimately entertained. 
 
 As far back as in 1802^ parliament had interposed by 
 law, for the protection of factory children, and also, in 
 1816 and 1831. When complaints were again brought 
 before them, they passed a new and comprehensive bill 
 in 1833, regulating the ages at which children may be 
 employed, their hours of attendance, making it impe- 
 rative on them to attend school, providing holydays, 
 and appointing inspectors, who are to report to the 
 Secretary of State, to see these wise, and humane re- 
 gulations carried into effect. 
 
 Our author has found it necessary to quote this Bill, 
 and he can find no fault with it, as it seems the very 
 best measure that could be devised for remedying the 
 evil. But he was not so easily to part with this portion 
 of the " Shame of England." He, therefore, having 
 dismissed Capt. Manners, alias No. 3, introduces us to 
 No. 4, in the person of a Manchester manufacturer, 
 name unknown. 
 
FACTORY BILL. 61 
 
 This new character, page 202, gives the whole Fac- 
 tory Bill in a speech, and then makes the following 
 comment upon it. " Now this you will say is a 
 humane and just bill — it must remove the greatest evils, 
 (not very likely his auditor would admit any such 
 thing). " But this is not the case, and I can show that 
 as great, if not greater evils, now exist. It is impossi- 
 ble for this law to be observed ; for many families 
 would starve to death, unless they worked more hours 
 than it permits." He then says, that the law " has 
 been of great service to the apprenticed children, but 
 of little service to others ; for Parliament may make 
 as many laws as they please to protect the operatives ; 
 they will all be in vain, so long as these same men 
 groan under the weight of the corn laws, and the vast 
 burden of taxation." 
 
 Now could any Manchester manufacturer make so 
 foolish a speech ? "The bill has been of great service 
 to apprenticed children," and pray what other class 
 has it any thing to do with ? It takes no cognizance 
 of the engagements between masters and operatives, 
 and in casting the shield of its protection over the fac- 
 tory children, only yielded to a humane necessity to 
 violate a rule, which all men now admit to be best : 
 viz. to leave trade to protect itself, as the wise merchants 
 of Nantz said to Louis XIV. 
 
 But the author, confessing the benefits this act has 
 conferred on the children, and aware that it had pro- 
 tected them from the selfishness of their employers, and 
 
62 LESTER FOETICAL. 
 
 the ignorance or carelessness of some of their parents, 
 dextrously shifts his ground, and says it does not 'pro- 
 ted the operatives, i. e. the grown up workmen, when . 
 it never was intended to reach them at all. The au- \ 
 
 thor should confess at once j 
 
 1 
 
 " I do not like thee, Doctor Fell, i 
 
 The reason why I cannot tell, 1 
 
 But this I'm sure, I know full well, 
 I do not like thee. Doctor Fell." 
 
 Regulating of wages, punishments for forestalling ■ 
 markets, bounties and protections, are fast taking ; 
 their place among the things that were, never more to ^ 
 return, unless the world shall again be overspread by 
 darkness. I 
 
 The only Act which has been passed for many j 
 years, connected with the operatives of Britain, is Mr. \ 
 Hume's Act, putting an end to the combination laws, \ 
 thus allowing operatives to combine as much as they ; 
 please, to raise their wages, provided in doing so they 
 do not intimidate, or lay violent hands on those who 
 might differ from them in opinion. And how often do 
 we hear of these operatives leaving their employment 
 in a body, standing out for an increase, or against a \ 
 reduction of wages, supporting themselves for many 
 weeks without labor, and in the end carrying their I 
 point with their employers, or settling by compromise. ' 
 
 And yet our author says, the workmen of England i 
 are obliged to take such wages as their master allows I 
 
AMERICA MAKING HASTE TO GET RICH. 63 
 
 them! that they are the most abject and degraded beings 
 on the face of the earth, and that they are worse than 
 American slaves. Great inconvenience arises from these 
 emeutes between the masters and operatives, and some- 
 times they are connected with acts of violence, which 
 no man can justify. Their frequent occurrence how- 
 ever affords unequivocal proof of the perfect independ- 
 ence that the operatives exercise in all their dealings 
 with their employers. That they have seldom occurred 
 for the last few years, affords proof that the supply of 
 labor is redundant.* 
 
 We believe that the greatest cause of that change, 
 has arisen from the transactions of British merchants 
 and manufacturers, with the United States, in 1835 and 
 1836. The people of the United States during that 
 period, appear to have made up their minds that time 
 was not required on their part, to accomplish the work 
 of ages — rash undertakings were commenced — cities 
 sprung into existence almost by magic; canals, rail 
 roads, and banks without number, were commenced. 
 The capital for these undertakings was not to be found 
 at home, and Europe, especially Britain, was looked to 
 for the means. With eager and insatiable avidity, the 
 British market was flooded with State Stocks, Rail- 
 Road, Canal, and Bank Stocks. 
 
 * By one of the last arrivals from England, we are informed of a 
 strike for wages among the Stone Quarriers of a considerable dis- 
 trict, and that hundreds are standing out idle, receiving ten shil- 
 lings sterling, per week per man, from those who are working. 
 
64 MELANCHOLY CONSEQCTENCES. ' 
 
 England, depending on the good faith of a people of 
 
 kindred origin, bought these Bonds to the extent of ^ 
 
 many millions, perhaps Thirty Millions Sterling, or ' 
 
 one hundred and fifty milHons of dollars. This immense | 
 
 amount of paper money, thrown afloat by these opera- ■ 
 
 tions, necessarily created a great demand for Foreign ' 
 Manufactures. The exports from Britain to the United 
 
 States, were in 1834, .£6,844,000. They rose in 1835, ' 
 
 to £10,568,000, and in 1836 to the extraordinary sum j 
 
 of £12,425,000 or above sixty-two millions of dollars. 1 
 
 Many of the undertakings which produced this exo- 
 tic growth of trade, were begun in folly and ended in 
 
 misery. The convulsion of Spring 1837 exposed the ■ 
 
 true state of matters. A considerable part of these i 
 
 vast importations was never paid, from the inability of ! 
 
 parties here, many of whom made most honorable ! 
 
 exertions to meet their engagements. Goods were i 
 
 sacrificed to a vast amount in New York, in Boston, in i 
 
 Philadelphia and New^ Orleans. Misery and ruin | 
 
 spread through the manufacturing towns in England. | 
 
 The exportation to the United States in 1837 suddenly . 
 
 fell to £4,695,000, being a decline in one year, of '■ 
 
 about seven and three quarter millions sterling, or thir- : 
 ty-eight millions of dollars. 
 
 Such a sudden and severe calamity, would have ; 
 
 thro^Yn any other country but England, back half a i 
 
 century. Till then, her operatives were never in such I 
 
 a state. New factories had been built, and thousands \ 
 
 of operatives drawm to the business of supplying the I 
 
REPUDIATION. 65 
 
 market of North America. All were at once thrown 
 idle. 
 
 See that immense manufactory at Preston ; you ask, 
 why it is shut, and so many workmen wandering 
 about unemployed. It was employed in the Ameri- 
 can trade. The merchants in Liverpool who bought 
 their goods, have failed, from the insolvency of their 
 house in New York. The Liverpool house would 
 have stood, but they had unfortunately bought ^650,000 
 of United States bank stock, and that completed their 
 ruin. 
 
 Let our author carry his eyes back to London, by the 
 rail-road, if he can do so without the aid of an Irish 
 nobleman, and enter that neat dwelling at Pentonville, 
 near the capital. Observe that pensive widow. She 
 holds in her hands a letter just received from her 
 banker, informing her that there is a balance against 
 her on his books, and that he regrets to state, that the 
 interest on her Illinois state stock, due some days ago, 
 had not been paid. Her husband had left her a hmited 
 sum, to support her family. It was so small, that the 
 interest in the British funds, would barely support 
 them. To enable her to send her children to a 
 boarding-school, where they might receive a suitable 
 education, she risked her all on the credit of the state 
 of Ilhnois, as she expected to receive higher interest 
 than in the British funds. Fatal mistake ! The Bri- 
 tish nation has been in perils of all kinds. She has 
 stood the onset of a world in arms, and never quailed. 
 
 She has carried on her shoulders a debt, which would 
 
 7 
 
66 CNSEQITENCES OF REPUDIATION, j 
 
 have crushed all the world besides. But never for a ] 
 
 moment has she dreamed of doing injustice to the pub- ^ 
 
 lie creditor. Her faith and honor have ever been in- [ 
 
 violate. ] 
 
 Thousands are in the circumstances of those cases we : 
 
 have now supposed, depending on American honor, ; 
 
 and have lost their all. Capital which might have i 
 
 been directed into useful and productive channels, has ; 
 been in this way lost, or rendered inoperative, to an 
 immense amount. Hence the distressed state of some 
 classes of operatives in Britain. 
 
 No. 4, alias the manufacturer, says, page 196, "just ] 
 
 at this time there are 40,000 operatives in Manchester, \ 
 
 who are out of work, and obliged to depend upon , 
 
 charity for bread to keep them from starvation." Now \ 
 
 here is a round assertion. Manchester and Salferd ', 
 
 contain 300,000 inhabitants, one fifth of whom will be i 
 
 grown up men, say 60,000. Of this number there ' 
 cannot be 40,000 employed in Manchester altogether ; 
 we would rather say, not above 30,000, and yet 40,000 
 
 are in a state of starvation. After this statement, the ' 
 
 author of the " Shame and Glory of England" and his i 
 
 friend, are fit for any service. We will venture to i 
 
 hazard a conjecture, that in June, 1840, there were ' 
 
 not 5,000 working people in Manchester, unemployed, | 
 
 and that the remainder were employed either in whole I 
 or in part. 
 
 Mr. Lester inquires very anxiously what was to be 
 done. Who is to blame for this amount of misery ? 
 
 To the first question we would reply. Let the Ameri- \ 
 
MANCHESTER MANUFACTURER AT FAULT. G7 
 
 cans pay their debts to Britain, or at least acknowledge 
 them, and that would do much. To the second, that 
 the xA.mericans, by their speculations in 1835 and 1836, 
 are chiefly to blame. 
 
 Mr. Lester gets an answer from numher four, more 
 congenial to his feelings "I am persuaded," says he, 
 " that we have the most expensive, and oppressive 
 government in the world ; that there is no nation 
 which taxes its labouring classes so heavily; no govern- 
 ment which does so much to provoke a revolution, and 
 none where a revolution seems so likely to occur, or 
 where it would be so violent and bloody, when once 
 commenced." This must have been glad news to our 
 Rev. philanthropist. " Parliament has passed laws to 
 regulate the Factory system, but it is all a dead letter.^' 
 It is strange how dexterously Mr. Lester contrives 
 to make all his characters deviate from the right path, 
 for the Manchester Manufacturer tells us in page 
 204, " that the Factory Act had been of great service 
 to the apprenticed children," and now says it is "^^ all a 
 dead letter." 
 
 Our author brings another important auxiliary against 
 the Factory system, in the person of a Scotch overseer, 
 now resident in this country, (alias number ^t'e) who 
 assures us, in page 209, " that the operatives are 
 kicked and beat, instead of being reproved, that the 
 children never have a chair, or stool to sit on, when 
 
68 SCOTCH OVERSEER. 
 
 they have a short rest from their work, that he has 
 often seen little girls and women kicked unmercifully 
 for the slightest mistake." 
 
 This fellow, if there be such a person, publishes his 
 own shame, in standing by and witnessing such con- 
 duct. His statements must be groundless. No set of 
 men would have looked on the commission of such 
 enormities, without interference. In factories, as every 
 where else, disputes may arise, and ill usage be given, 
 but in such cases punishment prompt and decisive will 
 necessarily follow, as already stated. 
 
 But hear the length, to which this witness goes, by 
 which his testimony is destroyed. He informs us in 
 page ^09, that in the worsted mills, the rooms are 
 heated to 120 of Fahrenheit, and that they are not ven- 
 tilated, that he could not stay in them, although " a 
 pretty strong man," more than two or three minutes at a 
 time. Can any man beheve that either masters or 
 operatives would or could live in such places of tor- 
 ment ? He adds, " no person can live long in these 
 factories, the children all die of consumption in a short 
 time." This is a natural and appropriate wind up to 
 such statements. 
 
 Leeds and Huddersfield, Bradford and the vicinity, 
 are the chief seats of the woollen manufacture in York- 
 shire, and no cities have grown more rapidly, although 
 all the factory children die " of consumption." The 
 Scotch overseer is quite an acquisition to our author. 
 The Irish nobleman, the pale-faced girl, Capt. Man- 
 
EVIDENCE IN NEW YORK. 69 
 
 ners, and the manufacturer, all contribute their quotas, 
 very fairly to the shame of England ; but this man 
 slays off whole generations. 
 
 One murder makes a villain — 
 Millions make a hero. 
 
 We have lately inquired of several gentlemen in 
 this country, respecting the treatment of factory opera- 
 tives in Great Britain. They all had full opportunity 
 of knowing the facts, and no interest in concealing 
 them. One of these gentlemen had extensive spin- 
 ning works in Scotland, and he said, " soon after the 
 new factory bill was put in operation, Mr. Stuart 
 of Duncarn, author of the work entitled, " Three 
 Years' Residence in Ameri<"a," called on us, and 
 he said, " I am one of the Commissioners appointed 
 by Government under the authority of the Factory Bill, 
 to inquire into the treatment of the children employed, 
 and in order that the inquiry may be freely made, I 
 request that you and your overseers will leave the mill 
 till it be done." On their withdrawing, Mr. Stuart 
 went to each person, and made most particular inquiry 
 on all the points embraced in the Bill ; and he is well 
 known to be a person who would faithfully and fear- 
 lessly perform his duty. After the examination was 
 completed, Mr. Stuart announced to the proprietors 
 that he was quite satisfied, and that no complaint had 
 been made. The gentleman alluded to treated the 
 allegations we have mentioned, as pure fabrications. 
 7* 
 
70 EVIDENCE IN NEW YORK. 
 
 We called on a gentleman who deals in wool, and 
 found a number of people engaged in preparing it 
 for being spun. We asked a woman, who had been 
 long in a woollen mill in Newton in Wales, where 
 flannels are extensively manufactured, whether she had 
 ever seen or heard of any person employed in these 
 mills, being strapped, or kicked by the overseers. 
 She seemed surprised, and said — " Oh no. Sir, no such | 
 thing," and after a pause added, " have we not magis- 
 trates there, who would punish any such thing ? the j 
 only complaint we ever had, v*^as that the wages ' 
 were too low, but the manufacturers could not help \ 
 it, as they were unable from the low prices of flannel , 
 to give more." The gentleman at the head of this es- 
 tablishment further informed us, that the hours of labor 
 at Lowell, were longer than in any factory he knew" , 
 in England, and that he had lately noticed this, to one 
 of the overseers at that place, who remarked that he 
 could not help it, for if he did not keep up these hours, \ 
 
 others would. ' 
 
 j 
 
 It might be unnecessary to pursue this matter further, i 
 but we cannot omit alluding to the anxious inquiries J 
 directed to be made as to the state of health in the 
 manufacturing districts, as reported on by the Commis- j 
 sioners of the "most oppressive government on earth." 
 Very full information on this matter is contained in Mr. 
 McCulloch's statistical work, under the head, " Vital ; 
 Statistics." We only notice a small part of the in- i 
 teresting details. 
 
VITAL STATISTICS. 71 
 
 It appears that the average annual attacks of sick- 
 ness of males, employed in the factories of Lanca- 
 shire, from 11 to 31 years of age, was 27.08 on 
 every hundred persons, and the average duration of 
 each attack, 16 ,43 days. The average annual at- 
 tacks of sickness among the laborers of the East 
 India Company, was, in a period of ten years, 24 .06 
 per hundred, and the average duration of each attack, 
 24 .05 days. This is a favorable result for the 
 Factory system, as it is here compared with a class of 
 labourers, w^ho receive very ample wages, and an allow- 
 ance during sickness. The average sickness of the 
 Company's whole laborers, was 6 .02 days per an- 
 num, and in Lancashire 4 .56 days per annum. It is 
 however to be observed, that the Lancashire returns do 
 not contain the sickness of those who died within the 
 year, or fell under chronic diseases, and with these ad- 
 ditions, the average sickness will probably reach that 
 of the East India Company's labourers. 
 
 A return is also given of the average attacks of 
 sickness of a number of artisans, and apprentices 
 at Wurtzburgh in Germany, which is stated to be 
 22 .80 per annum, in a hundred. The duration of each 
 attack was not, unfortunately, given, which prevents the 
 comparison being completely carried through. All 
 the individuals in this return belonged to a Friendly 
 society, and it may be presumed they are above the 
 general average, in steadiness of character. Yet the 
 number of attacks of sickness comes nearly up to the 
 Lancashire average. 
 
72 VITAL STATISTICS, 
 
 It further appears, that in all the counties of Eng- 
 land and Wales, the average deaths among every 
 hundred inhabitants amount to 2 .21 annually. The 
 average in Lancashire is 2 .40 per annum — being 
 about 8 .12 per cent beyond the general average. 
 When it is considered that in Lancashire are contained, 
 Manchester, Liverpool, Preston, Bolton, Stockport, 
 and other large and overgrown manufacturing and 
 commercial cities, this difference does not appear large. 
 This excess of deaths is fearfully exceeded by the re- 
 turns of the metropolis; from which it appears that 
 2 .81 of every hundred males in Surrey die annually, 
 and in Middlesex, 3 .03. 
 
 We looked anxiously to the quarter where Mr. Les- 
 ter assures us almost the w^hole children of a certain 
 class die of consumption in a short time. The West 
 Riding of Yorkshire contains the chief part of the 
 '' worsted mills," so fatal to life, and yet it appears 
 that the average annual deaths per hundred of males, 
 in that district, is 2 .09, and of females, 1 .98, being 
 about eight per cent, below the average mortality of 
 the whole kingdom — which must for ever silence the 
 Scotch overseer on that matter. We shall now give 
 some 
 
 GENERAL STATISTICS CONNECTED WITH THE 
 WORKING CLASSES. 
 
 It is a favorite theme w^ith many, to comment on the 
 unfavorable condition of the working classes, as com- 
 pared with what it was in the olden time. Much light 
 
GENERAL STATISTICS. 73 
 
 is thrown on this subject in the work we have already 
 quoted, viz. McCulloch's Statistics. He says, page 
 584, " The real influence and practical operation of 
 improvements in the arts and sciences, is to be meas- 
 ured by their influence over the condition of the great 
 bulk of the people, and, tried by this test, it will be 
 found, that in Great Britain, as in most other countries, 
 they have been singularly advantageous." 
 
 He points out the vast amount of crimes of violence, in 
 former ages, noticing particularly the reign of Henry 
 VIII., where crime had reached to such a height that 
 the country people had to watch over their sheepfolds, 
 pastures, woods and cornfields, on account of the mul- 
 titude of wicked, wandering, and idle people — that the^ 
 magistrates were awed by associations, and the threats 
 of confederates, from executing justice on the offenders. 
 
 Harrison's account of England, in the reign of 
 EHzabeth, describes the gentry as supplying themselves 
 with wheaten bread, while their household, and poor 
 neighbors, are forced to content themselves with rye, 
 barley, and in some shires, pulse and oats, and even 
 acorns in part. As late as in 1760, it appears from 
 Mr. Charles Smith's Book on the Corn Trade, that at 
 that time, of the six millions of population in England, 
 eight hundred and eighty-eight thousand lived on rye. 
 Mr. McCulloch estimates " that not twenty thousand 
 now taste rye." 
 
 " The rye eaters have almost universally been 
 changed into wheat eaters, and except in the county of 
 
74 CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT. 
 
 Durham, where a mixture of wheat and rye, called 
 raasHn, is grown, the culture of rye is almost un- 
 known — nearly the same may be said of the consump- 
 tion of barley. In the northern counties of England, | 
 in the middle of last century, and for long after, very 
 little wheat was used." " In Cumberland, the principal I 
 families used only a small quantity about Christmas, j 
 The crust of the Goose pie, with which every family is ■ 
 then supplied, was at the period referred to, almost uni- , 
 formly made of barley meal. But no such thing is | 
 now heard of, even in the poorest houses. Almost all 
 individuals eat wheaten bread, at all times of the year. ; 
 It is in fact the only bread now tasted by those who i 
 live in towns and villages, and mostly also, by those i 
 who live in the country." 
 
 " Wheat is now the almost universal bread corn of ! 
 England ; and in some of the manufacturing towns, i 
 within the last few years, the use of the inferior sorts 
 of wheaten bread, has been a good deal restricted, and ; 
 is rejected indeed, by all, but the very lowest and poor- | 
 
 est classes." i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 Mr. McCulloch then shows the great income, in tlie i 
 
 consumption of butcher meat, beginning with the me- \ 
 
 tropolis. The population of London for the ten years j 
 
 ending 1750 was about 670,000. The annual amount ' 
 
 of cattle sold at Smithfield market, during the same | 
 
 period, was 74,000 head, and of sheep 570,000. In I 
 
 1831, the population had increased to 1,472,000 — and i 
 
CONSUMPTION OF BTfTCHER MEAT. 75 
 
 the consumption of cattle amounted to 156,000, and of 
 sheep to 1,238,000. 
 
 In round numbers, the quantity of cattle and sheep 
 consumed seems to have kept pace with the increase 
 of population. But the great increase in the weight 
 of cattle and sheep between the two periods, presents 
 a most satisfactory result, as to the vast addition made 
 to the comfort of the people. 
 
 In 1750, the weight of cattle only averaged 3701bs. 
 per head, and of sheep 281bs., while in 1831 the 
 cattle weighed 8001bs., and the sheep 801bs., each. 
 From this comparative view, it appears that the con- 
 sumption of each individual was in the first period 2 7-8 
 ounces per day, while in the second it amounts to 6 2-3 
 ounces, being an increase of more than double. This 
 consumption is exclusive of lamb, veal, pork and fowls 
 which are used to a large extent, and we have no doubt 
 the consumption of them has increased, in proportion 
 to the other articles. We have no later data to give, 
 but we doubt not that there has been no diminution in 
 these proportions since 1831. We hope this amount of 
 butcher's meat for nearly two of the " starving mil- 
 lions," will satisfy Mr. Lester. Mr. McCulloch states 
 that there " is reason to believe that in most other parts 
 of the country, the increase in the consumption of butch- 
 er's meat has been even greater." 
 
 " In thinly peopled agricultural districts very little is 
 consumed, but in manufacturing and commercial towns 
 it is quite the reverse." 
 
 " The improvements that have been made, during the 
 
76 
 
 BETTER CLOTHING. 
 
 last half century, in the clothing and lodging of the 
 people of Great Britain," it is added," are even more 1 
 remarkable than those that have been made in their | 
 food." 
 
 In treating of the cotton manufactures, Mr. Baines, j 
 of Leeds, says, " It is impossible to estimate the advan- 1 
 I ages, to the people, from the wonderful cheapness of j 
 cotton goods. The humblest classes have now the i 
 means of as great neatness, and even gaiety of dress, as : 
 the middle and upper classes of the last age. A coun- ; 
 try wake in the nineteenth century, may display as 
 much finery as a drawing room of the eighteenth, and \ 
 the peasant's cottage may at this day, with good man- 
 agement, have as handsome furniture for their beds, 
 windows and tables, as the house of a substantial trades- ■ 
 man sixty years ago." 
 
 There can be no doubt that the houses of the labor- ; 
 ing classes are also improved, and that epidemical 
 disease has been in a great measure banished from j 
 large towns in consequence. But much yet remains ! 
 to be done in this respect. The necessity of cleanliness ' 
 and ventilation has not been sufficiently felt by the j 
 working classes — although there has been some im- ' 
 provement, there are yet, in all crowded cities, both 
 here and in Britain, many who seem insensible to these I 
 essential, comforts, and a greater benefit could not be. 
 bestowed on society, than to effect an entire cure of 
 these evils. i 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 BRITISH CORN LAWS. 
 
 These laws have afforded fertile subject for decla- 
 mation to our author, and many others, both in Britain 
 and America. We shall first quote some of our au- 
 thor's remarks upon them. In volume 1, page 172, 
 he says — " A vast amount of the sufferings and ignor- 
 ance of the working classes are to be directly attributed 
 to the tyrannical corn laws, laws made to enrich the 
 land holders at the expense of the poor. For it is im- 
 possible for the poor man in England to pay from his 
 small income, the enormous bread tax, and have enough 
 left to clothe his family, and provide them other neces- 
 saries of life." Page 199, the Manufacturer, alias 
 number fo2ir, says, " the iniquitous corn laws take one 
 third of all the wages of the operatives from them, and 
 put it in the pockets of the land holders. The com- 
 monest necessaries of life, in consequence of the bread 
 tax, cost as much again in England, as they do, on the 
 Continent, or in the United States." 
 
 And again, in p. 205 — in speaking of the Factory laws 
 
 he says, " They Avill all be in vain, so long as these 
 
 same men groan under the weight of the corn laws, 
 
 and the vast burden of taxation ;" and again, in p. 198, 
 
 8 
 
78 LESTER ABUSIVE. 
 
 " I can convince any candid man, that the operatives 
 
 receive from us enouo;h to make them comfortable, and 
 
 > . I 
 
 elevate them a thousand fold above their present con- ; 
 
 dition, if they were not robbed of the greatest part of 
 
 their wages, to support the aristocracy." The Scotch ' 
 
 overseer, number five, says, " Some of the English op- ; 
 
 eratives receive nearly as high wages for their work ; 
 as we pay ; but they work harder for their money, and 
 
 it will not go more than half as far, (not that I think) i 
 
 in procuring the necessaries of hfe. Animal food they ' 
 
 seldom get. Potatoes and coarse bread being their en- : 
 
 tire food." In vol. 2, p. 232, our author says, " Ame- \ 
 rica is also deeply interested in this (the corn) ques- 
 tion ; for no man can estimate the advantages we 
 
 should gain by a repeal of the Corn Laws," and in { 
 page 238, " What is the effect of the Corn Laws, upon 
 
 the laboring classes ? starvation." 1 
 
 In p. 237, " This nicely contrived device operates with : 
 
 the greatest severity on the poor man ; for through his | 
 
 teeth, he is made to pay, or more properly to be pun- I 
 
 ished, for the offence of being born in England. Per- ; 
 
 sons born since the enactment of the Corn Laws must ' 
 
 regard themselves as paying this penalty for having . 
 
 had the audacity to draw their first breath on that op- ] 
 
 pressed island." P. 260, " The bread tax bids fair to ■ 
 
 work a revolution in England." P. 257, " The Corn , 
 Laws are destructive to female virtue. There is no 
 
 nation, savage or civilized, that so wantonly tampers ; 
 with the prosperity and happiness of its people," 
 
LESTER TURNED CALCULATOR. 79 
 
 Our Rev. author thus gives vent to his wholesale 
 vituperations against Britain. Had he stopped there, 
 all might have passed, but unfortunately he gives rea- 
 sons for his assertions, and we now proceed to try him 
 by his figures. 
 
 In page 238, volume 2d, he says, " What do the 
 Corn Laws cost the English people 1 " When we came 
 to this passage, we were delighted, having a prospect 
 of bringing the question to an issue. To his own ques- 
 tion, he gives the following answer. " It is estimated 
 that the consumption of all kinds (of grain) in the king- 
 dom is sixty millions quarters per annum. Twelve 
 years ago, Mr. McCulloch supposed the amount to be 
 only a little less than this, and since then, there has 
 been a great increase of population. The consumption 
 of all other kinds of agricultural produce is, without 
 doubt, equal to the total consumption of grain. Sup- 
 posing the effect of the Corn Laws to be, to raise the 
 price of grain ten shillings a quarter higher than it 
 would be, were foreign grain freely imported ; it fol- 
 lows, that the burden of the bread tax is equal to the 
 enormous sum of three hundred millions of dollars a 
 year — a sum exceeding the whole expenditure of the 
 government, including the interest of the national 
 debt." " But it can be shown to the satisfaction of 
 every reasonable man, that the Corn Laws nearly 
 double the price of grain, Mr. G. M. Porter, of the 
 Board of Trade, in his valuable work on this subject, 
 states that the average price of wheat in Prussia, for 
 
80 CORN AVERAGES. 
 
 the last twenty two years, has been only 31s. 2cl. per 
 quarter, while the price during the same period has 
 been 61s. in London." 
 
 Oh ! that my enemy would write a book ! ! Let us 
 try this pretender by his own authorities, and by their 
 decision we shall abide. Mr. McCulloch, in the second 
 edition of his valuable Commercial Dictionary published 
 in 1836, which is not quite twelve years ago, estimated 
 the consumption of grain in Britain at fifty-two millions 
 of quarters. Our author says this is near sixty milhons, 
 w^hich is but a slight mistake for him. Mr. McCulloch 
 gives very ample information, as to the prices at which 
 grain can be imported into Britain, from the principal 
 shipping ports of Europe and America. We confine 
 ourselves to wheat, as that is the chief article of 
 importation. 
 
 Dantzic is the most important port in Europe, for 
 shipping grain, as it sends off the surplus growth of Po- 
 land. The average price of wheat, free on board, at 
 that port, taken at Decennial periods, from 1770 to 1819, 
 was 45s. 4d. per imperial quarter. This high average 
 was doubtless owing to the long period of war, included 
 within the range. The average of 1822 to 1831 in- 
 clusive, fell to 34s. Id. per quarter. The cost of importa- 
 tion, w^are-housing, &c. is estimated at 10s. making 
 the price in London, independent of profit or British 
 duty 44s. But Mr. M. thinks that under any consider- 
 able foreign demand, the price at Dantzic would rise to 
 40s., making the price 50s. at London. 
 
CORN AVERAGES. 81 
 
 Mr. Jacob's returns to the British government shew, 
 that at the lowest possible rate, wheat could not be 
 sent from Warsaw, at less than 28s., nor brought to 
 London under 48s. per quarter. 
 
 The average price of wheat at Hamburgh for ten 
 years, previous to 1831, was 26s. 6d., but the quality 
 is 7s. inferior to Dantzic, and allowing for that differ- 
 ence, the prices of both will be about the same. 
 
 The port of Odessa ships a considerable quantity of 
 wheat, the growth of the shoies of the Black Sea. The 
 price is much lower there than any w^here else, as it 
 can often be put on board at 16s. per quarter. But the 
 quality is very poor, being worth 10s, per quarter less 
 than Dantzic or the best English wheat. The expense of 
 freight and charges is from 16s. to 19s. per quarter, 
 and bringing it to the Dantzic standard, it would cost 
 44 or 45s. 
 
 Mr. McCulloch estimates the average price of wheat 
 at New York, and Philadelphia, at 37 to 40s. — and if 
 the freight and charges amount to 10 or 12s. he does 
 not suppose that any considerable quantity could be 
 expected from that quarter, unless wheat was from 50 
 to 52s. in England. It further appears, that the aver- 
 age price of wheat at Paris, as reported by Gamier, 
 from 1801 to 1819, was 45s. 6d. per quarter. Count 
 Chaptal, in a work entitled, " L'Industrie de France," 
 published in 1819, estimates the average price through 
 France, at 18 francs the hectolitre, or 42s. lOd. per 
 quarter. 
 
 *8 
 
S2 CORN AVERAGES, ] 
 
 i 
 
 Mr. McCulloch, after going over the ground of for- i 
 eign importations, very fully, arrives at the conclusion j 
 that wheat of the Dantzic standard cannot be imported ; 
 imder 47 or 48s., and that with a duty of 6 or 7s. it '{ 
 could not of course be sold under 53 or 54s. This view \ 
 is entirely drawn from the the loio averages already no- 
 ticed, without making any allowance for the advance, 
 which will unquestionably take place if the British ports j 
 were opened to a free trade in corn. It is only necessa- ; 
 ry to notice the great influence upon the price, in years 
 when wheat was admitted into Britain, on a low duty, i 
 The price at Dantzic in 1822 was 30s. 3d ; in 1823 27s. \ 
 9d.; in 1824 23s. 8d. ; in 1825 24s. 2d.; in 1826 ' 
 25s. Id. ; in 1827 26s. lid. ; in 1828 37s. Id. ; in 1829 . 
 47s. Id; in 1830 42s. 2d.; in 1831 50s. 2d. In the ' 
 tirst six years, it will be observed that the price is very ^ 
 low. In these years the crops were generally good in : 
 Britain, and the importations small. In one year ! 
 ( 1822) none was imported. In the four last years, the 
 crops were deficient, and the importations large, parti- ] 
 cularly in 1830 and 1831. In this last year, nearly j 
 three millions and a half of quarters of different kinds 
 of grain were imported by Britain being the largest 
 that ever took place. In a new edition of Mr. Mc- \ 
 Culloch's work, it appears that the average price of | 
 wheat in Britain from 1833 to 1838, was 51s. 3d. per | 
 quarter. The average price in France from 1819 to 
 1836 was 40s. Id. per quarter. Mr. M. says that for ! 
 six years from 1832 to 1837, the average price in I 
 
CORN AVERAGES. 83 
 
 Great Britain, was 50s. 2d., " and we are bold to say, 
 that not a tittle of evidence has been, or can be pro- 
 duced to show, that this price would have been re- 
 duced 5s. a quarter, had the ports been all the while 
 opened to unconditional importations, from abroad."* 
 In our opinion nothing can be more conclusive. 
 It has been shown that Dantzic wheat cannot be im- 
 ported under 44s., and American not under 50s. — 
 or an average of 47s. per quarter. Now the British av- 
 erage for six years ending in 1838, was 51s. 3d., being 
 only 4s. 3d. beyond what it could have been furnished 
 from abroad, without taking any advance in the foreign 
 market into account. It is quite evident that under a 
 free corn trade, the difference between the price at any 
 foreign port, and the price at Britain, could never be 
 greater than the expense of freight, and to her charges 
 from the one country to the other. The moment a 
 greater difference should arise, exportation would take 
 place, and when a less difference existed, it would stop. 
 Our Rev. author says that a loss of one hundred and 
 fifty millions of dollars will accrue, if even 10s. per 
 
 * We have only brought our Corn averages down to 1838, which 
 is the latest period given by Mr. xMcCulloch. The aver- 
 age price of wheat was much higher in 1839 and 1840, from the 
 unusually short crops. These therefore cannot be fairly taken, 
 except in a much wider range of time. The prices were indeed 
 so high during those years, that the import duty must have been 
 frequently almost nominal, and yet the foreign importation was 
 not able materially to keep down the price. The deficient crops 
 in the United States in 1838 and 1839, which required her to be 
 aided by importation, will in part account for this state of tilings. 
 
b^ LOSS BY CORN LAWS. 
 
 quarter more than the proper price is paid, calcu- 
 lating sixty millions of quarters to be consumed. 
 Now we have already shown that only a difference of 
 4s. 3d. has accrued on recent averages. But taking 
 it at Mr. McCulloch's mark of 5s. and considering 
 that wheat does not form one quarter of the grain 
 consumed, we may estimate the whole at an aver- 
 age of 3s. per quarter. 
 
 But then, although Mr. Lester has quoted Mr. 
 McCulloch as his authority, he throws him over- 
 board, when it suits his purpose, for he does not notice 
 that that laborious and able author calculates, that one 
 half of the grain raised in Britam never reaches the 
 market, but is consumed by the agriculturists for their 
 families, for cattle, seed, &c. This only makes an 
 abatement of one half, therefore is not worthy the atten- 
 tion of a generalizer of Mr. Lester's dimensions. 
 
 In our view, the loss from 1832 to 1838, will be as 
 follows : Thirty millions of quarters at 3s. — Four and 
 a half millions sterling, or twenty-two and a half 
 millions of dollars per annum, instead of one hundred 
 and fifty millions of dollars, as the round numbers of our 
 author make it. 
 
 But this is only Mr. Lester's loio calculations, as he 
 makes a statement, that in Prussia, wheat has been selling 
 at 31s. 2d. average, for along period, while it has been 
 61s. in Britain, and that therefore, the corn laws have 
 doubled the price. Now did the Rev. calculator ex- 
 pect that the corn could be conveyed from the interior 
 of Prussia, to Britain, without expense ? How could it 
 
LESTER AT CALCULATIONS. S5 
 
 be done for less than 15 to 17s. per quarter 1 Did the 
 author never hear of the produce of Ohio being sold at 
 Cincinnati for 60 cents, which would fetch in New- 
 York one dollar j or of potatoes being sold in the 
 interior of the state of New York for less than one half 
 of what they would bring at New York ? It is really a 
 pity for figures to come in, and disturb so well built a 
 system, after our author had labored so hard with infe* 
 rior matter, and had arrived at the most satisfactory 
 conclusions that the price was doubled. It was so 
 even a number, so very round, that it is a shame to de- 
 stroy it. 
 
 But hear another calculation equally sweeping. The 
 enhanced price of sixty millions of Corn, he says, is 
 only half of the bread tax. Now this is puzzling, as 
 sixty milhons is the grain of all kinds which can be 
 made into bread. Agriculture produces cattle, sheep, 
 wool, cheese, butter, &c. But if Mr. Lester meant 
 this, he would have called it a beef, a mutton, or abut- 
 ter tax, and not a bread tax. Where our author got 
 this calculation we know not. It was not from Mr. 
 McCulloch. He does not say it was from the Irish 
 Nobleman, the Rose Girl, or the Manchester Manufac- 
 turer. We therefore conclude he has drawn on his 
 own genius for it. All those other articles of agricul- 
 tural consumption are admitted into Britain on very 
 moderate duties, some of those below those levied by 
 the United States, as we shall afterwards show. The 
 highest duty proposed to be charged on, wheat, by the 
 
86 LESTER EQUAL TO NECKAR. 
 
 advocates of a fixed duty is 6 to 8s. per quarter, being 
 about the same rate as in the United States, where the 
 duty on wheat is 25 cents per bushel. Irish provisions 
 are raised so cheap that no great quantity could be 
 sent into Britain, from any other quarter, although the 
 duty was taken off. 
 
 Let us now see, what Mr. Lester's view of the 
 bread tax in his most comprehe^isive meaning, would 
 amount to. 
 
 Say 60 millions quarters of grain, at 30s. being the 
 half price of wheat, would be 90 millions sterling, as 
 he supposes the whole sixty millions to be wheat, but 
 to reduce it all to the average of the different kinds of 
 grain, 
 
 Suppose 60 millions at 18s. per quarter, ^54,000,000 
 An equal amount on beef and other agri- 
 cultural produce, 54,000,000 
 
 ^108,000,000 
 or Five Hundred and Forty Millions of Dollars. 
 
 Prodigious! If Mr. Lester could only be made 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer for a few years, he 
 might with such savings, pay off the National Debt. 
 His name will descend to posterity w^ith a brilliancy 
 for an able financier and exact calculator, which 
 even Neckar himself might envy, if he were alive. 
 
 Seriously, we would rejoice to see Britain make the 
 trade of corn free at all times, without duty, and we 
 are satisfied that the Whig ministry would have done 
 
REPEAL OF CORN LAWS. 87 
 
 SO if they could, except from the necessity of making 
 up a deficient revenue. We think the bulky nature of 
 the article a sufficient protection from the expense of 
 transport, which must inevitably be incurred. This 
 would prevent the fluctuations in a great measure 
 occasioned by bad crops. The farmer would know 
 more certainly what rent he ought to pay, and the 
 landlord would be more certain of receiving the 
 amount. 
 
 That those who contend so loudly for the repeal of 
 the corn laws greatly over-estimate the effects which 
 would follow from them, is no reason why they should 
 not be repealed. The measure would tranquilize the 
 public mind, and that is a matter of no small import- 
 ance. It is exceedingly probable, that such a change 
 would open up a large trade in grain, with the United 
 States. This could not have been to any extent, till 
 within the last two years, although there had been no 
 corn laws in Britain. Therefore the noise and clamor 
 that has pervaded the States, and run through many of 
 the newspapers about " wicked, cruel, and unjust Brit- 
 ish corn laws," are alike insolent and absurd. 
 
 So recently as in 1837, the United States imported 
 above three million bushels of wheat, and even in 
 1838 the country was so short of the staff of life, as 
 to import 894,000 bushels. Since then, there can be 
 no doubt that a much larger breadth of land has been 
 brought under cultivation, which is a natural conse- 
 quence of the high prices of 1837 and 1838. It is 
 
^^ REPEAL OF CORN LAW5<. 
 
 probable that the country will ever after be able to ex- 
 port grain to a considerable extent, and carry on a 
 most beneficial traffic with that country, which is 
 doomed to revolution, and destruction, under the judi- 
 cial sentence of the amiable and benevolent author of 
 the " Glory and the Shame of England." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TAXATION ON THE WORKING CLASSES IN ENGLAND 
 AND THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 We shall now attempt to estimate the taxation on 
 the laboring man in England. 
 
 We have shown that the difference between the 
 price of wheat in England and in France, is only 20 
 per cent, in favor of the latter, (although we had been 
 assured that every thing was half price on the conti- 
 nent) and from 20 to 25 per cent, in favor of Ameri- 
 ca. So that all the fearful pressure of these corn laws 
 is reduced to a very small amount. We have arrived 
 at the conclusion that the corn laws may have raised 
 the price of wheat 5s. a quarter, which is one-tenth of 
 the whole price at 50s. in an average of ordinary 
 crops. 
 
 Now, suppose a man, with a family of a wife and 
 two young children, to consume four loaves of bread 
 per week, at 9d. each — the annual amount is .£7 16. 
 On which 10 per cent is. £0 15 7 
 
 Add tax on 12 lbs. tea, at Is. 6d. 18 
 
 " "52 lbs. sugar, at 24s. per cwt. 111 
 Taxes on malt, soap, and sundry articles. 10 
 
 ;e2 14 8 
 
 being 13s. 8d. for each individual. 
 
 9 
 
90 TAXES IN BRITAIN, 
 
 In order to test the accuracy of these calculations, 
 we have gone carefully over the various items of the 
 annual taxes paid in Britain, and find in the year 1838> 
 the whole amount was £51,720,762. Of these, the 
 gross amount applicable to the laboring man and his 
 family, is ^620,830,741. The remainder are either 
 taxes on articles, used only by the other classes of the 
 community, or such articles as are generally considered 
 pernicious. In this last class is included tobacco and 
 spirits. 
 
 The various articles comprehended in the sum of 
 jG20,830,741 are, tea, coffee, sugar, malt, hops, soap, 
 paper, glass, timber, cotton, &c. By the return of 
 184 1, the population of Britain and Ireland was 27 
 millions. Supposing it to have been 26 millions in 
 1838, this would give 16s. 4d. for each individual's 
 proportion of this sum. But there are taxes in this 
 list, such as glass, timber, &c. to which the working 
 man does not contribute to great extent, and even on 
 tea and sugar, higher duties are paid by the other 
 classes, as they consume the more expensive kinds of 
 these articles. It is evident that the working man's 
 proportion will not amount to the average of 16s. and 
 that 8s. is probably nearer the mark. But supposing 
 two-thirds of the average to be his proportion, it will 
 amount to 10s. 8d. for each individual, or £2. 2. 8. for 
 a family of four. To this must be added 15s. 7d. being 
 the estimate of additional cost on bread, from the 
 effect of the corn laws, and the whole will be as 
 follows : 
 
TAXES OF A FAMILY. 91 
 
 Family of husband, wife and two children, 
 
 at 10s. 8d. each, - - - - -£2 2 8 
 Corn tax, 15 7 
 
 *£2 18 3 
 Former estimate, - - 2 14 8 
 
 Excess, - - - ^0. 3. 7 
 
 This, it will be observed, exceeds the former esti* 
 
 mate by 3s. 7d. and we are convinced that it will bear 
 
 the strictest scrutiny, and that it is beyond the mark, 
 
 rather than within it. 
 
