LIBRARY OF CONGRESS DDDDBHflSTSLf SDIMEE TOURS; OH, \ NOTES OF A TRAVELER 9 THROUGH SOME OF THE MIDDLE AND NORTHERN STATES. BY THEODORE DWIGHT, AUTHOK OF "a tour in ITALY," "THE NORTHERN TRAVELER," "THE FATHER'S BOOK," &C., AND EDITOR OF " DWIGHt's AMERICAN MAGAZINE." vhich deserving youths sometimes rise among us. As nothing in the institutions of the country, or in the preju- dices of the people forbids the exaltation of virtue, her up- ward tendency is in a thousand cases permitted and even assisted, when in other countries it would be hopelessly dis- couraged or entirely suppressed. The road to usefulness and distinction is not opened to persons of all classes, in our constitution merely; it is not only laid down upon paper, but is familiarly known and trodden. Hence it is a matter of notoriety, that not a few of the men now eminent in the different learned professions, have risen from the workshops of the humbler branches of mechanical trade where thev had been apprenticed. From this fact it might be presumed that the useful arts would be generally regarded with re- spect ; and this is true to a considerable extent, although some of our luxurious citizens, among their muhiplied false notions, really believe that there is something in exercising 11 118 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. an honest handicraft more degrading than idleness in its genteeler forms. The burying-grounds of New-England are among the most interesting objects to which the traveller can direct his attention. Monuments are to be found, in almost all the older settlements, bearing unequivocal testimony to the learning as well as piety of our ancestors, and the good order which has ever prevailed in their society. I wish, with all my heart, that I could refer to the condition of these venerable memorials as evidence of a becoming regard for ihem among the inhabitants, and a proper care for their preservation. Unfortunately, quite the contrary is the case ; for ancient grave-stones are often allowed to become over- thrown by the frost, and to lie covered with moss or herbage from year to year. One single person in each village, by proper means, might incite the people to keep their ceme- teries well enclosed, and kept in order ; and nothing but a little spirit is wanting through the country at large, to have the most venerable memorials of the dead preserved from unnecessary injury and from loss. So closely connected are many of these monuments with important events in the history of the country, that we ought to use them as practical assistants in the instruction of the young; and parents and teachers might communicate many lasting impressions to their children, by visiting with them the graves of the good and learned men of pre- ceding generations, inviting their aid in deciphering the epi- taphs, enumerating their praiseworthy deeds, and repeating some of their virtuous counsels. Why should such simple and delightful modes and topics of instruction be neglected, while much complicated and expensive machinery is employed to fix the minds of the young exclusively on distant nations and countries ? With thoughts like these, and with many feelings which I shall not attempt to express, I have visited many of the burying-grounds, usually at morning or evening, when the journey of the day had been performed, or before it had begun ; and thus I have sometimes obtained the knowledge of lacts which I had not been able to derive from living AMHERST. 119 sources. I might here insert a few of the epitaphs which I copied in different places ; but will merely, at present, re- mark, that those who have frequent access to old burying- grounds, may perform a useful task by at least copying in- scriptions, and making drawings of monuments, and de- positing them in some society or institution, to be pre- served or published for the benefit of others. The Rev. Mr. Alden, some years since, undertook the useful and pious task of rescuing the best epitaphs from loss and oblivion, and his own memory should be honoured for it. The book containing his collection will hereafter be prized by some generation more worthy of its descent than we show our- selves to be. I am obliged to pass, without remark, some of the places most worthy of notice to strangers, and among them Spring- field. I have not leisure to insert all my memoranda, much less to record all the reflections which occurred to me on this or any other part of my interesting tour. I cannot, however, let Northampton pass without some allusion to the tasteful manner in which the Anniversary of our Indepen- dence is usually celebrated in that ancient and beautiful town. In an orchard which extends to the bank of a little brook, just out of sight from the streets of the village, a spacious bower is formed by adding evergreen bushes and vines to the shade of the trees, and sprinkling the dark foliage with flowers. A large table is spread upon the sm.ooth grass be- neath ; and as the decorations of the place employ the hands of the fair the day preceding that of the celebration, and they preside at the entertainment, the scene is one of the liveliest and most appropriate that can be imagined. In so pure, intelligent, and polished a society, a foreigner would find much to instruct him in American manners, as well as to excite his better feelings. No village that I have seen in this part of the coun- try has risen so fast to eminence as a literary place as Amherst. I had admired the bold, swelling, and fertile grazing-country, with its fine views, while it was only a common village. How great has been the change ! On one of the finest eminences stands the college, now one of 120 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. the most flourishing in the Union ; and two academies, one for the education of females, are found in other parts of the town. The academies of New-England, and particularly those of Massachusetts, form one of the most important branches of the great machinery of public education. Their history shows the importance af making provision for the in- struction of the young, even if some of the means adopted be not immediately found as useful as might be desired. In Massachusetts there are sixty-two academies, which derive funds from various sources ; twenty-one of them from a township of land each, in the state of Maine. For some years they were generally in a condition far from flourish- ing, and some in decay. Public opinion having since im- proved in relation to instruction, these institutions have been rendered extremely efficient in affording it, and will probably become much more so. There were probably about twenty-five thousand pupils in the academies and private schools of Massachusetts in 1832, out of a popula- tion, according to the census of that year, of a little more than six hundred thousand. Six of the academies are de- voted exclusively to females, and many of them have a female department. The branches of instruction and dis- cipline have been much improved, but not a Ihtle remains to be done. One of the greatest evils with many of them is, that they embrace many branches of secondary import- ance, even when the pupils are to devote but a few months to their studies. Comparatively intelligent as the common peo- ple of this part of the country are supposed to be, they are yet unable to appreciate the real acquisitions of their children, or at least generally apprehend that others cannot. They therefore demand visible and tangible signs, to indicate to the senses what without such aid might not be discovered or valued. A picture must be painted, a few tunes strummed on the piano, or a few words of some foreign tongue ac- quired, to bear witness to their intellectual progress — to show that the teacher has returned to the parent a quid pro quo — the value of his money. 1 have often seen such things displayed ; and how much is it like Hudibras's cul- prit at the bar, — EXHIBITION OF AN ACADEMY. 121 " Holding up his hand By twelve freeholders to be scann'd, That by their skill in palmistry" they might determine whether the charge against him were just or not. Some of the defects of the system may be seen at an ex-^ hibition, such as I once attended, at an academy on the banks of the Connecticut. The burthen of the evening vvas formed of several dialogues, or short dramatic pieces, in no way suited to the people or the state of society. A little art, I think, might have fabricated good ones ; but we are still very dependent on foreign ideas and models, especially in literary matters. The audience there assembled would have listened with benefit to any sensible production. There was an old threadbare and antiquated satire on fashions, aimed, like Sidrophel's telescope, at a kite instead of a star — at the forms of dress now long-forgotten, instead of any one of the thousand follies we practise daily in de- fiance of reason — and applauded by the audience like a palpable hit. The magnificence of ancient heroes was set forth ; addresses were made to engage us i — the Roman Senate, sitting " in cold debate" — (viz. just cracking our cheeks at old steeple-crowned bonnets and hooped petti- coats) — " to sacrifice our lives to honour." Then came up a fearful tragedy, the heroine of which had a provincial tone : " Haow naow ! Is that you. Roily ?" Daniel and the lions in a calico den ; and Joseph, with two front-teeth knocked out, a head taller than all his brethren, and dressed in a white counterpane, are all 1 have to mention, in addition, except the tune of " Farewell ye Green Fields," played by heroes, orators, lions, and prophets, at the close of thi^ miserable medley.. W 122 CHAPTER XVI. Female Chavaeter — A Connecticut School — Scenery on Connecticut River — Deerfield — Turner's Falls — Early State of the Country. ^ How different are our females from most others in the world I How much is society indebted to their influence ; how large a portion of our intelligence, as well as our vir- tue, do we owe to them as individuals ! What would our country be if they were allowed less influence in society? how much like our country might others soon be if they re- sembled it in this respect ! In what does the excellence of our females consist, whence is it derived, how may it best be extended and perpetuated ? Such questions as these force themselves upon the mind of a traveller in our country ; and how important is it that we should be able to answer them ! In what does their excellence consist I In every thing, some would have us believe; and indeed it would be diffi- cult to find any thing truly good of which they are not the supporters or the patrons, if not the projectors. Let an in- telligent traveller but observe, and he will find that wherever there is an upward tendency^ a refining process going on, it is promoted by them. They are more dependent than men for their enjoyments on the peace and good order, as well as the intelligence of the society around them ; they are more trained to feelings of dependence, and therefore more readily or more entirely cast their confidence on God. They have more leisure for reflection, and can judge with more deliberation and less passion than men, while they have better opportunities to use such means of self-improve- ment as they possess. As they converse more than men, they more frequently bring their own minds and hearts into comparison with others, and find stronger motives for ren- dering them worthy of inspection. The institutions of our country have denied to females the AN OLD-FASHIONED SCHOOL. 123 means of intellectual improvement proportioned to their de- sires, as well as a proper regard to their sex. In conse- quence, we find that fashion has too extensively occupied the ground, and that attempts have been made to polish the manners and to ensure external graces. The exaltation and the influence of females in our country are owing chiefly to their domestic education ; for none other worthy of the name is yet afforded them, with a very few and limited exceptions. Our best men, indeed, have been, to a great extent, moulded at home, into forms in which they have only expanded in after-life. If there ever was a country in which female influence was exercised in proportion to its value, it is our own. And what is the result ? Ask the man whose early instructions and examples have implanted and cher- ished every good thing which his mind and heart contain, and whose influence longest remains, even after death has re- moved its source from his sight. Inquire of the father why he labours more cheerfully, values his own character more highly, takes greater pleasure in home, than the men of other countries. Look at our books and newspapers, and see why they are not less pure than they are. You will find, if you have the knowledge and the means necessary to come at the facts, that woman is exercising a control and direction of a most extensive and salutary kind on society. Look where you will, if you see aright, wherever good is to be obtained or to be done, or evil prevented, you will find her or her influence. In one of the towns in Connecticut (I will not at present say which, although I am now out of the state), I stepped for a few minutes into a school-house one day, and was saluted by such a confused sound of voices that I hardly could remember where I was. The teacher was mending pens for one class, which was sitting idle ; hearing another spell ; calling to a covey of small boys to be quiet, who had nothing to do but make mischief; watching a big rogue who had been placed standing on a bench in the middle of the room for punishment ; and to many little ones passionately answering questions of "May I go out?" "May I go home ?" " Shan't Johnny be still T' " May I drink ?" 124 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. My entrance checked the din, and allowed the teacher an opportunity to raise an unavailing complaint of the total in- difference of the public towards the school, the neglect and contempt to which those are condemned, by universal con- sent, who undertake the instruction of the young ; the manner in which the objects of education are underrated^ even by the best members of the community, and the innu- merable evils which in this state of things befall the children, the parents, and the public. Is it possible, thought I, that in old Connecticut, with her two millions of school-fund, the devotion of her fathers and many of her children to literature and general intelligence, with all her influence thus gained abroad, and the reputation she enjoys for fostering education, there can be a school like this 1 Much to my surprise, however, I learnt that there are many more which are not superior to it. And why is it? I afterwards conversed with individuals of the highest character and influence in the place, men of education, and even literary distinction, who had, I doubt not, made public expressions in favour of the universal diffusion of know- ledge ; and yet not one of them could give me any real in- formation in relation to the public schools. They thought them indispensable appendages to society, or rather the ground-work of intelligence ; and believed they required great and immediate improvement. But what were their excellencies or deficiencies, or by what means they might be improved, they seemed neither to know nor greatly to care. Indeed, they generally had not any certain knowledge of the number of the schools, their location, number of pupils,^ or course of studies. Those who had attended to instruction in any form, had devoted a little time to the higher school* in the place, at which a small number of the wealthier parents had their sons and daughters ; and although they had succeeded in placing them on a most excellent footing, they had never thought how easily they might confer equal benefits on a far more numerous and more needy class. They had never considered how important it is to the moral character of children, as well as to their progress in know- SCENERY. 125 ledge, that they should be kept constantly and agreeably occupied in school, or what aid might be afforded to the teacher, in discipline and instruction, by the introduction of a few easy improvements. They had never inquired whether a map, an enumeration frame, or a black board would not be a valuable acquisition, and afford opportunities to vary agreeably the dry routine of the day, in which the only changes often are from doing little to doing nothing, or doing wrong. They had never thought that a few bits of different kinds of wood or stone, or a few shells or leaves, might be occasionally exhibited with advantage, and made the foundation of a useful lecture of ten minutes. They had never reflected how a frequent visit from a clergyman, lawyer, physician, or merchant might encourage and gratify teachers and pupils ; or how a meeting of teachers, patron- ized by some of the influential inhabitants, might raise know- ledge in public estimation by raising its ministers, the com- mon school-masters. I found a few persons who seemed more sensible, and who had taken active measures in one branch of this subject : they were ladies. The scenery of Connecticut River presents a constant variety, from the intermingling and alternations of its few general features. These are, the fertile meadows of different breadths which line its banks in so many parts of its course, and in some places form two or three successive levels of different elevations, which are supposed to have been the beds of lakes successively drained ; the uplands and the hills or mountains. The lowest levels are overflown by the high floods of the spring and autumn, which convert them again into lakes, and leave a rich deposite, though they sometimes destroy extensive crops. The second meadows or the uplands then become the shores, or in some cases islands ; and boats often float where, during the other seasons, the cattle feed in droves, or draw the cart among the hay or corn-fields. The higher levels are sometimes channelled by rills of water, which have deeply notched their edges in the course of time, and left projec- tions like the salient angles of gigantic fortresses, almost over the head of the traveller on the meadows below, 126 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. and presenting a pleasing variety of foliage and crops. The light at morning and evening, the winter's snow, the verdure of summer, and the hues of autumn, add their innu- merable changes, so that some of the pleasantest of the scenes may be said to be hardly the same in appearance at any two visits. The trees of the groves, which are thinly scattered over the lower levels, are generally of various de- ciduous species, and afford a rich intermixture of hues in autumn ; thus the early frosts often tinge the course of the stream with yellow and red, while the uplands are still covered with deep green. The young crops, presenting their countless rows over the level surface of the meadows in the sloping light, offered me one of the richest scenes of the kind I ever witnessed, as I pursued my way alone to- wards Deerfield. To one familiar with the history of this part of the coun- try, the journey up Connecticut River is doubly interesting ; and, during my short stay at Deerfield, I was more occupied with recollections of the past than elsewhere. This is one of the old settlements, though but of the second epoch, and retains more traditions of early events than any other I am acquainted with. When the English from Massachusetts Bay occupied Saybrook Fort, at the mouth of the river, in 1635, and began the settlement of Wethersfield, Hartford, and Windsor, in the following years, little was known of the stream above, except that the Indians reported that they used it in their canoe navigation to Canada, by making a portage between Onion River and the waters of Lake Champlain. Northampton, Hadley, and Greenfield were early settled ; and in 1666 were greatly harassed by the Indians in Philip's war. In the meadow, which I passed through in approaching this pleasant village, ambushes have been repeatedly laid by the wily enemy in former times, desperate contests have occurred, and not a little blood has been shed. At a visit to the place several years ago, I examined the old house, the only one which now remains of those erected at the first settlement, or previously to 1704 ; the others, ex- cept one besides, having been taken and burnt. The inhabit- ants of this house defended it a long time, until the savages INDIAN BATTLE. 127 found entrance through the back door, which was left un- fastened by a neighbour's son, a boy, who having slept in the house on some account, took an opportunity to leave it in the midst of the fight, hoping to find his parents. The hole cut through the front door by the Indians with their tomahawks is still to be seen, as well as some of the holes made by bullets which they fired into the rooms on the right and left at hazard. One of these passed through the neck of a female, and killed her as she was sitting in her bed. The uplands rise abruptly on the east, fiom the beautiful second level on which the village is built. Three or four springs, which have trickled for ages down the steep de- scent, appear to have cut as many deep channels, at nearly equal distances, in the face of the hill. Several projections are thus left, which from some points of view appear like isolated eminences. One of these, called the Mohawk Fort, I ascended with an esteemed friend from the village, who pointed out many spots which had interest in my eyes from their connexion with early events. From him I also learned, that the spot on which we stood is reported to have derived its name from having been occupied, at an uncertain date, by the Mohawks, who are known to have made great encroachments on the Indians of Connecticut River. From Deerfield I pursued the road to Turner's Falls, on the Connecticut, the scene of the final overthrow of King Philip's power. The river comes sweeping slowly round a point, wiih a tranquil surface, and passing at the base of a round hill of sand, with a narrow swamp on two sides, seems to one descending its current to flow on without in- terruption to a long mountainous range, which here presents itself running north and south. At a quarter of a mile be- low, however, it makes a perpendicular descent of about forty feet, down which, before the dam was erected for the supply of a canal of a few miles, any thing approaching heedlessly went to certain destruction. The sand-hill was the camp or fort of Philip's Indians after they had been driven from the old settlements on the coast ; and during a night of feasting, they were surprised by a small body of 128 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. volunteers from the towns, principally from NorthamptoHj and many of them destroyed. Great numbers, jumping into their canoes without their paddles, went over the falls. Some of the assailants, however, were killed, principally in the retreat, during which they were hard pressed by the rallying savages. The bones of a man were found a few years ago, in a secluded spot among the rocks below the falls, with the remains of a musket, and a number of silver coins of a period not later than the date of this battle ; were doubtless the remains of some soldier engaged in it. Having crossed the ferry to the foot of the hill, I ex- amined the situation of the fort, deserted so long, picked up a few arrow-heads of stone, and bones, took many fine glimpses and several sketches near the falls, and mounting my horse, proceeded by an unfrequented route to Bernards- ton, where I proposed to spend the night. The landlord seemed obliging ; and while my horse was receiving the at- tentions of his boy, I took my seat by a fire. 1 had just begun to feel impatient at not seeing any preparations making for my tea-table, when he came to invite me into an interior room, if I chose to sit by the family fireside. I cheerfully assented, and spent the remainder of the evening (for it was late when I arrived) in a neat little apartment, in pleasant conversation. Some of the older inhabitants of this part of the country have a little knowledge of the early condition of the coun- try; though the changes have been so great, and so many generations have dwelt here in undisturbed security, that it is difficult to imagine what were the trials and difficulties of early times. •' Our meadows now are cheerful all) Our rivers flow in light : But cedars wav'd their branches tall As round her clos'd the night. " The path which seeks the lovM abode You knew in childhood sweet, Perchance, was that the captive trod, Mark'd by the panther's feet." 129 CHA.PTER XVII. Copies of ancient Letters, illustrating something of the State of Things in this part of the Country early in the last Century. I HAVE in my possession some old papers, from a family long resident in one of the older settlements on Connecticut River, which afford lively evidences of the state of the coun- try, and circumstances of society, at different periods during the past hundred years and more. A few extracts will here be given, for the gratification of such as may feel any interest in matters of this kind. Our ancestors early made up their minds on certain important subjects, and went immediately and seriously to work. Tiiey did not satisfy themselves with talkmg philosophically, or forming theoretical cobwebs, as so many European writers have done, merely for the amusement of a pleasant day. Instead of waiting till the nineteenth century, to ask whether the times, or the spirit of the age, or the march of mind, as the fashionable phrases are, did not demand the instruction of all classes, they be- gan before the middle of the seventeenth, to require it by law. And what has been the result ? While, in the south of Europe, ignorance is teaching at this day that knowledge is the highway to vice ; the poorest inhabitant of this part of the Union has the noble blood of knowledge in his veins, and can trace it through a line of ancestors uninterrupted for one or two centuries. With this come the habits of conduct and of thought, which are cherished and cultivated by the influences of a virtuous and intelligent society ; and hence arise those valuable traits of character which are commonly attributed to this people : traits which cannot be looked for under other circumstances, and which cannot be produced by other causes. First comes a plan of a fort, which was ordered to be 12 130 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVJiR. built on the river's bank, with the following directions, ac» companied with a letter dated — " The figure of the fort to be built in the Long Meadow, above Northfield, together with the inner building. " The box a to be placed eastwardly over the river bank ; the passage into the mounts to be from the lower rooms, through the floor of the mount, except that at the norwest angle to be from the chamber through the side of the mount. The eastwardly box to be elevated so as to see from thence over the others. The timbers to be bullet proof. The fort to be twelve or fourteen feet high. The timber to lay the chamber-floor on to be so high that a tall man may walk upright under them. The buildings within twelve or four- teen foot wide. " The inner wall, as well as the fort and mounts, to be made of hewed timber. The housing to be built linto-wise ; the roof descending from the top of the fort. The outward parts of the mounts to be supported by limbers, laid four or five feet beyond the corness of the fort, not to be cut at the laying. The lower timber to be heightened by a short piece, and the floor of the mounts to be level with the highest timber. The end of the floor-pieces to go under the mount pieces. It will be best to fell the timber in the old of the moon. One of the first services will be to cut and dry good timber for fire-wood." Capt. " We have sent Henrick and three men and two squas. "The three men's names are Eraza, Cossaump, and Joseph, whome you must take into the fort, and release of the English soldiery four of your Englishmen, viz. John King to be one of the three men most inefiective, exceept the hired men, as I wrote to you in my former letter — and them you release must leave their guns for to suppl)'^ the Indians, and we shall see them returned, or a reasonable price for them. And King must leave his gun as others do upon the same terms. This you must be carefull to take, and keep an exact account of the day of their release, and ©f the entry of the Indians, and so of more Indians that OLD LETTERS. 131 may come ; and be verry careful! that the Indians be by themselves, and the English alsoe ; that there be no talking and tradeing betwixt the English souldiers and the Indians to royle one another and make a disturbance amongst them in the fort nor out of it, but all to keep their places, and be still and orderly ; the Indians by persuasion, and the Eng- lish by comand. I wish you good success, and be verry prudent in all your management. Yours." The following letter was written, as it would appear, in haste, by the commander of the fort, in the winter succeed- ing its erection. It is inserted here to show that the views entertained by many in this country in favour of the en- couragement of manufactures are not all of modern date. No doubt it will amuse some of my readers to find such suggestions thrown out more than a century ago, by an officer in garrison, in a small frontier outpost, while appre- hending attacks from Indians, and merely, as it would seem, to occupy a little leisure in the dead of winter. Fort ******, Jan. 9, 1724-5. " Sir, " You some time since enquired of me whether I had ever spent any tho'ts upon the circumstances of our gov*mt re- specting their medium of trade (viz.) how they might be restored to their original ; and I shouhl esteem it a risque to show myself to you on that weighty point, were it not for your undoubted candour to all. " And my opinion is, that as much as possible to avoid the emitting such vast quantities of bills would be a very likely expedient; and to prevent that I would propose that the tax on all imported liquors should be double what it is now, and on all other imported goods (that we may be suf- fered to lay a tax upon) in that proportion. The advantages I propose are " 1. All the money we get this way will help to bear the charge of the governm't, and that by the persons most able to bear it ; for it is they that drink and wear those imported goods that draw all the effects of this country. And 2^ 132 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. This would tend to suppress the import and also the extrava- gance and use of such commodities. And 3. This would tend to promote and encourage tliose manufactories which would produce the most needful commodities among our- selves. Our governm't I know have done considerable to encourage the raising of hemp, the makeing of duck, good linnen-cloth, &c. And if they had at the same time oblig'd such commodities and many others to pay custom (when imported) that do not, it would have done well. This would not only help to pay our charge, but it would also greatly encourage the making of such things in this country — for what is made here as good as that which is imported would command as much as that, when the merch't has paid the duty and advanced his 350 p. cent, upon it. And most cer- tainly when any commodity is under such circumstances that two men and a gove'mt get in their several capacities a living by it, another man yt. can procure the same com- modity without the two lattr. encumbrances must be greatly inclined to do it. " If your patience lasts, I would entertain you with one blunder more, which is — I should think it very proper, when the charge is so great, that the country tax should be in proportion ; this has been omitted so long that I think it high time to begin ; for this also would greatly tend to pre- vent the passing of such vast quantities of bills among us, which are now (I suppose purely by their multiplicity) be- come but just half so good as our former mony. It's very strange if the wages of such as go to warr can't be so pro- portioned to other mens' advantages as that 20, 30, or possi- bly the proportion may be 60 or 100 that stay at home can't maintain one to go to warr and pay him down. I am sen- sible it would be dangerous at once to make an act that should be so extensive as to make it appear by what time the whole of the bills now extant should be brought in, for by that, rich foreseeing men will monopolize their coffers full, and thereby extort upon poor people that must pay their rates. Therefore, let us now begin to pay every year's tax within the year, and involve ourselves no farther, for we have as many bills out now as all the country can find OLD LETTERS. 133 out liow to call in and not ruin a considerable part of the people. " When bills were first made, it should have been so or- dered that yy should always have been equal to silver, or it should be enacted yt any public tax whatsoever might be discharg'd by any of the country produce at reasonable rates or prices. I know it is objected that this is to make every salary-man a merchant, which is very much beside their proper business ; but there is not one salary-man in this country, but by himself or others does much more than to dispose of his salary when paid in such things, besides the business of his office ; and besides, I think, that man is more likely to be a trader who has none of the necessaries of life, and must take mony and convert into them all, than he that has all those things and but little mony. " Sir, this is the effects of but one half day, and any man that knows me will say it's impossible it should be valuable,^ &c., &c." JLetter from a Lady, Boston, the 22d of Feb., 1753v ' " Dear M. " I received your obliging letter of the 18th instant this day, and have conformed myself to your words as well as I am able, though not so well as I shou'd be glad to, being closely confined to the limits of a chamber, where I have been almost three weeks confined by a severe fit of sick- ness, wliich brought me near to death. Through the won- derful forbearance of God, my life is lengthened yet farther,, my strength recovering, and my opportunity for doing and receiving good yet prolonged. But, alas ! I remain insen- sible of my privileges, ungrateful for mercies, unhumbled under aflHictions, negligent of my duty ! I find 'tis not in the power of Providence, 'tis not in that of the Word, to break and melt the heart : nothing but a divine energy can accomplish a divine work. It appears to me that never a person had more means used with them to bring them home to God than I have had, but how little do I answer 134 ROUTE UP CONNECTICIiT RIVER. the just expectations of God and men ! Surely you will be constrained to pour out your soul before God in my behalf. '* I am sorry you should think it wouM be a trouble to procure the few things you sent for — so far from it, I ac- count it a pleasure ; and think myself more obliged to you for employing me than you are to me for sending them. The respect you show to the memory of my dear and never-to-be-forgotten sister, I return my grateful thanks for. The removal of so great a part of my happiness renders this world more troublesome, and the remaining comforts of life more insipid. I have been more composed since my dear Mrs. was here than before — her company was of singular use to me, as she is now the most intimate friend I have on earth. I much question whether I shall ever see her again, as she has so many friends to visit, and I can see no prospect that I shall ever go so far from home. I have not heard from her since December, which seems an age. "The account you give of the burning of the Orphan House, I am apt to think, is a false report, as we have never heard a syllable of it ; and it looks most likely that we shou'd have heard of it by the post. " Nothing very remarkable occurs to ray mind at present. It is a time of general health. Pray when you see Miss , offer my respectful compliments to her. " Company coming in obliges me to close, with the offer of my service whenever you have occasion for it, with the assurance of my sincere wishes for your prosperity, and with my humble service to the good Col., his lady, Mrs. ^ and yourself, in which my mother joins (my father being absent). " I am. Dr. M , " Your most humble servant.' Pray favour me with a line as often as you ean. 135 CHAPTER XVIII. Erroneous Opinions of Foreigners of our Society — A great political Character — Sabbath School. It is not very surprising that foreigners have generally no correct ideas, or at least but very few, in relation to our country. Private and public concerns, past and present circumstances, so intermingle their influences, that a mere comprehension of the political system is quite insufficient to render the operations of society intelligible. Every thing seems at once free and dependent. Prices and opinions in one state affect those in a neighbouring one, and often, if not always, more or less, those of the Union. Every man is at liberty to speculate in the staple of any town or county, the houses and land, on equal terms with him who was born on the spot ; and may shoe or shave, feed or clothe the people of any neighbourhood from the height of land to the Gulf of Mexico, if they will consent to pay him. This causes a constant commotion on the routes, and quickens the circulation to fever haste. The people must stay at home, unless they know where they are going, and why ; hence intelligence is necessary. They travel because they know something, and they know more because they have travelled. And these causes, like many others constantly in operation, are continually increasing each other. But viewed in another light, each man has the peculiarities of his own state, county, and perhaps town, of which a fel- low-traveller may sometimes obtain some knowledge by directing his conversation that way. If you are acquainted with them already to some extent, he will amuse or instruct you. Favourable impressions of public intelligence, which perhaps had been raised in me by accidentally meeting several sensible men, were greatly thwarted by the man- 136 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. ners and conversation of a person of a different character on his travels. There was a talkative young man in the stage-coach, who soon avowed himself, by word of mouth, as the editor of a village newspaper, called the Banner of Principle, or the Disinterested Patriot, or some other great name. His forward manners and flippant speech had got the start of this avowal, and already proclaimed him an uneducated, conceited youth, who had been exceedingly flattered some- where, by somebody, not very long ago, as an extraordinary wit. He was one of those persons whom to see is to pity, if you have any benevolence left after the suffierings you endure in his company. He had set out in life wrong, and was travelling rapidly a road which he must inevitably track back. He was living and breathing on mistake : neither he, nor the world, nor their opinion of him, nor his import- ance to them was such as he supposed. His pretended friends were attached only to themselves, and really exer- cised refined selfishness in enduring his society in order to gain the slight advantage of using him as a tool. He had the misfortune to live in the neighbourhood of an aspiring politician ; and having abundance of self-con- ceit, some smartness, and an acquaintance with the lower classes of society, he thought his apparent currency every- where was owing to his own talents. When, therefore, the editorship of a newspaper was ofi'ered to him, he supposed the station was but the meed of his merit ; and when I saw him he was already in full business on such slender capital. He had not the penetration to perceive,, nor the humility to suspect, any connexion between the friendly calls of Squire Undertow, his confidence in conversing with him on matter* of state, the prai&e of his first essays, and the whisper that he was the best man in the country to conduct a paper which the friends of principle were about to establish ; so he was soon set up, like a locomotive on a railroad, and ran rapidly and smoothly along the track which he was not per- mitted to leave, fancying that while he out-rumbled and out- smoked other machines of his class, he did all, and was reaping all the glory. He felt potent enough to distance A GREAT POLITICAL CHARACTER. 137 every competitor, and despised the weak creatures which threw themselves in the way of his intolerable wit and deadly satire. He had formerly read the models of English writers with some pleasure, and attempted to arrange, with perspicuity, force, and harmony, words expressive of just and ennobling sentiments. But now he had learned that the age of improvement had come, and every thing old-fashioned was to be done away. Where would be the use of writing mere truth, when it would produce no effect? And as for language, his readers, and above all his patrons (tljat is to say, his payers and admirers), wished him to write with point and pith ; and he had already become a rival of the most popular editors in some of his paragraphs, as he had begun to excel some of the noisiest village politicians in slang. All the old rules of composition comprehended nothing that could equal, or that might not be found in the scope of one word — personality ; and his model of rhetoric and eloquence was the " saucy," but " successful" editor of the National Fulcrum or Lever — no matter which. " Our governor," said he, " is an honest kind of a man — one of the old-fashioned sort — too honest, I tell them, for these times ; and his friends think that they can succeed in his re-election, merely because he has done well, without using the means. The article I published last Thursday was meant to lull them asleep, and make them suppose that we were doing nothing to get him out. But we shall show them the next election. The oldest senator in the state won't like to see a new man in his place ; and the lower house will be all one side next session, like the handle of a jug. The present party, in our county, have got all the old- fashioned people with them, but we're likely to get the rail- road interest, because I say something every week about improvements ; and as we have taken Captain Bog-ore for a candidate, we shall be sure of the iron-founders in the valley. He's rather a hardware character, however, and the temperance people say they can't * swallow' him, con- sistently, because it would be drinking brandy; and he is all but ready to take the head of the anti-temperance so- ciety. That would kill us as dead as a door nail, if he 138 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. should do it at present, for it's hard work to make ail sorts of our friends believe what we tell them. But, how- ever, Squire Sycophant says he's the only man that can manage the captain ; and as he'll probably be persuaded to be Speaker of the House this year, though he's the mos4 modest man in the Union, I think we shall get along. Now all these difficulties an editor has to be provided against; and it requires a good deal of tact, I can tell you, to know exactly who to touch up, and who to let alone ; and when to call names, and how to tell a lie all but, and creep out when you are charged with it, and turn the laugh on the other side by giving them a rap over the knuckles. But things will be so in a free country like ours." " Ah !" said a sedate old gentleman, in the stage-coach, "you pay a high compliment to the spirit of popular government. The press, as I argue from your remarks, is rapidly rising in dignity and purity." " Why, yes, that is, it is improving in spirit and life, and it is waking up the people, at least in our section of coun- try, where there are men who never used to read who— now take my paper." The houses at which I spent the night had been duly furnished with the tracts for this month by the Tract So- ciety ; there was a Bible in my chamber, bearing an inscrip- tion to show that it had been presented by the Connecticut Bible Society to the hotel ; and among the newspapers in the reading-room was the last number of a Sabbath-school and a Temperance Journal. Here was new evidence that the spirit of beneficent association was in full operation around me, and turned my mind to consider the amount of its influence, annually, monthly, and daily, in the country at large. How a connexion with one of these societies tends to give a good direction to the heart, the head, the feet, and the hands ! When a movement has been made for the first time in a village, for the promotion of any such object, by measures never attempted there before, benevolence, activity, independence, and perseverance are often necessary, in a considerable degree, to secure success. It is the nature oi every virtue, as well as of the intellect, to gain strength by SABBATH-SCHOOLS. 139 its own exertions, as well as to incite spectators to aim at similar objects, and to use similar means. Thus it is that every city, village, and hamlet in our country, where there is a Bible-society or a Sabbath-school, may in some sense be said to have had its Owen and its Raikes. But the sup- port of such societies, and the continuance of their opera- tions, sometimes require greater exertion than their founda- tion ; and hence we often find individuals, among the most busy manufacturers and merchants, on whom ihe whole labour of some societies, and not always the least efficient of them, depends. In such persons we often find more practical skill and knowledge in relation to the objects of their philanthropic pursuit, than in the whole community around them. If they find little support or encouragement in their own circle, they seek them in a broader sphere, and regard themselves as connected with an extensive system of beneficence, by which their minds and hearts be- come habitually expanded, and their characters acquire an elevation and a force which, perhaps, no other course of training could confer. And how interesting is this subject in another view. When a youth is connected with an association of this kind, he feels that he is bound to an upright and virtuous course of conduct, and that any deviation from it will be observed and disapproved. He finds his associates also afl^ected by similar influences, and the whole tone of society purified and refined. At the same time similar pursuits, and the dis- interested source from which they spring, establish fraternal feehngs as well as mutual respect among the youth of both sexes, which often prevail over all diflferences in profession, station, family, and property. Individuals also take rank according to their characters, zeal, and ability; and each society presents a kind of little republic, in which votes are not purchased, and offices are unpaid. And in this manner not only is the character of the young hedged in from many exposures, but means are aflbrded for takujg with them, wherever they go, the respectable standing they enjoy at home. A Sabbath-school teacher carries a recommendation with him to whatever place he visits, often 140 ROUTE UP CONNECTICUT RIVER. of greater value than any letter of introduction. He cannot feign a claim to the name, for nothing but habit can familiar- ize him with the operations of a Sabbath-school sufficiently to converse intelligently on the subject ; and many a little Shibboleth would be detected in any one who might attempt to pass for what he was not. I was once led to reflect on the security which the Sab- bath-school often gives to strangers, in forming opinions of each other, and exercising mutual confidence, by having entered one myself, where I was received as a fellow- labourer, unknown, and yet well known. Seeing a stranger enter and silently seat himself, one of the teachers immedi- ately directed the attention of the superintendent to me, who advanced with a respectful bow, cordially gave me his hand, and invited me to walk with him round the school. I felt that this was all in order ; and penetrated his heart, because I had/often been placed in his situation, and acted exactly as he had done and intended to do. I saw that he took me for a teacher from some distant town, but received me only in the more general character of a friend of morals and in- telligence, which I had professed by the fact of entering his door. His doubts were to be settled, while his first duties of courtesy were performing during our circuit among the classes. Some of his remarks on the course of studies naturally led me to replies, from which he plainly inferred my familiarity with Sabbath-schools ; and were followed by inquiries concerning my own experience on certain points in which he had found difficulty. Thus the fact of my being a brother-teacher was satisfactorily established. He then apologized for the vacancy of several seats, by stating that he had recently formed the school, at the wish of the different churches in the vicinity, and received teachers as well as pupils from several congregations of diflferent sects, with such recruits as had been drawn from the manufactories on one side and the farm-houses on the other. Without any knowledge of his sect, or a single attempt to ascertain it, he respectfully requested another stranger to make an address to the school, when it should close, to which he consented. Seeing a class of children without a teacher, THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE. 141 who had come from some of the poorest dwellings in the neighbourhood, I volunteered to instruct them, and was soon seated* with the Question Book of the A.merican Sun- day-school Union and the New Testament open in my hands, at the lesson for the day. When the hour had elapsed and the speaker rose, I surveyed the assembly with the reflection that hundreds of thousands of children were thus assembled in the country for similar objects, under the instruction of tens of thousands of teachers. Such reflections are impressed upon the mind more deeply by solitude and agreeable scenery; and nowhere more than on the banks of the Connecticut does nature, animate and inanimate, under a pure summer sky, appear in unison with the Christian's Sabbath. It is easy to perceive something of the extensive and powerful influence which such associations are exerting upon the minds and hearts, the manners and habits of my countrymen, as well as the importance of having such im- provements introduced into the system as might render it more perfect and efiectual. Such gratifying interviews may be enjoyed every week. We may part, perhaps, even ignorant of each other's names ; but with such feelings as those of Bunyan's friends, who " went on rejoicing, and I saw them no more." Such a morning exercise gives warmth and elevation to the devotions of the day. Much as the scenery of the Connecticut is admired, a great deal of enjoyment is often lost by not having the ad- vantage of the most favourable light to see it in. The broad and level meadows, with all their fertility, and the swelling hills and woody blufi's which by turns interrupt them, often appear tame and uninteresting when the sun is in the zenith ; but when near the morning or the evening horizon, it enhances the richness of one, and shows all the variety of the latter. The time has not yet arrived when the beauties of na- ture are to become objects of general attention and study to all classes ; but we should labour to hasten it, for our own land abounds in them most richly, and the humblest scene can furnish real pleasure to the eye which intelligently 13 142 ROUTE TJP CONNECTICUT RIV£R, observes it^ and may assist in raising the heart to objects far above itself. " I have inquired of many plain people of good sense," remarked a highly-intelligent and ingenious gentleman, " to ascertain whether there exists among our yeomanry any distinct conceptions ofbeauty in the objects of nature ; and I fear they too generally look with interest on a fine walnut^ree, merely because they associate with its size its greater value for fuel." And as for hills and streams, he was apprehensive that the first are regarded only on ac- count of the wood or stone they afford, and the other as they contain fish. Certain it is, that while we all possess feelings which sublime and beautiful objects must move, and fashion begins to incline many to talk of scenery around us, as it formerly forbade us to praise any thing American, there is a great, an almost universal inattention to the true prin- ciples of taste among our countrymen, which proper means might correct. We have sufficient native talent around us to furnish pic- tures whenever they shall be demanded by public taste, and paid for ; while for scenes, we are abundantly supplied with them, both for landscape and historical painting. When fashion shall once have turned, I expect to see a strong" current setting in favour of the ornamental arts ; and I think the great and various changes we have heretofore seen in society, warrant us in the hope that something important is yet in reserve for us on a matter connected with so much that is truly refining. Let our artists, therefore, raise their dejected eyes, and continue to employ their leisure hours in the creations of their rich fancies, or the portraiture of richer nature, believing that the time will come when their produc- tions will be appreciated, and exert their influence upon society. Such reflections as these, and many more, were excited by a visit I made not long since to a young artist, who has devoted such moments as he could spare from a variety of other employments to the study and practice of painting. He has refused, wisely perhaps, to trust to an art so pre-- carious for the supply of his bread, but has mac?e consider- able progress in drawing, colouring, lighta and shades^ in BATH. 143 his leisure, at least enough to gratify friends and please him- self. And are there no means by which the attention of many youths may be turned in a similar channel, and a por- tion of their leisure rendered useful as well as gratifying to others ? If one had a friend at his side interested in the same object, and painting with him an hour or two daily, he would improve more rapidly than alone ; and if their number were increased, the benefit to each individual would become proportionally greater. Now let it be sup- posed that drawing from nature and painting should occupy the attention of a few persons in every village, and employ the time now spent in frivolous reading, idling at corners, listlessness and vacuity, or even a tenth part of that time : would not a taste be cultivated, a knowledge gained, which might lead to a more just estimate of the art and a higher ap- preciation of our leading artists ? Would they not naturally be better rewarded and more highly encouraged, and the public benefited by turning a little attention to the instruc- tions which the canvass can give ? Again passing over many miles and pleasant villages, and admiring without praising the fine farms and hardy people of YermonS and New-Hampshire, I approach the White Hills, CHAPTER XIX. Approach to the White Hills — Bath — Reflections on Society — The Wild Ammonoosue — Breton Woods — Crawford's — Scenery. Bath appeared very pleasant to me, for the same reasons that places where travellers find welcome repose at night generally are so : and beside the comfortable ac- commodations which the tavern afforded me, I had the ad- vantage of seeing the place under the sloping beams of both the setting and the rising sun, which are so favourable to the picturesque features even of the tamest landscape. The 144 THE WHITE HILLS. village is small, but neat, and had two or three very pretty houses standing back from the street, in the midst of grass and trees, beside a due proportion of shade and open field on every side. Here are two smooth and fertile levels, as regular as artificial terraces, rising from the bank of Con- necticut River ; and every thing around me retained an aspect appropriate to that stream, though its diminished breadth and the wild uplands gave me the painful recollection that here I was to change my route, and penetrate into a more savage and inhospitable region. As I bade a temporary adieu to my native stream in the morning, and while my horse was taking due heed to his feet up a rough and stony hill, my thoughts pursued its cur- rent downwards, through the region I had just been travel- ling over. How different were my feelings on leaving the Thames, the Seine, the Rhine, the Arno, and the Tiber ! I had found nothing there which satisfied the heart like a social or family circle, and the state of society which sur- rounds us in our own land. Although no gaudy show of wealth had here in any form been presented to my eyes, I had nothing to regret in the absence of such palaces or equipages as are so much ad- mired by many travelled wits, and occupy so many of the books of tourists. My mind had been agreeably occupied with reflections on the nature and tendency of such a state of society as there exists, the simple causes which had pro- duced such desirable eflects, and the measures by which they may be rendered productive of many more. If certain enlightened philanthropists of Europe whom I might name but possessed the facilities we enjoy for contributing to the benefit of mankind ; if they were among men and circum- stances like these, the results of two centuries practical operation of free and universal education, under a govern- ment owing its existence and all its prospects to the propagation of knowledge and the diffusion of virtue, with what zeal, with what hope, with what success would they labour ! If I could see those enthusiastic friends of knowledge in France, who have just erected that new and splendid fabric, the national system of public education for the king- WILD SCENERt" 145 60m, introduced to an intimate acquaintance with this state of society, and enabled to apprehend the causes which have produced it, and the objects at which it tends, I am sure I should witness the expression of feelings which they had never experienced before. If the philanthropic Douglass were pitched among such people as these, how much more ready and capable would he find them to be influenced by him, and to render him support and assistance, as well as instruction, for the accomplishment of his designs, which are too pure and lofty for the greater part of Europe in its present condition. How much is it to be regretted, that while some of the best men in the Old World are charged with being too much in advance of things around them, ours should remain to such an extent behind the — tide ! The traveller does not realize his approach to the White Mountains until he turns off to follow the course of the Wild Ammonoosuc. If he is alone, as I was, he will find his feelings deeply impressed by the gloom of the over- shadowing forest trees, the occasional sight of rugged and rocky eminences, and the noise of the rushing stream. I do not know another which so well deserves the epithet of Wild. The bed is strewn with sharp and misshapen rocks ; the banks show marks of frequent and fearful inundations ; and many of the trees have been stripped of their bark to a great height from the ground. It seems as if arrangements had been purposely made to give you a set-lecture on geology, in the laboratory of nature ; and you feel an appre- hension that it is to be attended with detonating experi- ments. One of the unpleasant accomplishments of regular scientific instruction I had to endure ; and would recommend to my successors to put, at least, a dry cracker or two into their pockets. So far from there being any human habitations in this part of the journey, there are not even berries enough to attract the bears ; indeed, there is nothing to be found but the bare sublime . Whoever seeks any thing else had better choose some other route. I could not but com- pare the savage traits of this region with the marks of re- finement I had noticed at an inn I had lately left. I had been accosted on my entrance by a genteel young woman, 13* 146 THE WHITE HILLS. who, with a singular mixture of simple language, plain dress, self-respect, modesty, fluent, and appropriate expres- sion, asked my wishes ; and after a few questions and re- marks, which betrayed sense and knowledge, proceeded to assist in preparing my dinner. At the table, which she spread, she presided with unaffected ease and dignity, and made me almost forget an excellent meal by her more inter- esting conversation. She gave me a sketch of the win- ter-scenery in this inhospitable region, and showed that there was sufficient reason for bestowing the epithet wild upon the Ammonoosuc, which poured by within hearing of the house. After dinner, a little library was thrown open to me, and I had a hundred or two well-selected and well- read volumes at my disposal, with a sofa, and solitude for a nap, all which I enjoyed. In all this I read the effects of a good private and public American education. The young mistress of the house had been taught at the academy of a village below ; and, what was of greater importance, had been trained up by a mother of no common character. Some persons would have said that she had been accustomed to good society; but, per- haps, that was not true in the usual sense of that word, though I doubt not that whatever society was around her was good in a better sense : that is, intelligent, simple, and virtuous. But what is generally intended by good society, is that of fashionable life, which is no more able to form such a character as we approve than the wild Ammonoosuc is to make a purling rivulet. To those who know our state of society, it will be sufficient to add, that the lady of whom I speak had been a teacher in the Sabbath-school before her marriage, and betrayed in her conversation an acquaint- ance with some of those other great systems of benevolence which so much interest, excite, and bind together the Prot- estant church, while they enlarge the views of individuals, and give a powerful direction to the public mind. As I proceeded, savage life seemed more and more to thicken around me ; and after I had become weary of look- ing for another habitation among the lofty hemlocks, trailing with tufts and streamers of moss, I began to reflect again THE REFINEMENT OF SOCIETY. 147 on the civilization I had left. If intelligence, thought I, is found in the Scotch and Swiss mountains, where is there any excuse for its not penetrating the remotest regions of the United States, where population exists 1 What is the origin and nature of our refinement, and how can it be ex- tended and perpetuated ? Who shall answer for us these questions ? Who shall tell us how we may best act on this important subject? Where is the man who has given it all the consideration it deserves ? Is there a habitation or a university which contains the individual ? If so, his thoughts should be known over the whole country ; he should preach to us all ; he should instruct the nation in their duties and their destiny. Certain it is, that if we would study the subject aright, we must divest our minds of foreign views, and think independently and for ourselves. I shall not easily forget the admiration excited among a party of distinguished travellers, a few summers since, by the manners of a young woman who attended them at supper, in a little country inn in Massachusetts. The friends, who were partly Spaniards and partly South Ameri- cans, were so much struck with her dignity and grace in discharging the humble duties assigned her by her parents, that they often made it the subject of conversation hundreds of miles distant. Yet they never seemed able to appreciate the state of things among which she had been educated, and were quite at a loss to account for the growth of such pol- ished manners in a state of entire non-intercourse with courts and even cities. To me it never was surprising that they admired the reality of what they had previously admired only in counterfeits ; and as I had some knowledge of the nature of the society to which they had been accustomed, as well as of that in which she had been bred, I saw how natural was their error, how unavoidable, in their circum- stances, their ignorance and doubt. As for good manners, that external sign of internal refine- ment, those of a genuine nature can never spring from a graft ; they are the fruit of a good heart and a sound head* Counterfeits may be fabricated, but it is an expense of ma- chinery often incalculable, and after all their baseness is 148 THE WHITE HILLS. usually discoverable, at least by those who have any ac- quaintance with the pure metal. Master Rattlebrain, junior, is sent to a dancing-school by his half-fashionable half-seri- ous mother, not to learn to dance, not to waste time or money particularly, but to form his manners. This is con- sidered necessary in Paris ; and the Parisians are the politest people on the globe. This is a better reason than a certain sort of people generally admit in questions of moment ; and the youth is perhaps found a few years after improving his manners in the capital of fashion. A whirl of dressing, spurring, tandem, and, perhaps, four-in-hand succeeds, and in a few years you may write his epitaph, if you would tell the truth, " Here lies a victim of good-breeding — falsely so called." Ah, these juvenile frivolities lead to dissipations of the mind and heart, which the fond parent sees about as clearly as he does those of the morals and manners which too often succeed them when more removed from parental oversight. Yet this springs not from any inherent vice in the pleasing exercises, but more from the want of that sound domestic education and virtuous and sensible example, by which good manners should be implanted and cultivated. Parents who are easy and refined in their manners, need not have boorish children ; and if they give a son or daughter intelligence, and accustom him to talk sense, and to exercise kindness and to show respect to those around him, they need not fear that he will anywhere speak like a fool, or act with impropriety. My reflections on such subjects, however, were interrupted by the imposing wildness of the scenery around me ; and though I may, perhaps, have penetrated further into this matter, I will not longer trouble my readers with such re- marks. After a solitary ride of several hours through Breton Woods, along an avenue cut through the forest, with innu- merable tall trees rising on both sides, and almost covering me from the sky, I reached Rosebrook's house. In a world of silence and solitude, the human voice, form, and face are valued as much above their worth as they are often depre- ciated in the crowd of a city. I had got tired of loneliness, whether of myself or trees, I cannot tell — I believe of both ; ETHAN CRAWFORD'S. 149 for I hailed a plain wooden-house, barn-yard, and cattle with real pleasure. I had an ofler of dining alone ; but, " No, I thank you," said I, " I have just been alone." — " Well, the men are just sitting down to dinner," said the hostess, " and several of the neighbours are here." — " Neighbours," said I, *' where do you find articles of that description ?" " A door was soon opened, and I found nearly a dozen men standing by the walls round a table, courteously wait- ing for the stranger to take his seat. They looked so rough in features, dress, and complexion, and were so tall and robust, that I felt as if they would hardly own common na- ture with a puny mortal like me. Over their heads were deers' horns with Old hats, and heads of flax hung upon them ; and there was an array of the coarsest and shag- giest garments, which intimated that we were hard by the regions of perpetual winter. But greater hilarity, more good- nature, good sense, and ready humour, I rarely witnessed among any dinner-circle of the size. They talked as familiarly of a friendly call on a neighbour six or eight miles deep in the forest, as if it were but a step across the street ; and as for wild turkeys, bears, " And such small deer, They'd been Tom's food for many a year." After having got half-way to Ethan A. Crawford's, that is three miles, I was suddenly apprized of a shower, which had approached without my being aware, on account of the restriction put upon my eyesight by the forest trees, which opened to my view only their countless and endless vistas* I therefore pressed on, and at length emerged into more open ground, where the wind blew strongly in my face, drove the rain with violence, and speedily wet me to the skin. I had now reached, as I afterward learned, the mouth of the pass through the mountains called the Notch, where the wind generally blows with considerable force, and always either north or south, as through a tunnel or a trumpet. As I was going at a gallop, with the storm driving hard against me, my horse suddenly sprung aside, in a manner which might have cost me a bone or two a week before, when I was less 150 THE WHITE HILLS. accustomed to the saddle ; and I did not at first discover the cause. We were near the Ammonoosuc, here a small but headlong stream ; and the current was dashing down a ledge of rocks a little on the right. My ride was such as doubly to prepare me for the enjoyment of a shelter and society; but the beauty of Crawford's meadow, as the storm ceased, and the sun shone upon it through the breaking clouds, made me linger to enjoy the first scene of beauty in the White Mountains which is presented to the traveller on this route. A broad and level lawn now spread before me, covered with that rich green which the herbage here receives in the short but rapid summer ; and the solitary dwelling of the hardy mountaineer appeared, with a few cattle straying here and there. The whole was apparently shut out from the world by a wall of immense mountains in front and on either side, whose mantle of foliage extended nearly to their summits, but left several bald peaks spotted with snow, where the elevation forbade a leaf to put forth, or a root of the smallest herb to penetrate. This scene seemed so attract- ive, that I was constrained to inquire why there were not more inhabitants. The reply presented a sad reverse. For two months only out of the twelve are the mountains ac- cessible, so that few travellers visit the place for pleasure. The meadow, with all its beauty, will scarcely yield any thing in the short summer, so that grain must be obtained elsewhere ; and, in short, the place would probably have been abandoned long ago but for the winter traveUing, which makes the house the resort of many country people, with their loaded sleighs in going and returning from Portland and other places on the coast. The valley, an object of attrac- tion only during a few weeks, and a great thoroughfare but in the winter, has its alternations of liveliness and almost en- tire solitude, which are looked upon by the few inhabitants of the spot with great interest, and supply themes for many an entertaining tale of woodsmen and travellers, sleigh- drivers' adventures, and the habits and pranks of wild beasts. It was arranged that a party of travellers, assembled at the house, should set out at an early hour for the ascent of Mount Washington. 161 CHAPTER XX. liJxciirsion to Mount Washington — Walk through the Forest— The Camp — Ascent of the Mountain — View from the Summit — Th© Notch— Old Crawford's— Bartlet. Waking after a short but invigorating slumber, and recol- lecting where I was, I found by the splendour of the moon that the time had arrived for our departure. As we saw the tranquillity of the meadow and the majesty of the mountains, which seemed to have marched nearer to us in the silence and darkness of night, the impressions produced upon the feelings were of the most elevating nature. We were soon after buried in the forest, following our guide, who ascertained his course among the vines, brush, and fallen logs, by what seemed to us more like instinct than reason, in the absence as it appeared of every evidence furnished to the eye by ob- jects around. The cold dew soon drenched our garments wherever they were brushed by the foliage : but the active exercise it cost us to keep pace with him, repelled the chill- ing influence with a warm and agreeable glow. We were following up the wild valley through which the Ammonoosuc pursues its early course, like a favourite child among the lovely and secluded scenes of home, far from which its future life will bear it, to return no more. During the tre- mendous flood of 1826, this brook was suddenly swollen to a resistless torrent, and spreading over the valley, ploughed up its channel, overthrew tall trees, some of which are still left in heaps upon the ground, while others were borne by it into the Connecticut. We passed the little spot where our guide once stopped to await the rising of the moon to light him onward, and where he was waked by the steps of a bear, which had eome to eat the whortleberries growing around him. As we 152 THE WHITE HILLS. were more rapidly ascending than we supposed all this time, our rapid gait gave us considerable fatigue ; and when we approached the little shelters, thatched with birch-bark, stuffed with green moss, and strewn with spruce branches, where we were to breakfast, we were much cheered at the prospect of repose. A roaring fire was soon kindled between the two wig- wams ; and, stretching ourselves upon the green and sloping couch which had been prepared for the weary, in the warmth of the blaze, and amid the delightful perfume of the ever- green leaves beneath us, we fell asleep. When we awoke, it was broad daylight, even in that valley, of such apparently immeasurable depth ; and after a hasty meal of dry bread and flitches of salt-meat, roasted in the flame, on forked sticks, with the best of all sauces and the highest spirits, we prepared for the most arduous part of our expedition, which now lay before us. Nature seemed rousing from her slumbers ; and in such a region motion and repose are alike sublime. Millions of tree-tops gently undulated in the rising breeze, and the ceaseless sound of the rushing brook was heard in the pauses of our conversation. Compared with the large trunks of the trees around, and especially with the enormous mountains, whose lofty society we were seeking, our huts, ourselves, and our worldly interests shrunk into insects' concerns. The ascent of Mount Washington is a very laborious task, although a great part of its elevation above the sea and of Connecticut River, is of course surmounted before arriving at its base. I was not prepared to find this noble eminence rising so abruptly as it does from the side on which we approached it. After leaving our resting-place a few yards, and entering a thicker shade of forest trees, we began a steep ascent, over a surface broken by roots, and occasionally by loose stones, which soon checked the ardour with which we commenced it. It was nearly as steep, I believe, as the side of the cone of Vesuvius, though not so smooth. How little do we think, in our towns and cities, in the midst of our indolent habits, of what the muscles are able to perform, or of the pleasure we may derive from their ASCENT OF MOUNT WASHINGTON. 