 We must inquire what proportion the sum of 
 £2. 18. 3, bears to the income of a laborer in England. 
 We shall first take for a standard, the class employed 
 in the cotton manufacture, as it is very large in amount, 
 is the worst paid class in the community, and has been 
 most frequently referred to by our author, in giving 
 his exhibitions of the poverty of the people, and of 
 the vast amount of taxation they have to pay. 
 
 We again refer to Mr. McCulloch, who estimates 
 the number of people employed in the cotton manu- 
 facture as weavers, spinners, bleachers, &c. at 800,000. 
 and that their average wages are ^22 10 per annum, 
 but as a large proportion of the number are children 
 and women, the wages of a grown man must consider- 
 ably exceed the average. We may safely deduct 
 250,000 for women and children, and taking their 
 
 • This is 14s, Sfd. or $3 .64 for each individual. 
 
92 WAGES IN ENGLAND. 
 
 average wages at ^12 per annum, it will leave ^ 
 
 £21. 5. 5. to each of the remaining 550,000. Mr. j 
 McCulloch estimates that besides the 800,000, there 
 
 are 100,000 employed in the same business as engi- ' 
 
 neers, machine makers, smiths, masons, joiners, &c. at i 
 
 ^30 per annum, which is certainly much below the \ 
 
 average of wages earned by such tradesmen, in other j 
 
 departments. The workmen of Birmingham, Sheffield? I 
 
 &c. even in times of great depression, have wages far I 
 
 beyond these rates, and the great mass of carpenters, j 
 
 masons, smiths, &c. have more than double that j 
 
 amount. If these were to be thrown into the scale j 
 
 with the manufacturers, the average rates would be { 
 
 raised at least fifty to sixty per cent. j 
 
 In the same work, is a scale of wages paid at •; 
 
 Greenwich Hospital for a hundred years back. By i 
 
 this, it appears, that for the years from 1819 to 1835, ' 
 the average wages of brick-layers was 4s. 10|d. per 
 
 day ; carpenters 5s. 4d. ; masons 5s. 3d. ; and plumb- j 
 
 ers 5s. 6|d. which in New York currency is from 9s. 9d. I 
 
 to lis. Id. That this average has not declined of late j 
 years, appears from the fact that for the last five years 
 
 of the period, viz. from 1831 to 1835, the wages ; 
 of the descriptions of tradesmen above mentioned, 
 
 were respectively 5s. 5d. — 4s. 9d. — 5s. 3d. and 5s. 3d. \ 
 
 and there is no reason to believe, that any material i 
 alteration has taken place since. It also appears, that 
 in the period from 1819 to 1835, the Hospital has been 
 supphed with bread (of course of the best quality) at 
 
93 
 
 Ig penny per pound, being less than 3^ cents, which 
 is lower than the price in New York at the pre- 
 sent moment. In an estimate of the working man's 
 loaf of 41bs. we have taken it at 9d. while the loaf 
 at Greenwich is only 7d. We were aware that 9d. 
 was rather above the mark, as 7d. is considerably below 
 it, that noble Institution being supplied by contract, 
 probably from 15 to 20 per cent, below the ordinary 
 retail prices. 
 
 We have already ascertained the taxes on the work- 
 ing classes to amount to 14s. 6|d. for each individual. 
 Applying this principle to the large class of cotton 
 weavers, spinners, &c. whose income is ;£27. 5. 6. per 
 annum, it will be found, that it will amount to lOi 
 per cent, on a family of four. Apply the rule to a 
 family of the same size, whose head is a tradesman 
 of one of the kinds employed at Greenwich Hospital, 
 which may be assumed as the general rates in London 
 and its vicinity, and it will not amount to 4 per cent, of 
 the annual income. We may fairly state, without 
 fear of challenge, that the taxes paid by a working 
 man in England, do not exceed 4 to 11 per cent, on 
 his income. 
 
 In making up these statements, as already noticed, 
 we have thrown out of consideration two taxes, to 
 which many of the working classes contribute too 
 largely, viz. tobacco and spirits. In defending the 
 charge of heavy duties, laid by the Government on 
 the necessaries and comforts of the working class, we 
 *9 
 
94- : BRITISH REDUCTION OF TAXATION. 
 
 did not conceive it necessary to include articles which 
 are neither necessaries nor comforts, and which are 
 now very generally considered pernicious. Now, if we 
 have approached the truth in these calculations, which 
 we are fully satisfied we have, what must become of 
 all our author's allegations about the bread tax taking 
 one-third of the working man's income, and of the 
 Manchester porter who paid almost his w^hole income 
 for taxes, and numberless other allegations ? All 
 calumny — got up to make his book sell with ignorant 
 and narrow-minded people, who can see nothing good 
 beyond the sphere of their own contracted experience 
 or observation. 
 
 Tt is deeply to be regretted that the necessities of the 
 country should even require so considerable a part of 
 any working man's income as ten per cent. It was a 
 favorite object of the Whig ministry, to make every 
 possible reduction on taxes affecting the working 
 classes. The leather tax, the salt tax, the beer tax, 
 half the soap tax, and many others, have been abolish- 
 ed within the last few years. Were it possible, with- 
 out injustice to the national creditor, " the most oppres- 
 sive Government on earth" would have gladly taken off 
 every tax that touched the poor man. 
 
 How sincerely desirous they were of giving the 
 freest vent to public opinion, is proved by their reduc- 
 tion of the tax on newspapers, to less than one-third 
 of its amount. And the total change effected in the 
 Post Office system, is one of the greatest triumphs of 
 
AMERICAN POST OFFICE GAG. 95 
 
 modern legislation. Letters can now travel the "whole 
 extent of Britain and Ireland, for one penny each. 
 When did an oppressive Government ever encourage 
 such free communication over the coimtry under its 
 sway ? It is only a Government conscious that they 
 have no other end in view but the good of the mass of 
 the community, that would take such a step. The 
 amount of safe, cheap, and speedy communication now 
 existing in Britain, never existed before in any nation 
 in the world. 
 
 Contrast this with an American house of legislation, 
 carrying a bill up to the very last stage, only a few 
 years ago, granting powers to every post-master to 
 destroy whatever papers he might choose to think in- 
 flammatory. This would have established a Court of 
 Inquisition more arbitrary and more extensive than 
 w^as ever witnessed in the darkest ages of Spain or 
 Italy. For the honor of the country, this atrocious 
 attempt was defeated, although by the narrowest pos- 
 sible majority. But what regard or understanding of 
 the great rights of m.an could exist in a body which 
 could have carried such a measure so far, or what 
 knowledge of liberty could exist in a country quietly 
 looking on while such a measure was so nearly being 
 perpetrated. Doubtless Mr. Lester has been on his 
 knees on account of this measure, thankful that he was 
 born an American ! ! ! 
 
 We shall now make some inquiry into the effect on 
 the working man of The taxes in the United States. 
 
96 AMERICAN TAXES. 
 
 TAXES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 We make no article on this head for the duties 
 chargeable on grain, although it is but very recently 
 that grain was imported to a great extent, and the 
 price must have been affected by these duties, during 
 years of importation. Neither shall we make any 
 statement of the loss on other articles of agricultural 
 produce, from the duties payable upon them. The 
 duty on almost every article of that kind is nearly equal, 
 and on some greatly superior to what it is in England, 
 as will be shown under a separate head. 
 
 We shall take a family of the same kind as in Eng- 
 land, viz. a laborer, his wife, and two young children. 
 Supposing them to use the same quantity of sugar as 
 those in England, the result will be. 
 Tax on 521bs sugar, at 3 cts. - - . 
 
 " on 3^ yds. broadcloth, at $1, - 
 
 " on 20 yds. calico, at 4^ cts. 
 
 " on sundries, such as stockings, gloves, 
 threads, laces, &c. - - - 
 
 $6 96 
 This appears a very moderate estimate ; but suppo- 
 sing the population to amount to 15 millions after de- 
 ducting two millions for the live property of the 
 South, who do not consume many foreign articles, it 
 will produce a larger proportion of customs duties than 
 is actually paid. We shall therefore reduce this to $6 
 
 1 56 
 
 - 3 50 
 
 - 90 
 
 . 1 00 
 
AMERICAN TAXES. 97 
 
 or one and a quarter dollar for each individual, which 
 is $18,750,000 for the whole customs duties. When 
 reducing the duties on foreign goods, payable by each 
 person, we are compelled either to ariive at the con- 
 clusion, that the great mass of the people consume a 
 less quantity of foreign articles than are generally con- 
 sidered essential to comfort, or that the duties are 
 much evaded. 
 
 We shall not give any opinion, as to which is the 
 correct solution of this difficulty. 
 
 But the duties on foreign goods are the smallest part 
 of the burdens imposed on the working-man. The 
 effect of the duties levied on foreign articles, greatly in- 
 creases the price of articles of domestic manufacture. 
 The heavy duties on cotton goods, which ranged from 
 50 to a 100 per cent, before the operation of Mr. Clay's 
 Bill commenced, and the duties on woollen goods of 
 fifty per cent, must have seriously affected the comforts 
 of the working classes. Little does he think, when 
 be puts on his new suit of clothes, or the wife her 
 cahco dress, that so large a proportion of the price goes 
 into the pockets of the customs collector, or the East- 
 ern manufacturer. 
 
 Whatever is necessary for the purposes of revenue, 
 no man of reflection, will for one moment suppose ill- 
 spent. Those who serve the nation in its civil, mihtary, 
 or naval departments have given as just and legitimate 
 value for the money they receive, as the mechanic who 
 
98 AMERICAN TAXES. 
 
 sells his labour, or the merchant his goods. But it is 
 worse than disgusting to hear the tens of thousands of 
 ignorant beings for ever boasting that there are no 
 taxes in the United States. 
 
 The tax on coal we must specially notice, as severe- 
 ly affecting the working classes. The duty, formerly 
 50 per cent, is still about 30 per cent. Such a 
 duty must seriously raise the price of an article, which 
 is absolutely indispensable for every family. 
 
 It is impossible with accuracy to estimate the effect 
 of the premature encouragement given to domestic 
 manufactures. Mr. McCulloch estimates that the loss 
 to the United States before 1832, was 55 to 65 millions 
 dollars annually — say 60,000,000. We suppose the 
 operation of the tariff has lowered this loss to one half, 
 or 30,000,000 per annum. But then the addition of 
 one third must be added for the increased population, 
 which will bring up the loss at the present day to 
 $40,000,000. 
 
 We have no means of knowing the value of articles 
 manufactured in the United States. 
 
 In the year 1836 to 1837, the manufactured goods of 
 Massachusetts, amounted to seventy-seven millions of 
 dollars. We think that the whole manufactures of the 
 United States will not exceed three times that amount. 
 And deducting eleven millions for the amount exported, 
 it will leave two hundred and twenty millions for the 
 value of domestic manufactures consumed in the coun- 
 
PERNICIOUS BANKING SYSTEM. 99 
 
 try, including expense of making up foreign articles.* If 
 we suppose that twenty per cent, has been added to the 
 price, by the duties laid on foreign goods, this makes a 
 loss to the country of forty-four millions dollars. Seven- 
 teen millions of population at two and a half dollars 
 each, will give forty-two and a half millions . 
 
 We think this may be reasonably assumed, as the 
 average loss by the increased price of manufactured 
 goods, which to a family of four, would amount to ten 
 dollars — but as such a family will not consume so much 
 as others of a more wealthy kind, we shall take this at 
 $7 50 — being three fourths of the average rate. Sup- 
 pose such a family to consume three tons of coal, at 
 eight dollars per ton, and that the duty on foreign coal 
 raises the general price ten per cent., this will operate 
 as a tax to the amount of two dollars and forty cents. 
 
 But the heaviest tax of all is the effect of the cur- 
 rency laios. The loss estimated by all classes of the 
 community by the depreciation and worthlessness of 
 the paper currency, is enormous. A comparatively 
 small part of the money passed from hand to hand for 
 family purposes, is at par. It ranges generally from 
 three fourths to five per cent, discount. Constant 
 failures of banks are taking place, and forged bills, and 
 bills of banks failed long ago, are passed in retail trans- 
 
 • Since the above was written we have compared this estimate 
 with the last census returns, and find that it substantially agrees 
 with them ; the manufactures liable to be effected by foreign im- 
 ports considerably exceeding two hundred millions of dollars. 
 
lUO PEaNICIOUS BANKING SYSTEM ] 
 
 actions, and the loss falls often on those who are ill able i 
 to bear it. We shall certainly be within the mark, if j 
 we calculate this at five per cent, on the expenditure 
 of each person. The loss either from a depreciated '' 
 currency and consequent advance on the price of ar- ] 
 tides or direct loss by the sales of bills, will certainly i 
 not be below that amount. j 
 
 It is truly lamentable to see the deplorable manner 
 in which this part of the national business is managed. 
 Safety Fund, Red Back, and every kind of minute plan 
 has been devised, and all have been ineffectual, as must 
 invariably be the case when narrow and trifling legis- 
 tion is applied to an extensive and important question. 
 The true and only remedy is to allow no bank to go 
 into operation, without every one of the partners being 
 made responsible in all their private property, and to 
 allow no bank to issue bills, without a large paid up 
 capital — no partner to sell out without advertising in 
 several newspapers. These simple principles would at 
 once bring the banking system into a safe and advan- 
 tageous state. The very danger to bank partners under 
 such regulations, generally brought forward as an ob- 
 jection, would insure a wise and faithful management, 
 and in a short time, no fears would be entertained of 
 becoming a partner in an institution, which would of 
 course receive a most diligent system of watchfulness^ 
 and have the entire confidence of the community. 
 
- $5 00 
 
 - 7 50 
 
 2 40 
 
 15 40 
 
 TAXES IN AMERICA. lOl 
 
 Suppose the income of a labourer, at one 
 
 dollar per day, it amounts, per annum, to $308 00 
 
 Taxes by duties on foreign goods. 
 Taxes on domestic goods, arising from ope- 
 ration of Tariff, - - - - 
 Taxes on coals, - - - - 
 Five per cent, on Income by loss on bills, 
 
 $30 30 
 This amounts to nearly ten per cent, on his income, 
 lost by the operation of the laws, and but a small part 
 of it paid on account of expenses of government. This 
 gives an amount of <£! 10s. for each individual, while 
 a person in such a situation in England, pays only 
 14s. 6 3-4d. 
 
 The income of the person we have now taken is con- 
 siderably below the class of masons and carpenters, 
 and many other branches of business in England, while 
 the taxes of the one, or the effects of the laws of the 
 country imposes a double burden on this side of the 
 water. If we compare the class of masons and car- 
 penters in this country, with those in England, the re- 
 sult will not be in favor of this country. The wages 
 given here, are from 10 to 12s. per day, New York 
 currency, which may be a little above the English 
 wages. But the vast difference of house rent, chiefly aris- 
 ing from th(? enormous local taxes, consumes a large 
 10 
 
102 AMERICAN LOTAL TAXATION. 
 
 part of the working man's income, and the price of coals 
 is from double, to five times greater here than in Britain. 
 
 On the other hand bread is generally 20 to 25 per 
 cent. ; tea, 40, and sugar 20 to 30 per cent, cheaper in 
 America. Where the wages are nearly equal, the 
 working man's money will go farther, and produce him 
 more comfort, in England than in America. It is to be 
 lamented that there is a very considerable proportion 
 of the working people of England who from low wages 
 do not receive such a proportion of comforts as they 
 would require. 
 
 We think we have distinctly shown that the govern- 
 ment and laws of that country are in no shape to blame 
 for this state of things. We have farther shown that if 
 many of the working classes enjoy advantages here, it 
 does not arise from the government or laws, which 
 have imposed heavier burdens on the working man 
 here, than in the old country. 
 
 The local taxes in the United States which w^e have 
 not taken into account, are much more heavy than in 
 Britain. The tax on property, which includes personal 
 or moveable property laid on in New York, is both er- 
 roneous in principle and heavy in amount, and besides 
 the tax on foreign salt, the poor man's salt is heavily 
 taxed both in New York and Pennsylvania, by the 
 State Legislatures.* 
 
 * It will scarcely be credited in Europe, that the local taxes 
 of New York City, amount in round numbers to one million two 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, being 16s. 8d. sterling, or 
 above four doUars for each man, woman, and child. This is very 
 
103 
 
 While on this subject, we cannot help noticing the 
 Hobson's Choice given to the citizens of this state, 
 either to be a soldier, to draw a fire engine, or become 
 a juryman. The soldier or militia man's service, 
 we think no hardship. Every man who loves his 
 country, should not grudge a small part of his time to 
 qualify him to defend it ; although there is no risk of 
 the country ever again encountering an enemy, if 
 their own folly does not convert into enemies those 
 who are sincerely desirous of being their friends ; and 
 the military spirit should not be too much encouraged. 
 
 The firemen we always look on with compassion. 
 They are a doomed race. The whole system is the 
 worst that can be conceived. It contains unmixed ele- 
 ments of disorder, and mischief, which are necessarily 
 forever developing themselves. If the act estabhshing 
 it had been entitled " an act for the more effectually de- 
 moralizing a number of promising young men, and for in- 
 flicting as much annoyance as possible on the people of 
 New York," it would have been most appropriate. 
 We trust many escape the contagion, but we contend 
 that its construction and tendencies are decidedly mis- 
 chievous. It is not possible that a system so far be- 
 hind the age can continue much longer. 
 
 far beyond the amount of taxes paid by any city in Britain of the 
 same extent. The taxes of Glasgow, which contains about the 
 same number of inhabitants as New York, certainly do not amount 
 to one third of this sum. 
 
104 ELECTION SYSTEM. 
 
 The duty of a juryman in this state is most oppressive. 
 This duty ought to be regarded as a privilege, and not 
 a burden. Wisely administered, it is one of the most 
 valuable institutions of a free country. The length of 
 time jurymen are kept from their business, owing to 
 the narrowness of the jury list, and the unnecessary 
 length of trials, imposes a burden on that class of the 
 community greater than the amount of all the taxes, 
 on men of the same income in England. This is a 
 strong statement, but it admits of proof. 
 
 The time consumed in elections in this country is ano- 
 ther serious tax. The frequency of their return has 
 occasioned a class of men to be formed who seem to 
 have nothing else to do than to attend to politics. If 
 the amount of time spent in a year about elections, 
 were calculated, it would be found to diminish by a 
 vast sum the value of the productive labor of the coun- 
 try. Much capital might be accumulated, which is 
 lost from this cause. We are only speaking of unne- 
 cessary time; for the country has a claim to a cer- 
 tain portion of each man's time to attend to public 
 affairs. Other duties will tell him when to stop. 
 Those who exceed that limit, are generally least quali- 
 fied to assist in the management of public affairs. 
 
CHAPTER VIL 
 
 BRITISH AND AMERICAN COMMERCIAL SYSTEMS. 
 
 We begin by examining Mr. Lester's statements 
 about the ruin of British commerce. In reference to 
 Britain, Mr. Lester, in vol. 2d, page 264, says : " her 
 monopohzing policy has recoiled upon herself, and now 
 she cannot find a market for half she is able to pro- 
 duce, and her manufactures are fast declining. The 
 facts of the case arc most astonishing, and in our coun- 
 try but little known." 
 
 AVhat a mercy it is that such a splendid genius has 
 arisen to illuminate the Western Hemisphere ! Again 
 he says, " By her refusing to receive the corn of 
 Europe and America, these countries are no longer 
 able to purchase her goods ; and from being her cus- 
 tomers, they have turned to be her rivals. English 
 exports have fallen off rapidly." Let us see again, 
 whether the Rev. author be speaking correctly. In 
 the year 1836, ending fifth January, 1837, Britain 
 and Ireland exported the vast amount of domestic 
 manufactured goods and produce alone, of ^£53,293,979, 
 real value. In 1837, chiefly from the great decline in 
 the American demand, her exports fell to je42,069,245. 
 
106 BRITISH TRADE. 
 
 But from the buoyancy of British enterprise, in the 
 very next year, 1838, the exports rose again to 
 ^£50,060,970, and in the following year the ground she 
 had lost was almost entirely recovered, as the exports 
 of England alone amounted to ^52,701,509; and if 
 Ireland exported the same as in the previous year, the 
 total will be je53,121,583. 
 
 The void thus occasioned by the reverse in the Ame- 
 rican trade, was nearly filled up in two years, partly 
 from the revival of that trade, but more considerably, 
 from an increase in other quarters. And thus ends 
 Mr. Lester's " fast declining exports.'- 
 
 This revival of trade shows the absurdity of the alle- 
 gation about 40,000 operatives being out of employ- 
 ment in Manchester, in June 1840, and it is apparent, 
 that the more recent distresses have been chiefly confin- 
 ed to those houses w^hich have suffered from the conse- 
 quences of the American speculations of 1835 and '6.* 
 
 But our author becomes more particular in the facts, 
 which are " little knowm". " In 1833 she sent to va- 
 rious parts of the world, 8,000,000 yards of velveteen, 
 and in 1835 only half that quantity." What a Solon ! 
 How could velveteens be sold, when they were going 
 out of fashion ? 
 
 Now, in 1833, the exports of British manufactures, 
 were ^639,305,000, and in 1836, ^£53,293,979. So 
 
 * Paisley, where the recent distress has fallen heaviest, has 
 been principally manufacturing for the American market, and her 
 manufacturers have been ruined by that connection. 
 
LESTER ON VELVETEENS. 107 
 
 Mr. Lester may be easy about bis velveteens. But 
 again, he says, " Britain in 1833 exported of cotton 
 goods to Germany, 29,500,000 yards. In 1838 only 
 one quarter as much." As cotton goods are a great 
 article of export to that country, the cursory reader 
 will naturally suppose, that the exports to Germany 
 had fallen oif to a quarter of their previous amount. 
 Now the fact is, that in 1833 Britain exported to Ger- 
 many, manufactures to the amount of ^£4,355,000, and 
 in 1838 to the amount of ^£4,988,000, being an in- 
 crease of fifteen per cent. 
 
 A still more extraordinary statement remains. 
 '* The quantity (of cotton goods) sent to Russia in 
 1820, was 13,200,000 yards ; in 1837 (we suppose our 
 author means 1827) only 847,000, and in 1837 not 
 one yard." Now, in 1837, Britain exported to Russia, 
 of white or plain cotton, 980,779 yards, and of printed 
 or dyed cottons, 145,760 yards. The total declared 
 or real value of all the cotton exports to Russia that 
 year, where, we are informed, not one yard was ex- 
 ported, was jG 1,669,855. The total exports of all 
 kinds to the same quarter, was ^62,046,592. 
 
 We are then told " that in 1815 England supplied 
 the whole commercial world with hosiery ; but in 
 1838, while she sent 447,000 dozens to the 'West In- 
 dies, Saxony sent a million and a half." We have no 
 means of checking the accuracy of this statement, 
 although we doubt not that it would exhibit the 
 author's usual correctness. We know, however, that 
 
108 LESTER PARTIAL 
 
 the gross exports to the British and Foreign West In» 
 diesj were, in 1833, je3,356,345, and in 1838, 
 X4,360,129, being an increase of about thirty per cent, 
 in five years. 
 
 We are farther told " that throughout the continent, 
 manufactures of almost every kind are springing up ; 
 and there is not a country there, that does not bristle 
 with steam engines, and factory chimnies." 
 
 Why did not our author go over, and get some Ger- 
 man nobleman to show him the curiosities of the sys- 
 tem, which is so emphatically condemned in England ? 
 If the Germans are underselling England, it must be 
 under the disadvantage of inferior capital and ma- 
 chinery, and can only be effected by wages being a 
 great deal lower there, than in England. Really he 
 should deal his favors more equally. Has he no feel- 
 ings for the poor German operatives ? Oh ! no. Nor 
 would he have expressed any for the English, except- 
 ing for the opportunity it afforded of bringing a railing 
 accusation against England and her government. 
 
 But our author again states, " many of these nations are 
 now England's powerful rivals." And why not ? A 
 nation so proud, so unjust, and oppressive, the sooner 
 she is pulled down the better. We entreat the Rev. 
 author not to take on so sadly. " Within the last 
 two years they have exported their goods to Britain, 
 paid heavy duties, and undersold the English manufac- 
 turer on his own ground." Now we wish our travel- 
 ler had been a Httle more particular about the kinds of 
 of goods, and value, that he alludes to. 
 
AND INJUDICIOUS. 109 
 
 But he is right for once. He has been so unfortu- 
 nate in his facts, that he has on this occasion, abstain- 
 €d from giving any. Well would it have been for 
 him, if he had poured out the vials of his puny indig- 
 nation against Britain, without giving these particular 
 statements, for they are highly dangerous, as we have 
 often shown. If before commencing his book he had 
 consulted a friend, he might have received from him 
 the advice once given to a judge, who had just been 
 raised to the bench, and who was Httle distinguished 
 for his wisdom, or legal knowledge. " Now sir, (said 
 this judicious friend,) when you give a decision, never 
 give any reasons j your judgments may pass without 
 note or comment, but if you attempt to give rationes 
 decidendi, you are undone." 
 
 But to return to the subject, it must be matter of 
 sincere delight, that the long period of peace which has 
 existed on the continent of Europe, is beginning to pro- 
 duce its legitimate effects on the habits of the people. 
 So long an interval of peace has not occurred for seve- 
 ral centuries, and security of property and industrious 
 habits, are now taking the place of a state of war, and 
 all the evils which for ever attend it. How much 
 more desirable must it be, to every friend of the human 
 race, to see those regions bristling with steam engines, 
 which used to bristle with cannon and musquetry, and 
 all the murderous appliances of war.* 
 
 • It has been customary with the advocates of Protection, to 
 point to the results of the Prussian League, as affording undenia- 
 
110 FREE TRADE BENEFICAL. 
 
 If the industrious and steady Germans can send cheaper 
 hosiery into the West Indies, than the British, let them 
 do so, by all means. The West Indies cannot take 
 their hosiery and pay for them, but by sending them in 
 return, additional supplies of sugar or of coffee, and 
 both parties will be benefitted by the transaction. And 
 if they undersell the British manufacturer, in his own 
 home market, let them do so. They can only get pay- 
 ment, by taking some article that Britain can furnish 
 cheaper than her German neighbors. There is no 
 other way of settling the account. The Germans will 
 not be asked, neither can they afford to take state 
 bonds, and bank shares, in return. Britain can alone 
 afford to carry on that trade, but it is now " used up,'" 
 as they say in America. 
 
 But how contradictory is this allegation of Britain get- 
 ting German goods, thrown into the home market, to the 
 statements we for ever hear about British restrictions. 
 Does our author not see, that this statement is in direct 
 contradiction to his often repeated allegations ? 
 
 ble evidence of the advantage of keeping out foreign goods. And 
 the improvements which have lately taken place in Germany, in 
 raanufactmes and agriculture, and the rise in the value of land, are 
 triumphantly pointed at as the result of the restrictive system. 
 Now we arrive at quite an opposite conclusion, being of opinion, 
 that the country has improved in spite of the restrictive system. 
 Other and more powerful causes, which we have noticed above 
 have produced these beneficial and natural results. And we 
 trust it will be long before this happy state of things is disturb- 
 ed. 
 
AMERICAN DUTIES. Ill 
 
 Our author says, page 255, " Every American knows 
 that we can manufacture every thing we want/*' 
 Why don't you do it then ? Just simply, because 
 you have not the means, for want of capital and popu- 
 lation. Why not begin by building a steamboat to 
 cross the Atlantic, which we are for ever annoy- 
 ed about, as just being begun ? " American manufac- 
 tures against the world," was inscribed on the gate of 
 the annual exhibition at New York. Such acts of 
 silly bombast only throw an air of ridicule over insti- 
 tutions, in themselves most praiseworthy, for exciting 
 the industry and mechanical talent of this rising coun- 
 try. 
 
 Again we are told that " to protect our manufac- 
 tures, and defend ourselves against her exclusive legis- 
 lation, we have imposed heavy duties upon goods, and 
 as she seems determined to pursue a line of policy, so 
 suicidal to herself, and so unjust to others, when our 
 heaviest duties on her commodities were about to cease, 
 Congress has deemed it expedient to renew them.'' 
 Now where did our most veritable author get this 
 news ? It never came from Washington. Congress 
 has not voted the high duties to be contiuned. It has 
 wisely allowed the operation of Mr. Clay's bill to go 
 on, till the duties are reduced to 20 per cent, ad valo- 
 rem, and placed the same rate of duty, (with the ex- 
 ception of a few articles,) on such goods as were 
 formerly admitted free of duty. These new duties 
 were placed, not as a protection, but to raise a reve- 
 
112 NEW KIND OF GURSE. 
 
 nue, which the necessities of the country require. 
 A more judicious course could not have been adopted^ 
 and we trust it will not be disturbed by any after pro- 
 ceedings. ^ 
 
 But here our author comes again ; ^' If the duties we \ 
 impose (what duties'?) inflict keener sorrows upon the 
 tortured English operatives, we are not to blame : ; 
 England has driven us to it — w^e should be insane, not ] 
 to guard ourselves against her destructive enactments, i 
 It was a long time before our importers saw the folly i 
 of sending away millions of specie every year, for i 
 English goods, while she refused to receive our grain ' 
 in payment. But they do see, and feel it now, and it j 
 will be long before we are again cursed wdth the enor- i 
 mous importations of 1835 and 1836." We cry you ' 
 mercy, most Rev. author, we must inquire first, on 
 whose head the curse has fallen. War, famine, and ] 
 pestilence, are universally admitted to be unqualified ; 
 evils, but a great supply of valuable commodities en- \ 
 trusted on the faith of national honor and integrity, 
 can only be converted into a curse, by the abuse of the 
 confidence reposed in her. But be not uneasy, this ' 
 kind of curse wull not occur again speedily. The 
 credit of the States must be better, before Britain will ' 
 send sixty-two millions and a half of goods in one ! 
 year. | 
 
 It appears that, notwithstanding Britain has destroy- | 
 ed her trade, by her horrid and unjust duties, (" Oh ! the 
 folly, the madness of Enghsh statesmen" — page 269) ■ 
 
BALANCE OF TRADE. 113 
 
 she still has some trade, even with the United States. 
 By the annual statement of American trade, end- 
 ing September, 1840, the United States exported 
 $132,000,000, and imported only $ 107,000,000, leav- 
 ing a balance of $25,000,000 as excess of exports. 
 
 The Evening Post (Nov. 1841) says, the excess of 
 our exports was nearly all in trade, with Great Britain. 
 It is added, " our trade with Great Britain and France 
 takes about two-thirds of all our exports, and employs 
 about one-third of the shipping employed in foreign 
 trade." Again, what horrid things these figures are. 
 How they break in on the calculations of such a politi- 
 cal economist as Mr. Lester. We would advise him to 
 study the exact science of mathematics, before pub- 
 lishing his next work. 
 
 How gratifying it must be, to those who have been 
 so seriously lamenting that Americans received every 
 thing from abroad, and sent nothing in exchange, that 
 they are at last in the way of making money by 
 these transactions, having actually sent away twenty- 
 five millions more than they have received, in the 
 course of the last year, of which we yet have a re- 
 turn. 
 
 We lately saw a published report of a speech by 
 Gen. Tallmadge, at the National Institute, in which it 
 is gravely asserted, that millions of gold are annual- 
 ly sent to France for her manufactures, and that France 
 takes no goods in return. How is it possible for the 
 American public to swallow such nonsense, in opposi- 
 
 n 
 
114 ENLARGED BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 tion to the official statements from their own authori- 
 tieS; regularly laid before the world. 
 
 In a late New York newspaper, was an ad captan- 
 dwn article, showing that there was not a material of 
 any kind, either for use, or for manufactures, which 
 America did not produce, and that in a short time, she 
 would not only manufacture every thing for her own 
 use, but go into every market which Britain has for 
 her goods, and take the whole trade. As she is pos- 
 sessed of every thing at home, it follows that for these 
 vast exports, she neither can, nor will take any thing 
 in return. Now, here is a plan, at least most disinter- 
 ested, and benevolent, which throws an entirely new 
 light on American character. She will feed and clothe 
 the world, all for love. We hope she does not intend 
 to leave Britain out of her scheme, but that when under 
 the influence of this sudden and unwonted generosity, 
 she will make her benevolence as extended, as it is ex- 
 traordinary. 
 
 But before carrying this plan into execution, it 
 might be prudent to inquire, whether she will not in- 
 jure the recipients of her bounty, by the idleness which 
 her generosity w^ill occasion. Probably the rest of 
 mankind might be employed in music, painting, and 
 other branches of the Fine Arts, if the philanthropy, 
 or spirit of competition of the United States, will allow 
 her friends even to retain these employments. But 
 seriously, there is in the present aspect of the pub- 
 lic matters of this country, much to awaken the 
 
AMERICAN TRADE. "115 
 
 most anxious attention of all who really wish to see 
 her prosperous. 
 
 We subjoin a statement of the Exports and Im- 
 ports of the United States, for the last twenty years ; 
 with the excess on each side. 
 
 TABLE NO. 1. 
 
 Table of Exports and Imports from 30th September 1820, to 
 30th September 1840. 
 
 
 Exports. 
 
 Imports, Exc. Exports. Exc. Imports. 
 
 1821 
 
 $64,974,382 
 
 $62,585,724 
 
 $2,383,658 
 
 $ 
 
 1822 
 
 72,160,281 
 
 83,241,541 
 
 
 11,081,260 
 
 1823 
 
 74,699,030 
 
 77,579,267 
 
 
 2,880,237 
 
 1824 
 
 75,986,657 
 
 80,549,007 
 
 
 4,562,350 
 
 1825 
 
 99,535,338 
 
 96,340,075 
 
 3,195,313 
 
 
 1826 
 
 77,595,322 
 
 84,974,477 
 
 
 7,379,155 
 
 1827 
 
 82,324,826 
 
 79,484,068 
 
 2,840,759 
 
 
 1828 
 
 72,264,686 
 
 88,509,824 
 
 
 16,245,138 
 
 1829 
 
 72,358,671 
 
 74,492,527 
 
 
 2,133,856 
 
 1830 
 
 73,849,508 
 
 70,876,920 
 
 2,972,588 
 
 
 1831 
 
 81,310,583 
 
 103,191,134 
 
 
 21,880,551 
 
 1832 
 
 87,176,943 
 
 101,029,266 
 
 
 13,852,323 
 
 1833 
 
 90,140,433 
 
 108,118,311 
 
 
 17,977,878 
 
 1834 
 
 104,336,973 
 
 126,521,332 
 
 
 22,184,359 
 
 1835 
 
 121,693,577 
 
 149,895,742 
 
 
 28,202,165 
 
 1836 
 
 128,663,040 
 
 189,980,035 
 
 
 61,316,995 
 
 1837 
 
 117,419,376 
 
 140,986,217 
 
 
 23,566,841 
 
 1838 
 
 108,486,616 
 
 113,717,404 
 
 
 5,230,788 
 
 1839 
 
 121,028,416 
 
 169,092,132 
 
 
 48,063,716 
 
 1840 
 
 132,000,000 
 
 107,000,000 
 
 25,000,000 
 
 
116 AMERICAN TRADE. 
 
 We earnestly request the attention of our readers to 
 the foregoing statement. It will be observed, that for 
 nine years, from 1831 to 1839 inclusive, the United 
 States have imported every year a large amount be- 
 yond their exports, and in whole to the great extent 
 of above two hundred and forty -two milHons of dol- 
 lars, or above forty-eight millions of pounds sterling. 
 
 How is this excess of imports to be accounted for 1 
 In no other way, than from the large amount of bonds 
 sold in the European markets. Let the ten years pre- 
 vious to 1831 be examined, and it w411 be found, that 
 only thirty-three milhons were imported, more than were 
 exported. This may be fairly accounted for, as the 
 profits drawn on foreign shipments. Some part of the 
 two hundred and forty-two millions may be also placed 
 to the same account, and a considerable sum, to the 
 losses sustained by the failure of houses in America. 
 But the largest part must undoubtedly be placed to ac- 
 count of State bonds, bank and other stocks sold in 
 Europe, of which we formerly estimated Britain's share 
 at one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. 
 
 It has been customary to call a balance of imports be- 
 yond exports, an unfavorable balance, but modern 
 principles of political economy, have shown that the 
 reverse is the correct deduction. We know every 
 merchant thinks so. We should consider that man in 
 an unsound state of mind, who should boast, that his 
 trade had this year been most prosperous, for he had 
 actually sold five hundred thousand dollars' worth, and 
 
BALANCE OF TRADE. 117 
 
 received four hundred thousand dollars' worth in ex- 
 change. If any man was making this statement in 
 company, would he get a single individual to join him 
 in his self gratification 1 Certainly not. And what is 
 beneficial to individuals, must also be beneficial to the 
 whole community. 
 
 The amount of foreign capital thus intrusted to the 
 management of the people of the United States has 
 unquestionably put in progress many great public 
 works, which are necessary for developing the re- 
 sources of the country. Had it been all prudently 
 and carefully applied, the public benefit derived would 
 have been much greater. That much of it has been 
 wasted, is not the fault of the lenders. Yet how 
 common is it to hear of the hardship imposed on this 
 country, in paying so much interest to foreigners. 
 The disowning of so many State Bonds, has inflicted 
 a blow on this country, that she will not recover for 
 many years, unless the policy of these states is in- 
 stantly changed. 
 
 And now the consequences of these disgraceful acts 
 are beginning to appear. Twenty-five millions of dol- 
 lars are withdrawn in the year ending September, 
 1840, as the previous table shows. Mr. Lester, and 
 those who think with him, will rejoice at this result. 
 They are in truth most indignant at the importations, 
 and declare they will not have them. The Evening 
 Post rejoices at the balance being in the favor of Amer- 
 ica, and in short the congratulation is loud and strong, 
 11* 
 
118 CONSEQUENCES OF REPUDIATION. 
 
 that capital has at last begun to leave the country. 
 The credit of the States stood so high in Europe, from 
 the punctuality with which their interest was wont to 
 be paid, that they might have drawn up capital from 
 that quarter to any amount, which could be beneficially 
 employed. Now all is changed. There will, since the 
 denial of the debts, he no extra importations. John 
 Bull has only received abuse for his past confidence, 
 and will no longer give his cloths and calicoes, but 
 for cotton, tobacco, rice or flour. Oh I but the great 
 exports take away the gold, and the importers will no 
 longer carry on that trade — what folly ! Does any 
 importer shape his transactions on other basis than 
 his own interest ? If he were to assume any other rule, 
 provided his operations are all consistent with law and 
 justice, he would injure the pubhc, instead of benefitting 
 it. He imports as many goods as he can sell safely, 
 and with a profit, and remits the payment in the most 
 economical shape. How often has this absurdity about 
 specie been refuted. It is merely an article of traflSc 
 the same as any other. The merchant rarely makes 
 his remittances in specie. Generally, he buys a bill of 
 exchange, representing cotton or some other commodity, 
 which has been sent to Britain or France, and in this 
 way settles his debt. Occasionally, when exchange is 
 difficult to be procured, and of course the premium is 
 high, and specie in demand in Europe, he will make his 
 remittance in specie, provided he can save a quarter 
 or half per cent, on the rate of a bill, after paying 
 he expense of freight and insurance. 
 
LUXURIES AND NECESSARIES. 2l9 
 
 He never thinks of regulating the exchange, or pre- 
 serving the specie at home. He regulates his own af- 
 fairs only. But this very operation regulates the ex- 
 change, without his intending it. Others remit in the 
 same way, and this lightens the demand for bills, and 
 reduces the premium. The supply of gold sent abroad 
 lowers the price there, and raises the price here, and it 
 flows back again in remittances from England and 
 France. 
 
 This is all very plain, and is known to every banker, 
 and many banker's clerks in Wall street. But in the 
 face of all this, politicians and spouters at public meet- 
 ings, are forever annoying us, about gold paid for Bri- 
 tish cloths and French gew gaws. We cannot turn 
 ourselves in any direction, without hearing of the drain 
 of gold arising from the importation of foreign goods. 
 An amusing instance of this was given in a late num- 
 ber of the New York Tribune, where a grave enumer- 
 ation appears of luxuries imported in the last year, 
 and the cost of these luxuries. After mentioning silks, 
 wines and other articles, which are to a certain extent 
 luxuries, the editor adds butter and cheese. To show 
 the different kind of value given by the States for these 
 luxuries, all the specie and coin exported, is set down 
 against them, and a variety of other articles which are 
 said to be much more indispensable than the foreign 
 luxuries. What does the reader think is one of the 
 heads to balance the cheese and butter imports, but 
 BUTTER AND CHEESE EXPORTED to a far greater amount 
 
120 SUMPTUARY CODE. 
 
 than the importation of these articles. The Bullion im- 
 ported within the same period is not set down against the 
 exports of Bullion, as it ought in all fairness to have been, 
 but is reserved to balance some unknown articles, not de- 
 nounced by the sumptuary code of the worthy editor of 
 that paper; and butter and cheese are held to be 
 luxuries when imported into the United States, but 
 articles of necessity when exported. We are always 
 sorry when such oddities appear in a paper so much 
 entitled to respect, particularly for its able and honest 
 exertions to prevent the repudiation of the State debts. 
 
 The " Home League" for the protection of Ameri- 
 can Industry, have drawn up a Memorial to Congress 
 in which is the following clause—" without the preser- 
 vation and encouragement of the great mechanical and 
 manufacturing interests, hy securing to them the home 
 market free from all disturbance from abroad, no sound 
 system of finance can exist. By this process of unpro- 
 fitable exchanges, which for the last ten years we have 
 by unwise legislation encouraged, Europe has already 
 obtained from us, not only the gold and silver our com- 
 merce could accumulate, but two hundred milHons of 
 public and corporate credit has passed into the hands 
 of foreign capitalists, in exchange of what we should 
 have manufactured for ourselves, thereby exciting a 
 drain upon our industry far more burdensome than a 
 tax of ten millions annually." 
 
 There is much to comment upon in this extract, and 
 in other parts of this memorial, but for the present we 
 
EFFECT ON SPECIE. 121 
 
 notice only the effect said to have arisen by unprofita- 
 ble exchanges, drawing the specie from the country. 
 We wish that some of the writers on this side of the 
 question would have favored their readers with the 
 figures of the case. But they have studiously abstained 
 from doing so, as far as we have observed, knowing 
 that the result of an examination, from facts, would 
 settle the question against them for ever, and we entreat 
 the reader to go along writh us, while we supply the 
 deficiencies of these political economists. We subjoin 
 a statement of the exports and imports of specie and 
 coin from and to the United States, from 1st October, 
 1820, to 1st October, 1840, being the precise period 
 embraced in Table No. 1. 
 