153 exercise. Three or four men were now toiling up this ascent. Over them the physicians had often bent, I dare say, cogitating" what names to give the forms of debility by which they had been stretched upon their beds, and what nauseous drug they should apply to expel once more the evil spirit of luxury. Now, like a vessel just from the graving beach, after setting up her shrouds and backstays, on they went, over stones and roots and every obstacle, apparently as insensible to fatigue as so many machines. No opening through the forest is afforded during the as- cent, by which a glimpse may be caught of the world beneath ; and it was long before we had any relief from the sight of close and leafy trees around and above us. The first change which we noticed was that in the species of the trees. This was instantaneous. We left, as it were with a single step, the deciduous forest, and entered a belt of tall firs, nearly equal in size and thickness. After walking among these for a few minutes, they became suddenly dimin- ished in size one-half or more, and speedily disap- peared entirely, leaving us exposed to the heat of an un- clouded sun. Our guide now cautioned us to look to pur steps ; but we did not fully appreciate the value of his warn- ing, until we had two or three times sunk with one foot into deep crevices between the loose rocks on which we were treading, concealed by thick evergreen bushes, which were now the only vegetable production remaining. Although these gradually became reduced in size, it was not until they had disappeared that we could walk with security. The surface had ere this become less steep, but the large size of the rocks, in many places, with their ragged points and edges, rendered the passage still arduous, and more slow than we could have desired. Before us rose a vast nodule, of an uniform gray colour, whose summit appeared at but a short distance ; but when we had reached the point, we found another swelling convex before us, and another beyond that ; so that, having exclaimed that the highest peak in the Union was, after all, not so very mighty a thing, we at last had to qualify the expression, and 14 154 THE WHITE HILLS. to say with respect, that Mount Washington had some claim to its name. Indeed, when we began to perceive that we were already above the inferior summits, named after several of the other Presidents, which had appeared so great from below and at a distance, we felt that we were in the region of real exaltation ; and although Washington was still above us, could look down upon Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and what not. When we find a spot where man cannot exist, we want to see what can ; and I began to look round for any thing with legs. Black flies, of course, like volunteer jurymen, will not stay where the absence of mankindMoes not allow them to find employment. Nothing with life could I catch or see but one miserable black bug. One of the earliest accounts of the ascent of this noble eminence which I ever read represented, I recollect, that the summit was scattered with fragments of the limbs of pine or hemlock trees, bleached by long exposure, and re- sembling stags' horns. The comparison was a very apt one. These bits of wood have, no doubt, been carried up by some of the violent gusts of wind which are common in mountainous regions. A gentleman once described one "which he saw some years ago. A roaring was first heard, soon after the tops of the forest trees on the summit of the opposite mountain were bent violently down, and then many of their knarled branches were seen flying in the aif. The wood found on Mount Washington has proved convenient to visiters suffering with cold, as it will make an excellent fire. For ourselves, we suffered most from thirst ; and could hardly allow our eyes their expected feast upon the bound- less landscape, until we had demanded of our obliging guide to be conducted to the icy springs of which he had spoken. He soon brought us to a hole in the rocks, where, only three or four feet down, we saw a small bed of ice, which was slowly trickUng away in tears, under the indirect heat of the sun. We caught these pure drops, and found them a most refreshing draught* This was the highest head of the VIEW FROM MOUNT WASHINGTON. 155 Aramonoosuc River which we could discover, and we had saved, at least, a portion of its intended current a rough and headlong descent down a dreary mountain. We had seen the landscape below several times beginning to reveal itself through the mist ; but now, when we had prepared ourselves to enjoy it, and taken our seats on the highest blocks of ragged granite between the Rocky Moun- tains, the Ocean, and the North Pole, we found it all concealed from our eyes. Clouds of gray mist and vapour began to drive by us, which moistened our garments, scarcely yet dry, and soon chilled us to an uncomfortable degree. Now and then acres, nay, cubic miles of clouds seemed suddenly to be rolled away from beneath us, leaving frightful gulfs thousands of feet down, yet bottomless ; and these in another moment would be filled with mist, heaped up higher than Mount Jefferson, Adams, Washington, and even our- selves, who were last enveloped again, and often concealed from each other's view. It now proved that we had chosen an unfavourable day for the ascent ; but we had occasional views, which did not, however, embrace the whole of the extensive panorama. "There's the lake! There's the lake! There's the lake !" exclaimed Crawford — " Quick, quick, look here !" — and there we saw a bright gleam towards the south, ap» pearing beyond a whole chaos of mountain peaks and moun- tain sides, gulfs, dens, and chasms. Winnipiseogee Lake had shone feebly out for a moment, between two clouds of vapour, each large enough to cover a whole State, and was but dimly and indefinitely revealed, with a large extent of the romantic country on this side of it. But distances were lost, or rather the eye and the mind seemed to be possessed of tenfold their usual compass and penetration ; and this, perhaps, was owing to a vast and bottomless abyss just be- fore us, overflowing with vapours like an immeasurable caldron sitting on a volcano, over which the sight and the thoughts had first to spring to survey the sudden scene, so suddenly withdrawn. While the eye rested upon the distant objects, it could net forget the fearful leap it had made, an4 156 THE WHITE HILLS. the poor insect body it had left on the top of Mount Wash- ington. " Well, there, there, there it opens at last !" cried our guide once more ; and turning towards the north-eatstwe saw a vast extent of country, comparatively level, yet with its lines of fields and roads thrown into every variety of curve and angle, showing that the surface was very far from being most favourable either to the cultivation of the soil or the transportation of its fruits. " There's the Androscoggin; don't you see it shine like an eel along through that valley?" The bright course of a stream was seen dividing the dark surface of the earth, like the white trunk of a silver birch seen on the verge of a green wood, while its tributaries, less broad and less distinctly visible, gleamed like the branches. The mountain on that side descends a thousand feet or more perpendicularly, as abruptly as the Rock of Gibraltar where it looks on Spain ; and nothing can be more dangerous than to wander without great, caution, amid such mists as fre- quently surrounded us. Travellers have been occasionally exposed to great labours, and have sometimes suffered much from hunger and thirst as well as apprehension, by unad- visedly trusting to their own sagacity in visiting this place, often so difficult to find and to leave. A man, or even a party, might wander for hours round the sides of the moun- tain without discovering any clue to the proper paths, when the vapours intercept the view of every distant object ; and even if they should reach the bottom, they might wander in various directions in the forest below. Towards the west and north we had opportunities to con- template the scene at leisure, and began to feel familiar with the optical habits of hawks and eagles, by looking upon the world beneath from a sublime height in the air. On the horizon lay the Green Mountains. Distance and the contrast with nearer and more elevated peaks seemed to have diminished the whole range to a mere cornfield, or a garden-walk broken by mole-hills. The valley of the Am- monoosuc opened beautifully to view just below us ; and Crawford pointed out with interest his secluded dwelling in EFl^ECTS OP EXERCISE. 157 tbe midst of the verdant meadow, invaded by few foreign cares, and solitary but for nature's society. Gleams of sun- shine and shadows of clouds by turns drew their different pencils over the beautiful picture, revealing more beauties and exciting more emotions than I could describe, or any- one but a spectator could fully enjoy. And all this of which I have been speaking, or rather all that of which I have been thinking while attempting to speak, all this came through the eye — the narrow window of the eye's pupil ! Creation ! A vast extent of the Al- mighty's handiwork ; tremendous mountains in extended chains, with the numberless minor hills that seemed to tremble in their presence ; valleys, plains, and rivers, fields, forests, and villages, all comprehended by a glance of the eye ! How diminutive a watch-tower is the human frame ; how minute is that telescope, yet how wonderful its power ; and what a sentinel must he be who stands within, the in- habitant of the fabric, the gazer through this glass, for whose delight and admiration this scene was spread abroad, for whose temporary use these bones and muscles were bound together, this curious instrument was so inimitably constructed, and for whom are reserved scenes unknown, far transcending all that he himself can yet imagine. A night of sweet sleep, like that of a child, erased the fatigues of that day. Having parted from my new friends, who were travelling in the opposite direction, and taken leave of the frank and hardy Ethan Crawford and his family, I mounted again my sorrel horse, after a separation from him of only one day, it is true, but which had been filled with so many feelings that I had a great deal to retrace in my mind to get again at the chain of thought where I had left him. He, however, seemed glad to claim acquaintance with me again; and I rode along the path 1 had yesterday passed with some fatigue on foot, reflecting on the nature of man which so strongly tends to consult luxury and ease, and the depress- ing influence they exercise upon body and mind. The mo- tion which the animal communicated to my frame was agree- able — leaving the walking muscles in a state of repose, and 158 THE WHITE HILLS. jarring the whole system. The chest, braced by recent sleep following real fatigue, and by the breathing of pure mountain-air, felt prepared for harmony, like a harp fresh strung with wires of steel. The beauty of the morn- ing light on the sides of the mountains also exalted my feel- ings, and I could not refrain from a song of praise in accord- ance with the scene. ^ I travelled four miles along a level road, winding through a dark forest, without meeting a living thing ; when I reached the Notch House, which stands solitary in the little Notch meadow. One would think the level a very low one, as the land is too flat to be well drained. The Ammonoosuc had been left a little behind, when I reached the Saco, a mere brook, which disappeared in front of me behind a rock. Thither the road led me ; and a sudden turn to the left brought me into the gate of these mountains, the famous Notch. The scene changed its aspect to wildness and sublimity, and the Saco, breaking its glassy surface into foam, set up a roar which it continued to make for thirty miles, when it reached the meadows of Conway. It would be pleasant to me to while away a week or two in these mountains, in the fancied society of a tasteful and indul- gent reader — one of those patient and forbearing beings whom I imagine myself talking to when I meet with any thing truly sublime and noble in my travels : but I know very well, when I coolly reflect, that it is presumption to suppose that others are of course pleased with what greatly delights myself; and, however unwillingly, must hasten through this gorge, and leave numberless objects untouched : many a thought and sentiment unexpressed. In going twelve miles, between the two Crawford houses, I lost four full hours of which I can give no account, unless by showing the drawings I made in my sketch-book, or deserving points of view whose details are impressed on my memory. Too thoughtless of time even to look at my watch, forgetful of food and rest, I rode and walked, and stopped and stood : the Saco roaring and rushing on one side, and Sorrel plodding along on the other, or gazing at me with the bridle on his JOURNEY TO BOSTON. 159 neck. Poor faithful beast! He and I did not arrive at the intended place of rest till late in the afternoon, and had, I presume, the latest dinners eaten in New-Hampshire that day. Bartlet is a pleasant little village, in a circular meadow, eight miles below the elder Crawford's ; and not until I entered it did I feel as if there was any certainty of my ever recovering the exercise of the social feelings. How little do we realize, in the family-circle, the village, or the city, that we are dependent on the vicinity of others for a large part of our daily enjoyments ; how many gentle vibrations of our hearts are caused or increased by the movements of sympa- thetic chords around us ; and how, hke the spheres, we are bound to our places by a thousand mutual, though invisible, influences. If the savage feels at home in the forest, as much as we do at the sight of dwellings and cultivated fields ; if his warmest feelings are as strongly associated with the sounds and objects familiar in the wilds, as ours are with the lowing of cattle, the features and the voices of men, which is undoubtedly the case, who can wonder that only Christianity has been able to induce him to change his habits ? The days I spent on the borders of that most varied and beautiful lake, Winnipiseogee, as well as in approaching and leaving it, with the fish in its waters, the fowl on its shores, the deer in its groves, and the islands on its bosoms ; these and the scenes of contentment, activity, and thrift pre- sented along the Merrimack I must pass over in silence. It is lime we were at the great centre of all this eastern country : so, without waiting to learn how the luxuries of the soil find their way to the capital, or how its many fashions and other influences are sent back in return, — let us hasten to Boston. # 160 CHAPTER XXI. Boston — Environs — Literary Institutions — Mount Auburn — Remarks on our Intellectual Machinery. Boston is situated on ground favourable to the display of the city from almost every point in the vicinity. The sur- face rises towards the centre, at Beacon Hill, where the dome of the State House presents a conspicuous object. The acclivity at the same time exposes to view not a few of the larger edifices in different streets. The irre- gularity of surface, however, has its disadvantages ; and some of the streets are inconvenient and even dangerous in slippery seasons. The heart of the city defies the straighten- ing hand of improvement ; but the quays and the adjacent streets are of a size and regularity which our larger capitals might envy. The wharves, while they attest the natural defect of the harbour, bear honourable evidence to the taste and enterprise of the merchants ; and the market is the most splendid in the country. The fine white granite, which is used so much for columns in New- York, here forms the material of entire and elegant blocks ; and, what is of personal interest to travellers, Tremont House is un- equalled as a spacious and genteel hotel in the whole Union. The harbour makes a fine appearance from every emi- nence ; and the surrounding country, diversified with bold and swelling hills, populous villages, and elegant country- seats, offers attractions superior to the environs of any of our other cities. Indeed, no pleasanter or more varied tour of ten or fifteen miles could be easily desired than that which may be made, by hard and level roads, round the circuit of Charles River. On the eminences, Washington formed the line of troops with which he besieged Boston in 1775. That end of the horseshoe which overlooks the city MOUNT AUBURN. 161 from the north is surmornted by the monument of Bunker Hill ; while on that which commands the harbour from the south-east, viz. Dorchester Heights, is seen the wall of a circular fort. Hereabouts were some of the earliest settle- ments in New-England. In literary institutions Boston holds an elevated rank. Without speaking of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Athenaeum, &c. Proper Estimation of Foreign Travel — Our own Moral and Physi- cal Resources — Negligence of good Men in making Travels at home Pleasing and Useful — A Card-party in a Steamboat. I CAN hardly read a prospectus of a new academy, or see the advertisement of a college, without being reminded in a painful manner of the perversions practised in my owa edii-^ 228 THE SPRINGS. cation. Truly I was led by a thorny, a crooked, and a dan- gerous way ! Why I did not turn back, and run out of that mud road, I can hardly tell. I remember I was strongly tempted, when I found some of my favourite companions de- serting it one after another, and saw the grassy walks of agriculture, and the sparkling paths of business some- times offering strong attractions. It is high time that we should realize that certain sorts of knowledge may pervert the heart while they fill the head. Look at history, for ex- ample, and remember, that not we, but some of the worst men of heathen times are in fact, at this moment, teaching our children their own views of past events, in our own schools and under our own eyes. Do we not put the classi- cal writers in the place of schoolmasters and parents, and make the young admire what they commend? And whose views do the ancient writers maintain ? All of them the views of heathenism ; and not a few of them are mere echoes of the selfish or profligate rulers who patronised them to secure their praise, and dictated what they shouM withhold, what record, and what pervert. Ought not such pernicious influences at least to be counteracted? Ought not the teacher who enlarges on the beauties of Virgil and Caesar, Ovid and Horace, to condemn the principles and motives they so often applaud, and correct the erroneous ideas which the pupil must otherwise imbibe ? Some view or other is to be taken of history by every one who reads. There is a right and there is a wrong view, and they are totally inconsistent with each other. The splendours of Greek and Roman heroes long absorbed my mind ; and for years I had no taste for the view of history given by the Scriptures. The superintending power of the Creator was not present to my mind when I read of Juno and Jupiter, the Fates and Fortune. It has cost me long and violent struggles to divest myself of the taste, as well as of some of the views, which I imbijbed from my education at a granj'- mar-school and college. But now, how subHme as well as how lovely is the aspect which history presents ! Miserable, undefined Fortune has l)«en banished,, and pains my heart n.p longer with the gloomy TEMPERANCF. 229 reflection that the disposer of my lot is blindfolded; while the God of Abraham presides over the destinies of rr.an> whose interests are as important as they were in past ages, and none more so than my own. I am now able to enjoy greater pleasure in contemplating nations at peace, and ob- serving the progress of refinement, than I ever derived from the confused noise of the warrior and garments rolled in blood. Just and delightful pictures of peace and its bless- ings we find in the Scriptures, and war we see in its owrt deformity. Then let us not pr.^sc:U scenes of carnage and barbarity, of pollution and crime, to our children, at least without removing a part of that false veil which heathen poets and historians have spread over them. If our parents and teachers had taug-lit us less of strife and the deliohts of victory, certain it is they would have had less difficulty in- governing us, and we less in controlling ourselves. There is one continual source of pleasure to the traveller in our country, let his course be turned in almost any direc- tion : that is, the evident decline of intemperance. Even when I have been passing through places with which I was kast acquainted, the evidences 1 have found of the diminu- tion of this evil have seemed like springs in the wilderness;, but in regions which I had known in less favourable times, the changes are so evident and so numerous as to excite great pleasure, I hope not unmingled with gratitude to Hiiiv who has said to the flood of devastation, " Here shall thy proud waves be stayed." How many a pang of keen sym- pathetic misery have I been spared on my tour, by the par- tial scotching of that serpent, that infernal demon, which- was so lately ranging unchecked through our country T How bkssed is the deliverance from such a monster! It is with anguish now that I recall the days when I- so often^ dreaded to inquire, in a family circle, or in- a public festival^ for some one I missed from his place^ lest the mention of: his name should v/rest from tortured lips a confession that? would scorch the cheeks and scarify the heart. The late prevalence of intemperance- 1 trace in part to the • broad foundations laid in the times preceding our own*... The close of the war left the country in an immoral GOiSf- THE SPr:i?«G5. dition. The disbanding of the army converted oar villages almost into camps, so far as the habits of men were con- cerned ; and the vicious practices of soldiers co-operating with the desultory employment of leisure tiuie, which is natu- rally produced by a long period of war and public calamities, stamped a low character upon society through a great part of the country. Public calamities had proved fatal, m a thou- sand instances, to private fortunes ; and many of those per- sons, who might otherwise have possessed the means of ob- taining an education, were cut off from it by poverty, or by the prolonged depreciation of learning in the public estimation., Gunpowder, bayonets, soldiers, and military skill were ob- jects of praise and admiration ; and as taste and literature could not purchase these, they were but lightly esteemed. Of course, peace found the country abounding in many young and empty heads, and, what was worse, with morals corrupt beyond their years. It was the tendency of such a state of things to honour the tavern and to break up the family cir- cle ; and in many a town and village the former was the great resort of fathers and sons, while the mothers were too often left to solitary regret and tears among the brokea fragments of the latter. Who does not remember some- thing of such a state of society? Who, at least, has not perceived traces of it in the Bacchanalian stories, and the tales of village wit, whose narration to a later generation has often served to depict the tavern in colours and asso- ciations too attractive to the children of a reformed or so- bered father? To the discredit of a state of society now fast wearing out of fashion, a large part of our traditionary narratives and humour, and sketches of local biography, are mingled with the oaths and intoxication of the inn,, or the more dangerous language and examples of fa&hionable dinner-parties, and drinking bouts in city life. I know a large town, now distinguished for its orderly as well as intelligent and refined society, in which, forty years ago, or even less, social evening parties among parents of both sexes, were unknown ; and where a father of a family, who set the example of assisting to entertain the female visiters of his wife, had to bear the brunt of all the tavern-. PLEASURES OF CANAL TRAVELLING. 231 haunters of the place, that is, of all the fathers of his ac- quaintance, as a bold and preposterous innovator. Such a fact will hardly be credited ; but those who can recollect some years back, will be forced to admit its probability. In times like those was planted the habit of intemper- ance, I might rather say the fashion of intoxication : that bitter root which has yielded such deadly fruit, and has been now, at last, partly plucked up with such difficulty. Let us not overrate the importance of a tour in Europe, so much as to lose our relish for the enjoyments offered us by a journey at home. " And what are these enjoyments T' asked I of myself, as I seated myself a little before sunrise on the deck of a common freight-boai, on the Champlain Canal, and prepared to set off" for a visit to the next village. Certainly, thought I, as I inhaled the fresh air, and heard the birds begin to chirp at waking, finer dewy mornings or a purer ether can nowhere be found than what our own hills and valleys afford. Yet nothing is less known, scarcely any thing is more seldom enjoyed, by those of our country- men who talk most of the beauties of nature in Scotland or Italy. " Of all scenes in the world," exclaims Americas Frenchificatus, " nothing can compare with sunrise on the Alps !" Of course, this personage, who had returned from a voyage, enriched with half a dozen mispronounced French words and a pair of moustaches, claimed to indulge in a foreign rapture as he pronounced this exclamation. — " But, my good sir, have you ever seen a sunrise in the White Mountains of New-Hampshire ?" — " No." — " Have you ever seen one in any part of America?" — "No: — they are not fit to be seen." — " And you, I suppose, are fit to judge of them ?" And who is not like this gentleman, if not in foreign polish, in his contempt for home, and in foolish, degenerate, luxurious habits ? The hotel I had left was full of travellers, yet I alone had opened my eyes to the finest part of the day, and my lungs to the purest air. The boat, though rough and offering no accommodations, in the mean lime had been sliding smoothly over the shining surface of the canal, and had brought me into a beautiful grove of forest trees, whose numberless stems, like the in- 232 CANAL EXCURSION. numerable columns of some extensive temple, were faith- fully reflected below, while their thick canopy of foliage also appeared repeated apparently from an immense depth, so true was the mirror over which they hung. Why, I asked myself, is travelling on our canals considered so wearisome and destitute of interest ? Here are noble productions of nature multiplied around, silence and solitude undisturbed by the rattling of wheels, and perfumed air unmingled with rising dust. Our canals often introduce us to the hearts of the forests; the retreats of wild animals are air ost ex- posed to our view, and the nests even of rare birc s hang over our heads. How can the public, how can some of my friends most distinguished for taste, prefer the crowded stage-coach, the dusty and thickly inhabited road, with the heat of the sun during a midday ride ? Alas ! a little reflec- tion reminded me that our education does not prepare us for the enjoyment of scenes like those through which I was passing. Who knows the nature and uses of this fine tree ; who can tell the varieties of this ; how few, indeed, are there amonof men of education who can discriminate between many plants of marked and even opposite peculiarities ! WJth the exception of those practical men whose busi- ness introduces them to such things, few have taken the pains to inquire at all into the important study of botany; and as for zoology, ornithology, &c., still less are they known, though the forests and fields are stocked with various birds and quadrupeds. The frivolities of life devour ten times the amount of hours which would be sufiicient to give the young such knowledge of these and other subjects as would render them capable of deriving enjoyment and benefit from travelling. What more natural and easy, than to lead children into the garden or the field every day, teach them to observe leaves and flowers, fruits and seeds, animals and birds, and relate or read to them sketches of their nature and history? But, no! The father is too fond of his money- making, his wine, or his politics ; and the mother of her dresses, parties, or novel-reading. And unfortunately such habits are by no means confined to the more frivolous of society. DUTIES OF TRAVELLERS. 233 How easy would it be for parents to teach their children, as one of my fellow-travellers taught me. Seating himself by my side, he remarked on the peculiarities of the various species of trees we passed on our way, touching upon their size, soils, uses, ages, modes of propagation, and capacity for improvement, the value which some of them would bear in otlier countries, the superiority of some of the species known in different climates, &c. &c. ; until my mind was filled with admiration at the vast and interesting variety pre- sented by the subject, and with respect for one whose mem- ory was stored with such valuable facts, and who was dis- posed to communicate them. It may be set down as one of the crying sins of this coun- try, that good and intelligent men refuse to acknowledge their duties to the public. Whether at home or abroad, most of them seem to think there is no virtue in the world but modesty; and under her broad mantle, I fear they some- times hide their indolence, private taste, personal vanity, and what not. Now, to say nothing of the modes in which Lawyer Loveall, Dr. Dogood, Judge Generous, Mr. Good- neighbour, Farmer Friendly, and other characters of the like nature, some, if not all of whom we find in every vil- lage and town, might contribute to the gratification, instruc- tion and improvement of their own circles at home, why should they be so insensible of the claims which society has upon them when they go abroad ? Put them, as strangers, into a steamboat's cabin, or a stage-coach, a canal packet, or a railroad-car, and they are as silent and timid as mice. They do not feel the superior power and respectability of virtue or knowledge, nor realize that it is their business to appear as their advocates, by exhibiting them in their own proper nature. They do not seize an early opportunity to use language and express sentiments which shall betray their own characters, but generally leave it to others to give a tone to conversation which sometimes becomes annoying to them, while it is useless or worse than useless to the company. I have often seen the young or the ignorant, or such as were comparatively so, court the con- versation of those whose respectable appearance promised 234 CANAL BOAT. something superior to themselves in mind or in heart ; and have observed with pain that the privilege has been too often denied. I have seen men of distinction, accidentally discovered by fellow-travellers, and treated with respect and deference, yet disposed either to be personally flattered, or to affect cold indifference — too seldom, at least, showing a philanthropic desire to make every advantage subservient to the benefit of others. In short, I am persuaded that one great reason why there is so much that is frivolous among travelling parties, and why there is any thing offensive, is, that those whose duty it is to prevent it are too indif- ferent about their obligations, or neglect to seek proper op- portunities and means. Many persons meet on their travels who have little leisure or opportunity elsewhere to devote to the society of strangers ; and to some of these such interviews have proved highly gratifying and permanently beneficial. But many a ride or excursion has been rendered irksome by a general silence among fellow-travellers, or the want of that refinement of manners and conversation which ought to have existed. I know that there are subjects, very excellent in themselves, which would be inappropriate for topics in a mixed com- pany; and that those most forward are often the most con- ceited and shallow-minded of their party. But I am favour- ing a just medium. I can, perhaps, show something of my meaning by a real case. Cards were once called far on board of a boat, where none objecting, a party or two sat down at whist, who filled the cabin with their voices for a couple of hours. For want of a timely word of disapprobation from a few of us present, which would have sufficed, we were condemned to listen a long time to such things as the following ; and were after- ward annoyed by the effects of the liquor, to which the game conducted some of the players. " I've won two hands of Mr. Jones." " Ah ! so you have." *' That'll answer. That's one over — I've a mind to let that fellow be. We want four to begin with — six round." " Now, look, hold on your hair !" CARD PARTY. 235 ■ " Ah ! I think I'll stand that, sir." "It's astonishing! eleven, eight, thirteen; I never saw such dealing !" " After this hand — " " Bless my stars !" ; *'Cut'em." ** What do you say!'* ! « Cut 'em !" « That's over." ■ " Now I want a ten." " Mr. Jones, advise 'em." " Ten, there's twenty, dub, dub, dub ; hold on to that !" " I, O, U — come, lay your hands there — plaguy luck as ever anybody had !" " You a notion of turning in, captain ?" " What say T " Notion of turnin' in ?" " No, not yet." " Well, I think I shall have to pretty soon." " Ha, ha, ha ! We begin to feel dreadfully here ! Twenty : — -four, ten and four is fourteen, and six is twenty, sir." " Play up all round !" " How's that r " O, if I could have got ten then I" " We're entitled to the deal !" "Ten! ha, ha!" " Cut 'em again — go ahead — split 'em — that's right." " Now, if I can get an ace — fourteen." " Give us one apiece." " Give me a couple apiece." "Hold on — there we are — play up — that helps the bank." " I hope luck won't go against me all the time." " Who's got a good hand ? Them that ha'n't, say so.'* " Eighteen, nineteen, play twenty." " Hold on — hold on — what have you got now ?" " Give me a fish." 236 WHITEHALL. " Stop, Stop, Stop !" " Tliat's right, sir, a small one." " Here 'tis again — sixteen I want to find ; hold still — " " Give us a fish." " My next deal." " There's your two fish." " I commence to deal there." « Stop !" " Turn 'em right over." "We are three, sir." " Take 'em — that's right." " Yes." " What do you want ?" « One." " Let her lay — take one of them from the pack." " That'll be too much." " I'll bet he don't get it." " I'll bet he don't too." « Well, I'll bet he duz.'' CHAPTER XXX. Whitehall— Story of Sergeant Tom, a Creature of the Revolution — Lake George-— Charming Scenery, and interesting Historical Asso- ciations — Ticonderoga— ^A Revolutionary Tradition — An Oracle of Philology — Crown Point, Whitehall, formerly Skeenesborough, which is in this vicinity, is associated in ray mind with the career of a wild, hair-brained fellow, who joined the American army at the breaking out of the Revolution, by the persuasion of an act- ive officer, from whom I once received a sketch of his mili- tary course. A sergeancy was obtained for Tom, but he had not been long in the exercise of it, when his friend the colonel, arriving at the camp at Skeenesborough, where he SERGEANT TOM. 237 was, found him degraded to a private sentry. By his exer- tions he got him reinstated ; and knowing his wild temper, cautioned him against getting into any quarrel with the soldiers, or the major, even if they should call him a broken sergeant, as he apprehended. But this was all in vain. The next afternoon news came that Tom was in the guard- house. On inquiry, he learned that he had flogged the sol- diers and cleared them out of the tent, and threatened to kill the major. Tom had sent for the colonel to see him ; but this he refused, though he felt bound, out of regard to his family, to exert himself in his behalf. The squadron was then fitting out on the lake, under Arnold, to oppose the British ; and with great exertions the colonel prevailed upon Tom's captain, major, and general, to let him oif without a court-martial, on condition that he should enlist on board a ship. Tom had been a sailor, and cheerfully accepted the proposition, expressing the warmest gratitude to his friend, to whom he attributed his escape ; and solemnly swore to serve him whenever he could, even at the risk of his life. Although the colonel believed him to be entirely devoid of principle, he placed implicit reliance in this solemn and voluntary promise, as he was susceptible of gratitude. The galley in which Tom served as sergeant of marines, in the battle off Crown Point, fought the English flag-vessel, side by side, with great vigour. Tom, at length finding all the officers above him wounded, fought her himself, until his galley was found to be in a sinking condition. One of our commanders came up, received him on board, gave him a conspicuous part the rest of the day, and honoured him with peculiar marks of approbation. Tom, however, was not long on shore before he deserted, and joined the British army in Canada. An expedition was proposed to surprise Ballston, then a frontier town, and Tom was offered a large reward to join it. This he refused, alleging that it was the residence of his father ; but partly, no doubt, because his benefactor also lived there. Finding, however, that the expedition would proceed, he joined it, that he might be- friend him ; and performed important service in secret, to 21 238 LAKE GEORGE. which my informant considered himself indebted for liberty, if not for life. The details are interesting : but I cannot stay to write them now. The first glimpse I caught of Lake George satisfied me that my expectations would be almost equalled ; for I had heard it described in such glowing terms in my boyhood, that the conception I entertained of its beauties were un- doubtedly romantic and extravagant, as I had before had occasion to reflect. If the breadth of a lake be too great, or its shores too low, there must be a want of bold features on the margin. A large level surface is sublime ; but we soon feel a want of variety. A more limited plain is often beautiful ; but it is necessarily insipid if alone ; and a sheet of water particularly requires contrasts to relieve the satiety which the mind feels in contemplating it. The Lake of Geneva would be greatly improved in beauty, if a few of the eminences which stand at the distance of several miles could be planted upon its very banks. 'Lake George lies in contact with the mountains, whose bases are washed by its pure waters, while its summits hasten to their terminations just above. I had inspected some manuscript military maps of the French war in this vicinity, so that I soon caught some of the zigzags of Mont- calm's lines of approach to Fort William Henry (which, alas ! is now an insignificant heap on the shore), and fixed on the thick grove on my left, which shades the grave of about one thousand of his men. On the right, swelling from the head of the lake, was the elevation crowned by Fort George, long in ruins, and in 1745 the scene of General Pieskau's defeat, before a breastwork of logs. Along the waste ground in the little valley this side, was perpetrated the massacre of the soldiers, women, and children from Fort William Henry, by Indians. The sky suddenly grew dark as I approached the pretty village of Caldwell, and a thunder-shower passed just before us, obscuring for a few minutes the fields and dwellings ; and then passing slowly down the lake, whither it bore off" a brilliant rainbow on its bosom. The beauty of the scene, from my window, in the rear of the hotel, I would fain describe, especially as it ap- A PHILOLOGIST. 239 peared near sunset, when the broad and green slope to the margin of the clear water was striped with the long shadows of trees and mountains, and the surface of the lake was calm, and the opposite ridge of French Mountain raised its immense curtain of foliage, as it were, perpendicularly to the clouds. In this place a very different excitement seems to affect the visiters from that which is felt at the Springs, where there is no scenery to draw off the thoughts from ourselves and each other. The conversation at table seemed im- proved, and the various parties had a variety of objects be- fore them for the day : walks, rides, and boat parties, to visit the forts or to make an excursion to Tea Island. One would hardly think that the house could be much visited in the winter season ; but I found some of the family speaking familiarly of Montreal and its inhabitants, who, I learned, often come down in parties in sleighs. I had several strolls along the shore on both sides of the lake near Ticonderoga, traced out the old French lines on which General Abercrombie's army made so ridiculous an attack in 1758, and climbed to the redoubts on Mount Inde- pendence. It is melancholy to renew the impressions which must have been made by the aspect of these hills and head- lands, these woods and waters, at night, when, after General St. Clair had ordered the evacuation of the fortress and the retreat of the troops, the sudden bursting out of a fire in a building at the foot of Mount Independence illuminated the scene, betrayed the motions of the Americans, and awakened the fire of their enemies. There is an extensive, wild, and mountainous region north and west from this spot, where there are hardly any inhabit- ants, except the beasts of the forests. I heard, in a log- house, some exciting tales told about deer-hunting ; and on a warm afternoon, I heard an old man talk in the following strain, as he was sitting in the sun, surrounded by several bantering farmers' sons : — " You are a stranger, sir, I presume, and perhaps don't know me nor my family. That's the way with the world : these boys that have grown up don't know but what thei? 240 LAKE CHAMPLAIN. fathers were as respectable as mine. I've not done right ; that I'm willing to allow. But I an't so bad as Bill. He got to drinking too much a good many years ago, and learned to fiddle, and used to leave home sometimes, and go off round to dances, and so on. But he had as good a wife as ever was, and he's reformed, and so am I. I've come across the lake to help at harvesting, and get some wool and carry back for the children to card up, and then we'll have it spun and made into something warm for 'em next winter. These women-folks they are the master-crit- turs for such things. They'll sit and card and talk, and get a wonderful deal done. But education is a great thing, and we can't get it over there among the mountains where there an't nobody five miles back from the lake. It's a curious country there, there's so many ponds. There's Long Pond, and Square Pond, Goose Pond, and Crane Lake, and Paradox Pond, and Pyramid Lake, and — that's all, I believe. Well, now there an't nobody but me that lives anywhere about here, that knows how these ponds got their names." " Well, do you know, Uncle Zeek ?" asked one of the company. " Why, yes ; there's Long Pond and Square Pond, they were called so because of their shape ; and the wild geese go to Goose Pond ; and Crane Lake, the surveyors found a crane's nest on the bank. And then there's something very curious about Paradox Pond : the stream that the outlet falls into is sometimes swelled by a thunder-shower that don't reach the pond, and then the water sets back through the outlet into it. So you see I know all about the history of that country." " But," said I, " you have not informed us concerning Pyramid Lake." " Oh, as for that," said he, " I don't rightly know what that took its name from, without it was because they some- times catch suckers there very early in the season." " However," said he, " I was talking about my family. You must know that my grandfather came from England with Lord Howe. He had just finished his education at CROWN POINT. 24J Oxford ; and there's few men that have got as much learn- ing now-a-days. What an army that was ! Every man was dressed in superfine broad cloth, with gold knee buckles. And, besides, though I am almost ashamed to say it, I am connected by marriage with General Arnold's family. He was a good soldier, though, at Sarritoag, and some said he got the victory there. Why don't you sing the old songs oftener, boys ? That the great Mount Defiance They soon would fortify : — We found that we must quit our lines, Or ev'ry man must die. Which soon we did in haste perform, And went to Sarritoag, A burning all the buildings We found along the road. 'Twas then the gen'rous thought inspir'd The noble Gates's mind, For to send out Gin'ral Arnold, To see if he could find A passage through the inimy. Wherever he might be ; Which soon he did accomplish, And set the country free." I made a passage to Crown Point one pleasant afternoon and evening, in a small lake schooner, built of boards, laid in several courses, without timber, on Annesley's plan. Its masts also were made so as to be easily struck ; and the dimensions and fixtures being those of a canal-boat, it had taken a cargo through the Erie Canal, I believe to New- York, and was now on its return to the lower part of Lake Champlain. The crew, consisting of only two men and a boy, were full of fresh water wit and anecdotes, and inci- dents by canal, lake, and river, and at once skilful and obliging. As they were telling a long eel story, the neighs bouring eminences on the left, and the distant ridges of the Green Mountains on the east, especially the Camel's Hump, made a magnificent appearance in the declining sun, while we passed near enough to the scattered dwellings to feel 21* 242 LAKE CHAMFLA]X. some interest in the inhabitants of several retired but plea- sant spots. I was carefully landed in the jolly boat, under a bright moon, at a pretty beach on Chimney Point ; and after a few hours' repose at the inn, examined with interest the striking features of that neighbourhood, not less interest- ing in scenery than in history. On the elevated point, while a fine breeze was blowing, I traced out an old breastwork, once extending from cove to cove, and a redoubt which looked up and down the lake for a great distance, while the ruins of Crown Point lay exposed to the eye on the opposite side of the lake, here reduced to the breadth of a river. What a commanding position ! Nothing could pass this way without sailing long in the range of the artillery of the old fortress, then passing it in review with broadside exposed to the batteries within musket-shot, and afterward, if it could survive this risk, steering for several more in the range of one of the five great redoubts, which were in ad- vance of the angles of the main-work. I crossed the ferry, and rambled about the solitary ruins, but found them in a pretty good state of preservation. The original fort, erected by the French on the shore, is near the landing. The long, broad, and low point, the end of which is occupied by the fortifications, is overgrown by young trees, which have sprouted since its evacuation, and there is a grove of the same age as that at Ticonderoga. The parade within the fortress was green, and almost as smooth as if still in use ; while only the want of roofs and glass in the brick buildings surrounding it, and the growth of sumacs round the parapet, showed that the place was deserted. The barracks were occupied partly by sheep and partly by swallows ; and the solitary contemplation of the scene around wakened many reflections on past events. 243 CHAPTER XXXI. Feelings on entering Canada — State of Society — Emigrants — Scenerj, &c. on the St. Lawrence — Architecture — Wilful Errors on Educa- tion in Convents. Disappointment is the first feeling of a traveller on enter- ing Canada by this route. There is no scenery, and he soon feels as if there were no inhabitants, that is, none in whom he can take interest. The country is flat, and misera- bly cultivated ; and you have positive evidence, on every side, that the people ought to be sent to school an age or two, and laughed at or provoked personally in some manner to induce them to build decent houses, keep them clean, root out the thistles and plant corn, cut down militia poles, and erect school-houses — and allow the soil to produce food for man and beast, for which it seems perfectly willing ; take courage, indulge hopes of rising, and set themselves about it. It is bad enough for the New-Englanders to be for ever " guessing," and " contriving," and " tinkering," and " fixing," I know ; but it is a good deal worse to do neither. I ached to put some of the people I met, old and young, into the hands of a certain district school-master, the greatest tyrant I ever knew. It seemed to me that ignorance had in their case assumed the symptoms of so terrible, so fatal a disease, that I would have volunteered to put on his thumb- screws and borne him out in any of his severest measures, if there were any hope that so he might get a morsel of knowledge into any crevice of their whole brains. " Raze it, raze it to the foundations," I exclaimed, at the sight of the great fabric of public ignorance which is reared among these active and amiable people. Montreal Mountain is in sight just before you for miles before you reach the river; and you have little else to 344 CANADA. observe but Belleisle and Boucherville Mountains, on the right, over the vast plain, after leaving St. John's. The old and comfortless houses of Laprairie, the gloomy nunnery, with spacious grounds enclosed with high walls, and the vociferous, French speaking people on the shore of the. noble St. Lawrence, remind one of Europe. The steamboats on the St. Lawrence and the Lakes have been often crowded to excess this season, by the emigrants newly-arrived from Great Britain, so much so as to render travelling for pleasure remarkably " unpleasant." And such a mixed company as has often been observed in these car- goes ! While some of those obliging tourists,, who occasion- ally write about us, have such subjects before their eyes, they might save themselves the trouble of leaving home. Among the emigrants, it has been remarked, there has been this year a much larger proportion of intelligent and wealthy persons than usual, and the western states have had the benefit of adding not a few of them to their population. But some appeared to be entirely unprovided with necessary in- formation, as well as pecuniary means, to direct their course to advantage after their arrival. One person might be heard making inquiries about the country through which he was passing, that sliowed he had never been in a geography class in his life ; while many were at best but extremely ill versed in " the use of the globes," which the English school advertisements seem to regard as such an accomplishment* What will not ignorance do, and at the same time leave un- done ! I am persuaded that many of the emigrants might save years of time, and all the money they bring out, if they would but ask a few such questions as the boys in the New- York Public-schools could readily answer, and act on the knowledge thus obtained. One woman you will hear inquiring for her husband or children, who have come to America ; another resolving to return to-morrow ; one sick, and believing the climate is unhealthy; another amazed at the beauty and fertility of the country, the friendliness of the people, the abundance of work, the high wages, the cheapness of land, and in short, the superiority of every thing to his expectations. The only wonder to me was. MONTREAL. 245 that they were not all delighted ; for I have seen the ships in which some of them have crossed the Atlantic, and should think that any thing would be preferred to life on board of them. I asked an old Scotchman one day, just arrived, whe- ther he had had a pleasant passage. He pointed down the half-closed hatches and said, " In that hole there were above ninety of us ; and yet this was the only ventilator we had during a voyage of six weeks, except three days, when the after-hatches for a short time were removed. On account of the impurity of the air, 1 used to come on deck at night, and could scarcely persuade myself to return." I confess that ihe sight presented below sunk my ideas of human nature to a grade that always makes me feel un- comfortable for a day or two. The sounds which rose to- gether reminded me of Bunyan's pit of Tophet, though the old man did not answer my idea of a shepherd of the De- lectable Mountains. A few days may be agreeably spent at Montreal and Quebec, and in visiting the environs : for, although there is little to excite interest in the literary institutions (know- ledge, in all its branches, being at a low ebb), the foreign air of the people, their habitations and manners, the appear- ance of activity which pervades every thing during the brief summer which the climate allows, and the peculiar features of the natural scenery, present considerable attractions. Time is not allowed to enter into detail. Let us see, then, whether any idea of the variety and nature of the objects, most striking to a traveller, may be conveyed by a rapid mention of them. The approach to Montreal, in one of the Laprairie ferry-boats, allows you to contemplate it at leisure. The distance is nine miles : the river, which is three miles broad, being crossed transversely. You are excited by the rapidity of the powerful steamboat, and of the current, bearing you like a bird over a ragged channel, which often is visi- ble, covered with crags, apparently ready to tear the bot- tom of the vessel. French, of a harsh and uncouth dia- lect, is dinned in your ears by market-men and women, 246 CANADA. watching their baskets of roots, herbs, &c., gathered iu scanty harvest from some part of the rich but abused plain, which extends from the river's bank to the horizon, except where it is bounded by a few distant and imposing isolated mountains. If you cross in a batteau, you hear the boat song of your rowers, in which there is little sweetness or poetry. The city, spreading along the low shore of the river, shoots up the spires of five or six churches, with the domes of two convents, and the towers of the new cathedral, against the Mountain of Montreal, which alone rescues the scene from utter tameness. Those who wish to contem- plate the largest specimen of barbarous architecture in North America (saving Mexico), may visit the cathedral. What apology is there for the introduction of the Gothic style into the United States? What is there among us which is signified by it? What is there connected with it in our history or institutions ; and what good influence can we expect from it upon the future ? We have had nothing like a gradual progress of taste through many ages, and no successive races of men in different stages of civili- zation, or any period of our history at all allied to such a style. At the same time our condition is based on the foun- dation of universal knowledge : there is no mystery, no secrecy, no ignorance. Nothing is concealed, nothing is done through systematic imposture. Neither do we admit of any principle by which the feelings are to be influenced independently of the judgment. Why then should we meddle with other architecture, in which vastness and gloom work their eflTects upon the heart, without offering to the thought any distinct subject to fasten upon ; in which the eyes are shown dark recesses which they cannot penetrate, and a multitude of laboured devices and ornaments the mind would in vain understand ? Simplicity and use, two of the great features of nature's works, are banished hence ; the light for which our eyes were formed is obscured ; and the objects and ends of our creation mystified, as far as archi- tectural objects can produce such an eflfect. Why should we wish, in this country, to present rast piles to the eye, in which it can trace none of the great prin- FALSE NOTIONS. 247 ciples of natural taste ; in which the mind finds only per- plexity ; and the feelings, instead of being exalted with hope and encouragement, are depressed with undefined gloom. How far more appropriate are the pure and chaste Greek styles to our own history, character, and condition ! I would take the Doric and Ionic in preference to the Corinthian : and, if I may judge from my own feelings, the first-men- tioned is to be preferred to all others. Regard the ancient rules and proportions so far as they are appropriate to the uses of our public edifices, and consistent with the nature of our climate ; and then the more vigorously you cultivate taste and multiply specimens in cities, towns, villages, and the very forests where they may be needed, the better. In America there is no apology for a gradual introduction of any species of perfection which necessity does not forbid us to know at once. We must admit only the best of every thing. Where the forest tree falls, there let taste erect her purest monuments, while learning adopts the best methods for instruction, and philanthropy binds heart to heart with the love of the gospel : for liberty has established a system which requires the most powerful support of us all, and we are answerable to mankind for an exhibition of the no- blest results of civilization and Christianity. One of the unaccountable traits of the taste of our coun- trymen, is displayed by many of them on entering a Cana- dian town. They will take off" their children to the nunne- ries, obtain, if possible, an interview with the superieures, purchase a few trifles of domestic manufacture, infer from what they see that all must be well arranged and systematic in every department, because they spend a few minutes in the presence of stiff and starched nuns, and go away with a gratuitous impression that there is a great deal of solid in- struction given to the children and young persons whom they profess to teach. 248 CHAPTER XXXI. Diiferent Travellers have different Eyes — The Polish Exiles — Regrets on the Necessity of closing — " Tom Slowstarter's" Farewell. How strongly was I struck, the other day, with the con- trast between two foreigners, whom I met travelling in the United States : a Frenchman and a South American ! The one recalled to my recollection Monsieur Levasseur, who, while in the train of General Lafayette, witnessed the la- bours of the New- York firemen one night at a conflagra- tion. Having come from a physical people, a nation of materialists, he wished to handle one of the engines, in order to form an idea of those machines which he thought exhibited some of the great capacities of republicans. The South American was always admiring the results of some moral cause in our society; and the sagacity and just sentiments he displayed were not only gratifying, but instructive. And what a comment was here on the political systems of Europe and America! The old world is man- aged like an engine. Millions of her inhabitants are stand- ing this day like machines, with their weapons presented, like the teeth of a bark-mill, or the cogs of a cider grinder, ready to do work by the exertion of brute force. What an immense capital stands from age to age invested in arsenals and foundries, fortresses, fleets, and powder-mills ; yet the budget of war annually groans under new appropriations. Peace may sit balancing her pinions over them for a time ; but something soon sets her on the wing ; and what shall induce her again to alight? When a crop of humanity is to be gathered, when the flowers of a new season are to be plucked, the machinery moves again ; its course is against mankind, its track is a stream of human gore. The Greeks cried for freedom, but they must pass through Missi- THE BANISHED POLES. 24^ longhi to reach it. The Polanders claimed the rights of men, and they are sent to weep their loss in Siberia. "VMierever the principles, in which we so thanklessly hve, are even whispered in Europe, there comes the wild beast of oppres- sion. His iron step is heard in the university, his gripe is felt in the school and at the fireside : while on this side of the Atlantic, education, imiversal example, and the govern- ment — even self-interest and prejudice itself, invite, nay, in a manner, constrain us to hear the language of liberty and humanity, and to associate to sustain them ; in Europe, the warmest hearts are chilled by the sight of the mana- cles and dungeons to which such sentiments are condemned. Indeed, nobler, more exalted men than we, men with a far livelier and more active devotion to the good of mankind than ourselves, are now, while we speak, shut up in prison, in loneliness and misery, friendless and oppressed, because the enemies of truth and righteousness, of light and wisdom, of liberty and right, are too many and too strong. Now are there no greater duties incumbent on us than to eat and drink, and take the good of the things around us ! Is there no higher object for us to aim at than merely to gain wealth and honour, or to exercise power ? Whoever devotes himself exclusively to either of these, is an enemy of our coimtrv', a foe to mankind, a blot on our land, a de- preciator of our advantages, an ingrate to our heavenly benefactor. The two hundred and thirtj-six Polanders who have been sent to the United States, by the arbitrary" and inhuman power of Austria, have among them individuals presenting peculiar claims to the interest and kindness of Americans. Most of them are severe sufferers for the sake of liberal views and patriotic exertions in favour of freedom. A few of them, however, were of bad character, and were sent here to discredit the others. The government of Austria is a severe despotism ; and one of its most detestable features was displayed in an attempt to injure the characters of men whose patriotism they hated and feared. After these Po- l^Jiders had been imprisoned at Brinder for some months, on vs^rious pretexts, without trial or charge, having bees 22 250 REFLECTIONS ON SEEING THEM. collected from different quarters, and generally unacquainted with each other, arrangements were made to transport them to Trieste, where they were to embark for this country. This step they consented to, because the only alternative offered was, that they should be delivered up to Russia. They were to be transported in detachments ; and the first that was sent off consisted of those who had been imprisoned for crimes, that their conduct might make an impression un- favourable to the patriots. Since their arrival in America, a discrimination has been made, and the unworthy set aside. Here they now are on our coast, necessarily unknown, except so far as we choose to seek an acquaintance with them, ignorant of our language, manners, and habits, but, iike the blind or the dumb, presenting on that account dou- ble claims to our sympathy and aid. Like those suffering tinder some natural infirmity from which we are happily free, they also teach us lessons of gratitude and of duty, under the superior blessings which we enjoy. A banished Pole should move among us as a living monument of arbitrary power, and whenever we look upon liim it should be with the recollection — " Here is a victim of despotism ! Here is a man, such as our ancestors would have chosen to be, — if offered his alternative — slavery or banishment: here is one who has endured that arbitrary power to which our ancestors would not submit, but re- sisted, for the sake of their children." It seemed to me, while conversing with some of these lonely exiles, as if Providence had sent them among us at this time not without a kind design. We have been so re- mote from the sight of oppression and violence, so long accustomed to regard tyranny and lawless rule as mere creatures of the imagination, that when sentiments are de- clared, and measures taken tending strongly that way, in- stead of taking the alarm, too many of us look on with in- difference, as if there were a wall of impenetrable brass erected to secure our liberty. These melancholy and silent strangers seem to whisper to us, to beware of ourselves, our freedom, and our country: and if their presence shall rendt^r VIS any more watchful, if it shall lead us to reflect moce in- CONCLUSION. 251 tently on the inestimable privileges we possess, of the deli- cate and responsible trust committed to us for the benefit of mankind, in being made the depositories of free institutions and Christian light and liberty, it will not have been in vain that our sympathy for them has been painfully excited, or that they have been deprived of property, friends, and home. Some eminent musicians have said that the most import- ant part of, an air is the end; and that, no matter what are the merits of a composition, if there be appropriate har- mony in the closing note, the impression must be delightful, and the hearers will be content : so gourmands, sometimes, take special pains to lay by their choicest morsels for the last, that the final bit may convey to the palate the richest flavours and spicery — because its taste is to be lasting. How mortifying then, to an author, who would not intentionally violate any of the great rules of taste, to find that no such advantage, as he could wish to make a happy close, is allowed him. Here I am suddenly admonished, by the amount of paper I have blotted, that I must bring my hasty remarks to an end. It is in vain for me to plead that I have a heap of materials lying yet untouched before me, scenes of nature, both in ink and crayon, words of the wise, and oracles of fools, remarks of chance-travellers, and thoughts of my own, with snatches from Greek and Latin authors, un- accountably preserved from the chaos of my early studies, now applied, well or ill, to modern affairs— it is in vain tQ declare that a book, to be appropriate, should be neither far in advance of, nor behind society, and that all these materi- als will deteriorate and perish in a season. Indeed, the fact is, I have found things so rapidly moving around me while I have been making this volume, that I have been on a constant race to keep up. Now out of breath, indeed, but not ex- hausted nor entirely discouraged, I am advised to desist ; and, even while I hesitate, am chagrined to think that I already begin to be distanced. I feel, in short, that I am in much the same condition in 352 CONCLUSION. which I last saw my old friend Tom Slowstarter. It was on the Amboy and Trenton railroad. We had stopped " to water," as the facetious term is — (not our horses, but the steam-boiler) — and Tom had alighted to look at the ma- chinery. The bell rang, the wheels began to move, and the passengers called to him to hurry; but th6 working of one of the small cog-wheels perplexed him so much that he kept pace on foot. " Overtake us, and jump in Tom, you'll be left !" cried the passengers. " Are you speaking to a poet, or a prose-writer?" said Tom; "I am not behind the world, much less out of sight of it. I want t^ look a little further into things." — "If you stop to understand any thing," said the engineer, " you can't go with us." — " Here's something wrong," said Tom — " I want to know a little how it is you go ahead so, and then I'll ride." — " If you are going to know much, you can't be in our company. You must make up your mind to one thing or the other pretty quick ; so jump in." — " I want to see it go round once or twice more," said Tom : " now I'm ready ; open the door." The door was opened, but the engine had begun to snort quicker and quicker, and the wheels went round like a buzz. Tom laid himself almost flat with running ; — and " Here, take my hand — run, Tom, run — a little faster, a little faster !" resounded from the cars, while he was straining legs, arms, and fingers, to get up again with his companions. " You had better stop," said one, at this crisis ; and Tom's cour- age failed in an instant. He gave up the chase, and stood like a post in the middle of the road, while all the caravan joined in a general shout of " Good-by, Mr. Slowstarter ! Good-by, Mr. Know-a-little." — " Good-by, good-by," said Tom : " good-by, Mr. Puffer and family,^ — there's nothing of you but noise and motion — but yet I wish I was with you. The next time I'll try to find less fault, and keep- Tap with society." Tom has never since been heard of. ¥INIS. I A SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH: DESCRIPTIVE OF SCENES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES, UPPER AND LOWER CANADA, NEW-BRUNSWICK, AND NOVA SCOTIA, DUKING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1S32. BY E. T. COKE, LIEUTENANT OF THE 45TH REGIMENT. WandYing from clime to clime observant stray'd. Their maimers noted, aard their states survey'd. - p., IN T AS' O VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY J. & J. HARPER, NO. 82, CLIFF-STREET. ' AND SOLD I;Y the PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS TFAOliQHOVT TKE UNITED STATES. M DCCC XXXIII, H. Ludwif, Printer. TO HIS CtRA.CE the duke of RUTLAND, KG., &c. &c., ^Sts HJolumt IS BY PERMISSION DEDICATED, WITH SINCERE RESPECT, BY HIS grace's VERY OBEDIENT AND MUCH OBLIGED SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. PREFACE Feeling dissatisfied with the various statements which have issued from the press in such rapid suc- cession within the last two or three years, respecting the United States, and being convinced that much yet remained to be learned relative to that part of the vast Western Continent, I came to the determination of availing myself of a short leave of absence from my military duties to cross the Atlantic, and inform my- self more fully upon the subject. After travelling over 2000 miles of the most inte- resting districts, and visiting the principal Atlantic cities in the United States, I extended my tour through an equal distance in the British provinces. As my only object in publishing the following narrative is to contribute, in however small a degree, to the knowledge already possessed of those countries which are so fast rising into importance, I hope that I shall not lay myself open to a charge of presumption. In the following unpretending pages, I profess only to give an unbiassed and impartial statement of what came under my own observation. My remarks are confined to those things which require but a short re- sidence in a country ; and, merely pointing out some X PREFACE. of the most interesting objects and places of greatest historical note, I leave the full definition of Republican, National Republican, Federalist, NuUifier, Democrat, and all the other various shades and sects of the poUtical world, to those who have made state affairs their study. I much regretted that circumstances would not per- mit a longer stay in so attractive a portion of the globe, and do not hesitate to recommend those who are at a loss how to kill time during the summer months to make a similar trip. If their expectations are not too sanguine, they will be amply repaid for the slight inconvenience of rough seas and rough roads, by not only becoming acquainted with an inte- resting people, but by the opportunity v\^hich will be afforded them of viewing some of the most stupendous natural curiosities as well as some of the finest speci- mens of art in the world. May 2, 1833. CONTENTS CHAP. I. PA&E Set sail from Liverpool — Emigrants on board — Man stow- ed away — Dr. Emmons's Fredoniad — Make land — Pilot — Enter the Delaware — Run aground — The Pee Patch Fort — Delaware City — Q-uarantine Station — Mud Fort — Visit Pliiladelphia — Dearborn — Repubhcan Tavern- keeper 13—29 CHAP. 11. Philadelphia — Hotels — Temperance Societies — Theatre — Newspapers 30 — 37 CHAP. III. Charitable Institutions — Pennsylvania Hospital — West's Painting — Alms' House — Museum — Mammoth — Ma- jor Andre — Arcade — State House — Academy of Fine Arts — Line-of-battle-ship — Water-works — Bridges — Fire and Hose companies — United States' Bank . . . 38 — 52 CHAP. IV. Volunteers and Militia — Sale of Stock — Railway — Ger- man Town — The Fire King — Penn's Elm-tree — Ste- phen Girard — Churches — Markets — Streets — Peniten- tiary :..... 53 — 67 CHAP. V. Departure from Philadelphia — Steamers — Chesapeake — Baltimore — Monuments — Theatre — Cathedral — JNIer- chants' Hall — Beauty of the Females — Notice at the Hotel — General Ross — Battle of North Point — Leave Baltimore — Coaches — Bladensburgh, Battle of — Arrive at Washington 68—82 CHAP. VI. The Capitol — Mr. Adams's Speech — Destruction of Pub- lic Buildings — Tripoli Monument — Member of Con- gress drowned — Attempt at Assassination — Mr. Law —Plan of the City 83—96 CHAP. VII. Alexandria — Museum — Mount Vernon — Washington's Tomb — General Jackson — State and War Depart- ments — Captured Colours — Portraits of Indian Chiefs — Xll CONTENTS. Arsenal — Navy Yard — Georgetown— Ohio Canal — Falls of the Potomac 97—110 CHAP. VIII. Leave Washington — Musical German — Miserable Night — Blue Ridge — Winchester — Harper's Ferry — Manu- factories of Arms — Descend the Potomac — Point of Rocks — Restless Night — Mississippi Captain — Rail- v/ay — Cholera — Arrive at New- York Ill — 127 CHAP. IX. Day of Festivities — Description of City — Academy of Fine Arts — Niblo's Gardens — Witty Auctioneer — Churches — Negro Dandies — Yankee Story — Justice of the Peace — Sam Patch's Leap — Deserted City . . . 128 — 147 CHAP. X. Mrs.TroUope — Captain Hall — Brother Jonathan's anger — Correct English 148 — 155 GAAP. XI. Leave New- York — Hell-gate — New-Haven — Indignant Lady — Regicide Judges — Yankee Nonchalance — Defi- nition of " Yankee " — Hartford — Archers — Fire — Churches 156—164 CHAP. XII. Leave Hartford — Providence — College — King Philip — Not permitted to enter Newport — Stage-coach Conver- sation — Yankee Wit — Arrive at Boston ..... 165 — 179 CHAP. XIII. Description of Boston — Washington's Statue — Museum — Faneuil Hall — Navy Yard — Bunker's Hill — Hai'vard College — Mill-dam — Franklin — Leave Boston — Colo- nel Goffe — Beautiful town — Ascend Mount Holyoke Well-trained Horse — upset in the Coach . . . . . 180 — 194 CHAP. XIV. Lebanon Springs — Shakers— Lecture — Mother Ann — Black Fiddlers — Troy — Schenectady College — -Erie Canal — Driver thrown into the Canal — Falls of the Mohawk — In search of the Sublime ....... 195 — 209 CHAP. XV. Inquisitive Pot-house Keeper — Falls of Trenton— Shaking in a Dearborn — Whitesborough Institution — Clergy- man's Salary — Sunday Schools — Tuscarora Indians — MailBags— Names of Towns 210—222 SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH. CHAPTER I. Adieu, adieu ! my native shore, Fades o'er the waters blue. Byron. Hail Columbia! Song. As nothing can be more uninteresting to unprofes- sional readers, than a recapitulation of all the various changes of weather, the heavy squalls and gales, the more tedious long- rollinof calms, the dense fog's and dano-erous icebergs (on the banks of Newfoundland), the passing sails, and, in short, the usual contents of a ship's log; I shall only briefly take notice of a few incidents con- nected with the voyage. After a detention of three days at Liverpool, owing to contrary winds with rough and boisterous weather, the packet ship, in w^hich I had en- gaged a passage, hauled out of Prince's dock at daylight on the morning of the 23d of April, and stood down channel ; but it w^ as not until the fifth day from that time that we were clear of the southernmost cape of Ireland: a foul wind possessed, however, one redeeming quali- ty, by successively displaying the fine bold coast of the Emerald Isle, and the picturesque mountains of Wales. I had selected the Philadelphia in preference to the New-York line of packets, and made some small sacri- fice to accommodation and society, from a supposition that but few emigrants would be bound so far to the south- ward ; knowing full w^ell, from previous experience, th6 VOL. I. — B. 14 A subaltern's furlough. great inconvenience of a crowded steerage. I was therefore much surprised to find that although a vessel of only 370 tons, she was carrying out 146 passengers in that part of the ship. I had,however, no cause to regret the choice 1 had made, as I found myself in an excellent seaboat with an active and experienced commander, who had already crossed the Atlantic seventy-six times; no trifling re- commodation to a pleasure-seeking passenger. The weather, for the season of the year, was unusually bois- terous, and the wind variable ; blowing scarcely for twen- ty-four hours in succession from any one point of the compass : but having a good stock of provisions and pleasant society on board, it mattered little to the cabin passengers (who were, with one exception, old sailors) which way the ship's head was ; but to the emigrants, an increasing gale was a source of great tribulation and alarm ; the deck resounding with their groans and prayers until it moderated. The captain and myself were walking upon deck one squally day, when seeing several of the steerage passengers sitting on the fore hatchway, exposed to every sea which came aboard, yet at the same time apparently regardless of it, we had the curiosity to ask them, what they were doing there, and why not below in their berths ? " Why sure now, Captain," said the spokesman, an Irishman, "and isn't it that we are waiting here, so that we will be ready to get into the boats, if the ship goes down ; for we know you wouldn't wait to call us." The weather itself was not more variable than their conduct; in a calm, the Welch and Irish kept the whole vessel in a uproar with their broils and fighting, which ever arose from national reflections ; and each man having brought a store of liquor on board with him, as part of his sea-stock, the combatants were generally more than half intoxicated ; while in rough weather, the self-same parties would be leagued together singing psalms, in which they were assisted by the English and Scotch, Avho kept aloof dur- ing the storm of words and w ar of fists. Amongst the emigrants, however, were many respectable farmers, who, with their families, were about to seek their fortunes in the New World ; but the majority were artificers, and A subaltern's furlough. 15 some few were men, who, if they could not make their fortunes, judging from outward appearances, could scarce- ly mar them. They were well equipped for the early commencement of operations in America, being burthen- ed with no such heavy baggage as bedding, trunks, wives, children, or even a change of apparel; and it was a matter of conjecture to many of us, how they could have procured sufficient mone}'- for the payment of their passage. A man obtained a free one in the fol- lowing, by no means uncommon manner : — The crew in overhauling the stores in the sail-room, a few days after we had put to sea, discovered him snugly stowed away with- in the coil of a cable, and bringing him upon deck, he proved to be a great, broad-shouldered, ruddy-faced son of Erin, "a poor orphan," as he described himself, who hav- ing taken a drop too much of the cratur had found his way into the sail-room by accident, and fallen asleep, when the ship lay alongside the quay, and that his pro- visions were in his coat-pocket, which, upon due exami- nation, proved to contain only a solitary copper, and a dry crust of mouldy bread. Our worthy skipper put him in great bodily fear, by threatening to tie him up to the gangway, and after giving him. a round dozen, to put him on board the first fishing-smack we met off the coast of Wales ; but it was merely a threat in terrorem, as the following day he was duly initiated into all the rites and mj^steries of Jemmy Ducks; and after being in- vested with fall power and command over that very requisite department, he became a most important and useful personage. Some scoundrel, however, relieved him of part of his charge, by administering a quantity of oxalic acid, which carried off all our stock of grunters at " one fell swoop." A woman, also, with the tact of her own sex, avoided detection until we had been a month at sea, and was only then discovered through the im- peachment of one of her follow-passengers. She had gone quite on the opposite tack to the "poor orphan :" so far from courting concealment, she had ever been observ- ed to be cooking or loitering about the caboose, was the most noisy of all the females on board, and had once or twice even ventured upon the sacred limits of the 16 A subaltern's furlough. quarter-deck. So proud a bearing blinded every person on board : nor could any one have imagined, even when challenged with the fraud, but that she had paid her passage, so menacing and formidable an appearance she assumed, with her arms a-kimbo, and a contemptuous toss of the head. Although tbe captain keeps a sharp look out (there being a fine imposed upon ships carrying a greater number of passengers than the law admits, ac- cording to the tonnage), yet few vessels sail from Liver- pool without carrying more than their complement. Some- times an affectionate wife introduces her lord and mas- ter on board in the guise of a trunk filled with old clothes, or'in a crate, as her stock of crockery, in which he is half smothered, and tossed about most unceremoniously, dur- ing the confusion attendant upon Aveighing anchor. Having anticipated a three weeks' passage, the few books I had brought on board were exhausted by the time we were half-way across the Atlantic ; and as a last resource, almost amounting to a fit of desperation, I ob- tained the loan of Dr. Emmons's " Fredoniad ; or, In,- dependence Preserved," from a fellow-pessenger, and toiled in a most persevering manner through at least ten of the almost interminable number of cantos (forty, I be- lieve) which compose the work ; but a series of gross li- bels upon the English nation, did not even possess suffi- cient interest to make amends for the rest of such a dry, prosing composition ; and after a few days I flung it down in despair, preferring to pass my time in watching the fleeting clouds by day, and the moon by night, to volunteering again upon such a forlorn hope. If the work was equally unprofitable to the author in a pecu- niary line, as it was to me, in point of information, he must have derived very little satisfaction from his lucu- brations. I never had the good fortune to meet wiih any of his countrymen who had thoroughly perused the work, so could not ascertain their opinion of its full value as an historical ont Of its impartiality, any one may judge from the following extract (one out of a hundred), descriptive of an interview between the British General Procter, and Indian Chief Tecumseh, in which the for- mer says, A subaltern's furlough. 17 "Brother ! our king-chief hath for you prepared, For every scalp an ample rich reward — Batter of those who b'eed, their skulls in sport, For we with them shall decorate our court At York, Cluebec, at Kingston." The gold is yours, what sort soe'er you bring, — Such is the liberal promise of the king! There's no distinction of the price for kind — Sires, infants, mothers, virgins, lame or blind. Now, now's the offer'd time to crush the brood, To broil their hearts, and cat their flesh for food." Thrice happy indeed was I, when the green water once again making its appearance, showed that we were in soundings. The unusual length of the voyage had not only been rendered extremelyunpleasantby the num- ber, but also by the want of cleanliness in the steerage passengers, some of whom would not even breathe the fresh air upon deck, in moderate weather. On a fine, mild afternoon — the first we had been favour- ed with since the shores of England had sunk into the waves — there was a cry of "Land a-head'" from the fore-top gallant yard. Every one in an instant was upon deek, some for the first time during the voyage, and the rigging was covered with those who previously had not courage to mount the ladder of the hatchAvay. Every eye was in vain strained to gain a glimpse of the long- wished-for coast of America, and three cheers greeted the captain as he descended upon deck; the women crowd- ing round him, dancing and singing, as though he had rescued them from some imminent danger. Many had certainly suffered much from that worst of all miseries, sea-sickness ; and those who had seen better days, from the company they were obliged to keep in the steerage ; where the small-pox and inflammatory fever had broken out a few days after we had sailed from Liverpool, at- tacking many, and three or four persons fatally. The wind, however, which had been dying away for hours, now totally failed us, and it became a dead calm. So our sole employment consisted in watching the move- ments of the innumerable sloops and small craft which where rolling about at the distance of some miles; and B* 18 A subaltern's furlough. which, whenever a slight air or cat's paw crossed them, appeared as if concentrating to one point, their heads tending to some great emporimn of commerce. Two ex- ceptions to the above afforded much amusement. These proved to be rival pilot schooners, taking every possible advantage of flaws of wind and wet sails, but still mak- ing little progress towards the ship which each was striv- ing to gain : at last, however, our attention was attracted by a small black object, which appearing at intervals on the swell of a sea, was at first taken for a portion of the drift-wood which so thickly covers the Atlantic off the American coast ; but, upon examining it through a glass was found to be a small cutter, pulled by two men, and in the course of an our the victorious pilot stepped on board, having fairly outmanoeuvred his opponent. Every one pressed close round, asking him ten thousand sense- less questions; but he was a man of few words, and all the information we could reap from him amounted to — " that they had frost and snow in April;" and that "there was a war in Congress." Having delivered thus much in a gruff tone of voice, he threw a bag of clothes from under his arm alongside the helm; and after passing a few minutes in looking up and scanning the rigging with a seaman's eye, lay down upon a hencoop, and, over- powered by his exertions to reach the vessel, was soon fast asleep. His appearance as a pilot was by means prepossessing; far different indeed from that of the hardy- looking race of the English Channel. He was a tall, gaunt old man, with shoulders bent by the storms of some seventy years, and a face bronzed by the sun until it resembled that of a copper-coloured Indian. I really pitied him, as he tottered along the deck with one of his hands, which had been jammed between the cutter and ship's side, to his mouth, and thought it high time that he was placed upon the retired list. The day being warm, he was attired in a 'thick white waistcoat, nankeen trowsers, originally blue, and a yellow painted canvass hat. I should judge that the captain was as little pleas- ed with the appearance of the man who had taken charge of the ship, as any one else ; for after asking in a signi- ficant and dry tone of voice, "if there were any more pilots : on board the schooner," he descended into the cabin. A subaltern's furlough. 19 A light breeze springing up at midnight, the follow- ing morning showed us the tops of the trees and head- lands of the low coast of Maryland, suspended as it were in mid-air. After standing a few miles to the northward, by sun-set we made the capes of the Dela- ware. It was now the 25th of May, and the day, like the precedmg one, was fine and clear, w4th a warm sun, the thermometer standing 90" in the shade : such a sud- den change in the atmosphere, together with the low, flat shore, forcibly reminded me of scenes in the East- — the entrance to the Ba^r of Delaware resembling the mouth of the Hoogly or Iriwaddi rivers. The distance between Cape Henlopen, in Delaware, and May, in New Jersey state, is about fifteen miles. . .The coast near the latter Cape abounds with dangerous sh<5als and over- falls, and the navigation of the river is rendered very in- tricate throughout by numerous sand-banks. After pass- ing between the two Capes, the river expands into a noble bay about tbirtv miles long, and thirty wide, when it again contracts to a width of two miles, and continues so with lit- tle variation up to Philadelphia. On the Henlopen side of the bay a large breakwater was commenced a fe-ij^ years since ; but instead of the foundation being laid upon the " Shears," a shoal running parallel with the land, it was placed in four fathom water between the two : thus, not only rendering the work more troublesome and expen- sive, but also contracting the harbour considerably, w^hich has been formed into a receptacle for sand and mud, brought in by an eddy caused by this ill-judged plan. The pilot assured us that there was already less water by some feet than when the foundation was commenced. An officer of the American navy had recommended that it should be built upon the shoal, but his plan was re- jected, and the present one. that of a civil engineer, adopted ; by which, one of the finest harbour in the world appears in danger of being seriously damaged. The breakwater against the fury of the sea is to be a mile in length, with the upper end of the harbour pro- tected by an ice-breaker, so that vessels may ride in safety during the winter months : the latter was highly requisite, many ships having been lost through exposure 20 to the river ice. Seven planks in the bows of the packet in which I was at this time, had been cut throug-h in less than two hours, three months previously, by the drift-ice being kept in motion by the strength of the tide, and acting- like a saw against them ; the vessel be- irjo- only saved by running it ashore. The expense of this great undertaking will be enormous, much of the stone required in its construction being brought by sea from the Hudson River quarries 120 miles distant. Evening had set in before we fairly passed between the Capes, and at the distance of five miles the surf could be distinctly heard roaring against Henlopen. During the day, while our anxious pilot was asleep upon the booms, a boat was lowered to catch a turtle floating on the sur- face of the water, in as happy a state of forgetfulness as the old man himself; but the ship having too much head- way upon her, the boat could not again reach her, and we were under the necessity of awakening the pilot, to heave the ship to, which he most reluctantly ordered, venting his displeasure at the same time in a low inward grumbling. Not feeling very confident as to the safety of the ship under such a man's charge, I took the pre- caution of retiring to my berth at night without divesting myself of my clothes, thinking it more than probable that I should find it convenient to be on deck ere morning without much loss of time. My suppositions proved cor- rect ; for about half-past two o'clock I was awakened by a slight motion of the ship, and although it did not equal in force that of a heavy sea striking it, yet the grating of a vessel with all sail set upon a hard sand, produces a sensation which, when once experienced, will never be forgotten. All hands rushed upon deck in an instant ; when, io ! and, behold ! our worthy Argus was snugly stowed away in a corner, fast in the arms of Morpheus, while the vessel striking heavily for some minutes, finally fell over a little on its side, and remained immoveable. At this time there were no fewer than three lisfhts in sight, two a-stern on the Capes, and a floating one di- rectly a-head. I never heard how the old man accounted for running us a-ground — this, however, was no time for explanations ; but the boats being lowered as quickly as A subaltern's furlough. 21 possible, and soundings being* taken, it was found that we were on the windward side of the "Browns," a dangerous shoal about twelve miles from land ; and that so long as the wind continued from the present quarter, there would be no hopes of the ship floating ; and, if the sea rose, she would inevitably go to pieces. As day dawned, the ominous prospect of the head and bowsprit of a ship showed themselves above water, a few hundred yards distant, being all the visible remains of the " Can- ning " packet, lost two months previously. It was now for the first time, I heard a genuine Yankeeism : " the ship's lost to all eternity," said the captain ; " it a'int, I guess," drawled out the old pilot, giving the sentence at the same time a most inimitable twang, which even Mathews himself would have failed in producing. It was in vam that all efforts were used for three hours to get the ship off : it remained firm as a rock, excepting during the turn of tide, when it again struck heavily. Seeing no prospect of its being moved until lightened, the "star-sp. ngled banner," reversed, was hoisted at the mast-head, while the passengers awaited the arrival of boats from the shore to carry them away. The first craft ■we saw was a sloop, which, laden with shingles, and steered by a negro, run close alongside of us. The fellow hailed us very coolly, with, " Have you a pilot on board ?" and being answered in the affirmative, he continued on his course without tendering any assistance: fortunately, however, we needed none ; for the wind veering a point or two, and freshening with the flood-tide, we once more floated, and standing our course up the river, soon over- took our black friend and his shingle sloop, at whom, en passant, a volley of abuse was fired. As we gained the head of the bay, and entered the contracted part of the river, we caught occasional glimpses of small villages and neat white cottages, scattered at intervals along the banks, which were covered with wal- nut, oak, and patches of pine, I was leaning over the side of the vessel, admiring the scene, but regretting that the clearings were so " few, and far between," when seeing a carpenter, a countryman of my own, similarly em- ployed, I asked him what bethought of the New World ^ A subaltern's furlough. at which we had arrived. "Oh, sir ! it is a fine country ; only look at the timber." I smiled, as the old story of " nothing like leather" occurred to my recollection ; and the worthy planer of wood continued to enlarge upon his opinion in a strain of encomium. He came up to me a few hours after landing, quite delighted with having been hired at a dollar per diem on the Ohio rail-road. The scene was, indeed, a most pleasing one. The clear bright atmosphere, which is unknown to England, dif- fusing a cheerfulness over every object, with not even a passing cloud to hide the brilliant rays of the sun, as they fell upon the thousands of white sails which covered the surface of the broad and noble Delaware ; while, ever and anon, one of those huge leviathans of the deep, an American steamer, darted past, leaving a long train of white smoke from its timber-fed furnaces. The whole presented a scene striking and novel to an Englishman. If there Avas any thing to detract from the beauty of the landscape, it was the perfect flatness of the face of the country, there not being a rising knoll, or single ridge to break the back-ground ; nor could much be seen be- yond the smiling verdure of the forest-crowned banks: it was a scene, indeed, at this moment, of life and sun- shine ; but, probably, if viewed on a squally, wet day, would be thought tame and uninteresting enough. We hove to again towards evening to be boarded by an officer from a revenue cutter, moored in the centre of the stream ; and at dusk came to an anchor near a small island, where, at five o'clock the following morning, we buried a child which had died of the small-pox during the night ; and then getting under weigh, arrived a-breast of Fort Dela- ware,or the " Pee Patch," built upon a low reedy island, which divides the river into two channels, and is an ad mirable position for defending the passage. The works are of masonry and very extensive ; but the whole of the interior, including the barracks and light-house, was eonsumed by fire two years since, through the negligence, as was stated, of an officer reading in bed. No steps have yet been taken towards repairing it, great sums having been expended upon its construction only a few years previous to the above accident. The channel bo- A subaltern's furlough. 23 tween it and the main land is so narrow tliat with a head wind and heavy squalls there was not room to work ship, and we were once more compelled to let go the anchor. Opposite to, and about a mile distant from the fort, is Delaware city, at the junction of the Chesapeake Canal with the Delaware. I went ashore for an hour at mid-day, and walked through the city, which is but a miserable straggling hamlet, with an inn at the landing- place, and one or two stores ; at which a friend, who accompanied me, managed to obtain a few cigars, and some Lundyfoot snuff, though the storekeeper would not vouch for its being the true Irish — " it might be Yankee, and made at Boston, but he guessed not." The canal appeared of noble dimensions, being ' sixty feet wide at the surface, and calculated for vessels with a ^Jraught of eight feet water. The inhabitants, however, told us it would not answer now so well as formerly, a rail-way having been formed five miles higher up the river in the same direction, on which all the passengers travelled between Philadelphia and Baltimore. While we were standing on the side of the tide-lock, twa sloops passed through, laden so high with enormous oysters, that the vessels' decks were on a level with the water ; being fastened a-stern of a steamer, they were towed up the river at an amazing speed, for the gratification of the gourmands of Philadelphia. The cholera had broken out in England prior to our sailing, and rumours of its ravages had reached America some time ; and as, most probably, its effects had been much exaggerated, every one lived in the greatest dread of its appearing in the States. A gentleman, who was standing on the quay at Delaware city, welcomed my friend, and congratulated him upon his return to his native land ; but the latter telling him in jest that we had the cholera on board, he parted from us very unceremoniously, nor could all our assurances that it was only the small-pox, induce him to return and continue the conversation. The passengers were unfortunately prevented from quit- ting the vessel, on account of the small-pox having been prevalent on board, which (although the last case was disposed of) would probably subject us to quarantine for 24 A subaltern's furlough. some days, unless we could manage to pass the Lazaretto before the 1st of June, on which day the quarantine flag is hoisted, and its performance rigidly enforced upon all infected vessels. It was noAV the 31st of May, and every one being anxious to avoid farther detention, the ship got under weigh with the flood tide at night ; and after run- ning into the mud only once, from which it was again raised by the tide in a few minutes, it carried on all sail until past midnight, and anchored half a mile above the quarantine station, nineteen miles from Philadelphia. The hospitals, with the storehouses, are very prettily situated within a picquet fence on the right bank of the river ; a small village adjoins, and the ground rising with a gentle acclivity from the water's edge for upwards of a mile, is covered with farms not too thickly wooded, but in many places assuming a park-like appearance. The country, from the town of Wilmington, the largest town in the state, containing about 12,000 inhabitants, twenty-four miles below, loses its dead flatness ; but the ridge, which runs parallel with, and at some distance from the river, does not exceed 200 feet in height. Throughout the day of the 1st of June it blew so heavy a gale of wind, that the ship drifted a considerable distance from two anchors, nor could the pilot venture to get under weigh. The following morning, during the ebb tide, several of us rowed one of the boats to a small island, towards which we had been drifting the preceding day, vvhere a farmer had established himself In landing, we found a sturgeon of about 120 pounds weight, which had been left by the tide in a shallow pool, and seized upon him for the be- nefit of the steerage passengers, who, like ourselves, w^ere rather short of provisions, and to w^hom we thought a little fresh fish would be acceptable. But it w^as not until after hard struggling and battling, with much splashing and rolling about in the water, that three of us succeeded in securing our prize, and lifting him into the boat. The farmer, also, selling us a lamb and some vegetables, we returned in triumph to the vessel, and again got under weigh, passing Mud Fort, situated on an island at the embouchure of the Schuykill, a strong hold during the revolutionary war, and the scene of much hard A subaltern's furlough. 25 righting- between the Hessians and Americans, in which the former were repulsed with considerable slaughter ; but the foit was finally evacuated after a vigorous defence against the British, who lost the Augusta, line-of-battle ship, and Merlin frigate, which took fire during the action having grounded at the sunken chevaux-de-frise, half a mile below the fort. Tht position is an excellent one, but the works are fast falling to decay. On the opposite side of the river is Red Bank, the site of another old fort, abandoned on the approach of Lord Cornwallis ; while in the centre of tiie stream are the remains of a large wooden battery, formed by piles driven into the bed of the river ; but, like the Pee Patch, it was set fire to and destroyed, by some fishermen cooking their jdio- visions a few years since. The only vestiges of it now remaining are some rusty old guns, and blackened pieces of timber. From the lower end of another reach of the river, which extends for several miles from hence, we caught the first glimpse of the city — a shot-tower, and huge building in the navy yard, with a forest of masts approaching above the trees. The smart white frame- houses, with their green Venetian shutters and gardens, overhung by weeping willows, and numerous peach orchards, on the Jersey side, with the large well-cleared grazing farms upon the Pennsjdvania bank, were evident proofs that we were ^rearing seme great abode of men. One island particularly (the possession of which I envied the owner,) of about 200 acres, won by lottery ten or twelve years since, was remarkably beautiful, and quite studded over with cattle. The tide failed us most provokingly off Gloucester Point, at the upper end of the fine reach, just as we* had rounded the land and came in full view of the city, at the distance of only three miles ; the vind ' o, following its example, the ship could not stem the ebbing tide, and very reluctantly the anchor was let go within almost reach of the goal. In the evening several of us landed, and hiring at a small inn one of the common four-wheeled open wagons of the country, called a Dearborn (from the inventor,) proceeded over a road, which, though in the immediate VOL. I. — c. 36 A subaltern's furlough. vicinity of the city, was wretchedly bad ; the carriage, too, was as uncomfortable an invention as could be well ima- gined, there being- but one narrow wooden seat, slung in the centre of the vehicle upon straps, with two rude wooden springs to support it ; upon this two of our party took up a position, while another who volunteered to drive sat in a chair in front, and two others occupied chairs in rear of the centre seat, while a little curly-headed negro was posted upon one of the shafts, where he sat grinning and holding on like a monkey, his dusky skin forming a charming contrast to an old gray mare which was to draw us. Our time being short, the whip was not spared ; so that we were wniried along, rolling and pitching about through thick and thin, and wherever a drain or deep water-course crossed the road, the carriage giving a heavy lurch, and all the chairs shooting forward with one con- sent, our volunteer coachman was nearly precipitated on to the horse's back, and the two in rear of the centre seat, not having any thing to plant their feet firm against, were thrown on to the backs of those occupying the seat in front. It was, indeed, a broad caricature of " travelling m the south of Ireland," and we were right glad to gain the outskirts of the city in safety, and abandon the uneasy conveyance, leaving it in charge of our sable attendant. While one of the party went to sound the ship-owners if we could remain ashore during the night, and until the vessel reached town, the rest of us (after walking about the dimly lighted squares and streets, with which we were soon fatigued, our feet being tender from the little exer- cise we had taken of late) proceeded to an oyster-cellar, and there awaited our sentence with great calmness, dis- cussing the various merits of English natives, and Ame- rican oysters. The latter are so large, that one of our party, who had laid a wager that he could eat a dozen and a half of them, was obliged to cry, " hold ! enough !" ere he had arrived at the twelfth. At midnight oar spy re- turned with the doleful tidings that we must return to the ship, and that on the morrow a medical man would inspect it, and set us at liberty. To hear, was to obey ; so without any more ado we retraced our weary steps, and found our little man of colour and his charge, the A subaltern's furlough. 27 pale horse and Dearborn, most patiently awaiting our arrival. The road appeared to have grown either some- what rougher, or our charioteer did not steer so small (to use a nautical term) as before ; but after running a wheel once or twice into the deep ditches, with which the road was flanked, he broughtj^is again to the tavern-door by one o'clock, where the landlord, aroused from his slumbers, soon made his appearance at the bar. Every thing was strange to me ; I might truly say I was in a New World ; I had heard of American landlords, but, like the road, this man was beyond my conjectures. He came down stairs the very beau ideal of a dandy, w^ith a tiny, little spiral hat, placed knowingly on one side of his head, gold studs, and broach at his breast, watch guard- chain round his neck, rings on his finger, with his nether man cased in a pair of red striped " continuations;" and, to crown all, he cursed and swore " like any gentleman." We inquired if the boat had been off for us, and were informed it had been, but had returned to the ship at ten o'clock, as he had told the crev/ he would fire a signal when w^e arrived. Thanking him for his kindness, we thought, as a recompense, we Avere in duty bound to call for something to drink ; and a considerable time having elapsed in carrying our good intentions into effect, and seeing no preparations making for firing his promised signal, one of the party asked him if he would favour us by commencing operations. " Aye, aye," said he, " I told the mate I would fire a gun — I would fire a gun in. anger when you came ; but wait a bit, I'll take a glass myself first," and then with the most admirable sang- froid, he set about making a glass of port-wine sangaree, stirring the sugar about with a small circular piece of wood, to which a handle was attached, and which he twirled about in his white hands with great dexterity. Having quaffed this mixture off to our healths, and wel- come to America, he lighted a cigar, offering one at the same time to each of the admiring spectators, and then crossing his arms over his breast a la Napoleon le Grand, he talked of passing events, and asked the news. Like old Hardcastle in the play, I said aside — " This fellow's impudence really makes me laugh," 'is A subaltern's furlough. and thought his cool assurance must arise from a wish, to show off before strangers. I turned away from him, unable to repress a laugh, and, as bad luck would have it, unfortunately saw a dog lying upon the floor, which I stooped down to pat with my handc Mine host no sooner saw this movement, than he was out from his bar in a twinkling, holding forth at great length in praise of the animal, which, from hi? account, possessed all the Tarious qualities of spaniel, greyhound, and pointer com- bined. "Aye, now there's a dog for you — only look at him — look at his points — there's not a cleverer dog in the Union, I guess — he's half English ; when I go out gunning, and shoot a rat or a squirrel, he'll bring it immediately — I would' nt take fifty dollars for him. A gentleman down here, the other day, offered thirty for him off-hand. Here, sir ! here sir ! come here ! now, lie down! lie down, lie dow . . .n!" The dog leapt up, placing its fore paws on its master's person. "Aye, he's only frightened before company, but I would'nt part with him for a cent, less than fifty." And thus having, in his own opinion, established his dog's reputa- tion, he at last commenced the tedious operation of load- ing an enormously long barrelled gun, respecting whose good qualities, also, we had to endure a long disserta- tion, while he was springing the ramrod, and ramming down about three fingers' deep of shot, with as much labour and flourishing movement as there is in loading a tvv-elve-pounder field-piece ; and, finall)^ we had the infinite satisfaction of hearing Washington, or some such nobly-named dusky son of Afric, summoned, who received orders to proceed to the end of the wharf, and fire the long wished-for signal. Shortly afterwards the plash of oars reaching our ears, we bade our loquacious host a long and last farevvell, having paid him two dol- lars and a half {lOs. (5d, sterling) for the use of his Dear- born and gray steed (" he would'nt be too hard upon us"), and by half-past two o'clock were once more in our snug cabin. The sun was high in the heavens the following day before I awoke from strange and troubled dreams of oysters, Dearborns, landlords, negroes, dogs, and guns. A subaltern's furlough. 29 A medical man coming on board as the anchor was weighing, said he was satisfied with the heahh of the passengers, and that we had permission to leave the ship, which an hour after mid-day was safely moored alono-- side one of the city wharfs, and we all stepped a- shore with heartfelt joy, having been forty days from Liverpool %Q A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER II. Into one of the sweetest of hotels, Especially for foreigners — Where juniper expresses its best juice — For downright rudeness, ye may stay at home. Btron. Philadelphia, the reverse of Lisbon, at first presents no beauties ; no domes or turrets rise in air to break the uniform stiff roof-line of the private dwellings. And, if 1 remember right, the only buildings which show their lofty heads above the rest, are the State House, Christ Church (both built prior to the Revolution), a Presbyte- rian meeting-house, and shot-tower. The city, therefore, when viewed from the water, and at a distance, presents any thing but a picturesque appearance. It is some- what singular, too, that there should be such a scarcity of spires and conspicuous buildings, there being no few- er than ninety places of worship, besides hospitals and charitable institutions in great numbers. In place, too, of noble piers and quays of solid masonry, which we might reasonably expect to find in a city containing near 140,000 inhabitants, and holding the second rank in commercial importance in North America, there are but some shabby wharfs, and piers of rough piles of timber, jutting out in unequal lengths and shapes, from one end to the other of the river front ; and these again are backed by large piles of wood, warehouses, and mean- looking stores. On the narrow space between them and the water are hundreds of negro porters, working at vast heaps of iron bars, barrels of flour, cotton bags, and all the various merchandise imported or exported ; singing in their strange broken-English tone of voice, some ab- surd chorus, such as, " I met a nigger" — {chorus all) "long time ago !" "I met a nigger" — {chorus all) " long time ago !" "1 say, where you going?" — {chorus all) "long time ago!" " Pull away, my boys" — {chorns) "yoh! heave — yoh!" or some such elegant strain. A subaltern's furlough. 31 Fifty paces hence, the stranger enters the city, which possesses an interior almost unrivalled in the world. On walking through the fine broad streets, with rows of locust or other trees, which planted on the edge of the causeway, from a most delightful shade, and take aw^ay the glare of the brick buildings, he is struck immediate- ly with the air of simplicity, yet strength and durability which all the public edifices possess, while the private dwellings with their neat white marble steps and win- dow-sills bespeak wealth and respectability. The neat- ness, too, of the dress of every individual, with the total absence of those lazy and dirty vagabonds who ever in- fest our towns, and loiter about the corners of all the public streets, passing insolent remarks upon every well- dressed man, or even unattended female, impress a foreigner w'ith a most pleasing and favourable idea of an American city. The river in front of the town is about a mile wide, ■ but the channel is considerably contracted by an island which extends nearly the full length of the town, and consequently renders the navigation more intricate. It is prettily planted with trees, and a ship has been run ashore at one end, and converted into a tavern, a house being raised upon the upper deck. It was quite a gala day, numerous steam-vessels and rowing boats, proceed- ing up the stream to Kensington (part of the suburbs,) and we arrived just in time to see a large ship of 600 tons burthen glide gracefully from the stocks. I w^as recommended by an American gentleman to an hotel in the principial street, where I was immediately accommodated with a room. It will scarcely be out of place to mention here, that the bed-rooms in the hotels in the United States are not, generally speaking, so large, comfortable, or well furnished as those in English houses , but the establishments themselves, with regard to size and capacity for accommodating numbers, far ex- ceed those in England. In America much comfort is sacrificed for the purpose of admitting numerous guests into the house : a private sitting-room, or separate meals, are scarcely to be had, and then only at a high price ; and, therefore, as almost every one is under the necessi- 32 A subaltern's furlough. ty of dining at the table d^hote, a large hotel presents a scene of great confusion and bustle. At the one in which I resided during my stay at Philadelphia, there were about a hundred persons at each meal, and the ma- jority of them being merchants, from the back settle- ments, on their summer trip to purchase articles for their customers in the west, lawyers and shopkeepers (or " storekeepers," as they term themselves, a "shopkeeper" being only a retailer on a small scale), they devoured their meals with a most astonishing rapidity ; and va- nished instanter to their offices and counters, intent upon business alone. I was lost in admiration, and nearly lost my dinner, too, the first few days I was ashore, in watching the double-quick masticating movements of my vis^d-vis; I truly believe that one-third of the people had disappeared ere my soup was cool. A young man, who opens a store, if a bachelor, has seldom any other apart- ment than the shop he rents, while he boards and sleeps at an hotel, paying generally about 400 dollars (841. sterling) per annum, if at a large and respectable one ; the board for occasionel lodgers being one and a half dollar (6s. 3c?.) per day. It is not customary in most towns to make any extra remuneration to the waiters or other servants of the establishment ; but of late years, this bad habit, like many others from the mother country, has been creeping into the cities on the coast ; and though the servants do not actually request any, yet they usually expect it : they are generally Irish emigrants, or half castes, if I may use an eastern term ; for though, during my stay in the United States, I did not enter less than a hundred hotels, I never saw a waiter whom I could as- certain to be a free-born American ; their pride not allow- ing them to fill such places. In country villages, where the attendants are females, I have frequently seen the one waiting upon me at the dinner -table, take a chair near the window, or the other end of the room, and read a newspaper until she observed I required any thing ; but during my whole travels, I never knew a waiting- man take a similar liberty. The breakfast hour is usually from seven until nine o'clock, dinner at two or three, tea from six to seven, A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 33 and supper from nine to twelve ; the table at each meal being most substantially provided. Even at breakfast there is a profusion of beef-steaks, cutlets, mutton-chops, eggs, fish, fowls, Indian bread, flour bread, sweet cakes, cheese, sweetmeats, and a mess of other et ceteras ; but little wine is drank at dinner, though spirits are placed upon the table without any extra charge being made to consumers. Yet since the institution of the Temperance Societies, the use of ardent spirits amongst the higher classes of society has been almost laid aside. I have seen a range of well filled spirit decanters placed upon the dinner-table before upwards 150 people and not a single stopper removed. The strongest proof, however, of the great decrease of the use of ardent spirits, appears from the following returns of the number of gallons im- ported into the United States during seven successive years, In Gallons. 1824 , , 5,285,047 1825 4,114,046 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 3,322,380 3,465,302 4,446,698 2,462,303 1,095,488 Many hotels have " Temperance House" inscribed in large gilded letters over the door or sign, as a notice that wines and malt liquor only can be obtained there. Like all other new institutions the Temperance Socie- ties had their enthusiasts at first. Abstinence Societies emanated from them, the members binding themselves to drink pure water only ; and, in some churches, nei- ther males nor females were admitted to the communion unless they had enrolled themselves amongst the mem- bers of one or other; society. All these bigoted absurdi- ties a,re now softened down into wholesome and sound regulations. Wines are generally high priced, and not of the first quality,ilso that little of any thing is drank during dinner. But in the old-fashioned hotels, where Temperance Societies have not any sway, the bar, dur- 34 A subaltern's furlough. ing the intervals between meals, is besieged by a host of applicants for iced mint-julaps, brandy, egg-nog, gin- cocktail, rum and v/ater, gin and water, Port san- garee, and all the various combinations and mixtures of liquors imaginable. When a foreigner (as was the case not unfrequently with myself) finds himself established for two or three days in such a house as this, he must summon his full stock of nerve and resolution to enable him to withstand the dense fumes of tobacco smoke, with which his apartment is fumigated, and to breathe an at- mosphere strongly impregnated with the conjoined scent of the above mixtures. The intolerable habit of chew- ing tabacco is very prevalent amongst the storekeepers, and lower grades of society, but I think it is almost con- fined to them ; the very act of mastication itself (tremen- dously as it is here performed) is not half so offensive to the eyes of a foreigner as the results arising from it. In a country, however, where there is ostensibly no dis- tinctive gradation of classes in the people, one must of hecessity sometimes, as on board steamers and canal boats, mix with the canaille ; but I will bear witness that I never even then observed any impropriety, or, during the whole time I was in America, received the slightest insult from (what I will term) the lower orders, and to which individuals, and especially foreigners, are so sub- ject in my native country. It is singular to see the footing upon which a land- lord at an inn is with his customers — appearing rather to confer than receive a favour, by admitting them into his house. At dinner, he frequently takes the head of the table, drinks his wine, and asks those sitting near to take a glass with him ; chats, and laughs away, and sits longer after the cloth has been removed than nine-tenths of his guests. Upon first landing, I was much struck with the per- sonal appearance of the people, as being tall, slim, nar- row-shouldered, whiskerless, and narrow-chested, with high cheek bones, sharp, sallow features, and a slouch- ing, relaxed kind of walk. I think narrow shoulders and sharp features may be deemed characteristic of the natives of the Atlantic states ; one never seeing any such sturdy, robust, rosy-faced, John Bull sort of people FURLOUGH. 35 as Britain produces. Their costume, also, differs much, every man invariably wearing trowsers, and the lower orders being better dressed than people in the same walks of life in England. As it was summer, most people had white straw hats, with broad brims, the back part over the collar of the coat, turned up like a shovel hat, giving the wearer a most grotesque appearance ; a great proportion of the young men wore spectacles, and weak eyes appeared very prevalent. The first evening I was ashore, I attended the Arch Street Theatre (the most fashionable one, the Chesnut, being closed), for the purpose of seeing Mr. Hackett, who was in high repute with his countryman, perform the part of " Nimrod Wildfire," in the " Raw Kentu- kian ; or, Lion of the West." The play is intended to censure and correct the rousfh manners of the States west of the Alleghany mountains, and delighted the audience exceedingly : though to me the greater part of the dia- logue consisted of unintelligible idioms. Mr. Hackett possessed great talent for broad comedy ; and I w^as in- formed that the effect of his performance in the West was such as to excite a strong feeling against him ; and so incensed the "half-horse, half-aligator boys," "the yellow flowers of the forest," as the call themselves, that they threatened "to row him up Salt river," if he ventured a repetition of the objectionable performance. I was sorry, however, to see rather a bad feeling dis- played towards the old country. In various parts of the performance frequent allusions were made to circum- stances which oug'ht loni'' to have been buried in ob- livion ; and which could only tend to diminish, or rather prevent, mutual good-will. These allusions, which ever told against the English, were much applauded by the audience. The theatre is a fine builcling, with white marble front, and columns of the same beautiful material, supporting a frieze of the Doric order ; and the interior arrangements are excellent. There are also two more in the city, superior in external appearance, and more ca- pacious within than any of the minor theatres in Lon- don, and all are well attended. 36 A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. The 3d of June was so cold and rainy a Sunday, as to remind me of Washington living's description of that passed by him at the little town of Derby ; but here there were neither the " ducks paddling about the inn-yard, the hostlers and post-boys lounging about the stable-doors, or the bells chiming for church." In vain did I stand at the window looking into the flooded street ; there was not a coach passed by the live-long day, and but one peal of bells in the city, those at the old English Christ Church ; while the ringing of the solitary bell at each of the other meeting-houses and churches of all denomina- tions, sounded more like a toll of the passing-bell, and added to the gloominess occasioned by the weather. As evening set in, I followed the example of the author of the Sketch Book, and took up a newspaper ; but reading only "molasses," "flour," "whiskey," "pork," "bagging and bale rope," or the not more interesting news of " the President's speech has arrived in England, and a bitter pill it is for an Englishman to digest," &c., I turned over to the advertisements, generally the most amusing part of an American paper ; a runaway apprentice being adver- tised " as fond of pressing down the bed in the morning, with a reward of one cent, (a half-penny,) and no charges offered for his apprehension." Printers were cautioned against a swindler, who was thus described : — " He stole his trunk, &c. out of my house last night, and he has gone away without paying the tailor's bill or his board bill. — Said Rogers is about twenty-three years of age, has red hair, fair skin, and a large homely mouth; the upper teeth jutting over very much. He plays the flute, and makes some pretensions as a poet ! but it is easy to see that he is a plagiarist. It is presumed that editors inte- rested for the character of the trade, will give the above a few insertions. ''3 times. "John Cromwell." The following morning I was engaged in passing what little baggage I had brought with me through the Custom House, which was done with but little trouble or vexation, as there were no inquisitive searchers who make it a point to pry into every writing-desk, dressing-case, and carpet- A subaltern's furlough. 37 bag". In the evening I again attended the theatre to wit- ness the performance of the " Gladiator," a Philadelphian tragedy, from the pen of Dr. Bird. The principal cha- racter was sustained by Forrest, the Roscius of the Ame- rican stage; but I was quite unable to judge either of the merits of the actor, or the play itself; for being rather late, the house was so excessively crowded, and the gen- tlemen, with scarcely an exception, wearing their hats in the dress circle, I could only obtain an occasional view of the stage. I at first attributed the latter to want of due respect to the ladies, but afterwards came to the more charitable conclusion, that it was an ancient custom be- queathed to them by their Quaker forefathers. I caught one glimpse of the star of the night, and he appeared to possess a fine figure, but farther, deponent knoweth not. An American gentleman told me that Forrest intended to cross the Atlantic, and introduce the " Gladiator " upon the English stage ; and that, if we could only divest our- selves of national prejudices, he must succeed, for the play was so admirably written, and so excellently per- formed ! But when I asked him, a few evenings after- wards, to accompany me to see young Kean, in the part of Cloten, in Cymbeline, which he was performing for the benefit of an American actor, and was received by the audience in a most flattering manner, he declined in the following words ; " No ; J make it a point never to see any thing English, only what is truly American, performed." VOL. 1. — 'ID, 38 A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER III. Though no proud gates, with China's taught to vie Magnificently useless strike the eye : What though no arch of triumph is assign'd To laurell'd pride, whose sword has thinn'd mankind ? Lo structures mark the charitable soil For casual ill, maim'd valour, feeble toil, Worn out with care, infirmity, and age, T he hfe here entering, quitting there the stage. Savage. I NOW commenced visiting all the public institutions. Of charitable societies the number is amazing ; probably no city in the world, of the same population, possesses an equal number. It may be truly said, that it deserves its name, of " Philadelphia ;" there are upwards of thirty humane institutions and societies for the relief of the poor and orphans, besides above 150 mutual benefit societies, on the principle of the English clubs ; being associations of tradesmen and artizans for the support of each other in sickness, each member contributing monthly or weekly a small sum to the general fund. Of the pub- lic institutions the" Pennsylvania Hospital" is on the most extensive scale. It is situated in a central part of the city, near Washington Square, and was founded eighty- two years since, Benjamin Franklin being its greatest promoter. It contains an excellent library of about 7000 volumes ; and it is calculated that about 1400 pa- tients are annually admitted into it, of which number three-fifths are paupers ; the remainder paying for the advantages they derive from the institution. The build- ing occupies an immense extent of ground, and on three sides of it an open space is left for a free circulation of air : the west end of the building is a ward for insane patients, of whom there are generally more than 100. The necessary funds for the support of the Hospital are derived from the interest of its capital stock, and from the exhibition of West's splendid painting of Christ A subaltern's furlough. 39 Healing the Sick, which produces about 500 dollars per annum, and is exhibited in a building on the northern side of the Hospital Square. The artist intended to have presented the original painting to this Hospital, but his poverty could not withstand the offer of 3000/. made for it in England ; and it was sold with the proviso that he should take a copy, which was the one now exhibited here, and presented conditionally that it should be placed in a house of certain dimensions, and that the proceeds from its exhibition, being a charge of one shilling sterling for each person, should be added to the Hospital funds. The painting, which contains fifty-eight figures, is about 16 by 9 feet, and with two small marine pieces, which he painted when a child, occupies a room in the second floor of a brick building, with the light admitted from the roof The woman who has charge of it has most probably been wearied by tedious visitors, for she did not even accompany me up stairs, but left me to admire its beauties without interruption. On the opposite side of the Hospital, in the open square, IS a fine statue of Penn, executed in England ; and on the western side is the public Almshouse, with Infirmary attached, another huge pile of building, capable of con- taining 1600 inmates ; but not being considered suffi- ciently extensive, and objections being made to its present situation, a new one is erecting on the rising ground at the opposite side of the Schuylkill river, capable of con- taining 3000. The institution is supported by a rate upon the people, and the average number of inmates is considerably above 1000. There were many lunatics in one of the wards, where I saw a man with most forbid- ding countenance feeding a poor girl who was chained to the wall, and her hands confined in a strait waistcoat; but I was assured that such severe measures were but seldom, and blows never, had recourse to. The majo- rity of the insane patients were confined from mania- potu, their number increasing as the warm weather approached. I asked one of them, who appeared rather sensible of his wretched state, how he felt. His answer was, " much better, but (shutting his eyes and conceal- 40 A subaltern's furlough. ingf his face on the pillow) I have such horrid dreams :" never was Shakspeare's " Oh, that men should put an enemy into their mouths, to steal away their brains !" more dreadfully illustrated. The various wards appear- ed remarkably clean, and great attention was paid to the inmates. I was at first rather surprised to see a small tread-wheel in an out-building, which was however used only for grinding grain, and not as a mode of punish- ment. By th':s taking advantage of the labour of some few able people, and of some mechanics in the work- shops attached, part of the expenses of the institution are defray eu. Strangers are admitted to view the institution for the deaf and dumb, a short distance from the almshouse, during certain days of the week, upon making application to one of the directors. It was only incorporated eleven years since, and endov/ed by a grant from the legislature, with an additional provision for the annual payment of 160 dollars for four years, for the support of each child admitted, with the provision that such annual payment shauld "^.ot exceed 8000 dollars (1650/. sterling,) the sum originally granted. The children, of whom there are about eighty, are instructed in various manufactures, and receive a good moral education. The Museum, commenced by Charles Peale, a private individual, occupies the two upper stories of a building, called the Arcade, and contains an excellent collection of stuffed quadrupeds and birds, also the most perfect skeleton of a mammoth in the world ; the few bones which Avere not perfect, or could not be found, being supplied by an excellent imitation in wood. The ske- leton was discovered in a morass, in Ulster County, state of New- York, in 1798, and was dug out of it after much labour and expense by the founder of the Museum, in 180i. Two paintings represent the machinery which was used for pumping out the water, and raising the enormous skeleton. There is a tradition respecting the anim.al as delivered in the terms of a Shawanee Indian, who described the terrific monster as follows :— " Tea A subaltern's furlough, 41 thousand moons ago, when nought but gloomy forests covered this land of the slanting sun, long before the pale men, with thunder and fire at their command, rushed on the wings of the wind, to ruin the garden of nature — when nought but the untamed wanderers of the woods, and men as unrestrained as they, were the lords of the soil — a race of animals were in being, huge as the frowning precipice, cruel as the bloody panther, swift as the descending eagle, and terrible as the angel of night — the pines crashed beneath their feet, and the lake shrunk when they slaked their thirst ; the powerful javelin in vain was hurled, and the barbed arrow fell harmless from their side. Forests were laid waste at a meal, the groans of expiring animals were everywhere heard, and whole villages inhabited by man were destroyed in a moment," &c. &c. The skeleton of an elephant which is placed by its side, appears a very diminutive animal. Amongst the objects of curiosity are Washington's sash, presented by himself, an obelisk of wood from the elm tree under which Penn made his treaty with the Indians, in 1680, and a manuscript poem of Major Andre's, written but two months previous to his execution. It is a satire upon the failure of General Wayne, in an expedition which he commanded for the purpose of collecting cattle for the American army : it is entitled the " Cow Chase," and the first stanza is almost copied literally fiom the old English Ballad of " Chevy Chase." He is very se- vere upon the American General, amongst whose cap- tured baggage, he enumerates the following articles : " His Congress dollars, and his prog, His military speeches, His Conistock whiskey for his grog, Black stockings and silk breeches." and concludes his Poem with a check to his satire — " Lest this same warrior-drover, Wayne, Should catch the poet, and hang him." It is a singular fact that the the militia-men who took the unfortunate Andre prisoner, were a party from the array under the immediate command of Wayne; his 43 A subaltern's furlough. subsequent unhappy fate is too well known. There is also an interesting gallery of 200 original portraits, principally of those who signed the Declaration of In- dependence, and the officers who figured in the revolu- tionary war, during which period most of the likenesses were taken. The lower part of the Arcade, which was built for shops, has caused a severe pecuniary loss to the stockholders, who asked too high a rent for them in the first instance, so that not one-half of them were let, and the mania for visiting the building has long since died away. It is a beautiful structure, with marble fronts of 100 feet, and 150 deep ; costing, together with the ground, upwards of 160,000 dollars (34,000?. sterling.) The State House, which has one front in Chesnut Street, and the other in Independence Square, is the most interesting building in the city, and being more than a century old, bears some marks of antiquity : it occupies a great extent of ground, having the courts and public offices attached. There is a thoroughfare through the ground floor from the street into the square, until nine o'clock at night, when the gates are closed. On one side of it is the Mayor's Court, which was hold- ing one of its four stated sessions at this time ; and on the opposite side is the room in which the celebrated Decla- ration of Independence was drawn up, and which vras read from the steps in front of the building on the 4th of July, 1776. Some Goth in office modernized the room, for the purpose, as I was informed, of giving his nephew a job, and tore down all the old pannelling and pillars which supported the ceiling, and substituted a coating of plaster and paint. It is a matter of surprise to me that the inhabitants ever permitted such a profanation, being generally so proud of their revolutionary relics and deeds of arms. Those who now have charge of the building are busily engaged in discarding every indica- tion of their predecessors' taste, and are restoring the room to its original state. At the upper end of it, there is a wooden statue of Washington — the work of a cutter of ships' figure heads. The profile is considered excellent, and he is represented with his right foot upon the torn A, subaltern's furlough, 43 bond which cemented the colonies to the mother country. On the pedestal is the following inscription : " First in War, First in Peace, F^rst in the hearts of his Countrymen." It is intended to fill a vacant niche behind the figure, if' ( which formerly contained the arms of England, with a brass plate bearing the Declaration of Independence as an inscription. The building is surmounted b}^ a tower, the lower part of which is brick ; and the upper, of wood, was added in 1828, imitating as closely as possi- ble the original one, which, being much decayed, was taken down soon after the Revolution. I had a very talkative old man to show me over it, who was a per- fect match for any of our Westminster, St. Paul's, or Tower guides. The bell in the brick tower was cast in 1753, Avith the following inscription upon it, well speaking the spirit of the times, which did not, however, burst forth until after the expiration of 20 years : — " Proclaim liberty in the land to all the inhabitants thereof. — Le- viticus, 25 chap. 10 verse. By order of the Assembly of the Pro- vince of Pennsylvania, for the State House of Philadelphia." My old conductor rested one hand upon a supporter, while I was copying the above inscription, and then fa- voured me with a long dissertation upon the blessings of liberty, and an abusive tirade against the English, winding up his discourse with informing me that the bell Avas rung when the Catholics gained their liberty in the old country. He took me up to the wooden tower, and descanted largely on the fine mechanism of the clock ; how many revolutions such a wheel performed in a mi- nute, and the thickness of each bar in the works ; how, when he discovered a fire in the city, he tolled the bell, so as to inform the inhabitants in what quarter it was. One toll signified north, two south, three east, and four west ; making a short pause between the tolls, as, one, and after a short interval of time, three in rapid suc- cession, siq^nified north-east; the streets running towards 44 A subaltern's furlough. the cardinal points, the situation of the fire could be easily ascertained by the firemen. Having then led me on to the outer gallery of the tower, and pointed out the various buildings in the panorama beneath, and after ex- pressing his sorrow that the room where Congress sat during the greater part of the immortal struggle for free- dom should have been mutilated, we parted. I attended the District Court, which was sitting in a large carpeted room on the second floor, to witness the trial of an information, filed by the Attorney of the Unit- ed States, against goods landed without being mention- ed in the ship's invoice. There were not more than twenty people present when I entered, and a counsel, attired in a blue coat and black stock, was commencing his address to the jury: he possessed great fluency of language, and spoke warmly in defence of his client, an Englishman. On a marble slab, in a recess at the back of the judges' seat, is the following inscription to the memory of Washington's nephew : "This Tablet records the affection and respect Of the Members of the Philadelphia Bar, for BUSHROD WASHINGTON, An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, alike distinguished For simplicity of manners And purity of heart, Fearless, dignified, and enlightened as a Judge, No influence or interest Could touch his integrity or Bias his judgment, A zealous Patriot and a Pious Christian. He died at Philadelphia, On the 26th of November, A. D. 1829, Leaving his professional brethren A spotless fame, And to his country The learning, labour, and wisdom, Of a long judicial life." Independence Square, about 270 paces each way, is prettily laid out with walks and fine trees, and surroun- ded by a strong iron railing ; but Washington, the ad- A subaltern's furlough. 45 joining one, is both larger and a more fashionable pro- menade, being crowded between the hours of live and six in the evening with elegantly dressed females. The greatest objection to the manner in which all the squares are laid out is, that the grass is allowed to grow ; and when I was in Philadelphia, labourers were making hay in them. In this, as in other instances, the Americans prefer profit to appearances, or even comfort. A statue or monument is shortly to grace the centre of Washing- ington square, which w^as a burial ground, or Potter's- field, as it is termed, during the time the yellow-fever raged so violently in the city, at the end of the last cen- tury. The twenty-first annual exhibition of the Pennsylva- nia Academy of Fine Arts was holding in a spacious building constructed for the express purpose, containing a fine rotunda with dome, and several galleries for paint- ings and statues, or casts from celebrated busts : there are several specimens of Canova's and Chantrey's sculp- ture in the collection, which is extensive ; but I was no judge of its value, nor could the catalogue which I pur- chased at the door, give me much information as to the sculptors' names. Amongst the paintings, were some by Salvator Rosa, Vandyke, Rembrandt, West, Shee (Pre- sident R. A.,) Leslie (R. A.,) and a large one of " The dead Man restored to Life, by touching the bones of the prophet Elisha," by Washington Alston; but the greater proportion of the remainder displayed little talent — the portraits were young and stiff performances ; but I was probably more inclined to be fastidious from having so lately viewed West's noble effort ; and left the gallery with a very mean opinion of American artists in gene- ral. The great lion, however, of Philadelphia, is the enor- mous line-of-battle ship, the Pennsylvania, w^hich is on the stocks in the Navy-yard at the lower extremity of the city. I took advantage of the kindness of an officer in the American service, to walk over it ; and he also favoured me with its dimensions : — the keel was laid in 1822, and the vessel finished to its present state in seven years ; the timber being exposed to a free circulation of 46 air for the prevention of dry rot ; it could, however, be prepared for sea in six months. The shed which protects it from the weather is 270 feet in length, 105 in height and 84 in breadth, with a reservoir at the top of the roof, which can be filled with water by means of a force- pump, the city water- works throwing it within 15 feet of the summit. The upper deck is 220 feet in length, and no forecastle ; the extreme breadth of beam 58 feet ; depth from spar deck to keelson, 44 feet 4 inches ; and draft of water 27 feet 6 inches. Her decks are 7 feet high, and from the orlop to the gun-deck is 7 feet 4 inches. The anchors were wrought at Plymouth, Mas- sachusetts, and the sheet anchor weighs 10,171 lbs. When manned, she will carry a crew of 1500, including 120 marines, and from 140 to 100 guns ; but is rated at the former number, 70 of which are 32-pounders weigh- ing 61 cwt. each ; 38 42-pound carronades of 27 cwt., and 32 42-pounders weighing 76 cwt. 1 qr. each. The spars for it are not yet made, but the main-mast will be 135 feet in height, and 44 inches in diameter; and the extreme height from the keelson to the summit of the flag-pole, upwards of 300 feet : the guns were cast at Georgetown, near the city of Washington. Another shed near it contains a double-banked fri- gate of 60 guns, whose keel was laid in 1819, and could be fitted out for sea in forty days : the state cabins are panneled with mahogany and white maple ; the gun carriages of white, and the principal timbers of green oak : both vessels are considered by the Americans as well-built, and the frigate as a perfect model. Much trouble will be experienced in launching them ; for, the stocks being situated in a bight of the river, the mud has collected in great quantities from the eddies of the tide, and dry land is forming quickly between the keels and the river. The operation of reclaiming a large space of land about two miles in length, by a quarter in breadth, adjoining the Navy-yard, was taking place at this time. It appeared that some speculating person had obtained a grant of it, much to the chagrin of the land owners on the river's bank, who considered that their title extended to low, instead of, as was decided by law. to high-water 47 mark ; the fortunate speculator thus gained possession of a great space of land, which before the lapse of many years will be thickly covered with houses. The old hulk of the Cyane, of 36 guns, a trophy dur- ing the late war, is moored alongside the pier near the frigate, though it can scarcely be kept afloat, and is quite unserviceable. The Navy-yard is small, compared to any of those in England, but considerable additions were making: the barracks in it will contain 150 men, and from 60 to 70 were doing duty there at this time ; their undress uniform, a shabby-looking French gray, gave them any thing but a military appearance ; their full-dress of dark blue is much neater, nor could I ever understand why it was not usually worn. A fine Marine Asylum is building near the road to Gray's Ferry, a short distance from the city, on a most capacious plan ; the front of it being little less than 400 feet in length, and a broad double verandah upon two sides. The scenery in the immediate vicinity of Philadelphia is tame and uninteresting, with the exception of one or two spots on the banks of the Schuylkill, where the face of the country is rather more broken and abrupt ; assum- ing in some places rather a romantic appearance. Advantage has been taken of these by gentlemen who have laid out their grounds with good taste, and much improved their farms by adopting the English system of agriculture. The citizens are permitted to walk through the gardens at certain seasons of the yeai — a liberty which to their credit is but little abused. The greatest lounge, however, for the inhabitants, appears to be the Fair Mount Water-works, upon the excellence of which they very justly pride themselves ; and at last, having expended a million of dollars in experiments, they have discovered a plan at once economical and serviceable. All attempts having failed, at an enormous expense, to supply the demand for water in the city, it was deter- mined to lay aside the use of steam for the introduction of water power ; and the present works were com- menced in 1819, by throwing a dam 1500 feet in length, at an obtuse angle across the Schuylkill, so as to be less 48 A subaltern's furlough. exposed to the force of the current. A mill 238 feet in length, containing several double forcing-pumps, is situ- ated immediately below the dam on the left bank of the river, with a race-way to lead the water over eight wheels about sixteen feet in diameter, which can force nearly seven millions of gallons of water per day into the reservoir on the summit of a hill, 100 feet above the level of the river, and 50 above the highest part of the city. They contain nearly twenty millions of gallons ; and the present consumption of water does not exceed two millions, and in the winter months one million per day. The expenses of the mill are but four dollars (Ws. Sd.,) two men being sufficient to attend the works ; while that of steam was 206 dollars per day, and did not raise half the quantity. The Corporation are improving the gardens attached to the works, by the introduction of fountains, statues, &c. They are a place of great resort for strangers, to whom the simple and ingenious machine- ry proves very interesting, and the gates are daily be- set by a large assemblage of carriages. A w^ooden bridge of a single arch, of the enormous span of 340 feet, cross- es the Schuylkill in the immediate vicinity of the water- works ; being fifteen feet narrower in the centre than at the abutments ; with a roof and windows at the sides, which are walled in, as a protection against the weather; it presents a singular appearance to a person who has been accustomed to more substantial, but lighter-looking structures. There is a second wooden bridge nearly a mile below this one, with three arches and stone piers ; a marble obelisk at one extremity of it states that the cost of its construction was 300,000 dollars (62,500?.^ and recounts the great hardships and fatigue the workmen experienced in laying the foundation of the piers : the length of the bridge with its abutments, is 1300 feet ; the space of the centre arch being 195, and the width of the road upon it 42 feet. One of the piers was commen- ced in the middle of winter, 800,000 feet of timber being employed in the construction of the cofFer-dam : the ma- sonry of the pier was begun on Christmas day, 1802, and finished to low water mark in 41 days and nights ; though the foundation was on the rock at the amazing A subaltern's furlough. 49 depth of 41 feet below the surface of the water ; being, it is supposed, the greatest depth at which regular ma- sonary has ever been constructed. Seven months were occupied in preparing the dam and repairing damages : the subaqueous work consuming in fact a great propor- tion of the expenditure. I had heard much of the expertness of the Philadelphia firemen, and feared I should be disappointed in my hopes of witnessing it. A few days, however, before I quitted the city, hearing the alarm-bell, I ran out, and, remembering the old man's instructions at the State House, took the requisite direction. Though I hurried as speedily as possible to the scene of action, when I arriv- ed, UDwards of fifteen engines and hose-carriages were in full play upon the fire, which had gained considerable head : but such an immense flood of water was poured upon it, that it was shortly extinguished. I afterwards walked to the house in which the carriage of the American Hose Company was kept, when some of the members very kindly drew out the carriage, and gave me a copy of the rules and by-laws they had established. It was decorated and painted in a most costly manner, and, with 1000 feet of hose, had been purchased for 1500 dollars (250/.,) bearing the well-executed classical device of the car of Tydides and Nestor at the siege of Troy, as represented in Westall's (R. A.) painting, and the mo^^to "non sibi sed omnibus." The other carriages were all neatly painted and decorated in a similar manner. There are about thirty engine and sixteen hose companies ; but all the firemen, unlike those in other cities, are volunteers, and defray the expenses of their engines from their own private funds ; the first com- pany of the kind being established by Dr. Franklin. The hose formed upon the same spirited principle as the engine companies, were established for the purpose of supplying the latter with water in greater quantities than the old system of carrying it in buckets. Each car- riage has a large cylindrical roller in the centre, round which the hose is lapped, with brass screws and joints at intervals of about 50 feet through its entire length. One end is screwed into a street plug, and the water VOL, I. — E. 50 A 'subaltern's FURLOUGH; forced through the hose to the engine, which can have? a greater supply of water than required. The hose companies who arrive first at the fire taking the nearest plugs, lend their surplus hose to the last comers, who are thus enahled to bring the water from almost any distance in the adjoining streets. There are about 100 members in each company, generally young merchants and tradesmen, amongst whom there is a great esprit de corps, and anxiety to reach a fire before any other com- pany. Fines are imposed upon members who "attend upon such occasions unequipped in their thick water- proof dress, and glazed hat, with badge upon it, or who leave a fire without permission from a director ;. and there are many other similar regulations. Each member also pays a certain sum upon his entrance into the company, and a small annual subscription. It was an interesting sight to witness the regularity with which the various companies moved rapidly through the streets at night to the place where their services were required, by the lights of numerous torches, and with the ringing of the large bells suspended from the cars ; and, after the fire was extinguished, all moved away to their respec- tive station-houses, where the roll was called over, to ascertain the absentees. Such an enthusiastic public spirit is doubtless kept alive only by the constant call for the services of the young men ; and every fire will tend to diminish it in some degree, an edict having been lately passed, by wh'ch a heavy fine is imposed upon any one erecting a frame house within the limits of the city. The Bank of the United States (or, as the American?' term it, Uncle Sam's strong box) was commenced in 1819, after the plan of the Parthenon at Athens, omitting most of the merely decorative parts of the building ; and is situated in Chesnut-street, the most fashoinable street in the city. The building is entirely of white mar- ble (161 by 87 feet,) the porticoes at each end being sup- ported by eight Doric columns, each 27 feet in height, and 4 feet 6 inches in diameter. "When viewed by moon light, I think I never saw any thing more soft or beautiful. The banking-room, in the centre of the A subaltern's furlough. 