122 TRADE IN COIN AND BULLION. 
 
 TABLE No. 2. 
 
 Table of Exports and Imports of Coin and Specie Exported from, 
 and Imported into, the United States from 1st October, 1820^ 
 to 1st October, 1840. 
 
 Exports. Imports. Exc. Exports. Exc. Imports. 
 
 1821, $10,478,059 ^8,064,890 $2,413,169 
 
 1822, 10,810,180 3,369,845 7,440,334 
 
 1823, 6,372,987 5,097,896 1,275,091 
 
 1824, 7,014,552 8,379,835 .. 1,365,283 
 
 1825, 8,797,055 6,150,765 2,646,290 
 
 1826, 4,098,678 6,880,966 .. 2,782,288 
 
 1827, 6,971,306 8,151,130 .. 1,179,824 
 
 1828, 8,243,476 7,489,741 753,735 
 
 1829, 4,924,020 7,403,612 .. 2,479,592 
 
 1830, 1,241,622 8,155,964 .. 6,914,342 
 
 1831, 9,014,931 7,305,945 1,708,986 
 
 1832, 5,656,540 5,907,504 .. 250,964 
 
 1833, 2,244,859 7,070,368 .. 4,825,509 
 
 1834, 1,676,258 17,911,263 ., 16,235,374 
 
 1835, 6,477,775 13,131,447 .. 6,653,672 
 
 1836, 4,324,336 13,400,881 .; 9,076,545 
 
 1837, 4,692,730 10,516,414 .. 5,823,684 
 
 1838, 3,058,047 17,747,116 .. 14,239,070 
 
 1839, 8,775,443 5,574,263 3,201,180 
 
 1840, 8,417,014 3,554,631 4,862,383 
 
 We beg our readers to compare the above with 
 Table No. 1, which we gave in a previous page, 
 showing the total exports and imports for the same 
 years. On the principle laid down in the Home League 
 Memorial, whenever the balance of imports of goods 
 exceeds the exports, the gold should be drained from 
 
SPECIE BALANCES. 123 
 
 the country, and in the reverse when the exports are 
 largest, the balance should be received from abroad in 
 bulhon. 
 
 Now on casting the eye over Table No. 1, it will be 
 observed, that in five years only of the twenty years, 
 do the exports of the United States exceed the imports, 
 viz. in 1821, 1825, 1827, 1830, and 1840 ; and in all 
 these years, according to the theory of the Home 
 League, and Protectionists, balances of specie should 
 have been received by the Union. But let table No. 2, 
 be examined, and it will be found that in two of these 
 years only, was a specie balance received, viz : in 1827 
 and 1830 — while in the remaining three years, viz. in 
 1821, 1825, and 1840, specie balances were exported. 
 It will also be found that for the whole five years the 
 account will stand as follows : 
 
 Balance export of specie, 1821, - $2,413,169 
 Ditto, ditto, 1825, - - 2,646,290 
 
 Ditto, ditto, 1840, - 4,862,383 
 
 $9,921,842 
 
 Deduct balance imports, 1827, $1,179,824 
 
 Ditto, ditto, 1830, 6,914,342 8,094,166 
 
 Balance exported, - - - $1,827,676 
 
 So that in a period of five years, in which the general 
 exports exceeded the imports, as shown in table No» 1, 
 it is made evident from table No. 2, that the result has 
 been attended with an export of specie, to the amount 
 of $1,827,676. 
 
124 SPECIE BALANCES. 
 
 Let us now turn to the other side of the account, and 
 see how the specie operations are affected, when the 
 general imports exceed the general exports, which 
 was the case during the other fifteen years of the period 
 in table No, 1. During these fifteen years, two hund- 
 red and eighty-six millions of imports were received 
 beyond the exports, which ought to have deprived the 
 United States of every dollar and eagle in her posses- 
 sion, if the theory we are contending against had been 
 correct. But an examination of table No. 2, will 
 show that during five years only of the fifteen, was a 
 balance of specie exported, and during the remaining 
 ten years, large balances were imported. 
 
 The five years, viz. 1822, 1823, 1828, 1830 and 
 1839, show a gross export of specie beyond the im- 
 port, of $14,376,326, while the remaining ten years 
 show a balance of import of - - $63,731,981 
 From which deduct the export of the 
 
 five years, - - . . 14,379,326 
 
 Leaving balance imported, $49,352,655 
 
 So that during a period of fifteen years, with a most 
 unfavorable balance of trade, according to the doctrine 
 of the League, no less than $49,352^655 of specie 
 balance has been received ; and if from that sum the 
 $ 1,827,676 exported during the first noticed five years 
 be deducted, a specie balance for the whole twenty 
 years will remain to the United States of $47,524,979. 
 Let us notice some particular years of this period. 
 
BALANCE OF TRADE. 125 
 
 In 1834, the general imports exceeded the exports 
 twenty-two millions, and yet sixteen millions of specie 
 balance was imported. In 1836, when the excess of 
 imports reached sixty-two millions, and it might have 
 been expected that if the old specie balance theory 
 had any foundation, it would have shown itself j even 
 then, above nine millions of balance in specie was re- 
 ceived. And in 1838, after the convulsion of 1837 
 had occurred, above fourteen millions of specie excess 
 was received. Is any thing more wanted to show that 
 the theory of the balance of trade being paid by spe- 
 cie, is a mere fallacy ? 
 
 Take the year 1840 : after long and anxious watch- 
 ings of the sky for a shower of gold, expected to fall 
 in enormous quantities, and not contented that the pre- 
 vious eight years had added so largely to the stock of 
 bullion, this year of jubilee at last appears. The ex- 
 ports at length exceed the imports by twenty-five 
 millions, and instead of specie being drawn in by this 
 altered state of things, what is the result ? the ex'port 
 of gold has exceeded the import by $4,862,383. 
 There cannot be a more clear proof of the correctness 
 of the political economists of the day, who contend 
 that bullion is merely an article of traffic, the same as 
 any other, and that it is carried wherever it will bring 
 the highest price. 
 
 If it be objected to our reasoning that the large 
 importations into the United States have been balanced 
 
 by the sales of stocks, and that the drain of specie 
 12 
 
126 USES OF SPECIE. 
 
 from this country has been prevented alone by this 
 cause ; we admit that these operations have kept the 
 general balance between this country and Europe in a 
 state of equilibrium, but deny that any permanent 
 drain of specie could have taken place, although they 
 had not existed. The exchange being against a coun- 
 try, as we have already shown, may for a time cause 
 some remittances to be made in specie, but that is soon 
 corrected by the rise of the price in the country which 
 exported, and the fall in that country to which it is 
 sent. 
 
 It is precisely the same as if a redundancy of broad- 
 cloth should occur in the American warehouses, and 
 from some cause, a temporary rise on the same article 
 take place in England. The moment it was found 
 that broadcloth was the most advantageous way of 
 remitting payment of a debt in England, it would be 
 bought up and sent. But after a certain number of 
 transactions had occurred, and this new market came to 
 be known, broadcloth w^ould naturally rise here, and 
 the moment it could not form a profitable remittance, 
 the merchant would look out for some mode of dis- 
 charging his foreign debt. It is exactly so with 
 specie. 
 
 Besides, it is not the interest of any country to have 
 too great a supply of it for a circulating medium. It 
 does not settle large or distant transactions, excepting 
 to a very limited extent, and under particular circum- 
 stances. It is chiefly useful for the smaller transac- 
 
CAUSES OF EXPORTATION. 121 
 
 tions of retail business, and as a fund for keeping bank 
 paper at its proper level. When carried beyond this, 
 it only sinks an unnecessary amount of capital. The 
 exports of gold in 1839 and 1840, have in part arisen 
 from the loss of credit of the country. They have also 
 been partly occasioned by political causes. When the 
 absurd cry of war was raised in Spring, 1839, about 
 the miserable wastes of the North-East frontier, then 
 did the flow of specie from this country commence, and 
 it has been continued in 1840, though to a small ex- 
 tent in either year. The necessities of the Bank of 
 England, which caused her to take such stringent mea- 
 sures in the reduction of her paper, have also assisted 
 in this drain. These necessities are now supplied, and 
 the demand having ceased from that quarter, and as 
 the chance of foreign war decreases, the specie will 
 naturally flow back into its usual channels. It forms 
 an article of remittance during panics arising from 
 political causes, and in all sudden emergencies, such as 
 when Britain imported corn so largely in 1839 and 
 1840. But it is not the general payer of balances be- 
 tween nations, and cannot indeed be, as the returns 
 given abundantly show. 
 
 It wdll further be found, that the assertion is utterly 
 groundless, that the operation of Mr. Clay's bill, by 
 reducing duties, has drained the country of gold. So 
 far from this being the case, during the first twelve 
 years in No. 2 table, viz. from 1821 to 1832 inclusive, 
 when the duties on foreign goods were all very high, a 
 specie balance was actually paid by the United States 
 
128 SPECIE BALANCES. 
 
 of $1,265,312, while in the remaining eight years 
 from 1833 to 1840, a balance has been received of 
 $48,790,291. Yet in the face of this we are told that 
 free trade takes the specie from the country. So far from 
 this, it appears that under the heavy restrictions that 
 were imposed on foreign commerce, in the period from 
 1821 to 1832, all the specie acquired from the mines of 
 South America by this country, was exported, and 
 $1,265,312 in addition, and on the other hand, since 
 the lowering of the duties, above forty-nine millions of 
 dollars in specie have been drawn in, under the sys- 
 tem which is now sought to be overturned. It will 
 be well to weigh this important fact, before irremedi- 
 able evil is done. 
 
 Again, if it be alleged, that the large influx of spe- 
 cie of late years arises from South America, it is an- 
 swered by the fact that nearly thirty millions were re- 
 ceived from Europe from 1834 to 1838, while less than 
 twenty millions were exported to all places, during that 
 period. 
 
 The Union is now paying up a part of what was 
 lent to improve the country with. The undertakings 
 are not finished, but no more capital can be got from 
 Europe, till the United States acknowledge their just 
 and lawful debts. 
 
 We shall now notice the agitated question of the 
 protective system of duties by tariff. The Home 
 League Memorial says, "The entire want of recipro- 
 city in the policy of the nations of Europe, the selfish- 
 ness, which seems an element of humanity, perhaps to 
 
HOME LEAGUE. 1^9 
 
 stimulate the species in the progress of civilization, and 
 which obliges them to force upon us their surplus man- 
 ufactures, while they refuse to receive in exchange our 
 less profitable raw material, compels us to act on the 
 defensive," &c. In the Tribune of January 7, a Gen. 
 Dickerson is represented as saying at a public meeting 
 of iron manufacturers, in New Jersey, that England had 
 her ports closed " against our beef, pork and flour. All 
 we ask," says he, " is reciprocity. If England will 
 close her ports against our produce ; let us retaliate 
 by levying such duties on her manufactured articles, as 
 will make a home market at our own manufactories, 
 for the produce which she refuses." Such speeches as 
 this we are for ever hearing, in opposition to the de- 
 monstration of figures, and plainness of arithmetic, and 
 the evidence of official documents. 
 
 We have already settled the question of gold, and 
 shown that a great amount of the precious metals has 
 been imported within the last few years from Europe, 
 and we may add that a sufficiency of gold to supply 
 the tear and wear of the currency, is received from the 
 emigrants from Europe, and the mines of the United 
 States alone, two sources not previously taken into 
 account in our calculation. Public men go different 
 lengths in demanding protection for domestic manufac- 
 tures. The Home League demands, in one word, that 
 they shall have the home trade to themselves, without 
 interference from abroad. This is plain and candid, at 
 least. We wonder what amount of duty will suit the 
 League ? 
 
 12* 
 
130 AMERICAN SYSTEM. 
 
 Foreign cotton-goods have been groaning under du- 
 ties, varying from 50 to 100 per cent, and yet they 
 have been imported. Woollen-goods under 50 per 
 cent, duty, and yet they have been imported. A ^ro- 
 hibition would be best — but then what will be done for 
 revenue ? Direct taxation is the best, and cheapest 
 mode of raising a revenue ; but then the people won't 
 submit to it. They prefer having their money more 
 dexterously taken from their pockets. Duties, heavy 
 duties, it is now demanded, shall be laid on — 50 per 
 cent, has been mentioned. 
 
 It has often been shown, that to bolster up certain 
 branches of industry, is just equivalent to laying a tax 
 on the mass of the community, to favor the protected 
 class. We cannot do better than make the following 
 quotation from McCulloch's Dictionary on the subject, 
 page 848 : — " The exploded sophisms of the mercan- 
 tile system, though renounced by every statesman in 
 Europe, acquired a serious influence in Congress, and 
 were put forth with as much confidence, as if their 
 soundness neither had been, nor could be questioned. 
 From 1816 down to 1832, the object of the American 
 Legislature was to bolster up a manufacturing interest, 
 by imposing oppressive duties on most manufactured 
 articles, imported from abroad. Now it is obvious, 
 even had the articles produced in America, through 
 the agency of this plan, been as cheap as those they 
 superseded, that nothing would have been gained by 
 it; for, to whatever extent the importation of foreign 
 
AMERICAN SYSTEM. 131 
 
 articles may be diminished, there must be a correspond- 
 ing diminution in the exportation of native American 
 products ; so that the only result ^vould have been, the 
 raising up of one species of industry, at the expense 
 of some other species entitled to an equality of protec- 
 tion. 
 
 " But the ' American system' was not so innocuous. 
 Instead of the goods manufactured in the States being 
 as cheap as similar ones manufactured in Europe, they 
 were admitted to be at an average from 50 to 100 per 
 cent, dearer. The extent of the pecuniary sacrifice 
 that has been thus imposed on the Union, has been va- 
 riously estimated by American writers; but we have 
 been assured by those who have the best means of 
 knowing, that it may be moderately estimated at from 
 £11,000,000 to Je 13,000,000, (sterhng) ; and this im- 
 mense burden, a burden nearly three times as great as 
 the whole public expenditure of the Republic, was in- 
 curred for no purpose of public utility, and was produc- 
 tive of nothing but mischief. 
 
 " The w^hole effect of the scheme was to divert a cer- 
 tain amount of the national capital from the produc- 
 tion of cotton, wheat, rice, tobacco, &C.5 the equivalents 
 sent to foreigners in payment of manufactured goods, 
 to the direct production of those goods themselves, and 
 as the latter species of industry is more suitable for 
 America, a tax of £13,000,000 a year was imposed 
 on the Union, that the manufacturers might be enabled 
 to carry on a losing business. We leave it to others 
 
132 MR. clay's bill. 
 
 to determine, whether the absurdity of the system, or 
 its costhness, be its most prominent feature. That its 
 influence was not more injurious, is solely owing to the 
 smuggling it occasioned. With a frontier like that of 
 America, and with a half or more of the population 
 hostile to the tariff, -it would have been worse than ab- | 
 surd to suppose it could have been carried into full ef- 
 fect. But it had enough of influence to render it in 
 the last degree prejudicial — to occasion a great rise in ; 
 the price of many important articles — to cripple the 
 trade and navigation of the country, and to throw a 
 considerable part of it into the hands of foreigners, 
 who carried it on, in defiance of the law." 
 
 Mr. McC. then alludes to Mr. Clay's Bill, and that 
 of 1832, and says, that these judicious acts restored 
 tranquility, and there can be no doubt that they have , 
 been highly beneficial to the country. 
 
 The greatest efforts are now making to raise i 
 the duties fixed by that Bill. We have alrea- \ 
 dy given some of the arguments employed to eflfect 
 this purpose. The Home League says that the I 
 two hundred millions of goods imported by for- 
 eigners would have been manufactured at home. ; 
 Now, we ask where were the means of manufacturing j 
 them at home 1 The goods were not forced on the ! 
 country. The operation began on this side. America i 
 wanted to make railroads, and to set banks in opera- ; 
 tion. She had not the means of doing so. She sent 
 abroad for the money. The demand for goods grew i 
 
REPUDIATION. 133 
 
 out of these stock operations. Britain could not sup- 
 ply the loans required in gold and silver, as she has 
 not much bej-ond that amount in her possession. She 
 could only supply the wants of her transatlantic off- 
 spring, in articles suitable for their market. These ar- 
 ticles formed the means for balancing the account be- 
 tween Britain and America, which she otherwise could 
 not have done. 
 
 How could America have manufactured these goods, 
 or any portion of them 1 Her laboring population was 
 otherwise employed. Surely it will not be contended 
 that if left to themselves, by foreigners, they could 
 have done double work. And if their industry had 
 been directed into other channels, some more appro- 
 priate pursuits must have been left unattended to. 
 But more is wanted than labor; raw materials and 
 credit are wanted, to set manufactures a-going. A con- 
 siderable part of the first, America has not, and must 
 have brought from abroad ; and of the second she is 
 very deficient, as all new countries necessarily are. 
 And now she turns round and says : How cruel you 
 are, imposing a burden on me equal to ten millions, of 
 annual taxation. Just as a man who has borrowed 
 ten thousand dollars from a friend, to enable him to 
 improve his estate, should turn on him and say — " You 
 heartless fellow, how have you the assurance to come 
 to me for your interest ? I have not made what I ex- 
 pected of my improvements. "Wheat and cotton have 
 not risen in price so much as I calculated on. This 
 
134 
 
 BRITISH AND AMERICAN TARIFF. 
 
 i 
 
 result may come some day, but it is very hard for me 'J 
 to be annoyed by a fellow who has brought me into 
 such a scrape, by giving me so much money. I am 
 determined to keep my estate, and never pay you one 
 cent." 
 
 These are the doctrines that the Governor McNutts, 
 and some of the Home Leagues are promulgating in t 
 the face of the world, without a blush ! But the | 
 friends of a high tariff are willing to concede to their ; 
 opponents, provided reciprocity be introduced. Some ! 
 may be sincere in this, but those who w^ant50 per cent, 
 duties, or an entire monopoly of the home market, can- j 
 not be sincere. Gen. Tallmadge says, " every article ^ 
 of American manufacture is met by prohibitory duties." j 
 Mr. Hudson, of Massachusetts, in a very business-like ; 
 speech in Congress, accuses Britain of taxing Ameri- 
 can fish and oil, and letting her own colonies and ships ] 
 import these articles free. ■ 
 
 Before noticing these and other statements, we in- \ 
 sert a list of a variety of leading articles, with the im- 
 port duties in the two countries : \ 
 
 Wheat, 
 
 Oats, 
 
 Other kinds grain, 
 
 Cheese, 
 
 Butter, 
 
 Beef, 
 
 Pork, 
 
 Duties in U. States. Duties in G. Britain. 
 25 cts. per bushel, from. 1 to 3 7-8 per qr. 
 10 cts. per bushel, 6s.3d. to 19s.9d. pr qr* 
 
 20 per cent., 
 9 cents per lb. 
 5 cents per lb. 
 
 2 cents per lb. 
 
 3 cents per lb. 
 
 various. 
 2 1-4 cents. 
 4 2-7 cents. 
 
 2 2-5 cents. 
 
 3 2-5 cents. 
 
BRITISH AND AMERICAN TARIFF. 135 
 
 Duties in U. States. Duties in G. Britain. 
 Salt, 10 cents per 6 lb. free. 
 
 Fish, 20 per cent., 5s on 120, being 
 
 about 10 per cent. 
 Oil per ton, $37 80, £26 10. 
 
 Cotton, wool, 3 cents per lb. 5-16 of a penny per lb. 
 
 Cotton-goods, 30 to 50 perct., 10 per cent. 
 
 Cotton-goods made up, 29 per cent. 20 per cent. 
 
 Woollen-goods, 29 per cent. 15 per cent. 
 
 Ready made woollens, 29 per cent., 20 per cent. 
 
 We must now notice Mr. Hudson's statement. He 
 complains that Britain has taxed fish and oil, when im- 
 ported by foreigners, and let her own go free. And 
 yet this is the very thing done in America. The duty 
 imposed by America on oil is not so great as in Britain, 
 where it is unnecessarily high, but both have the same 
 object, viz. to shut out foreign competition. The 
 American duty is sufficiently large to effect that pur- 
 pose. The duty on fish from abroad in the United 
 States is 20 per cent., and for all their own States, free. 
 The duty on stock fish in Britain, which includes most 
 kinds of dried fish, is only 5s. per 120 — which will 
 not amount to 10 per cent. 
 
 The duty on bread stuffs we have already fully dis- 
 cussed, and can only again express our regret that 
 they are not entirely removed, or altered to a fixed 
 scale not exceeding the duties leviable in this country. 
 Cheese pays four times the duty in America, that it 
 does in Britain. It is frankly acknowledged, that if 
 the duty were taken off or reduced, foreign cheese 
 
136 DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 
 
 would be imported to a large extent ; and even with 
 the present heavy duty, it is still an article of imports 
 The assertion about beef and pork being shut out by 
 the English duties, is best answered by the fact that 
 the beef duty is two-fifths of a cent less in America 
 than in Britain, and the pork duty three-fifths more. 
 
 Butter, a most important article, is admitted on a 
 lower duty in England than in this country. Salt, the 
 poor man's necessary, which it has ever been held most 
 unjust to tax, is free in Britain, although taxed 10 
 cents per 6 lb. in the United States, besides paying heavy 
 duties to State Governments. Great complaints are 
 made of the British tax on rice. It is a chief article 
 of import from the East Indies, and Britain admits it 
 at one shilling per cwt. from that quarter, while it 
 levies 15s. from other countries. This very heavy duty 
 ought to be reduced, and we have no doubt that it will. 
 It is too hard, however, to be told at the same time, 
 that Britain oppresses India with heavy duties on her 
 commodities. 
 
 We are told by Gen. T., that Britain raises a reve- 
 nue of $30,000,000 on tobacco. Here we must ap- 
 peal again to figures. The total revenue of Britain 
 from tobacco and snuff, including expense of collection, 
 was on an average for the years 1836, '37, and '38, 
 £3,458,894, or seventeen millions two hundred and 
 ninety-four thousand four hundred and seventy dollars,. 
 If the gallant General was to make as wide a mistake 
 in calculating the force of his army, with an enemy in 
 
DUTIES ON IMPORTS. 137 
 
 tVont, supposing he had thirty thousand men, when he 
 had only seventeen thousand, he might find himself 
 rather at fault. The tobacco duty, although very 
 heavy, is not directed against the United States, as 
 nearly the whole tobacco consumed in Britain is receiv- 
 ed from that country. It is purely a matter of revenue, 
 and it is impossible to conceive one less objectionable, 
 Britain cannot do without this revenue. She has the 
 interest of her debt to pay. We are farther told 
 ■' that every article of American manufacture is exclud- 
 ed" in Britain. Now we ask what are the chief arti- 
 cles of American manufacture ? Certainly, cotton and 
 woollen. Now all articles made from cotton are ad- 
 mitted into Britain on a ten per cent, duty, although 
 she has to bring all the raw material from abroad ; while 
 in America the duties still are from 30 to 50 per cent, 
 and have till veiy lately been nearly double, and are not 
 proposed to be reduced below 20 per cent. Woollen 
 goods are admitted in Britain on 15 per cent., while in 
 America, they are charged with 29 per cent., and were 
 recently 50 per cent., and are not proposed to be re- 
 duced below 20 per cent. 
 
 Ready made articles of either cotton or wool, pay 
 20 per cent, in Britain, 29 per cent, here, and were 
 lately charged 50 per cent. These low duties on for- 
 eign manufactures have existed in Britain since 1834, 
 and we ask any candid person to say, who shows the 
 most desire for reciprocity 1 Whatever is objectionable 
 in the British tariff, we have no doubt will be given up, 
 13 
 
13& PROTECTION, 
 
 but there is far more to do on the American side, unless 
 Mr. Clay's Bill is quietly allowed to go into operation, 
 which is not now likely to happen. 
 
 But some deny the advantage of reciprocity- — Mr. 
 Hudson, among others. This gentleman's name is new 
 in public, but the calm and temperate style in which 
 he discusses his subject is creditable to him, and affords 
 fair promise of usefulness to his country. His argu- 
 ments, however, in our opinion, are drawn from errone- 
 ous premises. He goes at great length to show that 
 the reductions which have taken place in the price of 
 hardware have been owing to the protective system, 
 comparing the high prices of 1816, just at the close of 
 the war, with the present rates. 
 
 No man who can either recollect as far back as that 
 period, or has read the history of the times, can be ig- 
 norant that it was the reduction in the value of the raw 
 material, the improvement of mechanical skill, with a 
 large reduction of wages, which effected the great 
 change in the price of hardware. No man ought to 
 be ignorant, that the reduction came from England, and 
 that the prices here were lowered not in consequence^ 
 but in spite of the protective system. The same thing 
 is applicable to cotton goods, the great reductions on 
 which have been brought about from precisely the 
 same causes. And we may remark, that most of the 
 articles referred to, as made in this country, are done 
 by English workmen or under their superintendence. 
 
 Mr, Hudson winds up his speech, with what he evi- 
 
PROTECTION. 139 
 
 dently considers a conclusive argument in favor of protec- 
 tion, and which we shall now quote from the Tribune of 
 January 19. " An article now free of duty is selling in 
 our market for $ 1 20 ; the elements which make up this 
 price are these : cost in foreign markets $ J , cost of im- 
 portation 10 cents, importer's profit 10 cents, making 
 $ 1 20. At this price the article can be manufactured in 
 this country. Now, let one of our citizens go into the 
 manufacture of this article, and what would be the result ? 
 Why, the foreign manufacturer, who has heretofore en- 
 joyed the monopoly of our market, and who is enjoying 
 large profits, will immediately put the article at 90 cents 
 to the American importer, this being the cost of the arti- 
 cle. He will willingly forego all profits for the time 
 being, for the purpose of crushing the infant establish- 
 ments of this country ; and the importer will give one 
 half of his profits rather than lose this portion of his 
 business. This will reduce the price of this article 15 
 cents, bringing it down to $ 1 05. The American man- 
 facturer immediately finds the article in the market, at 
 this reduced price, which is in fact less than he can 
 manufacture the article for. He must therefore aban- 
 don his business, give up his establishment at a great 
 sacrifice, and yield the market to the foreign manufac- 
 turer, who finding his new rival destroyed, will imme- 
 diately demand the old price, and put his article at 
 $1 ; and the consumer in this country will be com- 
 pelled to pay $1 20, or perhaps $1 25, to make up the 
 loss, which the importer and foreign manufacturer sus- 
 tained during the period of competition. 
 
140 PROTECTION. 
 
 " This is the result when the article is free of duty. 
 Now we will take the same article at the same price, 
 both in Europe and America, with protective duties. 
 This added to the former price, $1 20, would bring the 
 article to $1 35. The foreign manufacturer fears that 
 he will lose the American market, and consequently, to 
 prevent a surplus in his own market, and to create a 
 surplus here, he will at once put his article at cost, 90 
 cents ; the importer will forego half his profits, and 
 take off 5 cents, which will bring the article down to 
 $1 20 — the very price which the article brought before 
 the duty was imposed. In the meantime, the Ameri- 
 can manufacturer produces the article, which he can 
 sell for the same price. Here, then, the manufacturer 
 is protected, and the consumer has no additional price 
 to pay. The importation will not be materially checked : 
 and this with the domestic production will create a sur- 
 plus, which will tend to a reduction of the price — a 
 sharp competition will ensue, and necessity, that mo- 
 ther of invention, will bring out improvements in ma- 
 chinery, so that the article can be produced at a cheap 
 rate. The skill also which is acquired will enable the 
 manufacturer to turn off the article at less expense, and 
 so afford it to the consumer at a reduced price. Thus, 
 Sir, will discriminating duties protect the manufacturer, 
 and at the same time cheapen the article. Is it not so ? 
 Does not experience justify this position ? Without a 
 duty, the foreign manufacturer sells at the maximum 
 price; with the duty, he sells at the minimum— with- 
 
PROTECTION PERNICIOUS. Hi 
 
 out the duty he couki probably reduce his price to de- 
 stroy our manufacturer ; loith the duty^ he must come 
 down to the lowest price to compete with him." 
 
 The reasoning drawn from this case we conceive ut- 
 terly fallacious. It is first assumed that a person will 
 commence manufacturing an article, for which he can- 
 not get more than the cash price, for $1 20 must be 
 intended to mean the domestic manufacturer's cost. 
 Will any prudent man begin to manufacture, when 
 there is no profit to be made, even on the best showing 
 of the case, and where he runs the risk of a reduction 
 being made from the foreign manufacturer's profit by 
 which he will incur an absolute loss ? We think not. 
 But will there not be competition enough among the 
 foreiofn manufacturers ? There is no branch of trade of 
 any consequence, where the supply is in one, or even in 
 few hands — such is the rivalry in business, that two 
 persons were scarcely ever known to unite in their op- 
 erations. 
 
 Mr. Hudson seems to have taken his idea rather 
 from two steamboat companies, than from the exten- 
 sive body of foreign manufacturers, who have as many 
 shades in their views, their resources, and their situa- 
 tions, as there are colors in their cloths. But suppos- 
 ing such a competition as he supports to commence, 
 and the foreign manufacturer to reduce his price for a 
 time to $ 1 05, this country has the 15 per cent, benefit, 
 while it lasts, being the difference between that, and 
 
 the usual price. And in the other case, with a duty 
 13* 
 
242 PROTECTION PERNICIOUS. 1 
 
 of 15 cents, the minimum price is then reduced to 
 |1 20, and the chance of a reduction to $1 05 for 
 ever gone. 
 
 But that is not all. $1 20 is the home maker's cost 
 price, and he cannot sell at cost — no more than the 
 foreign manufacturer. The moment one retires from 
 the field, which must be the issue, the price advances, 
 say to $1 35, and thus the duty is made to tell with 
 its full effect. There is no escape from this con- 
 clusion. When a manufacturer finds that the price of 
 an article is brought so low, as not to yield him a pro- 
 fit, he will abandon the trade. If he has a stock on 
 hand, he will sell it off at the highest price he can get, 
 and make some other kind of goods that will yield him 
 a profit. He may delay this for some time in the hope 
 of a change. But the principle is invariable, that no 
 man remains permanently in a business, which does 
 not yield him a profit. 
 
 Mr. Hudson says that competition and over-supply 
 will produce a reduction in price. But these are to- 
 tally different causes, and they will operate with or 
 without duties. Indeed it is well known, that foreign 
 competition and a reduction of price are not the objects 
 the high tariff men have in view, but to stop the im- 
 portation of foreign goods, and keep up the price of 
 domestic manufactures. That high duties have this 
 effect, and will have it in the very case we have now 
 noticed, cannot admit of a doubt. If the giving of 
 protection be the best means of reducing the price, as 
 
PROTECTION PERNICIOUS. HS 
 
 Mr. Hudson asserts, then the outcry raised against the 
 British Corn Laws must be totally groundless, as the 
 ample protection given to the home grower must go 
 to lower the price, and not to raise it. 
 
 Mr. H. takes up very erroneous ground in supposing 
 that there is no competition, even when an article is 
 confined to the foreign manufacture. Every business 
 man knows this to be directly the reverse. The capi- 
 tal in Europe is so abundant as to introduce competi- 
 tion wherever a business is yielding a fair profit. He 
 talks of the foreign manufacturer getting high profits, 
 at the same time only estimating an advance of 10 on 
 90 cents. We do not think this a high profit, with all 
 the risk attending the operations of business ;— no man 
 would embark his capital in this country in manufac- 
 turing, without the prospect of a better profit. He 
 talks of a maximum and minimum profit. No person 
 sells on a minimum — it is always on a maximum profit, 
 and the buyer the reverse — i. e. both wish to make the 
 best bargain the market affords. The profit is tempo- 
 rarily affected by the supply and demand, and perma- 
 nently regulated by the cost of production. 
 
 And what is the effect of this banishing of foreign 
 goods to end in ? It just prevents domestic produce 
 or manufactures, to the same amount, from being sent 
 abroad. This is the sole result, excepting the loss of 
 money which the community has paid to the individ- 
 uals, in the shape of a bounty on their manufactures. 
 A hundred hands have been drawn from a business 
 
144 BEET MANUFACTURE. 
 
 which was yielding a profit, to one which would have 
 yielded nothing without a protecting duty, and which 
 must ever be liable to be destroyed by contraband trade, 
 or a return to a sound system. A new manufactory 
 may be set a-going, but another has been stopt, and a 
 ship laid idle. 
 
 We have been led away by the ag,'itated question of 
 the Tariff, to neglect our more proper object, viz. Mr. 
 Lester. We now return to him. 
 
 In vol. 2, page 265, he asserts that it was the restric- 
 tive system of Britain which suggested to France the 
 manufacture of sugar from beet root. Here our au- 
 thor's hatred of Britain is again made to illustrate his 
 ignorance. The manufacture of beet root was com- 
 menced in France in Napoleon Bonaparte's reign. His 
 great object at the time was to ruin Britain by shutting 
 her out from all trade with the Continent of Europe, 
 which was then entirely under his control. All the 
 West Indian Islands were in possession of Britain, ex- 
 cept Cuba and Hayti — and Cuba was at war with 
 him — of course sugar was almost a prohibited article. 
 So strict was his serveillance, and so great his hatred 
 of Britain, that considerable quantities of produce and 
 manufactured goods brought from that country, were 
 burnt by order of the tyrant. The effect was, of course, 
 similar to the Irishman's attempt to ruin the obnoxious 
 banker by burning all his bills, which he could get into 
 his possession. 
 
BRITAIN AND FRANCE. 145 
 
 The French people could not do without sugar. 
 The price rose in Paris to five or six times its usual 
 amount, and the beet manufacture was commenced 
 from necessity. When the Bourbons had their West 
 India possessions restored to them at the peace of 1814, 
 they laid high duties both on their own West India su- 
 gars, and on those of foreign growth, in order to en- 
 courage the beet manufacture. These facts are suffi- 
 ciently known, but they could not prevent this new 
 aspersion of England. The British ministry has for 
 some years been unwearied in their endeavours with 
 the French Government, to break down that system of 
 non-intercourse, which has existed for ages between 
 the two most important countries in the world. They 
 set them the example some years ago, by reducing the 
 duties on French wines one half, and placing them on 
 the same footing with the wines of Spain and Portu- 
 gal. It is beheved that the people of France are be- 
 ginning to find the great advantage of a more intimate 
 and extensive traffic with their nearest neighbor, and 
 that the time is not far distant when a more extensive 
 commerce will be carried on between these two na- 
 tions, than has ever existed between two countries. 
 
 How cordially is it to be wished, that all rivalry and 
 jealousy should cease, excepting the unavoidable oppo- 
 sition which a free trade will naturally give rise to. 
 Instead of grudging a profit of ten per cent, to our 
 neighbors, on an article, that they can furnish on lower 
 terms than ourselves, ought we not rather to rejoice 
 
146 BENEFITS OF FREE TRADE. 
 
 that they get that profit, and that we are able to payv 
 it. The principles of trade render it absolutely certain 
 that we shall gain as much ourselves, by the opera- 
 tion, as we shall balance the account by selHng goods- 
 with at least an equal profit, and thus both parties will 1 
 have their capital, and their comforts increased. 
 
 The most important effect of free trade is its moral 1 
 influence. Nations from old habits have antipathies to 4 
 each other. No two countries have carried that feel-* 
 ing to a greater extent than France and England, j 
 Matural enemy used to be a complimentary phrase in ^ 
 Britain, when speaking of France. All that feeling is 
 at an end. They view the French now, as friends \ 
 and neighbors. The same feeling exists very generally 
 towards the United States, and it would have been 
 universal by this time, but for the quarrels and heart- , 
 burnings which has arisen of late years, and which we > 
 have no hesitation in saying, have not been occasioned | 
 by the British people or government. i 
 
 A more unrestricted intercourse, would remove all ! 
 this also. Were this intercourse universal, mankind 
 would be like the children of one family, whose interests ; 
 were inseparably united. Their tempers might be differ- 
 ent, but they could not afford to quarrel, as their interests \ 
 were inseparable. Protection is a cold and heartless I 
 system. Carried to its legitimate extent it would ; 
 draw a line of separation between every state in the 
 Union. Massachusetts might complain of New York, j 
 that she was beginning to rival her in cotton manufac- 
 
RESTRICTIONS PERNICIOUS. 147 
 
 tures, and insist on a duty being laid on, to shut out : 
 
 all conipetition and let her have the whole supply of ! 
 
 her home market. Rhode Island, in like manner, ■, 
 
 might attack Connecticut. There is no end to the de- ! 
 
 mands of protection. In former times it enacted sump- \ 
 
 tuary laws, and fenced the mercantile community round ' 
 with restrictions, pains, and penalties. 
 
 The system of bounties is not yet quite extinct, and ' 
 
 m some close burghs, of the old world, the sound of the ; 
 workman's hammer can only proceed from a burgess 
 
 or freeman of the city, while his equally industrious i 
 
 neighbor, who lives only half a mile off, is not allowed \ 
 
 to practice his calling, within the charmed circle. The , 
 
 protectionists may struggle to delay that close union, ^1 
 which will unite the human family into one society, 
 holding the same high and holy principles, but they 
 
 may as well attempt to roll back the coming tide, or \ 
 stop the motion of the earth. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VICE IN ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 We begin with a tale of vice and misery, in vol. So^ 
 page 137, M^hicli the author says, fell under his own 
 observation. 
 
 Many may think, after the exposure already given, 
 it is unnecessary to enter fully into this new romance ; 
 but we conceive that the cause of truth, which has 
 been so violated, calls for a full examination of this 
 matter. 
 
 Our author is in London. He leaves Lord 's 
 
 at midnight, enters an omnibus at Apsley House, at 
 the corner of Hyde Park ; a thick fog hung over Lon- 
 don, and a storm seemed to be coming on. " By the 
 light of a neighboring lamp, I perceived a lady in the 
 omnibus, who was not only unattended, but there was 
 no other person in the carriage. Her face, on which 
 the lamp shown brightly, was as pale as marble ; but 
 her features were beautiful," (of course.) 
 
 " She was dressed as superbly as though she had just 
 come from from a ball at Almack's. There was a look 
 of deep distress on her countenance, such a look as 
 we never forget after it is once seen ; the large blue 
 veins swelled out, as if ready to burst." 
 
MARVELLOUS ADVENTURE. 149 
 
 She becomes a character on the spot, from which 
 some new charge might be brought against England. 
 He ventures to ask, if he could render any service to 
 her in a ride at that late hour. She replies, " Oh no ! 
 Sir, whoever you are, for God's sake, do not speak 
 to me ; I only want to die ; you can't help me now." 
 '' As she uttered these words, she burst into tears. We 
 rode on in silence, broken at intervals, by her sobs and 
 sighs." He goes on to St. Paul's, but instead of leav- 
 ing the omnibus then, as he ought to have done, he 
 proceeds to the Bank, where he leaves the omnibus, in 
 company with the lady, who has at last agreed to 
 accept his assistance. The lady is received by our hero 
 with one arm, and her new horn infant with the other. 
 
 The child's only swaddling clothes are a Cashmere 
 shawl. " The omnibus drove on, and not a human 
 being was in sight. Near by was a flight of steps, 
 upon which she was scarcely seated, when she fainted 
 away. There was no lamp near us ; it was past one 
 o'clock ; the rain had begun to fall heavily upon the 
 pavement, and save the feeble cry of the child in my 
 arms, and the distant rumbhng of the omnibus, no 
 sound was lieard." 
 
 The streets, as our author passes from Hyde Park 
 corner, are said to be nearly silent and deserted, par- 
 ticularly the leading streets. Our author himself, whose 
 memory is treacherous, mentions that when he entered 
 London, late at night, he took bye streets to avoid the 
 throng, p. 14, vol. 1. At all hours are there numbers 
 14. 
 
150 MARVELLOUS ADVENTURE. 
 
 of people in the Strand, Fleet street, Cheapside, and 
 on to the Bank. This line is one of the main arteries 
 of the immense congregation of human beings in Lon- 
 don, and the necessary and urgent calls arising from busi- 
 ness, sickness, or other causes, must at all hours set in 
 motion many of the two millions of inhabitants. If to 
 this be added, those returning from parties, and those who 
 are of irregular habits, we shall not be surprised, that the 
 streets are never deserted. Even in New York, with a 
 population of one sixth, Broadway and other main streets 
 are never deserted. As to no lamp being near the Bank 
 of England, nothing can be farther from the truth. 
 It is one of the best lighted places of a well-lighted city. 
 
 Our hero calls for a policeman, who wraps the 
 child in the cape of his water-proof cloak. Mr. Lester 
 inquires for a boarding-house. The policeman takes 
 him to a house near the Thames, and there he leaves 
 the lady, and pays a week's board for her. 
 
 He then asks the policeman " who she may be." 
 He replies, ^' there is no knowing, of course, certainly; 
 but I doubt not, she has moved in fashionable life. 
 Did you see how she was dressed, and how she spoke ; 
 why, you can tell a lady from the West End, only by 
 hearing her speak once. Why I suppose she has been 
 ruine,d by some heartless fellow in Regent street. 
 There are thousands of girls who are ; and then they 
 come to the East end, and die of neglect and privation. 
 From one extreme to the other — that is the way with 
 the London world. For my part, I am satisfied with 
 the lot of a policeman." 
 
MARVELLOUS ADVENTURE. 151 
 
 How singularly fortunate Mr, Lester is, in meeting 
 with people who generalize without ceremony or dis- 
 crimination, upon the evils of the country. The " Lon- 
 don world" is gravely charged as involved in these 
 practices, from one end to the other. This matter is 
 overdone as usual, and the romance exposed. But the 
 most extraordinary part is yet untold. He draws a 
 petition for the lady, addressed " to the City of London 
 Lying-in Hospital, City Road, or any other London 
 charity." " By means of these exertions, this unfor- 
 tunate mother received assistance ; but the child died 
 the night she came from the West End." 
 
 Now we appeal to every person acquainted with 
 London, or English manners and feelings, whether this 
 disgusting story has one vestige of truth in it. That 
 London, like all large cities, has many women of bad 
 character is v/ell known ; that our Rev. author may 
 have met some of them may be true ; that he may 
 have remained in their company for some time, may 
 also be true ; but we aver, that the story here given, 
 contains internal evidence of its being utterly un- 
 founded. 
 
 His statements of the gloom and darkness of a night 
 in June, when there is scarcely any darkness at all in 
 that season ; that the streets were silent and deserted, 
 when the leading thoroughfares are crowded ; that a 
 lady, dressed as if she had come from Almack's, was 
 just delivered of a child, for the child had no covering 
 but a Cashmere shawl; that she was a West End 
 
152 MARVELLOUS ADVENTURE. 
 
 lady, having not only the dress, but the speech and 
 bearing of a lady of fashion and education; that such 
 a person should not have one friend to accompany her 1 
 on such an occasion ; all these statements are alike 
 incredible and absurd. 
 
 That such a person would allow a stranger to attend 
 to her, and to pay a boarding-house for her, and at 
 last to put her in a lying-in hospital, after her child 
 was dead, is equally ridiculous. Why, a lady dressed 
 as if she had been at Almack's, would have as many 
 jewels and valuables about her as would have kept her \ 
 for a twelve-month at least. Of course, concealment i 
 would have been her object, and to accomplish this 
 she goes into a lying-in hospital ! The author has go, 
 hold of the City Road address, where there is an insti- i 
 tution of that kind, to give the better color to his . 
 story. ; 
 
 The policeman talks of thousands of such girls being ' 
 ruined by such heartless fellows in Regent street 
 Here is another name got hold of — why is Regent 
 street any worse than its hundreds of neighbors. That 
 there are many females seduced and ruined by the vil- : 
 lainy of the other sex, is a melancholy fact ; but then, 
 this is a lady of fashion, a West End lady, of a class 
 far from numerous, who do not go by thousands to j 
 perish at the East end of the city. If such an un- i 
 happy event had occurred, in a family of that descrip- 
 tion, the first object, we repeat, would be concealment, 
 both on account of the victim, and her family. 
 
MR. LESTER THANKFUL. 153 
 
 If the author of this work had really met such a case, 
 and wanted to act the good Samaritan, as he always 
 professes to do, he would have seen the unfortunate 
 person fairly settled for the night, and then have open- 
 ed up a communication with her family, to effect a re- 
 conciliation, or at least to have her provided for, so as 
 to stop her downward career ; but such a termination 
 would have thrown a ray of light into that dark pic- 
 ture he was determined to present of England's shame. 
 
 How Mr. Stevenson, the late ambassador, would 
 stare, if he ever reads Mr. Lester's book, when he is 
 told that a London lady of fashion went into a lying- 
 in hospital ! We think our author, from his inventive 
 powers, in which he will be wonderfully assisted by 
 the sharpness of his eyes in seeing blue veins by lamp 
 light, should try his hand at works of romance, but he 
 must bring them nearer to the truth, or they won't be 
 sold. 
 
 In vol. 2, page 259, our author makes the following 
 statement. " Hear the words of another Briton, and 
 let Americans read the contrast between his country 
 and their own, and let them fall on their knees, and 
 thank God for the thousandth time, that they are 
 Americans.* In America, you may travel a thousand 
 miles, taking the towns in your way, without meeting 
 with a single prostitute." 
 
 * This reminds us of an occurrence in the General Assembly 
 of the Scotch Church, about half a century ago, as narrated to us 
 by a Scotch friend. Henry Dundas, then Lord Advocate, and 
 14* 
 
154 VICE IN EVERY COUNTRY. 
 
 If this statement was intended for foreign countries 
 merely, its object might be perceived, but to put it 
 forth in the United States, is a gross insult to the under- 
 standing and moral perceptions of his countrymen. 
 Would to God it were true. But does not every per- 
 son know, that there are hundreds of that unfortunate 
 class in every considerable town or city in the Union ? 
 Do not the newspapers abound with reports of cases of 
 keepers of disorderly houses being daily brought be- 
 fore the magistrates ? Is it not notorious that the vice 
 in question exists here, and throughout the country, to 
 a great extent. We make not this statement from a 
 wish to place this country in a worse position than 
 others. But does not every one who has looked be- 
 low the very surface of society, know our assertion to 
 be true ? Does the author of this work never reflect 
 that the eye of the omniscient God sees through these 
 false and disgusting statements, and that to flatter his 
 countrymen, and sell his calumnious work, he is rush- 
 ng on the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler ? 
 Does he not know the wo denounced against the 
 watchman who cries peace, peace, when there is no 
 peace? The extent of vice and wickedness which 
 
 afterwards Lord Melville, upon occasion of the annual motion for 
 the abolition of church patronage, made a flaming speech in favor 
 of patronage, and concluded by a solemn declaration, " that every 
 morning he rose, he returned thanks to God for the existence of 
 patronage." A venerable old divine rose from the gallery, and 
 in broad Scotch, sung out, «Eh, moderAtor, he maun be Vipeeoua 
 (pious) lad that, for he's thankfu' for sma' mercies." 
 
VICE AND CRIME IN NEW YORK, 155 
 
 exists in all countries, can never be known till that day, 
 when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open before 
 an assembled world. 
 
 As far as human law, or the exertions of benevolent 
 institutions or individuals, can check the progress of 
 vice in Britain, much is done — more, certainly, than in 
 any other country. That there is any thing in the 
 laws or institutions of the country to encourage acts of 
 vice, is utterly without foundation. 
 
 In addition to all his other allegations against Bri- 
 tain, our author has, in vol. 2, page 255, given the 
 particulars of a case (real or otherwise) of the expo- 
 sure of a newly-born child, in a manufacturing city. 
 
 He has gravely charged this evil to the account of 
 the corn laws, as if such lamentable occurrences w^ere 
 not too often taking place in every community. 
 
 While our attention was called to this subject, we 
 took up the New York Tribune of 28th December, and 
 observed in that single paper, reports of the following 
 cases: — 1st. Sally Ann Bond, charged with the murder 
 of her new-born child " by strangling and choking it.'' 
 2d. The case of Sophia Pothart, for arson in the first 
 degree, she being accused of setting fire to a house in 
 Leonard street. 3d. The case of Colt, for the murder 
 of Mr. Adams. 4th. Notice of a respite of execution of 
 Thomas S. Shuster, convicted of shooting his wife 
 through the heart. 5th. Two cases of theft before the 
 inferior court. 6th. Three Coroner's inquests, the 
 deaths in two of the cases, occasioned by intemperate 
 habits. 
 
156 JUDICIAL SQUABBLES. 
 
 We also add two other cases, as follows. The first 
 is entitled " The bench and bar disgraced." The St> 
 Louis papers of the 14th instant, mention a half ludi- 
 crous, and wholly contemptible scene, which occurred 
 in the Circuit Court of that city. It seems that the 
 Judge, Mullanphy, ordered a lawyer named Risque, to 
 sit down, which he refused to do, saying that he pre- 
 ferred to stand. The judge then ordered a fine of $50 
 to be entered against him, and commanded Mr. Risque 
 again to sit down, which he again declined. The 
 judge ordered another fine of $50 to be entered against 
 him, and directed the sheriff to remove him from the 
 court-house. The deputy attempted it, but did no 
 succeed, Mr. R. walking out at his leisure after the 
 sheriff had desisted. The judge then directed an order 
 to be entered against Mr. Risque, to show cause why 
 he should not be struck from the roll. The next 
 morning, they chanced to meet in the street, when Mr. 
 Risque aimed a blow at the judge, which knocked of! 
 his spectacles and his hat; the judge then drew a 
 sword from his cane, and the lawyer a pistol from his 
 pocket, and just as they were rushing on to the mutual 
 assault, the marshal interposed, and commanded a ces- 
 sation of hostilities. There it rests." 
 
 The second article is as follows : '^ A discreditable 
 judical squabble took place at the opening of the De- 
 cember term of the Court at Holly Springs, Miss., be- 
 tween an old judge and one recently elected, the for- 
 mer contending that there was po vacancy, and the 
 
JUDICIAL SQUABBLES. 157 
 
 election of the latter was illegal. Each judge appeared, 
 took Iiis seat, and undertook to control the business. 
 After considerable trouble and confusion the court ad- 
 journed, and the Supreme Court have to decide the mer- 
 its of their claims." 
 
 All these cases are contained in a daily paper, not 
 of large size. We came on it accidentally, and our 
 readers may from this specimen form a fair judgment of 
 the state of morals in the United States. We make 
 no charge against either government or people, on this 
 account, as such crimes are committed every where. 
 We except, however, the two judicial scenes, which are 
 moderate specimens of what too often occurs in the 
 Courts and Legislative Halls of the United States, 
 scenes which never take place in any other country, 
 but which belong to the peculiar institutions of the 
 country, of which Mr. Lester is so vain. 
 
i 
 
 CHAPTER iX, 
 
 i 
 EDUCATION IN BRITAIN AND UNITED STATES. \ 
 
 Our author has made repeated attacks on England '■ 
 for the ignorance of her people. We select the fol- 
 lowing as a specimen. In vol. 1, p. 238, he says — ; 
 '^ Show me a very learned man in England, and I will ! 
 show you some thousands around him, who cannot read v 
 the Bible, or write their names ;" and in p.239, " DiiFuse ' 
 the wealth, the learning, the cultivation of the few^ in ^ 
 England, over the mass of society, and it w^ould be pov- 
 erty, ignorance and ill breeding, in comparison of the ; 
 United States." ' j 
 
 With regard to the ignorance, and ill breeding, we '■ 
 
 are about to examine that part of the subject, but shall J 
 merely notice, en passant, that if there is so much w^ealth 
 in America, it is singular she can undertake nothing, of 
 
 any consequence, without getting the means from Brit- ! 
 
 ain. i 
 
 As to DIFFUSING Wealth, we grant that they are good j 
 
 at that in this country, and if old England had not put i 
 
 a stop to diffusion, under the management of such pro- i 
 licients as Mississippi, Indiana, and lUinois, she w^ould 
 soon have had but httle left to diffuse. 
 
ENGLISH SCHOOLS. 359 
 
 But to say nothing more of the absurd comparison 
 about wealth, we shall merely quote Lester versus 
 Lester, which will settle the question. In vol. 1, p. 14, 
 he says, '• The wealth of London would well nigh 
 purchase half the globe." Does he include the United 
 States in the globe ? It cannot be. He must have 
 shut it out, from the inconsistent statement he has given 
 above. In that case, the United States must be able to 
 purchase several globes. The whole of the solar pla- 
 nets might be bought up by the diffused wealth of 
 America, if a road could only be made, which the 
 wealth and the ingenuity of the United States can 
 doubtless accomplish. 
 
 We notice first, the subject of general education in 
 England, and at once admit, that it is a great reproach 
 to her government, that till of late years, education 
 received no aid from the national purse. The bounty of 
 benevolent individuals in past ages, erected a great num- 
 ber of public schools in England, and large funds were 
 left for their support. With the assistance derived 
 from this source, the vohmtary schools provided educa- 
 tion for the great mass of the people, till within the 
 last half century. Since then, the population has in- 
 creased so rapidly, and so many have been crowded in- 
 to manufacturing towns, that a vast number of children 
 have grown up, entirely uneducated. This deplora- 
 ble state of things was the means of bringing forward, 
 to the aid of the rising generations, two extensive vol- 
 
160 ENGLISH EDUCATION. 
 
 untary associations, which have sprung up since the 
 commencement of the present century, viz : the Na- 
 tional School Society, and the British and Foreign i 
 School Society. The first of these bodies combines,, 
 with education, religious instruction in the tenets of the; 
 Established Church. The second gives no preference ! 
 to any sect of Christianity. It appears from returns i 
 made in 1833, that the number of children attending J 
 daily schools of all kinds in England was, 1,275,947, i 
 and attending Sabbath Schools, 1,548,000, the first 1 
 class being 9 per cent, and the second, 11 per cent, of I 
 the whole population. Since that time much progress ' 
 has been made in education. In 1833, Parhament, for 
 the first time, voted ^£20,000 for the support of public : 
 schools. This grant, has been raised to .£30,000, * 
 which sum is annually voted. It is divided between ; 
 the two associations we have mentioned. This sum is ^ 
 small, in comparison to the enormous expenditure of ! 
 Britain. But much difficulty has been experienced 
 from the intolerant, or half popish part of the Church 
 of England, and we rejoice to see this most important ; 
 subject at last taken up. £150,000 have already j 
 been paid by Parliament, and about £300,000 within 
 the same period, subscribed by individuals, and new \ 
 school houses erected, capable of containing 250,000 
 pupils. We think we may now safely state, from the 
 rapid increase which has taken place within the last j 
 few years, that the number of children attending school I 
 in England and Wales, is two millions, being 13 1-3 ! 
 per cent., taking the population at fifteen millions. 
 
EDUCATION IN UNITED STATES. 161 
 
 In Scotland the system of Parochial Schools, and the 
 general attention bestowed upon education, are univer- 
 sally known, and that country is admitted to be inferioi 
 to none both for the general and more finished educa- 
 tion of its inhabitants. We have no returns of the 
 whole number under instruction. 
 
 We have looked into some of the recent returns in 
 the United States, and find that New York stands high- 
 est, giving a number equal to about 20 per cent, of the 
 whole population attending school, and showing that 
 those attending exceed the whole number of children in 
 the state from five to sixteen years of age, which 
 we think is proving rather too tnuch. In Massa- 
 chusetts, under the recent impulse given to education, to 
 which we will afterwards allude, 18 or 19 per cent, 
 appear to be on the school rolls, and an average at- 
 tendance of about 14 per cent, and in Pennsylvania, 
 perhaps from 10 to 12 per cent., may receive instruction.* 
 
 These are undoubtedly the states where education 
 is most general, and if we take an average of the Un- 
 ion, it will be found that not above 10 or 12 per cent, 
 of the whole population is attending school. 
 
 It appears from the latest returns, that half a million 
 of white grown up inhabitants can neither read nor 
 write. The far greater proportion of them is in the 
 
 • The people of Conucciicut zro also said to be generally edu- 
 cated . We doubt this. No well educated people would have allow- 
 ed their Legislature to pass the Act of 1833, to be afterwards no- 
 ticed. 
 
 15 
 
162 EDUCATION IN UNITED STATES. 
 
 slave states. North Carolina carries the broom in this 
 interesting comparison, the non readers amount to one 
 ninth of the whole population, or about one half of the 
 whole grown up people. 
 
 But it must be borne in mind that the time the 
 American schools are open does not appear to ex- 
 ceed from six to eight months per annum, say seven 
 months ; while the English schools are open all the 
 year, except a short vacation in autumn, rarely exceed- 
 ing four weeks. So the amount of common education 
 given in England must greatly exceed that of America. 
 England is now exerting herself in this great field of 
 usefulness, and a general system of education has also 
 been introduced into Ireland, by the wisdom and patriot- 
 ism of the whig ministers, which will soon make the 
 greatest change on that country. 
 
 It is surprising that in the present day any party 
 should be found to throv/ obstacles in the way of gene- 
 ral education, but such obstacles have been interposed 
 in other countries besides Britain. This is strikingly 
 exhibited in the recent history of Massachusetts. It 
 appears that two centuries ago, laws were enacted in 
 that state, providing that every child however poor, 
 should have the important benefit of education. But 
 no central power was appointed to keep the machinery 
 in active operation. The Edinburgh Review, for July 
 1841, says," it was assumed by the legislature that the 
 dictates of self-interest would prompt the inhabitants 
 to nominate the best qualified individuals, as members 
 
EDUCATION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 163 
 
 of the school and prudential committees ; and that 
 feelings of public duty and responsibility would induce 
 the committees to execute their functions in the best 
 manner." 
 
 Yet under this system, we shall presently see, that 
 education declined, and remedial measures became ab- 
 solutely necessary. A general school fund was created 
 in 1835, and a board of education for the whole state 
 established in 1837. In 1838 reports were made 
 by the board, in one of which it is stated, " The com- 
 mon school system of Massachusetts has fallen into a 
 state of general unsoundness and debility ; a great 
 majority of the school-houses are not only ill-adapted 
 to encourage mental effort, but in many cases are ab- 
 solutely perilous to the health and symmetrical growth 
 of the children, the schools are under a sleepy super- 
 vision ; many of the most inteUigent and wealthy of 
 our citizens are become estranged from their welfare ; 
 and the teachers of their schools, although with very 
 few exceptions, persons of estimable characters and 
 great private worth, yet in the absence of all opportu- 
 nity to qualify themselves for the performance of the 
 most difficult and delicate task, vhich in the arrange- 
 ments of Providence is committed to human hands, are 
 necessarily, and therefore without fault of their own, 
 deeply, and widely deficient in the indespensible pre- 
 requisites for their office, viz. a knowledge of the human 
 mind as the subject of improvement, and a knowledge 
 of the means best adapted, wisely to unfold and direct 
 its growing faculties." 
 
164« EDUCATION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Again the Reviewer observes, " This representation of 
 the result of the administration, for two centuries, of 
 the common schools, by the people themselves, with- 
 out the aid of any controlling, advising or enlightening 
 neutral power, is highly instructive. It show^s, that 
 in conducting education, as in executing every other 
 difficult and complicated process, the blind are not 
 adequate successfully to lead the blind." The 
 secretary of the new board, in reporting on the im- 
 provements which have been effected, says, " A year 
 ago in the town of Salem, the school-houses were 
 without ventilation, and many of them with such seats 
 as created vivid ideas of corporal punishment, and 
 almost prompted me to ask, for what offence they had 
 been condemned to them." 
 
 Now here we have evidence of the most overwhelm- 
 ing kind, of the unfitness of the teachers, of the inju- 
 rious character of the school-houses, and of the total 
 inadequacy of the system to accomplish the work of 
 education, and all this under the sole supervision of the 
 people ; seven hundred thousand heirs apparent to 
 the throne looking on all the time. 
 
 What an outcry would be raised, if our author had 
 discovered this in England. But we must not imitate 
 him, and take up a reproach against the old and 
 venerable state of Massachusetts, regarding the errors 
 of this school establishment merely as the corruptions 
 of time, which necessarily affect all pubhc institutions* 
 We rather rejoice that the state had the courage and 
 
EDUCATION IN MASSACHUSETTS. 165 
 
 principle to look the evil in the face, and to apply so 
 comprehensive and efficacious a remedy. 
 
 That remedy however met with much opposition in 
 the legislature. 
 
 As lately as in March, 1840, a committee of the 
 house of representatives recommended the abolition of 
 the board of education, the suppression of the normal 
 schools, which had just been established, and the return 
 of a sum of ten thousand dollars which Mr. Dwight of 
 Boston, had generously given for their support. The 
 report however was rejected by a majority of the 
 house, and a similar proposal afterwards made j again 
 rejected. 
 
 The Reviewer remarks on this decision, " that if the 
 motion to abohsh the Board, and the Normal Schools, 
 had passed both Houses of the Legislature, and if no 
 better institutions had been substituted in their stead, 
 the cause of democracy would, by that act, have sus- 
 tained a severer blow in Europe, than it has suffered 
 since the enormities of the French Revolution. Mas- 
 sachusetts presents the most favorable specimen of 
 democracy in the New- World ; she boasts of industry, 
 w^ealth, religious zeal, and a comparatively enlightened 
 population. Had her Legislature extinguished these 
 institutions, and reverted to the previously existing 
 educational arrangements, we should have been justi- 
 fied in inferring that democracy instinctively hates 
 light, refinement and civilization ; and that its natural 
 atmosphere is that of ignorance, selfishness and pas"- 
 15* 
 
166 UNITED STATES COLLEGES. 
 
 sion." That this was very near being the case,, 
 was shown by the last division, when the cause of 
 education only triumphed by a majority of 131 to 
 114. 
 
 We consider the exertions lately made in the North- '' 
 ern and Western States, particularly in New York, 
 Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, as highly cred- 
 itable, forming one of the most important elements of ! 
 the true glory of a nation, but they should not engen- 
 der that absurd pride and vain glory, which is ever \ 
 looking for gratification, by a contrast with others. ; 
 
 We have contrasted the common or general educa- ; 
 lion of England and the United States. We shall 
 next examine how the higher branches will compare, i 
 We have now before us a list of ninety-five Universi- 
 ties and Colleges in the United States in the year 1840. ■ 
 Only think what a sound this will make in Europe ! — 
 Ninety-five colleges, all conferring degrees in litera- 
 ture, far more colleges than in all the rest of the civiliz- j 
 ed world ! Strangers on landing here from the Old 
 World, must expect to meet a nation of sages. But \ 
 they will be surprised to learn that the whole students 
 attending these colleges only numbered nine thousand [ 
 two hundred and twenty-four, being an average of 97 | 
 for each. i 
 
 Six of these colleges have no teachers, thus enabling 
 the young gentlemen to have the gratification of being ; 
 self-taught, and also of conferring the degrees on them- 
 selves. One of these colleges has one teacher, 3 | 
 
BRITISH UNIVERSITIES. 167 
 
 have 2 teachers each, 5 have 3 teachers, 8 have 4, 
 10 have 5, 45 have from 6 to 10 teachers each, 
 13 have from 11 to 17 teachers each, one has 25, 
 one 26, one 30, and one 31 teachers. Seven of these 
 colleges have no pupils, the Presidents and Professors 
 enjoying snug sinecures — 12 of them have from 10 to 
 50 pupils each, and only 8 have above 200 each. If 
 three Roman Catholic Institutions, which have 17, 25, 
 and 26 teachers each, be deducted, there are only two 
 colleges in the Union, viz. Harvard and Yale, which 
 have the requisite number of teachers for the branches 
 of education taught in the European Colleges. These 
 excellent and valuable institutions have 30 and 31 
 teachers respectively. 
 
 We wish to speak with the utmost respect of every 
 seminary for the instruction of youth, in this country 
 or in any other. Many of the institutions now men- 
 tioned have been eminently useful, and we hope that 
 they will continue to be so ; we quarrel not with them, 
 but with their bombaslical titles. Most of them would 
 be styled grammar-schools, or respectable academies, 
 in Britain — some of them would not even be entitled 
 to that rank. 
 
 The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, in Eng- 
 land, have eleven thousand students attending them, 
 and the two London, and the Durham Universities, a 
 very considerable number. The four Scotch Universi- 
 ties have from three to four thousand pupils. We 
 may fairly state that in Britain, which contains about 
 
168 TITLES IN UNITED STATES. 
 
 the same population as the United States, there are 
 attending the regular Universities, double the number 
 of those attending the institutions here called Colleges j 
 and if we add to the number those who are attending 
 the public grammar-schools and academies of Britain, 
 to bring down the comparison to the level of the 
 American Colleges, it is no exaggeration to state, that ^ 
 the number of young men receiving a liberal educa- 
 tion at Public Institutions in Britain, is ten times great- 
 er than in the United States. 
 
 It is amusing to see the constant desire manifested 
 in America to break through the rule laid down by the 
 Constitution, denying titles of rank. In no class is 
 this more conspicuous than among teachers. The 
 most common instructor in the A, B, C, styles himself 
 a Professor. If he is qualified to teach in an academy 
 or grammar-school, he has every chance of soon hav- 
 ing President added to his name. Only think of a 
 President, four Professors, and te7i pupils ! How com- 
 fortable must be the situations of the President and 
 Professors! How learned the young gentlemen must 
 soon become, and how interesting the meetings of the 
 Senatus Academicus, when they are conferring literary 
 honors on their pupils. 
 
 We have heard of an Emperor of Russia making a 
 foreign schoolmaster an Admiral, because he had no 
 honors but naval and military ones to bestow. This 
 could not be practiced here, where military titles are so 
 common, that a well educated schoolmaster would not 
 
FEMALE EDUCATION. 169 
 
 consider himself honored by the possession of such a 
 distinction. We have heard of an old lady complain- 
 ing at the time Britain was armed to the teeth in ex- 
 pectation of French invasion, that she could not get 
 along the streets for Colonels. If she was in the Unit- 
 ed States, she would shut herself up in despair. 
 
 Before closing this article, is it necessary to say any 
 thing of the proficiency to which education is carried 
 in Britain, as compared with America ? How many 
 ladies are there, of genteel and fashionable appearance 
 and lady-like manners, who cannot write a common 
 card or letter, without the grossest blunders, both in 
 orthography and spelling. How common is it for 
 
 them to begin, Mrs. 's Compts., (using the third 
 
 person,) and ending in the first person, and sign- 
 ing Mrs. , instead of the christian and sir- 
 name. We trust that the improvements which are 
 gradually taking place in the system of education, will 
 soon remove this reproach from the country, and in 
 particular that the fair sex will see how much more 
 essential it is to cultivate the mind, and to attain that 
 knowledge which is both useful and ornamental, than 
 to acquire all the graces of the dancing school, or the 
 y^ewest cut of the French milliner and dress-maker. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE. 
 
 We shall now notice the Church question raised by \ 
 our author — his hero, John Thorogood. John had been ] 
 confined for eighteen months in Chelmsford Jail for i 
 contempt of Court, arising out of his refusal to pay | 
 five shilhngs and sixpence of church rates, which, we i 
 have already explained, is a small tax annually voted j 
 by the parishioners for keeping the churches in repair. 
 Our author, when in London, determines to visit this ; 
 voluntary martyr, and he is accordingly introduced to ' 
 the reader's notice in vol. 1, page 213. The author ' 
 is admitted into Mr. Thorogood's apartment by the i 
 jailor, who intimates that he is very tired of his prison- 
 er, as he has so many visiters. \ 
 
 John receives our hero in the most cordial manner, [ 
 tells him that he cares nothing for the 5s. 6d., that he i 
 is ready to give half a sovereign for any good cause, ' 
 but will not surrender his liberty of conscience, that he : 
 can bear oppression until the sacred ground of mora 
 rights is invaded, but he cannot, and will not give way I 
 to the wicked claims of despotic rulers. Page 215, he i 
 says, " the result of it all was, that for contempt of J 
 
JOHN THOROGOOD's CONSCIENCE. 171 
 
 court, as it was called, I was thrown into jail 16th Jan- 
 uary, 1839, where I have remained ever since, and 
 where I will remain till I die, rather than surrender the 
 principle for which I am contending." (We may notice 
 here, that John has long since changed his mind, and 
 been graciously pleased to walk himself out of Chelms- 
 ford jail.) "That principle is no less than that for 
 which Protestant Reformers have in all ages contend- 
 ed ; the very principle is no less than that for which 
 England broke away from the allegiance to Rome; for 
 which Huss and Jerome, and ten thousand others went 
 to the stake ; the same principle for which John Bun- 
 yan lay twelve years in Bedford jail ; the greatest, the 
 dearest principle for which man ever contended, the 
 high, the sacred right of conscience." Again, in page 
 217, he says: "Do I not suffer the greatest wrong, 
 when any party seek to prescribe to me in religion, 
 either what I shall believe, or how I shall express my 
 faith 1" 
 
 John Thorogood, it seems, is a dissenter from the 
 Established Church, and we hope a sincere believer in 
 the truths of Christianity. How his conscience can be 
 hurt by a small payment for supporting a Church, 
 which teaches essentially the very doctrines which his 
 own Church teaches, we cannot explain. That he 
 might grudge to pay the 5s. 6d., having his own min- 
 ister to pay, we can understand, although we would 
 think it scarcely worth the consideration of a man in 
 his good circumstances, to object to so small a claim. 
 
172 JOHN THOROGOOD CONTINUED. 
 
 That he might use his Parliamentary vote, or other 
 Constitutional privilege to get the law altered, we can 
 also understand. But conscience is said to interfere in 
 a matter where the object must be admitted to be deci- 
 dedly good. Why there are few Christian men, either 
 in Britain or America, who will not readily give a 
 subscription for the propagation or support of the gos- 
 pel, by whatever body the application is made. 
 
 But here the refusal of payment of a few shillings, 
 laid on by the people themselves, and in some cases 
 refused, when there are a majority of dissenters, is 
 gravely and impudently compared to the noble stand 
 made by Huss and Jerome, when they sacrificed their 
 lives for the cause of scriptural truth, and religious 
 liberty. How can this man presume to call such a 
 matter, prescribing to him, either what he shall believe, 
 or how he shall express that belief? 
 
 But John appeared to be anxious for the crow^n of 
 martyrdom, at least while he could do it at little charge. 
 His wife and family visited him, and remained with 
 him all day, and hundreds came from all quarters to 
 see him ; so that John became quite a lion. To a 
 person desirous of separating '^ the throne from the 
 cross," as he avows his object to be, and especially to 
 a man in his comfortable situation, all this must have 
 been highly gratifying. 
 
 No people have ever been more distinguished by their 
 firm maintenance of the right of conscience, and pri- 
 vate judgement, than the Quakers. They are opposed 
 
RESISTANCE, WHEN LAWFUL. 173 
 
 on principle to war, considering it unlawful and un- 
 just. Yet they quietly pay their taxes, although they 
 are partly applied to the maintenance of war. They 
 wisely consider that the advantages derived from good 
 government, far outweigh any inconvenience arising 
 from the operation of the laws on those more minute 
 shades of opinion, which are ever to be found in a free 
 country. If all men were to adopt the self-conceited 
 and opinionative conduct of John Thorogood, no sys- 
 tem of government, however good, could possibly be 
 maintained, and confusion and anarchy would necessa- 
 rily prevail. 
 
 Resistance of a tax is rebellion. We know, and 
 readily admit, that there is a time, when resistance to a 
 government becomes justifiable, and even a duty. 
 When the rulers of a country have trampled on those 
 great constitutional rights, which belong to every free 
 people, when they have lost their benign and protective 
 character, and instead of being a terror to the evil, and 
 a praise and protection to the good, have become a 
 terror to the good, and a praise and protection to the 
 evil, then the sooner such a government is changed the 
 better. And will John Thorogood be able to plead to 
 this issue when sisted before the bar of the great Judge? 
 Will he be able to plead not guilty, for resisting laws 
 enacted by the representatives of the people of Britain? 
 t will then be known whether his conscience has been 
 hurt by 5s. 6d. being asked for maintaining the Temple 
 16 
 
174 
 
 of the living God, or whether the glory of being admir 
 ed and courted by men, who think with him, has not 
 been his governing motive. 
 
 We understand that John's resistance may have 
 been in part influenced by motives even of a lower 
 order than we have noticed, as he has made money by 
 the donations given to him by his ignorant sympathi- 
 zers. Before parting with John, our author, as a mat- 
 ter of course, makes him pay a compliment to America. . 
 " Here, Mary, said he to his wife, I want to introduce 
 
 you to Mr. ." (Queer that he does not mention his 
 
 name.) "He lives in the United States, that blessed j 
 land, where there is no established church — no church S 
 rates, or tithes, except what a man is wilhng to tax j 
 himself" \ 
 
 Now we beg the favor of our author and readers, to I 
 go with us for a few minutes to that " blessed land," , 
 and request him to join us in the recollection of a 
 scene, which was enacted in thej^refi State of Connec- j 
 ticut, only a few years ago. See that mob of well- \ 
 dressed men, surrounding that modest looking house. : 
 Some are smashing the windows, and others are pre- i 
 paring to pull down the house. Two men walk up ; 
 through the crowd and knock at the door. It is open- 1 
 ed by a lady, who asks the meaning of this outrage. 
 One of the men says, " We have a warrant to take you | 
 to prison." " Of what crime am I accused ?" inquires ; 
 the astonished lady. The man pulls out a paper and . 
 reads from it — You are accused of — what is it that this 
 
CANTERBURY "FOR EVER !" 1'75 
 
 respectable looking female is accused of 1 Can it be 
 murder, or theft, or what atrocious crime ? — You are 
 accused of teaching females to read /" 
 
 Shade of Franklin ! Can this be America, that 
 styles herself a free country ? It is even so. The 
 lady has dared to keep a boarding school for colored 
 young ladies, which is held to be a high crime. The 
 children now fly in every direction, and the men carry 
 Miss Crandall to prison. All hail Columbia ! land of 
 the free and brave ! What an act of unequalled gal- 
 lantry ! You have conquered a few colored children, 
 and dragged their teacher to prison. Great is the 
 bravery, great the patriotism of the select men of Can- 
 terbury. 
 
 Go with me and open her prison doors. I will not 
 show her likeness to one who can discern blue veins 
 where no face was ever seen. But I admire the trust 
 and confidence this persecuted lady displays ; that trust 
 and confidence are placed in God. Contrast her 
 case with that of John Thorogood. He is constant- 
 ly surrounded with friends and visiters. Some ap- 
 prove of his conduct from extreme views as dissent- 
 ers, some from hatred of all religion, many come from 
 curiosity, and many seriously rehgious men try to dis- 
 suade him from his course. Miss Crandall has no such 
 comforts. A few personal friends she has, but the 
 sovereign people, the heirs apparent, are against her, 
 and can hardly restrain their indignation within any 
 kind of bounds. But she is sustained by the testimony 
 
176 CONNECTICUT LEGISLATION. 
 
 of a good conscience, and tells her persecutors she will 
 not desist from her purpose of teaching colored child- 
 ren. "Before you shall open your school again in 
 Canterbury," said one of these persecutors, " you must 
 walk over the bodies of five hundred men." Most 
 valorous hero ! Is your name not known, so as it may 
 be handed down to posterity ? Bobadil, Jack Falstaff, 
 Boby Acres, all must yield the palm to thee I 
 
 After leaving John Thorogood's jail, our author tells 
 us he went to visit the house where Goldsmith is said 
 to have written his " Deserted Village." " The old 
 hamlet bears the name of Springfield, and it is suppos- 
 ed by many, that in the early history of New England, 
 its quiet and hberty-loving inhabitants emigrated from 
 their homes to the banks of the Connecticut, and there 
 founded the town of Springfield." 
 
 Now if any of the liberty- loving inhabitants, could 
 rise from their graves, and witness the Legislature of 
 the State of Connecticut meeting, and passing a law 
 to prohibit, under severe penalties, the establishment of 
 schools for the instruction of colored children, if these 
 children belonged to any other State, what would they 
 think of their degenerate descendants. Yet such a 
 law was actually passed in the year of Grace, eighteen 
 hundred and thirty-three. To talk of such men know- 
 ing anything of the meaning of liberty, is to make a 
 mockery of that cherished word. They might under- 
 stand how to protect their own property, and to pro- 
 
CHURCH ESTABLISHMENTS. 177 
 
 tect their own rights from attack, with as much zeal 
 and ferocity as a mastiff in defending his master's 
 house, hut they must have sunk far below the level of 
 minds capable of apprehending the claims of freedom, 
 or the rights of conscience, before they could even en- 
 tertain such a proposition. Let our author explain 
 why it is that with republican institutions, flourishing 
 unchecked for sixty years, a community should have 
 become so degraded ? 
 
 The question of the lawfulness, or propriety of the 
 State giving any assistance in matters of religion, is 
 deeply involved in the case of John Thorogood. No 
 question has received a more full discussion of late 
 years than this, and none can count a greater number 
 of able and conscientious defenders, on both sides. 
 
 It must at once be admitted, that Church Establish- 
 ments have a strong tendency to abuse, and if we ex- 
 amine those that have existed, w^e shall find that most 
 of them have been instruments of intolerance, cruelty 
 and oppression, and instead of building up the fabric of 
 genuine Christianity, they have been used to promote 
 the purposes of selfish and ambitious priests, and wick- 
 ed and unprincipled rulers. But unless it can be shown 
 that such evil consequences are inseparable from 
 Church Establishments, however constituted, or under 
 whatever modification they may appear, the results 
 we have now mentioned, by no means determine the 
 question. 
 
 16* 
 
178 CHURCH ESTABLISHMENTS, 
 
 No man in possession of his senses, will deny the ne- 
 cessity of civil government, yet how many evils have 
 followed in its train, under every shape and modifica- 
 tion it has assumed. But who, excepting the class we 
 have mentioned, would think of setting it aside alto- 
 gether ? The evils which have accompanied civil gov- 
 ernment, under its worst form and administration, have 
 been infinitely less, than those which would have ex- 
 isted, if it had been entirely abolished. We do not 
 mean that any government should support such a reli- 
 gious establishment, as will in the most remote degree, 
 interfere with the hberty of private judgment, but that 
 they should extend assistance to all sects, who teach 
 the doctrines of the Bible, in proportion to their po- 
 pulation, but only when it could be shown, that a 
 necessity existed for it. 
 
 But we are immediately met by the difficulty, of how 
 the doctrines of the Bible are to be ascertained. There is 
 no other mode of doing this, but by the majority of the 
 people's representatives. This, it may be said, would 
 sanction, in Roman Catholic countries, the exclusive 
 support given to that faith. But under our system, 
 with the most ample rights secured to all, who might 
 differ from the majority in opinion, and with the most 
 lull and frequent discussion, which would arise, when 
 assistance v^as required, we should not be afraid that 
 any body of Christians would long be deprived of their 
 fair proportion of support, if it should be required. If 
 such discussion could only be introduced into Catholic 
 
ENGLISH REFORMATION. 179 
 
 countries, we would soon witness the downfall of that 
 mass of priestcraft and superstition. 
 
 The Church of England is much abused by Mr. Les- 
 ter. We are no sticklers for that Church. Her struc- 
 ture has too much pomp, wealth, and worldly policy, 
 attached to it. Her absurd and arrogant assumption 
 which is brought forward here, as well as in England, 
 that she has the sole right by hereditary descent, to 
 authorize the preaching of the Gospel, is alike unscrip- 
 tural, and repugnant to the feelings of every independ- 
 ent mind. 
 
 If the Reformation had been in the hands of Luther, 
 Calvin, or Knox, they would have done it more effect- 
 ually. The sound Scriptural views of Cranmer, Lati- 
 mer and Ridley, reformed the doctrines of the Church, 
 and brought them close to the primitive standard. But 
 the ambitious ministers of the excellent Edward VL 
 preserved to the new Church, the wealth, the titles, the 
 pomp of her Popish predecessor. The same error was 
 committed as when Constantine took the Church under 
 his protection, but we believe the motives of the Ro- 
 man Emperor were more pure than in the last case. 
 The worldly advantages thus injudiciously heaped on 
 the Church had a similar result in both cases. The 
 Churches lost their love, and became either stationary 
 in their exertions, or to a certain extent opposed to the 
 growth of pure Christianity. The English Church was 
 early opposed by dissenters, which she met with all the 
 intolerance and persecution of the Church of Rome. 
 
180 CHURCH OF ENGLAND IMPROVEMENT. ; 
 
 These days have long since passed away, and a ; 
 brighter era is now developing itself. The Church, with i 
 all its faults, always contained a number of faithful 
 ministers ; her w^riters have been the most eminent in ■ 
 maintaining the cause of our common Christianity, and i 
 her works are the standards on that subject, in every 
 library. Within the last half century, she has made ■ 
 great progress in piety and evangelical truth. Many j 
 years ago, the pious John Newton used to say, that : 
 there were only three hundred among the ten thousand | 
 ministers of England who preached evangelical doc- j 
 trine. Before his death they had reached three thou- 'I 
 sand, and it is now believed that they are a majority of \ 
 the whole. ' 
 
 Since the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832, great i 
 improvements have been introduced into the Church 
 Establishment, chiefly by the exertions of the whig ■ 
 ministers. An important step has been taken ' 
 toward a more fair division of the revenue of the 
 Church. The salaries of the more highly paid bishops, ; 
 and other dignitaries, have been put under a process of j 
 reduction, the proceeils to be given to increase the in- i 
 comes of the curates, which have long been justly com- 
 plained of, as quite inadequate to their support. Resi- 
 dence is strictly enforced upon the Clergy, and many ' 
 other salutary arrangeaients made. 
 
 In Ireland, ten Bishoprics have been abolished, the \ 
 incomes of the higher Clergy reduced, and the funds : 
 applied for religious or educational purposes. Tithes, so \ 
 
PUSEYITES AND REFORMERS. 181 
 
 long a source of annoyance, are now paid by the land- 
 owners on a fixed scale, and church-rates abolished. 
 Much more is yet to be done, and would have been 
 done, but for the influence of the hierarchy. But the 
 reform will soon be completed. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the Church is arising in 
 her strength, and putting on her beautiful garments. 
 As she is deprived of part of the wealth which had 
 been imprudently lavished upon her, or as that w^ealth 
 is becoming more equally divided, we trust she will just 
 in proportion look less to the world, and more to her 
 spiritual duties. 
 
 There has however lately arisen at Oxford, a party 
 supported by learning, talent and rank, which has 
 broached doctrines, almost identified with the Church of 
 Rome. If this party Avere to make any considerable 
 progress, we should say that the Church of England w^as 
 near her end. But if her right wing has ventured once 
 more to hoist the standard of the false and unscriptural 
 Church, there has appeared on the opposite wdng, a 
 strong band of bold and faithful divines, who have un- 
 furled the glorious standard of reform. They insist on 
 a change of the liturgy, to bring it down to the more 
 simple and primitive level of Christian truth, that the 
 Church shall have free courts established for discipline, 
 and government, that the Bishops shall renounce their 
 worldly honors, that the Church shall be stripped 
 of all her Babylonish robes, and meretricious graces, 
 and shall assume the noble and honorable office, of 
 
182 CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 
 
 carrying the truths of the gospel to the cottage and 
 hearts of every family in the kingdom, which has not i 
 yet been brought under its saving influence. | 
 
 The Church of Scotland has also felt the influence ' 
 of the times in raising her dormant zeal. With a pru- ^ 
 dence peculiar to the nation, Scotland did not, at the 
 reformation, transfer the revenues of the old church to 
 the new faith, but imposed a small tax or tithe, on the ■• 
 landed property, for the support of the ministry of the ; 
 Gospel. Under this system her thousand parish minis- > 
 ters have enjoyed much comfort, without the cares and 
 temptations of many of their wealthy brethren in the ■{ 
 South. The minimum of their stipends or incomes, is 
 ^6150 per annum, with a free house and piece of ground, , 
 called a glebe. But their average stipends, will [ 
 amount to about £250, or $1250 per annum. Under 
 this moderate provision, the church has preserved more i 
 of the external and internal marks of a Church of 
 Christ, than any hitherto established. 
 
 She also long had her moderate and Evangelical party. \ 
 The first were those who generally cared less for the ] 
 flock than the fleece, and resembled the High Church \ 
 party in England. — Yet there were always among them | 
 men of distinguished ability, and they were almost uni- 
 versally men of respectable private characters. In any 
 thing regarding religion they were very mode7'ate — 
 hence their name. They were never so well described 
 as by Dr. Witherspoon, then a minister of the Church of ; 
 
SCOTTISH PATRONAGE. 183 
 
 Scotland, but afterwards President of Princeton College 
 in the United States, in a small work entitled " Cha- 
 racteristics of a moderate man," a work abomiding 
 with good sense and principle, and much genuine wit. 
 
 Principal Robertson, the celebrated historian, was 
 long the leader of the moderate party, in the church 
 courts. 
 
 Since the commencement of the present century, the 
 Evangelical party has been gradually encreasing, and 
 it has now a large majority. By their exertions chiefly, 
 many new congregations have been formed at home, 
 and missionaries sent to the heathen world. The min- 
 isters are selected by the patrons of parishes, who 
 pay a large part of the stipends of the Church of 
 Scotland. 
 
 This burden was imposed in the Tory days of Queen 
 Anne, and has always been felt as a grievance 
 by the people of Scotland. The ascendancy of the 
 evangelical party, which has generally been more 
 favorable to popular rights, than the moderates, 
 enabled them to pass a law of the Church a few years 
 ago, giving the people a veto on the appointment of 
 their ministers. This privilege was soon reduced to 
 practice. The people have repeatedly exercised the 
 veto, in which they have been uniformly sustained by 
 the highest church courts, but the patrons whose power 
 was interfered with, have appealed to the civil courts, 
 and always got judgments in their favor. The civil 
 courts allege that the Church is interfering with the 
 
184 NOX-INTRUSION. 
 
 vested lights and pecuniary interests of patrons. The 
 Church Courts say, they are supreme judges in all mat- 
 ters purely ecclesiastical — that ordination is of that de- 
 scription that they will ordain no minister who is not 
 acceptable to the people, and that they will stand by 
 them in defence of their rights. 
 