51 building", is 81 by 48, and 35 feet in height, with a t€sselated floor of American and Italian marble ; upon each side of it are rooms for the directors, engravers, and copper-plate printers. The capital of the bank is 35,030,003 dollars, or rather more than 7i millions ster- ling, divided into 350,003 shares of 100 dollars each ; the Government being proprietors of one-fifth. It has twenty-two branch banks, distributed in various parts of the Union. Great consternation was created amongst the directors, during my residence in the country, by the promulgation of General Jackson's veto upon the bank charter, which will expire in 1836. The original charter was granted for twenty years ; and a bill for renewing it from the 3d of March, 1836, had passed both houses of Congress, but did not receive the assent of the President. His veto most fully laid before the people his rea ons for taking so decisive a step ; some of the strongest being, that, " out of twenty-five millions of private stock in the corporation, eight and a half millions were held by foreigners, mostly of Great Britain ;" and that from two to five millions of specie crossed the Atlantic every year to pay the bank dividends ; that, out of the twenty- five directors of the bank, twenty were chosen by the citizens stockholders, — all foreign stockholders being excluded from having any voice in these elections ; that foreigners already possessed about one-third of the stock ; and that the entire control of the institution would necessarily fall into the hands of a few citizen stock- holders ; and the ease with which the object would be accomplished, would be a temptation to designing men to secure the control in their own hands, by monopolizing the remaining stock ; and thus would there be the danger of the President and Directors being able to elect themselves from year to year, and manage the whole concerns of the bank, without responsibility or control ; and that great evils might arise to the country from such a concentration of power, in the hands of a few men, who were not responsible to the people. Should the stock of the bank pass into the hands of foreigners, and the United States be at war with their country, their own funds would be used in support of the hostile 53 A subaltern's furlough. fleets and armies. — The President then recommends a bank purely American, and thinks it would be expedient to prohibit the sale of its stock to foreigners, under penalty of absolute forfeiture ; he says, too, that it is no argument in favour of re-chartering the bank, " that the calling in its loans will produce great distress ; for, if it has been well managed, the pressure will be light in winding up the concerns ; and, if badly managed, the severity of the pressure will be the fault of the bank, and it must be responsible ; and that, if it produce distress, it will furnish a reason against renewing a power which has been so obviously abused." From the day this veto was issued, the popular cry became, " Down with the bank, and no English lords, or moneyed aristocracy." FURLOUGH. 53 CHAPTER IV. !No eye hath seen such scarecrows ! I would not march through Coventry with them, that's flat. Shakspeare. He feeds yon alms-house, neat, but "void of state, Where age and want sit smiling at the gate ; Him portion'd maids, apprenticed ophans blest, Tlie young who labour, and the old who rest. Pope. As he passed by Coldbath Fields, he saw A solitary ceil — And the Devil was charm'd, for it gave him a hint For improving the prisons of hell. PORSOK. The Philadelphians, and I think I may include the Americans in general, have a great rage for playing at soldiers, and fondness for military display : scarcely a day elapsed on which I did not see either the Jackson Guards, Hibernian Greens, Washington Greys, Philadel- phia Blues, or some such named troops, parading with bands of music up one street and down another, until they had run nearly the gauntlet of the whole city, w^hen they were dismissed. There was nothing objectionable in their appearance as volunteers, for all were particu- larly well clothed, with clean and neat accoutrements ; and, as to stature, many were exceedingly fine-looking companies; but although they could keep step in march- ing, diminish their front in a narrow part of the street, and wheel to the right and left at the corners tolerably well, yet the words of command which were frequently given savoured but little of a military education, or as if much attention had been paid to the study of the evolu- tions. They have also a singular custom (certainly well adapted for keeping up a feeling of good will be- tween different States) of entire companies visiting each other; and they are frequently put to considerable ex- pense in providing for visitors upon so extensive a scale. I saw a company of the State Fencibles about seventy E* 54 A subaltern's furlough. strong, with a negro band of music at their head, leave Philadelphia on a visit to some Boston troops at the dis- tance of three hundred miles, where they would be most hospitably treated, and live at the expense of those to whom the visit was made. The Bostonians would pro- bably in the course of the summer return the compliment in due form. It may be supposed that these visits create a great stir in the city ; one company escorts another into the place, and several others accompany it to see the different sights ; their bands give the citizens a musical treat at the theatre ; and the corps have more marching and parading, in a ten days' visit, than a regiment of the line would have to undergo in a whole month of peaceable times. When the State Fencibles embarked on board the steamer which was to convey them forty miles up the Delaware, the vessels at anchor, the wharfs, streets, and houses were filled with spectators, who, as the steamer pushed off, and the band struck up the national air of " Yankee Doodle," gave three such exliilarating cheers that a person might have imagined the detach- ment was proceeding upon some dangerous expedition, instead of a feasting and sight-seeing visit to their breth- ren '• down East." These volunteer corps are com- posed of respectable young men, who form themselves into companies, for the purpose of avoiding being called out to the militia trainings, which take place annually, and which are generally much more ludicrous than is re- presented even in England, and where the citizen sol- diers learn more that w^ould unfit them for actual service, in one training, than six months' severe good drill would break ihem of The system is altogether deprecated by every reasonable man in the United States; and all exer- tions are made to cast ridicule upon, and bring it into dis- repute. One man will appear upon parade with a top- boot on one leg, a silk stocking on the other, and a broom-stick over liis shoulder ; \vhile his rear-rank man has one arm labelled " right," the other " left," a wooden sword, a pair of green spectacles, and no coat. I'he offi- cers being appointed by votes, an ostler at a small ta- vern in Philadelphia bore the high commission of Colo- nel, and was carried about the country in a raree-show, A subaltern's furlough. 55 as the gallant Colonel Pluck. A regiment also appear- ed in New- York, clothed in every imaginable costume, from a bare-legged Highlander down to the turbanned Turk. Some poor man, however, had a greater mar- tinet for a captain than is generally the case, and was ordered off parade to change his dress, and return pro- perly equipped, " which order (to use the man's own words) he considered unmilitary and illegal, and there- fore respectfully declined to obey." For this act of in- subordination he was tried by a court-martial, sentenced to pay a fine often dollars, and, in default thereof, to be imprisoned. He chose the latter alternative : and from his place of confinement addressed a letter to the public, in which, after a statement of his case, he thus describes his dress; — "It was proved to the Court that my equip- ments were strictly according to law — that I had an or- dinary powder-horn, but which the Captain stated was too large for a musket — that my dress w^as as follows : — A gentleman's ordinary haircloth cap — a pair of com- mon spectacles — an ordinary grey mixed cloth coat, which I usually wore in the store in which I am (or I should say was) a clerk — a paper collar, instead of a linen or cotton one, and of the ordinary and usual size, and no larger — a common vest — a pair of brown drill- ing pantaloons, my stockings drawn over instead of under the pantaloons — and shoes tied with a string. The Court imposed a fine of ten dollars, which, consi- dering to be illegal and oppressive, and knowing it to be unjust, I will not have extorted from me ; and, for so declining to surrender my right as a citizen, I am now imprisoned, Avhether legally or not may hereafter appear; for I consider it virtually a lawless and ruth- less violation, not only of my own, but of the personal rights and personal liberty of every citizen of this State," It is rather singular that the Government have not long since dispensed with such asj'stem; for, so long as it continues in vogue, they can scarcely hope to see any thing but mountebanks in place of effective soldiers. The officers of the volunteer companies are also elect- ed by vote, and such as the following is a common ad- vertisement :■ — 56 A subaltern's furlough. "Jacksont Guards — Attention! — You will parade^ completely equipped, to-morrow morning-, at ten o'clock, in front of the Napoleon House: each man provided with thirteen rounds blank cartridge. After parade, an election will take place for one lieutenant-colonel and one captain." On my way to the office of a rail-road, which was opened on the 7th of June, between the city and Ger- man Town, six miles distant, I witnessed a most extra- ordinary mode of selling the stock in some new bank. It was a scene worthy of St. Giles's or Billingsgate: and such as I should never have expected to see in the quiet city of Philadelphia. The manner in which it was disposed of was as follows : the sellers were in a house, with a small aperture in a window shutter, only sufficiently large to admit a man's hand, and through which he delivered his money; but having received his scrip, after a lapse of some time, it was impossible for him to withdraAv through the crowd of purchasers; no one would make way, lest he should thereby lose his chance of ever gaining the window. The only plan then was, that one of his friends threw him the end of a rope, which he fas- tened round his body, and part of the mob, who came as mere lookers-on, dragged him out by main strength, frequently with the loss of the better half of his apparel. Many had, however, come prepared for the worst, by leaving their coats, shirts, and hats, at home. It was here that the strongest went to the wall, and various were the schemes adopted to keep possession. One fel- low had very knowingly brought a gimlet with him, and, boring it into the shutter, held on with one hand, while he fought most manfully v^^ith the other ! A bystander told me that a large party had leafjued together for mutual support, and taken possession of the window the preced- ino- eveninsr; but that a strong-er one attacked them in the morning, and drove them from their position, though not without several heads, arms, and legs, being broken in the affray. It appeared, therefore, that the only chance a peaceable citizen had of obtaining any stock was to hire the greatest bully he could find to fight his battles for him. This scene continued throuo-hout three A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 57 days; and, besides many severe and dangerous wounds which were inflicted in the contest, one man was killed. In consequence, however, of this and similar disturb- ances, meetings of repectable citizens were held, to de- vise means to prevent a recurrence of them on like oc- casions; and, as an additional proof that they were asham- ed of those proceedings, one of them expressed a hope "that I had not witnessed a sale of bank stock." Pursu- ing my may to the rail-road, I overheard a bricklayer call out from his kiln to another at some distance, "1 say Jem, Bob'll have a blow-out to-morrow." "Why? how?" "He's gone to buy stock, and he'll work his way amongst them, I know." I had been detained so long, that I did not arrive at the railway until two minutes past nine, and the car had started as the clock struck ; so I passed the two hours, until the departure of the next train, by walking out into the country. It was the first time I had well examined any American farm- ing, which, to an Englishman's eye, appears to great dis- advantage. To this effect, the substitution of zig-zig, or, as they term them, worm fences of dead wood, instead of the neat quickset hedges of English husbandry, does not a little contribute. Locomotive engines had not been introduced, and horse cars were substituted until the railway should be completed, a single road only being at pri S'nt finished; but many hundreds of workmen, principally Irish, were employed in laying an additional one: the castings were imported from England, and the chairs were firmly fastened into blocks of grey granite, the foundation be- ing well secured by a trench of thirty inches filled with Macadamized stones, well rammed down; and where any rails appeared to give way, or start out from each other, those opposite were connected with them by a rod of iron, and gravel overlaid. The highest embankment on the road was forty perpendicular feet, and the only very heavy work was the blasting a ridge of granite, through which we passed, four miles from the city. The carriage ran remarkably easy, and, though carry- ing twenty passengers (and calculated to hold forty), the horse took it the six miles in forty minutes, the road 58 A subaltern's furlough. rising thirty-two feet per mile throughout the distance. The usual contrivance of a lever to regulate the speed of the carriages was used, having a brush at the lower end for the purpose of sweeping the rail before the wheel. A busy scene presented itself at the place where the cars stopped, on the edge of a wood, half a mile from German Town. A large concourse of molasses- beer and oyster sellers had established themselves under the trees ; several frame-houses were erectinof for the sale of egg-nog and mint julaps ; and land, which had been of little value a twelvemonth before, was now let- ting at half a dollar per foot, per month. German Town is a straggling place, three miles in length, and inter- spersed wilh gardens and orchards, which give it rathei the appearance of a large village. It was here that Washington experienced a repulse in his attack upon an English division, in 1777. I walked through a large stone house, the property of Mr. Chew, which was the principal scene of action, and most gallantly defended by five compaaies of the 40th regiment, under Colonel Mus- grave, against incessant attacks of an American column, under General Sullivan. It stands on a rising ground, about two hundred yards from the main road, and still bears marks of the light artillery, which was brought to bear upon it. I addressed myself to a man who appear- ed to have been left in charge of the house, by the pro- prietor: but he answered me so coolly, and appeared so lit- tle inclined to give any inf3rmation, that I turned away, and commenced a conversation with his wife, who vo- lunteered to show me through the building, and pointed out the grave of the English General Agnew, in front of the stables, near which lay also several ornamental statues, which had lost heads or arms during- the fio-ht. We were only thirty minutes returning to Philadel- phia, where a great concourse of people had assembled, to witness the arrival of the cars, it being the first road of the description which had been opened near the city. The Americans, particularly in that portion of the country which gives birth to the Yankees, have acquired a reputation for loquacity and inquisitiveness, which does not extend to the Philadelphians, who appear A SUBALTERNS FURLOUGH. 59 rather to inherit the Gluaker taciturnity ; for, during the first three days I was at the hotel, not a single indivi- dual addressed a word to me at table. All were too busy to ask questions, or to pay the slightest attention to any one's wants but their own ; as they ate, so they departed in silence. At last, fearing I should lose the use of my tongue, I took courage on the fourth day, and made some common-place observation to a dark, stout man who sat next to me, and who always had an English- looking pointer under his chair. Judging of the master by his dog, I immediately decided he must be a country- man; but no! he could speak English but very imperfectly, and as he doled out to me a long story in pitiful accents, about his losing 1500 dollars the preceding day, I knew him to be Monsieur Chabert the fire-king, having read an advertisement in the papers offering 500 dollars re- ward for the recovery of the stolen property. I went the same evening to the Masonic Hall, a room of noble dimensions, lighted by gas, from private works, to witness his performance ; the attendance was very thin, and the audience appeared to take very little interest in his lec- ture upon the various qualities of poisons, and the impu- nity with which a large quantity m^ight be taken, provid- ed the antidote followed immediately : for all talked in- cessantly. They were more attentive when he commen- ced drinking the poisons, passing red-hot bars of iron over his tongue, swallowing oil heated to 380 degrees, Fahrenheit, and burning a cloak off his back, by enter- ing a temple in which 300 cartridges exploded. Shouts of laughter accompanied the awkward attempts of some few aspirants to perform the same feats. The historical compositions upon many of the signs displayed over the small inns, in the suburbs near Ken- sington, was painted in no ordinar}^ style, and numerous groups were introduced in the subjects, in quite an artist- like and classical style, such as in " The Landing of Columbus in the New World ; Washington crossing the Delaware on the 25th of December, 1776; the Sur- render of Lord Cornwallis, and Penn's treaty with the Indians," which was very near the spot where the elm- tree stood under which the treaty was made. The tree, 60 A subaltern's furlough. which measured twenty-four feet in circumference, was blown down a few years since, and a small marble obelisk now marks the spot where it stood. It is within thirty yards of the Delaware, and an inscription upon it gives the date of Penn's birth, and death, the former in. 1644, and the latter in 1718, and on the other sides are — Treaty ground of William Penn, and the Indian Natives, 1682. " Unbroken Faith." Pennsylvania, founded 1681, by deeds of Peace. Penn's name is sufficiently immortalized ; but I think one slight shade is drawn over his fame, by his having deserted the infant city two years after the first house was built, and returned to England, where he died. Had his plan but been rigidly adhered to, there would have been none of these mean-looking houses on the water front. By singular good chance, however, his original intention bids fair to be carried into effect. An eccen- tric, but public-spirited man, Stephen Girard, a wealthy banker, whose sentiments appear to have been in accor- dance with the founder's, having lately died, bequeathed an immense sum for the express purpose of beautifying the city. The history of this man, who died one of the wealthiest private individuals in the world, is very re- markable. It appears that he was born at Bourdeaux, in France, about 1746, and at the age of fourteen sailed for the West Indies, as a cabin-boy. Thence he traded for several years to New- York, as mate of a ves^l ; and soon after settled in Philadelphia, where, at the conclu- sion^ of the revolutionary war, he kept a small shop ; dealing in old naval stores, such as iron, rigging, &c. ; and his small frame-house was situated on the same spot that the elegant mansion in which he died now occupies. A SUBALTERN^S FURLOtJGH. 61 At times he was engaged as a pedlar, journeying up and down the country to farm-houses, and disposing of groceries, and ready-made clothing, returning to the city when his stock was exhausted ; and by degrees amassed such a sum of money, that he ranked as one of the first merchants in the city. At the expiration of the charter of the bank of the United States in 1810, he established a private bank, the capital of which in a few years was augmented to five millions of dollars. From this cir- cumstance, and from taking a loan of five millions dur- ing the late war, receiving 100 seven per cent, stock for 70, with a fortunate speculation in the stock of the pre- sent bank of the United States, his wealth increased to so vast an extent, that at his death it was estimated at four- teen millions of dollars (three millions sterling,) the whole of which, with the exception of a few legacies to his brother, and nieces, amounting to 140,000 dollars and small annuities to his servants, he bequeathed to the difTerent charitable institutions, towards the improvement of Philadelphia, and New-Orleans, and for the establish- ment of a college in the former city, for the residence and accommodation of at least three hundred scholars. In his will he prescribes the dimensions of the various rooms, and that the buildinof " shall be at least 110 feet east and west, and 160 north .nd south ; shall be three stories in height, and each story at least 15 feet high in the clear, from the floor to the cornice, and that it shall be fire-proof inside and outside, and no wood used except for doors, windows, and shutters ; the floors and land- ings, as well as the roof, to be covered with marble slabs, securely laid in mortar." For the building and esta- blishment of this college he bequeathed two millions of dollars ; and the income of so much of it as remained unexpended was directed to maintain as many poor white orphans, between the age of six and ten years, as it was adequate to. It was also ordered that they should be instructed in the various branches of a sound education, in the French and Spanish (not forbidding, but not recommending the Latin or Greek) languages ; and it was stated, that he would have them taught ''facts and things, rather than words and signs ;^^ and that after VOL. I, — r. 62 A subaltern's furlough. they had attained the ages between fourteen and eigh" teen, they should he hound out to suitable occupations according to their capacities. He also enjoins and re- quires that "no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever, should ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the said college ; nor should any such person ever be admitted for an^ purpose or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college." But, in making this re- striction, he states that he does not mean to cast any reflection upon any sect whatsoever; but as there is such a multitude of sects, and diversity of opinion among them, it is his desire that the tender minds of the orphans should be free from the excitement which clashing doc- trines, and sectarian controversy, are apt to produce ] and it is his desire that the instructors of the college should instil into their minds " tJie purest pi^inciples oj morality ; so that, on their entrance into life, they may, from inclination and Jiahit^ evince benevolence towards their felloto- creatures, and a love of truth, sobriety, and industry, adopting at the same time such religious tenets as their matured reason may enable them to prefer." If the two millions of dollars were insufficient for building the college and maintaining as many orphans as might apply for admission, he left a farther legacy for that pur- pose. He also bequeathed half a million of dollars, the income of which was to be applied exclusively for lay- ing out a street, to be called Delaware Avenue, along the heads of the docks in front of the city, and for pulling dow^n all buildings between it and the water, within the limits of the city; to remove all wooden buildings, and lo prohibit any being built hereafter within the said li- mits : his intention being to make that part of the city cor- respond better with the appearance of the interior ; and, in case the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania failed to pass the laws, with regard to the improvements he re- quired, before the expiration of a year from the time of his death, the whole bequest, excepting that for the col- lege, should revert to the United States for the purposes of internal navigation^ " and no other." When I arrived in the city, all the necessary laws had been passed ; and A subaltern's furlough. 63 a fine of 500 dollars was to be imposed upon any one who built a frame or wooden house within the limits. Preparations had also commenced for building the college, widening the streets near the river, and in every way complying with the testator's w411. The following Sunday I was more fortunate in the Aveather, and attended divine service at Christ Church, one of the neatest religious edifices in the city. But every thing appeared new and strange to me — there was no clerk, and the congregation read the responses aloud. The service, too, like the interior of the State House, had been modernized, and had been deprived of much of its solemnity, in my opinion, by being rendered into fami- liarly modern English. Emblematic of the country, every thing old was discarded. A gentleman, who sat near me, very deliberately rose from his seat, and walked across the aisle to the occupant of another pew, with whom he shook hands, sat down, and, after conversing with him for some minutes, resumed his own seat. I ought to state, however, that this was the only instance of such dis- respectful conduct which came under my observation ; the Americans in general being very attentive to their religious duties, and scrupulously respectful of the de- votion of their neighbours. The number of religious sects in Philadelphia is such, that Girard's college would have barely contained a representative from each deno- mination. There are no fewer than nine Protestant epis- copal churches ; four Roman Catholic ; nineteen Presby- terian ; one Scotch Presbyterian ; ten Methodists ; three Reformed Dutch; six Baptists; five German Lutheran; six Quakers ; one Free Quakers ; one Covenanters ; two German Reformed ; two Universalists ; two Synagogues ; one Bible Christian; one Mariners' Church; one Sweden- borgian ; ten Unitarians ; one Moravian ; one Menonists, or Dunkers ; one Swedish Lutheran ; one Mount Zion ; in addition to these, the Evangelical Society have erected four in the suburbs. None of them are remarkable for their exterior beauty, but are generally so plain as scarcely to be distinguished from private dwelling-houses. The markets are excellent; particularly one long range of buildings in High Street, up the centre of which it 64 A subaltern's furlough. extends for about three-quarters of a mile. They are a perfect pattern of neatness, though not to be compared in grandeur or convenience to that at Liverpool, being merely roofs supported en brick pillars, with a single row of stalls on each side of the passage ; yet the most de- licate lady might w^alk at any time of day from one to the other end without inconvenience or annoyance. It is con- sidered the best beef market in the Union, and is well supplied with fruit and vegetables of every description, excepting Irish potatoes, a good bushel of which, coming direct from Europe, is considered no mean present. I think that I scarcely ever tasted a good potato any where south of New- York. The costume of the butchers (white coats and aprons) is much cleanlier looking, and more becoming, than the dirty blue of the English knights of the cleaver and hatchet. The regularity of the streets much pleased me upon Hrst landing ; but, after I had gained some little experi- ence by a week's hard walking, I began to look upon^ them as rather monotonous, and to wish that there was more than a solitary crooked one. The city occupies the space of ground between Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, which are about two miles apart ; all the streets running from the former to the latter, due east and west, are, with the exception of High Street, named after various trees. There are but eight of them, and their names may be formed into the couplet of Sassafras, Cedar, Chesnut, Vine, Mulberry, Spruce, High, Walnut, Pine ; While those again which cross them at right angles, run- ning due north and south, are numbered from the rivers up to Broad Street, which divides the city into two un- equal parts, there being thirteen streets between it and the Delaware, and only eight between it and the Schuyl- kill. The city is consequently chequered, as it were, like a chess-board, by these divisions and subdivisions ; the squares (as the inhabitants term them) being solid, or blocks of buildings. This regularity, however, is very convenient for a stranger ; and, if he only knows the points A SUBALTERN S FITRLOUGH. 65. of the compass, it is impossible iie can lose his way; but, without that, he would have as much difficulty in finding his hotel, as a mariner would in finding his port without knowing its bearings. It puzzled me a good deal at first for, if I asked any one the way to such a place, the answer was invariably some such as " Go four squares higher up and you will find it on the west side of north thirteenth, next to Sassafras." " Thank you," said I, " for the in- formation — west side of north thirteenth, next to Sassa- fras !" how concise! I had then to box the compass ; and, after a quarter of an hour's hot walking, began to despair, of finding^he spot; so, inquiring again, would discover that I was not to search far hollow squares ; but that, if I returned, I should find the place on the west side of north thirteenth, next to Race — " next to Race ! why I was told but a few minutes since that it was next to Sas- safras." " Well, but they are the same, I guess ; only Sassafras is rather to long a name." So running down the longitude of the city again, until I gained the required latitude of 13 north, I bore direct down the street, and soon arrived at my destination ; thinking it strange that they should call a street Race, when races were forbidden by law in Pennsylvania. Though the exterior appearance of the houses exceeds those in English towns, from the bricks being painted red, and not dimmed by the black smoke of coal fires, while the windows are set off by the smart green Venetian shut- ters, yet the streets are but badly paved and lighted, and worse kept as to cleanliness. I have seen innumerable pigs running about, and rooting, ad libitum, in the most fashionable parts of the town ; and have been obliged to turn off' the causeway into the road, with danger of being run over by a carriage or an equestrian, because it was blocked up with piles of merchandize and empty chests — as if the storekeeper to whom they belonged was proud of making a display that he was a dealer on a great scale. Day after day would those identical nuisances be in exist- ence, and tolerated by the citizens as a matter of course ; because, in fact, to them it was nothing uncommon — quite an every-day sight. The appearance of the two most fashionable squares is 66 A subaltern's furlough. much marred by the position of a prison which occupies nearly one side of each. But the most unsightly build- ing", and that which is least in accordance with the habits and sentiments of most Americans, as to its interior econo- my, is that Bastile, the Penitentiary ; the principles of which institution have been so ably described by former travellers. For my own part, I could not view its lofty castellated walls and towers, loop-holed windows, port- cullis, and ponderous iron studded gates, without a shud- der at the fate of its wretched inmates. Whoever views the establishment will confess that the Americans have carried punishment for crime beyond even death itself It is strange that they should hesitate to take away the life of man for any crime short of murder ; and yet should inflict perpetual solitary confinement as more lenient : condemning an unfortunate being to be for ever cut off from all intercourse with his fellow-creatures, debarred the use of any thing which might give excitement to his mind, and doomed to linger away year after year in a miserable existence, " Until just Death, kind umpire of mens' miseries, With siveet enlargement doth dismiss Am." I asked the opinion of a keeper who had witnessed the effects of this system, and his answer was, " I would sooner be hung twice over, sir." If ever the good citi- zens of Philadelphic? may expect a visit from the shade of the venerable founder of their city, I should imagine it will be to express his abhorrence at an institution worthy only of the best days of the Spanish Inquisi- tion. Ic is said that Philadelphia possesses more real and ready capital, and that the merchants' speculations are more confined to the latter, than is the case in any other city in the States. The manufactures are extensive, espe- cially the warping-mills of which there are upwards of one hundred in the immediate vicinity ; and, since wood fuel has become more scarce, a great trade has been car- ried on, up the Schuylkill and Lehigh rivers, with the coal mines, 100 milei distant. Though the coal in summer is A subaltern's furlough. 6t seldom under seven dollars, and in winter upwards of eleven dollars, per ton ; yet it has almost superseded the use of wood, and the demand even exceeds the supply. It is of a hard quality, nearly as brilliant as glass, will bear turning, and emits very little smoke : but that which is termed "anthracite" will not blaze or burn easily, unless English coal is mixed with it ; and this is imported in vessels from Liverpool as ballast. Mines have been opened only a few years since at Mount Carbon and Lehigh, and are daily becoming more lucrative and ex- tensive. Like all American towns, Philadelphia teems with " knowledge for the people:" there being eight daily, one twice-a-week, and thirteen weekly newspapers ; seven monthly, and four quarterly publications. Of the latter the American Review is well edited. Altogether, I have seen but few cities with which it will not bear a comparison; and, in my poor opinion, it is su- perior to all on the continent of North America. I could not spare time for more than a ten days' residence there ; and though during that time I did my best to satisfy my curiosity, I regretted to leave it without having seen all 1 wished. 68 A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER V. Boats, ships, barges mark the roughened stream : This way and that they difFerent points pursue, So mix the motions, and so shifts the view. 9ayage. -all's still, as 'ere began Tlie fight ; for, when it did, they cheered and ran. Hill. Thus was Corinth lost and won. Btron. At six, A. M., on the 13th of June, I embarked in one of the "Citizens' Union Line" steamers, and proceeded down the Delaware at the spanking rate of fifteen knots an hour. A few minutes after I had been on board, seeing a negro ringing a hand-bell up and down the decks, and having my eyes and ears open for every thing new, I walked towards him with the expectation of ac- quiring some valuable information ; when, with the Sten- torian voice of a town-crier, he sung out, "Gentlemen who wish to take breakfast, please walk to the Captain's office, and take tickets — also, pay their fare." There were from 150 to 170 passengers on board ; so I in vain strove to penetrate the dense mass collected round the small sentry-box office, and therefore commenced inspect- ing the various barbers' shops, washing-rooms, dressing- rooms, and bar-rooms, with which the upper-deck was covered. In the forepart of the vessel, a man had open- ed a small shop for the sale of indelible marking-ink, with types arranged for stamping, which appeared to be in great request ; while in the stern were a knot of poli- ticians discussing the merits of the tariff bill, and poring for the last news from Congress over the morning pa- pers, which they had purchased from some of the little urchins who crowd the piers and vessels previous to start- ing. I had, however, scarcely studied the various groups, or come to any fixed determination who and what the principal orators were, judging only from a physiogno- mical view of them, when I again heard the black crier and his bell, with a shriller and more decisive tone, A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 69 screaming out, "Gentlemen a'int paid their fare will please walk to the Captain's office!" where I found nearly as great a throng as before ; but, being more per- severing in my efforts to pierce a crowd which remind- ed me of the stock-selling scene, I at last obtained three scrips (or tickets,) — one for breakfast, to be returned when called for at table : the second to be given on go- ing ashore ; and a third, I think, for the railway wa- gons, or the steam-boat in the Chesapeake. The American river steamers are noble vessels, and, the engines working upon deck, such ample accommoda- , tion is afforded, that between two and three hundred pas- sengers can sit down to breakfast in the cabin, which extends from stem to stern, excepting a small portion panelled off in the after part, which is held sacred to the ladies alone, " No admittance for gentlemen" being paint- ed in legible characters over the door. The accustom- ed shrine of Bacchus, to which the gentlemen pay their repeated and enthusiastic devotions, is exposed to the gaze of all admirers at the forepart of their cabin. No man of course would be so unconscionable as to expect any thing approaching to comfort at the table of a steam- boat ; so I should advise him to get rid of his meals as speedily as possible, just as he would of any unpleasant duty which must be performed ; and then let him breathe the fresh air again upon deck, where, if the beauties of nature have no charm for him, he can pull out his watch and count what number of revolutions the paddles perform in a minute, or work the calculation of how ma- ny knots the vessel cuts through the water per hour. For my own part, I always preferred being on deck on a cold day, though a shower of rain might accompany it, to stewing below with 150 passengers; and used often to imagine what a hurry and scuffle there would be in the eabin, if the vessel "collapsed its flue" as the Americans would say), or, in plain old English, burst its boiler. Touching at the various towns on the river's bank, to land passengers, delayed us for a few minutes ; but we arrived at Newcastle, thirty-five miles from Philadelphia^ in two hours and a half Stepping at that place from the yessel on to the railway, we entered the several horse-cars, 70 acGordins: to the numbered tickets we had received on board the steamer, without any trouble about the baggage, which had been placed in small cars previously to our leaving the vessel, and now followed us on common rail- way wagons. The road was but a temporarily built one, being constructed of slabs of wood with a flat iron rod nailed upon them, to withstand the friction of the car- riage wheels, the foundation being formed of logs of trees laid horizontally, and scarcely substantial enough for the locomotive engines which were to be introduced upon it in the course of the summer. The country through which we passed was very fiat and uninteresting, with scarcely any signs of population, and the soil poor and wet. In two hours we arrived at Frenchtown, containing two or three straggling houses on the banks of the Elk , where again entering a steam-boat, we proceeded down the river, which is so beset with shoals, that stakes and the tops of pine-trees were stuck upon them for the guidance of ves- sels. The country was still flat and devoid of beauty, un- til we entered the Chesapeake, and the noble Bay in- to which the Susquehanna pours its tributary water ; when we caught a passing glimpse of Harford, some miles up the latter ; and a low distant range of heights made their appearance, almost following the course of the Chesapeake. America may very fairly lay claim to hav- ing a more variable climate than England ; for I often saw the thermometer range 30 degrees in twenty-four hours ; and upon this day the sun was so excessively hot, and the glare upon the white-painted deck so painful to the eyes, as well as to the feet, that I was obliged to take shelter below. In Philadelphia, two days previously, every one sitting at the fire. When we quitted the Chesapeake, and entered the Pa- tapsco at North Point (where the British army landed, under General Ross, in 1814,) it was so broad that ob- jects on either bank could be but indistinctly seen. After running a few miles up the latter river, we got the first sight of Baltimore, situated on a series of heights at the head of a circular bay, with a range of low blue hills in rear of it, and presenting a more picturesque appearance than Philadelphia, being interspersed with many domes, towers, and lofty monuments. Numerous pretty country 72 residences, too, on the rising ground in the vicinity, add much to the beauty of the city. In front of it, and about three miles distant, is Fort M' Henry, on a promontory formedby the junction of another branch of the Patapsco. It was bombarded, during the late war, by the British fleet, who received a check there to their farther advance upon Baltimore, by the ship channel being choked up with sunken vessels. As the steamer passed, a small detachment of troops were at drill within the works, which are not in very good repair ; but their use is to be super- seded by an almost impregnable fortress (according to the description given me,) which is erecting upon the Rip Rap shoals, at the mouth of the Chesapeake, and at Fort Munro, on the mainland opposite, upon the construc- tion of which immense sums of money have been expend- ed. We arrived off the pier-head at three o'clock, hav- ing been nine hours on the journey from Philadelphia, ninety-five miles distant ; and showing a porter, at his request, "the location" of my carpet bag, I walked up to the City Hotel, considered the largest in the United States ; which, though containing nearly two hundred apartments, had not one single-bedded room vacant until the follow- ing day. Having bargained that I should be transferred to one on the morrow, and that my fellow-occupant for the night should be a peaceable man. I walked out to view the lions of the city; the very first being in the centre of a small square in front of the hotel ; namely a white mar- ble monument, sixty feet in height, erected to the memo- ry of those who fell in the defence of the city at the battle of North Point, and bombardment of Fort M'FIenry. A double scroll entwines the fluted column, with the names of those who fell inscribed upon it ; and in small square compartments at the base are relievos representing the death of General Ross, and the bombardment by the British fleet. Several strange nondescript animals — a kind of half-lion, half-eagle, occupy the angles of the pe- destal ; and on the summit of the monument a female figure, with a wreath elevated in her right hand, repre- sents (as I imagined) Fame crowning the deeds of the slain. The Americans point to the monuments as erected in cele- bration of a victory over the English, to whom thej will •yS A Subaltern's furlough. never allow a particle either of honour or glory; but their representatives, who fell back upon Baltimore so hastily from the battle of North Point, could tell them a far dif- ferent story. There is another fine monument erected upon the rising- ground, a little to the north of the city, to the memory of Washington, the only one for that purpose, I believe, in the northern States. The bas-reliefs and other decorations are not yet finished, for want of the necessary funds. The original intention was, that the summit should be raised 200 feet from the ground, but it only attained the height of 178, including the colossal statue of Washing- ton, 16i feet high. The whole exterior is of white mar- ble, and has already cost 200,000 dollars. Though the day was yet excessively hot, I determined to ascend the column; and being furnished with a lantern at a small house at the base, there being no loop-holes to admit light, I toiled with aching limps up the tedious 228 steps, and for some time admired the extensive and fine view of the Chesapeake, and surrounding country. Being Sinclair's benefit night, I attended the theatre to witness the performance of " Englishmen in India." There was but a thin audience, and they protracted the play in a most wearisome manner, by the frequent encores they demanded of every song. The news of the rejection of the English Reform Bill had been received two or three days in the city; and also a rumour that there was to be a creation of new peers in order to carry the measure. Advantage was taken of this circumstance by some wag in the play, bearing the unromantic name of Mr. Tape, who received a long and boisterous round of applause for his ready wit : " You must personate a Count," said Lady Scraggs; " Oh, aye," said the knight of the thimble; " one of the new batch of Peers for the Reform Bill, I suppose, as Shakespeare says, ' It wants a thorough reform.' " Upon my return to the inn, I entered my apartment most cautiously, lest I should arouse the man of peace from his slumbers ; but it was an unneccessary precaution, for, although he had been in bed three hours, he had not A subaltern's furlough. 73 closed his eyes. I told him it was a great .waste of time, and that he had better have attended the theatre, where he might have heard some excellent singing, upon which he informed me that he was a missionary from St. Kitt's in the West Indies, and was now upon his travels through the United States for the benefit of his health. He had landed only the preceding week at New- York, and gave me a most deplorable account of rough roads, and half dislocated bones which he had already met with in his journey. As 1 had every prospect of undergoing the same, I sympathized with him most sincerely ; and we passed the time away until near dawn of day, expatiating upon the pleasure of speedy but easy travelling, and com- paring the respective merits of the East and West Indies. The following day I visited the Catholic cathedral, a very gloomy, prison-like piece of architecture, and about which I had the bad taste to see nothing worthy cf ad- miration, excepting the altar, a present from France. The exterior of the building bore such marks of anti- quity, and of antique taste, that I imagined it must have been almost coeval with the first settlers ; but, upon inquiry, was much surprised to find that it had only been erected eighteen years. The lowness of the dome, in proportion to the rest of the cathedral, and the great want of spacious windows, give it a very heavy appearance. Its extreme length is 190 feet, by 177 in breadth, while the height to the summit of the cross is only 127 feet. There are several paintings in the interior, presented by Cardinal Fesch to the late Archbishop Marshall ; and one the Descent from the Cross by Paulin Guerin, presented by Louis XVIII., possessing considerably more merit than another presented by Charles X. of France, repre- senting some scene in the time of the Crusades, from the brush of an unknown artist. A Unitarian church, in something the same style of architecture, is within 200 yards of the cathedral; but the American churches fall very far short of that appearance of solemn grandeur which is so striking in the religious edifices of the Old World, where large Gothic windows with stone mullions and small diamond panes of giass, VOL. L — o. ^4 A subaltern's furlough. have not yet given place to two stories of smart window* sashes, with green Venetian shutters. There is no solidity about an American church, which is generally built of wood or red brick, in the stj^le of English Dissenters' meet- ing-houses ; and surmounted by a light, highly ornament- ed spire of the former material, sometimes covered with glittering sheet tin. The chancel fronts any point of the compass indiiferently ; the organ occupies the eastern, and the altar under the pulpit the western end of the churchy as convenience suits ; our scrupulous English attention to their particular situation being viewed as a remnant of the superstitious ages. The Museum, established by a brother of Peale of Philadelphia, contains but a paltry collection of paintings, with only a moderate one of natural curiosities, which are not arranged with half that taste which distinguishes the one in that city. While walking through the Arcade, a fine building of two stories, both of which are well occupied by shops, some men were employed in pulling down and cleaning the stove-pipes. One of them went out with a large portion of the flue over his shoulder; following him to the entrance into the street, I stood there looking at a lofty shot tower opposite, and had scarcely determined which road I should next take, when another man as black as Erebus, or the cyclops of old, came up with a fathom of the stove-pipe over his shoulder ; and after gazing about for a moment or tw^o, as if at a loss for something, ad- dressed me (in making the necessary turn of his body to get a full view of me, a cloud of soot shot from his bur- then, nearly upsetting both me and my gravity,) with, "Which way did that gentleman go, sir?" I bowed most politely, and, giving him the required information, we parted with a mutual " good morning, sir." The Merchants' Hall, built by private subscription, has been a great failure with regard to the value of the stock. It is a noble building and of grand dimensions ; the front being 255 feet by a depth of 140, having four stories, including the ground-floor. The great hall, where the merchants daily assemble, is 86 by 53 feet, and lighted from the dome, whose summit is 90 feet from the floor. FURLOUGH. The sides of the hall are supported by columns of marble ; each being a single block. An excellent news-room, cus- tom-house, and other public offices, adjoin. It was only built ten years since, at an expence of 200,000 dollars ; but the original subscribers have sunk most of their money, from that part of the building which was constructed for letting out to shopkeepers and lawyers being unoccu- pied. The city contains upwards of 70,000 inhabitants, and possesses considerable trade, particularly in flour and cotton : every stream in their vicinity being studded with, mills. It is not quite so regularly built, being upon very abrupt ground, as Philadelphia; but contains many excel- lent streets, and fine market-houses. Ample proofs, too, are given of its prosperity on the shores of the harbour, which resound with theclanof of workmen's hammers em- ployed in the construction of numerous ships and steam- vessels. But I saw nothing more remarkable than the extreme beauty of the females : the appearance of the gentlemen did not strike me as any thing very extraor- dinary, rather the contrary ; for, if I were to give my can- did opinion, I should say they were like the merchants' exchange stock — rather below par ; but it is possible they might suffer some little from contrast to their fair towns- women. I do not remember, in any part of the globe, seeing amongst the females so much loveliness and beauty, as in Baltimore. It is true, they are rather more dressy than in other towns in the States ; but they have good figures to set off; and I should strongly recommend some of the young men from other parts of the Union to at- tempt transplanting a few of them ; for in my after-travels I visited many places which, I am sure, stood much in need of them. I think, however, the American women generally, when young, though not possessing the English freshness of colour, are exceedingly handsome : but (" the fairest still the fleetest," as the song is,) age, or rather the marks of old age, creep upon them sooner than on the natives of more temperate climes. A large varnished and painted board, with the following strange notice upon it, in gilt or yellow painted letters, 76 A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. was fixed up against the wall opposite the window of my room, in a most conspicuous part of the hotel : — " Constantly on hand for the accommodation of travellers, on the most reasonable terms, fine linen shirts, cravats, collars, show bosoms, silk stockings, gloves, suspenders, silk and linen pocket handkerchiefs, razor strops, patent Venus pomatum for dyeing the hair and whiskers without injury to the skin. Razors set in order. Best chewing tobacco." But this medley of pomatum and tobacco did not asto- nish me half so much as the following strange address in the news-room, to the visitors of the largest hotel in the United States : — "Five dollars reward for the discovery of the viUian ivJio cuts or tears the newspapers ! P^ The third day after my arrival at Baltimore, I rode out to view the scenes of action in the vicinity during the last war : and, in twenty minutes, gained the heights to the eastward, which are yet scarred and furrowed by the long chain of entrenchments and redoubts thrown up by the American army ; and before which, when manned by 20,000 troops, the British force of 5000 halted on the 1 3th of September; and, finally retired to the shipping without attempting a reduction of the works. I know not what were the general sentiments of the American army collected for the defence of Baltimore ; but a gentleman who served in it assured me that it was his firm opinion if an attack had been resolutely commenced, their troops would have fled as on the preceding day. There can be no doubt that Baltimore owed its safety to the artificial bars which had been formed in front of Fort M'Henry, and not to any gallantry of its militia. For it is evident that, could the shipping have gained the right flank of their army, not only would their entrenchments have been ex- posed to a raking fire, but a force would have been landed within them. Proceeding onwards for several miles through a thickly-^vooded country, with only small patch- A subaltern's furlough. 77 es of cleared ground, and a wooden shanty at intervals, I crossed the farm where the hard-contested action of the 12th took place, from which the Americans retreated in great disorder to their entrenchments before the city. In a few minutes, I arrived at a small monument erected to the memory of the apprentice by whose hand General Ross fell; who, rather unnecessarily, but courageously, exposed himself in a petty skirmish with a scouting party of the enemy's riflemen. It is situated in rather a romantic spot, at an opening of the forest by the road-side, upon the place where the British general fell. There is an in- scription upon two faces of it, stating that it was erected by the first mechanic volunteers to the memory of " Aquilla Randall, aged twenty-four years, who died in bravely defending his country and his home." On a third side, " In the skirmish which occurred at this spot between the advanced party under Major Richard K. Heath, of the 5th regiment M.M., and the front of the Britisli column, Major General Ross, the Commander of the British forces, received his mortal wound."' And on the fourth, " How beautiful is death when earned by Virtue .'" If the rifleman, as generally stated by even the Ame ricans themselves, fired deliberately from behind a tree, where he had posted himself to await the general's so near approach, that there was no possibility of his aim failing, I think the latter pait of the inscription might as well have been dispensed with; for I cannot see what honour should accrue, or praise be awarded, to any man for a deed which was but a shade better than cold-blooded assassination. 6* FURLOUGH. I left Baltimore in the afternoon of the 15th of June, and travelled for the first time, in an American coach, which I found to be a very clumsy piece of mechanism, and little calculated for the ease or comfort of passengers. This is, in a great measure, a necessary consequence of the bad state of the roads, vi^hich are as yet quite un- formed, and more uneven than the bye-lanes in England. The coachman (or " driver," for he would feel quite offended if you hurt his dignity so much as to address him by any other title, in the United States,) very unlike one of the English fraternity of the whip, was dressed in a pair of light-coloured trowsers, with shoes and stock- ings, without coat or waistcoat, but (being a melting sum- mer's day) in his shirt sleeves, and a white strav/ hat turned up behind, as I have before described. He drove most furiously over every thing, rough and smooth alike. Railways, ravines, and water-courses, which cut up the road in countless numbers, were no impediments ; he dashed on at a surprising rate, over rough stones and tottering bridges that would have cracked every spring in an English carriage, and caused its coachman to de- liberate some time before he even ventured over them at a foot pace. An American driver allows his horses to take their own time in ascending a hill, so that they only move some little ; but, be it ever so steep, not a passenger for a moment, dreams of relieving them of his weight, by walking. To make up for this loss of time, he de- scends the hills (to use his own expression) " with all steam on," which usually terminates in a full gallop at the bottom, and not unfrequently in an upset. He takes the right of every carriage he meets, contrary to the old English stanza of, ^* The rule of the road is a paradox quite, As the carriages jog it along : If you go to the left, you are sure to go right, But, if you go right, you go wrong." There is one recommendation, however, to the " drivers." that they expect no fees from their passengers. Having some consideration for the lives and limbs of travellers, A subaltern's furlough. T9 they have no seats upon the roof of their coaches, but the body is so capacious as to afford ample room for three seats, or nine people ; the centre seat moving on a hinge in the middle, so as to be pushed back when the door is opened. The body is slung upon two immensely thick leathern springs, running under it from the fore to the after axle-trees ; but they give the coach so much play, that, in crossing a water-course, or any slight hollow, it pitches down so heavily, that the driver's footboard strikes the wheel-horses on the back ; on which occasion a cor- responding movement is made by the passengers within. There were but two besides myself, and they had taken possession of their places before I entered ; so I had only the choice of either riding with my back to the horses, or to them ; and, wishing to take advantage of their society, I preferred the former. But, although accustomed to the rolling of a ship, I found it utterly impossible to retain possession of my seat ; every pitch of the coach sent me with force on the centre one, and sometimes nearly over it into my fellow-travellers' laps, being checked in my course only by the broad leathern belt which crosses the centre of the vehicle for the passengers in that part to lean their backs against. Nor was it until after much manoeuvring that I managed to secure myself After I had travelled a few hundred miles, I became more accus- tomed to the motion, and discovered that the heavier a coach was laden the easier it went, and that to be wedged in between two fat old ladies, or gentlemen, was a great desideratum in a long and rough journey. The road passed through a dull, uncultivated country, with not even a straggling village for upwards of twenty miles; and the few houses we passed were mostly mise- rable-looking log-huts, inhabited by negroes, whose chief occupation appeared to consist in threading with a plough between the stumps of trees, to turn up the soil amongst the rows of Indian corn. The coach turned ofTthe road about fifteen miles from Baltimore, and wound its way throuofh the mazes of the forest. Lookino- out to ascertain the cause of such a detour, I saw the branch of a tree laid across the road, and, a few yards farther, a broken dowq 80 A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. wooden bridge, with a solitary black at work repairing it. At the village of Rossburgh the scenery became more varied, hill and dale intervened, and several fine farms began to show themselves. On the left of the road, near Bladensburgli, was an English-looking mansion, whh lodges at the entrance gale, the grounds laid out with irood taste, and every thing, even to the very rail fences of the fields, betokening an opulent and good practical farmer. I was informed it was the property of Mr. Cal- vert, a descendent of the Lord Bahimore, who received a grant from Charles I., in 1632, of a tract of country on the bay of the Chesapeake, which he named Maryland, in honour of Henrietta Maria, and of which state Baltimore is now the capital. His brother, Leonard Calvert, the following year, being appointed Governor of the province, left England with about 200 planters, and settled on the northern bank of the Potomac. This farm comprises near- ly 2000 acres, and is in a higher state of cultivation than any I saw. Descending the hill, we entered the small village of Bladensburgh, which does not contain more than two brick, and but few wooden houses, which are scattered and almost concealed amongst the trees, with the exception of one small street, through which the main road passes, ind at the end of which it crosses the eastern branch of the Potomac by a wooden bridge. Here was fought the action which, in 1814, decided the fate of the capital of the United States. The road from Nottingham, by which the British army under General Ross advanced, joins the Baltimore road at the village: by some strange error, theAmerican commander neglected to destroy the bridge, or even to dispute vigorously the passage of the Britis a troo; 3 across it; but, after some slight skirmishing, and the discharge of two field pieces, he awaited thei; formation and attack upon the rising ground and farm-house on the opposite side of the river. Hence his forces fled with the greatest precipitation ; the sailors alone, under Commodore Barney, attempting, by a spirited resistance, to retrieve the errors of the day. This action is a subject of jest among the Americans themselves, who facetiously call it the Bladensburgh races ; A subaltern's furlough. 81 and a Washington poet has lately celebrated it in the following terms : THE BATTLE GROUND. " And here two thousand fought, three hundred fell, And fifteen thousand fled ; of these remain The three where Barney laid them, — they sleep well. Of the fifteen, part live to run again ; And part have died of fevers on the brain, Potions and pills — fell agents — but the worst, As Sewell* in his pamphlet proves, is thirst. And General Winder, I believe, is dead, And General ( ) retired to learned ease, Posting a ledger. He has exchanged the bed Of fame for one of feathers, and the fees Of war for those of trade ; and, where the trees Shook at his voice, all 's still, as ere began The fight J for, when it did, they cheer'd and — ran. All, save old Handspike and his crew — they stood Drawn up, one coolly buttoning his breeches. Another his cheek helping to a quid Of purser's pigtail. No long windy speeches — For valour, like a bishop, seldom preaches — They stood like men prepared to do their duty, And fell, as they had done it — red and smutty. Peace to them ! men I still have found Though sadly looked on by us land-bred people, High-soul'd, warm-hearted — true, it must be owned, They've no great predilection for a steeple, And too much for a bottle. — But the ground Strongest in tares is so in wheat ; the sod May flower as here, whose very earth is blood." I believe it is fully acknowledged, in every English account of the action, that no troops could have behaved worse than the American soldiers, and none more bravely than the sailors, who worked their guns with most asto- nishing precision, as is testified by the British having upwards of 500 men killed and wounde-^ ; while the Ame- rican loss did not much exceed half that number. Since * Discourse on Intemperance. gS A subaltern's furlough. that time, their naval service has experienced a severe loss in the person of Commodore Decatur, who was killed in a duel on the high ground near the head of the position their army occupied upon that day. A violent thunder-storm burst upon us soon after leav- ing Bladensburgh, from which we were ill defended by the painted canvas curtains of our vehicle. Wet and weary, we arrived, at eight o'clock in the evening, at the door of Gadsby's hotel, in Washington. A SUBALTERN S rURLOUGH. 83 CHAPTER VI, There they shall found THeir government, and their great senate choose. ^Vllerc commonwealth men, starting at the shade "Which in their own wild fancy had been made, Of tyrants dream'd who wore a thorny crown, And with state bloodhounds hunted Freedom down. To rear this plant of Union, till at length, Rooted by time and fostered into strength, Shooting aloft all danger it defies. And proudly lifts its branches to the skies. Churcbul. On the following day (Sunday) I felt so sore and shaken with my rough journey, and the thermometer stood so high (upwards of ninety in the shade,) that I kept within doors until evening, when I strolled down the broad Pennsylvania Avenue for an hour before sunset ; but immediately after breakfast, the next morning, I set off to feast my eyes and ears upon the grand object of my expedition from Philadelphia : to wit, the Capitol, and C'Ongress in full convention. I had rather hurried my journey, lest the House should adjourn ; and considered myself fortunate in finding, upon my arrival, that the tariff and bank bills were before it, and in all human probability would fulty occupy it for the next six w^eeks. A few hundred paces from the hotel, up the Pennsyl- vania A\-enue, I crossed a small muddy creek, classically denominated the Tiber, and soon after gained the large iron gates at the entrance of the area within which the Capitol is situated. It is upon a lofty eminence, over- looking the plain upon which the city is built ; and several broad flights of steps lead to the principal entrance. The first stone was laid by Washington, during his adminis- tration, in September, 1793 ; but it was not finished to its present state until some time after the conclusion of hosti- lities in 1815, previously to which the v^ings only were built of substantial materials, the intermediate space be- 84 A subaltern's furlough. tween them, now occupied by the Rotunda, being formed of wood. It was consumed in the conflagration of the public buildings which ensued on the entrance of the British into the city, on the evening of the 24th of August, 1814. It is situated nearly in the centre of the area, which' contains 22| acres of ground, and is surrounded by a low wall and strong iron balustrade, a small shrub- bery of low trees being planted within the railing. The western front, towards the city, is tastefully laid out in grass terraces and gravel walks ; while on the eastern a garden has been fenced off within an iron railing, to which however every one has free access. The eastern front of the building stands upon higher ground than the western ; and, to remedy this defect in the appearance, an earthen terrace was formed at some distance (probably 20 feet) from the basement story on the latter side, which, in addition to answering the primary object, affords, by being underbuilt, excellent cellars for fuel. The en- trance, then, is fromi this terrace into the Rotunda, which is on the second story, and paved with stone, receiving light from the dome, 96 feet above the floor. Its diameter is also the same ; and the echo of footsteps along the pavement, or the voices of people conversing, almost equals that in the whispering gallery of St. Paul's. The western side of it is ornamented with four large oil- paintings, by Colonel Trumbull, an officer of the Ame- rican army, and aid-de-camp to Washington during the revolutionary war. Retiring from the service in disgust at the irregular promotion of some officers over his head, he cultivated his natural talent for drawing, by studying under his countryman, West, and others of the most eminent artists in Europe. The paintings are placed in niches about ten inches deep in the wall, and are from 20 to 21 feet in length, and about 13 in height. They are all historical subjects, taken from the most important events of the era connected with the Revolution ; repre- senting the Declaration of Independence in the State House, Philadelphia, 4th July, 1776; Surrender of Bur- goyne, at Saratoga, 17th October, 1777; that of Corn- wallis, at Yorktown, 19th October, 1781 ; and Washing- ton's Resignation of his Commission into the hands of FURL-0U<5H. 85 dottgress, at Annapolis, 23d. December, 1783. All have considerable merit, and their value is enhanced by most of the figures represented on the canvass being from por- traits taken for the express purpose by Colonel Trum- bull. But, in the last-mentioned one, the two stiff lines of French and American troops, stationed at attention, and looking at each other from opposite ends of the painting, with the British army and General O'Hara at their head, marching up the centre in lengthened array, appear as formal and old-fashioned as the straight rows of Lombardy poplars in the Pennsylvania Avenue. The four niches on the opposite side of the Rotunda are vacant ; and, being merely plastered over, look shabby and bare, contrasted with the richly gilt frames which surround them. Captain Hall says that, when he was in the States, the subject of filling them with suitable paint- ings was brought before Congress, but that they came to no decision respecting them ; nor have they made any farther progress as yet. Various reasons were assigned, to me for the neglect of what any one would imagine was but a very simple undertaking, and required little or no discussion. A young artist proposed to fill up one of the vacant niches gratuitously, thinking the name he should earn, and the patronage which would ensue in conse- quence of such an act, ample remuneration : but the House declined accepting his offer, as one party (the Battle of New-Orleans being the subject proposed) would never consent to any thing which might tend to add lustre to the deeds of General Jackson ; and another stated that though the artist might paint one gratuitousl}'-, yet he would expect, and Congress would almost be bound to give him an order to fill up the remaining three niches, that too much money had already been lavished upon Colonel Trumbull by the present generation, and that pos- terity might fill the others. There are two entrances into the Rotunda from the area without, and two others from the Senate House in the northern wing, and from the House of Representatives in the southern wing. Over each of them is a large historical piece of sculpture ; two are from the chisel of Enrico Causici, of Nerona, who studied under Canova ; the one representing a combat TOL. I. — H. 86 A sabaltern's furlough. between Daniel Boon, an early settler in the west, and an Indian, in 1 773 ; the other represents the landing of the Puritan settlers at Plymouth, in 1620. A third, by A. Ca- pellano, also a pupil of Canova's, is the narrow escape of Captain Smith from death (when captured by the Indians in 1606,) through the intercession of Pocahontas, the king's daughter, who, in 1609, prevented the entire de- struction of the colony at Jamestown, by informing the settlers of her father's design of cutting them off She was subsequently married to Mr. Rolfe, an English gen- tleman, with whom she visited his native country. The fourth piece of sculpture is by R. Gevelot, representing the treaty between Penn and the Indians in 1682. On each side of those over the grand entrances are the sculptured heads of Raleigh, Columbus, Cabot, and La Sale. The House of Representatives, connected with the Rotunda by a passage, is of a semi-circular form ; its greatest length being 95 feet, with a painted roof and dome 60 feet in height, supported by about 24 columns of highly-polished Potomac marble, or pudding stone, with capitals of white Italian marble, which, I thought made a contrast very unpleasiogto the eye, reminding one (as a gentleman near me remarked) of a negro Avith a white turban upon his head. A very large and handsome chandelier is suspended from the centre of the dome, in which there is also a skylight, and small lamps are at- tached to each column ; so that the House is most bril- liantly illuminated at night, when the debates continue beyond day-light,which is seldom the case. The speaker's chair is in the centre of the base of the semi-circle, and elevated under a canopy of drapery nine steps above the floor of the house ; with clerks' desks immediately under, and the newspaper reporters in a low gallery on each side> and in rear of the speaker. The members sit fronting the speaker in amphitheatrical rows, and each is furnished with a chair, desk, writing materials, and last, though not least, a brass spittoon. In rear of them, and between the marble columns, are those persons who, though not mem- bers, are yet entitled to a seat upon the floor of the house. The strangers' gallery, of marble, with three rows of cushioned seats and a carpeted floor, is raised about 12 or k SUBALTERN^S FURLOUGH. 