 The non-intrusion party, which is the name gener- 
 ally given to the majority, contains the piety, talent, 
 and integrity of the Church of Scotland, and a vast 
 majority of the people in her communion. They are 
 supported by a considerable part of the peerage, the 
 gentry, and learned men, of the country. The contest has j 
 raged for several years, and the issue is doubtful. The I 
 late government took little part in the struggle, though j 
 it is believed they were favorable to the non-intrusion ' 
 party. Their conduct in nominating ministers, as the j 
 patronage of about one third of the whole parishes 
 belongs to the crown, would seem to prove this, for in 
 every instance the people had their own choice, gen- 
 erally a list from of the most eligible candidates. 
 
 The remnant of the moderate ministers, have mostly 
 adopted the views of the civil court, when their decis- i 
 ions clashed with those of the Church courts. The true \ 
 and best remedy would be at once to put an end to 
 patronage, and leave the people to choose their ministers. \ 
 
 One of two things must eventually happen, either a : 
 legislative enactment must be passed to adopt the non- 
 intrusion principles, or the whole of that party will ' 
 withdraw from the church, and leave her a skeleton of j 
 dry bones. \ 
 
VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE. 185 
 
 Another controversy is also raging in Scotland. It 
 began a few years before that last mentioned, and orig- 
 inated with a large body of dissenters from the church. 
 It is on the subject of the lawfulness of church estab- 
 lishments. The unlawfulness has chiefly been pleaded 
 by a numerous class of seceders, whose forefathers left 
 the church, about an hundred years ago, not on the 
 ground of such establishments being unscriptural, but 
 on account of abuses in the management of the church. 
 They have been ably answered by members of the 
 church. Both parties are exhausted with the contest, 
 which has been carried on in pamphlets, in magazines, 
 in reviews and newspapers, in the pulpit, in public 
 meetings, and in church courts. They have lately rest- 
 ed on their arms, prepared for another encounter. One 
 body of seceders has joined the church, satisfied with 
 the great change that has of late years taken place in 
 the decisions of her courts, and the zeal and Christian 
 purity which she now exhibits. 
 
 The protestant Dissenters are very numerous in all the 
 three kingdoms. In Scotland and England they ap- 
 proach to a half of the whole population. The objec-- 
 tion to establishments on principle, among the dissent- 
 ers in England, is by no means so general as in Scotland. 
 Indeed the largest body of them, the Wesleyan Method- 
 ists, are known to be friendly to the church, and many 
 would unite with her, if a complete reform could be ob- 
 tained, which we have already seen has commenced, and 
 
 we doubt not will be accomplished within a few years. 
 
 16 
 
186 WORKING OF VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE. 
 
 We know the views entertained on this subject in the 
 United States, and respect the sincerity of those who 
 profess them, which we believe to be the great mass of 
 the people. But we cannot help thinking that if some 
 national assistance were given towards the support of 
 the gospel, not to a favored sect, but to such as require 
 it, we would meet with fewer infidels in our hotels, and 
 steamboats, and railroad cars. There is not a more 
 beautiful or interesting sight, than a faithful and ex- 
 emplary parish pastor, going in and out among his peo- 
 ple, instructing them by his preaching, stimulating 
 them by his example, and carrying them along with 
 him in the path to heaven. 
 
 Most gladly would we have seen such an institution 
 at a country district lately, not fifty miles from New 
 York, where there is only a very small village church. 
 The minister, a good man, but without weight among 
 the people. He receives no payment, excepting a small 
 churchf collection, perhaps of a dollar each Sunday. 
 He is obliged to support himself by hard labor during 
 the week, as a teacher, and has of course no time to 
 visit the people, few of whom seemed to feel that they 
 had any connection with him. The consequences are ap- 
 parent. Some of the wealthiest of the inhabitants are so 
 sunk in worldliness, and so ignorant or dead to religious 
 feeling, that they make no scruple of opening their 
 stores on Sunday, and selling goods. Had this worthy 
 man only enjoyed the minimum salary of a Scotch 
 parish minister, how much good might he have been 
 
STRANGER IN WASHINGTON. 18"^ 
 
 able to accomplish. The people themselves could 
 pay, but many feel not the importance of religion. 
 
 Religion, like education, must often be brought to 
 the door, and pressed on the consciences of the people. 
 The Massachusetts education system affords a striking 
 proof of the necessity of some external power being 
 employed, to watch over the working of any in- 
 stitution, however good, in order to maintain it in vig- 
 or and purity. How much more must it be necessary 
 to introduce some new force, when every thing is left 
 to individual volition, and to bring concentrated chris- 
 tian zeal and energy to bear on places overrun with 
 sloth and indifference to the concerns of religion? 
 We do not see how^ a nation professing to be christian, 
 can excuse itself for this fearful neglect. 
 
 Let us suppose a stranger from one of the planets of 
 our system to pay a visit to this earth. Suppose him 
 to land at Vrjishington, and to enter the Capitol while 
 the Legislature is in session. He finds them busy vot- 
 ing money to support a set of men, who are trained to 
 kill their fellow-creatures as a profession. Next da)- 
 he finds them engaged in voting large sums to build 
 and equip huge wooden castles, to be sent to sea tf- 
 destroy such as are supposed to be enemies to the coun- 
 try. On the third day he finds them voting money to 
 pay the Government officers, and maintain the dignity 
 of the civil magistrate. 
 
 He enters a fourth day, and observes the business is of 
 a different cast. He inquires of a by-stander if all the 
 
188 stranger's remarkSo 
 
 votes of money are over, and is told they are. He asks 
 if it be a Christian country, and is informed it is. He 
 asks, with surprise — " Do you make no provision for 
 maintaining the worship of God, none for preserving 
 the remembrance of Him who came down from heaven 
 to save your fallen race 1 Do you expend all your 
 means in providing for the destruction of your fellow- 
 men, or in maintaining your own honor and dignity, 
 and forget the Giver of all you enjoy 1" The by-stander, 
 equally surprised, replies : "Who are you, and where 
 have you lived, that you do not know that to provide 
 for the worship of God, would be contrary to the vol' 
 untary 'principle? We are a very religious nation, 
 but we cannot violate the voluntary principle ; besides 
 we could never agree as to who should have the mo- 
 ney, and we therefore set the question aside — and be- 
 gin even to doubt the propriety of having a chap- 
 Jain among us, as the organ of our public addresses to 
 God." The stranger reminds the by-stander that when 
 the people of Israel were under the immediate govern- 
 ment of God, they were expressly commanded, as a 
 nation, to maintain his worship. But he is told that 
 a Theocracy is not to be compared to a Democracy, 
 which is the only system of perfection. The stranger 
 extends his pinions, and gladly wings his way to his 
 own region, where we trust all hearts are, individually 
 and collectively, attunded to worship and serve the 
 living and true God. 
 
 But it is said that the voluntary plan provides for 
 
NATIONAL RELIGION. 18& 
 
 the spiritual wants of the people. We grant that it 
 has done so in this country to a very considerable extent, 
 and that the towns contain a great mass of church-going 
 people. But it only provides where two requisites ex- 
 ist : First, the disposition to hear the gospel ; and se- 
 cond, the means to support a minister. But are there 
 not both in town and country immense masses of the 
 people, where both requisites are wanting, and in many 
 cases where one exists without the other.* It is the 
 business of a nation to supply these deficiencies as far 
 as it is possible. Voluntary societies frequently do 
 much, but their means are limited, and reach but a 
 small portion of the vast field they would require to 
 operate upon. Can a nation be guiltless that leaves its 
 people in this condition ? 
 
 We know the difficulties attending the question, and 
 do not undervalue them. But when there is a will 
 there is a way. Every great national question has its 
 difficulties, but the wisdom of man provides a remedy. 
 Church Establishments have been accompanied with 
 many evils ; but what are these in comparison to a 
 vast part of the population growing up in entire ne- 
 glect of the truths of religion. The best security for 
 good order and respect for the laws, is ever to be found 
 in a sincerely religious community. 
 
 * Note. — A very large part of the ministers in country district> 
 in America, do not receive above two hundred dollars per annum. 
 16* 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 LORD BYRON. 
 
 OxME of the most barefaced and impudent things in the 
 whole work is that part where Lord Byron's name is 
 introduced. A new character is brought out in the 
 shape of an American gentleman, name not given, who 
 makes a speech to our author occupying from page 126 
 to 138, vol. 1st. This American gentleman professes 
 to have been with Lord Byron, during his last days, and 
 makes him say all manner of good things about Amer- 
 ica in general, and about Mr. Washington Irving in 
 particular, evidently that Mr. Lester may recommend 
 himself to that distinguished author. 
 
 After what we have presented to our readers, they 
 will not be surprised to hear that eight pages of this 
 speech, said to be the result of this gentleman's obser- 
 vation, or information while at Missilonghi, were given 
 to the American public in the year 1824, in an appen- 
 dix to Medwyn''s Conversations of Byron. That ap- 
 pendix was taken from the Westminster Review, and 
 published by Wilder and Campbell, in New York in 
 the year above mentioned. We give the extracts, as in 
 a former case, from the two works :— 
 
LORD BYRON, 191 
 
 Lester, p. 126. Medwyn, p. 273. 
 
 " He (Lord Byron) was then " It is no wonder that the 
 
 suffering from the ejffect of his unlooked for disappointment 
 
 tit of epilepsy which occurred should have preyed on his spi. 
 
 the middle of February." rits, and produced a degree of 
 
 irritability, which, if, it was 
 not the sole cause, contributed 
 geratly to a severe fit of the 
 epilepsy, with which he was 
 attacked on the 15th of Feb. 
 
 Page— 131. " Byron had Page 279— "My master," 
 partly recovered from his first says Mr. Fletcher, " continu- 
 attack, and was in the habit ed his usual custom of riding 
 of riding on horseback almost daily, when the weather would 
 every day. — On the 9th April permit, until the 9th of April, 
 he got very wet during his But on that ill-fated day, he 
 ride, and took a severe cold, got very wet, and on his return 
 which was attended by fever, home, his lordship changed the 
 still he rode out again in the whole of his dress, but he had 
 afternoon ofthe following day, been too long in his wet 
 a few miles from town, on clothes, and the cold, of which 
 his favorite horse ! and this he had complained more or 
 was the last time he ever left less, ever since we left Cepha- 
 the house." Ionia, made this attack be 
 
 more severely felt. Though ra- 
 ther feverish during the night, 
 his lordship slept pretty well, 
 but complained in the morning 
 of a pain in his bones and a 
 headache ; this did not, how- 
 ever, prevent him from taking 
 a ride in the afternoon, which 
 I grieve to say was his last." 
 
192. LORD BYRON. 
 
 Lester. Medwyn. 
 
 3d. " A slow fever set in, 3d. '* His lordship was again 
 and his symptoms continually visited by the same slow fever , 
 grew worse." and I was sorry to perceive, on 
 
 the next morning, that his ill- 
 ness appeared to be increas- 
 
 4th. Page 133— *' His sys- 4th. Page 280— "The whole 
 tem wasted rapidly ; for dur- nourishment taken by my mas. 
 ing the eight days of his ill- ter, for the last eight days, 
 ness, he took no nourishment, consisted of a small quantity 
 except a small quantity of of broth at two or three dif- 
 broth, at two or three different ferent times, and two spoon- 
 times, and two spoonfuls of fuls of arrow root, on the 18th, 
 arrow root, the day before his the day before his death." 
 death." 
 
 5th. Page 132—" Mr. Flet- 5th. Page 280— '' On the 
 
 cher said he was very anxious following day I found my mas- 
 
 to send to Zante for Dr. Thom- ter in such a state, that I could 
 
 as; for his master was a// the not feel happy, without suppli- 
 
 time growing worse under the eating that he would send to 
 
 treatment of Doctors Bruno Zante for Dr. Thomas." 
 and Miligan." 
 
 6th. "In a day or two Mr. 6th. Page 280— " I repeated 
 
 Fletcher again supplicated the my supplications that Dr. 
 
 attending physicians to let him Thomas should be sent for, on 
 
 send for Dr. Thomas, and was the ISth, and was again assur- 
 
 solemnly assured that his ed that my master would be 
 
 lordship would be better im- better in two or three days — 
 
 mediately — These stifled ef- after these confident assur- 
 
 forts were not again renewed ances I did not renew my in- 
 
 until it was too late." treaties till it was too late." 
 
LORD BYRON. 193 
 
 Lester. Medwyn. 
 
 7th. " The physicians in- 7th. Page 281—'' Accord- 
 
 sisted upon taking blood— He ingly my master was bled in 
 
 reluciantly yielded, and one the right arm, on the evening 
 
 pound was taken from his of the 18th, and a pound of 
 
 riarht arm." blood was taken." 
 
 8th. "Mr. Fletcher then re- 8th. '' A long dispute now 
 newed his prayer to send for arose about the time that had 
 Dr. Thomas, and was met by been lost, and the necessity of 
 the reply, that his master sending for medical assistance 
 would either be much better, to Zante ; upon which I was 
 or a dead man, before Dr. informed, for the first time, 
 Thomas could come from that it would be of no use, as 
 Zante." my master would be better, or 
 
 no more, before the arrival of 
 
 Dr. Thomas." 
 
 9th. " The physicians in- 9th. *' His lordship con- 
 sisted upon bleeding again the tinned to get worse; but 
 same night, and told him it Bruno said, he thought letting 
 would [probably save his life blood again would save his 
 — ' Oh !' said Byron, with a life ; and I lost no time in tel- 
 mournful countenance, * I fear, ling my master, how necessary 
 gentlemen, you have entirely it was, to comply with the 
 mistaken my disease ; but doctor's wishes. To this he re- 
 there, take my arm, and do as plied, by saying, he feared they 
 you like.' " knew nothing about his disor- 
 
 der, and then stretching out 
 his arm, said ' here, take my 
 arm, and do whatever you 
 like.'" 
 
194 
 
 LORD BYRON. 
 
 Lester. Medwyf. 
 10th. " The next morning, 10. His lordship continued 
 although he was in a very to get weaker; and on the 
 feeble state, the doctors bled 17th, he was bled twice in the 
 him again twice; and in both morning; and at two o'clock- 
 cases fainting fits iollowed the in the afternoon. The bleed- 
 operation. At two o'clock this ing at both times was followed 
 destructive operation was per- by fainting fits." 
 formed again." 
 
 11th. '* From that time till 11th. "On the 18th his 
 
 death, which occurred two lordship addressed me fre- 
 
 days after, Byron often ex- quently, and seemed to be very 
 
 pressed great dissatisfaction much dissatisfied with his me- 
 
 with his physicians. The day dical treatment. I then said, 
 
 before he died, the faithful ' Do allow me to send for Dr. 
 
 Fletcher, for the last time, im- Thomas,' to which he answer- 
 
 plored his master to let him, ed do so, but be quick, I am 
 
 even at that late hour, and sorry I did not let you do so 
 
 without the knowledge of his before, as t am sure they have 
 
 physicians, send an express to mistaken my disease ; write 
 
 Zante. 'Do so,' said Byron, yourself, for I know they would 
 
 ' but be quick, 1 wish you had not like to see other doctors 
 
 sent sooner; for I know they here.'" 
 have mistaken my disease.' " 
 
 12th. '* When Fletcher re- 12. " On returning to my 
 
 turned to his master's room, master's room, his first words 
 
 Byron asked him if he had were ' have you sent.' 'I have, 
 
 sent to Zante. ' You havedone my lord,' was my answer ; 
 
 right,' he answered, ' if I must upon which he said, ' you have 
 
 die, I wish to ^know what is done right, for I should like to 
 
 the matter with me.' " know what is the matter with 
 
 me.' " 
 
LORD BYRCN. 
 
 195 
 
 Lester. 
 13th. " Fletcher wanted to 
 get a port folio to write down 
 his master's words, Byron cal- 
 led him back, exclaiming, 
 ' Oh, my Godjdon't waste lime 
 in writing, for I have no more 
 time to waste; now hear me, 
 you will be provided for.'" 
 
 Medwyn. 
 13th. " I then said, ' shall 1 
 go, my Lord, and fetch pen, 
 ink, and paper,' ' Oh ! my God, 
 no, you will lose too much 
 time, and I have it not to spare, 
 for my time is now short,' said 
 his Lordship, and immediately 
 after, ' now pay attention.' 
 His Lordship commenced by 
 saying ' you will be provided 
 for.' " 
 
 14. Fletcher begged him to 
 go on to things of more conse- 
 quence, and Byron continued, 
 ' Oh, my poor dear child, my 
 dear Ada ! my God, could I but 
 have seen her ! Give her my 
 blessing, and my dear sister 
 Augusta, and her children ; 
 and you will go to Lady Byron 
 and say — '-tell her every thing ; 
 vou are friends with her." ' 
 
 14. Page 2S2. "I begged 
 him, however, to proceed with 
 things of more consequence. 
 He then continued, ' Oh ! my 
 dear child, my dear Ada ! 
 could I but have seen her ! give 
 her my blessing — and my dear 
 sister Augusta, and her child- 
 ren, and you will go to Lady 
 
 Byron and say tell her 
 
 everything ; you are friends 
 with her.' " 
 
 15. " For some time he mut- 
 tered something very serious- 
 ly, and finally, raising his 
 voice, said, ' Now, Fletcher, if 
 you do not execute every order 
 I have given you, I will tor- 
 ment you hereafter, if possi- 
 ble.' " 
 
 15. "lie kept muttering some- 
 thing very seriously for some 
 time, and would often raise his 
 voice, and say, 'Fletcher, now 
 if you do not execute every 
 order which I have given you, 
 I will torment you hereafter if 
 possible.' " 
 
196 
 
 LORD BYRON. 
 
 Lester. 
 16. "Poor Fletcher wept over 
 his dying master, and told him 
 he had not understood a word 
 of what he had been last say- 
 ing — 'Oh, my God, said Byron, 
 then all is lost, for it is now 
 too late. Can it be possible, 
 you have not understood me V 
 Fletcher said, 'No, but do tell 
 me again, more clearly, my 
 Lord.' ' How can I,' answered 
 Byron, 'it's now too late, and 
 all is over ! ' Fletcher replied, 
 ' Not our will, but God's will 
 be done,' and he answered, 
 ' Yes, not mine be done I but I 
 will try once more.' " 
 
 17. Page 136. '^ believe 
 the last words the great Poet 
 ever spoke on earth were, ' I 
 must sleep now.' How full of 
 meaning these words were. 
 Yes, he had laid himself down 
 to his last sleep. For tv/enty- 
 four hours, not a hand or foot 
 of the sleeper was seen to stir." 
 
 18. '"Oh ! my God !' exclaim- 
 ed the kind Fletcher,' ' I fear 
 my master is gone.' The Doc- 
 tors then felt his pulse, and 
 said — 'You are right, he is 
 gone'." 
 
 Medwyn. 
 16. Page 232. "Here I told 
 his Lordship, in a state of the 
 greatest perplexity, that I had 
 not understood a word of what 
 he said ; to which he replied — • 
 ' Oh ! my God ! then all is lost, 
 for it is now too late ! Can it 
 be possible you have not under^ 
 stood me V ' No, my Lord, but 
 I pray you to inform me once 
 more.' ' How can I,' rejoined 
 my master ; ' it is now too late, i 
 and all is over.' I said, 'not our 
 will, but God's be done !' and 
 he answered, ' Yes ! not mine 
 be done, but 1 will try .' " 
 
 17. Page 284. "The last 
 words I heard my master utter 
 were at six o'clock on the 
 evening of the 18th, when he 
 said, ' I must sleep now ; ' upon 
 which he laid down, never to 
 rise again, for he did not move 
 hand or foot for the following 
 twenty-four hours." 
 
 IS. " ' Oh ! my God !' I ex- 
 claimed, ' I fear his Lordship 
 is gone.' The Doctors then felt 
 his pulse, and said— 'You are 
 right, he is gone.' " 
 
SATAN REPROVING SIN. 197 
 
 We have not the smallest doubt that every sentence 
 given with inverted commas, as speeches from charac- 
 ters met by the author in England, has been copied 
 from published books. We are not aware that this 
 mode of appropriating the literary property of others, 
 has ever before been practiced, and really think our 
 author should come forward and claim a patent for his 
 ingenuity. 
 
 If any thing were yet wanting, it would be his com- 
 plaint of an article in Hunt's Magazine, as an ap- 
 propriation of this kind, in the following terms: — 
 ^•' The author should have taken the precaution 
 to state, that something very like it had already ap- 
 peared in London. He would in that way have saved 
 himself from the imputation of being indebted more 
 than he seemed to be, to the productions of others !" 
 
 17 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE EAST INDIES, CHINA, AND SLAVERY, 
 
 Our author has a letter addressed to Hon. J. C. Cal- 
 houn, chiefly on the subject of East India cotton, and 
 also making some allusions to slavery in America. He 
 has also a letter to an anonymous correspondent, on 
 British India. 
 
 In addressing Mr. Calhoun, our author suddenly 
 drops his tone of indignation, and assumes the most 
 humble and deferential manner, such as he seems to 
 think will be acceptable to the Southern nobleman, and 
 master of slaves. Being an avowed abolitionist, he 
 is compelled to refer to slavery, throwing in some hints 
 about abolition being for the interest of the slavehold- 
 ers. This is not done directly, but inferentially, and 
 his letter contains not one allusion to that law of God, 
 every branch of which is necessarily violated wherever 
 slavery exists. He can abuse enough, when attacking 
 the people of other lands, but he is nearly dumb when 
 in the presence of the champion of slavery. 
 
 Our author commences by a fervent hope that hea- 
 ven will preserve the American Union, " through all 
 coming time," without qualifying it by any deference 
 
AMERICAN COTTON. 199 
 
 to those laws which heaven has given for the rule of 
 all nations. If these are observed, and her policy at 
 home and abroad, is founded on these law^s, there is no 
 fear for the Union. 
 
 In page 30, we are told that British India can supply 
 the entire demand of Britain for cotton, rice, and tobac- 
 co, and in p. 36, that " England has for a long time 
 grudgingly paid her milhons every year for American 
 cotton, r.nd she is now determined to do it no longer." 
 Here is something new ; w^e w^ere told that America 
 paid millions to Britain, and that the American 
 merchants were determined to do so no longer ; and 
 now it turns out that America has been receiving mil- 
 lions from Britain. But it seems she has paid it grudg- 
 ingly. We would ask when did Britain or the British 
 government begin to deal in cotton 1 We never heard 
 of it. The Pacha of Egypt is a large w^holesale mer- 
 chant, but not Great Britain. Does she ever instruct 
 her merchants, where they may bring cotton, and where 
 not 1 Ail she has to do with American cotton is, the 
 collection of a small tax of five sixteenths of a penny 
 per pound upon its importation. 
 
 English merchants buy their cotton where they can 
 get it best and cheapest, whether in America, India, or 
 Egypt. Those, no doubt, who hate slavery, and all 
 who know what freedom means, must hate it, have a 
 special objection to every thing produced by slavery ; 
 but that objection has never been embodied in any act 
 of the British government or legislature, declaring war 
 
200 AMERICAN BONDS. 
 
 against American cotton, nor is it likely to be. The 
 hope is generally entertained, that America will soon 
 ■wipe away that deep and dark stain upon the country, 
 and that she will not much longer resist the light which 
 has been cast around that question, and which is pene- 
 trating every corner of the civilized ^vorld. 
 
 That the attention of the British nation is now fully 
 aroused to the vast resources of her Indian empire is 
 true, and that great exertions will be made to develope 
 those resources, and improve the condition of the people 
 is certain. But that these exertions will be guided by a 
 sense of duty, and of justice to India, and of prospec- 
 tive benefit to Britain, and in no respect from hostihty 
 to America, is equally certain. 
 
 Mr. Lester, page 49, says, " If England will not buy 
 our cotton, she is more presumptuous even, than usual in 
 supposing that we shall purchase her manufactures." 
 Now what is the use of conning this matter over so 
 often ? America has little besides cotton to send, and 
 if that should not be sent how can the goods be paid 
 for ? lUinois and Mississippi bonds, and 7io kind of 
 American securities will be taken till the old bonds are 
 acknowledged, and put under a train of settlement. 
 The history of the Spanish bonds must satisfy every 
 person that such will be the result. Value, real value, 
 must go to Britain, or the goods will not be sent. If 
 America chooses to try the ground Britain has gone 
 over J, let her do so, and welcome. Let her send the 
 ootton as usual, and take Chartist bonds, or Repealers' 
 
LIBERTY GONE IN ENGLAND. 201 
 
 bonds. They are quite as good as many sent from this side 
 of the water. They are a people of kindred spirit with 
 our author, and the proposal claims his warm support. 
 
 In relation to India cotton, the Manchester Cham- 
 ber of Commerce is introduced, page 37, " as an asso- 
 ciation of opulent manufacturers, w^hose power is almost 
 unlimited." 
 
 Now we have been told in p. 264, that British manu- 
 factures were " fast declining." There is power left 
 yet it appears. We are farther informed in page 48, in 
 relation to the abolition of East India slavery, " that 
 the spirit of the British people is so aroused, that the 
 o-overnment will not dare refuse the bold demand." 
 Compare this with page 285, " After the restoration of 
 Charles Second, who never should have been permitted 
 to w^ear a crown, the flames of liberty seemed to go 
 out, and the reign of tyranny commenced. From that 
 time the mass of the people have sunk down in uncom- 
 plaining silence." 
 
 Again we are told, vol. i. page 174, " Parliament has 
 been dissolved : an appeal made, not to the English 
 people, for they have nothing to do with the laws, but 
 to obey them, but to the electors, who are a small 
 minority of the people." In consequence of the elec- 
 tions turning in favor of the Tories, w^e are informed, 
 that *' for a time liberty seems to have left England, 
 but in the end freedom will lose nothing." Why, we 
 thought freedom had left England, and never returned 
 since the restoration of Charles Second. 
 17* 
 
202 LIBERTY REAPPEARED IN ENGLAND. 
 
 But now it is only gone at last election, in the year 
 1841 ! Again it comes to life in vol ii., and it is inti- ] 
 mated to the slave holders, that the people of England 
 have so much power, and so much principle to use it, ' 
 that they can even extend their protection to the dis- ! 
 tant regions of Hindostan, and that Government will 
 not dare refuse the bold demand. Let these state- 
 ments be reconciled if they can. 
 
 A long lecture is given by our author on the " out- 
 rageous tyranny that has characterized the dealings of ! 
 the British Government, with the native chiefs of i 
 India and their people j" and it is said in page 53, 
 " That if the true history of the British dominion in j 
 Asia, with all its injustice and oppressions, practised I 
 upon a prostrate and unoffending race, could be read i 
 by the world, it would form some of the blackest pages \ 
 in the whole catalogue of human suffering and wrong." 
 And in page 63, " One of the most distinguished states. . 
 men of England said to me the other day, — India is 
 the slave of England, sir." We think it very unlike- | 
 ly that any distinguished statesman in England said so 
 to him. But why not mention his name ? In that 
 country no man need be afraid of speaking his senti- 
 ments. He then says, " millions (in India) suffer con- 
 tinually, in all parts of the country, from hunger, 
 which is relieved by just food enough to keep them 
 from actual starvation." Much of this kind of general 
 abuse, is to be found in the two letters on India. 
 
BRITISH INDIA. 203 
 
 That a handful of Europeans should have extended 
 theu' dominion over so vast a region, peopled by so 
 many millions of inhabitants, is one of the most striking 
 chapters in the history of the world. Possessed of a 
 strip of seacoast for the purposes of trade, the East 
 India Company was more than a century in existence, 
 before she was in any way formidable to the more im- 
 portant sovereigns of the country. At length, about 
 the middle of the last century, she became an object of 
 serious apprehension to the native princes. Successive 
 coalitions were formed, backed by the power of France, 
 to drive the British entirely from India, all of which 
 ended in the extension of their power. 
 
 The most formidable of her assailants, Hyder Ally, 
 came out of the contest shorn of much of his power, 
 and his territories greatly reduced, and at the close of 
 the century, the fall of his son Tippoo, estabhshed the 
 British dominion on a widely extended basis. Wars 
 have since followed with the Mahrattas, the Nepaulese, 
 the Burmese, and many others, which ended in the ad- 
 dition of whole provinces to the British empire. It 
 must be confessed, that many acts of oppression and 
 injustice have been committed in that country, by indi- 
 viduals far removed from the control of those who alone 
 could exercise it. But it does not appear that at the 
 time the East India Company made its great move- 
 ment from a mercantile character to that of an ex- 
 tended territorial sovereignty, the war was of their 
 seeking : on the contrary, the early part of Lord 
 
204? ABUSES IN INDIA. 
 
 Olive's transactions sufficiently show, that the war was 
 purely defensive. 
 
 The wars since that time, appear to have been chief- 
 ly brought on by the native princes, from a natural de- 
 sire to prevent the increase of the power of their Eu- 
 ropean neighbors, whose superiority they had already 
 so deeply experienced. Whether these wars were ever 
 instigated, or hastened by the superior skill of Euro- 
 pean diplomacy, we cannot say j but it is certain, that 
 private adventurers, bent on making rapid fortunes, 
 have too often found ample opportunities of doing so? 
 in the irregularities of a state of war and tumult, and 
 among the ruins of falling or changing dynasties. 
 While all such excesses must be deplored by every 
 lover of the human race, it must be admitted, that they 
 are in some measure inseparable from so wide and ex- 
 tended a field of w^arfare, situated at the distance of so 
 many thousand miles from the seat of government. 
 The abuses of the servants of the India Company, have 
 been brought repeatedly under the notice of the British 
 public, through Parliament, but the extreme difficulty 
 of finding proofs, and it may be, the disinclination of 
 some men in power to have these abuses investigated, 
 have, we fear, often prevented the ends of justice being 
 accomplished. 
 
 These remarks apply to the past. The administra- 
 tion of Indian affairs has for many years been of a be- 
 nign and just character, and every effort is put forth to 
 prevent abuses on the part of public servants. Making 
 
SLAVER y IN INDIA. 205 
 
 every allowance for the superiority of European skill 
 and discipline in arms, it must be admitted, that the 
 people of India have felt no interest in supporting their 
 former rulers, or they would never have so easily sub- 
 mitted to such an handful of strangers. This is not 
 indeed surprising, when it is considered that their Tar- 
 tar and Mohammedan conquerers, systematically plun- 
 dered the people without mercy. The worst days of 
 British rule must have been to them a vast improve- 
 ment of their political condition. 
 
 Since the time of conquest has passed away, the 
 people have remained quietly under the dominion of 
 the British Government, and enjoy privileges which 
 their forefathers in no previous period of their history 
 ever attained. Government is charged by our author, 
 as in Britain, as the cause of evils, over which they 
 cannot exercise the slightest control. The failure of 
 the crops, in some places, for instance, is a ground of 
 complaint. In such cases we have no doubt that 
 everything possible is done by Government to assist 
 the people, although the means of conveyance must 
 often be so deficient, and the distance so great, as to 
 prevent its being given so speedily or effectually, as 
 the necessities of the case may have required. 
 
 Slavery is also charged as a crime against the Brit- 
 ish Government, whereas, it neither originated with, 
 nor has been encouraged by them. Indeed, that such 
 an institution as slavery existed in British India, was 
 unknown till a few years ago, as it is confined to 
 
206 SLAVERY IN INDIA. 
 
 certain districts of the country, and we have never heard 
 that any slaves belong to natives of Britain. This 
 branch of that atrocious system is common both to the 
 Hindoos and the Mohammedans, who in some cases kept 
 in slavery the captives taken in war, and suffered others 
 voluntarily to consign themselves to perpetual slavery 
 or serfship, as was customary at all times, in Eastern 
 countries. 
 
 Mr. Lester, copying from the Natchez Free Trader, 
 page 45, says, " The ocean queen is about to work her 
 thirty millions of white slaves in the jungles, and in 
 the plains of India." Now, the highest calculation w^e 
 have ever heard of the number of serfs in British India, 
 is one million, being about one per cent, of the popu, 
 lation. Mr. Lester must have recognized a kindred 
 spirit in the numerical accuracy of his Natchez friend. 
 But the British nation has set about this matter, and 
 although the Asiatic masters of these slaves may talk 
 about the antiquity and advantages of " the pecuhar 
 institution," like their friends in the South here, slavery 
 must and will be abolished. 
 
 The British people w^ould sooner give up India alto- 
 gether, than have a single slave in the number of their 
 fellow subjects. England will suffer no false issue to 
 be made about the constitution, whether it be British, 
 Indian; or Mohammedan. To the law" and the testimo- 
 ny — that is now the constitution in practice in Eng- 
 land. To the United States must be left the honor of 
 upholding a constitution w^hich almost every man ad- 
 mits, is contrary to the Divine law. 
 
COLORED SOLDIERS. 207 
 
 India is not the slave of England. Our author 
 states that the British standing army in India, consists 
 of 266,000 natives, and only 28,000 Enropeans, and 
 says, " who can contemplate such a spectacle without 
 feelings of indignation, not to be suppressed." Aye, 
 who can ? It must be gall and wormwood to all who 
 look on Britain as he does, to think that she cannot 
 only retain such an Empire, but put arms into the 
 hands of the people, and find them her most faithful 
 and devoted friends. If this fact, instead of being a 
 ground of complaint against Britain, does not afford 
 conclusive evidence that the Government is popular, 
 we know not what will. 
 
 But cannot Mr. Lester, in his most mild and submis- 
 sive tone, advise his friend, Mr. Calhoun, to try this 
 plan with the blacks ? They are faithful and devoted 
 creatures, and why not have some regim ents of them 
 ready for service ? They will fight for the " peculiar 
 institution" to the last drop of their blood ; and if they 
 were assisted by some rifle corps of faithful Seminoles, 
 such an army would resist any invader mad enough 
 to make an attempt on the country. They would be- 
 sides be an excellent gens d'armes, for watching the 
 movements of these infatuated fools who take the road 
 to Canada, and run off from happiness, freedom and 
 democracy. 
 
 Our author quotes the loose and exaggerated state- 
 ments of Dr. Bowring, in order to show that India is 
 
208 EAST INDIA DUTIES. 
 
 denied the right of free trade with Britain, and the 
 proof he gives for it is, that India cotton cloths, which 
 used to be extensively consumed in Europe, are now, 
 by the improvements in machinery, replaced by British 
 cotton goods sent to India. So the whole amount of 
 the complaint is, that the people of India are allowed 
 to buy their cotton cloths cheaper than they formerly 
 did, and thus to derive a great addition to their com- 
 forts. But it has been said elsewhere, that Britain op- 
 presses India in her commercial arrangements. In the 
 Tribune of Dec. 28, is an article entitled "Talks about 
 the Home League, No. 2," in which it is asserted, on 
 the authority of a writer from India, " that India is 
 wretched and yearly impoverished by the British Colo- 
 nial system, which fills her with British manufactures 
 at five per cent., and taxes her return products at one 
 hundred per cent." 
 
 Instead of such sweeping charges as this being made, 
 it would have certainly been better to have condescended 
 on the articles, on which such heavy duties are paid. 
 But how stands the fact 1 Cotton wool is the largest 
 article of export from India to Britain, and it is admit- 
 ted at 4 pence per cwt., being less than one per cent. 
 The duty when it comes from other countries, is 2s. 
 lid. per cwt. Rice is admitted at one shilling per 
 cwt., and from all other countries 15s. is charged. 
 Saltpetre is 6d. per cwt. Indigo 3 pence per lb., and 
 4 pence from other countries. Rav/ silk one penny per 
 lb. Manufactured silk goods from India pay 20 per 
 
EAST INDIA REVENUE. 209 
 
 cent, ad valorem,, and from other countries 25 to 30 
 per cent. Sugar used to be highly taxed, but some 
 years ago the duty was brought down to 24s. per cwt., 
 being the same as on the West India growth. The 
 only article heavily taxed is rum, which pays 15s. per 
 gallon, while West India is admitted at 9s. It is quite 
 evident, therefore, that under whatever evils India is 
 suffering, they do not arise either from high duties on her 
 imports or exports. 
 
 Vague statements are made about millions dying in 
 India of starvation. We have already tested our au- 
 thor's veracity, and will not attempt to refute this 
 charge. Such statements carry their own confutation 
 with them. The East India Company, or we should 
 rather say the British Government, has succeeded to 
 all the rights of the ancient sovereigns of India. One 
 of these rights was a heavy tax on land, which forms 
 the chief support of the government. The burden of 
 this tax will be greatly hghtened, when the improve- 
 ments in the cultivation of the soil now in progress 
 shall be brought into full operation. By a late law. 
 Europeans are allowed to occupy and take leases of 
 land, which was formerly prohibited. Meantime, al- 
 though a large amount of taxation is levied, it does 
 little more than pay the expenses of government, which 
 must ever be great, and which are all expended where 
 they are levied, the surplus scarcely affording a rea- 
 sonable sum for the home expenses, and dividend to 
 the proprietors of the Company's stock. 
 18 
 
210 IMPROVEMENTS IN INDIA. 
 
 Our author asks what Britain has done for India. 
 We will tell him some things she has done. 1st. 
 She has thrown the broad shield of her protection over 
 the persons and property of the inhabitants, in a man- 
 ner unknown under the former dynasties of India. 
 Hence her popularity, which enables her to retain her 
 power, with such a limited number of Europeans. 2d. 
 She for ever established the inviolable freedom of the 
 press. 3d. She has established the invaluable privi- 
 lege or trial by jury. 4th. She has expressly prohibit- 
 ed, and for ever put down, the disgraceful and shocking 
 practice of suttees. 5th. She has established native 
 magistrates and judges in every district. This is an- 
 other excellent hint for the southern states here. A 
 few black magistrates, judiciously planted through the 
 country, would be a great improvement. 6th. She has 
 thrown the whole of her weight and influence in favor 
 of education, which is now making much progress 
 among the natives. 7th. Britain is both nationally 
 and by means of voluntary associations, using the 
 greatest exertions to bring the East Indies under the 
 influence of divine truth. 
 
 These are some of the benefits that India has derived 
 or is deriving from her British connection. Every 
 successive administration, has for many years passes! 
 some important measure of improvement. Much re- 
 mains to be done, but every movement is in the right 
 direction. Britain has a fearful responsibility. The 
 millions of India have not been added to her dominion. 
 
IMPROVEMENT OF INDIA. 211 
 
 m order to give that false glare of greatness which 
 often shines but to deceive, or to encourage pride, that 
 favorite word in every American speech or novel. It 
 is a solemn trust reposed in her, and wo be to her if 
 it is abused. We beheve that the British people feel 
 the nature of that trust, and will follow up its high re- 
 quirements ; that they are satisfied that the true solu- 
 tion of their wonderful success in India is, that they 
 have been sent by the Supreme disposer of all events 
 to enlighten, civihze and Christianize the inhabitants. 
 
 Whatever has already been done, is entirely passed 
 over by our author, excepting some notices of the mis- 
 sionary exertions, of which one tithe of what has been 
 done is not told. But let us hear what even he says, — 
 page 82. " But the days of East India oppression are 
 numbered." " Until recently very little has been known 
 in England, of its extent and horrors. The facts how- 
 ever which have been collected, and diffused over Eng- 
 land within the last year, have aroused the British peo- 
 ple, and they have arisen in their might, determined to 
 overthrow this gigantic structure of wrong." Singular 
 people ! Liberty dead and buried in the grave of 
 Cromwell, nearly two centuries ago, and yet so active. 
 Dead and alive at once. 
 
 It has been alleged that the conduct of Britain to- 
 ward China, is inconsistent with that just and improved 
 system, which the friends of Britain say she pursues to 
 foreign countries and in the United States ; it has been 
 roundly asserted, and generally believed, that she com- 
 
212 CHINESE WAR. 
 
 menced the present war, to compel the Chinese to take 
 her opium. 
 
 The cause of the war with China, is simply this : — 
 An extensive trade, it is well known, is carried on by 
 British subjects in China, both in buying and selling. 
 Opium had been sent from British India to China 
 for many years, and of late its consumption had 
 greatly increased. Turkish Opium was also long sold 
 in the Chinese market, chiefly by American merchants 
 to a considerable extent. 
 
 The Chinese government has for some years prohib- 
 ited the importation of opium, occasionally issuing pro- 
 clamations and decrees to that effect. The trade was 
 never interrupted ; notwithstanding ships continued to 
 arrive, and the buyers came in boats, and made their 
 purchases, taking them openly ashore. In other cases, 
 the opium was sent ashore under the protection of the 
 Mandarins, who are the constituted authorities of the 
 country. So long did this state of things continue, that 
 every man was satisfied that the Chinese Government 
 were not in earnest, in their prohibitions of this traffic. 
 
 At last a sudden attack was made on the merchants 
 resident at Canton, without discrimination. Their 
 houses were surrounded with soldiers, and they were 
 kept prisoners for several weeks. They were threatened 
 with death, unless the whole opium in the ships in 
 the Bay were given up to be destroyed. The opium 
 was of great value, but the lives of so many people 
 were far greater. In such an emergency the insulted 
 foreigners would have appealed to the Ambassadors or 
 
CHINESE VIOLENCE. 213 
 
 Consuls of their respective governments, but the haught- 
 iness of the Celestial Empire admits no such characters 
 in her dominions, although such representatives have 
 been acknowledged in every nation from the first dawn 
 of civilization. 
 
 The only person holding a public situation is the 
 British Superintendant at Canton, who is looked up to 
 as the representative of the British interests, and in 
 some measure also of the foreign merchants of other 
 countries. Mr. Elliot, who held this situation, immedi- 
 ately interposed between the oppressed strangers, and 
 the Chinese Government. Leaving Macao, he pro- 
 ceeded to Canton, depending on his pubhc character : 
 but he fared no better than the others, being con- 
 fined in his house, and guarded by armed men. In or- 
 der to save his life, and those of the merchants suffering 
 under this unjust attack, he sent to the owners of the 
 opium ships in the bay, requesting them to surrender 
 the whole to the Chinese, and guaranteeing them from 
 all loss in the name of the British Government — and 
 the whole was given up, to the amount of many milUons 
 of dollars, and destroyed by the Chinese. 
 