87 14 feet above the body of the house, and occupies the space between the columns and the wall, the full extent of the semicircle. Over the speaker's chair is a large statue of Liberty, and another (what it was intended to represent I was at a loss to discover for several days) is opposite to it over the entrance door. A full-length portrait of La- fayette, with the American standard and a copy of the Declaration of Independence, decorates one side of the House ; and it is intended to place one of Washington on that opposite. About 150 members were present when 1 entered, and the coup d^aii Avas remarkably imposing and magnificent. I had not formed the slightest conception that I bhould have witnessed any thing so grand, and it struck me as exceeding in splendour any thing I had ever seen. The subject before the House was either trifling or very uninteresting, to judge from the whispering and talk- ing" of some members, and the incessant rustlina;' of letters, books, and newspapers, kept up by others. It was in vain that I strained my powers of hearing to the uttermost ; I could not arrive at the pith of a single speech. The building is evidently ill calculated for sound, a speaker's voice being entirely lost in the vast expanse of dome. An attempt was made to rectify this fault, by hanging drapery between the marble columns, but it has been of very little avail in confining the sound; and the only pro- ject which is likely to answer would be by having an arti- ficial roof, or a glass dome, which would not detract much from the appearance, suspended a few feet above the level of the strangers' gallery. I was sitting in the gallery one day, during a discussion as to whether the house should make a grant for defray- ing the expense of printing the debates, and, not think- ing it particularly interesting, opened my nUe-book, and commenced a sketch of the scene before me. ^ had not been long thus occupied, when a man, placing himself be- side me, said, " Can you it take down as fast as they speak!" "Much faster," said I ; "I write short-hand exceedingly well." I thought him blessed with a very dull genius, or that my sketch must be a very wretched one ; but nothing daunted by his remark, proceeded with ^Hy pencil as far as sketching in the figure which had 88 A SUFALTERN^'s FURLOUGH. puzzled me so exceedingly before, from my not being able to gain a front view of it to see what it represented ^ when, by one of those singular pieces of good luck which sometimes occur to travellers, the mystery was at once unravelled. Mr. Adams (the late president, who had re- sumed his seat in the House of Representatives) rising to address the speaker, I took down his speech almost ver- batim ; and as he had a clear voice, and the House was called thrice to order, I ascertained that it was to the following effdct : — " He wished that the resolution now before the House might pass ; for he considered it the only parliamentary, or rather; he should say, congres- sional history of the Union ; for, in time of profound peace, the record of the proceedings of the two Houses of Congress is almost in fact the history of the nation. In Great Britain, a recent publication of the parliamentary proceedings formed a work occupying nearly 200 vol- umes, each as large as those of the work in question: in Great Britain, whose people sometimes were accused of not feeling the same powerful interest in the concerns of their government which the Americans did, so much inte- rest was excited by this publication, that it sustained itself Surely, if there was any thing in which the example of England should have weight with them, and if there was any thing in the British House of Parliament worthy of imitation, it was the spirit with which they appropriated money for the purpose of printing the debates. He sin- cerely hoped gentlemen Avould ha \^e some regard for their posterity, and furnish the means which should enable them to learn what their forefathers had "said and done. He wished to ask the Speaker ivhat was the meaning of that beautiful marble statue over the clock at the en. trance of the House. — Why, it was the 3Iuse of History in her car, looking down upon the members of the House, and reminding them that, as the hour passed, she wasin the attitude of recording ivhatever they said and did upon the floor — an admonition well worthy of being re- membered. The reporters, at the sides and in rear of the Speaker's chair, were the scribes of that Muse of Histo- ry j and the publication now in question before the House was the real, he might even say the living, record of that A subaltern's furlough. 89 historic muse ; and he concluded by trusting that the same spirit which incited them to make the grant for erecting that statue would now urge them to pass the one before the House." I afterwards heard that the statue was designed by an Italian sculptor, who died since in Washington : the Muse of History is represented with a book and pencil in the attitude of writing, and standing in a winged car (the clock forming a wheel) which passes over the surface of the globe. The Senate Flouse is of the same shape as that of the Representatives, but smaller; being only 74 feet in length by 42 in height. Upon entering the light strangers"' gallery, which, supported by iron pillars, runs round the circular part of it, the following notice posted on the door met my eye and excited a smile ; " Gentlemen will be pleased not to place their feet on the board in front of the gallery, as the dirt from them falls upon Senators^ heads." The air and demeanour of the senators struck me as rather more aristocratical than that of the members of the other house. During the time the houses are ac- tually sitting, a flag flies upon the summit of the dome over each wing ; and, if either adjourns, that flag only is struck. Adjoining the Rotunda on the western front of the Capitol is the Congress Library — a room of about 90 by 35 feet, and calculated to contain upwards of 20,000 volumes. At present it has about 13,000, which have been collected since 1814, when the small library of 3000 was destroyed. pndet hnec opprobria nobis, Et dici poLu.sse, et non potuisse refelii !" There are two busts of eminent Americans by Persicaand an old portrait of Columbus in it. From the outer balcony there is a fine piospect of the broad Potomac, and the rising ground with Arlington House (the property of Mr. H* 90 A subaltern's furlough. Custis, related to the Washington family) on the oppo- site bank ; the mall, the navy-yard, and the towns of Alex- andria and Georgetown in the distance. The basenxent story is occupied by various courts, offices, and bar-rooms. The total cost of the building was 2,598,500 dollars (540,000/.,) and it covers one acre and a half of ground, and 1820 square feet ; the length of the front being 350, the depth of the wings 121, and the height to the top of the centre dome 120 feet. The exterior, although of white freestone, is painted white; which tasteless pro- ceeding is explained by the following extract from the Travellers' Guide : " Captain Hall, in his Travels, speak- ing of the Capitol, says, ' By some strange perversity of taste, however, for which I never could learn to w^hom the public were indebted, this fine building has been covered with a coating of paint.' He should have been told that the painting was to hide the smoke occasioned by the conflagration which succeeded the capture of the city by the British troops in 1814." The Editor should have added that British troops would never have been guilty of such excesses, and that this act of severity on their part would not have happened, if the American army which invaded Canada under General Harrison, in 1812, had not wantonly destroyed by fire the Moravian village on the 20lh of October ; and if General M'Clure had not, at the end of the following year, burnt the whole town of Newark, sparing no private property, under the pretext of securing the American frontier. The British, on the contrary, respected private property, and destroyed only public buildings, in retaliation for this gross breach of the laws of civilized warfare. Yet the circumstance alone cf the British flag of trnce having been fired upon as it entered Washino-ton, and the General's horse killed, was sufficient to justify almost any steps, in addition to putting to death every one in the house whence the shot proceeded, as also razing the building to the ground. At the summit of the steps on the western side is a fine monument erected to the memory of the officers who fell at Tripoli in 1804. There are several allegorical figures A Subaltern's furlough. 91 round the column, which are described in part of the in- scription on the pedestal : — " The love of glory inspired them — Fame has crowned their deeds — History records the event — The children of Columbia admire — and Commerce laments their fall." It Stood until very lately, in the navy yard, because (as was said) Congress would not give it so conspicuous a situation at the Capitol au the naval officers expected. I was glad to see that they had shown the good taste,, at the time of its removal, to efface the inscription of "Mutilated by the British in 1814," which had occupied a prominent place upon it for so many years. The mutila- tions, in the first place, were very slight, the head of a figure and a few letters of the inscription being broken off; whereas, had the British troops been bent upon destroy- ing the whole monument, a few blows from the butt-end of a musket would have shattered the greater part of it to pieces immediately. The little injury which it sustained arose, no doubt, from the same spirit of mischief which has defaced so many of the statues in Westminster Abbey and the public edifices in England. It must have escaped the notice of the illiberal authors of the inscription that, so long as it remained, it was but a memento that their capital had once been in the possession of foreign troops ; whether this, or the knowledge that it was a gross libel upon the British nation, prompted the withdrawal of it, I know not. During my stay at Washington I frequently attended the debates, and had to pass many a tedious hour in at- tempting to follow the rhapsodies of some ambitious young lawyer, who had got possession of the floor, and made a speech of almost intei-minable leno-th, wearying out the patience of every member in the House. He would pro- bably afterwards send it to the press, and distribute it in pamphlets for the edification of his constituents. On my expressing surprise that such a proser was not forthwith coughed down, some one near me said, "Every one is at liberty here to speak as much as he pleases. Since the meeting of the first Provincial Congress, up to the pre- ^2 A subaltern's furlough. sent period, no session had been so stormy as this one ; nor had such actsof personal violence arising from debates been committed upon the members, one of whom had been caned in the public streets, and another shot at with a pistol as he was descending the Capitol steps. A good hearty cough, the cry of " order," or shuffling with the feet upon the floor of the House, would have put down the unruly speaker and prevented both occurrences. The public funeral of Mr. Johnson, a member from Virginia, who was unfortunately drowned in the Potomac b}^ slip- ping off the pier, at Alexandria, in a dark and stormy night, took place a few days after my arrival, in the burial ground near the Capitol : the president and members of both houses attending, and wearing crape round the left arm for thirty days. When the city w^as first planned, it was supposed that it would have been built upon the rising ground, which is a continuation cf the Capitol hill, as being a healthier and finer situation than the swampy flat between it and the Potomac. Mr. Law% an English gentleman speculating upon such a result, erected a square of houses to the south of the Capitol, and some few were rented in the first in- stance ; but the tide of population turned in a difierent direction, and settling in the low ground along the Penn- sylvania Avenue, betvveen the president's house and the Capitol, Mr. Law's houses were soon abandoned, and be- came a heap of ruins. He first settled in the States thirty years since ; and, marrying a niece of Washington's, was quite an enthusiast, and lost a large fortune in promoting- the growth of the city. Washington certainly exhibited fewer symptoms of pros- perity than any town I visited in the Union. There was none of that bustle which is always attendant upon a thriving place ; and the long straight streets, with a few idlers strolling about in them, betokened a place fast fall- ing to decay. At the present rate of increase in buildings, fifteen centuries will scarcely suffice to fill up the original plan, which w^as on a great and magnificent scale ; but the situation, in a m.ercantile point of view, is decidedly bad; the river is but just navigable for vessels of moderate burthen up to the city, 300 miles distant from the sea : A subaltern's furlough. 93 and Baltimore, so close in the vicinity of the city, and of much easier access, engrosses all the trade of the sur- rounding country. The present population of Washings ton, including men of colour, is estimated at 20,000^ though I should not have judged it at more than two- thirds of that number. The ground which is cleared from forest, and upon which the plan of the city was traced out as follows, is 14 miles in circumference. There were to have been five broad streets from 120 to 160 feet in width, and from 3^ to 5 miles in length, called Ave- nues. " So called, as being void of trees, Like Lucus from no light." and named after different states diverging from the Capi- tol, which is near the centre of the intended city; several more, named in the same manner, were to branch off from the president's house, li mile north w^est, and from an open space 1 mile east of the Capitol, as other centres. These avenues generally run from N. E. to S. W., and from S. E. to N. W., and are intersected by streets run- ning direct to the cardinal points ; those north and south being numbered from 1 to 30, and those east and v^'esi according to the letters of the alphabet ; but, as the num- bers commence from each front of the Capitol, it is neces>- sary they should be defined by their bearings per com- pass from it: thus, A street north ; A street south: 29 street east, 29 west. Nearly all the present buildings are along the Pennsylvania Avenue, in which the presi- dent's house is situated, and which is the only one in which any trees are planted. The district of Columbia, in w^hich tlie city is situated, is a ten-mile square, under the imme- diate direction of Congress, having been ceded to the United States in 1790, by Maryland and Virginia, and the site of the city fixed upon a peninsula, foimed by two branches of the Potomac. In 1784, an ordinance was passed by Congress, appointing commissioners to pur- chase the land on the Delaw^are, in the neighbourhood of the Falls, for the purpose of erecting public buildings for the reception of Congress, and the officers of govern- M A subaltern's furlough. ment ; but the southern states had sufficient interest to prevent this appropriation of funds, which required the assent of nine states ; and so many conflicting interests were brought into operation, whenever the subject was discussed by Congress, that no motion designating a more central place could succeed. New-York"had been ear- nestly supported; but at length those in favour of Phila- delphia and the Potomac entered into agreement, by which it was stipulated that Congress should hold its sessions in that city for ten years, during which period buildings should be erected on the Potomac, to which the govern- ment should removes! the expiration of the term. Thus was a small majority created, by the representatives of Pennsylvania and Delaware having united with those who were favourable to the Potomac ; a bill which was brought before the House in conformity with their arrangement, was passed; and Washington, during his administration as president, fixed on the place which should become the capital of the United States. From its situation no one would ever imagine it to be a heahhy place; owing to the great exhalations from the low ground during the excessive heat of summer: yet it appears, from Elliott's history of the ten-mile square, that " the average number of deaths in a year, is as 1 to 53; while in Europe it is as 1 in 28, and in large cities 1 in 23. From the same returns, bilious fevers and consumptions caused one-fifth of the mortality. A friend of mine, speaking to a shop- keeper in the city one day, said, " You must be very dull here when Congress has adjourned?" " Oh, no!" ans- wered he, "Not so dull either; we have plenty of fever and ague to keep us stirring." But after letting off' this little flash of American wit, he acknowledged that there was but little business until winter, when the city was all life again. An attempt is now making to counteract the bad effects of the marshy ground, by excavating a broad canal up the course of the Tiber creek, from its junction with the Potomac, near the president's house, until it nears the garden of the Capitol and then re-enters the eastern branch of the river by two mouths, one near the navy yard and the other at the arsenal. The excessive ^eat of the summer niust always render the city an un- A subaltern's furlough, 95 pleasant residence during Several months. The thermo- meter frequently stood as high as ninety-six degrees in the shade at Gadsby's hotel : the members of Congress might daily be seen crawling along the Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol, with umbrellas to protect them from the powerful rays of the sun, at ten o'clock; and though receiving eight dollars per day (1/. 14s.,) their places were not sinecures, the House only adjourn- ing for an early dinner at two o'clock, and then sitting again until sunset, and once until nine at night. One or two days before I left the city, the sergeant at arms ab- sconded with a considerable sum of money he had drawn for various members of the House of Representatives, who had been in the habit of allowing him to fill up blank checks with their signatures attached, for their daily al- lowance of eight dollars; and, in most instances, he had overdrawn the sum due. No money being found in his possession when arrested at Bladensburgh, the members determined not to be losers by him, and passed a resolu- tion that the amount he had failed to pay over to them should be made good out of the contingent fund of the House. Having described the city of Washington as it is upon paper, I will now attempt to give an idea of its actual state. Let the reader fancy himself standing with his face to the west on the summit of the Capitol hill, a slight eminence, probably 60 or 70 feet in height, crowned by a large and magnificent building with three domes, the centre one considerably higher than the other two. Im- mediately under him is a terraced garden, and beyond that on the other side of a broad road, is another filled with young trees of every description the country pro- duces : while a long wide street, planted with four rows of tall Lombardy poplars, runs directly from him in a north-westerly direction, expanding into a small town as it recedes into the distance. To his right, is a continua- tion of the eminence upon which he stands, until it is skirt- ed by the dark line of forest two or three miles distant. In his rear, along the sides of the Bladensburgh road, is the same broken ground, but partly cultivated. To his left a small and rugged street runs from the Capitol gates 96 A subaltern's furlough. in a southerly direction over the hilly ground, and at the distance of a mile and a half are seen the large sheds of the navy yard. Rather more to the south, but at the distance of two miles, near the Potomac, is the long brick building of the pen ■ tentiary, with the arsenal in rear of it. On the open ground between them and the Capitol are the ruins and gable ends of some houses. A canal filled with water in some parts, and in others only partially ex- cavated, winds towards him from the river, across which the remains of a wooden bridge, a mile and a quarter in length, are to be seen. Such is Washington! Upon the whole, it has a desolate appearance, which is increased by the land marked out for its site being entirely destitute of trees, and only here and there (excepting where the pre- sent town is situated) are scattered houses, each standing isolated, as if requiring some support on either side. The inhabitants, and Americans generally, fondly flatter them- selves that it will some day vie in splendour with ancient Rome. The only comparison it bears at present is with the modern city, in the ruins of the Potomac bridge, and Mr. Law's houses. The scene altogether is described most forcibly by a French lady, who likened it to a town gone out on a visit into the country. A subaltern's furlough. 91' CHAPTER VII. So peaceful rests without a stone, a name. Pope. The fall of waters ! rapid as the lig:ht The flashing mass foams shaking the abyss. Byron. Early on the morning of the 21st of June, I took the steam-boat and glided rapidly down the broad " river of Swans" (as the poor Indians termed the stream,) to Alex- andria, in the district of Columbia, seven miles below the city, but on the Virginia side of the Potomac. It con- tains about 8000 inhabitants, and, like most American towns of moderate size, has a museum, which, however, it is rather difficult for a stranger to find, being placed in the dark upper story of an old brick mansion, where some excellent specimens of natural history are seen to very little advantage. The museums in the States are generally good, but the owners (one and all) possess a strange taste for collecting such a quantity of trash and childish trifles, as pieces of old shells, signal and Congreve rockets, grape- shot, &c., fired from the British squadron, under Captain Gordon, at the White House, a few miles below the town ; jackets of volunteers stained with blood, haversacks of sergeants of marines killed in action, &c. that it is quite a labour to search for what is really worthy of no- tice. There are several relics of Washington's ; such as his military canteen, mason's dress, and the red satin robe in which he was christened, preserved with the great- est care; as also two of his original letters, one of which, written a month before his death, was penned in a fine bold hand. The old man in charge of the Museum point- ed out two colours taken from the British during the Re- volution; one from the Hessians, at the battle of Trenton, and the other belonging to the 7th Fusileers, surrender- ed by Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. There was a la- belled paper on each, the first bearing '-''Ahha^'' the lat- ter ''OmegaJ^ He said that Washington had presented them thus to the Museum, as the fru'.ts of his first and VOL. L — I. 98 A subaltern's furlough. last victory. As the old man was in his own castle, I did not like to question the veracity of his statement ; but I think he must have judged from my countenance that I was rather sceptical. Having hired a horse, I proceeded on my journey to Mount Vernon, the burial-place of Washington. The guide-book told me that "the road to it was uninhabited and difficult to trace;" but setting forth on my pilgrimage, and travelling over a sandy, poor country, I managed tolerably well for the first few miles ; until, arriving at the meeting of four roads, I was at a complete non-plus^ there being neither sign-post nor living being from whom I might gain further information. Trusting to my horse and good luck, I rode on at a brisk trot for several miles, when, meeting a woman, I discovered that I had taken a wrong road, so struck off at once into the forest ; and after losing my temper ten times, and my road twice as often, by an hour after mid-day I arrived at the lodge- gates of Mount Vernon. I was obliged to adopt this inconvenient method of tra- velling, as the steam vessels from Alexandria, which pass within 200 yards of the house, are not permitted to land passengers, on the plea that great depredations were com- mitted amongst the trees and gardens. The proprietor certainly does not appear to encourage pilgrims to the tomb ; the road through the grounds from the lodge to the house being, if possible, Avorse than the highway, and running for a considerable distance up a deep ravine, and over the rough stony bed of a winter's torrent. It was much the fashion, during my stay in America, for the Volunteer Corps and "Republican Associations of young men," to make a pilgrimage to the tomb in a bo- dy; and the middle and southern States, who never allow an opportunity of having a laugh against their Yankee brethren to escape them, say, that the order forbidding steamers to land their passangers arose in consequence of a gentleman cutting so many walking-sticks from the sacred ground that, upon his return to Boston, he made a good round sum of money by retailing them at a dol- lar each. The house was originally built by Lawrence Washing- A subaltern's furlough. 99 ton, a brother of the General's, and received its name out of compliment to Admiral Vernon, in whose expedition he had served. He was succeeded by the General, from whom (having- no children) it descended to his nephew Bushrod Washington, the judge, and from him to his nephew John Washington, who died three days prior to my visit ; in consequence of Avhich, I did not request ad- mission. I heard that there was nothing interesting with- in the house, excepting- a small fragment of a jug, bear- ing a likeness of the General, which is considered the most striking ever seen; the most singular part of the story being, that the jug was made in England by a com- mon potter who had never visited America. The house is built of wood, two stories in height, the exterior stuc- coed in imitation of stone ; a portico, supported by square wooden pillars, extends the full length of the front to- wards the Potomac, and the roof is surmounted by a light wooden tower. The situation is a very pretty one; but scarcely any thing has been done by art to add to the natural beauty. The grounds are laid out in a tasteless style, and kept in a slovenly manner, high coarse grass growing up to the very door. The Americans possess generally but little taste for ornamental gardening, or at least make no display of it ; for I seldom saw a cottage, or even a respectable-looking mansion, with any thing like a flower-garden attached to it. When the judge possessed the property, it consisted of more than 3000 acres of land; but, the law of primoge- niture being abolished, it was divided amongst his ne- phews; so that there are now but 1200 with the house; and although the General has been dead only thirty-two years, the estate has passed into the hands of the third generation. The late proprietor has left two sons and a daughter, so that the estate will be again divided, and must eventually dwindle into nothing. It is much to be regretted that the government do not take some steps either to keep the property entire in the family, or pur- chase it for the States in general. Surely if any spot in America deserves protection more than another, it is the tomb of the father of the country. Application was made by Congress for permission to remove the body on the A subaltern's furlough. centennial celebration of Washington's birth-day (22d of February, 1832), in order to bury it with great pomp in the Rotunda of the Capitol; but the late proprietor would not accede to it, stating, as his reason, that it had been the dying request of his grand-uncle to be buried at Mount Vernon. A fine sloping bank descends from the house nearly to the Potomac, when it becomes more abrupt, and is so thickly covered with trees that the river is not visible from the house. On the brow of the abrupt part of the bank is the vault in which the General and other mem- bers of the family were originally buried. The coffins were removed a twelvemonth since to another vault two or three hundred yards more inland. Both vaults are of plain brick, and on the original one there was not even any inscription, and but a weak wooden door to close the entrance. It was situated in the midst of a cluster of oak-trees, and several red pine and cedar grew on the top of it. The present vault has a small tablet of stone, in- scribed "Washington Family :" and underneath, "I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord , he that beiieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever liveth and beiieveth in me shall never die." That the nation have never erected a monument to the man who was their idol while living, and whose memory is still so revered amongst them, is ever a subject of surprise and reproach among foreigners. The Ameri- cans say, in their defence, that the city of Washington, with its public buildings, is alone a sufficient monument; and that the only proper testimonial of respect to his name is the affectionate remembrance of the people. It must be remembered, however, that two days after his death Congress passed a resolution, unanimously, "that a marble monument he erected by the United States at the city of Washington^ that the family of General Wash- ington be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it, and that the monument be so designed as to commei.xorate the great events of his military and political life;" to which Mrs. Washington consented, saying that, "taught by the great example which I have so long had before me never to oppose my private wishes to the puh- 101 lie will, I must consent to the request made hy Congress^ Judge Marshall, in his "Life of Washington," says, that the Resolution, although it passed unanimously, had ma- ny enemies; that the party which had long constituted the opposition to his administration declared its preference for an equestrian statue, which had been voted by Con- gress at the close of the war, sixteen years previous; that the division between a statue and a monument was so nearly equal, that the session passed away without an appropriation for either : and that those who possessed the ascendancy over the public sentiment employed their influence to draw odium on the men who favoured a mo- nument, and to represent that measure as part of a ge- neral system to waste the public money. When I arrived at the cross roads on my return, I found a gentleman with his servant in the very dilemma in which I had been situated in the morning. He was quietly awaiting the arrival of some one who could give him information, and asked me which was the road to Fredricksburg, about sixty miles distant. I advised him to trust to his horse, as the Knights errant of old had done, as I could ill direct him. The President's house at Washington, containing some finely proportioned rooms, furnished in a republican style of plainness, is situated on a slightly elevated ground, laid out in walks and gardens. The building is of free- stone, painted white, for the same reason as the Capitol. Although it would be a large house for a private gentle- man, still a more magnificent one might have been erect- ed for the executive of a mighty nation. Many of the country residences of English commoners far excel it in grandeur of appearance. I passed several agreable hours there in company with General Jackson, the President, Mr. Hayne of South Carolina, who has since so distin- guished himself as Governor of that state, and some few others of the great poJriticians of the day. The President is a tall, hardy-looking veteran, apparently sixty-five years of age, with a head of strong bushy hair. His voice is loud, and, when excited, he possesses considera- ble fluency of speech, rather too much interlarded with strong asseverations. The Tariff* Bill formed the chief I* 102 A subaltern's furlough. topic of conversation ; but he was unable to cope with tlie powerful eloquence of Mr. Hayne, his more youthful antagonist. At a short distance on either side of the President's house are large buildings occupied by the State and War departments. In the former I was gratified with a sight of the original copy of the famous Declaration of Inde- pendence,* Some of the signatures, owing to the process of taking off fac-similes, had been so much injured as to be almost illegible. The document is now carefully pre- served within a glass case, and no one permitted to touch it. Washington's commission as commander of the Ame- rican armies, bearing date 19th of June, 1775, as also the various treaties made wih foreign powers, are shown with the greatest readiness by the gentlemen who have charge of them. ' In one of the rooms are the presents which public functionaries, or officers of the navy and army, have received from foreign courts, and which, by law, they are compelled'to deliver over to the American govern- ment, who retain possession of them for no earthly pur- pose that I could conceive, except impressing foreigners with the unfavourable idea that the government was suspi- cious of the integrity of its public servants, and had so mean an opinion of its Representatives as to imagine that they could be bribed by a paltry sword or gold snufF-box; for there were no more valuable presents amongst them. The matter would appear in a much better light if the government, following the example of the East-India Com- pany, were to compel its servants to return the presents bestowed upon them to those who presented them ; and foreigners might then the spared being imbued with what are, probably, erroneous impressions. Numerous blue and red painted canvass bags, about the size and shape of a pillow, suspended from the ceil- ing on one side of the offi^ce of the secretary of the navy, with "Peacock," "Macedonian," "Boxer," "Frolic," and various other such names upon them, attracting my attention, I had the curiosity to inquire what were the con- tents of such a singular collection of titled bags, and was * Vide Appendix I. A subaltern's furlough. 103 informed that the were the colours of British vessels cap- tured during the late war. I shrugged up my shoulders, and thought I had penetrated too far into the sanctum sanctorum of the war department. There is another very interesting collection of strange names and portraits of the Indian chiefs, who to the number of 100 have been sent at various times as delegates from the tribes in the west. They were painted by Mr. King of Washington; and are, I was informed by a competent judge, faithful likenesses of the red men of the forest, who are so rapid- ly disappearing before the march of civilization and en- croachment. To a foreigner, they are particularly inter- esting, as he may travel many hundred miles through the United States without seeing an Indian; or the few he may perchance see, dwelling within the boundaries of civilization, are a degenerate, dissipated race, and held in contempt by such warriors as the "Stabber," "the Spar- row that hunts as he walks," " the Spoon," " Sleepy eye," "the Bear whose screams make the rocks tremble,'^ "Buffalo," and various others, as represented on convass in the Indian Department. The great attention paid to a traveller, and the readine*ss with which he is shown every thing worthy of notice in these departments, and, in fact, I may say every where else in the States, is truly gratify- ing; particularly as it arises from a spirit of courtesy, no tax, as is too frequently the case in England, being levied upon the purse. The arsenal, upon the tongue of the peninsula, is now but a mere dep6t for ordinance stores, the works having been levelled since the war, when their inutility was so fully proved by the British landing from the Patapsco, marching upon and taking Washington from the rear ; the American troops being compelled to abandon the works which had been thrown up to dispute the passage of the Potomac alone. It was in disabling the guns on the ramparts that Captain Frazer and many more of the British force were blown up, from a piece of wadding accidentally falling into a dry well, in which the Ameri- cans had placed the contents of their magazine, trusting that it would escape the observation of the invaders. The officer in charge kindly accompanied me through the va- 104 A subaltern's furlough. rious store-rooms and armouries. They contain models of the French and English field-pieces, with tumbrils, &c., complete — the English being made by request at Wool- wich; but the French system had been approved of, and will be adopted in the American service, on account of the uniforni size of the ammunition- wagons, and a trifling difference in some other respect. The American field- pieces are of cast-iron, the smallest calibre being eight pounds. The few specimens I saw of brass were very faulty, and honeycombed in the casting; the metal also is too expensive, being from 20 to 25 cents (10c?. to Is.) per pound. Many of the iron guns were also defective. Thirty-two 42-pounders had arrived two days previously from the foundry at Georgetown, and many were very roughly and imperfectly cast : the weight of each was 8624 pounds, and the cost about 5 cents, or 2|c?. per pound, which makes the price of a single gun 431 dollars, or 90Z. sterling. They were intended for the fortresses, which are erecting at the mouths of all the harbours, along the extensive line of coast of the United States. As an inland war can scarcely ever be expected, the expenditure upon military works is along the sea-board, for which purpose large grants of money are made every session of Congress ; but, with only the present foundries at work, many years will elapse before a sufficient supply of heavy artillery can be provided for those fortresses already finished. In the armoury there were 40,000 stand of arms; the muskets averaging the great price of 12 dollars (50 shillings) each, and the rifles much more. The latter were upon a principle I had never before seen ; differing considerably in their construction from the English, which I thought they excelled ; the soldier being capable of fir- ing five or six times per minute with them. The use of a ramrod, except for cleaning, is entirely dispensed with, the barrel of the rifle having a patent breech, or receiver, about six inches in length, which, by touching a small trigger under the stock, is opened at its upper end : and the necessary load being placed within the bore, it is im- mediately closed again by a slight pressure of the hand. In other respects, it is similar to the common English rifle, excepting that the barrel is full as long as that of a A subaltern's furlough. 105 musket. The American light troops cary powder and ball flasks suspended across their shoulders in place of a cartridge-box, and the process of going twice through the motions of loading must retard the firing. White were about to give way to black leather belts, which were to be worn by all descriptions of infantry. The artificers employed in the department were principally citizens en- gaged for a limited period; and though Congress had lately passed a bill for forming an entirely military esta- blishment, great difficulty was experienced in finding men who would enlist, when they could obtain equally high wages by daily labour elsewhere. The navy yard, half a mile from the arsenal, is upon the eastern branch of the Potomac, and on a larger scale than that at Philadelphia. It contains various sheds and storehouses, foundry, saw-mill, and two large sheds for ship-building, under one of which a vessel of 48 or 50 guns was in an unfinished state. The channel, as in the Delaware, becomes shallower yearly by the increase of mud; nor is there now sufficient depth of water for the launching of any such vessel as the Columbus, of 74 guns, which was built in this yard a few years since. I saw a schooner at ancho?" oft^ the pier, constructed upon a principle which has, I believe, been tried, and failed in England ; namely, without knees, and entirely of thick planks laid in tiers over one another, each successive tier being placed at a diflferent angle from the preceding one, so as to strengthen each other. This vessel was called the "Experiment," but had failed in realizing the expecta- tions of the builders : it carried 12 guns, and had just arrived from Norfolk navy yard, near the mouth of the Chesapeake ; some knees were subsequently added, but the naval officers entirely disapproved of the whole con- struction. Georgetown, higher up on the banks of the Potomac, and only divided from Washington by the inconsiderable stream of Rock Creek, was formerly a place of some im- portance, but of late years has felt the effects of Baltimore on its commerce, which has now dwindled into insigni- ficance. On the margin of the river, scarcely any thing is to be seen but long rows of desolate dwellings and 106 A subaltern's furlough. empty warehouses, with their window shutters moaning in the wind, as if over the fallen prosperity of the town. It contains a population of little less than 10,000, and is prettily situated on a series of heights, at a fine bend of the river. Its interior streets are well laid out, and con- tain some very good private residences. The College, whose members generally profess the Catholic religion, is in ancient pile of building, with a large library, and some good paintings. The students were chaunting ves- pers, with rather a sweet-toned organ, as I entered the chancel. Within the distance of half a mile there is a large academy for young ladies, attached to a convent, which however my unhallowed foot was not permitted to profane. The school bears a very high character, up- wards of 200 girls attending daily, many of whom are taught gratuitously. There are also nearly iOO board- ers of the most respectable families in the neighbourhood, for whom there is a regular charge. I proceeded several miles up the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (which enters the Potomac here by four locks from the rising ground,) on the 23d of June, in one of the packet-boats, which ply daily upon it, and found the travelling most delightful : I was the only passenger, and there was a neat, well-furnished cabin about 50 feet long by 14 broad. We were dra^vn by three horses at the rate of five miles an hour, a huge negro riding on the last, and driving the other horses before him with a long whip, which he flourished and cracked most adroitly. The boats calculated for carrying merchandize are near 100 tons burthen, and will carry between 900 and 1000 barrels of flour, the freight being at two cents per ton per mile. The canal is six feet deep, and sixty wide at the summit. It was commenced on the 4th of July, 1828, with the in- tention of connecting the waters of the Ohio and Chesa- peake rivers, by uniting with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, near Pittsburgh, in the former State; when its en- tire length will be 361 miles, having a lockage of more than 4000 feet. The government subscribed 200,000 dol- lars towards its construction — a mere trifle to the estimat- ed expense of 12 millions; and, as far as I could under- stand the merits of the case, it appeared the work could not A subaltern's furlough. 107 proceed much longer unless an additional grant was made, to which the policy of the present ministry is opposed; contending, as they do, that each State should manage its internal improvements without making any demand upon the funds of the general government. About twenty-six miles of the line were finished at this time; but unless the prospect brightens, it is supposed that half a century Avill elapse before any dividend can be paid, the expenses at present being from 6 to 7000, and the receipts not ex- ceeding 27,000 dollars per annum; an insufficient sum to pay the interest of the expended capital. The traffic will of course increase as the line of canal becomes opened in the interior of the country ; but at this time there were no signs of prosperty. In a distance of thirteen miles we did not meet a single boat. The canal runs parallel with the river, varying from ten to fifty feet above its level ; and, in some places, has encroached upon it, by strong embankments being thrown up where the ground was too rocky and high to admit of easy excavation. In other places advantage has been taken of the course of ravines, in which the tops of submersed trees just make their appearance above the surface of the water. The contrast between the works of art and nature is exceed- ingly fine. The canal flows smoothly and placidly along, with not a ripple upon its bosom ; while the broad Po- tomac, separated only by a narrow pier, is seen far be- neath, rushing fiercely in a wild and tumultuous roar over a rough bed of rocks, and whirling along large trunks of trees with tremendous violence. The musk-rats occasion a deal of mischief by boring holes from the river; and these, if neglected, soon become serious breaches in the embankments. The engineers had fallen into a trifling error in forming the sloping sides of the canal of earth ; so that the rapid motion of the boats had occasioned the water to undermine the towing-path. The river was formerly rendered navigable, by short ca- nals beingformed round the rapids by means of locks ; but such a mode of conveying produce was subject to many inconveniences and delays ; the draught of water in other parts, during hot summers, being frequently insufficient for heavily laden vessels ; and, in heavy freshets, boats 108 A subaltern's furlough. were endangered by floating masses of timber or sunken rocks. The proposition of rendering the Potomac naviga* ble, originated from Washington himself, who saw the vast advantages the State would derive from it ; and, from continuing a canal to the Ohio, that it would divert the produce of the west, which at present floats so many hundred miles down the Mississippi to New-Orleans, into the Atlantic States. When once carried into effect, it will no doubt produce a reaction of trade in favour of George- town and Alexandria ; by which they will become two of the greatest ports for the exportation of flour in the Union. The course of the canal is through a pretty and romantic country, the^banks of the river being bold and well wooded. We arrived at the Great Falls, sixteen miles from Washington, in less than four hours, having passed through twenty locks, the average passage of each being two minutes and a small fraction. I had heard the distant roaring cf the mighty waterfall for some minutes before the boat stopped ; and, as soon as it received a temporary check at a lock, I sprang ashore sketch-book in hand, a young lad, belonging to the packet, crying out, " Shall I show you the way, sir ? I always go with gentlemen, sir;" at the same time running to accom- pany me. " Get away with you," said I, half angry at the intrusion, and alarmed at the very idea of my first view of the cataract being destroyed by a ^^oung urchin interrupting my reveries and feelings of ecstatic delight, with such sentences as, " There's more water comes over in a freshet, sir !" — " The Virginia side is the best one to see it from, sir." The little fellow was, however, I be- lieve, half frightened, for he shrunk back at my blunt refu- sal of his company, and I saw no more of him at that time. Throwing myself down the steep embankment of the canal, I floundered on through pools of water, tumbled over lumps of rock, regardless of rattle-snakes and other reptiles, scratched my hands and face, tore my coat amongst the bushes, and, hurrying under an alpine bridge thrown across a ravine from one projecting rock to an- other, without scarcely deigning a passing glance at it, or any thing else, I rounded a point, and came in full view of the great and grand object which alone occupied my A subaltern's furlough. 109 tlioug-nts. From the feelings J experienced at that mo- ment, I could imagine the sensations of awe and delight with which the weary pilgrims first gain sight of the lofty minarets and domes of the prophet's tomb at the holy city of Arabia. In a moment the troubles of the past and care for the future are alike forgotten ; the perils and pri- vations undergone in their long and arduous marches over the burning deserts are at last fally compensated. But once in my previous life do I remember experiencing such pleasurable emotions — -when, after an absence of some years in a foreign land, the dim blue line of my native country appeared rising from the main. I raised my hands, and uttering some exclamation, stood gazing in silent and indescribable astonishment for some minutes. I found that subsequently I viewed Niagara with less inward feelings of awe and delight. The rush of water was greater, and every thing was upon a more sublimely magnificent scale ; but the Potomac had partly prepared me, and I had already formed some indistinct idea in my imagination of what I should see ; but of this I had not the slightest conception. I am but ill at describing scenery, and may, therefore, be excused for merely taking notice in simple terms, of what the Americans would designate as the " location of the Falls." The river gradually contracts to a width of 700 or 890 feet for some distance above the rocky bed of the Rapids, over which it foams and roars most terri- fically ; until, gaining the edge of the precipice, it shoots over in a white sheet into a troubled abyss beneath ; and rushingfuriously along between two narrow perpendicular w^alls of rock for the distance of a mile, again expands into a broad but rapid channel. The country in the immediate vicinity bears the appearance of having been once con- vulsed by volcanic eruption ; as if the huge rocks had been thrown upon one another by gigantic efforts of nature ; every thing seems to have been subjected to some almighty agency. It was now the middle of summer, at which time, I believe, the Falls'^are seen to the best ad- vantage, the water being purer and the rocks in the river not entirely concealed from the view. During the autum- nal floods, or the melting of the winter's snow, when the VOL. 1. — K. 110 A subaltern's furlough. waters rush in one vast sheet of foam over the whole breadth of the chasm, they may present a more terrific- ally grand and fearful aspect, and be more calculated to inspire awe ; but certainly not so beautifully picturesque as during the summer's sunshine, when nature appears in her mildest and serenest form, and the prismatic hues of the rainbow are seen glistening in the white mist which rises from the pure and limpid stream, as it glides over the rocky shelves. After passing two hours in admira- tion, I returned to the packet, and, as the sun set, arrived at my quarters in the Pennsylvania Avenue, subaltern's furlough. Ill CHAPTER VIII 2(i Carrier. — I think this be the most villainous house in all Lon- don road for fleas ; I am stung like a tench. 1st Car. — Like a tench ? by the mass, there's' ne'er a king in Christendom could be better bit than I have been since the first cock — ShakspearEo Through roads abrupt, and rude unfashion'd tracts. Blackmore. On the 26th of June I again crossed the Potomac to Alexandria, and travelling in the mail over a heavy, sandy, and hilly couQtry, until near sunset, entered the pretty little village of Aldie, situated amongst the hills. We were now in Loudoun county, and at the same time observed an im- provement in the soil : the crops were heavier, and the ragged worm fences gave way to substantial stone ; but as yet I saw nothing like good farming, or any buildings equal to those in England. In addition to the little dis- appointments I experienced from this appearance of the country, I had the misfortune to be troubled with a gar- rulous, fat old German, vvho had been in the States above half a century, and bored me with long prosing histories of the battles of Brandy wine and Yorktown, interspersed with anecdotes of his commander, Lafayette. He was now seventy-eight years of age, and boasted much of his bodily strength : to prove that of his lungs, he produced a bugle-horn from its leather case, and blew a blast both loud and strong, which I was so inconsiderate as to ap- prove of The old gentleman's vanity being flattered, he insisted upon treating me at the first tavern, where the coach stopped to change horses, with a draught of mo- lasses beer; and when we had resumed our seats, favoured me at intervals with a repetition of the music. All my hints respecting soreness of lips, injury to lungs, head- aches, &c., were not only entirely thrown away, but made the matter so much w^orse, that I was fain to put up with the annoyance until our arrival at the small town of Mid- dleburgh, when I was happily relieved from him. It was late in the evening before we reached our journey's end ; 112 A subaltern's furlough, so, soon after supper, requesting to be shown to my room^ I was, to my infinite surprise, ushered into one containing four beds, three of which were already occupied. Being heartily fatigued, what from the abominable road, and the old man with his bugle-horn — and as the coach was to- start again at four o'clock in the morning — I was the less inclined lo be very particular ; so, as a sailor would say, "turned in," though not without shrewd suspicions that I should not be the sole occupant, having, as I was recon- noitring, caught a glimpse of an enemy retiring under cover of the pillow. Never was poor mortal so tormented ! I was fairly driven from my post, and walked down stairs before three o'clock, to await the arrival of the coach, muttering a requiescat in pace as I passed the restless bodies of my companions in misery. The dirty inn at Middleburgh will certainly not soon be erased from my memory. From WoodvilJea few miles farther, where there was the ordy vineyard I ever saw in the country, to the Blue Ridge the scenery was delightful. We m^et many Dutch farmers with their heavily-laden flour wagons, and saw groups of others cooking their victuals under the trees by the road side, all appearing the happiest and most con- tented beings imaginable. Leaving their farms upon the banks of the Shenando, which waters part of the valley of Virginia, they proceed with their load of flour for the Alex- andrian market, and, carrying their hatchets and provi- sions, pass the night in their wagons. Thus avoiding all expenses, excepting the half dollar for tolls, they dispose of their load, and with clear profits forthwith return home. Having breakfasted at the inconsiderable village of Paris, we commenced the ascent of the Blue Ridge, which is easy, and not exceeding a mile. I had accustomed my- self some little to the jolting of the vehicle, and had, therefore, taken my seat outside by the coachman, that I might enjoy the prospect to greater advantage. While praising the appearance of the cultivated and highly fer- tile vale lying between the Ridge and the North moun- tains to him, he remarked that, " for his part, he preferred the hills, and should like to live upon them for some time; for he was fond of hunting, and intended quitting hi^ A subaltern's furlough. 113 present work, so that he might get some hounds, with a good horse, and have some sport; there was also plenty of gunning on the mountains' side." This low chain of hills, which in England would be considered diminutive, has acquired its name of the Blue Ridge, from presenting a deeper shade of that colour than hills do in general ; but, when travelling across them in summer, one would be led to imagine it arose from the vast quantity of blue thistle which flourishes upon them in a most extraordinary manner ; patches of many acres in extent were so densely covered with the light blue flower, that the verdure was quite imperceptible. But when I pointed it out to the sporting coachman as a strong symptom of slovenly farming, he endeavoured to con- vince me that a new era in husbandry had commenced : it having been most satisfactorily ascertained that the thistle, so far from impoverishing, as was generally sup- posed, improved the soil. A few miles after our descent, we arrived at the ferries across the Shenando; but the water being low, forded the stream, where it was about three feet deep, and a hundred yards wide, into Frederic County. The villages scattered along the banks are far from healthy, owing to the heavy rains swelling the river, and leaving vegetable matter to decompose upon the ground when the water recedes to its summer channel : the inhabitants at this time were suffering much from the scarlet and bilious fevers; the former had carried off thirteen slaves from one gentle- man's estate in the course of a few weeks. This, which is however considered the richest tract of land in the vale, is in the hands of great landed proprietors: the extent of the fields varies generally from twenty to thirty acres, and produces fine crops of every description of grain ; the term "corn" is applied to Indian corn only. Until aware of this distinction, I had been guilty of some slight mis- takes in stating, to farmers' inquiries, that corn grew in England, and was commonly in use. Ten miles farther brought us to the town of Winchester, containing about 2500 inhabitants, and distant seventy-five miles from Washinoton. Its dirty streets, with stepping-s^ores for foot-passengers at the crossings, presenttd no inducement K* 114 A subaltern's furlough. to remain a night; but the coach proceeding no farther upon my route, I was compelled to wait till late the fol- lowing day, when I again started, and at the small town of Smithfield, where the coach stopped to change horses, met two gentlemen who had just been overturned in their carriage : and, after rolling down a precipice, had most miraculously escaped with their lives. They com- plained bitterly of the exorbitant demand of five dollars made by a wagoner for carrying the remains of their carriage fifteen miles. Truly, it Avas no wonder that it was shattered to pieces; for the mail, in which I travelled, could not exceed a foot's pace over the limestone ridges, projecting two feet above the level of the road; and some of the hills were so steep, that it was a matter of great thankfulness we safely gained the summit of them, or that the heavy vehicle in the descent did not crush down the horses. I should much have enjoyed the society of a gentleman M'ith whom I travelled on the Chesapeake and Delaware railway, w^ho said, that " he did not at all approve of so easy a mode of conveyance — for he re- quired exercise." He would certainly have met it here to his heart's content. After eight hours' hard jolting, we gained the hills above Harper's Ferr}^ thirty miles from Winchester: the road had for some time continued on their summit ; and as we reached the brow, previous to descending, the last gleam of day was just gilding the woody tops cf the opposite mountains. The town, as it lay far beneath, could be but indistinctly seen in the shade cast over it by the towering masses of rock with \a hich it was encircled ; but which rendered more vivid the bright flashes of a rapid succession of tremendous quarry blasts, as the echo was reverberated amongst the hills and rocks, like the great artillery of heaven. The white lines of the two impetuous streams, the Potomac and Shenando, rushing together from nearly opposite directions, like mighty giants struggling for mastery, unite into one channel in front of the town, and thus force their passage through an opening in the hills. A band of music was playing upon Camp Hill at the entrance of the town, where the tents of an itinerant circus were pitched ; and the bells beneath us giving notice to the workmen that A subaltern's furlough, 115 the labours of the day had ceased altogether, rendered the scene impressively striking. Having been furnished at. Washington with introduc- tory letters to G. Rust, Esq., in charge of the government establishment for the manufactory of arms, he kindly ac- companied me through the numerous shops and forges, which give employment to more than 300 men, though the greater part of the work is performed by machinery. The different processes of turning the gun-stock from the rough wood, were performed in less than five minutes, and those of fitting the lock and barrel upon it occupied but two more. The test for the bayonet appeared un- necessarily severe, and so many failing in it, the price of the musket is rendered much greater, than if one, which might be sufficiently satisfactory, was substituted; it con- sisted in fixing the bayonet on the muzzle, wdth a twelve- pound brass ball attached to the breech of a gun-barrel, then placing the bayonet horizontally in two holes just fitting it, and nearly its length apart, w^here it was left for about two minutes, the entire weight acting upon the bayonet, which, if unbent by this trial, was turned round and put to the same test upon the other sides. The barrels were well finished, and made of iron from the State of Connecticut, a distance of 256 miles; but the brass bands, which fastened the barrel to the stock, gave the musket a heavy clumsy appearance. Not only was the barrel and other iron-work bronzed, but even the bayonet also. In the arsenal, under the charge of an old English sergeant of marines, who had served under Nelson, were a hundred thousand stand of arms, finished, and packed for sending to the various arsenals in the States, and for dis- tribution amongst the militia. The present American rifle, which I described as having seen at Washington, as also the machinery in use at the rifle manufactory at Harper's Ferry, were the invention of Mr. Hall, who is the superintendant of the establishment, in which near a hundred workmen are employed. As, in the musket ma- nufactory, much of the work is performed by machinery, one man through the medium of it being able to rifle thirty barrels per dajr. There is one turn in nine feet, so that each barrel, being longer than that of the English rifle. 116 A subaltern's furlough. has about one-third of a turn. Mr. Hall showed me a new invention, a specimen of which he was busily en- gaged in finishing for inspection at Washington. It con- sisted in screwing a short but narrow bayonet to the end of a highly tempered steel ramrod, which, when drawn nearly out of its socket, was firmly secured at the muzzle of the rifle by a sliding ring ; and thus formed a weapon eight feet in length. I did not at all approve of it, for it appeared too slight a defence against even the parry of a sword, which caused it to bend immediately; but the in- telligent inventor was very sanguine in his expectations of its being generally adopted in war. Every thing con- nected with both establishments was carried on with great exactness and neatness. The town will soon rise into considerable importance, not only from the attraction of the natural beauty of its scenery, and the large manufactories, but also from the circumstance of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal running by the side of the Potomac, which is crossed by a bridge of 700 feet in length, opposite to the town. I walked for some distance along the line of their operations, and never saw a more laborious undertaking, than the blast- ino- and excavatino- at the foot of the hills, which are nearer 800 feet in perpendicular height. Wherever it was practicable, piers have been formed in the river, so that a considerable extent had been reclaimed from it. A trial €ame on, during my stay at the town, respecting damages claimed by the proprietor of a small house which occu- pied the space bet^veen the river and rocks, so exactly in the centre of the line of canal, that there was not room for it on either side. The owner did not lay his damages at the intrinsic value of the house (and the lot upon which it was built was but a mass of rock, upon which he could not even form a kitchen garden,) but upon the great loss he should sustain from not possessing such a piece of ground when the canal was completed, and the jury as- sessed the damages accordingly, and at least, at four times the value of the property, tlpon the face of the bare rocks, 400 feet above the bridge, the inhabitants of the town have formed an imaginary likeness of Washington; but it required a greater stretch of fancy than mine to trace any thing like human features upon it. A subaltern's furlough. 117 There being no conveyance in the direction I wished to proceed, I stepped into a large fiour-boat about to descend the Potomac, and for some distance darted over the rapids with amazing velocity. The river is rendered particularly dangerous, and almost innavigable during the summer season, by the innumerable reefs of rocks which cross it in every direction, making their appearance some feet above the surface. An experienced pilot is therefore required, who, in the freshets, takes his station at the helm astern ; but in low water, in the bow. The river being excessively low, we had a pilot at each end of the boat so that it threaded the most difficult parts in'gallant style, rubbing the keel occasionally a little upon the summits of the rocks beneath the water. The load was only forty barrels when we left the town; but, after pass^ ing the most precipitous and narrow rapids, we ran in- shore again, and took on board an additional number of thirty, from some wagons Avhich had brought them by the road from Harper's Ferry, and again proceeded rapidly down the transparent stream, with romantic scenery on either bank, until we struck with a most vio- lent shock upon a sunken rock, which, taking the boat in its centre, made every plank and barrel quiver with the blow. All hands immediately set to work moving the cargo into the bow ; but being still immovable, the Captain of a Mississippi steamer, a passenger on board, recommended the crew to go into the water and attempt to raise it from the rock with levers, stepping out of the boat himself to give them the necessary instructions. No sooner had his feet touched the bottom of the river, and he had quitted his hold of the boat, than the powerful current, washing him fairly off his legs, carried him for a considerable distance down the stream, with his head bobbing up at intervals, like the float of a line when a fish is nibbling at the bait. At every re-appearance of his head above the foaming waters, he " roared him," not as Shakspeare says^ " As gently as any sucking- dove," but more like a young elephant, and excited shouts of laughter from the crew, who were too much amused with 118 A subaltern's FUiiLOUGH. the scene to make any attempt at rescuing him. Being- very short-sighted, and his spectacles becoming dim from the water, it was no easy matter for him, after discovering our position, to regain the boat ; when his ardour was so cooled that he did not recommend any more experi- ments. The application of levers failing, we had recourse to the simple method of placing some loose planks that were fortunately on board, across the stream, and holding them firmly between the boat and some of the rocks, so that, •acting as a small dam, they raised the water, and the boat once more floated. But, soon after, runnino- a-o-round agam in the shallows, we had the prospect of passing the night in that situation, until an empty boat, on its way down the stream, took us ashore at the Point of Rocks, nine miles below Harper's Ferry ; in performing which distance we had been nine hours, and toiling hard most of the time in an excessively hot sun. A town rises in America with an almost talismanic ra- pidity. Immediately some new line of canal or railway is projected, or a clearing commenced on the banks of a navigable stream, a tavern makes its appearance upon a spot where it is imagined the traveller will require a " drink ;" this is followed by a saw and gristmill, a store or two, post-office, printing-press, and bank. To use their own expression, "every one goes the whole hog :" 'the freshets probably carry away the mill, or the bank hreaks, and the owners " clear out," to commence their speculations afresh elsewhere. Where sixty days since had been a complete wilderness, was now a scene of bustle and confusion : a town was fast rising from amongst the bushes ; the streets were marked out, and a tavern, seve- ral stores, and upwards of fifty houses, were already inhabited. The fortunate proprietor of the ground had sold every other lot for a trifling sum, and retained the remainder in his possession, letting it upon short build- ing leases ; also calling the place after his own unroman- tic name, and superseding the much prettier one of" Point of Rocks," to which indeed it owed its rise. The Point is the end of a range of rocky hills, which opposes a firm ;barrier to the advance of the Baltimore railway and Chesa- A subaltern's furlough. 119 peake Canal : which have both the same object in view — that of communicating with the Ohio. By much blastings and enormous expense, there would be barely room for either of them to pass between the Potomac and the Point ; but both arriving at the same spot from different direc- tions, and nearly at the same time, each claimed the right of priority in taking possession of the narrow passage. The canal proprietors made an offer so to compromise the matter that, l3y each diminishing the respective widths of their lines of communication and making a joint ex- pense of reclaiming some space from the river, there might be a passage for both. The railway proprietors, however, objected to it, and laid an injunction upon the canal to discontinue their works until the case had been tried in a legal court. After a law-suit of two years, the verdict was given against them, and the canal engineers were now busily engaged in removing the point of Rocks. Some bores had been worked to the depth of 13 feet, so as to undermine 1000 square yards of rock, which would be blown up as a grand salute on the 4th of July, to the celebration of which it now wanted only three days. I could not ascertain how they intended to proceed with the railway ; but it was stated that the rival company would not object to renew its original proposition. It is most probable that the canal will not extend beyond Cumberland, the company's funds being nearly exhaust- ed ; though the public seem impressed with the advan- tages to be derived from the original project being carried into execution. The Alleghany Mountains are a natural barrier between the Western and Atlantic States ; and the former will become daily more independent of, and distinct from the latter, which may end in a separation, unless mutual intercourse and commercial communica- tions are kept up by such undertakings as those alluded to. I thought the inns at Harper's Ferry very shabby, both externally and internally, though one was kept by an ex-member of Congress, and major of militia ; but the one at the Point of Rocks, being in its infancy, was less prepared for the reception of numerous guests than any I had seen. From the accommodation with which I had 520 A sitbaltern's furlough. met since my departure from Washington, I had enter* tained no expectation of any luxury above a single bedj m probably a crowded room ; and a wash in the morning* without glass, soap, or towel, at the pump or horse- trough in the public yard. Upon inquiring if I could be accommodated with a bed, I was therefore perfectly satisfied with an answer in the affirmative, qualified with a regret " that their mattresses had not yet arrived from Baltimore." I soon became heartily tired of seeking for adventures in these out-of-the-way places, where all the arrangements were infinitely worse than in an English pot-house. The owners of the taverns were usually men whose sole recommendation consisted in shooting well with a rifle, and bearing a commission (something higher than a subaltern's) in the militia. My landlord at Har* pers' Ferry excelled in invariably striking a quarter of a dollar (which is about the size of an English shilling) with a single ball at thirty paces distant. Injustice, how- ever, to the honest innkeeper at the Point of Rocks, I am bound to say, that, in the hurry of my departure, I left a coat hanging up in the bar room, and, after a journey of 3000 miles, found it neatly packed up and directed to my address at the hotel in New- York, where it had been laying for upwards of four months, though I had long despaired of ever seeing it again. After a delightful swim in the clear Potomac, and wearied with the day's hard labour, I requested to be shown up stairs, when I was again ushered into a room containing six beds, all of which were to be doubly occupied : the house, too, be- ing built of wood, had become so heated during the day that the fire-king himself could have scarcely endured the temperature. This was rather too much for a plea- sure-seeking traveller; so, walking down stairs again, I stepped into a car which I had observed during the day upon the railway, and found my boat companion, the Mississippi Captain, had already taken possession of a corner, in search, like myself, of a cooler atmosphere. The railway was continued down to the waters edge close to the Point of Rocks ; and we were much disturb- ed during the night by a man moving the car in that di- rection. My fellow-occupant, still having I suppose the A subaltern's furlough. 121 recollection of the rapids strongly impressed upon his mind, jumped out of the car half awake, up to his knees in a pool of water, and, fancying* himself in the Potomac, floundered about in it to my infinite amusement. Some time elapsed before he gained the firm ground again, when, turning round, he checked my laughter at once by saying, " Really I beg you ten thousand pardons, but 1 was in so great a hurry that I could not find my boots, so put on your shoes ; however, I will have them dried for you again." They were not, however, completely dry again for three days. This incident destroyed my night's rest so thoroughly that at three o'clock I set out, in company with a gentleman whose acquaintance I had formed merely by chance the preceding day, and who had very kindly obtained a horse for me in the neighbourhood. We rode for some miles on the towing path of the canal, close to the placid and mirror-like surface of the Potomac, which presented a delightful contrast to the rough turbu- lence of the many miles of rocky torrent above the Point. We passed by the quarries from which the columns in the Capitol at Washington were cut, and for some dis- tance through part of the estate of the fine old patriarch, Charles Carroll, of Carrolton, who, at the age of ninety- six, lives in the full enjoyment of his faculties, revered and beloved by his countrymen ; being the only survivor of those daring men, who, in 1776, risked their lives and properties by affixing their signatures to the Declaration of Independence.* At the mouth of the Monocacy River, which pours its waters into the Potomac six miles from the Point of Rocks, we arrived at a splendid aqueduct, considered su- perior to any thing of the kind in the States, thrown over the former river by the Canal Company. It is built of a hard white granite, and consists of seven segment arches, the span of each being 54 feet, with a rise of 9 feet in the arch, and the entire length, including the wings, 509 feet. The water upon the aqueduct is 6 feet in depth, and the towing path 8 feet broad, with a strong iron rail- ing on the outer side. The entire work will cost 125,000 * Since writing the above, I have seen a notice of his death in the public prints. VOL. I. — L. 1325 dollars (26,000?. sterling.) The first contractor took il at seven dollars per perch, the second at eleven ; and both failed in the performance ; the third and present one has it at eleven dollars and fifty cents {21. 8s. sterling.) Two hundred yards beyond this is a beautiful piece of work- manship, over the Little Monocacy, of a single oblique arch of twisted masonry. After partaking of a scanty breakfast, upon my return to the Point of Rocks, I proceeded to Baltimore, fifty miles distant by the railway, which crossed the Monocacy some miles from its embouchure into the Potomac. The whole line of road bore the appearance of having been but slightly surveyed previously to laying down, and as if finished hastily, in order to compete with its rival ; some of the curves round the hills and along the course of rivulets, were such as to entirely cut off all hopes of being every able to establish a rapid conveyance by the intro- duction of locomotive engines. The inclined planes were very precipitous, two of them being about at an elevation of 1 in 50, where a tunnel of half a mile would have avoid- ed the hill. The rails, being laid also upon wood, are too unstable for such a purpose, and liable to be affected by severe frosts. Much dissatisfaction was expressed by many of the passengers, who could not obtain any thing stronger than water to quench their thirst at the various places where we stopped to change horses, from either the owners of the houses or the proprietors of the railway being subscribers to the rules of the Temperance Society. There was great sameness in the scenery, until we crossed the Blue Ridge, where it became more diversified and picturesque, especially near the flourishing town of Ellicott's Mills, in a most romantic dell on the Patapsco River, whose margin was occupied by numerous extensive cotton-mills, scattered over an extent, of several miles, giving the country quite an English appearance. The manufactories were prettily situated amongst the trees on the banks of the river, which were ornamented with clean white cottages and gardens, backed by huge masses of dark granite. Several fine bridges have been built across the ravines and streams between this place and Baltimore. FURLOUGH. 