 Now could any nation submit to so violent and out- 
 rageous a proceeding ? Suppose some contraband trad- 
 ers from Britain were to appear in New York bay, and 
 the American government, instead of sending a force 
 to capture these intruders, as they would unquestiona- 
 bly do, should send Mr. Buchanan to the tombs, along 
 with all the British merchants, on whom they could lay 
 18* 
 
21'!' CHINESE WAR. 
 
 their hands, aUhough quite unconnected with these 
 illegal transactions, and should say to them : — " Gen- 
 tlemen, you must either get these smugglers to deliver 
 up their cargoes to be destroyed by us, or we will hang 
 you all to-morrow." The worthy Consul we have no 
 
 doubt would act, as Mr. Elliot did. But would it j 
 
 possible to avoid a war between the two countries, i 
 
 after such an outrage, unless satisfaction prompt j 
 
 and complete, was given to the offended party ? It is ^ 
 
 the duty of every country to protect its coasts from ; 
 
 smuggling, and no country has a right to complain of ; 
 
 another, because her subjects are engaged in that \ 
 
 trade. I 
 
 Britain pays an enormous sum for protection to 
 her coasts against French goods, but has never com- 
 plained to the French Government on the subject j 
 Opium is a free article of trade to every country, except | 
 China, and any restrictions on its importation to China j 
 would only produce a system of false papers, which \ 
 would add another bad feature to a contraband trade. | 
 It is an article, besides, absolutely indispensable in medi- ' 
 cine. The India Company, although they draw a pro- ' 
 fit from the production of opium, take no share in ; 
 sending it to China. No country in the world is so 
 little entitled as China, to ask another to exceed the i 
 usual comity of nations, in transactions with her. She j 
 has resisted every effort towards that close and inti- 
 mate connection, which exists between all the other I 
 civilized nations of the earth, and which leads to such ; 
 
POLICY OF CHINA. 215 
 
 an interchange of views and opinions, to prevent 
 misunderstandings which may end in hostile colhsions. 
 
 The Celestial Empire keeps all the world as suppli- 
 ants at her gates, and grants them in the most offen- 
 sive terms, liberty to trade in a certain way, and within 
 certain limits, but haughtily resists every attempt at 
 nearer approaches, by which a more complete know- 
 ledge of what her policy and views really are, may be 
 attained. And yet Britain is blamed for resenting this 
 gross outrage on the law of nations. 
 
 Would the American government have submitted to 
 such a proceeding ? Certainly not. If some Ameri- 
 cans at Canton were rescued by British interference, 
 they will of course leave John Bull the trouble and ex- 
 pense of redressing the general injury, w^ell knowing 
 also, that they and other foreigners, engaged in the 
 Chinese trade, wnll share in the benefits of the new and 
 more favorable arrangements, which will in all pro- 
 babihty be the result of the present difficulties. The 
 war has no connection whatever with the continuation 
 of the opium trade. It has not even been alleged, that 
 in all the attempts at negotiation by Britain, that ques- 
 tion has ever been mentioned. No country will be so 
 ready as Britain at once to admit, that in every nation 
 rests the sole right to say what article it shall receive 
 from abroad, and what it shall reject. The war was 
 most reluctantly undertaken by Britain, and before do- 
 ing so, every effort to obtain redress was rejected with 
 disdain, and even a hearing of her complaints denied. 
 
'216 JUDGE JAY. 
 
 We believe that there is no other instance of such 
 instructions being given to the commanders of any 
 expedition as the British Government gave in this case, 
 viz'-: to carry on warhke operations with the smallest 
 possible sacrifice of the lives of the enemy, and the 
 least possible annoyance to the inhabitants. These 
 instructions were particularly followed up. It is deep- 
 ly to be regretted, however, that the treachery and 
 repulsiveness of the Chinese authorities, should have 
 occasioned a renewal of hostilities, and compelled the 
 British commanders to follow up their successes more 
 vigorously than they were disposed to do. 
 
 Whatever annoyances may be brought on the 
 heads of the inhabitants are to be deplored. They 
 must, however, not blame the British Government 
 or Commanders for them, but blame their own 
 authorities. We trust that this war will soon be 
 brought to a termination, and produce favorable re- 
 sults in the end to the Chinese people, and to all who 
 have intercourse with them. 
 
 We had written these remarks on the Chinese war, 
 when a publication on " War and Peace," by Judge 
 Jay, was put into our hands. To us, any w^ork with 
 that name attached to it, is ever full of interest, and 
 we found what is contained in all Mr. Jay's works, 
 much good sense, sound principle, and genuine benev- 
 olence to mankind. His detestation of war, and ear- 
 nest exhortations to cultivate the spirit of peace, and 
 
JUDGE JAY. 
 
 217 
 
 his plan for averting that curse among the nations, 
 must meet the approbation of every right thinking 
 man. 
 
 But before pressing these important considerations 
 on his countrymen, in relation to their difficulties with 
 Britain, he makes a violent attack on the British Gov- 
 ernment for their conduct to the Chinese, using terms 
 which we would not have expected from him. Such 
 an attack from almost any other quarter, we would sup- 
 pose to have been done to propitiate the sovereign peo- 
 ple, before he could venture to speak the truth in a 
 matter relating to themselves. But the high and hon- 
 orable ground, on which Judge Jay has ever stood, and 
 the independent and fearless manner in which he has 
 espoused the cause of freedom, in his " view of the 
 action of the Federal Government," in relation to 
 slavery, and in other works, place him far above such 
 an imputation. 
 
 Dismissing this idea, we are more surprised to find 
 the learned judge pronouncing, so emphatically, sen- 
 tence on the British Government, without giving such 
 a view of the case, as vv^ould enable his readers to ar- 
 rive at any correct conclusion. 
 
 An article appeared in the columns of the New 
 World, on 19th February, showing beyond all ques- 
 tion, the justice, and absolute necessity of such a war 
 on the part of Britain. If all had read that able ex- 
 pose of the causes of the Chinese war, we should not 
 have written one additional word on the subject, but 
 
218 JUDGE JAY VERSUS SIR ROBERT PEEL. 
 
 as this cannot have been the case, we shall make a 
 few remarks on what the learned gentleman has stated. 
 
 Mr. Jay introduces the subject in the following 
 manner : 
 
 Sir Robert Peel, the present Premier of Great Bri- 
 tain, in a late speech to his constituents, remarked, " I 
 do hope that neither this country, nor the United 
 States, will be mad enough to allow a difference of 
 opinion about a boundary, to set them in a hostile po- 
 sition towards each other. Undoubtedly, it is necessa- 
 ry for each country to maintain its honor, ybr without 
 maintaining its honor, no country is safe" 
 
 " Language like this," says Judge Jay, " was unwor- 
 thy the character and station of the gentleman, who used 
 it, belonging as it does, by prescriptive right to bar-room 
 politicians, and town-meeting demagogues. No coun- 
 try safe without maintaining its honor ! Alas, then, 
 for Great Britain, for at the very time these words were 
 uttered, she was waging against China, one of the most 
 dishonorable and detestable wars that has ever stained 
 her annals. Indeed it is difficult to point to a war re- 
 corded in history waged more directly against the 
 health, morals and happiness of a numerous people, or 
 from motives more base and sordid, than the British 
 opium war ; and yet he who is now the prime agent 
 and director of this war talks of the safety of Great 
 Britain as resting on the maintenance of her honor.'' 
 He afterwards talks of Britain being engaged " at the 
 the point of the bayonet in easing the Chinese of their 
 purses." 
 
It seems impossible to read the above passages with- 
 out arriving at the painful conclusion, that Judge Jay 
 is in a state of almost entire ignorance as to the grounds 
 of the war between Britain and China, Every expres- 
 sion quoted above, such as war against the health, 
 morals and happiness of the people, and then the sor- 
 didness of the motives, all lead us to believe that with- 
 out examining the matter, the benevolent author has 
 imbibed the popular delusion, that Britain has made 
 war on the Chinese to compel them to take opium. No 
 conclusion more wide from the truth could have been 
 arrived at ; Britain never having claimed to interfere 
 in the slightest extent with the laws of China respect- 
 ing the admission of that or any other article. 
 
 Mr. Jay has given three reasons only, for the opi- 
 nion he has formed on this war. First, certain remarks 
 in the Eclectic Review. Second, remarks in the 
 Christian Observer. Third, the result of a public 
 meeting in London, Earl Stanhope in the chair. 
 
 The first two witnesses are unexceptionable, as both 
 the works stand deservedly high for talent and sound 
 religious principle. The expression of their sentiments 
 must have followed the first accounts of the Chinese 
 rupture, and arisen from the rooted antipathy that the 
 people of Britain have to war. The Eclectic Review 
 speaks of the '' wholesale confiscation of the opium. 
 and of the" breaking up of the haunts of respectable 
 British smugglers," and declares " we have been dealt 
 with according to our deserts. May it provoke us to 
 
220 ECLECTIC AND OBSERVER. - 
 
 repentance and a change of conduct." The Christian 1 
 Observer says, " if we must have war, it ought to be \ 
 for a more honorable object than that of indemnifying j 
 smugglers, Avhen contraband goods were legally seized ] 
 and destroyed." \ 
 
 The very extracts given above show that the writers 
 were quite uninformed of the true facts of the case ; \ 
 that they believed that the Chinese government had 
 seized the opium ; and that Britain had gone to war for 
 redress. 
 
 The third ground relied on by Mr. Jay carries less , 
 weight than the other two, viz. the London meeting- 
 In Britain, where freedom really exists, there is no con" ; 
 ceivable view which can be taken of a public question, 
 which will not find advocates and supporters, especially ■ 
 if it be in opposition to the party in power for the time. ^ 
 It is not surprising that such a meeting should have 
 been got up, on account of a war supposed to have 
 been commenced to compel the Chinese to take opium, 
 and the excentric Stanhope is just such a person as we 
 should expect to make a hasty and raeh decision on a 
 great public measure. 
 
 We have probably said enough already on this mat- 
 ter, but cannot refrain from making some quotations 
 from the article in the New World to which we have 
 already alluded. After some pointed remarks on the 
 inviolability of the character of an ambassador, or pub- 
 lic representative, the article goes on to state " with 
 shght intermissions, the English have been tradino- 
 
OPIUM CHINA TRADE. 221 
 
 with China, for the last two hundred years ; opium 
 was first introduced about the middle of the last 
 century, and was a legitimate article of trade, at a cer- 
 tain fixed duty, until the year 1800, when it was inter- 
 dicted by the Chinese Imperial Government. In spite, 
 however, of the prohibitory edicts, the importation of 
 the drug has continued steadily to increase until in 
 1837 it reached the enormous amount of 30,000 
 chests. 
 
 " This contraband trade has thus flourished from the 
 corrupt connivance of Provincial authorities ; a sort of 
 regular established duty, or tax, varying from 65 to 75 
 dollars per chest, being openly levied upon it. To- 
 wards the end of the year 1838, however, it appears 
 that even the provincial authorities could no longer re- 
 sist the earnest and urgent instructions from the Impe- 
 rial Government atPekin, to put an end to the traffic; 
 as about this time they adopted more energetic mea- 
 sures with that object, at the same time imposing ad- 
 ditional restrictions on the regular trade. A meeting 
 of the foreign residents, to consider th<>se restrictions, 
 took place on the 17th Dec, at which the following 
 remarks were made by her Britannic Majesty's Superin- 
 tendent, Elliot : 
 
 ^ The present results of that traffic should be short- 
 ly stated and considered ; the actual interruption of 
 the legal trade ; the seizure and jeopardy of innocent 
 men; * * * the distressing degradation of the for- 
 eign character ; the painful fact that such courses ex- 
 19 
 
222 SUPERINTENDENT ELLIOT. 
 
 posed us more and more to the just indignation of this 
 government and people, and diminished the sympathy 
 of our own ; of its futurity, it might be safely predict- 
 ed that it would fall into the hands of the reckless, the 
 refuse and probably the convicted, of all the countries 
 in our neighborhood ; * * * * he could not, how- | 
 ever, help indulging the hope that the general repro- 
 bation of the whole community would have the effect { 
 of relieving him from the performance of a duty on \ 
 many accounts extremely painful to him. * * * «= ^ 
 To the other foreigners present (those not English) he 
 would use the freedom to observe, that he was the i 
 only agent in this country whose pursuits were unmix- | 
 edly public ; and, so long as he was advocating the ] 
 principles of truth and justice in our relations with this i 
 government and people, he might take the liberty to ] 
 say, that he w^as, in some sense, the representative of i 
 their honorable countries as well as his own.' 
 
 ^' Here then we have an indignant and unequivocal I 
 condemnation of the contraband trade in opium from ! 
 the mouth of the representative of that government j 
 charged with making war on China to force on its ! 
 inhabitants the consumption, hon gre, mal grt, of that I 
 infamous drug. It is an easy matter for those writers 
 who, scorning the trammels of history and facts, im- 
 pute unworthy motives to others, to misrepresent 
 acts the most meritorious and honorable; for, as the 
 poet says — j 
 
SUPERINTENDENT ELLIOT. 223 
 
 ' A word, a look, 
 Needs nothing but a foul interpretation, 
 To turn its simple language into shame.' 
 
 *' By the above extract, we have pride also in show- 
 ing that Captain Elliot, clothed with all the authority 
 of a minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain, was 
 desirous of using the influence of his position for the 
 benefit of other nations than his own ; and this line of 
 conduct, we are happy to say, he heartily pursued dur- 
 ing the whole course of the difficulties previous to the 
 formal commencement of the war. 
 
 " On the ensuing day Captain Elliot, to give full force 
 and effect to the sentiments above expressed, issued 
 the following public ^Notice to British Subjects in 
 China.' 
 
 ' I, Charles ElHot, Chief Superintendent of the trade 
 of British subjects in China, moved by urgent consider- 
 ations immediately affecting the lives and properties 
 of all her Majesty's subjects engaged in the trade at 
 Canton, do hereby formally give notice, and require, 
 that all British owned schooners, cutters, and other- 
 wise rigged small craft, either habitually or occasion- 
 ally engaged in the illicit traffic, within the Bocca 
 Tigris, should proceed forth out of the same, within 
 the space of three days from the date of these pres- 
 ents, and not return within the said Bocca Tigris, being 
 engaged in the said illicit traffic. 
 
 ' And I, the said Chief Superintendent, do further 
 give notice and warn all her Majesty's subjects en- 
 
224- SUPERINTENDENT ELLIOT. 
 
 gaged in the aforesaid illicit opium traffic within the 
 Bocca Tigris in such schooners, &c. &c., that if any 
 native of the Chinese Empire shall come by his or 
 her death by any wound feloniously inflicted by any 
 British subject or subjects, any such British subject or 
 subjects, being duly convicted thereof, are liable to 
 capital punishment as if the crime had been committed 
 within the jurisdiction of her Majesty's Courts at 
 Westminster. 
 
 ' And I, the said Chief Superintendent, do further 
 give notice, and warn all British subjects, being own- 
 ers of such schooners, &c. &c., that her Majesty's 
 Government will in no way interpose if the Chinese 
 Government shall think fit to seize and confiscate the 
 same. 
 
 ^ And I, the said Chief Superintendent, do further 
 give notice and warn all British subjects employed in 
 said schooners, &c. &c., that the forcible resisting of 
 the officers of the Chinese Government in the duty of 
 searching and seizing is a lawless act, and that they are 
 liable to consequences and penalties, in the same man- 
 ner as if the aforesaid forcible resistance were opposed 
 to the officers of their own or any other governments 
 in their own or in any foreign country. 
 
 • Given under my hand and seal of office at Canton, 
 this 18th December, 1838. 
 
 ' [Signed,] CHARLES ELLIOT, &c.' " 
 
PROCEEDINGS AT CANTON. 225 
 
 " On the 17th we had the views and recommenda- 
 tions of the Superintendent, but on the 18th we find 
 these views and recommendations followed by acts ur- 
 gent and energetic, as the above official docmnent 
 abundantly proves. Here we learn that the represen- 
 tative of the British Government exercised extraordina- 
 ry powers, far beyond those invested in any embassa- 
 dor or consul that has come under eur notice ; for we 
 know no other instance of the English or any other 
 government using its power and influence to put in 
 force the revenue laws of a foreign country against its 
 own citizens ! We find Elliot also threatening British 
 subjects with trial by the laws of England, for offences 
 committed within the jurisdiction of a foreign power ? 
 It would appear, however, that this address produced a 
 great sensation among the British residents ; not so 
 much on account of the active measures of the Superin- 
 tendent to suppress all contraband trade, as for the 
 novelty of the doctrines therein contained. For the same 
 jealousy of natural rights that first wrested from King 
 John the great charter of Enghsh liberties, and which 
 has constantly watched with Argus eyes over those 
 liberties through several centuries, obliged Mr. Elhot 
 to show upon what authority he exercised those extra- 
 ordinary powers; as we find that a few days after- 
 wards, on 31st December, he issued another notice in 
 which he says, * He takes this occasion to republish 
 that part of the Act of Parliament and the orders in 
 Council upon which his instructions are founded.' In 
 19* 
 
226 PROCEEDINGS AT CANTON. 
 
 the same notice, the Superintendent, as if the inten- 
 tions of the British Government had not yet been suf- 
 liciently explicit, reiterates them in even stronger 
 terms. We will not however try the patience of our 
 readers by further extracts on this point ; with the ex- 
 ception of the short closing paragraph of that address, 
 which is important as showing the cordial support 
 which he received from the residents themselves. It is 
 in these words : 'It is a source of great support to him 
 that the general body of the whole community settled 
 at Canton, strongly concur with him in the deprecation 
 of this peculiar mischief, and he has not failed to afford 
 her Majesty's government the satisfaction of knowing 
 that such is the case.' 
 
 " The numerous public documents that appeared in 
 those exciting times would furnish many additional 
 proofs of the sincere desire of the British Government 
 to put an end to this illicit traffic, and of the hearty 
 condemnation of that traffic by the majority of the 
 foreign residents; but contenting ourselves with the 
 above extracts, taken almost at random, we will now 
 pass on to the opening act of that grand drama, in which 
 two of the greatest powers on the face of the earth play 
 the principal parts, — with eager and anxious natives as 
 the spectators, — a drama whose denoxiement may have a 
 very important influence on a great portion of the 
 earth's inhabitants. 
 
 " Early in March, 1839, there arrived at Canton a 
 high personage, whose coming had been heralded forth 
 
COMMISSIONER LIN. 227 
 
 for months before, — we mean High Commissioner Lin. 
 Of a remarkably energetic character, as his after pro- 
 ceedings proved, he had been chosen by the Emperor 
 as the person above all others most eminently qualified 
 to put an efTectual stop to the growing evil of the 
 opium traffic. Lin received his instructions from the 
 Emperor himself, and, it is said, was invested with 
 powers such as have only been thrice delegated by the 
 monarchs of the present ruling dynasty. He made 
 his public entry into Canton with great pomp and pa- 
 rade, on the 10th of March ; and, having passed eight 
 days in making such inquiries and examinations as he 
 considered necessary, to understand the position of af- 
 fairs, he issued on the 18th an edict, addressed to 
 ' Foreigners of all Nations,' requiring them first to 
 deliver up to him, to be destroyed, all the opium in 
 their possession, or on board any ship in the Chinese 
 waters ; next requiring them to give bonds to the ef- 
 fect — -' That those vessels that shall hereafter resort 
 hither, will never again dare to bring opium with them ; 
 and that, should any be brought, as soon as discovery 
 shall be made of it, the goods shall be forfeited to 
 government, and the parties shall suffer the extreme 
 penalties of the law, and that such punishment shall be 
 willingly submitted to'- — threatening them, in case of 
 nonfulfilment of his orders and the conditions imposed 
 on them, with the severe course of punishment pre- 
 scribed by the new law. Lin condescendingly allowed 
 three days for the foreigners to prepare an answer to 
 his edict and to send it to him. 
 
] 
 
 1 
 228 PROCEEDINGS OF LIN. ' 
 
 ^' Simultaneous vyith this edict Lin issued instructions ■ 
 that no foreigner should be permitted to leave Canton ; \ 
 a day or two after all commercial business was stopped, 1 
 and, the native servants being first withdrawn, the i 
 foreigners, made prisoners in their own factories, were i 
 surrounded on all sides by armed men. Elliot at this : 
 time was at Macao, but, on being informed of these I 
 occurrences, he immediately repaired to Canton in his ; 
 Cutter, where he arrived on the 24th, closely followed ' 
 by war boats or cruisers. Immediately on his landing, ] 
 the Chinese authorities issued orders to close more ef- \ 
 fectually every pass round the factories ; the entrances \ 
 to the square were shut up and strongly guarded ; and \ 
 where, during the previous days of their imprisonment, I 
 a few men had been placed to watch the foreigners \ 
 and prevent their escape, large companies of armed j 
 men were now stationed, and along the river a triple I 
 cordon of boats filled with armed men was drawn, i 
 Soldiers also were stationed on the roofs of the ad- i 
 joining houses. 
 
 " In this ignominious position, closely watched and 
 imprisoned, and dependent entirely on the tender mer- 
 cies of Lin for their daily supplies of food and water, \ 
 all the foreign residents remained for the tedious period 
 of more than seven weeks. For a short and concise j 
 account of the high-handed measures of Lin toward 
 these defenceless strangers, we prefer to refer our read- i 
 ers to an indignant remonstrance addressed by Elliot i 
 to the Emperor shortly after their release, as such doc- ' 
 
V IMPRISONMENT OF EUROPEANS. 229 
 
 uments, bearing the stamp of official authority, are 
 more hkely to gain credit than the simple narrative of 
 an unknown individual. Elliot commences by protest- 
 ing against Lin's having caused official notices to be 
 publicly placarded and sent to the English ships, ' in- 
 citing the English merchants, commanders, and seamen, 
 to disregard his lawful injunctions issued in the name 
 of his gracious sovereign' — (Elliot having, a few days 
 previous, in the name of the Queen, enjoined all Brit- 
 ish subjects to leave Canton, and to refrain from trading 
 with the Chinese, on the ignominious conditions impos- 
 ed by the High Commissioner.) The Superintendent 
 then goes on to inform the Emperor of the motives 
 w^hich ' compelled him to require the merchants of his 
 nation to leave Canton, and the ships no longer to re- 
 turn within the Bocca Tigris,' he proceeds as follows ; 
 w^e give his own language : 
 
 " On the 24th of March last, Elliot repaired to Can- 
 ton, and immediately proposed to put an end to the 
 state of difficulty and anxiety then existent, by the 
 faithful fulfilment of the Emperor's will : and he re- 
 spectfully asked that he and the rest of the foreign 
 community might be set at liberty, in order that he 
 might calmly consider and suggest adequate remedies 
 for the evils so justly denounced by his Imperial Ma- 
 jesty. He was answ^ered by a close imprisonment of 
 more than seven weeks, wdth armed men day and 
 night before his gates, under threats of privation of 
 food, tvaier, and life. Was this becoming treatment 
 
230 Elliot's nEMONSTRANCE. 
 
 of the officers of a friendly nation, recognized by the 
 Emperor, and who had always performed his duty 
 peaceably and irreproachably, striving in all things to 
 afford satisfaction to the provincial government 1 
 When it thus became plain that the Commissioner was 
 resolved to cast aw^ay all moderation, Elliot knew that 
 it was incumbent upon him to save the imperial digni- 
 ty, and prevent some shocking catastrophe on the per- 
 sons of an imprisoned foreign officer, and two hundred 
 defenceless merchants. For these reasons of prevail- 
 ing force, he demanded from the people of his nation 
 all the English opium in their hands, in the name of 
 his Sovereign, and delivered it over to the Commis- 
 sioners, amounting to 20,283 chests. That matter re- 
 mains to be settled between the two courts. 
 
 ' But how will it be possible to answer the Emperor 
 for this violation of his gracious will, that these difficult 
 affairs should be managed with thoughtful wisdom, and 
 with tenderness to the men from afar ? What will be the 
 feelings of the most just Prince of his illustrious dynas- 
 ty, when it is made manifest to him by the command of 
 her Britannic Majesty, that the traffic in opium has been 
 chiefly encouraged and protected by the highest officers 
 of the Empire, and that no portion of the foreign trade 
 to China has paid its fees to the officers with so much 
 regularity as this of opium ! ! Terrible, indeed, will 
 be His Imperial Majesty's indignation, when he learns 
 that the obligations into which the High Commission- 
 ers entered, under his seal, to the officers of a foreign 
 
Elliot's remonstrance. 231 
 
 nation, were all violated ! The servants were not faith- 
 fully restored w^hen one-fourth of the opium was deliver- 
 ed : the boats were not permitted to run when one-half 
 was delivered : the trade was not really opened when 
 three-fourths were delivered ; and the last pledge, that 
 things should go on as usual, when the whole was de- 
 livered, has been falsified by the reduction of the fac- 
 tories to a prison with one outlet, the expulsion of six- 
 teen persons, some of them who never dealt in opium 
 at all, some clerks, one a lad, and the proposal of novel 
 and intolerable regulations. 
 
 ' Can a great moral and political revolution be ef- 
 fected at the sacrifice of all the principles of truth, mo- 
 deration, and justice ? Or is it believed that these spo- 
 liatory proceedings will extinguish the traffic in opium ? 
 Such hopes are futile, or the Emperor has been de- 
 ceived.' 
 
 " We will make no further extracts in proof of the se- 
 veral points we have assumed ; let those who dispute 
 them disprove the facts alleged : we have, we think, 
 brought forward testimony sufficiently valid to show 
 not only the want of connivance of the British govern- 
 ment at the opium traffic, but such gross and unmerit- 
 ed indignities by the Chinese authorities toward the 
 British Superintendent and other residents, as no inde- 
 pendent nation can with honor submit to. If those 
 writers, who have so warmly denounced England in the 
 affair, instead of lavishing all their Christian sympathy 
 on a Pagan nation, had shown a little charity to their 
 
TRUTH VERSUS ARCTURUS. 
 
 Christian brethren, by condescending to inquire into the 
 real facts of the case, they might have found that, 
 strange as it may seem, England could be once in the 
 right ! The most prominent characteristic of every ar- 
 ticle that has come under our notice, professing to enter 
 into the merits of the question, has been a profound ig- 
 norance of the subject. In corroboration of this pre- 
 vailing ignorance we would refer to the city article of 
 the Arcturus for January last, in which the writer ad- 
 ministers the usual dose of virulent abuse of England, 
 but directs his angry indignation especially to horrible 
 atrocities committed by the British soldiery on taking 
 possession of Canton, which w^e learn from him was 
 " given up to sack and pillage, to the conflagration of 
 its homes and temples, to the plunder of its property, to 
 the violation of its chaste mothers and wives and daugh- 
 ters." Now, in this statement of horrors, one principal 
 ingredient is wanting, and that is truth, and, while wx 
 regret that the writer should put himself into a fever by 
 beating the air so lustily, we have much pleasure in in- 
 forming him that those deeds of horror which seemed 
 to move him so deeply, are but the offspring of his own 
 imagination. Canton has not been entered by a single 
 British soldier, so far as intelligence has yet reached us 
 — and the sack and pillage and conflagration and plun- 
 der and violation spoken of, he alone is responsible for. 
 It was once said by Talleyrand of a celebrated physician, 
 that he knew a little of everything, even of 7nedicine. 
 We would change the expression somewhat, and say 
 
CAUSES OF THE CHINESE WAR. 233 
 
 of this writer, that he may know a great deal of other 
 things, but he knows nothing of the subject he at- 
 tempts to discuss. 
 
 " We beUeve then that we have made out, that the 
 following charges against the Chinese government are 
 founded in truth and justice : 
 
 " The abrupt stoppage of the whole legal trade of the 
 port of Canton ; 
 
 " The close imprisonment, for more than seven weeks, 
 of Her Majesty's Superintendent, and of all foreigners 
 without distinction, alike the dealers in opium and the 
 many honorable merchants who had ever yielded a 
 willing and scrupulous obedience to the laws ; 
 
 " The open and undisguised threats to hold foreigners 
 responsible with their lives for the surrender of the 
 opium, and for any future infraction of the Chinese 
 laws; 
 
 " The obtaining, through this forcible detention and 
 those threats, the surrender of property to the value of 
 from ten to fifteen millions of dollars ; 
 
 " The attempt to force foreigners to sign bonds, render- 
 ing not only themselves, but all others going to China, 
 over whom they have no control, liable to the same 
 penalties ; and, on the refusal on the part of the foreign- 
 ers to sign such bonds, in the promulgation of an edict 
 by the High Commissioner, declaring the determination 
 of the government to enforce such penalty ; 
 
 " The treacherous non-fulfilment, by High Commis- 
 sioner Lin, of the promise made to the Superintendent 
 20 
 
•234f ENGLAND VINDICATED. 
 
 as to the re-opening of the trade, &c. on the surrender 
 of the opium." 
 
 We have extracted largely from the New World, on 
 account of the distinctness and excellence of the 
 article, and shall just add one passage more. " We 
 have given we think, a fair history of the violent 
 injuries and indignities in which the war originated; 
 let those who declaim so loudly against the conduct of 
 England, either disprove the facts we have brought 
 forward, or failing in this, prove their insufficiency to 
 provoke a war : there would be some show of right 
 in such a course ; but the system hitherto pursued, of 
 wholesale denunciation,where the most important points 
 are suppressed, is as easy as it is unjust and ungene- 
 rous. By such asystem, in a community ignorant in 
 a great measure of the history of the transactions, it 
 would not be difficult to throw a dark shade of infamy 
 over the ablest struggle for human rights." 
 
 Is it necessary to say more on this question ? Can this 
 trade be strictly compared to any other case of smuggling ? 
 It is a case entirely sui generis. For thirty-seven years 
 after the first prohibition by the Emperor, it has been 
 carried on, on payment of a regular duty to the pro- 
 vincial authorities, without any serious attempt to stop 
 it. During that time American merchants participated 
 largely in it. 
 
 If the state of New York were to grant regular per- 
 mission to allow certain articles to be imported on pay- 
 
DEFINITION OF HONOR. 235 
 
 ment of certain duties, although there had been an act 
 of Congress against it, who can believe that there 
 would not be abundance of vessels arriving with the 
 needful supplies; and if Congress should for nearly 
 forty years allow this law to remain a dead letter on 
 the statute book, who would not beheve, either that the 
 federal government had no wish, or had not the ability 
 to enforce their decree, and that the power with which 
 they had to treat was the state of New York alone. 
 
 We know not where Judge Jay got his information 
 about the cruelties said to have been committed by the 
 British troops at Chusan. It is directly in opposition to 
 all other accounts which have hitherto appeared, and is 
 entirely opposed to the humane instructions sent out 
 by the British government. ^ 
 
 Mr. Jay quarrels with Sir Robert Peel for speaking 
 about maintaining the honor of the country, and says 
 that such a phrase belongs " to bar-room politicians^ 
 and town-meeting demagogues." But what language, 
 however just and appropriate, may not be applied to a 
 bad use 1 The great enemy of mankind could quote 
 scripture. Are we on that account to cast aside scrip- 
 tural language ? We know that a counterfeit honor 
 has been introduced into society, and been made 
 to sanction such crimes as duelling, and other propen- 
 sities of honorable men. But in its legitimate sense, and 
 regarding it as meaning that respect from the world 
 which must fiow from a firm maintenance of national 
 rights, we contend that the expression is good. These 
 
236 ABOLITION OF SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 national rights must be in strict accordance with that 
 law, which enjoins us " to love our neighbor as our- 
 selves," or the maintenance of them can be attended j 
 with no real honor to any country. And in that sense j 
 only could the expression have been used by the British | 
 Premier. It is singular that while Mr. Jay condemns him ' 
 for using that expression, he proceeds immediately to jus- ; 
 tify the use of it, by accusing the British nation of a vio- 
 lation of honor in their conduct to China. He first de- , 
 nies the standard, and then proceeds to square his re- ' 
 marks by an appeal to that very standard. Verily this 
 is a singular kind of reasoning of the worthy Judge. | 
 A great difficulty seems to have occurred to him, j 
 while writing his article on the Chinese war, which ; 
 is thus expressed : " To some it may seem paradoxical, ' 
 that the same government which has exhibited such a ^ 
 sublime devotion to the rights of the negro, should be 
 so callous to the well being of the Chinese. The solu- 
 tion is easy. The opium war is a government 
 measure adopted by politicians, and probably with the 
 expectation of receiving political support in return from 
 the East India interest; precisely as certain northern 
 members in Congress, in obedience to southern dicta- 
 tion, and in consideration of southern votes, trample 
 upon the right of petition, and do many other things 
 they ought not. The abolition of slavery and the 
 slave trade, on the contrary, so far from originating 
 wdth the government, were demanded by the people of 
 Great Britain in a voice which their rulers were afraid 
 
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 237 
 
 to disregard. Mr. Stanley, one of the ministry, in 
 supporting the Emancipation Bill in the House of Com, 
 mons, declared that so loudly was it called for by the 
 public, ' that no ministry could retain office who refus- 
 ed it.' " 
 
 We regret to find Mr. Jay falling into an error, 
 which is shared by some abolitionists, who while 
 they cannot avoid acknowledging what Britain has 
 done for the unfortunate and injured Africans, speak of 
 it as done by the British philanthropists, or the British 
 people, thus placing them in contrast with the 
 Government, which they seem to allege can do noth- 
 ing right. Nothing can be more unfair, or show how 
 difficult it is to get the smallest portion of justice to 
 Britain awarded within the United States. 
 
 A glance at the past history of anti-slavery exertions 
 in Britain will sufficiently show how much the people 
 and government are at one on the question. 
 
 There can be no reason to doubt the sincerity of Mr. 
 Pitt in his desire to put an end to the atrocious slave 
 trade. But he was restrained by other members of 
 his cabinet, by the West India interest in parharaent, 
 and by a large portion of the community who were 
 afraid to make what they thought an experiment of a 
 dangerous character, while the country was engaged in 
 so serious a war. 
 
 The death of Pitt early in 1806 entirely changed the 
 scene. The Tory ministry broke up, and was succeeded 
 by the Grey and Grenville Whig Administration. 
 20* 
 
238 WHia STATESMEN. 
 
 It was soon made apparent that no fear for conse- 
 quences deterred that wise and virtuous ministry, from 
 the performance of w^hat they considered to be their 
 duty to the country and to the world. With a narrow 
 majority in the House of Commons, they at once car- 
 ried through that great work of justice, which Pitt, in 
 the plenitude of his power, and wdth his overwhelming 
 majorities, had either been unable or was afraid to push 
 to its consummation, and in 1807, the slave trade was 
 for ever prohibited to British subjects. No greater 
 efforts were then made from vdthout, by Mr. Wilber- 
 force and his friends, than they had often done before; 
 and who then cast the scale ? It was the Whig states- 
 men of England. Is not this historical fact, and well 
 known to many living witnesses ? 
 
 And who passed the West India Emancipation Act 
 in 1834 ? The same class of statesmen who passed 
 the act of 1807, and some of them the same individ- 
 uals. The same Charles Grey, who was First Lord of 
 the Admiralty in 1806 and '7, was Prime Minister in 
 1834. The same Lord Henry Petty, who was Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer in the first period, was, when 
 Marquis of Lansdown, a leading Cabinet minister in 
 1834. And Lord Holland, the nephew of Fox, held 
 office in both administrations, and gave his powerful 
 assistance to both those glorious acts. These illustrious 
 and consistent statesmen exhibited to the world, that 
 they did not hold one set of opinions w^hen out of power, 
 and another when the seals of oflSce w^ere committed 
 to their care. 
 
WHIG STATESMEN. 239 
 
 They had remained out of office for nearly half a 
 century, excepting the thirteen months of Whig rule 
 in 1806— '7. They retired when the liberal measures 
 they contemplated for the Irish Catholics could not be 
 accomplished, and after a lapse of twenty-seven years, 
 and with all their ripened experience, several who had 
 done much to carry the first great measure in favor 
 of the Africans, faithful to their principles, nobly finish- 
 ed their good work, by setting free the West India 
 slaves. 
 
 But the Government were forced into the measure, 
 says Mr. Jay, by fear of the people. What ! were 
 Lushington, O'Connell, Jeffrey, Buxton, or McAulay, 
 firm supporters of the Ministry, or members of the ad- 
 ministration, influenced hy fear to accomplish the 
 work which they had toiled and struggled through life 
 to bring to a favorable termination ? Did any man do 
 more for the cause than Henry Brougham, and did he 
 exhibit any fear when he put the finishing hand, as 
 Chancellor of England, to what he had so anxiously 
 labored to accomplish ? The very men who, as states- 
 men, finished this great act of national justice, were 
 the very men who had done most for it out of doors, 
 and who had contributed most to awaken the public 
 mind to their duty in regard to it. Every person we 
 have mentioned, was a Whig statesman or politician 
 from his youth upwards. 
 
 The Tory party also contained many warm and in- 
 fluential friends of abolition, both in Parliament and 
 
240 WHIGS AND TORIES. 
 
 out of it. The treaties with Spain and Portugal for 
 the suppression of the slave trade, and the payments 
 made to these powers, were done by a Tory adminis- 
 tration. The laws and orders in Council, restraining 
 the slave proprietors from the exercise of some of their 
 powers over their slaves, w^ere also passed under the 
 same regime. The regulations introduced in 1823, 
 respecting the observance of the Sabbath and the powd- 
 er of the lash, must ever reflect credit on the memory 
 of George Canning; and the distinct, humane and be- 
 nevolent directions of Lord Bathurst, then Colonial 
 Secretary, confer honor on that department of gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 Accustomed to be too much guided by precedents, 
 and restrained by the cold and chilling influence of such 
 minds as Lord Eldon's, the Tories were ever afraid to 
 go to the root of any disease under which the institu- 
 tions of the country labored. Humane and just men 
 among them often shrunk from oppression, when it was 
 vividly exhibited to them. They would remedy the 
 particular evil complained of, but they recoiled from 
 the use of such a remedy as would for ever prevent a re- 
 currence of these evils. The Whig statesmen took a 
 higher and more extended view of their duty, and the 
 moment the opportunity presented itself, they for ever 
 blotted out the enormity of West India slavery ; and 
 whether justice is done to them now or not, posterity 
 will yet inscribe their names among the greatest ben- 
 efactors of the human race. 
 
JUDGE jay's work. 241 
 
 It is in vain for Mr. Jay to compliment the people 
 of Britain at the expense of the government. No 
 public measure was ever brought about where less par- 
 ty or pohtical spirit was mixed up, or which received 
 more generally the approbation of all classes of the 
 British public. And since the causes of the Chinese 
 war have been known, no party would now speak of 
 it in the way Mr. Jay has done. The long forbear- 
 ance of Britain before they would strike the blow — 
 the absolute impossibility of having any power to me- 
 diate, where the complaints of the aggrieved party 
 were not even allowed to be heard, must satisfy every 
 reflecting mind that the only course left was war. It 
 is true Britain might have submitted to the loss, to the 
 insult and degradation, and for ever withdrawn from 
 all intercourse with the Chinese Empire. But could 
 their Indian Empire have been maintained after such a 
 proceeding ? Impossible. 
 
 We join Mr. Jay in his condemnation of war, and 
 
 are confident that if as much spirit of conciliation as 
 
 was exhibited towards the Chinese, had been exhibited 
 
 by Lord North and WilUam Pitt, the two capital errors 
 
 in the reign of George Third, viz. the American war. 
 
 and the French war of 1793, never would have been 
 
 committed. 
 
 There are some singular statements in Mr. Jay's work. 
 
 He speaks of a second rupture and contest between 
 
 Prussia and France, which never occurred, making 
 
 the termination of it take place with the treaty of 
 
242 
 
 i 
 
 Luneville in ISOl, when Prussia had in fact retired from , 
 the contest seven years before, and never renewed the ; 
 war till 1806, when the fatal battle of Jena was fought. 
 
 In condemning Britain's warlike propensities, he i 
 notices the negotiations commenced by Napoleon, but ] 
 entirely omits the anxious and sincere proposals for 
 peace by the British ministry in 1806, when Lord Lau- 
 derdale was sent over to Paris, which proposals Bo- 
 naparte broke off with the greatest rudeness, when he 
 was about to set out on his campaign against the Prus- \ 
 sians. | 
 
 The following singular passage in Mr. Jay's work, | 
 we cannot avoid noticing. Page 68 :— " The power of 
 Napoleon was indeed checked, and finally destroyed, 
 but not by the arms of England ; and his banishment ; 
 to Elba was effected almost without the aid of a Brit- ; 
 ish musket." Every one who knows the history will 
 be lost in astonishment at such a statement. 
 
 The last blow struck against Bonaparte in 1814, , 
 was by the British at Toulouse, who, with a large force • 
 of British and Peninsular soldiers, had cut their way : 
 into the heart of France. In fact, the drain of the 
 French military had been as great in Spain, and as : 
 much the cause of Bonaparte's downfall, as his losses | 
 in Russia or Germany. We conclude our remarks on i 
 Judge Jay's work, with a most cordial w^ish that the 
 plan of settling national differences suggested by him, 
 may be soon adopted. j 
 
 We now return to Mr. Lester, ; 
 
WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. 243 
 
 We have already alluded to his lukewarmness in the 
 cause of the abolition of slavery, and we cannot pro- 
 duce a stronger poof of his heartlessness on that sub- 
 ject, than his remarks on the glorious Act of West In- 
 dia Emancipation. In the 1st volume, p. 109, he says : 
 " The emancipation of 800,000 slaves in the British 
 Colonies was very noble, considered as an act of hu- 
 mane legislation, and the result has been, all that the 
 friends of that act could have anticipated. This is the 
 united voice of hundreds who have gone there to see 
 the working of the experiment, and Parliament has 
 confirmed their statements, that freedom has worked 
 well. But still there is a consideration connected 
 even with this glorious act, not a little painful. The 
 j£20,000,000, which were the price of taking off the 
 fetters of colonial slavery, have only increased the bur- 
 den of the already crushed working classes of England. 
 That great sum has swollen the national debt, before 
 so enormous, still more, and there is some force in the 
 saying of the Chartists, that the English people have 
 paid the Throne £20,000,000 for sending ships to the 
 Colonies, to bring back cast aside negro fetters, to be 
 fastened on themselves at home." 
 
 Seldom has a passage so utterly base and heartless 
 as this fallen under our observation. Does this man 
 dare to compare the case of a small fraction of taxation, 
 which he supposes the working man to pay towards the 
 interest of the twenty millions, with the inestimable 
 blessing conveyed to 800,000 of our fellow men, of re- 
 
24.4 WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. 
 
 relief from slavery, bodily, mental and moral ? The 
 lanscuao^e of freedom from the mouth of a man such as 
 this bespeaks the writer to be, is the very essence of 
 mockery. There is not in the history of the world an 
 act to be compared with West India Emancipation, for 
 moral grandeur. But it is little understood here. 
 Money to an immense amount was freely given from a 
 sense of justice alone. Some have doubted the purity 
 of the motive. This man ventures not to do so, but 
 along with a few wicked and unprincipled men called 
 Chartists, he sets up a whine about adding to the na- 
 tional debt. 
 
 No new taxes were levied when the emancipation 
 bill was passed ; on the contrary the sugar duties were 
 greatly reduced on that very year. But why not lament 
 over the injury to the British people, from the vast 
 amount of their capital which has been expended by 
 Southern slaveholders in ruinous and extravagant pro- 
 jects, or in profligate and profuse personal expenditure ? 
 This is a theme worthy of being dwelt upon, for alas ! it 
 has been lost, and done little good to any one. How dif- 
 ferent the delightful reflection attending the twenty 
 million expenditure ! 
 
 We close this head by noticing the goodly prospect 
 held out by this Delegate's views of American Aboli- 
 tion. In vol. 2d, p. 50, he says — " One more item will 
 close what I have to say about India." 
 
 The planter will say — " Well, suppose we do eman- 
 cipate our negroes ? If what you have said be true, I 
 
TRIMMING FOLIC r. 245 
 
 am a ruined man. For although slavery is an expen- 
 sive system, yet with free labor, we cannot compete 
 with cotton raised by laborers forced to work for six 
 pence a day or starve ? To which our author replies, 
 " I think, my good sir, you are not a ruined man, though 
 you should liberate your slaves -, you would expect, of 
 course, to receive compensation for them when given 
 up ; and no law, I admit, would justly demand their 
 release, without a fair compensation ; and the moment 
 you perform so wise, humane, and generous an act, you 
 will find by experience, the superior economy of free 
 over slave labor." 
 
 There is an abolitionist ! — see how gently he deals 
 ^^with the lad.'' " My good sir," is his language to the 
 buyer and seller of souls and bodies. Not one appeal to 
 conscience, but smoothing and searing that conscience 
 with the impression, that there is no call on him to part 
 with his bondsmen, till the price is paid : well does he 
 know that the price cannot be paid by this country, that 
 they have not the means, and that unless there is a 
 mighty change in the people, they would not part with 
 the means, if they had them to bestow. But if they 
 are paid, where would be the generosity of the act ? 
 Let the Rev. Gentleman explain that. 
 
 Compensation ! Yes the British nation gave what 
 is called a compensation, and for ever prevented the en- 
 emies of freedom saying, that they had done a noble 
 act at the expense of others. But we could have ad- 
 ded another compensation clause; that the planters 
 21 
 
245 SLAVE COMPENSATION^ 
 
 should have given half the money they received from 
 the generosity of the British people, to the survivors of 
 those who had suffered for generations under the hor- 
 rors of West India slavery. That would be a part of 
 our compensation bill, if such shall ever be passed 
 in the United States. We would not send them away 
 empty handed. But alas ! the chains will not be broken 
 in this way. Yet we indulge a hope that the roused 
 consciences of the Southern proprietors, will do what 
 we shall look for in vain from the avowed principles oi 
 such Northern abolitionists as the author of " the Glory 
 and Shame of England." 
 
CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 GENERAL COMPARISON OF ENGLAND AND THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 We shall make some remarks in the way of contrast 
 between the government and people of England, and 
 those of the United States. We intend to call things 
 by their right names. But before doing so, we shall 
 make some farther extracts from the abusive and inso- 
 lent work, entitled "The Glory and Shame of England." 
 
 We repeat that if this work had not been adopted and 
 praised by so many literary and religious publications in 
 this country, we should have abstained from some of the 
 remarks which follow. In volume 1, p. 141, it is said, 
 " To talk of English happiness, is like talking of Spar- 
 tan freedom — the Helots are overlooked." Page 143, 
 " The life of an English operative is a perpetual scene 
 of suffering and wrong." Page 148, " But I believe 
 Parliament has never on such occasions, given to the 
 people any more liberty or justice, than they were 
 obhged to ; conceding just enough to bribe the masses 
 into silence for the time. This is the policy of men 
 who tame wild beasts ; they give them food to stop 
 their savage ravings, but to enfeeble them by hunger as 
 much as they dare, that they may be the more easily 
 controlled." 
 
248 ABUSE OF ENGLISH LADIES. 
 
 " Would free Americans brook such a government." 
 '' Parliament has never yet granted the subjects of the 
 British Crown, what are called inalienable rights with 
 us." Page 174, " The people of England were never 
 more ripe for a revolution." 
 
 Vol. 2, page 24. In addressing a supposed English 
 lady of rank and title, he says ': " A word in your ear' 
 aye in your ivory turned ear, where hang those diamond 
 drops. Why, those sparkling pendants were bought 
 with money robbed from these same beggars — that 
 ghttering necklace, ' which Jews might kiss, and infi- 
 dels adore,' believe it or not, is wrung from the hard 
 hands of starving peasants ; and every ring on those 
 taper fingers, has famished a family of your fellow 
 creatures. Every birth day dress has driven a sister 
 to the streets^ and there is not a ball at Almack's which 
 is given at a less cost than alone fills the brothel ;" 
 " there are three half naked urchins thrust out of their 
 mother's house to steal for bread I that is your doing." 
 Page 274, " It matters little, what nick-name a robber 
 has, the world only thinks the worse of you for being a 
 duke, when you steal from God's poor." 
 
 A foreign Journalist is quoted with approbation in 
 the same page, who says, " Coarse and insolent Bri- 
 tain ! raze from your country's shield the noble lion, 
 and place in its stead, a squalid and starving wretch, 
 vainly imploring a rrwrsel of hread.^' In page 279- 
 " But the time is at hand, when the money so long rob- 
 bed from the poor, to support the carriage of the squire, 
 
REVOLUTIONARY LANGUAGE. '24^ 
 
 gild the coronet of the peer, deck the jewelled throng 
 of Almack's perfumed halls, shall provide for the 
 wretched a home ; where cheerful faces shall beam with 
 honest joy around loaded tables, where the voice of 
 health and salvation shall be heard ; and where the 
 rich man shall trouble them no more.'' 
 
 What a mercy it is, that Utica is so far beyond the 
 patroon of Albany's extensive domains, or it might 
 have been time for him to look after this amiable and 
 Rev. revolutionist ! 
 
 Again, we are told, in page 281, " I had so long wit- 
 nessed* the oppressions and sufferings of the English 
 people, that I longed to step once more upon the free 
 soil of my childhood, and thank the God of my fathers^ 
 with heartfelt gratitude, that I had a free home to go 
 to." Page 284. " Much has been said against Crom- 
 well, but none will deny that it was under his splendid 
 administration, English liberty assumed its broadest 
 character." And in speaking of the Puritans, " England 
 was unconscious at the time, that the greatest of her 
 offspring w^ere taking with them, the fruits of that revo- 
 lution to a forest home, where they would rear an em- 
 pire, that could not be conqueretl" In p. 288, " It is 
 as certain, that the Enghsh government will be over- 
 thrown, as that it is God's sublime purpose, to eman- 
 cipate a long fettered world, unless she shall cease her 
 obstinate and blind opposition to the progress of free- 
 dom, and grant the people justice." 
 
 » Query, was ii f(ynr oi Jive weeks, 
 21* 
 
250 Lester's liberty car. 
 
 '' No man who feels in his own soul the lofty spirit 
 of the age, and tracks the. progress of the Car of Li- 
 berty, as it rolls among the nations, can believe that 
 England will be able much longer to breast herself up 
 against the advancement of humanity." "The majestic 
 movements of Providence can be clearly seen ; a train of 
 causes are in operation too mighty to be resisted by 
 the crumbling thrones of despotism." In p. 289, " Am- 
 bition and injustice have made up the history of her 
 diplomacy for centuries past," and in winding up, in 
 p. 293, " Let her remember too, that a power greater 
 than her own has left no trace of its existence in Italy ; 
 and that the barbarian's steed long ago made his man- 
 o;er in the golden house of Nero." 
 
 What a mass of vulgar raving and abuse is here — 
 England is about to be destroyed — Carthago delenda 
 est. The Rev. Mr. Lester, who has felt the lofty spirit 
 of the age, who has taken a journey in the car of liber- 
 ty, as it rolls along among the natives, has pronounced 
 sentence, and that is enough. Let us pause for a little 
 and examine what symptoms appear in that country to 
 indicate the predicted downfall. No nation ever fell 
 without exhibiting symptoms of such downfall neither 
 few nor equivocal. Let us trace her history since the 
 peace of 1815. 
 
 After such a war as the world never witnessed, 
 Britain came out of the contest crowned with victory. 
 But the wounds she had received were many and se- 
 vere. A load of debt was left on her shoulders, un- 
 
RESTORATION OF BRITISH CURRENCY. 251 
 
 known to history in ancient or modern times. Her 
 very first step was to restore her currency of silver and 
 gold, which had been much deteriorated during the war. 
 This was done in 1817, and it has ever since been in 
 full and copious supply, for all the wants of the coun- 
 try. Her next was to restore her paper currency to 
 the standard of gold, and this was also effected in 
 1821, and from that time to this, every bank bill has 
 been payable in specie, on demand. 
 
 The attention of the British public had been intense- 
 ly engaged during the war in defending their national 
 independence and existence. They now^ turned their 
 attention to those organic changes in the constitution 
 which the lapse of time and change of circumstances 
 rendered necessary. Every movement in that direction 
 was steadily opposed by the Tory party, who had a 
 deep personal interest in maintaining the rotten 
 borough system of representation. No progress was 
 made for some years, and on the contrary, from 1817 
 to 1820, from the distress of the operatives producing 
 some disturbances, a system of espionage w^as intro- 
 duced, and laws were passed unfavorable to liberty, 
 and free discussion. 
 
 In 1822, a great change took place, and a more 
 liberal administration succeeded, chiefly under the auspi- 
 ces of Canning, and the obnoxious laws were soon 
 after all repealed. From this time to 1830 a variety 
 of beneficial changes were effected, and many taxes were 
 abolished, and a great reduction of national expenditure 
 
252 MODERN IMPHOVEMEIs'TS. 
 
 effected. The Test, and Corporation Acts, which had 
 long been felt as a grievance by the Dissenters were 
 repealed, and the Act of Catholic emancipation passed. 
 
 In 1830 George 4th died, and was succeeded by his 
 honest, and hberal minded brother, William. The 
 Whigs came into office in the same year, and the great 
 Reform Bill passed in 1832, annihilating those boroughs 
 which had fallen into decay, and extending the elec- 
 tive franchise generally to householders, whose rents 
 were L. 10 per annum and upwards. This measure 
 has been followed by others of vast importance to the 
 country, and to the civilized world. The most search- 
 ing inquiries have been made into every branch of 
 income and expenditure of the revenue, and many ad- 
 ditional reductions effected — the Poor Laws have been 
 improved. Education encouraged and extended, and 
 the Church reformed. 
 
 India has received many of the benefits, already 
 noticed, within that time. The Chinese trade has 
 been thrown open. The noble act abolishing slave- 
 ry in the West Indies has been completed. Britain 
 had bought the consent of Spain and Portugal to aban- 
 don the slave trade, and has ever since been unwearied 
 in her endeavors, and at much expense, to destroy that 
 atrocious trade. She has sent an expedition to Africa, 
 to sow the seeds of civilization and knowledge. She 
 has passed many bills in favor of the working classes. 
 Factory, children, colliers, and even chimney sweep 
 boys have alike received the protecting care of the 
 British Parliament. 
 
BRITISH POLICY — PACIFIC. 253 
 
 By prompt and decisive measures Britian stopt the 
 effusion of blood in the East, and instead of catching the 
 inflammatory spark raised in France, she looked on 
 coolly, until the violence of Thiers and his followers 
 had expended itself, and then held out the hand of 
 friendship to her irritated and excitable neighbors. 
 
 In like manner, when Andrew Jackson sent forth his 
 furious message about the French, the British govern- 
 ment at once come forward, frankly and cordially, with 
 an offer of mediation between the contending parties. 
 
 If these things are symptoms of national decline, we 
 shall at once yield the point to the Rev. calumniator 
 of Great Britain. If all the evils which afflict huma- 
 nity have not been remedied by the British Parliament, 
 it is from no want of will. Whatever the working 
 classes suffer, arises from causes over which neither gov- 
 ernment nor legislature can exercise control. 
 
 When people suffer, they frequently look in the 
 wrong direction for the cause. Britain has an over- 
 grown population of twenty-seven millions, including 
 Ireland, and vast numbers of them are in large towns. 
 
 Her manufacturing population have been deep suf- 
 ferers, from her connection with the United States, as 
 we have already shown. It is rather too much to hear 
 the working people of Europe styled, in the slang of 
 the American journals, European paupers, even by 
 some from whom better things might have been expect- 
 ed, when the severest blow^ they have ever received was 
 from the amount of British capital profligately spent 
 by the United States. 
 
254- DISTRESS IN BRITAIN. 
 
 The only exception, of consequence, to the improved 
 measures, which the British Parhament ought to have 
 passed, is the alteration of the corn laws. We have 
 no doubt that a change is also at hand in regard to 
 them, notwithstanding the accession of the Tories 
 to power.* But come that change when it may, it 
 will be found to work no charm on the condition of 
 the working man. The change it will effect on the 
 price of corn will be little felt by him, and this, like 
 many other popular delusions, which have had their 
 day, will soon go " to the tomb of all the capulets." 
 
 But, as already noticed, material good will be done, 
 by lessening the fluctuations, which prevail to such an 
 extent under the present system. Such a change will 
 benefit the land owner, the farmer, and the consumer. 
 We ask our author's pardon. The rich are to trouble 
 the poor no more. We should not have mentioned the 
 land owner. But we hope to be excused, being old- 
 fashioned in our views. 
 
 But we are told that the distress in Britain is past en- 
 durance, and all is attributed to the Government and 
 aristocracy. We have already expressed our belief 
 that if all were known, much distress would be found 
 also, in the United States. 
 
 We have just taken up the Tribune of 31st Decera- 
 
 * Since the above was written, Sir Robert Peel's plan has been 
 brought out, which will make importation more free, but it does 
 not go far enough, leaving the duties too high, and will ultimate- 
 ly give no satisfaction to the country. 
 
DISTRESS IN NEW YORK. 255 
 
 ber, and find the following appeal, which we presume 
 is from the pen of Mr. Greely, whose heart is always 
 in the right place, and his head too, excepting when 
 advocating the absurd and antiquated doctrines of '' the 
 protective system." 
 
 " Remember the Poor, 
 " The cheerless influences of winter are upon us — 
 the season which has stern features even for the 
 thrifty and the affluent, but whose fiercest frowns are 
 reserved for the destitute and the poor — and shall we 
 not think, amid the festivities, the friendly greetings of 
 to-morrow, of the condition of those sad-browed 
 children of humanity — those step-children of a harsh 
 and sullen world 1 Who can refrain from calhng often 
 to mind the condition of this large class of our fellow 
 citizens, the comfortless and famishing ? Who will 
 not consider, that there are at this moment, fromx 
 thirty to fifty thousand human beings in our city, who 
 are destitute of the means of a week's comfortable 
 subsistence, many of whom will rise up this morning 
 in despair of obtaining food for the opening day, and 
 lodging for the coming night ? Can it be, that the 
 wealthy and luxurious citizens realize, that there are 
 at this moment, within a stone's throw of sumptuous 
 halls, parties, and revels, frequently one hundred human 
 beings huddled in a dreary rookery, which pays more 
 rent by piece-meal, than our best dwellings. Yet 
 they are dilapidated, filthy, and unglazed, often two or 
 three families in a single desolate room, with the wind 
 
256 DISTRESS IN NEW YORK. 
 
 whistling through broken windows, as they crowd 
 around a pan of charcoal, whence they are inhaling 
 the fumes of death ! Can our humane and affluent 
 ladies know, that while thousands are idly lavished 
 in ostentation, extravagance, or pernicious indulgence, 
 there are just around them, thousands of virtuous 
 women and innocent children, shivering in cellars, gar- 
 rets, and tottering hovels, pining in shrinking wretch- 
 edness, for the food and clothing, which they cannot 
 find employment to earji, even when they have health 
 and strength to labor ! Disease in all its most terrific 
 forms, fed by famine, exposure, and sleeping oh scanty 
 rags in foeted dews, often in close contact with the 
 damp earth, or scarcely protected from the inclement 
 sky, is here entirely at work, and Death is too often 
 the only friend that proffers rehef. A sad and revolt- 
 ing picture, yet one that should be urged on the public 
 attention — for alas ! the grim reality is knocking at 
 our doors. Something must be done to alleviate the 
 condition of the poor, and done now. The alms-house 
 is full, and who that knows what it is, dare speak of it 
 as a refuge for the destitute." 
 
 In the same paper, is the following notice : 
 " Remember the Poor. — The ladies of Dr. Spring's 
 congregation meet as a sewing circle to-day, in the 
 Sunday-school room of the Brick Church Chapel, to 
 make up clothing for the destitute poor of our city. 
 We are requested by one who feels great interest in 
 their benevolent object, but is not a member of that 
 
disthess in new york. 257 
 
 society, that donations of cloth, or second-hand cloth- 
 ing, transmitted to this circle, will speedily reach the 
 freezing inhabitants of our miserable cellars, doubled 
 in value in its progress." 
 
 In another number is the following notice, dated 
 January 15, 1842.— 
 
 " Great Sufferings of the Poor of our City.— The 
 Relief Association find many in starving circumstances, 
 out of employment, and destitute, and having fed over 
 1000 persons in four days, are pressed for aid beyond 
 their means, and will be compelled to stop next week 
 unless the liberal will sustain them. Meat, bread, 
 clothing, &c. will be well given out, if sent to 187 
 Bowery." 
 
 We believe that these feeling appeals have been fully 
 responded to, and that much relief has been afforded to 
 the sufferers. But are we awake or not ? Here is a 
 number from thirty to fifty thousand in a state of starv- 
 ation — say the medium of forty thousand. This is 
 13 1-3 per cent, on a population of 300,000. Can 
 this be possible 1 Is there so much distress and deep 
 misery in America? 
 
 There must be some mistake. " In my country such 
 scenes are never witnessed." Let Mr. Lester immedi- 
 ately come out against the Government, against the 
 corn laws, against the aristocracy of America. 
 
 But the corn laws are moderate, the Government is 
 the people's own, and there is no aristocracy — oh ! no. 
 
 We are all sovereigns, every one of us — and why is 
 
 22 
 
258 DISTRESS IN NEW YORK. 
 
 there such distress ? We cannot tell. Republicanism 
 cannot, it seems, keep it away. The ultra Democratic 
 double distilled Republican Young Men's Convention, 
 cannot save society from those common evils which 
 afflict the oppressed countries of Europe. Hunger and 
 cold will not even respect the sovereign people. It 
 is hard that the heirs apparent to the throne, are also 
 heirs to the commonest sufferings of our nature. If it 
 had only been the gout, said Chesterfield, but rheuma- 
 tism, a porter's complaint, it is too bad ; and that too 
 on the " only spot of God's green earth, where liberty 
 dwells," and which is a refuge to all the poor and mis- 
 erable of Europe. 
 
 Far be it from us to speak lightly of human suffering 
 in any shape, or wherever it exists. We are merely 
 showing the absurdity of those pretensions which are 
 ever set up by such authors as Mr. Lester. Here we 
 have people famishing for want, freezing from cold, in 
 thousands, and living in damp and unwholesome cel- 
 lars, and the information comes from the best authority. 
 And the halls are here too, the sumptuous halls, and 
 the gay assemblies of people, rolling in wealth and 
 splendor." Do let us have a work on the shame of 
 America, denouncing the whole race, who have dared 
 to get rich, to utter destruction. 
 
 What difference can it make, whether the ball be 
 led down by a Dutchess at Almacks, or by Governors, 
 Generals, Congressmen and cook-maids ? They can 
 have no right to spend their money in giving employ- 
 
BRITISH AND AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 259 
 
 meiit to those who furnish for these occasions. It has 
 been decided that every pair of diamond ear-rings, and 
 every ball dress, drives the poor to rob, and steal, and 
 commit every vice. And what is immorality in Bri- 
 tain, must be so in America. The British Government 
 has for the last twenty years labored to lighten the 
 burdens of the people, and to benefit the working 
 classes. The American Government, during very deep 
 distress, took no steps but such as augmented the evil. 
 The government of President Harrison, w^e doubt not, 
 sincerely felt the duty of doing all that a government 
 can do for a people. But the time was not afforded 
 them to do so, and the caprice and folly of the people 
 and their representatives, are again carrying matters 
 into an opposite direction. 
 
 " The poor ye have always with you," was the say- 
 ing of Him who spake as never man spake ; and every 
 attempt to destroy the ranks which exist in society, 
 has ever, and must ever prove abortive — being in di- 
 rect violation of one of the deepest seated principles 
 of our nature. The transcendentalism which would 
 shut out the inhabitants of a country from all other 
 countries, in order to maintain a kind of forced level 
 between the working classes and the holders of capi^ 
 tal, is as absurd as it would be pernicious, if it could 
 be effected. Mr. Lester is a profound admirer of 
 Dickens. As the latter gentleman is now here, we 
 propose that he should carry him through the New 
 York Alms-house, in order to get some fresh hints for 
 his next work. 
 
260 LIBERTY AND ITS SUPPORTS. 
 
 We have merely presented a picture of one large 
 city in the Union — doubtless others would exhibit 
 great distress to the eye of the philanthropist. The 
 State Governments who have repudiated their bonds, 
 have done much to effect this, and it requires no seer's 
 powers to predict, that the fatal effects of this conduct 
 have not been felt to the full extent. The foreign im- 
 ports will be wanted to fill an exhausted Treasury, 
 when they cannot be got. 
 
 Much has been said about the want of liberty in 
 Britain. We propose to compare the state of liberty 
 in that country with its state in America. We will 
 define our views of liberty. W^e conceive it to be a 
 system which maintains the protection of person and 
 property ; which secures every individual right not in- 
 consistent with such protection ; which sustains the ma- 
 jesty of the law, and contains powers within itself to 
 prevent the loss or abeyance of these inestimable 
 blessings, and to make such changes in the laws as the 
 advancing state of the world requires. This liberty, 
 it has been well observed, has four important supports ; 
 Liberty of speech, right of petition, trial by jury, and 
 a free press. On these four massive wheels the ma- 
 jestic car of liberty can alone be borne. Take away 
 any one of them, and it must move heavily along ; — 
 take two away, and the car of liberty is in the dust. 
 
 " English liberty (says our author) had its broadest 
 foundations during his (i. e. Cromwell's) splendid ad- 
 
CROMWELL AMD BONAPARTE. 261 
 
 ministration." Now, we never knew any man who 
 was a genuine friend of liberty, who admired Oliver 
 Cromwell. With such persons you will invariably find 
 that it is republicanism, not liberty, that they admire. 
 It is not tyranny that they dislike, but monarchy. 
 Cromwell was like many republicans, a seeker of pow- 
 er. Republicanism was with him as with Napoleon 
 Bonaparte, the ladder by which he reached that power. 
 Both kicked away the ladder, when the power was at- 
 tained. Will our author say what stone was ever laid 
 on the temple of freedom by Cromwell after he reach- 
 ed his elevation 1 He broke up the remains of the 
 Rump Parliament with a military force, crying out as 
 the last vestige of popular power disappeared : — " Take 
 away that bauble." 
 
 He summoned another Parliament consisting of his 
 own creatures, who went such lengths in folly, that 
 even their master was ashamed of them. Part of the 
 proposals of these enlightened legislators, was to burn 
 all records of past events, to abolish all learning, and 
 that the world should begin a-new. He broke them 
 up, and ruled by a military despotism, without control., 
 or even the appearance of it. He would gladly have ac- 
 cepted the offer made to him by his sycophants, of the 
 crown, but was afraid to do so. He had a splendid for- 
 eign administration, it is true, and the manner in which 
 he kept the haughty Roman Cathohc sovereigns of the 
 Continent in order, and shielded the persecuted followers 
 of the Protestant faith, must ever redound to his credit. 
 22* 
 
262 REPUBLICANISM Sine LIBERTY. 
 
 But Edward Third had a splendid administration — 
 so had Henry Fifth, and so had Queen Elizabeth ; and 
 yet the whole race is condemned by our author without 
 mercy, while he who put on the garb of freedom, but 
 disowned its high and holy principles by his practice, is 
 held up to approbation by a man calling himself a re- 
 pubHcan. We have often been astonished to hear 
 men styling themselves democratical republicans, 
 praising Napoleon Bonaparte. That unprincipled man 
 went farther lengths than Cromwell, and yet because 
 he was not born to royalty, and because he overturned 
 ancient dynasties, he is still looked on with respect by 
 republicans, and all his tyranny and ambition are for- 
 gotten. The splendid administration, and splendid tal- 
 ents of these ambitious men, only rendered them more 
 dangerous to the liberties and indt pendence of nations. 
 
 The solution of such strange inconsistency is plainly 
 this, that many republicans are not favorable to liberty, 
 and many understand nothing of its genuine principles. 
 It is too readily assumed that republicanism is synony- 
 mous with freedom, but such is not necessarily the case. 
 Oppression by a majority is just as much oppression as 
 by a king or aristocracy ; and the oppression becomes 
 truly fearful, when that majority delegates its power to 
 wicked and selfish men, and is so ignorant that it is not 
 aware when that power is abused. 
 
 Liberty has three great stages. The first is a desire 
 for national independence; the second is to add to 
 national independence, the enjoyment of personal 
 freedom, and of such social and political privileges as 
 
STAGES OF LIBERTY. 363 
 
 are necessary for an enlightened community. The 
 third, in addition to the other two, arises when the na- 
 tion is so enlightened as fully to estimate all the ad- 
 vantages of these high privileges, and to desire to see 
 them extended to all nations less favorably situated. 
 In short, it^is the progress of that law of love which 
 makes a man love his neighbor as himself. This does 
 not show itself by coarse and insolent boasting, as some 
 nations indulge in, far less by forcing institutions on 
 other countries. It is a calm, and temperate, and pru- 
 dent system, instructing by its voice and example, pro- 
 tecting the weak when there are just grounds of inter- 
 fering, and ever engaged in breaking down those bul- 
 warks of separation and disunion which have so long 
 estranged the human family from each other. 
 
 On the first head we need say little as to Britain or 
 the United States. The independence of Britain has 
 not been seriously threatened from the days of the 
 Spanish Armada, till the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. 
 That fearful war, which the friends of liberty in Bri- 
 tain almost unanimously disapproved of, in a few years 
 changed its character. It was no longer a war to stop 
 the progress of that liberty in France, which every 
 free heart hailed with rapture. The atrocious mon- 
 sters who carried through the French Revolution, soon 
 showed that liberty with them meant only power, and 
 republicanism only death to all who differed from them 
 in opinion. It then became, under the brilliant milita- 
 ry Despot, a war for the national independence of 
 
264 BRITAIN AND HER ENEMIES. 
 
 every country, and Britain threw herself into the arena, 
 and never came out till she had achieved her own in- 
 dependence and those of surrounding nations. 
 
 All were lost in admiration of her heroic conduct, and 
 all heard wdth delight the resound of those astounding 
 blow^s, given in the cause of the independence of na- 
 tions but one people, and those were her own descen- 
 dants. 
 
 A world was up in arms, and then a spot 
 Not quickly found, if negligentlj"- sought, 
 Thy soul as ample as thy bounds are small, 
 Endured the brunt, and darest defy them all. 
 
 When the Lion was encompassed in the toils of the 
 whole Avorld, then w^as the time chosen for striking the 
 parricidal blow\ Oh 1 it w^as of no consequence that 
 Britain was resisting the most dangerous power of an- 
 cient and modern times. It was of no consequence 
 that she was the only "refuge of the oppressed against a 
 wicked and unprincipled tyrant. Some little matters 
 about a few sailors' rights were to be settled, and the 
 magnanimous states joined the enemy alike of freedom 
 and national independence. 
 
 We have said that national independence is the first 
 stage of freedom. That was secured by the United 
 States at the Revolution, \vhich was won by the wis- 
 dom and patriotism of the Fathers of that Revolution, 
 and by the valor and constancy of the people. But it is a 
 great mistake to suppose that nriional independence is 
 necessarily liberty. The Russians, fought bravely for 
 
LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. 265 
 
 their national independence, when invaded by the 
 French, but had they any idea of personal freedom ? 
 Certainly not. The Don Cossacks followed their chief- 
 tains to battle with all the faithfulness and ferocity of 
 feudal times, but never looked, nor hoped for personal 
 "freedom. Had the mass of the people of Spain any 
 correct ideas of their personal rights, when they resisted 
 the most atrocious and treacherous attacks of Bona- 
 parte ? A few patriots had, and they suffered for 
 it, but the mass of the people, when the beloved 
 Ferdinand returned from captivity, threw up their caps 
 for " absoluto rei." 
 
 Many nations have conquered their independence 
 and never reached the second stage, viz. the enjoyment 
 of equal rights and privileges. It is long since Britain 
 entered on the second stage of her political existence? 
 and her institutions are the basis on which all who 
 have attempted to erect the fair fabric of freedom have 
 mainly rehed for their foundation. Her liberty was 
 recognized at Runymede, it was fully estabhshed at 
 the Revolution of 1688, and it was surrounded by a 
 wall of adamant, and received fresh dignity and lustre 
 by the Reform Bill of 1832. It growled defiance 
 at the too powerful Plantagenets and Tudors. It 
 grew up in its strength, and for ever drove the weak 
 and tyrannical Stuarts from the land. It has conquer- 
 ed more insidious foes in modern times. Dark cloud^ 
 in times of turbulence and shaking of nations, have for 
 a time shaded its majestic brow. It has survived 
 
266 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 
 
 them all, and now stands out in all its power and 
 might, a star of surpassing brightness to guide the sur» 
 rounding world. 
 
 Let us see how the United States stand in this re- 
 spect. The national independence, we have said, was 
 secured at the Revolution, and we are certain is safe 
 against all foreign interference. Every man would 
 rally around the standard of his common country, if at- 
 tacked by a foreign power, having conquest in view. 
 But so would the Russians, so would the Turks, so 
 would the Persians. Would such conduct show that 
 they were free, or understood the principles of freedom 
 and rights of free men ? Certainly not. But there is 
 no risk of foreign war upon the United States, unless it 
 is brought on by themselves. Just let them act with 
 common discretion, and the ordinary portion of respect, 
 which one country should show to another, and they 
 will never be put to the trouble of defending them- 
 selves, or attacking their neighbors. 
 
 But did the American nation enter into the second 
 great stage of liberty, viz. the possession of equal rights, 
 when they secured their national independence ? Doubt- 
 less it was the desire of the founders of the nation, tha^ 
 they should do so. There breathed not a wish within 
 the pure and noble breast of George Washington, incon- 
 sistent with genuine freedom. We cannot mention 
 the name of that great and good man, without thinking 
 of what a noble order was his ambition, when compared 
 with that of the vulgar and vain glorious ambition of 
 
 '^ 
 
BRILLIANT ADMINISTRATION. S67 
 
 Cromwell and Bonaparte, — and yet we are quite certain 
 that had Washington struck down the new institutions 
 of his country, and made himself despot of it, he would 
 have been more admired by politicians of Mr. Lester's 
 class, than he now is. 
 
 If he had only secured a brilliant administration, so 
 as national pride and vanity would have been flattered, 
 liberty might have been allowed to take her flight to 
 other regions. But that illustrious man never harbored 
 such a thought, but ever threw his weight into the scale 
 of freedom and equal rights. These were secured to 
 the American people by the fathers of the revolution, 
 with one fearful exception, viz : Slavery. Doubtless 
 these wise and good men believed, that slavery could 
 not long exist in a country having free institutions. 
 
 Ask yourselves now, ye republicans, ever boasting of 
 your freedom, what use you have made of that freedom, 
 so nobly bequeathed to you by your ancestors 1 What 
 fruit have you produced from that plant of renown, 
 which was sown by the wisdom and care of Washing- 
 ton, of Franklin, and of Adams, under the overruling 
 care of a gracious Providence. Sist yourselves at the 
 bar of public opinion and answer. Can you say, that 
 you have improved that talent of countless value, em- 
 ploying it in enlarging the bounds of freedom, and sur- 
 rounding it by new bulwarks, and in sustaining the 
 rights of private judgment. Oh ! you can say no such 
 thing. You cannot even say you have hid your talent 
 in a napkin, for you have lost much of what was en- 
 trusted to you. 
 
268 HEIRS APPARENT. 
 
 What ! do not our lecturers assure us, that we are | 
 the freest people on earth ? Do not our orators on the ^ 
 fourth of July, assure us that there is nothing to be , 
 compared to us for greatness, and goodness, and noble- ' 
 ness of character. Do not our pulpits on Thanksgiv- J 
 ing Day, also confirm their statements ? Was it not a ; 
 few weeks ago only that Mr. Austin, lecturing at New ! 
 York, assured us, we were the great, enhghtened, and • 
 freest country, the chivalry of the earth — and has not • 
 Mr. Lester, who is a clergyman, assured us, on the word j 
 of an American, name unknown, who had it from Lord i 
 Byron, that America is " the only spot on God's green ; 
 earth, where liberty dwells." 
 
 This is all true, but then these people flatter and de- \ 
 ceive you, and keep you in ignorance of your true j 
 character. You are all sovereigns, despotic sovereigns, . 
 or heirs apparent at least, and when was the truth ever j 
 told to despotic sovereigns ? Chtus lost his hfe for tell- 
 ing it to the haughty Macedonian, and John Quincy : 
 Adams has been repeatedly threatened with similar 
 consequences, for speaking truth to the sovereign prin- i 
 ces of America. Is this not so 1 Ask yourselves every ! 
 one of you that can put two ideas together. \ 
 
 Your republic is not yet sixty years old, and already '. 
 two of the wheels are off your chariot of liberty, and ' 
 your chariot lies in the dust. Freedom of speech is ^ 
 gone in that place, where it should ever be most sacred. , 
 Right of petition has been trampled under foot. Mr. \ 
 Lester may trace the track of the car of freedom where \ 
 
 i 
 ] 
 
AMERICA ENTREATED. 269 
 
 he pleases, but he will find no trace of it in the United 
 States. If he will search well, he will find its remains 
 at Washington, crushed under a pile of resolutions, and 
 held down by the force of an extra guard belonging to 
 the Juggernaut car of slavery, which now rides tri- 
 umphantly through the land. 
 
 Yes, it is even so, and who would not weep tears of 
 blood at the spectacle, if it w^ere only on account of the 
 noble founders of the nation, whose memories and prin- 
 ciples are now for ever laid aside, " and no action to be 
 taken on them." 
 
 « How shall a verse impress thee, by what name 
 
 Shall I advise thee not to court thy shame ? 
 
 By theirs, whose bright example, unimpeached, 
 
 Directs thee to that eminence they reached — 
 
 Heroes and worthies of days past, thy sires ? 
 
 Or his who touched their hearts with hallowed fires." 
 
 Yes, you have sustained your national independence, 
 but lost your individual rights, and you know it not. 
 Your souls have lost that holy flame of liberty, which 
 burnt in the heart of your noble founder, and which he 
 inherited from that very Britain which you traduce 
 Your representatives have trampled in the dust, privi- 
 leges over which they have no control, but which were 
 guaranteed to the people by the Constitution. 
 F Mr. Lester, who has met with the approbation of his 
 countrymen, talks with contumely of the Plantagenets 
 and Tudors. These were not the halcyon days of light 
 and liberty, such as now exist in England. But there 
 23 
 
270 SCENES AT WASHINGTON. 
 
 i 
 
 was even among the stern barons, and honest burgesses \ 
 of those days, sufficient knowledge of human rights to 
 make it the first business of their assembhes to demand i 
 from their kings, liberty of speech. Well did these pa- ■ 
 triarchs of freedom know that without that inestimable i 
 privilege, there can be no freedom. 
 
 And what have the Assemblies of America done for ' 
 years past ? They choose their speaker, and almost \ 
 the next act is to ask the clerks, to look out for the : 
 gags which were left in the closet at the end of last 
 session. In vain the honest men of Massachusetts make i 
 wry faces and complain that their jaws suffered so much ; 
 from the painful process of last session, that they did not 
 wish to put them in again. They had felt so comforta- I 
 ble during the vacation, having lived among their | 
 honest constituents, many of whom pitied their suffer- j 
 ing and had authorized them to say to the House, I 
 that they disapproved of the gags. j 
 
 But let us look a little closer at what is passing in j 
 the House. See that venerable man rising from his ' 
 seat. His head is covered with the frost of seventy 
 years, but his eye is not dimmed, nor his natural force 
 abated. He holds a paper in his hand. The slave- 
 holders rush around him. But he is unmoved. He 
 announces that this is a petition from Massachusetts 
 for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. 
 He is interrupted with cries of order — order — and the 
 Chairman is ordered immediately to bring out the gags, 
 and lay them on the table, to be ready for use, and they 
 are brought out accordingly. What ! will this man talk 
 
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 271 
 
 to US of slavery, the pride of our country, the corner 
 stone of our free institutions ? — down with him! 
 
 In vain the venerable orator adjures them to remem- 
 ber that liberty of speech and right of petition are so- 
 lemnly included in the constitutional bond, that right 
 of petition was sacred, even under the most despotic 
 governments. He has some sturdy and honest support- 
 ers, who dare call in question " the peculiar Institution" 
 in a description of flank attacks, for few dare attack it 
 in front. But it is all in vain. 
 
 Is not this the venerable man, who once stood at the 
 head of his country's government, whose early life was 
 passed with Washington, with Franklin, with Jeffer- 
 son, and with his noble minded sire. All is forgotten. 
 He is rudely stopped. The motion is put that the 
 gags be now inserted. It is done — every man has to 
 open his mouth, and receive the mark of the " peculiar 
 Institution," and there they sit, a spectacle of joy to those 
 who love tyranny and oppression, and of mixed indig- 
 nation and pity to the lovers of freedom. The sallow 
 visages and lantern jaws of the southern members feel 
 no inconvenience from the operation, and the grin of their 
 mouths, is a grin of triumph. But oh, how humbling 
 to the sons of freedom from New England — all who 
 are nearest to old England in her feelings and princi- 
 ples, have the crimson blush of shame on their cheeks, 
 while big tears of deep and bitter indignation course 
 down many a manly face. 
 
 Hail Columbia ! land of the free ! 
 
272 FREEDOM IN CANADA. i 
 
 But the process is done. " Order reigns in Warsaw.'' I 
 
 The gags are taken out, and laid on the table, not with . 
 
 the intention " that no action should be taken on them," • 
 
 but that they be put i n, whenever the word slavery ] 
 
 is mentioned — Why ? because slavery w^ould remind of | 
 
 liberty, and that would be inconvenient. And so the ; 
 
 session passes, and the gags are put in, as often as they I 
 
 are required, under the law. And is not this a strange ■ 
 
 inconsistency, for the people's representatives to gag \ 
 themselves 1 
 
 If the Parliament of Canada w^ere to be forbidden ; 
 
 by the government to speak on certain subjects, and if ' 
 
 a certain class of petitions 'should be prohibited from ' 
 
 being received, there would be no end to the sympathy { 
 
 of the American people, with the sufferers under des- ,; 
 
 potic power, and sure we are the Canadians would not : 
 
 submit to these things for a week. And what differ- \ 
 ence is there between the oppression of a king or a 
 
 queen, and the oppression of a majority ? " Would | 
 free Americans submit to this," says our author. We 
 know not what they woidd submit to, in the present 
 
 day, but we know what they have already submitted : 
 
 to. And what has the country done while these ; 
 
 sad acts have been perpetrated ? JYothing, i 
 
 A few despised abolitionists, have raised their \ 
 
 feeble but honest cry against them. But the mass j 
 
 of the people, Oh, could they be expected to leave ; 
 
 the business of making money, or of losing it, for such i 
 
 questions as right of petition or freedom of speech — or I 
 
GAG LAWS. 273 
 
 could the politicians give up their 'patriotic pursuits for 
 the purpose of sustaining the great claims of hberty ? 
 Impossible ! the very men who have shaped and fash- 
 ioned the gags, the master carpenters, have been'again 
 returned by their constituents to pursue a system which 
 alone seems level to their capacities. The locofocos 
 were busy dividing the spoils, and the whigs struggling 
 for the ascendency, but all would rather sacrifice the 
 constitution than lose one political vote. The whigs, 
 it must in fairness be stated, have ever turned out the 
 largest number for maintaining the right of petition. 
 The fire of liberty yet burns in some of their breasts, 
 while they who are called democrats par excellence, 
 with a few exceptions, show not the slightest regard 
 for the principles of their forefathers. And both des- 
 pise and detest the honest abolitionists. And is this 
 the effect of universal suffrage? It is even so. 
 
 When was there an instance in Britain of the 
 people's petitions being rejected? Even the most 
 ultra radical petitions are readily received — and 
 the Chartists, led by a band of miscreants, who have 
 shown that they only want plunder and bloodshed — 
 even their petitions were received with respect. Pity 
 the member of the British parliament who should re- 
 fuse to present a petition ! His face would never again 
 be seen in St. Stephens. His political days would be 
 for ever numbered. 
 
 The British constituency regards the right of suffrage 
 merely as a means towards an end, and closely watches 
 23* 
 
^Ti EIGHTS OF MINORITY. 
 
 all the measures which are brought forward in parlia- 
 ment. Copies of all bills are forwarded to every place 
 which has any particular, or local interest in the matter. 
 The people meet in wards, and corporations, and in 
 cities and counties, and pass resolutions, all of which 
 receive the fullest consideration in Parliament. 
 
 A gag law passed in Parliament could not Jast a 
 week. Such a storm of public indignation would burst 
 forth from every quarter — Tory, Whig and Radical — it 
 would be all ahke, and it would be swept away by the 
 besom of destruction, and along with it every member 
 who had sanctioned such an atrocity. 
 
 But it has been said, where is the use of petitioning, 
 when a majority of the people appoint the representa- 
 tives. Why one important object of petition is to let 
 the weaker party be heard. How soon may that 
 weaker party become a majority, if reason and argu- 
 ment are allowed to have their sway ? Because a man 
 belongs to a minority, that is no reason why he should 
 lose his rights as a citizen, and that minority may be 
 within the least shade of a majority, and yet never 
 be heard, if the powers of a majority can be exercised 
 in such a tyrannical manner. 
 
 Besides, many measures may be brought before the 
 legislature which the majority of the country approve 
 of, and which may be in jeopardy, and that majo- 
 rity has no mode of expressing their opinion, but by 
 petition or memorial. Members may no doubt be in- 
 structed to vote in aparticular way, but we regard that 
 
BRITISH AND AMERICAN SUFFRAGE. 275 
 
 practice as rather controlling the private judgment, 
 and conscience, which should be left free, except to the 
 influence of such arguments as may be addressed either 
 to the house in a body, or to the members individually. 
 When petitions and memorials are addressed to the 
 houses of legislature, let them decide as their merits 
 deserve. That is the business of the legislature. To 
 reject these petitions or memorials, without considera- 
 tion, or to make regulations that no action shall be 
 taken on them, is ^ni\xe\y ultra vires, and strikes down 
 one of the most important safeguards of hberty. 
 
 In Britain, the suffrage is not so widely extended as 
 in America — above one million of the most intelligent 
 men in the w^orld elect the members of Parliament. 
 That constituency contains the intellect and high moral 
 and religious principles of Great Britain. 
 
 In America, all vote in the most populous states ex- 
 cepting the colored race, and the constituency care lit- 
 tle for the measures passed, unless they affect the in- 
 terests of their political party. The suffrage is the 
 grand matter with a vast proportion — to march up to 
 the poll, and wdth all the dignity of an heir apparent, 
 deposit his vote for the man he generally knows no- 
 thing about — that is American liberty. 
 