123 One over Gwynn's Falls is a single arch of 80 feet span, and 40 in height : and another across the Patapsco of four arches of 55 feet span each : but, although furnished with such admirable materials, their masonry is much inferior to that used in similar works in Europe. The . main object in America appears to be, to finish the job in hand in as short a time and as economically as possible. Several of the principal engineers complained to me fre- quently of the mistaken economy which they were com- pelled to pursue, and of the rapidity with which they were obliged to proceed, without being permitted to con- struct the work in such a manner as to reflect credit upon themselves. The "deep cut " and embankment near the city have been stupenduous undertakings, the former be- ing nearly a mile in length, and its greatest depth 70 feet, and the latter of about the same length, with its greatest width 190, and elevation 56 feet, the heaviest and best finished section of the road being from Elli- cott's Mills to Baltimore. I was only eight hours and forty minutes on the journey from Baltimore to Philadelphia, a distance of ninety-seven miles (sixteen of which were performed by horse carriage on the Chesapeake and Delaware Railway:) a material improvement in the speed of travelling on that to which I had been obliged to submit. Much against the advice of several friends (the alarming news that the cholera had broken out in New- York having just arrived,) I proceed- ed on my journey the following morning, the 3d of July, wishing to be present at the celebration of the " glorious anniversary," which was. I understood, kept up with more pomp at New-York than elsewhere in the Union, imao-inino- that a few scattered cases would not check all o o festivities. I was rather surprised to find so many pas- sengers on board the steamer in which I embarked to proceed up the Delaware : but, the news having arrived at Philadelphia only late in the evening, it was not generally known. As soon as the report, however, began to spread through the vessel, our numbers diminished considerably at each place where we touched; many being intent upon returning home and others intending to remain where they landed until the account was corroborated by the arrival of 134 A subaltern's furlough. a vessel from the infected city. A Virginian lady, who had two pretty daughters in charge and was upon her way to the Northern Springs, burst into tears and cried most bitterly when the unwelcome information was im- parted to her, and left us at the first small village where the steamer touched, fully determined upon returning forthwith to her native State. The banks of the river are low, and very unhealthy during the " Fall " (as the Americans invariably term the autumn ;) but some pretty little villages are scattered upon either bank, more especially those of Barliiigton and Bristol, nearly opposite to each other, eighteen miles from , Philadelphia: I have seldom seen two such tastefully laid out little spots. The houses are very neat and above the common order, with gardens attached to each, extending to the margin of the river, which is ornamented with large and graceful weeping willows, whose branches kiss the watery element. The tower of a summer-house, in the domain of Joseph Buonaparte, at Bordentown, where the ex-king of Spain, or, as he is called in the States, the Count de Survilliers, resides, is seen from the deck of the steamer; and six miles farther on the left bank is Trenton, the capital of the state of New- Jersey, containing about 4000 inhabitants, and the termination of the steam navi- gation, there being a succession of rapids immediately above the town. A singular kind of bridge of five arches, and 200 feet span, is thrown across the stream ; these' arches are roofed in, and from them is susnended a flat bridge, whose principal beams rest upon the piers of the other bridge. The carriages and passengers cross the river on the lower one ; but the upper arches give the appearance of there being one bridge built upon another. The town, at the commencement of the Revolutionary war, was in the possession of a party of Hessians and English, who were surprised, and 1000 prisoners cap- tured by Washington, on the 26th December, 1776. He crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, when the se- verity of the weather had subjected his army to almost incredible sufl^erings. It was the first signal victory gained by the Revolutionists, and, occurring when many consi- dered themselves engaged in a hopeless contest, gave A subaltern's furlough. 125 them a confidence which ensured ultimate success, and was soon followed by the partial surprise of an English division at Princeton, ten miles farther. The main road crosses the field of action, on the high grounds at Stony- Brook, Upon our arrival at Trenton, nine coaches were drawn up at the pier to receive the passengers from the steamer, and set off in their regular order (I had the misfortune to be in No. 6,) and, keeping within a few yards of each other over a sandy road, such immense clouds of dust enveloped us, that it was only at intervals I gained a glimpse of the country through which w^e travelled. The College at Princeton, founded in 1738, is rather a fine old building, and we enjoyed an extensive view over the long flat which extends towards the ocean, during the few minutes we remained to change horses. This part of the country, and the slate of New Jersey ge- nerally, is celebrated for its cider, and very extensive peach orchards, farmers having accumulated large fortunes by the growth of them. We passed many upon the side of the road nearly twenty acres in extent, and every tree load- ed with fruit. The soil also, being light and sandy, is ad- mirably adapted for the growth of apples and flax; but the cultivation of flax has much decreased of late years, there being now not an eighth of the quantity grown which was some few years since exported from New- York, so entirely has its use been superseded by cotton. The country also bears the appearance of being longer settled and more highly cultivated than more to the south. Twenty-six miles from Trenton w^e arrived at New-Brunswick, a town consisting (with probably two or three exceptions) of wooden houses ; and we hailed with joy the sight of the smoke of the steamer, which lay in the Raritan River awaiting our arrival. Half suffocated with dust, and parched with thirst, w^e jumped on board every one scrambling for a whisk brush, a glass of brandy and Avater, or a wash-hand basin. We here added greatly^ to our numbers, by the acces- sion of 200 Irish labourers from a railway in the vicinity, who were all proceeding to celebrate the Declaration of Independence, and in less than an hour scarcely one of them could boast of retaining his sober senses ; when the 136 A subaltern's furlough. deck presented a scene which would have done credit to Donnybrook Fair. One poor fellow slipped overboard as we were putting off from the quay at New Brunswick, and lost his passage ; for, the steamer not stopping its engines, he was obliged to struggle to the shore in the best manner he could amongst the cheers of his country- men. Man (with an exception or two, in such people as Leander and Lord Byron,) is always an awkward kind of animal when in the water, but I thought this one, with a large hat over his eyes, and bundle under his arm, of which he in vain attempted to retain possession, and but an ordinary swimmer, a most ludicrous and singular object. For several miles after leaving New-Brunswick, we proceeded up the Raritan through some extensive salt marshes, where numerous people were busily employed in mowing. The river took most extraordinary curves through it, and, being exceedingly narrow, the vessels we were meeting appeared as if moving upon the dry ground, and those which were by the course of the stream three or four miles astern as if approaching from an opposite direction, only a few hundred yards distant. Perth. Am- boy, thirteen miles farther is a bathing-place of some note for the New- York fashionables ; and sometimes de- signated as their Brighton. It possesses an extensive and safe harbour, being situated at some distance from the open sea, on a bay of the Atlantic, formed by Staten Is- land (fifteen miles long and eight wide) on the one side, and by the Continent on the other. The opening view of the Bay of New- York, with its nu- merous vessels, batteries, and spires, is most magnificent. There is no rich back-ground, or lofty hills, or any single object which of itself is striking. It is the tout ensemble which is so pleasing. We saw it to the greatest advantage, within an hour of a mild and glorious sunset, Avhen the pla- cid surface of the bay was covered with almost innumerable sails, and the several islands, with their clean snow-white forts and batteries, were reflected upon its bosom as upon a mirror, and land and sea alike were tinged with a light and mellow haze. Numerous broad estuaries and rivers branch off from the bay, intersecting the country in every A subaltern's furlough. 127 direction, which is sufficiently free from forest, and its graceful undulations are richly diversified with beautiful villages and extensive farms. The spot whence we caught the first sight of the city was opposite to the Merchants' Marine Asylum, on the island — a building erected, as its name denotes, for the reception of the worn-out sailors of the merchant service ; the superfluous funds, which are extensive, are most laudably appropriated for the provi- sion of the widows of captains who have been subscribers to the institution. The site seems admirably well calculat- ed to soften doAvn the rigours of declining old age ; as the veterans may enjoy a most delightful prospect of the city, and its forests of masts, with every inward and outward bound vessel ; as also the views of Elizabethtown and Newark, at the upper end of the Sound. Within twelve hours from our leaving Philadelphia, we landed at New- York, a distance of ninety-four miles; and, after under- going as much annoyance from the officious attentions of hackney-coachmen and porters as one would in the streets of London, I at last arrived in safety at the City Hotel, in Broadway. 138 A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER IX. Another plague of more gigantic arm Arose ; a monster never known before Rear'd from Cocytus its portentous head : This rapid fury, not like other pests Pursued a gradual course, but in a day Rush'd as a storm o'er half th' astonish'd isle, And strew'd with sudden carcases the land. and here the Fates Were kind, that long they linger'd not in pain ; For who surviv'd the sun's diurnal race Rose from the dreary gates of hell redeem'd, Some the sixth hour oppress'd, and some the third. Frantic with fear they sought by flight to shun The fierce contagion — o'er the mournful land Th' infected city jwur'd her hm'rying swarms. In heaps they fell, and oft one bed they say The sick'ning, dying, and the dead contained. Armstrong. Dogberry — First who think you the most desartless man to be const^-ble ? \st Watch — Hugh Oatcake, Sir, or George Seacoal ; for they can read and write. Shakspeare. The morning of the 4th of July was ushered in with none of those noisy symptoms which usually proclaim the celebration of some great national festival, processions and festivities of all descriptions having been discouraged by the board of health. The public prints echoed the same directions, and strenuously advised the people not to assemble in crowds, which would rather have a ten- dency to encourage the advance of the fatal enemy they so much dreaded. The order, therefore, respecting a ge- neral parade of the troops was cancelled, and during the day there was but one insignificant civic procession ; and a few ill-dressed and worse-drilled volunteer artillery, who where bent upon firing a salute, paraded through the principal streets with a band of music and brigade of A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 129 guns, carrying their noisy purpose into execution at mid- day, in an open square on the margin of the bay. A crowd of boys of all shades of colour, with a few children of a larger growth intermixed, assembled upon the trot- toirs, firing off guns, pistols, and crackers, to the im- minent peril of the eyes and limbs of the peaceable citi- zens of New- York. Although this last species of an- noyance had been strictly forbidden by the public autho- rities, it was a law "more honoured in the breach than the observance;" and was publicly persevered inthrough- " out the entire day and greater part of the night, without any efforts being made to check it. A few sons of Old Erin, with a negro or two, might also be seen keeping a holiday; and, at the hotel, I overheard a party (of what country I know not) who Were taking a glass of wine two hours after the rest of the table d'hote had dis- persed, singing — "Here's a health to the King, God bless him." In the evening I attended the Park Theatre, the Drury of the United States : its front was brilliantly illuminated, and decorated with a large transparent painting of Wash- ington. The bills of the performance were headed in large \ characters with " Liberty or Death;" and the Glory of Columbia, a drama with miserable dialogue and plot was performed as an introductory piece to a series of national songs and farces, seasoned, of course, with some hard blows in the shape of abuse at John Bull. We had "Yankee Doodle," and "Sons of Freedom," twice en- cored; and the orchestra played Washington's March, and General Spicer's March, " Hail Columbia," and "the Star- spangled banner," at least half a dozen times each ; every patriotic citizen appearing to think himself in duty bound to attempt keeping time, whether or not he had any ear for music, by stamping upon the floor of the box with his feet, so that let the music be what it would I could scarcely hear a bar. It is said that seldom a day elapses without a fire in New- York. This day there were not fewer than ten. At one which I witnessed, four or five houses were destroy- 130 A subaltern's furlough. ed, and a fireman was killed. Most of these conflagra- tions, I heard, had their origin from squibs or crackers: and thus ended the 4th of July, So many Americans had spoken to me of the grandeur and magnificence of Broadway, some even asserting that no street in London was superior to it, that I felt very much disappointed, and think that the same comparison might have been more justly drawn with Liverpool. The shops in it certainly cannot vie with those even in the latter town; but, in the number of equipages, New- York excels it, and far outvies London, or any English town, in its hackney coaches, which are so remarkably neat, and even handsome, that a foreigner might be well excused for imagining them to be private carriages. Broadway is throughout the day thronged with gay vehicles and equestrians, and a perpetual stream of that convenient but uncomfortable London Carriage, an "omnibus," not the least remarkable thing about those in New- York being that (though every man affects to despise titles and rank) they are all named " Lady Clinton," " Lady Washington," " Lady Van Rensselaer," and others as strangely incon- sistent. Sometimes, too, servants in half livery may be seen sitting on the box of a carriage, whose door-pannels are ornamented with a crest. This street is about three miles in length, and eighty feet in width, extending in nearly a straight line from one end of the city to the other. The streets are clean for an American city ; but the ap- pearance of the cholera had caused the corporation to exert themselves in attending more closely to the cleanli-' less of them. Some Vv^ag observed, in one of the public prints, that the scavengers had actually dug down to the pavement in one or two places, and that the city was cleansed tho-roughly. Manhattan Island, on which the city stands, and which is formed by the Hudson, the Harlasm, and East rivers, with the bay on the south, is fifteen miles in length, and from two to three in breadth. The Old Town, near the bay, much resembles an English one, but the northern part of it is as regularly laid out as Philadelphia or Wash- ington, and numbers about eighty-seven streets. The wharfs are similar to those of Philadelphia, but not quite A subaltern's furlough, 13i so ragged, and extend much farther up the east than the Hudson, or North River, as it is generally called, thus de- priving the great discoverer of the honour of giving his name to the noble stream. On the south-west point cf the island, overlooking the bay, is a fine public promenade, of from 500 to 600 yards in length, and 150 in breadth, prettily laid out in walks, and planted with trees. In the evenings it is generally crowded with citizens, who as- sembleto derive the benefit from a pleasant breeze off the water, or listen to a band that frequently plays in the Castle garden, which is connected with the walk by a wooden bridge, upon which, and along the whole extent of the public walk, may be seen various Cockney anglers, of most persevering dispositions. The former promenade is called the Battery, from having in the olden times of the Dutch settlers, or during the Revolutionary war, mounted a few guns : and the Castle garden in a similar manner possesses no garden, nor could it ever have pos- sessed one, being a modern stone fort, with twenty-eight embrasures, buitt upon a solid rock, which appeared but a short distance above the water. This being an unprofitable kind of investment of funds, has been let by the Corpora- tion to a publican, who has converted it to a much more profitable use, charging sixpence sterling for admission, and giving a ticket, so that the visitor may enjoy a stroll upon the upper platform of the fort, admire the view, and then call for a glass of some liquor at the bar, for which he is not charged any thing. The Battery, nevertheless, is the most pleasant promenade in New- York, and far excels any thing else of the kind in America. Governor's Island, about three-quarters of a mile distant in the bay, has a large stone circular fort, with three tiers of embra- sures, and is calculated for more than 100 guns at its western extremity. When I entered it through the small wicket door, I was nearly upset by a quantity of half- starved pigs, which rushed grunting up to me, as if at- tempting to gain the exterior of the fort, and compelled me to make strenuous use of my walking-stick. The interior was little better than a stye, and in a most unfinished state. In the centre of the island, a small quadrangular fort is connected with the circular one by a covered way, 132 A subaltern's furlough. with barracks and military stores in the interior. Vast numbers of workmen were employed in facing the works with granite; and the whole island forcibly reminded me of Washington Irving's happy description, as " resem- bling a fierce little warrior in a big cocked-hat, breathing gunpowder and defiance to the world." Though these works may not enhance the attractions of the scene, they do not, like the numerous poplars on the island, mar the beauty of the noble sheet of water ; and, if those who hold dominion over the island possessed any love for the picturesque, they would grub them up root and branch ; for certainly, to quote the above ingenious au- thor again, they do look " like so many birch-brooms standing on end." On Bedlow's and Ellis's Island, as also at the Narrows (the entrance of the bay from the Atlantic,) are most formidable batteries, nearly all of which are at present upon the peace establishment, as I did not see a single gun mounted, and only a few, with- out carriages, upon the circular fort on Governor's Island. Of the public buildings, the City Hall, containing the Supreme Court, Mayor's Court, and various public offices, situated in the park, a fine and handsome square, is the most remarkable ; and, being fronted with white marble, has a beautiful effect when seen through the forest-trees in the park. The building is upwards of 200 feet in length, with a dome and tower surmounted by a statue of Justice. A rough stone prison on the right, and a building on the left used as a cholera hospital during my resi- dence, occupy one side of the park: this last appeared, from its large portico in front, and style of architecture, to be a church. The Merchants' Exchange in Wall-street (the Lombard-street of London) is a fine edifice, of the same material as the front of the City Hall. The base- ment story is occupied by the Post Office, and above it the Exchange, 85 feet in length, 55 in wadth, and 45 in height to the dome, from which it is lighted. The greater proportion of the other buildings in the street are in- surance offices, banks, and exchange offices. With regard to the charitable institutions, I can say nothing, the cholera raging so violently in some of them that it would A subaltern's rURLOUGH> 133 not have been prudent to have visited them; and strangers were refused admittance to the prisons for fear of im- parting the disease to the inmates. In the Academy of Fine Arts there was scarcely any thing which could im- press one with a favourable idea of the advance of the pictorial art in New- York. The portraits were all stiff, unnatural productions, devoid of all life, and evidently from the brush of very young artists. The arthiiectural designs, too, of which some few were displayed, were but poor and void of taste. Colonel Trumbull, some of whose efforts in the art decorate the Capitol at Washington, and who is the president of the academy, also exhibits his paintings, many of which are historical, in a separate exhibition. They are rendered particularly interesting by containing nearly 250 portraits of-persons distinguished during the revolution. The rest are miniatures, and copies from celebrated artists, painted by Colonel Trum- bull when studying in England. The American engrav- ings show a great harshness and indistinctness of touch, which must ever be the case where so little encourage- ment is given to the art. One of the principal booksellers in Broadway assured me he found it exceedingly difficult to dispose of a few copies of the annuals which are got up iii Boston: the demand being only for the English. Scarcely any of the literary sketches or illustrations in the former are original : the few contributions which can boast of being truly American are such as would not find a place in any British magazine. The only good specimens of lithography I ever saw in the States were by Pendleton of New-York. The Museum in the Park contains some excellent spe- cimens of natural history, very well arranged. Although it cannot vie vv^ith Philadelphia in displaying such a mon- strous skeleton as the mammoth, yet it may be said to have a mammoth turtle, — such indeed as of itself would almost furnish sufficient soup for a lord mayor's feast. It was caught off Sandy Hook, within fifteen miles of the city, by some pilots, and weighs 1000 pounds. Niblo's Gardens, in imitation of those at Vauxhali, were a great attraction to the citizens, and the arrange- ments were most admirably conducted. There was aa veL. I. — M. 134 A SABALTERN^S FURLOUGH, excellent band of music, and a good display of fire-worku the night I attended, with a much greater assemblage of people than I should have expected, A panorama was exhibited in one part of the building, where the visitors assembled for hearing the music. It represented the struggle of the Greeks for their liberty, and the battle of Navarino. The owner, or showman, informed us that it had been exhibited in Leicester-square ; but I much doubted whether he treated his audience in London Avith the lecture upon the blessings of liberty with which he thought fit to favour them in New- York. He represented to us in the most glowing terms and bombastic language, with the tone of a man who acts in the same capacity in a menagerie, " how the English had no right to enter the bay of Navarino; that they were the first peace-breakers ; and, had the ofhcers commanding the batteries at the en- trance of the bay been but for a moment aware of such an intention, they would have instantaneously sunk the whole fleet '" At the Bowery Theatre, which holds the second rank in the histrionic world in New- York, but which in the external appearance and elegance of its interior excels that m the Park; I saw Miss Vincent, a young American actress of great promise, perform in Goldsmith's play of " She stoops to Conquer," and the " Maid of Milan." Her talents were of a higher order than those of any American actress I saw in the country. I was much amused with the familiar manner in which an auctioneer, who held sales of books and prints every evening in some rooms in Broadway, spoke of the execu- tive, and men in authority, w^hen he had occasion to make mention of them. I whiled away many an idle hour in listening to his wit, and the quick repartees from some of the assembled crowd. One night, when he had some biographical w^orks to dispose of, the following scene oc- curred. " Here," said the wag, bringing out' the Life of Jackson, "who'll buy old Hickory?" — the name b^ which the President is generally called, from the hard wood which they say he rivals in toughness. " I'll give a cent for it," said some one; " you shan't," answered the other, " I'll not let it go for twice that; I'd sooner keep it my- n subaltern's furlougHo 135 self:" at last it went for a quarter dollar. The next work he brought out was the Life of Clay, " Come! here, they ought to go together, who'll bid for our next would-be president? he shall go for two cents." " Will- be president!" said a rough voice out of the crowd, *' twenty-five cents." " Take him, then, Mr. Cash, he's yours — he's not worth half that — -you 11 stick in the mud before you have waded half through it." The churches in New- York are handsomer edifices than those in the southern cities I visited, and contain some interesting monuments. St. Paul's, in the Park, is one of the finest in the States. In the interior, there is a tablet in the chancel to Sir Robert Temple, baronet, the first consul-general to the United States from England, who died in the city; and one to the wife of the British governor of New-Jersey, who died during the revolution from distress of mind, being separated from her husband by the events of the time. In the yard, also, there is a large Egyptian obelisk of a single block of white marble, 32 feet in height, erected to Thomas Emmett, an eminent counsellor at law, and brother of the Irish orator who suffered during the rebellion. When I visited New- York again, some months afterwards, one front of it was em- bellished with an emblematical representation of his for- tunes. Though it was in an unfinished state, and the canvass had not been removed from before the scaffolding, I could catch a glimpse of the representation of a hand, with a wreath or bracelet of shamrock round the wrist, clasping one with a similar ornament of stars, and the eagle of America bheltering the unstrung harp of Ireland, Mr. Emmet had emigrated to the States, and settled in New- York, where he had acquired considerable reputa- tion many years previous to his death. There is also ano- ther monument near it under the portico of the church to General Montgomery, who fell in the unsuccessful attack upon Gluebec in 1775. This monument was erected pre- viously to the declaration of independence by the Congress ; and in 1 81 8, when his remains were removed from Gluebec to New- York, and interred at St. Paul's, another tablet was added recording the event ; though at the time great doubts were entertained whether they actually were the 136 A subaltern's furlough, general's remains which were exhumed. The matter was,, however, subsequently set at rest beyond a doubt, by the' publication of a certificate* drawn up by the person who had actually buried the general in the first instance, and who was then living in Quebec, at a very advanced' a o-e, being the only survivor of the army which served under Wolfe. There is a very handsome monument, near the centre of the churchyard, erected by Kean, of Drury Lane Theatre, to Cook, the actor. Trinity Church, which is also m Broadway, was the oldest in the city, havino- been ori- ginally built in 1696, but destroyed by fire ei|hty yeai^ afterwards, although from the circumstance of a monu- ment m the churchyard, of 1691, it appears it was used as a burial-ground some time previously. Though not containing much above an acre of ground, by a mo'derate calculation, not fewer than 200,000 bodies have been buried in it. Of late years there have been no burials and weeping Avillows with various trees have been planted] which in time will make it ornamental to the city. In one corner are the ruins of a monument, erected but six- teen years since to Captain Lawrence, of the American navy, who fell defending his Ship, the Chesapeake, against Sir P. Broke, in the Shannon. His body was taken to Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and buried there with all the ho- nours of war, the pall being the American ensign sup- ported by six of the senior captains in the royal navy, then in the harbour. But the Americans immediately after sent a vessel with a flag of truce to apply for the removal of the body, which being granted, it was re-buried m Trinity Churchyard, and the present monument, no lasting memorial of his country's grief, erected upon the spot. It IS a most shabby, economical structure, built of brick and faced with white marble. The column, of the Corinthian order, is broken short, with part of the capital lying at the base of the pedestal, emblematic of his pre- mature death. Owing to the summit being exposed to the weather, the rain has gained admittance into the in- terior of the brick-work, and has given the column a con- siderable inclination to one side. Some of the marble * Vide Appendix 2, X subaltern's furlough. 137 front also, with two sides of that of the pedestal, have fallen down and exposed the shabby interior. Surely such a man deserved a monument of more durable mate- rials. That the Americans, however, were not unmind- ful of the respect paid to his remains by the British, ap- pears from the following part of the inscription upon the monument : — " Hi.s bravery in action Was only equalled by his modesty in triumph, And his magnanimity to the vanquished. In private life He was a gentleman of the most generous and endearing qualities ; And S) acknowledged was his public worth That the whole nation mourned his loss, And the enemy contended with his countrymen Who most should honour his remains." There is a monument near it to the memory of General Hamilton, who had served with distinction under Wash- ington, and ranked high as a statesman. He was killed in a duel by Colonel Burr, the Vice-president of the United States, who is yet living in New- York. The inscription is as follows : — To the memory of Alexander Hamilton The Corporation of Trinity Church Have erected this monument In testimony of their respect for The Patriot of incorruptible integrity, The soldier of approved valour, The statesman of consummate wisdom ; Whose talents and whose virtues Will be admired by a grateful posterity Long after this marble shall have mouldered into dust. He did July 2d, 1S04, aged 47. Brooklyn, on the opposite side of East River, and situ- ated upon Long-Island, is a place of considerable import- ance, containing upwards of 12,000 inhabitants. There are many country seats in the immediate vicinity, belong- ing to New- York merchants. In the navy yard on Wall- about Bay, at the upper end of the town, were two large frigates upon the stocks ; and, as in the other yards at Philadelphia and Washington, considerable additions M* 138 A subaltern's furlough. were making in erecting buildings, piers, &c. The in- trenchments thrown up in defence of the town in 1776, when the American army received so terrible a defeat from the British and Hessians under Cornwallis and Clinton, still remain upon the hill in the rear of the navy- yard ; and the marsh where so many were smothered in the retreat is seen from thence near the Bay upon the right. Situated in a similar manner on the opposite side of the city, and across the Hudson, is Hoboken, a parti- cularly pretty spot and great promenade and lounge for the citizens. They assemble here in great numbers, the gardens being tastefully laid out in walks, to stroll about and to enjoy a ride upon a circular rail-road devised by some ingenious person. It is built upon frame work, raised three feet from the ground. The carriages which run upon it are so constructed that these who sit in them by turning a handle in front of the seat, keep the carriage in motion, when it is once set ofi^by a slight push, and urge it along with great rapidity ; being allowed to travel three times round it, three-quarters of a mile, for a shil- ling. However, it was a pleasure which 1 thought dear- ly earned, and very f;itiguing to the arms, for those who are ambitious of speedy travelling. There area doubltt set of rails, and only two carriages, which take contrary directions, so that a sluggish man cannot be run over. Hoboken being in New Jersey, and out of the jurisdic- tion of the city, afiaiis of honour are generally settled under a high bank, some distance ab:ve the landing-place where General Hamilton fell. Upon my return one day from this place to the cit^^ I met a procession of several hundreds of African blacks, parading through the streets, with music and banners of their different trades and so- cieties. The majority of them appeared to be true wor- shippers of Bacchus ; the sailors carried some models of small vesselsofvv'ar,jvhi!e their band, rolling about in front, attempted to play the "British Grenadiers." Ail wore a yellow sash across their shoulders, and those at the head of the column, apparently the officers of the Society, were upon horseback, and equipped in frock coats, blue sash- A subaltern's furlough. 139 es, yellow or blue satin trowsers, making their steeds caper about, and " Witching the world with noble horsemanship." Of all dandies, the negroes in Ameiica are the most in- tolerable; a fashion, to come up to their idea of taste, cannot be too outre ; let it be ever so ridiculous, they adopt it imiT^ediately. When I was in New- York striped trowsers, kid gloves, three or four feet of o^uard chain for the watch, and gold headed canes, wore the " correct thing ;" with tw^o-thirds of the sable countenance con- cealed by the well-starched collar of the shirt. On Sun- day atternoon, when the streets in all the cities appear- ed entirely given up to the African world, it w^as a high treat to witness the switching of canes and important strut of the one sex, and the affected dangling of parasols and reticules of the other. Familiar nods or distant bows of recognition were acknowledged with all the air of people who had be( n rehearsing their parts during the other six days of the week, or taking lessons from the manners of their masters' visitors. Crossing over to Hoboken, on the 9th of July, I took the coach and proceeded near the high ground on the right bank of the Hudson to the small village of Aqua- kinock, and thence upon a rail-road which had been lately opened to the flourishing town of Paterson, on the Pas- saic River, sixteen miles from New- York. It wanted an hour to mid-day, when I arrived and the rain pour- ing in torrents caused the dirty streets to look more miser- able and dull than even New- York, from which every one was hurrying who could possibly afford means. The driver of an omnibus came across the river in the steam- boat with me, and had his entire family w^ith baggage stowed within and without his carriage, intending to re- main in the country until the dreadful pestilence abated. I had also crossed over to Paterson, w^ith the intention of staying there for a few days ; then, after making a short tour to the Pennsylvania coal-mines and Wyoming, to return to the city, trusting that the inhabitants would be more settled. But the melancholy-looking day made me wish myself back again, in a place where, whatever 140 A subaltern's furlough. other drawback there might be, I could at least lay my hands upon a book to pass away a few dull hours. After listening by the hour to a long dissertation upon the Reform Bill from a stout, one-legged man, I encounter- ed another unconscionably long story, from a little spare person, about hunting and "old Kentuck," in the middle of which all his audience, excepting myself, deserted him, and, betaking themselves to their brandy and water, gradually dropped off one by one to their respective homes. At last even I left my chair, where I had been most patiently sitting in a half dose, without hearing a single word the Kentuckian had been saying for the last forty minutes, and, yawning, W'ished him good evening, just as he had got me some half dozen miles up the Mam- moth Cave. Thus, having lost his audience, he rose, and, discovering that his umbrella was gone, said, w4th an air which appeared almost to console him for the loss, " Well, I guess he must be a mean fellow who would clear off with it ; for it w^as but a mean umbrella, and I don't care one cent about it, only the pole and shove-up are good, that's a/^c." As I was on the point of retir- ing, a man entered the room smiling and looking as if he had some good joke to impart. I therefore determin- ed to wait a few minutes longer ; but he only whispered to the story-teller, and both, laughing heartily, left the house together. In a minute or two came another, with the same important countenance, who took away the landlord ; and immediately afterwards the bar-keeper disappeared in the same mysterious manner, leaving a little girl in charge of his department. My curiosity was now excited to the utmost ; so laying down my candle again, although it w^as still raining heavily, I follow^ed him out into the dark street, and down it for some dis- tance, until, w^alking up the steps of a house, he opened the door, and entered. Seeing a crowd of people inside wearing their hats, I also stepped in, and found myself in a small frame room, devoid of all furniture, excepting two rough chaifs, and a strong greasy table, with some benches placed against the walls, from which were suspend- ed lists of the Newark and Hoboken coaches, steam- vessels, lotteries, the comic almanac, and other placards. A subaltern's FURLOUGH/ 141 One of the ricketty old chairs was occupied by an elderly sharp f^^atured man, with long- gray hair, brushed so as to display a high forehead, and with a pair of spectacles fitted on the very tip of his nose, which he took off at in- tervals of a minute or two, and looked round with great dignity upon the people assembled. Then, after taking the circuit, he let his eyes fall upon an ill-dressed man, apparently an artizan, who sat in the other chair oppo- site, and scrutinized his appearance from head to foot; while he himself leaning back upon his own seat, and ba- lancing on the iiinder legs of it, had his feet crossed on the top of the table, upon which lay a plentifully thumbed and dogs' -eared volume, some writing-paper, and an ink-stand. I was utterly at a loss, for some time, to discover for what purpose so many silent people could have collected to- gether, and was, at last relieved from my susperise by the elderly man suddenly rousing himself, and saying, w^ith the air of a man just struck by some bright thought, or as if determined upon some great undertaking, "State the charge against the prisoner :" and for the first time I found myself in the presence of an American Justice of the peace. The man who had so coolly taken possession of the other chair was charged with "paying for a quack tity of clams (shell-fish,) which he had purchased from a little boy, with a counterfeit dollar note." It apj eared, upon the evidence of a host of witnesses, that he had been taken from a tavern where he was superintending the cook- ing of the clams, and that his confederates had made their escape. The prisoner protested most vehemently against the accusation, asserting his innocence in a long story, which was not at all connected with the charge, and was in- terrupted momentarily by the observations and witticisms of the by-standers, on the chance of his being lodged, free of expense, in good apartments, at Sing-Sing (the State prison,) and joking him upon the loss of his clam supper. The Justice appeared to have less to do with the business than any one else ; until some one called out, " Let the squire cross-examine him." "Aye do cross-examine him, squire," reiterated fifteen voices ; and the squire, acord- ingly, peering over the top of his spectacles, let fly a vol- ley of "Who are you?" "what's your trade?" "where are 142 A SUBALTERN*S FURLOUGH. you from?" " what brought you to tliis town ?" " where did you get that note?" "what's your name?" and other questions, with such amazing* volubility, as if he was re- solved to confuse the prisoner with the very weight of them, concluding- by saying-, " Well, I move that this fellow be committed, and that we make up the dollar for the boy." Silver coins to the amount were immediately thrown upon the table by the by-standers; and the squire, smiling- complacently, threw himself back in his chair, with his eyes fixed upon the ceiling-, quite overcome with the exertion of the prisoner's cross-examination. One man remarked that "he had better dismiss him, for the dollar would stand the state in 200 dollars to prosecute." The -wooden-legged man also took a most prominent and active part in the jokes and gibes upon the prisoner, saying, "You richly deserve three years in Sing-Sing !" " So do you, if every rogue had his deserts," answered the man. " Very likely," said the first; "and. if I go there, I shall make special application to be put in the same cell with you, and 1 will then give you a good flogging." Soon after anotlier party came in with one of his accomplices, against whom ilie first turned evidence, and was therefore ad- mitted to bail; but, not being- able to furnish it, the squire permitted him to go away on his bare promise that he would return the following day, and the other culprit was delivered over to a guard of citizens, who volunteered their services for the night. Although throughout the scene was ridiculous in the extreme, there were still some traits highly creditable to the Justice and by-standers, especially in the spirit with which the collection was made for the boy, and the readiness with which they all proffered to take charge of the prisoner until the morn- ing. The town already contains nearly 10,000 inhabitants, and is increasing most rapidly; there are at present nearly thirty cotton-mills, iron and brass foundries, in the upper part of it, with gardens so tastefully laid out, and the banks of the river kept so neat, and ornamented with weeping willows, as to compensate for the broken bridges and dirt of the lower part of the town. It is estimated that each new mill brings an increase of 1000 A subaltern's furlough. 143 to the population ; and two more were building- when 1 visited the place. It will ere long be the Manchester of those parts, and one of the largest manufacturing towns in the Union. They have already the advantage of a rail-road and canal to transport their goods to New- York and Philadelphia ; and much machinery is made for exportation to the southern markets. The Passaic River is very romantic in the immediate vicinity of Paterson ; but, upon inquiring where what are called the " Grand Falls " were to be seen, I was much disappointed to find that they were actually in sight and very unimportant, the stream being diverted on three levels for the supply of the mills. There were but about 100 gallons per minute falling over a precipice of 70 feet into a dark and narrow gulf, over which a bridge has been thrown. Some few years since, an American, of the name of Patch, leaped from a spot very near it into the chasm beneath, with the intention, as was stated, of com- mitting suicide: but, finding himself without injury in the water, he made from that time a trade by taking a similar leap from most of the falls in the States; and at length met his death, in 1829, by striking against some sunken rocks at the falls of the Genesee, in the town of Ro- chester. The water powder which these falls afford is so ■valuable as to produce an income of 25,000 dollars pej annum to the proprietor. Having ascertained that I could not obtain any other conveyance to Easton, on my route to the coal mines, than a heavy canal boat, which would not arrive in less than three days, although only sixty miles, I returned to New- York, notwithstanding the alarming accounts of the in- crease of cholera, on the 12th of July. The city bore a very different appearance from that which it presented when 1 had landed ten days previously, or even when I. kad departed for Paterson. At that time only the timid had fled to the watering places on the sea-coast, or the Catskill Mountains on the banks of the Hudson. Since then every one who could afford means appeared to have followed their example. The public gardens and theatres were closed, and in many streets entire rows of houses were deserted, their late occupants having fled 144 A subaltern's furlough. from the dreadful pesfilence. A steam-vessel on the Hudson carried away 700 passengers at one time, and yet refused to take many who were anxious to escape. The gay shops in Broadway were closed hy half past eight in the evening ; the facetious auctioneer had no audience; and only a solitary individual was at intervals seen hurrying down the street, as if upon some urgent business. The bustle of Wall-street had almost ceased and trades' -people of every description complained that bankruptcy must certainly come upon them, if the general panic continued. The vast shoals of travellers who had been hurrying towards the north, to escape the more un- healthy climate of the south, were met here by a more dreaded enemy than even the yellow fever, and had ail returned to their homes, or betaken themselves to the springs in Virginia. The hotels were comparatively empty. The earl and countess Belmore had arrived from Jamaica for the express purpose of travelling through the United States : but after making a stay of four or five days at the hotel, and one short excursion up the Fludson, they proceeded to England by the first packet which sailed. The Americans, 1 had frequent occasion to observe, are an easily excited people, and even destitute of that moral courage which is so requisite in times of personal or na- tional calamity. The panic and excitement upon this occasion were much augmented by the daily prints, which not content with merely taking notice of cases in round numbers, mentioned every alarming incident they could possibly collect; and even the names, the streets, the num- ber of the house, and the medical men who attended the patients, were duly inserted. As an instance of the extra- ordifiary dread entertained of the malady, a respectable printer in Philadelphia committed suicide by taking a quantity of laudanum : and said to those around him, who were attempting to save his life, that all efforts would b^* fruitless, and, if the physicians prepared an antidote, they could not make him take it;, that "he had heard the cholera was in Quebec, and, being thoroughly convinced that it would spread over the whole continent of Ame- rica, he had come to the determination of not suffering an attack of it himself, or seeing his wife and children A subaltern's furlough. Hi" die before him." Unfortunately, too, a great schism pre- vailed amongst the medical men, who were either jealous of each other's practice, or disagreed in the views they look of the disease. The board of health refused to pub- lish the reports of cases se . in by an eminent practitioner in the city, who had proceeded to Gluebec upon the first appearance of the cholera there, to ascertain the nature of it. This so incensed him that he withdrew his name from amongst the members composing the board ; and, others refusing to make any returns, an order was issued by those in power that any medical man who did not make a return of cases should be fined forty dollars. It was hoped, too, that the fear of this penalty would act as a check upon the quack doctors (or steam doctors, as the Americans call them,) who flocked into the city from all quarters, and put in practice the system from which the}:^ derive their name — hot-baths and cayenne pepper for every complaint, from a cold and sore throat to the yellow-fever. The same difference of opinion pervaded even the acts of Congress, who, ever jealous of the Pre- sident's authority, could not come to any decision about appointing a day of fast and humiliation. The motion had been made to apply to the President to order a day ; but it was rejected, some members contending that the Pre- sident had no right to order a fast, and that the observance of one was optional with every one. The President, in an- swer to an application from the Committee of the General Synod in New- York, for the appointment of a general fast, said, " I am constrained to decline the designation of any period or mode as proper for the public manifesta- tion of this reliance. I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the constitution for the President, nor without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion now enjoys in this country, in its complete separation from the political concerns of the general government. " It is the province of the pulpits, and the state tribunals, to recommend the time and mode by which the people may best attest their reliance on the protecting arm of the Almighty in times of great distress." The committee then applied to the Governor of the TOL. L N, 146 A SUBALTERN^S FURLO0GH. State, who replied, * * * * " As fasting, humilia- tion, and prayer, are religious rites, so the recommenda- tion of a day for that purpose is an appeal to the religious sentiments of the community, and should, in my opinion, proceed from an authority which has its influence over the consciences of men, rather than their civil obligations. * # * # # * " I cannot here refrain from the remark, and I hope it will be received with indulgence, that the more scrupu- lously the religious authorities of the land follow the indi- cations of the public will, as pointed out in her constitu- tions, the more likely will they be to have that influence which is essential to crown with success their labours for the melioration of the condition of the human race." In many parts of the town the streets were watered with chloride of lime, in which, as an antidote, great faith was placed. Upon every subject, the Americans divide themselves into numerous parties, all differing in some trifle from each other; upon this occasion there were con- tagionists, non-contagionists, contingent contagionists, in- fectionists, and non-infectionists. There were many who asserted that the disease had its origin in the air, and that if a piece of raw meat were suspended at a certain height it would immediately become putrid. The experi- ment was actually tried at the mast-head of a ship in the harbour ; but, upon being brought down again in a few hours, the expectations of the most sanguine upon the subject were much disappointed in finding it in the same state as when put up. Others looked for the origin of the disease from the earth — the water — the comet; and it was even gravely asserted that the sun did not give its customary light. There were some who would not eat meat, and others who would not eat vegetables; some who would not drink any thing except water, and others who would only take "anti-cholera," as they termed bran- dy and port wine, the temperate soothed their fears, by crying out that only the dissolute and dirty would fall victims to it, and every post and tree in the city was la- belled with "Q,uit dram-drinking if you would not have the cholera." Those who had been in the habit of dram- drinking were at a loss how to proceed : one party told A subaltern's furlough. 147 them they were certain to contract the disease, and an- other assured them that, if they were to abstain suddenly from their former habits, there would be no hope for them ; and, at all events, they would be bad subjects for it, when attacked. Some were for clothing warm; but an alarm was immediately given, by the opposite party, that excess in clothing was as injurious as excess in drinking. It was no wonder, then, that nearly 100,000 of the inha- bitants fled into the country, and many of them out of the reach of medical assistance fell victims to the disease, which thejr might probably have otherwise escaped The second ev^ening after my return, I walked dow^n to the battery: and although it was a most bewitching scene, as the sun set mildly and beautifully on the opposite side of the bay, and the bright moon rose majestically in the deep blue sky, still only a stranger or two w^ere seen, leaning over the rails at the edge of the pier. At last I caught the general infection of fear myself (though I had often been an eye-witness of the ravages of the •disease in other lands, without any such sensation,) and the reflection that if I were attacked by it I might be car- ried off to some public hospital, unknown, and almost uncared for, made me think it would be more prudent to remove to a healthier part of the country, Curiosity alone had brought me to New- York, and I had been there a fortnight already without any probability of being gratified with a sight of any thing interesting ; two gentlemen, whose acquaintance I was just making, were suddenly carried off by the disease, and my only remain- ing friend had sailed for England: I therefore determin- ed to continue my tour, and, if possible, return at a busier and gayer time. 148 A subajltern's furlough. CHAPTER X. The flying rumours gathered as they roli'd, Scarce any tale was sooner heard than toldj And all who told it added something new, * And all who heard it made enlargements too ; In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew. Thus flying east and west, and north and soutii, News travelled with increase from mouth to mouth. Pope. Satire lashes vice into reformation. Dryden. Mrs. Trollope states, in her " Domestic Manners of the Americans," that much angry feeling was excited throughout the United States by the appearance of Cap- tain Hall's travels in that country; probably but little imagining that she herself as an authoress should give such umbrage to the republicans, and that the gallant Captain's works should sink into comparative insignifi- cance before her lashing pen. It was during my resi- dence in New- York that her first publication was re- printed, and the commotion it created amongst the good citizens is truly inconceivable. The Tariff and Bank Bill were alike forgotten, and the tug of war was hard, whether the " Don.cstic Manners," or the cholera, which burst upon them simultaneously, should be the more en- grossing topic of conversation. At every corner of the street, at the door of every petty retailer of information for the people, a large placard met the eye with, " For sale here, with plates, Domestic Manners of the Americans, by Mrs. Trollope." At every table d'h6te, on board of every steam-boat, in every stage-coach, and in all societies, the first question was, " Have you read Mrs. Trollope?" And I one half of the people would be seen with r« red or blue half-bound volume in their hand, which you might vouch for being the odious work ; and the more it was abused the more rapidly did the printers issue new editions. I. never could ascertain the reason why the American edition appeared without the name of its publisher ; whether it A subaltern's furlough. 149 arose from the fear of subjecting himself to serious con- sequences for printing- a work which spoke so unfavour- ably of his country, or that he was ashamed of publicly acknowledging the preface, in which he laboured to prove that Mrs. Trollope and Captain "AH" (as he was face- tiously pleased to write the name, as being the true Eng- lish pronunciation) were one and the same person,— an opinion which soon gained ground, and I was assured by many intelligent people that there was not the slightest doubt but "that Captain Hall had written every word of it; Mrs. Trollope might probably have furnished notes for it, but certainly nothing more; no one who had read the two works, and observed the great similarity of ex- pression and opinions, could for a moment doubt the author's identity, and every one was well aware that he had been sent out by the Quarterly Review." Never were two poor authors so abused: every newspaper for two months teemed with some violent remarks, and persona- lities, which were substituted for refutations, thus apparent- ly verifying the justice of the saying, that "Blunt truths more mischief than nice falsehoods do;" nor was this kind of criticism confined merely to editors of daily newspapers ; but even people who had some pre- tensions to literary talent fell into the same error. Mr, Dunlap, in his late history of the American stage, confi- dently states that Captain Hall was the author of the work in question; and Mr. Paulding, who ranks high as an author amongst his countrymen, in his late novel of "West- ward Ho ! " exerts himself, as much, as possible, to hold up Captain Hall to the ridicule of the Americans, merely because he differs in opinion from them; forget- ting that " 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own." Though the extract I allude to is long, yet I transcribe it, as servine two purposes ; one to show the soreness of N* l«^^ A subaltern's furlough. the Americans, and the other to give a specimen of the Western provincialisms. " Well, then, Captain, if he won't sing, suppose you tell us another story," quoth Cherub Spooney. " Ay, do now. Captain ; tell us the story of the strange cretur you picked up going down the river," said an- other. " Ah ! now do, Massa Cappin Sam," quoth Biackey. " Well, I'll tell you how it was. We had hauled in the Broad-horn close ashore to wood; wind was up stream, so we couldn't make much headway any how. Bill told the nigger to cook a few steaks off Clumsy — that was what we called the bear I shot the day before. Well, while we were a — wooding — " "That story's as long as the Mississippi," said one. " Shut pan, and sing dumb, or I'll throw you into the drink," exclaimed Spooney. "Why, I heaid that story before," " Well, supposing you did, I didn't, go on Cap- tain." '*Well, as I was saying, Spoon, the nigger — " " I tink he made call 'um gemman of colour," mutter- ed Biackey. " The nigger went to cook some bear while we were wooding, so that we might have something to go upon. When we came back, what kind of a varment do you think we started in the cane-brake?" " I reckon an alligator," said Biackey. " Hold your tongue, you beauty, or you shall smell brimstone through a nail hole," cried Spooney; "go a-head, go a-head. Captain." " Well, as I was saying, we started the drollest varment, perhaps, you ever did see. Its face was covered with hair, like a bull buffalo, all but a little place for his eyes to see tlirough. It looked mighty skeery, as though it thought jtself a gone-sucker, and calculated we were going to eat it, before we killed it ; but we carried it aboard the Broad- horn, and took compassion on the poor thing. I slapped it on the back, and told it to stand on its hind legs, and I wish I may run on a sawyer if it didn't turn out to be a live dandy." ''Had it a tail?" A subaltern's furlough. 151 " I'll wool lightning out of you, Bill, if you interrupt me." " That's actionable in New-Orleans." " Ha, ha, whoop! wake snakes — go a-head, go a-head, and don't be so rantankerous " shouted the audience. "I swear, if he once gets my tail up, he'll find I'm from the forks of the roaring river, and a bit of a screamer," said Captain Hugg. "Well, go a-head — go a-head, — tell us about the dandy, — ha ! ha ! ha ! I should like to have seen it when it stood on its hind legs — what did it say ?" " Why, I asked what they called such queer things where it came from, and it said Basil ; and that the Cap- tain of the steam-boat had put it ashore, because it insisted on goinor into the ladies' cabin. — Well, some of us called It summer savory, some catnip, some sweet Basil, and we had high fun with the cretur, and laughed till we were tired. And then we set him on a barrel forked end douTiwards." " Yough ! yough ! j^ough !" ejaculated Blackey, burst- ing into one of his indescribable laughs. *' No laughing in the ranks there — throw that nigger overboard, if he laughs before I come to the right place, and then you may all begin. Well, then, I began to ask him all about himself, and he told me he was a great tra- veller, and that he had been so far north that the north- star was south of him ; and then he asked me if I knew any thing of navigation, and the use of the globes. " To be sure I do," said I, " aint they made for people to live in ?" Then he inquired if I ever heard of Herschel, or Hisshel, I forgot which, and I told him I knew him as well as a squirrel knows a hickory-nut from an acorn." " He's dead," said the queer cretur. " No, no," says I, " that v/on't do, there's no mistake in Shavetail, you may swear. I saw a pedlar with some splendid sausages made of red flannel, and turnips, go by our house, and I changed with him some wooden bacon hams. He comes from Litchfield, where Herschel lived, and did'nt say a word about it. Here he made a note in his book, and I begun to smoke him for one of those fellows that drive a sort of a trade of making books 152 A subaltern's furlough. about old Kentuck and the western country : so I thought I'd set him barking up the wrong tree a little, and I told him some stories that were enough to set the Mississippi a-fire ; but he put them all down in his book. One of my men was listening, and he sung out, " Well, Sam, you do take the rag off the bush, that's sartin ;" and i was fearful dandy would find out I was smoking him, so I jumped up, and told Tom a short horse was soon curried, and I'd knock him into a cocked hat if he said another word, and that broke up the conversation. " Next morning we stopped to wood a little below New Madrid, and the dandy who seemed one of the curiousest creturs you ever saw, and was poking his nose every where, like a dog smelling out a trail, went with me a little way into a cane-brake, where we met a woman living under a board-shed, with four or five children. Dandy asked her if she was all alone ; she said her husband had gone up to Yellow Banks to look for better land. Then he wanted to know what she had to eat, and she said, nothing but sweet pumpkins. " What, no meat?" said he. " No, nothing but sweet pumpkins." " Well," said dand}^, " I never saw any thing half so bad as this in the old countries," and then he put his hand m his pocket, and gave her a pickatlon. " Thank you," said she, " as I am a living woman, I 've tasted no meat ibr the last fortniofht — nothing^ but venison and wild turkey." The d — 1 you ha'int," said Dandy ; and want- ed to get the pickatlon back again. " What a wild-goose of a fellow, not to know that nothing is called meat in these parts but salt-pork and beef. He 's a pretty hand to write books of travels," said Spooney. " I wish I may be forced to pass the old sycamore root up stream twice a day, if I'd give the Mississippi navi- gator for a whole raft of such creturs." " But what did you do with him at last, Captain?" said another. " Why, I got tired of making fun of the ring-tail roarer, and happening to meet the steam-boat, Daniel Boone, Captain Lansdale, coming down stream, just as A subaltern's furlough. 153 site had smashed a hroad horn, and the owner was sitting on the top of it, singing, " Hail Columbia, happy land; If I a'int ruin'd I'll be ." I persuaded the Captain to let the Dandy come on board again, on his promising to keep out of the ladies' cabin — So we shook hands; and " I wish I might be smash'd too if I wouldn't sooner hunt such a raccoon than the fattest buck that ever broke bread in old Kentuck." This is but a mild specimen of the bitter feeling which was exhibited against the gallant Captain ; and I sincerely give it as my opinion that neither he nor Mrs. Trollope could with safety make their personal appearance again in the United States. Never was there so extremely sen- sitive a person as brother Jonathan. He lashes himself into a violent rage, if any one doubts that his own dear land is not the abode of all that is estimable. 3Iere ap- proval will not do for him ; it must be the most unquali- tied approbation; and he thinks he is in duty bound to consider any national reflection a personal insult, and to resent it accordingl}^ Thus it has ever been in his wars with England, which were carried on with greater ani- mosity than any of our continental struggles. Thus, also (to descend to minor affairs,) can alone be explained their conduct towards Kean, Anderson, and others, where the whole nation resented what was onljra private quarrel. Although I should not wish to identify myself vnth Mrs. TroUope's opinions and sentiments, inasmuch as she evidently is a writer, who, in drawing a tolerable likeness, has given a broad caricature of the Americans, and most unjustly impressed those who have not visited the United States with the imagination that no gentlemen are to be met with there, yet I must think her " Domes- tic Manners" will do good amongst a certain class of people. The effects had even begun to show themselves before I quitted the country ; and I record the following anecdote, in order that, if these poor pages ever meet the eye of the witty and much abused authoress, she may congratulate herself on having already worked a partial 154 A subaltern's furlough. reform. When Miss Kemble made her first appearance at the Park Theatre, in New- York, the house was crowded to excess : and a gentleman in the boxes, turn- ing round between the acts of the play to speak to some one who sat in the bench behind him, displayed rather more of his back to the pit than was thought quite ortho- dox. This was no sooner observed than a low murmur arose amongst the insulted part of the audience, which presently burst forth into loud cries of " Trollope !" " Trollope!" "turn him out," "throw him over," &c., and continued for several minutes, accompanied by the most discordant noises, until the offending person assum- ed a less objectionable position. I will bear witness that I have frequently seen as much want of decorum in our theatres as I ever did in the American ; and think that our bar-rooms and ordinaries in country inns, and pas- sengers on a stage-coach, might with as much justice be taken as samples by which a foreigner might form his estimate of English gentlemen as the inmates of steam- vessels, canal-boats, and lodging-houses, should be of American gentlemen. That the Americans generally have many unpleasant customs, no sensible man in the country w411 deny ; and if ringing the changes upon to- bacco chewing and smoking, dram-drinking, and spitting, perpetually in their ears, will be of any service towards working a reformation, no English traveller will ever spare them ; and no man could have more strongly ex- pressed his abhorrence of such filthy habits than I did during my sojourn in the States. Though the long extract I have given from Mr. Pauld- ing's work should be considered as a good specimen of western provincialisms, yet not an American, let him be Yankee or Southerner, from the banks of the Hudson or the Mississippi, but flatters himself that he speaks more correct English than we illiterate sons of the mother isle. If you ask a Cana iian in what part of the globe the purest French is spoken, he will reply, " upon the shores of the St. Lawrence," and assign as a reason for such being the case that a patois was introduced in the old country when the canaille gained the ascendency during the Re- volution of 1792; and that the correct language failing, A subaltern's furlough. 155 with the princes and nobles, Canada alone, which has not been subject to any such convulsions, retains the language in its original purity. Incredible as it may appear, I was frequently told by casual acquaintance in the States, " Well, I should have imagined you to be an American, you have not got the English brogue, and aspirate the letter h, when speaking." And once I was actually told, by a feliow-passenger in the stage coach from Alexandria to Winchester, " Really I should never have thought you to be from the old country, you pronounce your words so well, and have not got the turn-up nose /" This same "turn-up nose," somewhat approaching to the pug, is, I find, one of the characteristic marks of an English- man in American eyes : and they apply the term " Cock- ney" as indiscriminately to us as we do that of" Yankee" to them. Whatever maybe their opinion of the manner in which we natives of Great Britain speak the mothei- tongue, I can affirm that the nasal twang, which Ame- ricans, of every class, possess in some degree, is very grating and disagreeable to the ears of an Englishman." 156 A subaltern's FURLOTJGfH. CHAPTER XL Lady Charlotte. 1 want none of your explanations — (scornfully.) Garrick. Taking advantage of a bright morning sun, so that i might enjoy a view of surrounding objects, I embarked on board the Superior steam-vessel, on East River, for New-Haven in Connecticut, I departed from New- York rather sooner than even the unhealthy state of the place would have urged, being fearful that if I remained there many days longer an opportunity would not occur of leaving the city, as many steam-vessels had discontinued making their usual trips, from the long quarantine imposed upon them in some ports, and from the decrease in the number of passengers. The most conspicuous objects on the banks of the East River are the two large stone build- ings of the Almshouse at Bellevue, which contain from 1200 to 1500 inmates. Amongst them, the cholera was making most frightful ravages principally owing to the impaired constitution of the patients ; and at this time upwards of thirty were dying daily. A short distance further a penitentiary is erecting upon an island, for the confinement of prisoners under sentence of two years or a less period. It is a very narrow, long, tasteless piece of architecture, with two wings so closely studded with innumerable windows (no broader than the loop-holes of an old castle) as to give it a most ungraceful appearance. Its future occupants were busily employed in its construction; and were closely watched by an overseer, who was pacing to and fro, upon a lofty wooden platform, lest any one should attempt to escape into the bushes. Opposite to the upper end of the island are some hand- some country residences on the mainland ; and also the entrance to Hell-Gate, or, as in this age of refinement it is called, Hurl-Gate. It being ebb-tide, the water was rushing with great violence over the Hog's Back and Gridiron, and boiling and tossing about in a furious trou- ble in the Pot and Frying Pan. These eddies have been most aptly named, and were to be distinguishad at a great A StJBALTERN's FURLOUGH, l$l distance; they act in part as a guard against the entrance of vessels into the harbour, and batteries Avere also erect- ed some few years since on the point of land which form the gate to make the pass more secure. The depth of water is ample, as two French ships of war, when blockaded by the British off New- York, in 1810, made their escape through the gate into the sound. It is a dangerous and intricate navigation for sailing crafi at ali times of tide, and part of a small vessel was visible above water when we ran through, and was lying on some huge masses of rock in the centre of the gate. It is in contemplation to excavate a canal across the peninsula, from Pot to Hallet's Cove, of sufficient depth to admit line-of-battle ships ; the estimated expense being about 150,000 dollars for a canal of 28 feet in depth and 137 in breadth at the top. After running thirty miles amongst innumerablte is- lands, and keeping along the continental shore, the sound became so broad that Long-Island was but indistinctly seen. Having touched at several small towns, we arrived at New-Haven, eighty-six miles from New- York, in six hours and a half The tow^n having some high bluff rocks rising at the back of it, is situated at the head of a bay of considerable extent, which affords an excellent shelter from the sea, and a small battery, dignified with the appella- tion of Fort Hale, occupies a point about two miles up the bay. When within half a mile of the pier, the steamer w^as boarded by a health officer who expressed himself •satisfied with the Captain's word that there were no cho- lera cases on board ; so, being permitted to land, I pro- ceeded to an hotel in a large square called the Green, about three-quarters of a mile in circumference. It has three churches in a line near the centre of it, and at a short distance in another line a state-house (which is almost a fac-simile of the Philadelphian bank and a Me- thodist chapel ; while the opposite side of the square is occupied by the large brick buildings of the Yale College. The square as also the streets of the town (which contains i 1,000 inhabitants) are planted with fine elm trees, which keep them, however, exceedingly wet and dirty. The col- lege has four houses for the lodging of the students, two YOL, 1. — 0. 158 A subaltern's furlough. chapels, and a Lycjeum (in which are the recitation rooms) and possesses an excellent library. It was commenced in 1700, by the recommendation of eleven of the principal ministers of neighbouring towns, who had been appointed to adopt such measures as they should deem fit for the regulation of a college. Its first commencement was held at Saybrook in 1702, and removed to New-Haven in 1717. The Hon. Elihu Yale, Governor of the East India Com- pany, being its principal benefactor, his name was bestow* ed upon it. It is considered one of the best colleges in the States, and from four to five hundred young men study at it. The Green was used as a burial-ground from the settle- ment of the town in 1638 until the year 1796, when a c-emetery was marked out in the north-western suburbs, and the grave stones were removed there in 1821. It con- tains about twelve acres of ground, and is planted thickly with poplarsandweeping willows, which well accord with the numerous obelisks and columns of black and white marble that distinguish the graves. I never felt the inconvenience of the small bed-rooms in American hotels so much as at the one in New-Haven ; mine was only 10 feet by 7, and the door of the adjoining room closed upon the same post as that of mine. I was sitting studying the travellers' map, in rather a dishabille, having returned heated from a long walk, when I heard a voice at my door say, "Charles, Charles, get up !" while a person in the next room muttered something, in a half- tfaking, half-sleeping tone of voice. The command was ag-ain repeated, with, " May I come in ?" and a knock at my door. " Yes!" said the voice in the next room. My door was now opened half an inch, while I sat in amazement, wondering what would next appear. " Are you asleep ?" said the voice : " No!" answered the next- room occupant. At this moment my door flew open, and discovered three ladies standing at the entrance. A tall elderly one, the mother of the other two, surveyed me with a most haughty frown (which, though not at all im- proving the natural beauty of her dark countenance, would have been invaluable to a tragedy queen,) qs I muttered something about "a miatake" After darting another A subaltern's forloook. 150 g-lance, which spoke volumes, at me, she flung the door violently to again, saying, "you are not Mr. , so why (hd you speak, Sir?" The dear was just closed, when I heard the next-room voice again , and, after a few ques- tions, the lady, discovering her mistake, said that " Mr. wished to show them the beauties of New-Haven," and descended the stairs again most majestically, one of the younger voices saying, " You made a mistake mam- ma;" the answer of the indignant lady I could not dis- tinctly overhear, but was right glad to get rid of her up- on any terms. The morning after my arrival, I walked out to the high bluff rocks behind the town, for the purpose of visiting the eave in which the regicide judges, — Whalley and Goffe, — secreted themselves for some years, previous to 1664, having escaped from England at the Restoration, when several ofthejudL^es upon the trial of Charles I. were tried and executed. They eluded the search of the colonists, and their place of refuge would probably have remained unknown but for the chance discovery of it by some Indians ; when, finding themselves no longer in safety, they removed to a small village sixty miles higher up the Connecticut ri ver, and lived in the cellar of a clergyman's house for upwards of fifteen years, where the former died and was buried: Colonel Dixwell, another of the judges, had joined them in their last place of concealment, shortly after their arrival at it. After vainly ascending the hill three times successively in search of the cave, with di- rections from those who either knew or pretended to know its locality, I was obliged at last to give it up. It was described to me as being formed by two rocks which had fallen together, upon one of which was the following }nscription : " Opposition to tyrants is obedience to God." Between two and three miles from the town, there is a musket manufactory, established by Mr. Eli Whitney, a government contractor, on the banks of a small stream which empties itself into the Dragon, a fine winding river with low banks and rich salt meadows on its margin, and A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. rather nearer the town is a pretty mansion, the residence of Mr. Hillhouse. The frame-houses on the outskirts of New-Haven are distinguished for neatness, and on the whole, it may be considered one of the handsomest towns hi the States. Leaving New-Haven in one of four coaches, filled with passengers who had made their escape from New- York, we travelled rapidly over a tolerably good road to the pretty little town of Meriden, which has several block-tin manufactories in its vicinity; and thence to Berlin, a long straggling town, seven miles farther : we w^ere but fifty minutes — quite an era in American driving. It w^as very (Evident, from the coachman's nonchalance, that we were now in the genuine Yankee country. One of the gentle- men, an inside passenger, told him to mount his box and move on, as he was loitering at a tavern door, smoking a eigar, and conversing quietlj^ with a brother whip, but was answered with an air of the most perfect indifference, as follows : — " Don't be in such a hurry ; we take it easy in this part of the world, I guess ; and, I declare, it ain't four o'clock yet — that's a fac." But I acquit the man of inten- tional rudeness, as I sat on the box with him, and found him both civil and obliging, pointing out every object oi interest as we went along ; and, during my travels aftervt-'ards of many hundreds of miles by the coaches, I never found them otherwise. Upon first landing in the country, such roughness of manner is mistaken for insolence. In England we are apt to designate ail Americans as Yankc _s, whether they are born under the burning sun of Louisiana, or frozen up five months in the year on the shores of the Lake of the Woods, The name, correctly speaking, is applicable only to the native of the New- England States, a very small portion rS the Union. The southern States call all their countrymen who reside porth of the Potomac Yankees. Th^ middle otaies, including New- York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, &c., push the odious appellation off their shoulders on to their more northern brethren, the natives of that part of the country lying to the east of the river Hudson; while they, not being able to put it upon the New-Brunswickers, who have their k subaltern's furlough. 161 own proper by-name, make a virtue of necessity, and wear the title with a good grace, frequently prefacing the con- versation with " We Yankees are a curious 'quisicive set, ain't we?" And (that being granted) make a dead point at all your secrets, Knickerbocker tells us that "the name of Yankies, which in the Mais-Tchusaeg (or Massac husett langua2;e) signifies silent men^'' was a waggish appellation btstowed by the aborigines of the land upon the first settlers, who kept up such a joyful «tiamour, for the space of one w^hole year after their arri^'^l m America, *' that they frightened every bird and beast out of the neighbourhood, and so completely dumb-founded certain fish, which abound on their coavSt, that they have been called dumb fish ever since." Other authorities say, it is a corruption of the word " English." The Yankees differ much in personal appearance and disposition from the southerners : the latter, like their climate, are fiery, warm-hearted, and generous, and display a greater re- spect for the customs of the mother country than the former, who are cool speculators, intent upon gain alone. But little good-will exists between these two portions of the Union, their interests in mercantile matters so directly clashing, and what (like the Tariff) is a safeguard to the manufactures of the north is little better than ruin to the south. I thought that the southerner had generally a fresher colour, and was of a stouter habit of body, than the Yankee, who is well described in the words of his own national Melody : — " A Yankee boy is trim gind tall, And never over fat, sir, He's always out on training-day, Commencement, or election ; At truck and trade lie knows the way Of thriving to perfection. Yankee doodle dandy," &c Having gained an eminence four miles from Hartford, we had a magnificent view of the town with its numerous domes, the passing sails upon the Connecticut River, and the light yellow corn-fields covering the whole extent of o* 162 A subaltern's furlough. the valley toa range of forest-crowned hills, twenty miieB distant. Passing the Insane Asylum, a plain but neal budding on the outskirts of the town, we drove up to the City Hotel, situated in a small square opposite the State House, and kept by a most attentive landlord. I had but just stepped off the coach, and seen my bag- gage fairly housed, when, hearing drums at a distance, 1 walked to the corner of the street, and saw the students of the college, between sixty and seventy in number, equipped as archers, with light green frocks, white trow- sers, green bonnets, and ostrich feathers, marching down it; their officers distinguished by wearing a sword and sash. The whole body had a very neat and striking ap- pearance ; each archer carried a long bow in his hand, and a quiver of arrows at his back. I could have almost fan- cied myself in the Forest of Arden, or Merry Sher- wood, in, tead of in one of the largest cities in the Unit- ed States, where the very last sight I should have ex- pected would have been a company of archers in Lin- coln Green. During the night an alarm of fire was given, which im- mediately set every bell in church and chapel ringing, and a night-capped head was protruded from every Avindow in the street, vociferating "Fire! Fire!" so loudly that I at first concez'ved it must be in the hotel, and, but half- awake, sprang out of bed in double-quick time, whereas it was quite at the other extremity of the town. The eng'ines rolled and thundered over the rough pavement ifj quick succession, and, instead of being drawn by hor- ses, men and boys who volunteered there services for the msre sake, I believe, of increasing the uproar, were yok- ed to them : while the superintendants, who continued shouting through their long tin trumpets to urge them on., produced a most hideous noise, a "clangor tubarum," v^/-hich would have broken the charm of the Seven Sleep- ers themselves, or aroused the giants from any en- chanted CLotle in Christendom. Thanks, however, to my scaling the hills at New-Haven, I was soon again in a 80und slumber. The following day being Sunday, I attended service at the Protestant Episcopal Church, which was the finest A subaltern's furlough. 163 specimen of solid architecture I had seen. Being built of a dark coloured stone in imitation of the Gothic style, it already possessed a venerable and antique air, which the brick churches and white painted wooden towers will not acquire in less than a century. The tower was not finished, but, when carried to the height intended it will become a great ornament to the town, and a monument of the spirit of the congregation, who erected it entirely by- private subscription. Most of the American churches have their towers at the eastern end, which is a great detrac- tion to their interior beauty, from not having the large, light, chancel window, which is found in all English re- gions edifices ; and none of them possesses that air of so- lidity without, or solemn grandeur within, which distin- guishes the ecclesiastical buildings of the old world The inhabitants of Hartford appear strictly attentive to their religious observances. There are nine or ten churches to 8500 inhabitants ; and, on walking out in the afternoon, there was literally not one person to be seen in the streets. Feeling rather ashamed at being apparently the only ab- sentee from divine service, I proceeded a short distance out of the town to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, which was the first establishment of the kind in the States, and is partly conducted by a gentleman who has the misfortune to be afflicted himself in the same manner. The building is a very extensive one, situated on an eminence overlook- ing the town, and generally contains from sixty to seven- ty inmates. It was a lovely afternoon, and as I sat upon the grass, gazing upon the town and river beneath, whence neither the hum of voices nor the sound of anjr one stirring arose, and not a living being was even to be seen crossing the long straight streets, or standing at a door or window, I thought I had never before seen a day so truly set apart as a day of rest, nor one, I would believe, so strictly kept. In October, 1687, Sir Edmund Andross, Governor of the New-England States (who committed so many arbi- trary acts during his administration,) proceeded to Hart- ford with a detachment of troops, and, entering the House of Assembly when in Session, demanded the Charter of Connecticut, declaring the Colonial Government to be 164 A. stjualtern's furlough. deposed ^ the Assembly protracted the debates till e^en^ • ing, when the Charter was laid upon the table, and, ai ;i preconcerted signal, the lights being extinguished, a Captain Wadsworth, seizing the Charter, sprung out of the window, and, under cover of the dark night, secreted it in the hollow of an oak, where it lay concealed for several years, until the accession of William, Prince of Orange, to the throne of Great Britain, when the Colo- msis resumed their Charter, which continued in force until 1818, when they adopted a new constitution The old House of Assembly is still pointed out in rear of the Epis- (to'pai Church, and the Charter Oak retains its fine broad- spreading branches in front of the pleasure-grounds of Mr. Wyllis, at the southern outskirts of the town. The Connecticut River, on whose right bank the town stands, m about 300 yards broad, and connected with the large manufacturing village of East Hartford, one mile distant, by a bridge of seven arches, at which the sloop naviga- don ceases. The town would be a very handsome one, if a little more attention were paid to the cleanliness of the streets ; but, like most American towns, the dirt was six mches deep in them. Grass, rank docks, and other weeds, were growing on every side of the State House and one half the square, which was cut up in every di- rection, after a heav}^ shower of rain, by deep ruts and mnumerable water-courses. A suba-ltern's furlough. 165 CHAPTER Sir. The Lacedemonians, forbidding all access of strangers into tlieir coasts, are, in that respect, deservedly blamed, as being enemies to that hospitality which, for common humanity's sake, all the nations oa earth should embrace. HOOKBR. Why must I Afric's sable children see Vended for slaves, though formed by Nature free, The nameless tortures cruel minds invent, Those to subject whom Nature equal meant? Sata©«. The whole course of his argumentation comes to nothing. Addisok. Proceeding in the coach from Hartford across the Con- necticut River, we passed over an undulating country to Mansfield, twenty-four miles distant, where a silk factory has been lately established. Much silk in grown in the ricinity of the village, the worms being kept in long sheds neatly arranged with shelves; and the mulberry -trees in. every direction were laden with the young guardians of the insects picking the leaves. From this place we en- tered a more hilly country, the face of which was densely covered with rocks and large stones. Where fields had been cleared, they were not more than three or four acres in extent, enclosed with stone fences, and for forty mile« the scenery much resembled many parts of the Peak of Derbyshire. Manufactories of various kinds were scat- tered thickly upon every stream ; and at the pretty little village of Scituate, a very extensive comb establishment, employing upwards of 100 workmen, had been lately- opened with every prospect of success. The State of Connecticut, though possessing a soil generally fertile, increases in the number of its inhabitants more slowly than any other in the union, thirty years only giving an addition of 38,000 people. This has arisen from so many of the young men migrating to the western regions, it being said that this state and the neighbouring one of Massachusetts send a greater proportion across the Alle- 166 A subaltern's furlough. ghany Mountains than any other. After a tedious journey of fifteen hours, we arrived at Providence, pleasantly si- tuated on both sides of the river of the same name. On the eastern bank, it is built at the foot of a range of heights which run parallel with the stream, and upon the summit of them are the two large tasteless buildings of the Brown University. An Englishman's ideas of a col- lege are associated with cloisters, antique piles, and black- lettered volumes, and he would fix the seat of the genius of learning in some venerable pile of building which pos- sessed an air of grandeur. He could scarcely reconcile to himself a four-storied, red-painted, brick house as her abode; and would pardon her for taking alarm and fleeing from such a spot, where too her votaries are distinguished by no classical garb. I believe it is rather the case with this College, which does not bear so hiffh a name as that at Hartford or New-Haven, or Cambridge : but, of all the public buildings in America, I thought the colleges were the most tasteless. Steam-vessels and sloops navigate the river up to the bridges, which connect the two towns ; where the stream IS considerably contracted by the piers which have been tiirown out, but immediately above them it expands again iato a fine cove or bay of half a mile in width, with neat houses encircling it. The town containing betv/een 16,000 and 17,000 inhabitants is a manufacturing place of consi- derable importance, and printed calicoes of very durable *olouis are struck off In the cotton works many very young children are employed ; but there were proposi- tions (as in England, by Mr. Sadler) to limit the number of working hours. At Pawtucket, four miles from the town on the Seekhonk River, there are twelve cotton, aad a variety of other mills. I walked there over the most passable road I had as yet seen, and saw many wagons laden with the raw material, which had been landed at Providence, on their way to the flourishing manufacto- ries. A large new Almshouse is situated upon the same range of hills as the College, built by the bequest of Mr. Dexter, a second Mr. Girard, who also bequeathed an extensive farm in the vicinity of the town for some other lihariiable purpose, and 3. fine plot of land to be used a« A si'baltern's FURL0T7 wards,) the vehicle lost its equilibrium, the passengers screamed out and over it went 1 would not at that mo- ment have given half a dollar to insure all otir lives. 1 saw the tops of the trees far below, and thought nothing could save us from perching amongst their boughs. The rails gave w^ay with a crash, when I was surprised by a sudden and violent shock, occasioned by the coach falling on the friendly stump of a tree which checked us in our course. The vehicle in part overhanging the precipice, carpet bags and mail bags, trunks and hat boxes were to be seen rolling down the hill to the depth of 150 feet. Regulus of old could not have had a more uncomfortable descent in his barrel than we should have had, if the coach had been two or three feet farther on either side of the stump. There were eight passengers of no light weight inside, and I was one of those who were undermost. A strong voice called out above me, *' Never mind, there's no one hurt," " Thank you," said a smothered tone, "but there a'int 'casion to speak for me, I guess." As soon as I could extricate myself from the confused mass of arms and legs, and scramble out of one of the windows I began to shake myself to discover what broken limbs I had ; but finding only a sprained thumb, ditto leg, and one or two contusions on the ribs, and that none of my companions were much more injured, I began to search for my baggage. We had just raised the shattered coach again, when some people who had seen it upset from the Lebanon springs galloped up, expecting to find half the passen- gers killed ; in an hour more I was in the Columbia hall hotel. A subaltern's furlough. 195 CHAPTER XIV. By your priesthood, tell me what you are ! DONNS. At Manchester, in England, this burning truth began, When Christ made his appearance in blessed Mother Ann. A few at first received it, and did their lusts forsake. And soon their testimony brought on a mig-hty shake. For Mother's safe protection, good angels flew before, Towards the land of promise, Columbia's happy shore ; Hail thou victorious Gospel, and that auspicious day When Mother safely landed in North America ! " Memorial to Mother Ann." The company at the Lebanon springs during the season is made up of the same kind of people as at Cheltenham, [ or any of our fashionable watering places. Some come to got rid of their daughters ; others to get rid of their complaints ; others, again, to avoid the sickness of the south ; and the rest are composed of travellers, fortune- hunters, pleasure seekers, and the odds and ends of society. The Shakers' village, two miles distant, proves, however, a great attraction. On the 29th of July, I at- tended their Sunday meeting, which was held in a large building by the roadside, containing a finely proportioned room of 80 by 60 feet, with arched ceiling, well calculated I for sound, and a beautifully white floor, with scarcely a knot upon its surface. There were two doors in the front of the room, the gentlemen visitors entering at the one and the ladies at the other; while the members of the Society made their appearance separately also, the men by a door at the south, and the women by one at the north end of the building. Elevated seats for the visitors occupied one side of the room, a rail dividing the two sexes. 1 sat very impatiently for three-quarters of an hour before the Society assembled, when they occupied two rows of benches facing each other, a slight opening between two boards in the floor forming the boimdary line. The men were dressed in drab coats, quaker feshioa, but with a rolling collar, old-fashioned dark wai§V 196 ^ A subaltern's furlough. coats reaching as low as the hips, and gray trowsers of striped cotton or linen, the hair cut short in front, and al- lowed to grow a considerable length at the back of the head ; the women in white gowns, with large muslin caps which concealed their profile, and high-heeled shoes. Both sexes entered with a singular kind of springing step, as if walking" upon the toes. The total number of members, including two people of colour, might have been 250, of which 130 were males. Amongst them were 30 or 40 children from ten to fifteen years of age ; tlie rest were from thirty to seventy : but I scarcely ob- served any who appeared between those two periods. Most of them entered without their coats, and the day being warm, all had their waistcoats unbuttoned, so as to display a clean long white neckcloth and shirt, with a narrow piece of green riband encircling the arm above the elbow. The service commenced by the whole society rising and removing the benches to the side of the room. Both sexes then advanced towards the line of demarcation in a close column, showing a front of 16 by 8 deep, but in oblique lines, so that the feet of the two people on the inner flank were within a few inches of the boundary line, while those on the outer were six paces apart. An elder, stepping out, addressed them in a few words, standing with his back to the wall, his feet upon the line, and fronting the open space between the two parties. He spoke in so Iowa tone of voice that I could scarcely catch the import of his words, but understood him to say that " they had assembled there to pray," and recommending " suitable exercise:" when, resuming his place, the members sang a hymn, moving their feet in time with the air, which was a strange composition, equally unin- telligible and monotonous as an Indian chant at the feast of the Mohorum, or a Burman boat song as I have heard it on the Irawaddi, to which it bore no slight re* semblance. When it was concluded, they knelt in silence for a few minutes, and, after rising, another elder address- ed us, saying, " He trusted we should behave with pro- priety and decency, as decent people ought, and recollect that we were in a house of woi'ship, though we were not believers of the same faith : an address, indeed that was A subaltern's furlough. 197 much required ; for I could not divest myself of the idea that we were in a theatre, and, had anyone set the exam- ple, I have but little doubt there would have been a bois- terous round of applause. In truth we were but mere spectators : none took any part in the service, but re- mained as immoveable and attentive to the proceedings before them as they would if viewing any novelty in a place of public amusement. The rest of the men now divested themselves of their coats, hanging them upon pegs in the wall, and each of the women laid the white handkerchief she had held in her hand upon the benches; indications that they were about to set to in good earnest. Two rows of about forty persons stood with their backs to the wall, the remainder forming a column fronting them at some distance. The former party struck up a lively air, with some words attached to it, (all that I could distinguish were, " I will be truly good," frequently re- peated,) and the latter commenced dancing in correct time, advancing three steps; then balancing three, and retiring again, advanced as before, turning round at in- tervals in the tune in a style which a quadrille dancer might even be proud of. The singers throughout the time kept their arms close to their bodies, with the lower part of them projecting out, and moving their hands up and down (I hope I shall be excused for making an ab- surd but striking simile,) like so many kangaroos stand- ing upon their hind legs. Upon the whole, it was a most singular scene : old and young were dancing away with- out their coats, as if it had been a matter of life and death; while the room, containing not fewer than six or seven hundred people, was hot to suffocation. Though the women exerted themselves most laboriously, they were (owingto their dress, I presume) as pale and ghast- ly as so many shrouded bodies or living corpses, — an appearance they wished to assume, I should imagine, as not being ver}^ inviting to the eyes of " the world's peo- ple,'' as they term us old-fashioned folks. I overheard one of a party of younof men sitting in rear of me, who could not at all contain themselves, " he had seen an Egyptian mummy look handsomer than any of them.'' I could not, however, agree with him upon that score; R* 198 A subaltern's furlough. for there were two or three pair of very pretty dark eyes, with some finely-formed features. One young girl, in particular, about eighteen or twenty years of age, who paid much more attention to the spectators than to her devotions, would doubtless have been well pleased to re- gain her former place in the world. She was in the last row of females, so that no one could overlook her mo- tions : and all the 3'oung people were similarly disposed of Those who formed the first row, and who were con- fronted face to face with the men, were the oldest and ugliest of the party : a dangerous post like this was not assigned to young people, with such eyes ^s interpreters, an elopement having occasionally taken place, much to the dismay of the elders. A respectable, middle-aged man, who had received the visitors and shown them to their seats with great civility, took no part in the per- formance of the above ceremonies, but passed his time m observing the effect such a singular show had upon the audience. ^ After the Society had finished their first dance and song, he came up directly in front of me, and saia, "he had seen two or three 3^oung men talking and laugh- ing, as if they were in a theatre or ball-room." All eyes were turned instajiter in my direction ; but, fortunately for my credit, the speaker particularized them, and I dis- covered they were the " Egyptian Mummy" party. He continued his lecture by telling them, " if they wished to laugh, to walk out upon the floor, and allow every one to see them; if they hadanj^ thing to say. let every one heai what it was : that the rest of the visitors had behaved respectably and with propriety, and had his thanks for so doing; but that, for these young men, they conductea themselves worse than heathens, who have some respect for the religion of others ; that they deserved reprimand- ing, and that he reprimanded them accordingly." The The young men looked much abashed, and took an early opportunity of retiring. The Society afterwards formed a column of fi^-e in front, with fourteen members m the centre of the room, who sang some words to a tune like ^'Yankee doodle," the column steppmg off at quick time, and marching round the room as correctly as any weil- drilled battalion, changing step when necessary, and, if A subaltern's furlough. 199 any one fell out in front, his place was immediately oc- cupied by some one from the rear. They beat time by moving their hands up and down as before described, clapping them in certain parts of the tune. After thus marching round several times, they halted, and, the inner files of two facing about, a brisk air was struck up, and they moved off again in different directions, circling round the room, halting and singing in the slow parts of the air ; then quickening their pace almost to a run at the more lively parts. Altogether I scarcely ever saw so dif- ficult or so well-performed a field day. They had been evidently well drilled, or they could not have acquired such skill in manoeuvring ; for there was such a series of marchiner and countermarching, slow step, quick step, and double quick step, advancing and retiring, form - nig open column and close column, perpendicular lines and oblique lines, that it was sufficient to puzzle and confound the clearest head of the lookers on. After a hard hour's work, the first speaker, Avho had requested us " to behave with decency," again came for- ward, and spoke to the following effect : " Friends, I wish to say a few words to you. No doubt what you have seen to-day appears vastly strange — a mode of worshipping the Almighty altogether new to you: and I am not sur- prised that it should appear strange, ' The way of the Lord is foolishness with man.' I asked your attention and good conduct before Ave commenced ; some few have not behaved well — far from it indeed, but I am not even surprized at that. They probably despised us and laughed at us in scorn and derision. We, however, are satisfied : we well know that we are in the right path, that the Lord IS pleased and is reconciled with us. Works speak for themselves, and the tree is known by its fruit ; we there- fore fear not the taunts of men. There are, however, so many sects, so many various forms of religion, so many crying out ' this is the right way,' and 'this is the rigKt way, that those seeking the truth scarcely know which WRY to turn ; but if you wish to be saved, iianyoi you feel vou have need of salvation (and 'the physician is only re- quired by the sick') it is here only to be found — this is the only true path : amongst these only, these the true disciples 200 A subaltern's turlough. of Christ, who follow his glorious example in taking up a daily cross, and denying themselves the things of this world. I have no doubt some of you despise us, and that all of you profess to be religious, and all nearly determine upon repenting of your sins, and leading a new life; but day after day is this hour of reformation put off. It is delayed time after time until some more convenient op- portunity. We desire your happiness, we pray for your good, but we cannot flatter you — not one of you will be saved, unless you abstain from the lust of the flesh, all sin and worldly desires, and shun the eye, the pride of life — the eye, the pride of lifeV — The speaker here be- came quite violent, stamping with his feet, and holding out his clenched hand while he repeated the last sentence, looking hard at the lady spectators. " Whence arises all sin, all deadly and barbarous wars ? — whence this sick- ness which now desolates the land ? Let those, then, who wish to be saved, forsake those things which sepa- rate the soul from God. Cease to do evil, and you will learn to do good; imitate us in taking Christ for a pat- tern, and you will then assuredly find salvation." His address lasted about twenty minutes, and was de^ liver ed with great energy ; but he was an illiterate man, and could scarcely speak correct English — evidently la- bouring, too, under great difficulty from want of words to express himself, and his whole discourse abounded with tautology. I was rather alarmed lest he should observe me taking notes of his lecture; for, had he only cast eyes upon me, I should have received no gentle reprimand. After another song, the meeting broke up, having lasted an hour and a half I had some conversation immediately aftei wards with one of the elders, who appeared a sensible well-informed man. He stated that the Society at this village consisted of 600 people, but that not more than a third ever at- tended service together, excepting once a year, when ail assembled. In answer to my inquiries, he said that they had received an addition of 100 members within the last two years, many of whom were English. I had observed two very stout, ruddy faced, farmer-looking men, who, he said, had only just arrived from my native country. One A subaltern's furlough. 201 was the very prototype of Friar Tuck, and it would be a considerable time before he exchanged his fat cheeks for the long demure face of the rest of the Society. The other danced round the room, swinging his hands about, and bellowing at the full extent of his voice, as if he was still tripping it at some English village wake. 'Tis said "there is nothing new under the sun;" but it seems strange that such fanaticism should exist with so much zeal and good religious feeling. The village is remarkable for the neatness and cleanli- ness of the houses. The school is well conducted, and the children educated in it generally possess a superior education to those elsewhere. After acquiring the age of maturity, they are under no obligation to remain with the Society, but are free to return to the world ; nor are they allowed rashly to enlist under the banners of " the be- lievers," but must seriously take the matter into consi- deration, and even undergo a noviciate of some months> when, if still of the same opinion, they are admitted and enjoy the same privileges as the other members. At any time indeed they may withdraw, but cannot claim any compensation for the time the}^ may have worked upon the lands of the Society, nor, should they have thro"v^Ti property into the common stock, can they reclaim it, though none that have as yet withdrawn have gone away empty-handed. The principal rules of the Society are celibacy, non-interference with politics, peace with all man- kind, and paying to every man his due ; nor will they be answerable for the debts of any of the Society, or admit any one as a member who has not honestly discharged all his pecuniary debts. No one, except in case of sick- ness or infirmity^ is allowed to become a burthen on the Society; but all must work, and all property is in common, the fruits of their labour being thrown into a general fund. The women are employed in knitting gloves, making fan- cy ornaments, and spinning, while the men follow various trades, the goods being exposed for sale at the trustee's office : every article is of the best quality, but the price is exceedingly high. The woman who sold me what few thmgs I bought used as many persuasives as the most experienced shopkeeper in England, with the true '^wil! 202 A subaltern's furlough. you look at this, sir? — this is an excellent article," and " these gloves wear remarkably well; you had better take J a pair, sir." They possess about 3000 acres of well-cul- tivated land adjoining- the village, and extensive gardens for rearing seeds, which produce a considerable income, being in great demand throughout the States. The So- ciety is governed by two elders of each sex, elected by the members. Their duty is to give information to candid, inquirers, and to admit those who desire to unite them- selves to the Society ; also occasionally to preach the gospel. The entire body is divided into families from 80 to 100 members each, who again appoint two elders as their head, whose duty it is to manage the temporal con- cerns of the family. Their houses are large, commo- dious, and substantial brick buildings, four stories in height. The Society is also divided into three classes : 1st, those who do not assent to the rule of celibacy, but re- side at a distance from the village with their own families attending worship, and otherwise conforming to the rules, 2dly, Those who are members, but can return to the world's people whenever they think fit; and 3dly, those who, vowing to remain members in perpetuum, have en- tirely given themselves up as followers of the faith. They all live in a remarkably comfortable manner, even well, in the sense of the world, with whose people, however, they will not eat in company; but, when some of them rode up to the springs in a car, they showed that they possessed a taste for the good things of this life, as well as the rest of mankind, by sitting dovvn, taking a glass of brandy and water, smoking, and conversing cheerfully. Two or three backslidings haveoccurred amongst the young members, who have eloned, proving they were not invulnerable to the shafts of that little urchin Cupid; and I shrewdly suspect that many others would not be at all backward , in following the same example, did but an opportunity occur. The sect, however, gains ground considerably, and there are not fewer than 5000 Shakers in the United States, though it is but fifty -nine years since Mrs. Lee, or " Mother Ann," as she is called, emigrated from England, She was a native of Manchester, and married to a blaqk^ A subaltern's turlough. 203 femith in that town, and is considered the founder of the sect, though several people had formed themselves into a Society following the same mode of worship as early as 1747. She was an illiterate woman, unable either to read or write. The cruel persecutions she suffered in England on account of her religious opinions induced her to embark, with her husband and others of the same per- suasion for America, in 1774, where she established herseli' near Albany, twenty-five miles from Lebanon, removing to the latter place some few years after, and dying in 1784, in her forty-eighth year. Lebanon is now the head of the Shaking church. That such a sect is not well cal- culated for a youno- and thinly inhabited country is self- evident ; for though by their sobiiety, good faith, honest and upright conduct, they set an example to the rest of mankind worthy of imitation, and most of their regu- lations are founded upon highly moral and admirable principles, yet others are fallacious, and the argument upon which they rest is altogether untenable. They hold that the millennium has commenced, and that all the hu- man race is to be extinct by conforming to their first great precept of celibacy. Without such a fundamental rule, indeed, such a Society could not long exist. Pro- fessing to be close imitators of Christ, they are far from it. The Saviour of the world went about doing good, exposing Himself to the ingratitude of those He served, and at last, for their sakes, suffering an ignominious and painful death ; while they, who pretend to take Him as a pattern, lead an easy and comfortable life, and seem chiefly occupied in adding to their wordly riches, while their charity is bounded by the chain of hills which en- circle their settlement. That such a Society should exist for a day, in the present intellectual state of the world, is truly astonishing; but "nil admirari" appears to be the motto of common sense. The Society is composed chiefly of ignorant and illiterate people, and of many who have been disappointed in life, and have thus withdrawn themselves from the rest of mankind, unable to bear up and strive against the adversities of their lot as true Christians. The temperature of the water at the wells is 73° Fah^ ^04 A subaltern's furlough. renheit ; it is pleasant to the taste, and, being devoid of almost every medicinal quality or saline taste, is used as common beverage. From chemical analysis, two quarts are said to contain grain. Muriate of lime . . . 1.00. Muriate of soda . . , 0.75. Sulphate of lime . . . 1.50. Carbonate of lime . . 0.57. ft boils up in the gardens of the hotel in sufficient quan- tity to supply the the requisite baths, and is afterwards used for setting in motion the wheels of three manufac- tories. I was much amused by seeing a large party of ladies and gentlemen, fresh arrivals, assemble round the spring one evening, tasting the water and passing their opinion upon its merits, some even refusing to put the glass to their lips, fearing the effects of a draught, when y,hey had been taking plentiful potions of the same at I he dinner table. The evenings were usually passed in dancing except on Saturday, the Sabbath commencing with some of the New Englanders at sunset on the preceding day. The band consisted of two negroes playing on violins, and a third upon a bass. The leader of the sable trio (a barber, by the .bye, composing part of the establishment of the house) acted as a kind of maltre du ballet, crying out " Ba- ianciey !" — "tanyour patners!" — "La'sshen!" and other jargon, utterly unintelligible even to those who were ac- quainted with the figure of every quadrille. The ladies' dancing was a composition of walking, running, and shuf- fling; the gentlemen acquitted themselves as well b.^ gen- uemen generally do. I overheard one, who prided him- self a good deal on his manner of twirling round the room, say that he had " the best waltzing master in Paris, last winter." Amongst other resources for killing time at the springs, nine-pins bore a prominent part. I accompanied some gentlemen to the alley one day for the purposeof playing, v^hen, our number on each side being unequal, one of the party (a young collegian from New-Haven) invited a gentlemanly-looking man to join us in a rubber; he con- 'A SUBAL'rlSRK^S FURLOtfGfi. '^05 'tented to play a single game after some hesitation, and came off winner. At dinner I heard a voice familiar to my ear say, from behind my chair, " What will you take. Sir ?" and turning round, saw our friend of the morning acting in capacity of waiter; he certainly possessed a more intellectual countenance than two-thirds of the pec- pie at table. Feeling myself sufficiently recovered to undergo ihe dislocating motion of the road, and all my acquaintance at the springs taking their departure, I also stepped into the coach on the mornino- of the 1st of Auo-ust, and, bein«- the only passenger, imagined I should have a quiet, easy jour- ney, but soon found myself egregiously mistaken. There not being sufficient weight to steady the vehicle on its clumsy springs, it was tossed to and fro like a ship in a gale of wind. We passed through the small manufactur- ino- towns of Nassau and Alvia. Some sino-ular sii>n.s in the latter attracted my attention ; one especially, of "MissSimms, Tailoress,''^ emblazoned in large characters tipon a board against the house-side, struck me as a novel mode of a lady earning a livelihood. The entrance to the city of Troy, twenty-five miles from f^ebanon, through an excavated rock, which forms part of the classically-named Mount Ida, is exceedingly pretty. The city, containing about 12,000 inhabitants, occupies an alluvial plain of some extent between the mount and the Hudson River. Having some spare time, I walked through several of the streets, and visited the Episcopal Church, which has a very tasteful Gothic tower: one of the prettiest specimens of architecture I saw in the Unit- ed States; but the body of the church, not being built in unison with it, gives the edifice the air of a piece of patch-work An elegant and large Court-house was completed, with the exception of its portico, in a street adjoining the church : but it bore too strong a resemblance to the United States' Bank at Philadelphia, of which 1 had since seen so many fac-similes, to have many charms for me. The building was entirely of white mar- ble, and modelled after the temple of Theseus at Athens. The gallant " Trojans," as the inhabitants call themselves, were partaking of the New-York panic, and leaving the VOL. I. — s. 206 A subaltern's ytJRLOUOH. city in crowds, on account of few cases of cholera being reported. The river, which is about a quarter of a mile wide, is crossed by a horse-ferry to the village of Watervliet, where " Mother Ann" originally established herself; and a few miles farther the road passes the houses of some married Shakers, belonging to the Niskayuna settlement, three miles to the south-west. From this place to Schenectad)'- the country is dull, uninteresting in point of scenery, and devoid of habitations; but now, having gained the banks of the Mohawk River, a rich alluvial soil presents itself There is but little worthy of notice in the town, excepting Union College, on an eminence near the road from Troy. Only two large buildings, forming part of what is intended, are at present erected; but several more are to be immediately added, and, the adjoining grounds being spacious, it promises to become a pretty spot. The college has been very liberally endowed by the State to the amount of 300,000 dollars, and the num- ber of students at this time is about 200. Dr. Nott, the President, is not only a good classical scholar, but an ex- cellent and persevering mechanic. Some of his inven- tions have even gained a considerable name in England., amongst which is an improvement in hot air stoves for heating cathedrals and large buildings. He has expend- ed also large sums of money in experiments upon steam- yessels; several of which are constructing upon his plac of having twenty small boilers, instead of two or four large ones, and are considered safer than those generally in use, and equally swift. After passing two hours in Schenectady, I entered the packet boat on the Erie Ca- nal, and proceeded at the rate of four miles an hour, on a line parallel with the Mohawk. This immense work, which connects the waters of the Hudson with those ol Lake Erie, was commenced in 1817, at the suggestion of De Witt Clinton, at that time Governor of the State of New-York. It was then looked upon as a visionary scheme, and called in derision " Clinton's big ditch ;" yet, notvvithstanding considerable opposition, he succeeded in carrying his project into effect, well knowing the in- estimable benefits which would arise, and thje enormou€ A StyBALTERN's FURLOUGH. 207 Fevenne which would accrue to the State from its con- struction^ It was not, however, finished until eight years after its commencement, at an expense of a million and a half sterling ; but the income already arising from it is 250,000/. annually, and, in four years hence, the stock will be redeemed. It is 3G3 miles long, 40 feet wide at the top, 2S at the bottom, with 4 feet depth of water, and a slight inclination of half an inch in amile from the lake, which is 568 feet higher than the Hudson. The packet boats, as on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, are large and well furnished with excellent sleeping berths, and the charge very reasonable, being only three cents {\rrd) per mile, breakfast and dinner being provided on equally mo- derate terms ; so that the travellinsf is rendered more agreeable and almost as speedy as upon the rough turn- pikes. I varied my mode of travelling by leaving the boat sometimes at the locks, and walking on, being able at ^ moderate pace to keep a-head of it. Upon arriving at the first lock, we found more than twenty boats waiting for tiieir turn to pass through; but all were obliged to give way to our vessel, which, paying a higher toll, claimed priority of passage. The legality of this preference did not, however, appear to be at all comprehended by the pas- sengers in the other boats, nor did they submit to it vvith- out murmuring, thinking (as they said) that all boats ■"were alike free and equal." We had only ten passen- gers, although there was ample accommodation for forty. Having walked several miles along the towing-path dur- ing the day, I was in a sound sleep soon after taking possession of the berth allotted to me. The locks being 90 feet in length and 15 in breadth, and the boats 80 by 14, some little inconvenience arises to those people who are not sound sleepers, from the impossibility of steering' the boat to such a nicety as to avoid striking heavily against the walls. We experienced an hour's delay dur- ing the night, from the horses of a vessel a-head of us breaking loose, and galloping down upon our train which, throwing their driver head foremost into the canal, follow- ed the example of the others by breaking the tow rope and 308 A SUBALTEEH's PVRLOUGH.. scampering off, leaTing the man rolling about, half stunned, in the water. In the morning we had a dense fog, not uncommon on the banks of the Mohawk, and which, as is frequently the case elsewhere, was the forerminer of a very hot day. The country throiig.h which we passed was pretty a'( ell diversified with hills and rich meadows of Indian corn on the banks of the stream, and the farmers were every where employed in reaping or cradling* the grain on the uplands. As the canal approaches the Little Falls of the Mohawk, fifty miles from Sclienectady, the scenery im- proves, and has some claims to the picturesque. I had heard so much in praise of it that I stepped out of the boat at the first lock, half a mile from the village, not only for the purpose of viewing but of sketching some of this far-famed scenery, and walked past it all, momentarily expecting to come upon something excessively grand and sublime, so much had I been deceived by exaggerated description ! Although very pretty, no part of it can vie with Matlock in Derbyshire, lliere is one bend in the canal which winds round the rocky mount, and under some dark, bleak, impending crags, with the noisy tor- rent of the Mohawk washing its base, and the spires of the village churches v.ith a fine aqueduct visible through the excavation, which would form a pretty sketch, but nothing to warrant the overdrawn descriptions given me. Having to pass through five locks in succession, we had time to cross the aqueduct to the village on the opposite side of the river, which is becominq- a manufacturing- town of some importance, from the great water-power afforded by the Falls. Its progress and prosperity have been con- siderably retarded for some years, owing the most valuable and useful ground being the property of a gentleman in England, who did not dispose of it until last year, when * A term used for mowing the wheat -with a scythe, which has five_ pieces of wood projecting from the shaft, so as to form a frame similar to a person's fingers at the back of the scythe : this cradle re- tains the straw after it is cut in the same position as when growing, which, being thrown on the ground with a jerk, lies with all the ears in one direction, and ready for the binder : long practice is required to use the cradle expertly. A subaltern's furlough. 209 it was purchased by a company, who are proceeding ra- pidly in the construction of numerous manufactories. Large pieces of rock in the river here present a singular appearance, from being worn perfectly hollow and round like a caldron, the shell or rim, as it were, being reduced in many parts to a few inches in thickness. Other rocks are bored through in circles with as smooth a surface as if they had been chiselled or worked out with an auger. These effects are supposed to have been produced by small pebbles having lodged in an orifice in the rock, and been agitated by the eddies and force of the current, until they increased the opening sufficiently to admit lar- ger stones, which, in process of time, formed these sin- g'ular excavations. From the Little Falls, the canal passes through Her- kimer or CTerm'in Flats, a fine rich tract of country, with farms varying from 150 to 200 acres, at about 100 dollars per acre, yielding from 25 to 30 bushels of wheat, or from 60 to 100 bushels of Indian corn. At Frankfort, a few miles further, it does not exceed from 20 to 50 dollars, the soil appearing rich and fertile, but in a poor state of cultivation. The farming of the Dutch on the Flats forms a striking contrast to that of their slovenly neighbours. At this last village, "the long level" commences, the canal running a distance of sixty-nine miles to the town of Sy- racuse, without a sin^fle inter veninsf lock. At five o'clock in the afternoon we entered Utica, eighty miles from Schenectady, having been twenty-two hours on our journey, and stepped from the canal into the United States hotel, where we were accommodated with excellent rooms. 210 A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER XV. Oh ! what a Fall was there, my cauntrymen. Shakspeare. Having hired one of the four-wheeled carriages known at Philadelphia as a " dearborn," in the eastern States as a "carryall," and in Utica as a "wagon," a friend (Mr. B.) and myself started at eight o'clock on the 3d of August upon an excursion to the Trenton Falls. The road being rough and mountainous, and the day excessively hot, we pulled up at a small tavern, eight miles from the town, to give the horse some water. While I was holding the bucket, mine host came out, and after looking on quietly for some time without tendering his assistance, he ob- served that_ we " had better let "the beast stand in the shade a minute or two until it became cool, and then it would proceed more cleverly on the journey." I under- stood him immediately, and, determining to accept the challenge, led the horse into the shade of the house, when the following conversation ensued, much to the amuse- ment of my companion, who did not at first comprehend our host's manoeuvre. Landlord. " You are from the southward, I guess." Myself. " No — from Utica." " Aye, but you don't keep there, I reckon " "No, in the southward." " Aye, I guessed so; but whereabouts ?" " Oh ! south of Washinfyton." " Ah ! pretty sickly there now?" " No, pretty smart." " But there's tarnation little travelling now : last fali this here road was quite unpassable, but now I have been fixing it myself, expecting company, and no one comes.'' " You will have them all here when the cholera panic has subsided a little." " I don't know that ; I heard a gentleman, who had been in the south, say the other day that there was very little money there now; the southerners would'nt care a A subaltern's fTTRLOUGH. 211 j5g for the cholera, they'd clear out tarnation soon if they had plenty of money to spare; a'int it so?" I had now put one foot on the step of our vehicle, but mine host was not yet satisfied, so he followed me up with — "But you are going to the west, I expect?" " Perhaps we may." " Aye, you came down the canal." " Yes."' " That's fine travelling; that's what I like: you push along so slick, there's no chance of getting one's neck broke as there is aboard those stages on the rough turn- pikes ; if the boat sinks, one's only up to one's knees in water. You'll see the Falls?" " We are going there now ; which is the way ?" So, receiving the necessary directions, we wished this true specimen of an American pot-house keeper, good mOrning, and drove on, subsequently finding his parting words prophetic. Though the Yankees are so noto- riously inquisitive, yet there is nothing disrespectful in their manner ; nor did I ever feel annoyed by their ask- ing such prying questions, generally leading them " con- siderably on the wrong trail," as they would say, or else, having satisfied them, commencing a cross-examination, to which they always submitted with good grace. After a pleasant ride of fourteen miles, we arrived at the hotel, a short distance from the village of Trenton, and proceeded immediately to view the Falls, which com- mence within 200 yards of the house, though entirely concealed from it b}^ a thick intervening forest. To see them to advantage, it is necessary to descend a rocky pre- cipice nearly 100 feet perpendicular, into the ravine along which the dark stream winds its course. Scarcely any thing can be conceived more grand or picturesque than the first view of the surrounding objects after the visitor has gained the rocky, and, at this season, dry bed of the winter's torrent. I have seen many falls, but none pos- sessing such a variety of scenery or differing so much in the formation of the cataract as these ; and of their sub- limity but a very faint idea can be conveyed from descrip- tion. The impetuous rush of water during successive ages has worked a bed for itself through a ridge of lime- 212 A subaltern'b furlough. stone rocks, which extends from the Mohawk to the northward as far as the St. Lawrence ; but in several places it appears to have encountered a reef of harder materials, which has been able to withstand the force of the torrent. There are several of these ledges, occupying an extent of about two miles, over which the stream is precipitated. Of these the High Falls are the finest, be- ing 109 feet in height, including a small intervening slope, which breaks the perpendicular fall, and, dividing it into two cataracts, renders it more picturesque than if falling in one unbroken sheet. The Americans possess a most singular taste for marring the beauty of every place which can boast of any thing like scenery, by introducing a bar-room into the most romantic and conspicuous spot. Consequently there is a little white, painted-wooden shanty perched upon the very brow of the High Fall, from which all kinds of li- quors are distributed to the Yankee admirers of nature, after they have undergone the overpowering fatigue of walking 400 yards from the hotel. It proved an insur- mountable barrier to the further progress of a large party, who h:id docked round me, passing the most candid and unconcerned opinions possible upon my efforts at delineat- ing the scenery. Numerous fossil organic remains are visible in the lofty banks, which bound the ravine ; and the formation of the singular holes in the rocks, similar to those at the Little Falls of the Mohawk, is here seen actually in process. Many are formed by the backwater of the rapids. One called the "Rocky Heart," from its striking resemblance to the common representation of the seat of life, has been made by two of these eddies. The water rushing over a slight fall proceeds on its course for 15 or 20 feet, when arriving at a narrow pass, the bottom or point of the heart as it were, it separates in the centre, returning back to the Fall on each side of the river's bed, and has thus washed away the rock into a circular chasm. Adjoining is a natural well, called "Jacob's Kettle," about six feet deep, and three in diameter. The bottom is co- fered to some depth with round pebbles, which have been deposited there during the floods, and been employed in forming the kettle. A subaltern's rURLOUGH. 213 The width of the ravine, through which the stream takes its course, varies from one to three hundred yards. At the lower end, where the bed is formed of a smooth level rock, walking is as safe and agreeable as upon any well- laid pavement: but at the upper it contracts to a narrow pass, and, the rocks rising in a smooth perpendicular mass, the passage is rendered rather dangerous ; and few people attempt to pass the Rocky Heart, the path not exceeding six inches in width, the water being of a pitchy blackness, forty feet deep. I explored to the next point beyond, but, the scenery appearing much the same, I thought further risk unnecessary, especially as turning round upon so small a pivot was very inconvenient and difficult* The West Canada Creek, after emerging from this ravine, pursues its course some miles farther, and joins the Mohawk at the viilasre of Flerkimer. Having passed some very agreeable hours at this en- chanting spot, we again stepped into our dearborn, carryall, or wagon, and, turning our backs upon Trenton and its delightful scenery, arrived at the summit of a long hill five miles from Utica, without any adventures, or incident, Avorth recording. Upon gaining this height, the sun was drawing nigh to the horizon, and casting a mellowed tint over the extensive landscape, which was beautifully inter- spersed with all the requisites to form an attractive scene. I was about expressing mj admiration, when seeing tlie long steep descent down Avhich I, as whip, w^as to guide our vehicle, my thoughts were immediately diverted else- where, and I observed (having the upset at Lebanon upper- most in my imagination) that " I should not like to de- scend such a hill in a heavy coach." My companion answering that "the Americans despised drag-chains and slippers," I was about to exemplify the truth of his remark by giving him a full and true account of my misfortunes the preceding week, w^hen I felt the carriage pressed too much upon the horse, and attempted to check it, but in vain ; for, owing to some accident or mistake at the hotel, a strap upon the collar of the harness had given away, so that the horse, unable to keep the carriage off its legs, b^^ came frightened and set off at full gallop, kicking most violently, to the imminent danger of our legs Mr. B. lifted 214 A subaltern's furlough. liis upon the seat in the first instance, and then, wisely blinking " discretion the better part of valour," lifted his whole body out behind (knocking my hat over my eyes in the hurry of its movements,) but, not being able to relin- quish his hold of the vehicle immediately, he cut up the rough road, with his knees, like a plough, for a considerable distance; or, as he after wards more classically compared it, like Hector dragged by thecarof Achilles round the walls of Troy. When freed from his additional weight, I was carried along with the rapidity of a whirlwind; the foot- board splintering in all directions from the incessant bat- tering of the horse's heels. Abroad deep ditch ran upon either side of the road, so, perceiving if I attempted to overturn myself in either direction I should be dashed with great violence upon the ground, and remembering the cautious advice Phaeton received from the old p-entleman, nis mther, when he drove the fiery car, ''medio tutissimus ibis,'' I kept in the middle of the road, pulling hard upon tlie reins to prevent the horse falling down. I knew that. a serious obstacle opposed me at the foot of the hill, in the shape of a narrow bridge over a deep and broad ravine, with a deep stream, v/here I might even meet with the fate of the above worth)^ himself; so 1 dashed the horse at a high rail and fence at a turn of the road, where a tempo- rary bridge crossed the ditch. He seemed to compre- hend rae ; for over we went, after a vast heaving and roll- ing, a kind of tottering doubt whether we should capsize or not, which would have ejected any thorough landsman from his seat. The strong wall brought us to a sudden check. I was from my seat in an instant, at the head of the horse, who was striving to scramble over it; but he soon desisted, having, like myself, had quite enough of such work in the last half mile. Mr. B. was still faraway, peer- ing through the clouds of dust, to see what had become of me, fearing the result of my rapid descent. He was much cut and bruised, as was the horse from kickingthe wagon, and vice versa. I alone escaped uninjured, being but a suf- ferer in the purse, from the compensation we were obliged to make the owner of the steed and vehicle, for injuries received. In my case the names of the two places " Leba- non Shakers," and " Trenton Falls," are incongruous; they A subaltern's furlough. SI5 should be the " Trenton Shakers,'^ and "^ Lebanon FaJh ;^' as such I shall ever remember them, and with them the recollection of my shaking in the wagon, and upsetting in the coach, wdll always be associated. The above accident detained us a few days at Utica, Mr. B. being too unwell to proceed on his journey ; but the cause could scarcely be regretted, since we had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of an eminent barrister residing in the town, who had been one of our fellow-passengers from Schenectady, and from whom we received much kind attention. The town or city of Utica, as I believe it is now called, occupies a gentle slope, rising to the west, from the banks of the Mohawk, and until the commencement of the canal was an inconsiderable place, with a population of aboul 3000. Since the completion of that Avork, it has aug- mented to 10,000 souls, and is daily on the increase. The line of canal, which eight years since was on the outskirts, now passes directly through the centre of the city, giving it a pleasing appearance, to which the innumerable wooden bridges vvith their light open railing greatly contribute. The inhabitants are well aware of its rising importance, predicting already that the State Government will be re- moved from Albany, and that the future laws will emanate from their capitol, whose site they have marked out in a square at the upper end of the city, on a rising eminence, whence its dome will be seen by the surrounding country for forty miles. The streets are also laid out in a style befitting the capital of the most populous State in th€ Union. As a central situation it is more convenient than Albany, which is on the very confines of the State, and three hundred miles from the inhabitants of the westein parts of it. A stranger, seeing no manufactories or large mercantile establishments in Utica, finds it difficult to ac- count for its rapid increase, until he discovers that every stream from the neighbouring hills is covered with such speculations, and the margin of every creek is peopled. The goods being transported from the town, it derives all the benefit, without any of the inconvenience, arising from numerous manufactories. At Whitesborough, in the vicinity of the city, is the ^16 A subaltern's furlough. singular but laudable " Oneida Institution of Science and Industry," which, similar to some institutions in Swit- zerland, combines learning with manual labour. It was first established by a clergyman in bad health, who, open- ing a small school ten years since, discovered that, by the pupils' working for a few hours daily, they earned suiR- cient money to defray the expense of their education. Since that time it has been much encouraged and had sfeveral benefactors. There is a farm, containing upwards of one hundred acres, attached to it, upon which the students may be seen working for three or four hours daily ; and two years' produce will pay their board for that time. It is principally intended for those designed for the Church, but some are also educated for other pro- fessions. The merit of the institution, independently of that derived from the system, is, that young men of ta- lent may obtain an education here who cannot afford to go to more expensive establishments. Upon the whole, from the prevalence of mercantile pursuits, there are but few places for classical education in the States, compar- ed with England. On Sunday, the 5th of August, we attended divine ser- vice at the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church, the min- ister of which, Mr. Bethune, a Scotch gentleman, is in high repute as aneloquent and a powerful preacher. We were much pleased with his manner which was that of the majo- rity of American ecclesiastics, and preferred itto thatofthe English. The sermon being delivered in a more familiar and colloquial style, and with great earnestness of man- ner, was well calculated to rivet the attention of the con- gregation. In America the compact is between the con- gregation and minister, as between master and servant, or tradesman and customer, so long as they agree and suit each other. The clergyman's salary in small towns is ge- nerally 1000,dollars (210Z.) per annum, which is sufficient for people who are expected to debar themselves the active pursuits of the rest of mankind. But in cities and popu- lous places, where the duty is more severe, it varies from 1500 to 2500, which is raised by a tax upon the congre- gation, or (as in New-York) from grants of land made prior to the Revolution. In a Pre£b}"terian Church, which A subaltern's furlough. 317 we attended in the afternoon, the pews were originally sold at 280 each, and the annual tax was 19 dollars and 50 cents, or 41. sterling, the organist and leader of the orchestra alone receiving small salaries, in addition to the minister. The floor of this church was on an inclined plane, so that each pew was more elevated than the one in. front, the pulpit being under the organ-loft at the lower end of the building. After service, we visited the Sun- day Bchool on the ground-floor under the church, where, from the minister having made frequent allusions to " Samuel James Mills, the Founder of Sabbath Schools," we expected to see one of a superior order, but were dis- appointed. There seemed great room for improvement. The school consisted of about 180 boys, and a voluntary teacher to each class of six or eight boys. Before we departed, the superintendant (an Editor of a Newspaper) requested us to address the children, but appeared satisfied with an answer, that " our qualifications were not in that line." For my own part, I was rather at a loss to com- prehend his meaning, until he rose and delivered a long extempore prayer for the prosperity of the school. The State of New- York has a permanent school-fund, of the enormous amount of a million and a half of dollars, which originally arose from the sale of land ; and the pro- ceeds, being .laid out to interest, in time accumulated to so large a sum that the annual distribution is now 120,000 dollars, and as much more is raised in the State by contri- butions; so that nearly a quarter of a million is yearly expended by this one State in promoting knowledge amongst the people, very few of whom have not received a useful education. Connecticut is the only State in the Union which possesses the same powerful means: its fund arose from a vague charter granted by the King of Eng- land, soon after the establishment of the American colo- nies, to Lord Say and Seie and Lord Brook in 1631, by which the State of Connecticut w^as bounded, east by the Naraganset River, south by Long Island Sound, north by Massachusetts, and extended west to the Pacific Ocean. By this document it claimed the right of extending its rule over tracts of land which were unexplored at the time the charter was granted, and which included a consider- VCL. L — T. 218 A subaltern's FURLdUCiHi able portion of Pennsylvania and New- York. These two States resisted the claim, hut compromised the matter after the Reyolution, by obtaining for Connecticnt the grant of certain lands in Ohio, which, being sold, produced the sum of 1,200,000 dollars. This sum was, in the first instance, to be appropriated for the propagation of the Gospel, but subsequently was formed into a school-fund ; and thus one of the smallest States in the Union distri- butes an annual sum amongst the several districts, for the support of education, considerably exceeding the State tax on the inhabitants; and the most singular instance is presented of a Government, after all its expenses have been defrayed, returning to the citizens more than the amount they have been taxed. In those districts which receive assistance from this fund, it is required that the same amount should be raised by contribution. New- York imitated Connecticut in adopting the same system, and ordaining that the proceeds of all unsold or unap- propriated lands should be added to the school-fund, which will increase it at least to the amount of another million of dollars. In Massachusetts much attention is paid to edu- cation, and numerous schools are established throughout all the New-England States, the necessary funds being annually raised in districts. On the 6th of August we proceeded on our journey through New Hartford, a small village four miles from Utica, and two or three from Hamilton College, incorpo- rated in 1821, and so called after the unfortunate general We obtained a good view of its white buildings, pleasantly situated on a rising ground above the village of Clinton. We arrived at the manufacturing village of Manchester, nine miles from Utica, in an hour and ten minutes, being at the quickest rate we had yet travelled upon American turnpikes, and accordingly anticipated a continuation of such rapid progress ; but were soon undeceived, for the innkeeper, not expecting the mail so soon, had made no preparations for breakfast, and three quarters of an hour elapsed before the beefsteaks and coffee made their appear- ance upon the table. At the village of Oneida Castle we obtained the first sight of some Tuscarora Indians, who were standing by the road-side, wrapt up in their blankets, A subaltern's furlough. 219 though a burning sun was shining, looking composedly, and apparently without curiosity, at the coach as it whirled along. There was an extensive settlement of log huts with an Episcopal Church belonging to the tribe, on a plain half a mile from the turnpike ; and a circular grove of trees where their councils were formerly held, and where they now receive their annual allowance from the State, to which all land they wish to dispose of must be sold, not having the power to grant a title-deed to indivi- duals. During the last year, fifty of the tribe with their Episcopalian Pastor, a man of liberal education, having sold their lands, migrated to Green Bay on Lake Michigan. In the summer season their time is employed in tilling the ground in the Reservation, or in cutting fuel from the extensive forest in rear of their village. In winter many of them proceed to the hunting grounds three or four hundred miles in the west^ where they collect an abundance of skins, from the sale of which they might realize a considerable sum of money ; but like all savages, or semi-barbarians, they are much addicted to drink, and barter their hardly -gained spoils for a small quantity of spirituous liquors. Twenty-five miles farther, at Onon- daga Hollow, where there is a tribe of that name, some women came up to the coach, offering small articles of their own manufacture for sale ; they could speak English very fluently, as can most of the Indians in those tribes which have much intercourse with the "pale faces." The frontier war, which had but lately broken out, was much deprecated by most Americans, who asserted that their Go- vernment was the aggressor. To a foreigner the American policy towards the Indians appears most cruel and inhu- man, every possible advantage being taken to dispossess the rightful owners of the soil of their property. The Indian character is noble and generous, when well treated, but, when goaded as they have been to desperation, it is no wonder that their treatment of the white prisoners who fall into their hands should be barbarous. Ameri- cans have been found to retaliate such cruelties ; and the public prints at this time were filled with late accounts of another "glorious victory," in which some volunteers or militia men had brought three scalps into camp ! 220 A subaltern's furlough. The towns of Onondaga Hollow and Onondaga Hill, were of some importance during the late war, and rivals in growth and prosperity, being situated in a grain country, and the great deposits of corn and other requisites for the army on the frontier. But, alas ! their day has gone by; the sunshine of their greatness and prosperity is for erer overclouded. The houses are almost tenantless, and of the arsenal nothing is left but the name ; the canal, run- ning within three miles, gave them the coup de grace. The sooner the road is diverted from the present route the more secure will the lives of all travellers become ] for of all hilla to ascend or descend the one near Onondaga Hollow is the most frightful. The extensive and fine view of Syracuse, Salina with its salt vats, Onondaga Lake, the town of Liverpool, with the thickly wooded country be- tween it and Oneida Lake in the extreme distance, scarcely compensate for the risk of ascending it in a heavy coach. Our progress was much delayed by the delivery of the mail bag at every small hamlet on the road. The letters in America, instead of being put into separate mgs for each town as in England, are carried in oilG huge leather case, which the postmaster is allowed to detain ten minutes, so that he may pick his letters out of the general mass. The coachman (there being no guard) drives up to the office, sometimes a small tavern, and throws the bag, about the size of a flour sack, upon the hard pavement, or muddy road as most convenient ; it is then trailed along into the house, and, being unlocked, tshe lower end is elevated, and out tumble all the letters, newspapers, and pamphlets, in a heap upon the floor. At the little village of Lenox, I had the curiosity to look into the bar for the purpose of seeing the mode of sorting letters, and witnessed a scene which could never an«wer in any other country. The sorters consisted of an old grey-headed man, at least seventy five years of age, an old woman, "with spectacles on nose," the old gentle- man's equal in point of years, and a great, fat, ruddy- faced damsel of twenty-five, backed by half a dozen dirty little barefooted urchins, who were all down upon their knees on the floor, overhauling the huge pile before A jsubaltern's furlough. 