 In Britain, the jealousy of freedom forbids all place- 
 men from interfering in elections, and even deprives 
 them of the elective franchise. In America, the re- 
 tainers of government not only march up to the polls, 
 but direct the movements of their party, and the flags 
 
276 SCENE IN WEST INDIES. 
 
 of faction are openly brought out from the government 
 offices. In Britain no holder of office is changed with 
 the Government, excepting a few of the high political 
 place men. The public are served by men who have 
 been all their lives in some particular branch of the 
 public service, and who are promoted by seniority or 
 superior talent. In consequence, the public business is 
 well done. In America, the victors take the spoils, 
 generally speaking, and new men are constantly brought 
 into office, not in consequence of their fitness for it, but 
 from the claims of political partizanship ; and the pub- 
 lic business is not well done. 
 
 We shall now change the scene for a short time, 
 and ask our readers to go with us to that beautiful 
 group of islands lying on the southeast coast of Amer- 
 ica. See that tempest driven vessel straining under 
 the gale. The wind blows her direct on the coral 
 reefs, and she strains every nerve to reach the harbour 
 of the nearest of the group. The stripes and stars 
 are at her mast head. She safely enters the port, and 
 is boarded from the shore. What ship is that ? We 
 
 are the , from Virginia, to New Orleans, with a 
 
 cargo of dry goods and other articles. What are the 
 other articles ? Before an answer can be got to this 
 question, a number of black heads appear above the 
 hatches. They shout, " Oh ! Massa, save us, Good 
 Massa ! give us freedom. Send us ashore, and let us 
 work." The master demands a guard to protect the 
 
RELEASE FROM SLAVERY. 277 
 
 other articles of his cargo which are about to run 
 away. The British officer informs him that his soldiers 
 cannot he employed as jailers, that the cargo must 
 be set free, as they are now on the soil of a British 
 Possession, which can be trodden by none but free 
 men. And they are set free accordingly. 
 
 Their sable countrymen crowd around them, and 
 welcome them to the land of freedom, from which the 
 scowl of the overseer, and lash of the driver have for 
 ever fled. Loud are the complaints of the American 
 slaveholders. They demand from Britain the price of 
 blood. But they are told — " We paid you for two 
 cargoes of human beings cast on our coasts, before 
 slavery was entirely abolished here, rather than give 
 up those men who were cast on our protection by that 
 Being, w^hom the winds and the weaves obey. But 
 slavery is wath us past and gone. These men have 
 placed themselves under our protection. We will not 
 give them up, neither will we pay the price.^' Say 
 whether this conduct is on the side of the shame of 
 England or America. 
 
 But let us change the scene, and observe that small 
 schooner, hovering over the coast of Connecticut, which 
 with the neighboring state, w^e were told received the 
 best blood of England, when the Puritans left it. Let 
 us again test the principles of the present generation. 
 The vessel is suspected, and she is boarded by a United 
 States boat. She is a coasting vessel from Cuba, with 
 about fifty slaves, who have risen on their oppressors, 
 
278 AMISTAD AFRICANS. 
 
 and taken their freedom. Doubtless^they will be well 
 received in a country, where the first settlers emigrated 
 from their own land, to enjoy full liberty of conscience ; 
 and where their immediate predecessors changed their 
 government, on account of a stamp and tea tax. They 
 will give them the right hand of fellowship — welcome 
 to our arms, our friends and brethren ! Here you are 
 safe from every harm — we will guard you from every 
 foe, and will provide you with every supply for return- 
 ing to your own land, from which you have been rudely 
 torn. 
 
 Oh ! here lies the strange error. Republicanism is 
 not necessarily freedom as it is supposed to be. It is 
 not so here. Instead of being welcomed, they are 
 thrown into prison — instead of being praised for their 
 gallantry in achieving their freedom, they are tried as 
 murderers. No hospitality awaits them, but all con- 
 cerned rush eagerly into court to make money by the 
 capture of these oppressed children of Africa. Once 
 more, Hail Columbia, land of the free and brave ! 
 
 But they are not left to perish. The eye of Him who 
 never slumbers nor sleeps, is on them. He raises friends 
 in the hour of their need. There are yet some men to 
 be found who love justice, and can feel for the distress, 
 ed. These faithful men visit the captives — they learn 
 all the particulars of this case of matchless oppression. 
 They appeal to the laws to shield them from a gov- 
 ernment, which would have willingly surrendered them 
 to their Spanish oppressors, to receive such justice as 
 
EVIL TURNED INTO GOOD. 279 
 
 the Havana has ever awarded to the colored race. 
 Honor to those intrepid and righteous men, who plant- 
 ed themselves between these poor strangers and the vin- 
 dictive spirit of two powerful governments ! The stran- 
 gers are educated through their means, and taught the 
 knowledge of divine truth. As with Joseph of old — 
 what was meant for evil, has produced good. — Great 
 and marvellous are all thy works. Lord God Almighty, 
 just and true are all thy ways, Oh thou King of 
 Saints!! 
 
 But the danger is yet imminent — many months are 
 these men retained in bondage. A decision is expected, 
 surrendering them as the property of their Spanish mas- 
 ters. A United States vessel is prepared with match- 
 less promptitude, to carry them to Havana, before an 
 appeal can be entered to a superior Court. The com- 
 manding officer humanely remonstrates, informing the 
 Government, that the vessel could not contain so many 
 persons below deck, and that they could not live on 
 deck at that season of the year. He is told to obey his 
 orders, and that is the only answer he can obtain. 
 What folly, to think that humanity or justice were to 
 1)6 taken into account when dealing with black men ! 
 Oh ! America, where is thy blush. Did you not de- 
 clare the slave trade piracy ? Is this the way you 
 show your hatred of piracy, by surrendering to these 
 murderers the men who had been proved at your own 
 ])ar to have been kidnapped by an act of that very pi- 
 racy you nad so strongly denounced 1 
 
280 "cruel and oppressive BRITAIN." 
 
 And what is ^' cruel and oppressive" Britain doing in 
 the matter? Her ambassador is thundering at the doors of 
 the Escurial, and telHng the haughty Castilian that the 
 freedom of these poor Africans had been bought by her 
 money by solemn treaty with Spain, that not one hair 
 of their heads must be injured, and that they must be 
 returned to their country. She applies at Washington 
 too, reminding the United States Government of 
 their duty as a Christian people, of their own acts 
 against the slave trade, and entreating them as breth- 
 ren to let these oppressed men go free. The appeal is 
 rejected, and the case again pressed against these 
 injured persons by the ultra democratical government 
 of Republican America. 
 
 After long delay, the day of final trial at last arrives, 
 and who appears at the bar as the defender of these 
 innocent men, but the intrepid and venerable Adams. 
 For nearly forty years this distinguished man had ceased 
 to practice as a lawyer. His time had been unceas- 
 ingly devoted to the service of his country. Whether 
 as chief magistrate or ambassador, whether pouring 
 forth the words of wisdom in the National Assembly, or 
 his vast store of science and general knowledge to de- 
 lighted gatherings of the people, he has ever been re- 
 markable for the soundness of his opinions, and for the 
 high standard which he has acted up to as a pubHc man. 
 
 All his pursuits are for the present laid aside, and he 
 iJtands forth a fearless champion, to save fifty innocent 
 men from being sacrificed on the altar of slavery, and 
 
SOLEMN SCENE. 281 
 
 to save his country from the deep and ineffaceable guilt 
 of procuriug sentence of condemnation to be passed 
 upon them. 
 
 All the rich stores of his legal knowledge, of his 
 learning, his acuteness, his zeal, and his eloquence are 
 brought to bear in favor of the accused, and in trium- 
 phant and indignant exposure of their government pros- 
 ecutors. The event is doubtful, and the friends of hu- 
 manity tremble for the result. In the midst of the pro- 
 ceedings, during the adjournment of the Court, a solemn 
 scene occurs. In a moment, one of the Judges is sum- 
 moned to the bar of the Judge of all. Oh ! the awful 
 change to that individual ! He who had just left the 
 judgment seat, and was about to determine the fate ot 
 his fellow men, is now himself at the bar of the Eter- 
 nal. Say, would that Judge when sisted before the eye 
 of the Omniscient, presume to say that he had just been 
 weighing the fate of " chattels," " things personal," 
 " to all intents and purposes, not persons but things ?'' 
 Would he dare to use such language before the 
 righteous Judge w^hen speaking of his fellow men, 
 when God has said " that he has made of one blood all 
 that dwell on the earth 1" when he has stamped his 
 own image on man, and put all living creatures under 
 his feetl Oh! no. In that dread presence the 
 haughty Virgiaian, the vain Kentuckian, stand on the 
 same level with their crushed and afflicted slaves. 
 
 The prisoners' venerable counsel made the best and 
 most appropriate use of the striking visitation, and 
 24 
 
282 
 
 doubtless an awe fell on every member of the Court. 
 The sentence of acquittal and liberation is pronounced, 
 and the United States Government are driven out of 
 Court. Honor to the Court which pronounced this just 
 sentence. It is worthy of the best times, and of the pure 
 fountain of English law and liberty from which it ema- 
 nated. When liberty has for a time been obscured in 
 England, often have Judges and Juries redeemed the 
 country from disgrace. And honor to the illustrious 
 Counsel. It casts a halo over the evening of his 
 days more bright and pure, than if he had again been 
 chosen President of the United States. And honor to 
 all those who stepped forward in the cause of justice 
 and humanity. When the busy, toiling, and careworn 
 politicians of the day are for ever laid in their graves 
 and forgotten ; when the Van Burens, the Clays and 
 the Calhouns shall only be remembered as mere party 
 politicians, then shall the names of Adams and of 
 Tappan be pronounced with blessings on their head, 
 as the friends of the human race. 
 
 The Court stepped in and saved the honor of the 
 country. And did free Americans acquiesce in this op- 
 pression while it was transacting ? Oh ! yes. And what 
 did the Press do in this emergency 1 Most of the public 
 papers treated these men as murderers. None but the 
 despised abolitionists stood by them. If the Courts had 
 acted as the Legislature would have done, to lay the 
 petitions on the the table, *• and no action to be taken 
 on them," there was nothing to save these men, but 
 
CINQUE. 283 
 
 the thunders of the British cannon at Havana, which 
 we doubt not, would have been heard in their behalf. 
 
 We trust the noble Cinque and his companions are 
 now restored to the bosoms of their countrymen and 
 their families, and that the trials they have undergone, 
 and the important truths they have learnt, will never 
 be effaced from their minds, but that they will aid in 
 instructing their countrymen, by their voice and their 
 example. 
 
 " Brothers, I am resolved, that it is better to die than 
 be a white man's slave, and I will not complain, if by 
 dying I save you." — {Cinque to his comrades.) 
 
 " No, no, thou never wast designed 
 To feel the lash, to be confined 
 To cotton-fields, to rice-swamps low, 
 Or crouch beneath a driver's blow. 
 
 " Thy brow serene, thy steadfast eye, 
 Thy face of noble bearing high — 
 All, all exclaim, it cannot be, 
 That thou wast born to slavery. 
 
 ** And thou hast shown by lofty deeds. 
 That in thine heart there lie the seeds 
 Of greatness, which in Washington 
 In times of death and peril shone. 
 
 "Yes, thou did'st call—* Ho, brothers, die,' 
 For better far it were than sigh 
 In bondage, far from Congo's stream. 
 Where wakes the sky, with beauty's beam. 
 
 " Thou hast regained the heritage 
 Thy father left, and every age 
 Through coming time, shall speak of thee» 
 As one not born to slavery," 
 
284 AMERICAN OLIGARCHY. 
 
 It is truly melancholy to reflect that such scenes 
 should be enacted in a country, where the people can 
 put all to rights by choosing proper representatives. 
 One great cause of the evil is, that the people are too 
 little acquainted with the views and characters of those 
 who are brought forward as candidates. Great benefit 
 would be attained, if candidates would show them- 
 selves before election, and satisfy the constituency of 
 their fitness. Many who are now sent into the public 
 assemblies, could not stand the test of such an ordeal. 
 
 The individual returned by the nomination of cau- 
 cuses of political partizans, cannot be the choice of the 
 people, as they know nothing, or very little about 
 them, especially those who have never been in public 
 situations. 
 
 Even in the election of a President, the voice of 
 the people is sometimes little felt. 
 
 The Tribune of 3d January says, " that the present 
 system of nomination throws the election of a President 
 almost entirely into the hands of active prominent poli- 
 ticians." And the editor asks — " How many of the 
 people have ever been directly, positively felt, in any 
 National Convention ?" and adds, " in our opinion, not 
 fifty thousand." It is well known, indeed, that Presi- 
 dent Harrison, although in our humble opinion, far the 
 best candidate brought forward by either of the great 
 political parties, was not the choice of the majority of 
 the people, and that the present Chief Magistrate was 
 never thought of by any person to fill the important office. 
 
BRITISH CONSTITUENCY. 285 
 
 So it appears after all, that the sovereigns are re- 
 duced in practice to an oligarchy, not exceeding fifty 
 thousand, and as has lately happened, an individual 
 may come in, who would not have received a single 
 vote. 
 
 In Britain, the candidate for Parliament meets the 
 constituency, and is strictly questioned as to his views 
 on public measures. The intercourse is most beneficial 
 to all parties. They learn each other's principles, and 
 are guided accordingly. Much misrepresentation is 
 often removed, and great light thrown on questions of 
 public interest. The British constituency, fairly repre- 
 sents, the virtue, patriotism, intelligence, and reli- 
 gious principle of the country. The franchise is gen- 
 erally exercised, after the most careful consideration 
 of the fitness of the candidates. The American con- 
 stituency contains more physical matter, but that phy- 
 sical matter frequently controls the real mind and 
 intelligence of the community. In Britain, the elective 
 franchise is considered as a means to secure good laws? 
 and good government. In the United States, with a 
 vast mass, it seems to be regarded as the end itself, as 
 they let their rulers set aside the great constitutional 
 bulwarks of freedom, and make no remonstrance, and 
 are apparently unconscious of what is going on. 
 
 When measures unfavorable to liberty were carried 
 through in former times, by Tory Governments in Bri- 
 tain, there was always a large portion of the people, 
 whose views went ahead of their rulers, and they never 
 24^ 
 
-86 UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 
 
 ceased their exertions, till they got the organic changes 
 necessary to secure their rights. Here the people have 
 the matter in their own hands, and yet they are silent 
 How are they to be brought up to the level of the age 
 in which they hve ? 
 
 Writers of Mr. Lester's stamp would like the Bri- 
 tish constituency to be brought down to the level of a 
 democracy, placing the power in every large city, in the 
 hands of ignorant Irish laborers. It is our fervent pray- 
 er that such a visitation may never afflict that country. 
 It would add, unquestionably, considerably to the num- 
 ber of the constituents, but throw the patriotism and 
 intelligence into the shade. If the laboring man were 
 equally enlightened as others, by all means let him 
 vote. Poverty is no crime, and his property, howev- 
 er small, and his life are equally precious to him, as 
 to those of a higher grade. But it is a crime to place 
 ignorance in the ballot-box, and to allow it to neu- 
 tralize, or out-vote intelligence. It is a crime to raise 
 up vast masses of party partizans, and allow them to 
 throw into the shade, the virtue, and enlightened zeal 
 of men, who really love their country, and understand 
 her true interests. 
 
 Look at the large and flourishing State of Ohio 
 passing laws of unequalled severity against her citi- 
 zens, for- giving a night's resting place to the weary 
 bondman running from captivity, to the shelter of the 
 broad banner of England. Both houses of her Legis- 
 lature have recently passed votes of censure on .John 
 Quincy Adams, for presenting a petition for the disso- 
 
SLAVE STATE SUPREMACY. 287 
 
 lution of the Union. Can such crawling creatures be 
 called freemen ? It is a delusion to think so. Humil- 
 iating spectacle ! You trample in the dust, if you 
 could, the man who defends your rights and privileges. 
 
 We know what name would be applied to the com- 
 pany on board a vessel which would throw over-board 
 in a storm the man who best understood the manage- 
 ment of the vessel. 
 
 And Ohio must crouch under the power of the slave- 
 holder ! Does she not know that because she had no 
 bondmen within her domains, she has been so prosper- 
 ous ? The smile of the Most High has been on her, 
 and her garners are filled with plenty. But let her 
 beware. The same hand that has raised her up, can 
 also strike her down, and lay her pride and injustice in 
 the dust. 
 
 New York has acted a better part. Her bill, award- 
 ing jury trial to the colored man before delivering him 
 up to his proprietor, as he calls himself, is honorable to 
 her Legislature.* But even the empire State, when 
 annoyed by Georgia and Virginia, is obliged to resort 
 to legal subtleties. She does not come out at onoe and 
 say, " We are free, and our soil is free, we will have 
 no bondsmen within our borders, neither will we sur- 
 render them to you." But the constitution forbids 
 this. We do not believe that it does. But if such be 
 the case, the sooner the Constitution is altered, the bet- 
 
 * The late decision of the Supreme Court will, we fear, pre- 
 vent the operation of this wise and equitable law. 
 
288 GOVERNOR. SEWARD. 
 
 ter. If a constitution has been framed which does not 
 guard the sacred rights of conscience, and is inconsist- 
 ent with the law of God, then let it be changed. 
 
 But the opinion is so universally felt, that all is free- 
 dom here, and that it is to be found no where else, that 
 the inquiry is not seriously entered into. Although a 
 man were to complain that he had been robbed, lynch- 
 ed, tarred and feathered, his property destroyed, and 
 no redress given, such is the impurturbable conceit of 
 many people, that the next moment you would see 
 some of them, looking up to their liberty poles, and 
 declaring that " ours is the only country in the world, 
 where liberty dwells." 
 
 Governor Seward's last message aifords a striking 
 proof of this. In speaking of the Southern and West- 
 ern Bonds which have been repudiated, he says : " Sup- 
 plies of capital have ceased — the works remain unfin- 
 ished — the States fail to pay interest punctually : and 
 since punctuality is the life of credit, then credit is ex- 
 piring. The error of the States has been aggravated 
 by other circumstances. To retrieve losses, they plead 
 a failure of consideration, or want of authority on the 
 part of their agents, or other excuse, against bonds 
 bearing all the forms of guarantees of pubhc faith, 
 and for which the authorities received and applied to 
 public use, sums deemed equivalent. It is known 
 throughout the world, and to none better than to capi- 
 talists, that the people exercise absolute control over 
 legislation, and it is doubted whether they will have 
 
AMERICAN COMPLACENCY. 289 
 
 the virtue to maintain public credit under the inconve- 
 nience of taxation. When we ourselves admit such 
 apprehensions, can we be surprised that they should be 
 entertained in countries taker e it is a maxim that man- 
 kind mMst he governed hy fraud or force.^^ 
 
 Now here is an exhibition from a good and enlight- 
 ened man of that perfect self-complacencyj which 
 seems peculiar to the country. While discussing a 
 case of the most gross fraud ever attempted to be prac- 
 ticed, a favorable contrast is sought to be drawn be- 
 tween this country and others. Why, the debt is 
 owing chiefly to Britain, and neither fraud nor force 
 are the rule and practice of her government. But 
 BOTH FRAUD AND FORCE are thrown into the scale against 
 the unfortunate holders of Mississippi, Illinois and In- 
 diana bonds : — fraud, pretending that they are illegal ; 
 Jorce, because the power of the States is opposed to 
 the claims of private individuals. We know not 
 what could be pro-luced from the institutions of any 
 country of a worse character than the institutions of 
 the United States have produced of late years. 
 
 We have shown what has become of freedom of 
 speech in those halls where it should ever be most free. 
 We have seen what has become of the right of peti- 
 tion. We may next inquire if the press is free. There 
 is no regular censorship on it as in France. It escaped 
 the deadly blow aimed at it by the slaveholders, when 
 a censorship of hundreds of post-masters was proposed 
 
290 MARYLAND FREEDOM. 
 
 to be established. But we have had presses destroyed, 
 and public meetings of respectable people to put down 
 the press. Lately a gentleman was seized at Mary- 
 land^ for wishing to report the proceedings of a Con- 
 vention of slaveholders. See how instinctively these 
 men dread the light. If all was right, would they not 
 rejoice at the publication of their proceedings ? But 
 no sooner was it known that a reporter was in the 
 house, than he was apprehended and cast into prison. 
 Has the north nothing to do with slavery 1 See how 
 its encroachments go on, until they shall have absorb- 
 ed the last remaining rights of the country. 
 
 Is the press in the north possessed with the spirit of 
 freedom, and yet did not resent this atrocious attack ? 
 Impossible. The mass of the papers either did not 
 notice it at all, or did so without remark. This Con- 
 vention of slaveholders, who have framed resolutions 
 still farther to protect "the peculiar institution," and 
 to drive the free colored population from the State, is 
 a novelty."^ Would it begin and close its preceedings 
 with prayer ? They must have been such prayers as 
 never before ascended to the throne of the Most High. 
 We wonder if other Conventions will follow, and hope 
 they will. When face answereth to face, they must 
 tremble when they look on each other, assembled for 
 such a purpose, and near the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, too. 
 
 Talk to the editors of our newspapers, and every 
 man will say they hate slavery as much as you do, and 
 
FREE ASSEMBLIES. 291 
 
 yet, with few exceptions, they say nothing against it, 
 because their interest with their Southern readers is at 
 stake. If they had only thundered against this unhal- 
 lowed system as they would do in a matter of personal 
 gain, it would long ago have been overturned. 
 
 What freedom can exist in any assembly where a 
 member shall dare to stand up and say, that if people 
 of certain views came into his State they would be 
 hanged, and another member threaten to cut the throat 
 of his neighbor from ear to ear, if he spoke on a cer- 
 tain subject. And yet there is no symptom of disgust 
 with the mass of the people. No meeting called to 
 remonstrate against such proceedings. Some of these 
 very men have been since received in public with every 
 mark of approbation. The spirit of freedom, we fear, 
 is buried with Washington, or these miscreants would 
 have been expelled from the House. 
 
 The trial by jury remains to the country, and that is 
 an invaluable blessing. But trials occupy so much 
 time as they are now managed, that the men whose 
 services are most valuable, shrink from the duty of a 
 juryman. This evil should be corrected. Yet jury 
 trial is, under any circumstances, an invaluable insti- 
 tution, and so long as it remains to the country, there 
 is hope. 
 
 But it is not the absence of free expression in the 
 halls and in the press, that we have alone to deplore. 
 The very pulpit is infected with the leprosy. Listen 
 to that pious divine pouring out his soul in prayers to 
 
292 CLERICAL CONSISTENCY. 
 
 God for the heathen. How earnestly he longs for their 
 salvation, that they may be all brought within the fold 
 of the good and gracious Shepherd ! See these mis- 
 sionaries solemnly devoted to carry the gospel to Sy- 
 ria, to Hindostan and China. The clergymen in their 
 addresses take a wide range over the whole heathen 
 world. But do they ever even notice that there is a 
 place on the face of the earth, where the inhabitants 
 are prohibited from learning to read ; that it is in this 
 very country, par excellence, styled the seat of free- 
 dom 1 Oh ! the unutterable baseness of those laws ! 
 Is it not enough that the colored race has been for 
 generations crushed to the ground as wn-etched slaves ? 
 Must their souls also be held in bondage to the prince 
 of darkness ? Surely this is the cope-stone of human 
 tyranny. The very hope of a better world, which, as a 
 bright star in the distance, might cheer the slave 
 through his dark and dismal career ; even of that he 
 must be deprived by his cruel oppressor. 
 
 But the Constitution forbids interference with sla- 
 very. Does the constitution of China not forbid inter- 
 ference with the religion of Confucius ? Do the laws 
 of Mahomet not forbid the profession of all rehgions 
 but his own ? And yet these constitutions are entirely 
 overlooked ; and your missionaries make inroads on 
 them from every side. In this you do well and nobly. 
 But the Constitution of the United States cannot be 
 touched — its immaculate purity, forsooth, must not be 
 questioned ! Its merits dare not even be discussed in 
 
WHAT IS A SIN, per se. 293 
 
 the legislative assembly without dishonor being cast upon 
 the speaker. Why should the only " free spot on God's 
 green earth" be the very spot where it is not safe to 
 discuss a7iy public question. Discussion is ever courted 
 where there is real freedom. The arch is not more 
 surely tested by the weight which is placed on it, than 
 are free institutions by the most unlimited range of 
 discussion. 
 
 But we must not even breathe a whisper, when pub- 
 lic prayers are addressed to God about the horrors of 
 the " peculiar institution." A few despised clergymen, 
 chiefly of the more humble class, venture to do so, but 
 how small is the number. How long will the minis- 
 ters of religion pursue this course 1 How long will 
 they refrain from lifting up their voices to heaven in 
 behalf of the bondmen? There is no use in doing so, 
 says one. Slavery is not a sin, per se, but only an 
 evil, says another. I expect to inherit a property, 
 with a supply of souls and bodies, says a third. I am 
 afraid, says a fourth. And thus is the cause of truth 
 and righteousness sacrificed. 
 
 Mr. Adams has been censured for presenting a peti- 
 tion praying for the dissolution of the Union. How 
 often have the efTorts of the Irish agitator, O'Connell, 
 produced petitions for the dissolution of the union o 
 Britain and Ireland, and yet has any censure been pro- 
 posed, or any obstacle been thrown in the way of their 
 presentation and due consideration 1 And yet Britain 
 has lost all vestige of freedom, and America is the only 
 25 
 
294 IRISH UNION. 
 
 " green spot," &c. This dissolution is a favorite objec'^ 
 with the author of " The Shame and Glory, of Eng- 
 land," But well does O'Connell know that it cannot 
 be accomplished. Even he does not wish it — but it 
 keeps up the agitation and fills his pockets. 
 
 We think O'Connell loves his country too well to 
 wish such a change, as Ireland would be by far the hea- 
 viest sufferer by it. Ireland pays little more than the 
 interest of her national debt, while the expenses of her 
 government are almost entirely paid by Britain. A 
 dissolution of the Union would roll that debt, and all the 
 expenses of her government on her own head. Under 
 the influence of good advice from this side of the At- 
 lantic, she might soon rid herself of the first obligation. 
 Only Britain would not allow such an arrangement, as 
 she is guarantee for its payment. Many reasons 
 might be given why this dissolution can never take 
 place. But they are foreign to our present purpose. 
 
 We have said that liberty consists of three stages : 
 First, national independence. Second, the possession 
 of individual rights. We have shown that liberty of 
 speech, right of petition, a free press, and trial by jury, 
 are necessary to the maintenance of individual li- 
 berty. Britain has every one of these to the full. 
 America has, for the present, lost the first two, and the 
 third she enjoys 'practically to a very limited extent. 
 The fourth is the only one she enjoys in full. There is 
 another important privilege she does not fully enjoy. 
 
LOCOMOTION. 295 
 
 viz. locomotion. If a man who holds abolition princi- 
 ples goes into the south, he runs great risk of losing 
 his life, and unless imperatively called to go there by 
 a sense of duty, an immense part of the Union is shut 
 out to the citizen of America, who is ever boasting of 
 his freedom. It is a restriction on a par with the law 
 of Republican Greece, which forbade all commercial 
 intercourse, and even intermarriages between the in- 
 habitants of the different states. Locomotion is literal- 
 ly denied to the colored race, who cannot enter a rail- 
 road car without the risk of being summarily ejected. 
 
 But our author says, the parliament of Britain never 
 conceded what are considered in America " inalienable 
 rights." We ask what are inalienable rights, if these 
 invaluable privileges are not in the number. These 
 are indeed w^hat all the lovers of freedom consider " ina- 
 lienable rights," and yet a majority of them have been 
 surrenderred in America, without even a struggle^ 
 This empire " that could not be conquered," has fallen 
 without a struggle, by men appointed by the people 
 themselves. 
 
 The third grand stage of freedom is, when the lav/ 
 of love takes possession of a country and government, 
 and they desire to see every blessing which they enjoy 
 extended to their fellow men, in every country and 
 clime. We have said that this love does not show it- 
 self in forcing institutions on other countries ; far less in 
 silly attachment to universal suffrage, annual parlia- 
 icent, and vote by ballot. These, or such institutions it 
 
296 WEST INDIA EMANCIPATION. 
 
 is only desirous of adopting, to secure the triumph of 
 equal law, the protection of life and property, the 
 scrupulous guarding of the rights of the weakest, as 
 well as the strongest, the universal progress of light, 
 of science, and true religion. 
 
 This spirit was in former times occasionally exhibit- 
 ed by England, in the protection afforded by Ehza- 
 beth, and her immediate successors, to the French? 
 German, and Dutch Protestants, and it was nobly re- 
 turned by the latter, when liberty of consciene was 
 struck down by the tyrannical and foolish Stuarts. 
 But the spirit has now burst forth in Britain, with a 
 brilliancy that astonishes the world. The liberation of 
 her 800,000 West India slaves, at an expense of one 
 hundred millions of dollars, is the greatest act of justice 
 and humanity that has ever been witnessed. They 
 were British subjects no doubt, but they were placed 
 at a distance of some thousands of miles from the mother 
 country. No petition came up from them. If they had 
 been presented they would have been respectfully re- 
 ceived. But the slaveholders might have severely 
 visited such a proceeding. The people of England, of 
 Scotland, and of Ireland stood forth in their behalf. 
 The press, the free press, labored incessantly in their 
 cause, and the day of their release from bondage at 
 length arrived. 
 
 Acts of ardent love and kindness, from the pure 
 source of Christianity have been practised by indivi- 
 duals in modern times. A Howard has visited the pesti- 
 
CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPY. 297 
 
 lential prison, and died in the noble cause of alleviating 
 the miseries of the human race. Elliot and Brainerd 
 passed their lives ^nd devoted their energies to the con- 
 version of the Indians of America. Krantz carried 
 the rose of Sharon to the inhospitable deserts of Ice- 
 land. But when has a nation done an act of pure jus* 
 tice and mercy prompted by no other monitor than 
 the admonitions of an enlightened conscience ? When 
 all those glories which attract so much of the world's no- 
 tice are forgotten, when Waterloo and Trafalgar are on- 
 ly remembered as arenas, where wholesale destruction 
 was perpetuated by man on his fellow-man, then shall the 
 noble act of emancipation stand out in bold relief in the 
 dark picture of this world's history, which is but a history 
 of pride, selfishness and crime. 
 
 But Britain did not stop with this act of justice. 
 Deep was the stain on her escutcheon, and deep and 
 sincere was her repentance, for being so long engaged 
 in the miseries and in the profits of the atrocious trade 
 in slaves. Britain having in 1807 abolished the trade, 
 as far as she was concerned, after the peace of 1815 
 arrived, it became one of her most important objects to 
 accomplish its entire destruction. Spain and Portugal 
 were deeply engaged in it. Who does not know what 
 Britain did for these countries in the late war ? When 
 the struggle was over she addressed them thus, " You 
 owe every thing to us. Your national existence would 
 have disappeared in the continental struggle with the 
 tyrant of the world, but for our appearance in your 
 25* 
 
298 SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 country, and our immense expenditure of life and trea- 
 sure in your cause. We ask nothing for ourselves. 
 We leave you free of all debt or obligation. We 
 have either received payment from the other continental 
 sovereigns for the money we lent them, or compounded 
 with them. From you we ask nothing. But in the 
 name of our common humanity, in the name of that 
 God whom we all profess to adore, we ask you to join 
 us in repentance for the injuries we have done to the 
 African race, and to stay your hands from the accursed 
 traffic." 
 
 The Spaniards and Portuguese pleaded the lucrative 
 nature of the trade. They pleaded their poverty. As 
 to their consciences, their priests kept them, and they 
 were not uneasy ; and they refused or delayed to com- 
 ply with the righteous and noble request. And what 
 did Britain do ? What did " cruel and oppressive" 
 Britain do 1 She said — " We thought the claims of 
 gratitude might have induced compliance with our re- 
 quest. But it is ever so. We waive them. We will 
 buy the suppression of the trade, and to save our fel- 
 low creatures from the man stealer, from the horrors of 
 the middle passage, and the survivors from interminable 
 bondage, we will pay the price." And with all her 
 debt and with all her burdens, she paid these Spanish and 
 Portuguese marauders six millions of dollars. The 
 money was paid, but have the terms been faithfully com- 
 plied with. Let Havana tell, where thousands of slaves 
 have been every year imported, notwithstanding that 
 this treaty was completed in 1820. 
 
BRITAIN AND UNITED STATES. 299 
 
 Now what has free America done in this ^Teat cause ? 
 She too abolished the slave trade in 1807 — and what 
 have been her measures to make that abolition effect- 
 ual ? More than twenty years ago she declared that 
 trade piracy, and her messengers went on the wings of 
 the wind to all the European powers, entreating them 
 to join in their crusade against slavery. 
 
 The nations were astonished. The friends of liberty 
 rejoiced over such a proposal, and hailed with delight 
 the fact, that a republic had at last appeared favorable 
 to the freedom of others. A treaty was drawn up at 
 Washington and forwarded to Britain, containing mu- 
 tual arrangements for accomplishing this great and 
 good work. The British Government eagerly signed 
 this treaty. It was returned to Washington, ratified by 
 the President, but the Senate rendered it a dead letter 
 by their alterations. 
 
 Britain has never ceased to urge upon the United 
 States Government, the necessity of this measure being 
 carried into effect — a measure proposed and drawn up 
 by themselves. She has conjured and entreated them 
 by the common origin of the countries, by the mutual 
 guilt they have contracted, by their common faith, and 
 by that advancing light which is diffusing its beams 
 over the world, to join them in destroying this atrocious 
 traffic ; but the last assurance she has received is, that 
 no steps can ever be taken in the business, in the way 
 of joint action, and that all farther application is use- 
 less. The trade is known to be chiefly carried on unde 
 
300 THE OLD AND NEW WORLD. 
 
 the United States flag. No doubt it is sometimes no- 
 ticed in a President's message, and there is an agent on 
 the coast of Africa for slaves liberated hy the United 
 States vessels. Unquestionably the official duties of 
 this gentleman must be arduous indeed ! Who ever 
 heard of a slaver being captured by an American ves- 
 sel ? So far from this, every obstacle is thrown in the 
 way of Britain's noble course, by America. Even now 
 are they trying to make a ground of quarrel for slaves 
 being seized under the American flag. 
 
 But they can't understand in this country, why Bri- 
 tain should take so much trouble, in protecting these 
 poor Africans, as they can divine no selfish motive in 
 the case. Certainly not, they can't understand it. But 
 the old governments of Europe, whom they are for ever 
 traducing, France, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, with 
 all their sins, can understand it, and along with Britain 
 have conceded the right of search for men stealers.* 
 But they can understand it, when they are pursuing 
 the British government for their " pound of flesh" when 
 an overuling Providence has cast some of their vessels 
 on the coasts of British settlements. And when the 
 noble Cinque was cast on their shores, the ultra de- 
 mocratical government of Van Buren could not under- 
 stand why they should imitate the British government, 
 and rather pay the price than give them up. But this 
 
 * France has not ratified the last treaty, but this refusal does 
 not invalidate a former treaty, conceding the right of search in 
 certain latitudes. 
 
AMERICAN SLAVERY. 301 
 
 is easily explained, the one was receiving payment' 
 and the other paying — and there lies the difference. 
 
 But Britain must be destroyed, because she can no 
 longer breast herself up against the advancement of 
 humanity, "charity, virtue and happiness, these are 
 English words still, but their meaning seems to have 
 settled in America." Where we ask is that huma- 
 nity, where that charity, which is love to our fel- 
 low men, where the virtue, and the happiness ? Is the 
 charity to be found in your conduct to the two mil- 
 lions and a half of slaves, who are bought, sold, in- 
 voiced, mortgaged, drawn upon, and treated as chat- 
 ties ? Is it in your treatment of the Indians that you 
 lay claim to this distinction 1 
 
 The virtue and the happiness are of course with the 
 slaves, who are kept in the enviable situation of not 
 knowing right from wrong. 
 
 Many of these unhappy people are the children of 
 those who sit in high places. And yet you dare not 
 plead for them in the house of legislation, for your re- 
 presentatives are gagged. You dare not lift up your 
 voice for them in your state assemblies, for you might 
 be hissed out, or have the bowie knife plunged in your 
 breast. You dare not petition for them, for your pe- 
 tition would be tossed over the table with contempt, or 
 laid on the " table, and no action taken on it." You 
 dare not pray for them in the house of God, for the 
 minister might lose nine tenths of his hearers, and the 
 world, before duty seems the guide of the reverend the 
 
302 MODERN BRITISH HISTORY. 
 
 clergy here. But one thing we cannot be prevented 
 doing — we can yet in secret, and at the family altar, 
 send up our prayers to Heaven's throne, for the op- 
 pressed and persecuted. No obstacle is interposed by 
 Him who weighs the '* nations in scales, and the hills 
 in a balance." Wherever there is a devout and a 
 humble heart, there is an attentive ear, and a present 
 God. 
 
 But Britain must be destroyed. Is it because she 
 employs her war ships, for the first time in the history of 
 the world, not in gratifying feelings of ill will and re- 
 venge, and in dealing destruction to her fellows, but in 
 breaking the chains of the oppressed, and setting the 
 prisoners free ? Is it because she appeared in her 
 might at Navarino, when the infant liberties of Greece 
 were about to be crushed, and drove the Turk for ever 
 from those classic regions ? Is it because she stretch- 
 ed out her protecting arm, and bid the Syrian follower 
 of Mahomet stay his hand, when it oppressed the an- 
 cient people of God ? Is it because she has sent her 
 ships, and her enlightened men to Africa, to carry 
 knowledge, and civihzation, and for ever to bind up 
 the wounds of that afflicted region ? Is it because she 
 is raising up countless millions in India to the enjoy- 
 ment of industry, commerce, knowledge, and above all 
 of true religion ? If a nation falls when so employed, 
 it will be new in the history of our fallen race. 
 
 And America, where charity, virtue and happiness 
 have taken up their abode, what is she doing ? Shade 
 
CHARITY AND VIRTUE IN AMERICA. 363 
 
 of Washington ! how is she employed 1 Straining 
 every nerve to break down the spirit of the few who 
 dare to stand up for their rights. Quarrelling with 
 Britain for the " pound of flesh" of another cargo of 
 chattels just gone to the land of freedom ; threatening 
 war for the seizure of slave vessels, declared to be pi- 
 racy by her own laws j Louisiana controlling Ohio, and 
 making her bend under her influence, and protecting sla- 
 very by her laws and by her avowed hatred of freedom ; 
 Maryland struggling to add new horrors to the abodes 
 of slavery ; Georgia and Virginia bullying New York ; 
 But even New York herself, destroying a just and true 
 bill for preserving the purity of election. Precious 
 exhibition of charity, virtue and happiness ! 
 
 And is she doing any thing in her foreign policy to 
 throw one redeeming trait into the darkness of this 
 picture ? If she is, or has ever done so— let it be told, 
 for history is silent on it. Has she showed any de- 
 sire to enter the third stage of freedom ? Oh ! it would 
 be refreshing to find some little, some very little rehef 
 in favor of liberty in the " only green spot of God's 
 earth where liberty dwells." 
 
 Wherever liberty has lifted up its standard since the 
 close of the wur in 1815, whether in Spain, in Portugal, 
 or in Greece, there British subjects have been found 
 in the foremost ranks, among the friends of freedom. 
 It is the British legion, that has ever given the dead- 
 liest blow to tyranny. 
 
 When the United States raised the standard of na- 
 
304 AMEBICAN GRATITUDE. 
 
 tional independence, Lafayette and his gallant band 
 of Frenchmen rushed to their aid, and nobly contended, 
 side by side, in a foreign land, till the object was ac- 
 complished. When France was surrounded by foreign 
 arms, and her newly acquired liberties were threat- 
 ened with destruction, did she receive aid from Amer- 
 ica, who owed her so much ? The American Legion 
 may have been there, but we never heard of it. 
 The generation of men who gained the independence 
 of America, were yet in their vigour, when the French 
 revolution broke out, but we never heard of one 
 American who lifted an arm in payment of the inesti- 
 mable obligation that France had laid her under ^ 
 Many struggles for freedom have since been made 
 but whoever heard of a native of the only " green spot" 
 being engaged in them ? 
 
 Britain must be destroyed. Oh ! if it were so, where 
 would the world look for a friend to help the persecuted 
 and distressed, and where would liberty find a refuge ? 
 Would it be in France ? Let the silence of the gag- 
 ged press be the ominous reply. Is it in Germany 1 
 Let the broken promises of Prussia in the hour of her 
 calamity, be the answer. Is it in Russi?*, let" Poland 
 speak. But we must not be too hard rn Russia, for 
 even there the liberty of petition is held sacred. 
 
 But it seems Britian dreads the rivalry of the United 
 States, more than any other competitor. Rival Britain ! 
 would to God she would rival her, none would hail such 
 an event with so much joy as Britian. But America 
 
RIVALRl. 305 
 
 must raise her moral standard immeasurably higher, be- 
 fore she can hope to rival her father land. 
 
 Britain, old in years, but young in moral and intel- 
 lectual vigour, is braking the chains of the world. Her 
 counsels have lately produced the most extraordinary 
 document of modern times, a charter of free religious 
 opinion by the descendant of the False Prophet. Even 
 now, two mighty Continents stretch out their arms 
 to Britain and welcome their deliverers. The Black 
 Sons of Africa, and the sallow Asiatics, have already 
 tasted of their blessings from her hand, which no other 
 people ever thought of bestowing on them, and now 
 they look with eager delight, to the time which is just 
 at hand, that will place them on the same level wdth 
 the most civilized nations of the earth. 
 
 In America, two millions and a half of her native- 
 uorn inhabitants raise their supplicating eyes to heaven, 
 and ask if their bondage is to be everlasting, while the 
 chains are dropping off in every country and in every 
 clime. 
 
 Rival Britain ! Yes, you might rival her in doing good, 
 and that would be a sight to make good men weep 
 tears of joy, and angels look down with approbation 
 from their glorious abodes. Your missionaries rival 
 hers in converting men to God ; and why will you not 
 rival her in breaking the chains of cruelty and op- 
 pression ? 
 
 To see the Union Jack and the Stripes and Stars ca- 
 ring in company over the deep, in the track of the 
 26 
 
306 HOPES IN THE DISTANCE. ' 
 
 man-stealer, and rivalling each other who should be i 
 the first on board to announce the tidings of freedom 
 and safety to their miserable cargo , that would be a \ 
 noble emulation, worthy of your common origin. j 
 
 Will that day ever come ? There is at present small 
 appearance of it, but we still have hopes of this coun- 
 try, because the people are mostly of British origin. 
 It cannot be, that those principles of freedom which 
 their noble parent is sending to the most distant parts : 
 of the earth, can find no sympathy among her de- ' 
 scendants. Already there is a speck in the west, giv- \ 
 ing promise of a brighter day.* Soon, we trust, will 
 her orators convert the fulsome note of flattery into ' 
 one of bitter and indignant remonstrance, for the loss of ; 
 the rights bequeathed to them by their fathers, and of a 
 firm and indignant demand, that this country shal^ ] 
 adapt her institutions to the present advanced stage ot H 
 the civilized world. 
 
 * Meeting at Rochester approving of Mr. Adams' conduct. 
 
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