22S them, flinging those letters which were for their office into a distant corner of the room, amongst sundry wet mops, brushes, molasses barrels, &c.; and those which were for other towns on our route were again bagged in the same gentle style, part having to undergo the same process every fifth mile of our day's journey, excepting at the office at Onondaga Hill, where the postmaster, be- ing an attorney-at-law, managed to detain us only two minutes. Many of these offices, costing the Government an annual sum of 200 or 300 dollars for the postmaster's salary, do not receive half that amount in letters. One man assured me that sometimes his month's receipts did not exceed six dollars. No revenue being required from the post-office establishment, the offices in large towns furnish funds for extending the mail line of com- munication. The surplus funds of that at New- York are enormous ; but, for the last three year», the expendi- ture upon the mails has much exceeded the receipts throughout the States. In 1700, there were only serenty- five post-offices; at this time, there are 9000, and il5,0u{^ miles of mail communication ; and the postage on letters from Boston to Baltimore, a distance little under 400 miles, is only 9d. sterling. At Marcellus the coach stopped at an inn, of which the landlord seemed quite an original. He was sitting in the bar, without his coat and neckcloth, reading a newspaper, and his feet stretched half across the top of the table, round which sev^eral of hi« guest.'? were enjoy- ing "a drink ^^ and a mouthful of the Virginia weed. Hearing one of the passengers address him by the title of "Doctor," I observed " he was an elegant specimen of a medical man." " Ah, but," said my fellow-travel- Itr, *' he's one of the smartest physicians in the State, I'll assure you:" certainly not a literal description, ac- cording to the English acceptation of the word ; for he was one of the shabbiest-looking men I ever cast eyes on. At sunset, we reached the beautiful little village of Ska- neateles, situated at the head of a romantic lake, sixteen miles long and nearly two wide, of the same name. While delayed here for some time to " shift horses," and for the mail to undergo another examination, the :^22 k subaltern's furlough. passengers stood on the margin of the lake, admiring: its clear and unruffled surface, save here and there where a slight ripple was caused by the slow movement of one or two small scullers, as they changed their fishing berth for some spot which would appear more favourable for their diversion. Gardens and cultivated fields ex- tended to the water's edge, and numerous neat white houses scattered about upon the range of low hills orna- mented either bank. While gazing on its beauties, a thunder-storm suddenly burst over us, with a heavy squall of wind ; and ere we could regain the coach the whole scene was changed. The lake was now perfectly black, and its disturbed surface with a small and troubled ripple, occasioned by the violent gust, formed a strong and somewhat unpleasing contrast to its late placid and mild appearance. At half-past eight we arrived at the American hotel in Auburn, rejoiced that the fatigues of the day were over, having had scarcely 300 yards of level ground during the last twenty miles. We had passed, too, through the strangest medley of named towns imaginable. It ap- peared almost as if the founders had collected them from all quarters of the globe indifferently, discarding many of the fine-sounding, significant, old Indian names, and substituting some gleaned from ancient Greece or Italy, interspersed with one from Cockney land, or perhaps a genuine Yankeeism. The following is the correct order in which we saw the towns during our journey of this day. Utica, New Hartford, Manchester, Canes- tota, Quality Hill, Chitteningo, Manlius, Jamesville, Onondaga, Syracuse, Liverpool, Marcellus, Skaneateles, Auburn. END OF VOL. L SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH: k DESCRIPTIVE OF SCENES IN VARIOUS PARTS \ OF THE UNITED STATES, UPPER Ai\d lower CANADA, NEW-BRUNSWICK, \ \ AND NOVA SCOTIA, K ravRiau r\ zz summer and actumm of 1852. BY E. T. gOKE, LIEVrrEKANTV OF THE 45TH BEGIMBTrr. \ Wand'ring from clime to O-dime observant stiay'd, Their maraiers noted, and 'their states survey'd ' , POPK. IN TWO V O L U ^.K: E s VOL. II, \ NEW-YORK PUBLISHED BY J. & J. HARPER, NO. 82, CLIFF-STREET. AND* SOJ.O BV THfi PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THKUl'(; ftOUT THE UNITED STATES M DCCC XXXHI. (.■V-. \ I. . a or .el /it t xS rr it j^' tC iT CONTENTS OF VOL. IL ■v^; CHAP. I. PAG If Auburn Prison — Cayuga Lake — Ithaca — Falls — Violent Storm — Journey of Disasters 1 — 12 CHAP. II. Seneca Lake — Fulton — Jemima Wilkinson — Revolution- ary Grants — Geneva — Labourers' Wages — Rochester — Death of Patch — Patient Traveller — The Riclge-road — Lockport— Fine Works— Buffalo— Tribe of Indians . 1 3—27 CHAP. III. Cross the Niagara-Chippewa Battle Ground-Old Squaw's perilous Descent — Loss of a Vessel — Walk under the falling sheet of Water — Levelling System — City of the Falls — Bridge over the Rapids — Burning Spring — De- vil's Hole — Rapid Mode of Sight-seeing — Brock'sMonu- ment — Fort George 28 — 4G CHAP. IV. Arrive at York — Emigrants, miserable Condition of — Brandt — Lake Ontario — Kingston — Rideau Canal — Hulks — Lake of the thousand Isles — Prescott — Meeting unceremoniously Dispersed — History of a Yankee Set- tler — Descend the Rapids — Irish Emigrant — Irroquois Indians — Montreal — Charcoal Doctor 47 — 60 CHAP. V. Island of Montreal— St. Helen's— Cathedral— Convent- Election Riots — Disaffection of the French Canadians — Disturbed night — Steamers — (Quebec — Cape Diamond — Wolfe and Montcalm — Jesuit's Barracks — Singular Inscription— Falls of Montmorenci 61~7S CHAP. VL Descend the St. Lawrence — Pleasures and Miseries of a Water Excursion — Yankee Pedlar — Night's Lodging — Journey across the Temiscouta Portage — Royal Mail — Brother Jonathan's Thorn — Hospitable Settler — Perse- vering Veteran — ^Narrow Escape — Cheating Landlord —Militia Captain— Grand Falls—Crowded Bed- Reach Fredericton 74 — 94 IT CONTENTS. CHAP. VII. P^aE Government House— College—Spirit of Equality— Lum- berers — Gluit-rents — Roads — Monsieur Audubon — Mi- litia — Disputed Boundary 95 104 CHAP. VIII. Proceed down the St. John's— Improvements— Exported Timber — Falls of St. John — Bay of Fundy— Digby Strait — Annapolis — Second-hand Coach — Garrulous Old Woman — Cape Blow-me-down — Windsor College — Furious Tides— duality of Land— Mr. Uniacke — Napoleon — Calamitous Fire — Halifax 105 120 CHAP. IX. Races— Mason's Hall — Harbour— Citadel — College- Churches— Theatre— Prince's Lodge— Shubenacadie Canal— Negroes— American Forests — Mr. Prescott— Wellington Dyke — Learned Coachman 121— 13* CHAP. X. Fog rising— Eastport-Cool Shop-boy— St. Andrew's Light-house— Rough Sailor— Interesting discussion- Gale of Wind— Boston— Wallack— Discontented Yan- kee— Falls on the Spicket Creek— Six-in-hand— Con- cord — Prison — Lake Winnipiscogee — Fat Passenger — Lamp Trimming 133—144 CHAP. XL Bartlett— Cold Weather— Notch of the White Moun- tains — Destruction of the WilleyFamily — Avalanches of earth — Landlord's Distress — Disappointment — As- cend Mount Washington I45 — 153 CHAP. XII. Wet Morning— Weather-bound Travellers— Old Man of the Mountain — Colonel and Road Surveyor— Montpe- lier — Green Mountains — Burlington — Politicians — Murder of Miss M'Crae— Drunken Coachman— pas- sage of the Hudson — West Point — Military Academy — Capture of Andre— Arrive at New York— Banks o'f Newfoundland — Land at Liverpool 154 — 171 APPENDIX, No. I. Declaration of Independence 173—183 APPENDIX, No. II. Certificate of Montgomery's Interment 164 APPENDIX, No. III. Capture and Death of Andr^ 186 SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH. CHAPTER I. Sweet Auburn ! * * * * :ii * Dear lovely bow'rs of innocence and ease. Goldsmith. For those rebellious here their pris'n ordained. Milton. The most pernicious infection, next the plagae, is the smell of the jail, where prisoners have been long and close kept. Bacon. Hearing that the board of health had issued an order that no visitors should be admitted into the prison until the cholera had subsided, a precaution taken in conse- quence of its having broken out in the Sing-Sing prison on the Hudson, we much feared that wc should be dis- appointed in not attaining the object for which we had visited Auburn; fortunately, however, Mv. B. had in- troductory letters to Dr. Richards, president of the Theological Seminary, through whose interest we ob- tained an order for admittance at mid-day on the 7th of August. The prison is situated on the outskirts of the village, surrounded by a wall 2000 feet in extent, varying in height from 20 to 35 feet, according to the situation of the shops in which the convicts are employed. The cells where they are confined during the night have a singu- lar appearance (something like a large pigeon box, or VOL. II. A. 2 A SUBALTEEN'S FXJiaOUGH. honey-comb), being in five stories, with galleries, and the windows in an outer wall at the distance of five or six feet from them, so that no convict can attempt effecting his escape through their medium. It is, in fact, a house within a house. Each prisoner has a separate cell 7 feet in length, 7 in height, by 3 1-2 in width, with a small shelf for holding his bible, and a canvass cot, which, in the day time, is reared up against the wall, and, when lowered down at night, rests upon a small ledge, and covers the whole extent of the cell. A strong grated door admits a free circulation of air, and the works of the lock are so contrived as to be two feet from the door, and entirely out of a convict's reach, if he even succeeded in breaking one of the iron bars so as to admit a passage for his arm. A keeper always patrolling the galleries during the night with cloth shoes acts as a check upon the prisoners holding any discourse. The building was perfectly clean, and free from that tainted atmosphere which generally pervades a prison, the cells being white- washed once a fortnight, as a preventive against the cholera, though when there is no necessity for such a precaution they are thus cleansed only from five to six times during the warm season. From the cells we proceeded into an open square, formed by the keeper's house, prisoner's apartments, and work- shops, where a part of the convicts were employed in stone-cutting, and making an addition to the building of another fiVe-story row of cells, to be erected in the place of a wing constructed upon the old principle of confining a certain number of prisoners in one large room, by which means they had free intercourse with one another, a system found very injurious to their reformation. It was almost impossible to imagine ourselves in a prison amongst a set of hardened desperadoes, when walking through the shops where they were working with an alacrity and attention to their business which were truly surprising. Every trade has its own particular shop, with one keeper as a superintendent ; and here the good effects of discipline are seen. In the blacksmith's shops, for instance, were forty or fifty athletic men wielding their sledge hammers with the power of the Cyclops of A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 3 old, and all armed with weapons which, in one minute, would shiver the strongest barrier to atoms ; yet only one superintendent was with them, sitting at his ease upon a chair ; and not any instance is upon record of an at- tempt at making a forcible escape. The prisoners are not allowed, upon any pretence, to speak to one another, and only on business to a turnkey, who can easily ob- serve if any conversation takes place, as they are gene- rally placed with their faces in the same direction. The weavers were the most numerous body, there being nearly one hundred sitting at their looms in a row, and forty tailors, whose occupation is considered the most unhealthy, from the position requisite for the perform- ance of their work. They are not permitted to look at any stranger who enters the room ; but I observed se- veral squinting at us out of the corners of their eyes when the keeper's back was turned. The most superior specimens of workmanship, of every description, are turned out of these shops, and are contracted for by merchants and store-keepers residing in Auburn ; a sys- tern most injurious to the industrious mechanic, who can- not make a livelihood in the vicinity of the prison, being underworked by the convicts, whose labour is contracted for at various sums from 25 to 50 cents, (one to two shil- lings) per diem, the tailors at the former sum ; those trades which derive assistance from a saw-mill, turning- machine, &;c., which are worked by water (introduced from a stream that washes the southern wall of the pri- son) at 30, tool-makers at 40, and blacksmiths at 50 cents a day. A few invalids and convalescent convicts are employed in winding at 15 cents. There were only two stocking makers, who were employed solely in working for the convicts. The contractors are not even permitted to give any orders to the workmen, and any instructions they wish to give are through the mechanic turnkey who superin- tends each shop. In any instance where the latter may not be acquainted with the trade, the contractor may give the necessary directions in his presence. The looms, jennies, tools, &c., appeared throughout the prison in the highest order, and business was carried on in each 4 A SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH. shop in a more workmanlike style than without the walls. The morning work commences at six o'clock in summer, breakfast between seven and eight, dinner at twelve (half an hour being allowed for each), and the labours of the day cease at six in the evening. The prisoners, being formed into as many companies as there are gal- leries of cells, are marched to them with the lock-step in the most orderly manner, eacn man inclining his face towards the keepers who accompany them, so that he may be observed, if he attempts to speak. As he passes through the mess-room, adjoining the kitchen, he stoops slightly, and taking up his supper, without breaking the line of march, enters his cell for the night, being locked in by the turnkey of the gallery. The mess-room was particularly clean, v/ith platters and tin cans neatly ar- ranged on wooden tables, so narrow that the convicts sit only on one side of them, with their faces in the same direction. They are waited upon by some of their fel- low-prisoners ; and, in case any one has more food than he requires, he raises his right hand, when a portion is taken from his plate and given to some one who elevates his left hand in token he has insufficient. The rations are ample, being 10 oz. of wheat, 10 oz. of Indian meal, 14 oz. of beef or 12 of pork ; with 2 1-2 bushels ofpota- toes to every hundred rations, and half a gill of molasses per man, which is added to the mush, a kind of hasty pudding made of Indian meal, and boiled in coppers. The cooks were employed at this article of food when we vi- sited the kitchen. I tasted some, and should imagine it to be very wholesome and nutritious. The bread was heavy and sad, but it had a good flavour. If a convict is unruly, or discovered speaking, he receives summary punishment, by having a certain number of stripes with a cane on his back. Sueh a measure is, however, but seldom required. A false wall or passage round each room, with slits at intervals, through which a keeper may look unperceived, and where he stations himself if he suspects a convict, acts as an excellent check upon any conversation. I peeped through them into various shops ; and the prisoners were busily employed in dead silence, when the keeper was at the distance of 100 feet. subaltern's FimLOUGH. The work appears to conduce much to their health, there being only six in the hospital, out of 667 prisoners ; and a few days previously there had not been a single patient. Visitors are not admitted either into the hos- pital, which is in an upper story of the prison, or into the women's apartment, who are all confined together and work but Uttle, as no compulsion could be used towards them, and, as to talking, all the art of man could avail nothing for its prevention. Altogether the prison is a most interesting sight, and should be visited by all tra- vellers. A considerable revenue now arises from it to the State, so that convicts, instead of being an expense as formerly, are here a profit. Many who enter with- out any trade are taught one, by which, when released, they may gain an honest and ample livelihood ; and numbers who have been sent into the world again have thoroughly reformed their former vicious habits. We saw one poor man, a sailor, who had become deranged since his imprisonment, and afler a partial recovery was allowed to do what he pleased with regard to work. He had made several large models of ships, which stood in the square completely rigged; and another man, who had the use of one hand only, employed his time in carv- ing rude figures of the most grotesque kind, afterwards gilding or paintng them. No one, in short, was allowed to be completely idle. The Government frequently par- dons those who appear to have been misled, and by their conduct show an inclination to become good citizens ; and only for very serious offences are any sentenced to imprisonment for life, the majority being for periods of five and seven years. The entire establishment is su- perintended by a governor, called " Agent and Keeper," with a salary of 1000 dollars, a deputy keeper at 600, and the other keepers 350 each ; about forty officers are employed as keepers, turnkeys, guards, &c. When the prison is open for the admission of visitors (which was the case always until the appearance of the cholera in the State,j 25 cents (one shilling) is charged for each person. The keeper said that the convicts felt deeply the loss of their chewing tobacco, which is not permitted within the walls of the prison, and to which excellent re- A* 6 A StTBALTEEN's FtTELOtTGH gulation much of the cleanliness is owing. From the inspector's report it appears that " the frequency of par- dons has arisen principally from the want of room in the prison, by the rapid accumulation of convicts ;" and it is much to be regretted that ten or twelve acres were not enclosed within the wall in place of three or four, so that the building might be increased to any extent. I think the steady and excellent behaviour of the pri- soners may arise, in a great measure, from so many of them being confined for a short space of time, two-thirds being sentenced to a period not exceeding seven years. There is a Sunday school, which those only attend who wish it ; and they are instructed gratuitously by the young men of the town and the Theological Seminary. The Chaplain takes opportunities of visiting them in their cells after divine service on that day, also in the hos- pital, and whenever time will allow, to afford them reli- gious instruction, and give advice with regard to their future conduct. One of the main objects to be gained is to wean them from intemperance, a habit which the prison discipline has entirely eradicated from most de- termined drunkards, who have thus been restored to the world as sober and industrious men. By comparing the returns from the Auburn prison with those furnished by other penitentiaries and gaols in the Union, the salutary effects of the system above detailed over that practised where solitary confinement night and day is enforced without work, and over any other mode of punishment as yet devised, have been most satisfac- torily proved. If I might venture to propose any amend- ment in the system, it would be to make a larger pecu- niary allowance than the present one (two dollars, I think) to the liberated prisoners ; as instances are on re- cord of men having been guilty of theft, a few days after their dismissal, from actual want. The village of Auburn itself is tastefully built, within two miles of the Owasca Lake, whose outlet washes the prison wall. Its rapid rise is somewhat retarded by the quantity of work turned out by the convicts ; yet at the same time a large sum of money is necessarily in cir- culation amongst the contractors for furnishing rations A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 7 (which are at the rate of about 21 dollars (4/. 7s. Qd.) per annum, each prisoner), and for payment of the arti- cles received from the prison, which are retailed at a great per centage. Proceeding to the village of Cayuga, situated near the northern extremity of a lake of the same name, we em- barked in a steamer which plies upon the lake, and crossed to the opposite side, touching for some more pas- sengers at a village connected with Cayuga by a bridge exceeding a mile in length, over which the western road passes. The extreme length of the lake is 40 miles by 2 at its greatest breadth. The scenery is tame and un- interesting, until towards the southern end, when it as- sumes a more pleasing appearance, the banks becoming high and craggy in some places, and in others cultivated to the waters's edge. But throughout there is an over- powering quantity of dense forest, with an intervening space of eight or ten miles between villages. For the last few miles, the face of the country presented a sin- gular appearance, being broken every hundred yards, or thereabouts, with narrow and deep ravines, formed by the heavy rush of water from the hills in the spring of the year. In some, the rock was rugged and bare ; in others the grass had sprung up again, or, where the ground tnore easily yielded to the force of the torrent, there were long and heavy undulations, like the swelling of the sea. At the head of the lake, entering a coach again, after a drive of two miles across a plain which had once formed part of the lake, we arrived at the pretty town of Ithaca, containing 3300 inhabitants, surrounded on three jsides by hille varying from 600 to 800 feet in height, with their slopes and summits partially cleared and cultivated. The plain between the town and the lake is so densely covered with forest that the water is not visible from the former ; and in many places it is so boggy and unsound that no houses can be built upon it. Two adjoining squares in the town, encircled with a wooden railing and a grove of trees, are quite occupied by churches, there not being fewer than seven of them. The Clinton House, in the vicinity of those squares, at which we put up, is O A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. one of the handsomest buildings of the kind in the States, but its bar-room is one of the dirtiest. There are many factories and mills in and about Itha- ca, on the small streams which pour their waters into the lake. A rivulet within a mile of the town forms two of the prettiest Falls imaginable. The lower one, about 80 feet in height, falling over a series of small rocky ledges, appears like so many flakes of snow upon the dark masses of stone ; and, where the sun strikes upon the foam, it glitters like the sparkhng frost on a Decem- ber's morn, after the preceding day's thaw. The other Fall, 200 yards higher up the hill, exhibits more water ; but the fall is not quite so high, nearly one-third of the stream being diverted through a tunnel 00 yards long in the solid rock, above the lower Fall, for the purpose of turning several mill-wheels ; and in course of time the latter cataract will be reduced to a few gallons per minute, like the Passaic at Patterson. In our land of small rivers, the cascade formed by the quantity of water conveyed to the mills would be considered of some mag- nitude, and an object of no small interest. These Falls certainly vie with those at Trenton in point of beauty, though so very dissimilar in their formation ; the latter are almost subterraneous, while the former rush over the brow of a hill, between large impending crags, crowned with thick dark foliage, with scarcely a passage worn down the rocky ledge for their foaming waters. Like Trenton, too, they have acquired a melancholy interest from similar causes ; a highly accomplished young lady being drowned at each place within these few years, when visiting the Falls in company with their friends and relatives. Not wishing to return up Cayuga Lake, and in fact having made a point of never returning by the same road when it could be avoided, we hired a carriage with two excellent horses, and at a quarter to three in the after- noon, on the 9th of August, departed from Ithaca, as- cending a steep and long hill for two or three miles. While enjoying a m.ost extensive and charming prospect from the summit, we encountered one of the heaviest storms of wind and rain I ever experienced. After strug- A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. 9 gling against it for a quarter of an hour, we succeeded in gaining an open shed by the road side, already filled with half-drowned pedestrians and equestrians, who were seeking shelter from the pitiless pollings of the storm. Such an arrival as ours, with a carriage loaded with heavy trunks, a pile of carpet bags and hat-boxes, with umbrellas, water-proof cloaks, and great coats innumer- able, would have attracted the curiosity of less inquisitive people than thorough-bred Yankees. Five or six inmates of the shed busied themselves with examining the ivory Chinese handle of Mr. B.'s umbrella ; and a person, whom they designated as " Doctor," dressed in a thread- bare, shabby-genteel, frock coat, of blue cloth, with a collar originally black velvet, but which, by wear and tear of weather, had been transformed into a nondescript colour, observed that *' they carved cleverly in New York." The patent leather hat-box soon fixed their attention, and, my answer not satisfying them that it was not made of wood, they took it out of the carriage and minutely inspected it both within and without. The pa- tent boxes of the carriage wheels next became subjects. for their conjectures and guesses ; they had evidently seen none before. At this time we were joined by a most consequential person, — the landlord of an adjoining ta- vern, whose curiosity had been excited by the crowd in his shed* Some one asked him whether he had ever seen such " mortal curious things in a carriage before ;" he answered, " Yes ;" and just glancing at one of the fore wheels, " but these are those poor Yankee things ; I have been a teaming these fifteen years, and would never wear one of them ;" then turning to a hind wheel, " why here, this box is clear gone, the wheel will come off the first heavy lurch you have, and you'll be cast adrift." For once, curiosity proved of service, it being very evident that the first heavy joh would throw the wheel from the carriage. Another by-stander, a black- smith, and old weather-beaten man of sixty, whom the inn-keeper addressed as " Uncle Jack," said he would render it secure in five minutes, and carried the box away to his forge, which was " but a few rods up the road." The rain had now subsided, though we were still threat-. 10 A subaltern's furlough. ened by thick dark clouds. The doctor and a compa- nion, one of thesteam-brethren also, took their departure on their poor and sorry animals, with their small black saddle-bags stowed with phials and cayenne pepper. The pedestrians commenced their wet and floundering journey anew through mud and mire ; the landlord re- turned to his bar, and we alone were left to await " Uncle Jack's" pleasure, who spun out his five minutes to three quarters of an hour ; and then, having reported all right, we also once more pursued our route towards the setting sun, over a road where there was no road, over bridges where it would be much safer to ford the stream, and through a country rich only in stones and stumps ; where land would be no bargain at half a dollar per acre. Half an hour before sunset, when we gained the summit of a long dreary hill, the great orb of day burst through the clouds in all his setting glory, and the thin vapours were seen rising from the woods and valleys beneath us, and floating gradually away before the fast subsiding gale. The road, too, at the same moment improved, running over a firm earthen track ; the driver cracked his whip, and, smiling, observed that " we should be in by an hour after sun-down yet." The horses trotted merrily along ; we threw aside our wet cloaks and coats ; while every thing to us v/ore a diflerent appearance, and we now saw some beauty in the vast and endless forests which encircled us on every side, save here and there a solitary patch of cleared land, the eflects of the industry of some hardy settler, who, one would almost imagine, had quarrelled with the whole world by seeking so se- cluded a spot ; but we were now in a humour to be pleased with every thing. Our gleams of sunshine and good fortune were only transitory ; for in a few minutes we again dived into the dark, thick pine forest, whose ragged branches and tall straight trunks had but a few minutes before formed so fine a contrast against the lighter foliage of some other natives of the grove. Ascending higher ground, too, we were once more enveloped in the heavy damp clouds, and, as night set in, the road became worse, and the ha- bitations of men and all signs of cultivation disappeared. A svbaltern's furlough. 11 Neither the coachman nor ourselves had ever travelled in the direction we were moving ; so alike uncertain whither we were going, but trusting to chance and good fortune, we renewed our journey, grumbling against America and its miserable roads, and arriving at the fol- lowing conclusion — that to move out of the common coach route, to leave the turnpike road which was pass- able, and to attempt exploring new and undescribed scenery by striking out a line of road for ourselves, would • never answer any end, and was in itself almost impracticable, — that, for the future, we must be content with the old well-worn track of former tourists, and visit no places but those notified in the " Stranger's Guide,'- or " Northern Traveller." Tourists, however, are al- ways in search for some incident which may be rather out of the common way, and which may vary some little the dull pages of their diary ; and we too should have been satisfied had the fair and chaste moon shone brightly on us, laying open to our view some of the dark recesses of the dense forest, or the dreary depths of the vast ra- vines beneath us. But we had not a spice of the true romantic spirit in us ; we preferred a warm supper and a good dry mattress, in a comfortable inn, to weathering it out in an unknown country, where we might be half drowned ere golden Phoebus again walked forth from his chamber in the East. At nine o'clock, from the cold breeze which swept past us, and from the streak of light along the horizon, as if the clouds, having nothing to cling to, were compelled to rise from earth, we knew that some large sheet of water was nigh, and shortly after- wards saw Seneca Lake, like a narrow stream lying far beneath us. We were doomed, however, to still farther disappointments ; nor was it until an hour past midnight, after having trudged about eight miles on foot through deep and muddy pools, that we reached a small inn, at the head of the lake, wet, weary, fainished, and conse- quently out of humour. After much knocking at doors, and shaking of windows, we succeeded in rousing the landlord from his lair. In half an hour's time, he spread out before us a " rudes indigestaque moles" of apple-pye, new cheese, sour beer, 12 A subaltern's fuhlough. heavy Indian bread, and port wine, which savoured strongly of logwood and brandy ; but our appetites had been well sharpened by our wanderings, and we were in no humour to find fault. Sitting by the cheerful wood fire, we already began to laugh at the misfortunes and slow progress of our journey, having been more than nine hours performing a distance of twenty-one miles. Excellent beds being provided, in a few minutes the trou- bles of the past, fears and anticipations of the future, were alike forgotten. A subaltern's furlough. rS" CHAPTER II. The souls of Usurers after their death Lucian affirms to be metempsychosed, or translated into the bodies of asses, and there remain certain years, for poor men to take their pennyworth out of their bones. Peacham on Blazoning. Such guides set over the several congregations will misteach them, by instilling into them puritanical and superstitious prin- ciples, Walton. You take a precipice for no leap of danger, And woo your own destruction. Shaespeare. On the morning of the 10th of August, embarking on board a steamer, we left Watkins, Jeffersonville, Seneca Head, or Savoy, as we heard the small village, where we had passed part of the night, severally called. Though commanding a much finer situation than Ithaca in every respect, with a canal running past it which connects the water of lake Erie and Seneca with the Susquehannah River by the Chemung Canal, yet there are not above twenty frame-houses in the settlement, arising from the mistaken policy of the proprietor of the land, who will scarcely sell a rood under a New York price ; whereas, if he gave away every other lot for building upon, the increased value of the remaining lots would make him more than an adequate return. The head of Seneca Lake, like that of Cayuga, is black marsh, overgrown with bull-rushes and reeds. Several large streams, with fine water-falls enter it a few miles from the village, of which the Hector, 150 feet in height, and those at the big stream Point 136, are the most worthy of observation. We considered ourselves fortunate in meeting with a gentlemanly, well-informed person in Captain Romney, an Englishman, the proprietor of the " Seneca Chief," the only steamer which plies upon the lake. He pur- chased the right of steam upon these waters for a mere VOL. II. B, 14 A subaltern's FTTFLOtGH. trifle, from ex-governor Lewis, to whom it had been sold by Fulton, who possessed originally the exclusive right of steam navigation on those inland waters of the State of New York, which did not interfere with the interests of neighbouring States, as the Hudson does with the communication to Vermont and Lower Canada. This charter was granted to Fulton for a term of thirty years, six of which have not yet expired ; before the lapse of that time the present possessor may expect to realize a considerable fortune. The profits arise principally from towing the Erie Canal boats to the different ports in the lake, the traffic on which will be much increased by the Chemung and Crooked Lake Canals, now nearly complet- ed. The charge for towing vessels from one to the other extreme of the lake, a distance of forty miles, is six dol- lars, and it is performed in a few hours. At Rapeley's Ferry, a few miles down the lake on the western bank, are the remains of a pier from which the celebrated Jemima Wilkinson proved the faith of her fol- lowers. She had collected them for the purpose of seeing her walk across the lake, and addressing them, while one foot touched the water, enquired if they had faith in her, and believed she could reach the opposite shore in safety ; for, if they had not faith, the attempt would be vain. Upon receiving the most earnest assurances of their belief that she could pass over, she replied " that there was no occasion then to make a display of her power, as they believed in it ;" and, turning round, re-entered her car- riage, and drove off, to the chagrin of thousands of idle spectators, and to the astonishment of her numerous dis- ciples. Captain Rumney, who was acquainted with her during her life-time, described her as a tall, stately, and handsome woman ; but of rather a masculine appearance. In her costume she much resembled a clergyman, having her hair brushed back, wearing a surphce and bands, with a Quakers' hat. She was a native of Rhode Island, and during the Revolutionary war formed an attachment with a British officer, who subsequent!)^ deserted her. In con- sequence of this merciless treatment, she suffered a vio- lent attack of fever, and for some days lay in a deep trance, though the medical men affirmed she might have easily A subaltern's furlough. 15 roused herself from it had she only the wish to do so. It is supposed that at this time she was engaged in laying the deep plot which was so successfully carried into exe- cution on her recovery, by stating that, " Jemima Wil- kintjon having died, the angels in Heaven had disputed who should enter her body, and visit the earth as the Universal Friend of Mankind, — as the Saviour of the World ; that she (now calling herself an angel in Jemi- ma's body) had been appointed to fill the body of the deceased, and was come upon earth to preach salvation to all. Many believed in her, and, a sect being soon formed, she quitted Rhode Island, and settled near Crooked Lake, a few miles to the west of Seneca, where her followers, some of whom were men of independent fortune, purchased a large tract of land for her ; the deeds of her farm being drawn up in the name of Rachel Mellon, a relative who inherited the estate after Jemima's death, six years since. Upon all her plate, carriage, &c., the letters U. F. (Uni- versal Friend) were inscribed. She observed the Jewish Sabbath, but preached on Sundays to the numerous visit- ors who were attracted to her house by mere curiosity. She was well versed in the Scriptures, and possessed a remarkably retentive memory ; but, in other respects, was an illiterate woman. The creed of her sect is the Metempsychosis ; but since her departure the number of believers has considerably diminished, the present head of the Society, Esther Plant, not having sufficient tact to keep them united. In Jemima's life-time, so jealous were her disciples of due respect being paid to her that no answer would be returned to enquiries after " Jemima," but only if designated as the " Friend." All the points of land in the lake (save one, which has a singular bush formed by the hand of nature into the exact representation of an elephant) are occupied by small villages, which possess excellent harbours, during heavy gales up or down the lake, and have above 20 fath- oms of water within 30 feet of the shore. This one ex- ception is the property of Esther, who will not part with it upon any terms. The entrance to the Crooked Lake Canal is at the village of Dresden, a German settlement, eight miles west of which is Jemima's house. On the 16 A subaltern's furlough. opposite shore in Seneca County is Ovid, situated on a pretty eminence, overlooking the water ; also Lodi, Bru- tus, and various other classically named places. These names, it appears, were bestowed by the Government on townships, distributed among the Revolutionary soldiers, which extended originally over a large tract, from the borders of the lake, almost as far east as Utica The veterans were soon, however, over-reached, and induced to dispose of their lands to some scheming and designing speculators, who re-sold them most advantageously to the present possessors, persons of respectability ; and the same land which would not then bring a dollar in the market will now produce from 25 to 40 and even 50 per acre. The soil is a strong loam,^ and well adapted for wheat. Seneca is, however, an Indian name, although it might naturally be supposed to have the same origin, in imitation of antiquity, as the neighbouring towns of Ma- rathon, Pharsaha, Homer, Virgil, and Cassius. The sce- nery upon the lake closely resembles that of Cayuga, be- ing unvaried and uninteresting ; the water is, however, beautifully clear, the pebbly bottom being visible in a calm day at the depth of 30 feet. Being principally sup- plied by springs, the ice upon it never becomes so thick as to impede the navigation ; during the severe trost of 1831, a thin sheet formed on some parts, but was bro- ken up by the first light breeze which ruffled the water. The town of Geneva possesses a beautiful situation upon a rising bank at the northern extremity of the lake, with terraced gardens approaching to the water's edge, and many pretty villas scattered around. About a mile from the town, on the borders of the water, are some extensive glass works, which however have not been worked during the last year, the owner having failed to a great amount,^ through mismanagement in his farming speculations. When the works were first estabhshed, they occupied a narrow space in the midst of a forest where fuel was plen- tiful ; but the ground is now so well cleared about the town that a cord of wood, measuring 4 feet in height and 8 in length, costs a dollar and a quarter, (more than 5s. sterling.) An opinion prevails, from an appearance of the strata at the head of the lake, that coal may be found, A subaltern's furlough. 17 when required. Geneva is altogether a pretty spot, and contains one particularly fine street, in which is the col- lege, a dull, heavy-looking building, with castellated walls and other tasteless appendages. But the private residen- ces equal any in the Slate. Proceeding on our journey atmid-day, on the 11th, we passed through a fine rich country, chequered with heavy crops of every grain. The apples appeared perfectly ripe, and the peach-trees were every where loaded with fruit. The soil evidently increased in richness the far- ther we proceeded to the west, and the cultivated lands about these parts produced from 16 to 25 bushels of wheat per acre, bringing generally a dollar per bushel of 601b., being always sold by weight. The buildings on the farms are commonly wood, though bricks are nearly as cheap, selling from 3 to 4 dollars per thousand, and from their superiority, both as to safety and durability, will probably become more and more general. The prefe- rence given to wooden ones at present arises from the lit- tle time required to erect them, and their being habitable immediately. Farming labourers' wages are not so high as one would be led to suppose from the price of other trades' labour; they receive generally about 12 dollars a month and their board. In harvest time however a good cradler will earn a dollar and a half per diem, and be found in provisions also. The threshing machine be- ing generally used in these parts will much tend to lower the price of labour. At one farm by the road side, we saw men employed in carrying wheat from a field into an adjoining barn, where it was immediately transferred to the threshing-machine, and forthwith despatched to market. The poorer class who wish to avoid expense, labour, and loss of time, send their wheat to persons who keep machines for letting out, and who retain a small por- tion of the grain in lieu of a pecuniary remuneration for their trouble. The ground in the vicinity of Canandaigua, fifteen miles from Geneva, was kept in a state of cultivation by the Indians, prior to General Sullivan's march through the country fifly years since, when the whole western part of the State of New York was in possession of the W A SUBALTERN^S FVHLOUGH, Six Nations, of whom now scarcely a vestige remains. The town is at the outlet of the Canandaigua Lake, and in an unhealthy situation, owixjg to the water being damm- ed up near the outlet for the purpose of supplying a mill- wheel, thus forming a large wet marsh, which produces a deadly fever in the autumnal months. Endeavours have been made by actions at law to compel the mill pro- prietor to lower his dam, or to surround it with a bank to prevent the water overflowing the country, but hitherto to no purpose. The town consists of one principal street, two miles in length and about J 60 feet in breadth, with gardens and locust trees in front of the houses. It is gene- rally considered the handsomest place in the State, though, in my opinion, not equal to Skaneaieles. From Canandaigua, we travelled over a hilly and sandy road, running parallel with the canal, and under its great embankment over the Irondequoit Creek. This immense work, for a distance of two miles, averages a height of seventy feet above the plain across which it is carried. The banks being chiefly of sand, great caution is necessa- ry in watching and puddling any small crevices which may appear. Two years since, the water forced its way through the embankment, and, rushing down upon the road and plain beneath, swept away every thing which opposed the fury of its course. The lesser sand-hills at this time present evident marks of the furious torrent which passed over them. At sunset, descending a hill, we entered upon a flat, marshy plain, on which the town of Rochester is situated. It has more the appearance of a town in a new world than any I visited, and nothing can be more miserable than its appearance from a distance. An open space has been merely burnt in the forest, and the town has been run up without any attempt at getting rid of the innu- merable stumps of trees, which even make their appear- ance in the outer streets of the place. It is, in truth, a city in the wilderness, and cannot be healthy, so long as it is surrounded by such dense, dark forests. The trees in America are not felled so that the stump remains level with the ground, as in England, but according to the con- venience of the woodman, who generally strikes the trunk A subaltern's furlough. 19 about three feet from the root. Where a thick forest has thus been cut down, the desolate appearance the face of the country presents can be scarcely imagined : — large blackened trunks, and arms partly consumed by fire, lie encumbering the ground till they decay, or are again consigned to the fire by some more industrious far- mer than the generality of the Americans. At Rochester however nothing of this kind has yet taken place, though it is the most thriving town in the State. The softer kinds of wood, such as birch and beech, decay sufficiently in six or seven years to admit of being knocked up, but hemlock and pine will scarcely be affected by the seasons of half a century. Crossing the Genessee River, we entered the principal part of the town, and drove to the Eagle, situated in the main street, a fine hotel with excellent rooms and an at- tentive landlord. The town has risen in an incredibly short space of time : twenty years since was a wild unin- habited tract where 14,000 people now earn a livelihood. Its rapid rise originated from the Erie Canal passing through the town, and the Genessee affording so great a water-power to the extensive flour, cotton, and other mills on its banks. The canal crosses the river by a fine aqueduct 300 yards above the Falls, where the celebrat- ed leaper, Sam Patch, took his last and fatal descent in 1829. The Falls are over a perpendicular ledge of rock, 97 feet in height : with that descent however he was not satisfied, but had a platform erected to the height of 25 feet, on a small island which divides it, and in the pre- sence of thousands of spectators precipitated himself into the gulf beneath, from which he never re-appeared. Many ladies who were the innocent spectators of his death, little imagining there could be any risk, as he had already made a similar descent from the Falls of Nia- gara, fainted when, after anxiously awaiting some seconds for his re-appearance above the surface of the water, they at last discovered by the shriek of horror which arose from the assembled crowd that they had been in- strumental in the destruction of a fellow-creature ; and every one regretted, now it was too late, that such an exhibition had been encouraged. The unfortunate man, 20 A subaltern's furlough. being intoxicated when he ascended the platform, did not preserve the proper position for entering the water ; and his death doubtless arose from the great shallowness of the stream, it being ascertained thai there were only fifteen feet of water to resist the impetus of his weight falling from such a height. It appears to signify but little how men immortalize themselves, and Sam Patch has rendered himself immortal, at least in America, by more innocent means than most of his ambitious brethren. The scenery about the Falls is uninteresting, and but little worthy of notice, though a large body of water forms the cataract. The banks of the river are high and contracted, and covered with extensive ranges of mills. Judge Rochester, whose family resides m the neigh- bourhood, was the great proprietor of the land upon which the town is built ; he was a man of considerable influence in the State, and stood a contest for governor with De Witt Clinton. Many of the streets are well laid out, and contain excellent buildings ; the arcade, how- ever, in which is the post-office, is but a second-rate structure, the plan of the whole ill-arranged, and making a poor figure for so flourishing a town. The churches are superior in style of architecture, and constructed of more durable materials, than is generally the case in America. We attended divine service at the first Pres- byterian church, which was well attended, and heard an excellent sermon. The cholera being very prevalent in the town, we de- parted on our route to the westward on the morning of the 13th of August. In answer to our enquiries at the office the preceding evening, the book-keeper informed us that the coach would start at four o'clock in the morn- ing. This being rather too early an hour for some of the party, we agreed to take an extra coach, which can always be obtained (there being no post-chaises in the country) at all the principal hotels. The book-keeper no sooner heard this our determination, than, being alarmed at the idea of losing so many passengers, he proffered to delay the coach until after breakfast, if that would be an accommodation to us. At half-past eight, A subaltern's furlough. 2^1 accordingly, the heavy vehicle drove up to the door, with the only seat we had not secured occupied by a re- tailer of groceries, who, with the patience of Job, had been awaiting our pleasure for upwards of four hours and a half. His eyes beamed with evident delight, and he gave a kind of inward chuckle as he saw No. 1 carpet bag thrown into the boot ; and not a hint did he drop during the whole journey of the unconscionable time we had delayed him for the mere purpose of gratifying our gastronomic propensities. For small families, the tra- veHing arrangements in America are most inconvenient, as there is no alternative but either to be crowded with nine inside passengers, and no one knows who, as compa- nions, or to be put to the heavy expense of hiring an extra. The time, too, at which the regular stage (as they term them) arrives at the place of its destination is a matter of the greatest uncertainty, depending entirely upon the number of passengers — not that any delay is caused by their additional weight, but by the distance they may reside from the direct line of road ; for a coach- man will drive a quarter of a mile out of his way to take up or put down a person. At this time, travelling amongst the Americans them- selves was nearly at a stand still ; every landlord and coach-proprietor complained bitterly of the presence of the cholera, as having done them incalculable injury. The only people I met on the move for pleasure, during the latter part of my journey, and through the infected districts, were foreigners, to whom the panic was a vast advantage, as there was not the usual crowd of summer tourists, and I was never at a loss for a seat in the coach, bed, or board, which would not have been the case in healthier seasons. Our party this day consisted of a ci. devant lieutenant of the British navy, now a naturalized American, two Frenchmen, two Englishmen, one Scotch- man, and a Welchman, whom chance only had brought together within the last two days. We now entered upon the famous "Ridge-road," which extends for eighty miles, from Carthage, near Rochester, to Lewiston on the Niagara River. From the circum- stance of its running parallel with Lake Ontario, at the 22 A subaltern's furlough. distance of six or eight miles, and its elevation above it being about 100 feet, with a gradual inclination towards the water, it is supposed to have once formed the south- ern boundary of the lake, and to have been thrown up by the action of the waves. Being formed of sand and fine gravel gives to that opinion some foundation ; and that such banks can be formed by the action of the sea is very evident upon many parts of the English coast. From having been always referred to the Ridge-road, when I found fault with American highways, I expected to travel upon a perfect level, instead of upon a road broken, as this is, by frequent abrupt and deep ravines. From this time I was told that I ought to see one some-^ where far back in the west, several hundreds of miles distant in the Ohio country, which was not inferior to any Macadamized road in Great Britain ; but, as my curiosity never carried me so far away from the Atlantic as the Alleghany Mountains, I can only speak of those highways over which I did travel, not one of which would have escaped an indictment in the old country. In some States, as in New York and Connecticut, turnpikes are frequent ; but this collection of tolls did not tend visibly to the improvement of the roads. The gate is generally formed of a hurdle, or a long narrow frame with nume- rous vertical bars, which is drawn up in the manner of a portcullis by ropes into a roof built across the road, until the traveller has passed. There is no attraction in the scenery to lead a person upon the Ridge-road, being carried through a flat and uninteresting country, with only a narrow strip, never exceeding a mile in width, redeemed from the surround- ing forest. In no part of our journey were the waters of the lake visible, though but so few miles distant. Set- tlements, however, are forming rapidly, and, from the clouds of smoke which hung over various parts of the forest, it may safely be predicted that not many years will elapse before the thick veil will be withdrawn. Three miles from Lockport, we left the Ridge, and entered upon a rough, shaking, " corduroy" road, a new species of railway they might call it, being formed entirely of pslit trees and rails laid across the road, without any A subaltern's FUELOrGH. 23 regard to level or disproportion of size, and a most sove- reign contempt for any thing like repairs. Such a wretched apology for a highway ought to have immor- talized its inventor's name, in place of being called after the coarse cloth which it resembles in grain. The man, at least, deserved a patent for having discovered a most excruciating mode of dislocating bones, and an easy me- thod of breaking the axletrees of carriages combined. We proceeded at a marvellously uncomfortable, slow, foot pace over this corduroy, until, crossing the Erie Canal, we entered the village of Lockport, which, like Rochester, or most places on that line of communication, has sprung up in almost a day. The greater part of the village is situated on the summit of a hill, over which the canal is carried by means of five locks, each containing 16 feet water, and raising a boat 12 feet. As the ascent of a boat through such a succession of them would much delay those on the point of descending, both loss of time and confusion have been avoided by having a double row of locks, side by side. These being principally cut out of the solid rock, and well finished off with substantial masonry and iron railings, may, with the great embank- ment over the Irondequoit Creek, be considered the most arduous undertaking between Buffalo and Albany. After having surmounted the locks, the excavation through the solid rock extends for upwards of two miles. The surplus water of the canal supplies several mills with a powerful stream, one, too, which will never fail, the canal itself being fed by lake Erie. The mills return the water to the canal again below the locks, and the clear current, which flows at about a mile per hour, renders the Erie Canal very different in appearance from our muddy works of the same description in England, which are so often unnavigable, from a scarcity of water in the reservoirs. There is a singularly constructed wooden bridge, composed of a series of platforms of open frame- work, one above the other, below the basin at the foot of the locks. It extends over the canal from one side of the ravine to the other, at not a less height than 80 feet from its foundation, and 60 above the level of the water, and at a length of about 300 feet. 24 A subaltern's furlough. Having visited all the objects of curiosity in the vil- lage, not excepting the saw-mills, we took the packet- boat at a quarter to eleven o'clock, and in fifteen minutes more had passed through the locks. A fine, clear, full moon, rendered the numerous lamps about those works quite useless, but its charms were not sufficiently power- ful to induce us to expose ourselves to the night-air and heavy dew, by remaining on deck until the boat had emerged from the excavation of the mountain ridge. At daylight, on the 14th, we passed through the Ton- newanta Creek, up which the canal had taken its course for several miles ; and by seven o'clock arrived at the village of Black Rock, where it enters the harbour formed for vessels trading upon Lake Erie. In com- pany with another gentleman, I left the boat a mile be- low the village, and walked leisurely along the towing- path, diverging from it at Black Rock, and passing through the principal street. Being on the fron^ier, it suffered during the barbarous and retaliatory warfare of 18i2, but has again sprung up into a moderately-sized place, schooners and small brigs being built there for the navigation of the lakes. The canal keeps along the bank of the river to the town of Buffalo, three miles distant, where it communicates with Lake Erie, having passed through an extent of country from its entrance to the Hudson not less than 363 miles. Buffalo is a thriving, bustling town, handsomely and well built, and daily increasing in number of inhabit- ants. It was supposed to have received its death-blow during the last war, but one house escaping the confla- gration : it rallied again, hov/ever, upon the laying out of the canal, and has now a population of about 8000, and ere long promises to outstrip Rochester itself. Its situation, though having one front upon the lake, is far from agreeable, the surround? ng country being flat and uncultivated. So low indeed is some part of the town that heavy westerly gales raise such a swell on this vast inland sea as to cause a considerable inundation, frequently proving destructive to the property on the margin of the water. During the morning we visited the Seneca tribe of In. A subaltern's furlough. 85 dians, who, to the amount of 700 or 800, possess a large tract of land of an irregular form, but containing about 100 square miles, to the S. E. of the town, upon which their farms and woods closely verge. The school in the mission-house, four miles from Buffalo, is an object of great interest. It consists of from thirty to thirty-five boys and girls, between the ages of eight and fourteen, the greater portion of whom are maintained at the mission- house by the Society, the parents scarcely contributing any thing towards their support. The instructress in- formed us that some of them now and then brought a few provisions and some clothing, but nothing more. We heard the first class read the nineteenth chapter of St. Matthew, without any previous study, each scholar (there being eight in the class) reading two verses until the chapter was concluded, afterwards spelling and de- fining the most difficult words in it, in a manner which would have reflected great credit upon English children of the same age. Their mistress said that she invaria- bly found them intelligent, willing, and apt to learn; but their countenances appeared to me very heavy, and far from being indicative of sense. They are allowed to converse with each other in the English language only, and have been christened after the most approved Ame- rican manner. In the first class, there were Phoebe, Le- titia, Maria, and other awkward creatures, with similar romantic names ; and two clumsy-looking lads, of four- teen years of age, with faces as round and flat as a Cheshire cheese, were known as James and Edward, though I should imagine their distinctive titles amongst the tribe would be '< Sleepy-eye," and " Owl." The mission has been established nine years ; and, though there are but fifty church-going people amongst the tribe, yet it is equally divided between the Christians and worshippers of the Great Spirit, the latter of whom are steady opposers of the mission and will never cross the threshold of the house. The tribe (which since the death of their celebrated warrior, " Red Jacket," has been governed by a kind of oligarchy of chiefs) is di- vided, according to their religion, into two distinct parties, which, though associating but little, yet live upon good VOL. II. — c. 26 A subaltern's furlough. terms with each other, having the same influence and an equal voice in the councils and management of the pub- lic affairs. All the Reservation is common property ; but, if any individual ears and encloses a tract for the purposes of cultivation, no one can interfere with that farm so long as he tills the ground ; for the time being, it is to all intents and purposes his own. Many of the tribe are honest, industrious farmers ; we saw several of them with their squaws riding to town on horseback, and in the common American carriole, or carry all. But the majority are indolent and intemperate, suffering much in winter for want of clothing and provisions, and being generally supplied with the necessaries of life by their richer and more sensible brethren, some of whom, even were they of the " pale faces," would be consi- dered men of small but independent fortune. The Church, situated near the Mission-house, is a neat wooden edifice, with accommodation for about 250 per- sons. The psalms and prayers are printed on one page of the book in the Seneca and on the opposite in the English language. The members of the church marry according to the established forms. V/e now proceeded to a house in the village (which is scattered widely over the country,) for the purpose of making some enquiries respecting their treatment of the cholera, which had already appeared with fatal effects amongst many of the Indian tribes. A party, amongst whom were several women, were sitting at the door busily employed in picking greens for dinner, despite the great outcry raised against vegetables at this time. The females, upon our approach, immediately rising, entered the house, while I entered into conversation with a heavy, dull-looking man. He spoke English, and was a tho- rough Yankee, guessing I came from the East, and reckoning that it was considerable sickly in New York. When I came to the point, however, and wished to dis- cover the cholera remedy, he referred me to a fine, Roman-nosed, curly-headed man, who did not under- stand English, and put my questions as an interpreter to him. This man pointed out some herbs which grew wild in every direction, saying that they boiled and then ad- A subaltern's furlough. 27 ministered them as a broth to the patient, wrapping him afterwards in blankets, and producing great artificial heat in his body by means of hot stones, &.c. This treat- ment had met with wonderful success, there being only eleven deaths out of one hundred cases, a much greater proportion of recoveries than amongst the "pale faces." I tasted the herbs, and found one to be the wild camo- mile ; the other was hot and pungent to the taste, and fiery as Cayenne pepper. The houses in the village were similar to those of the American labouring class, and the " Indian Hotel" was quite a respectable-looking edifice, and doubtless well attended. As in many other instances, I had formed very erroneous ideas of the per- sonal appearance of the red men of the woods, imagining them to be noble-looking waraiors, of fine stature, with countenances of the Grecian or Roman cast ; but I found them more like the dark and vengeful Malay. A French gentleman, one of my fellow-travellers, had evidently formed a similar opinion ; for when I pointed out to him a female of the tribe, who, with her papoose (infant) slung across her shoulders, and in her person resembling a moving bundle of old clothes, was walking past the hotel in Buffalo, he enquired with the greatest naivete to what sex the person belonged, and, upon my informing him, exclaimed, raising his hands with astonishment, ^' Oh ! la malheureuse ! la malheureuse !" 28 A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER III. Or under shadow of the cataract, With deep and dread dehght, Stand where Niagara's flood wears down the mountain tract, SOTHEBY. LXX. And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again Returns in an unceasing shower, which round, With its unemptied cloud of gentle rain, Is an eternal April to the ground. Making it all one emerald : — how profound The gulf! and how the giant element From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound, Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent. LXXI. To the broad column which rolls on, * * ******* Childe Harold, Cant. iv. In the evening, taking a carriage, we drove to Black Rock, and, crossing the violent stream of the INiagara to the little hamlet of Waterloo by a horse-ferry, stepped ashore into our own good king's dominions. I really felt quite at home again, for what reason I know not : I had experienced nothing but civility and attention in the United States ; yet here we were at a hop, step, and a jump in another land. Every thing denoted a different country ; and the first signs we saw over the public- house doors were " the Crown," *' the King's Arms,'* with other loyal superscriptions, and the first steamer which dashed past us was the " Adelaide." It was truly a relief to my eyes after the many and various Eagles I had sojourned at, and the divers '* Citizens' Union Line" steam boats in which I had travelled. We proceeded down the Niagara River, which flow- ing out of Lake Erie at Buffalo with a rapid descent, and varying from 500 yards to two miles in width, empties- A subaltern's furlough. 29 itself after a course of thirty miles into Lake Ontario at Fort George. It was a mild and agreeable summer's evening, and, without viewing things with a prejudiced eye, I certainly never enjoyed a journey in the States so much as this one, and never travelled on a road, not ex- cepting even the famous Ridge-way, to be compared with it. The bridges were strong and well-built, the road level and free from corduroy and ruts, running the whole extent of our ride parallel to the river, without any fence intervening between us and the water, but flanked on the other hand by well-cleared and cultivated grounds, and neat old-fashioned cottages. Of all our party, seven in number, probably 1 did not the most enjoy the scene, yet to me it was truly delightful, — one of those few which men are permitted to enjoy. Two hours' drive brought us to Chippewa Battle Ground, when I paid my respects to the field by walking over it, with the last true account of the action in my hand, to ascertain the posi- tion of the contending armies. While looking out for some mound or brief monument (of which there was not even a single vestige), erected to the memory of the nu, merous brave who fell on the hard-contested day of the 5th of July, 1814, I saw the light white cloud of spray rising from the Falls of Niagara, beautifully gilded by the declining sun. Battle Ground, King's Arms, and well-cleared country, were alike forgotten, and, tlirow- ing myself into the carriage, I leaned back, keeping my eyes as intently fixed upon the white pillar of spray as the Mussulman does his penetrating gaze upon the new moon. Twenty minutes more took us past the bold and beautiful Rapids to the Pavilion Hotel. My French friends, true to their national feature, were noisy in ex- clamation and other tokens of surprise, joy, and asto- nishment ; the English, characteristic of their country, spoke not a word ; but, not the less feeling the beauties of the prospect, gazed on the magnificent scene in silent admiration. As I could almost pardon the Parsee for adoring so splendid a phenomenon as the rising sun in all its eastern glory, so could I excuse the red man of the woods for his devotion at the Falls of Niagara. How much more noble a deity than the muddy, slow, sacred c* 30 A subaltern's fuklough. stream of the Ganges ! Probably we could not have been introduced to such a scene at a more favourable time ; a brilliant rainbow was dancing in the spray, as it was agitated to and fro by the light evening breeze, and, even while we looked on, the last rays of the sun, as it sunk below the horizon, tinged the vapoury mist with a hue no artist could imitate. The snow-white wreaths of water, as they rushed over the broad ledges of rock with furious violence, for a mile above the Falls, contrasted with the dark blue surface of the still calm current above, and the vivid green sheet as it shot forth from its dark bedover the tremendous precipice into the foaming abyss below, presented a scene which it is the good fortune of but few to see, of still fewer to appreciate, and which none can well describe. I have read manv accounts and descriptions, seen innumerable prints and sketches of the Falls of Niagara : but not a single one ever gave me the remotest idea of their stupendous magnificence. I should say to all those people who possess the means of gratifying their admiration of the works of nature, " If you wish to form an idea of the noblest sight in the creation, cross the Atlantic, and, seeing, judge for your- selves." Towards midnight, when nought was heard but the thundering of the mighty cataract, I walked out and stood on the bank for some time, looking at the awfully grand scene beneath me, which is equally sublime when viewed by the soft and silvery but indistinct light of the m.oon as during the brighter rays of the meridian sun, and is certainly more calculated in the former case to inspire a feeling of awe. Upon me the scene made a deep and lasting impression. Retiring to my bed, I dreamed of strange events, of vast waters rushing through my ears, of drowning people, of leaping fearful cataracts, and such a dreadful medley of perils by flood and field that I was well pleased to find myself, at break of day, snug- ly and safel}^ lodged in a warm bed and secure house. After breakfast the following morning I walked out to explore the falls more minutely, the preceding evening having afforded but a superficial view of them ; and, pro- ceeding a few paces from the hotel, I arrived at a zig-zag A subaltern's furlough. 31 path, which led down the steep and wooded bank to the level of the river above the Falls, which is about 150 or 200 feet below the surface of the surrounding country. The rivers' banks are between 15 and 20 feet high, from Buffalo to the village of Chippewa, when the rapids com- mence and pass over a series of falls with a declination of 60 feet in a mile, until they reach the grand cataract, where the perpendicular descent on the Canada side is 158, and on the American 164 feet. An island of consi- derable extent divides the river into unequal portions, the Canada or Horse Shoe Fall (so called from its shape) being 1,800 feet in length, and the American but 900. The river, for some distance before arriving at this spot, takes an easterly direction, when, the Falls being passed, it suddenly diverges at right angles and pursues a north- erly course towards Lake Ontario. The formation of the Horse shoe can be very naturally accounted for by the greatest rush of water being in the centre of the river, and by attrition wearing away the rock, so that the Falls are slowly retiring towards Lake Erie. In process of time, some 10,000 years hence, I suppose, by a moderate calculation, the upper lake will be drained, and a succes- sion of rapids only will intervene between Huron and On- tario. The last time any quantity of rock gave way was about two years since, when nearly a quarter of an acFC fell from the centre of the Horse Shoe, with such a tremenduous crash as very sensibly to affect the ground upon which the hotel stands, and the cottages in the im- mediate vicinity. Neither the heavy autumnal floods, the melting of the winters' snow, nor breaking up of the ice, make any sensible difference in the colour or quanti- ty of the vast body of water which flows down from the upper lakes. To fall into the rapids at Chippewa, or ven- ture within a mile of the great cataract in a boat is con- sidered by the peasantry almost inevitable death. Many instances are on record of men and boats being carried over it, from attempting to cross the stream too rashly within the sweeping influence of the rapids. Neverthe- less 'tis said, and I have heard it gravely asserted by some people (though they were not eye-witnesses certainly,) that an old squaw once ran the gauntlet of both rapids 32 A subaltern's furlough. and falls in her birch canoe, and rising again, amongst the bubble and foam of the boiling abyss, she shook her long dishevelled locks awhile to discover whereabouts she was, and then swam ashore unscathed, untouched ! But — " Credat Judseus Apella, Non ego." She must have been one of the witches of old, taking a bath or a jaunt in her sieve for pleasure. Had we but arrived a few hours sooner, we would have witnessed the destruction of a scow, which, laden with a horse, twelve hogs, two or three sheep, and a dozen cords of wood, had struck against the pier, in making the entrance to the Chippewa Canal, and springing a leak became unmanageable. The crew, immediatel}'- perceiv- ing their danger, threw themselves into their canoe and effected their escape ashore. The horse it was said, (with the same instinct that prompted the bears who leap- ed from a schooner three years since, though it was in- tended they should pass the Falls for the innocent amuse- ment of some thousands of American spectators,) sprang overboard and swam ashore. The vessel, with the un- fortunate animals left to their fate, was carried over the centre of the vast Horse Shoe, scarcely a vestige of the wreck ever re-appearing. 1 walked for a mile along the beach in search of fragments of the vessel, but did not observe any of its timbers exceed six feet in length, al- though many of them were nine inches in thickness, and in no instance was there any portion of two planks still connected. The only sheep which appeared again above water, and which was driven ashore perfectly dead at the Ferry, nearly half a mile below the Falls, was dread- fully mangled. The bones of its legs were broken and even crushed, as if they had been placed in a vice ; but a hog, which lay near it, showed no outward signs of injury, and only bled profusely at the mouth. The wood which has passed the Falls at various times has been collected in small rocky inlets, and at the head of the backwaters, with the edges rounded off per- fectly smooth by the incessant tossing it received before it floated out of the attractive power of the Falls. Even A subaltern's furlough. 33 the natives of the stream do not appear proof against their influence, as numerous dead fish are always to be found on the sides of the banks near the Ferry. The grandest view of the deep gulf into which the river descends, is from Table Rock, a large projecting slab on the Canadian side, formed by the under stratum, which is of a soft substance, being washed away. Two guides live within a ^e\v paces of it, and each has erected an en- closed spiral stair-case, from his wooden shanty down the side of the rock, to the loose shelving bank 80 or 90 feet beneath, along which there is an easy path to the foot of the cataract. Having with two of my fellow travel- lers expressed a wish to walk behind the falling sheet, we were provided with oil-skin dresses, having first di- vested ourselves of our usual apparel. Our new gar- ments were by no means the most comfortable which could have been devised ; they had been made for men of all sizes, shapes, and dimensions, from Daniel Lambert down to the " anatovde vivante ;" and I was some time arranging matters, so that I might have a chance of retain- ing possession, when the furious hurricane should inflate them like the bags of jEoIus. The shoes had evidently visited the water two or three times daily for the last half-dozen years at least, and, having been as often ex- posed to the sun, had become nearly as hard and inflexi- ble as sheet iron. To crown all, we had each a glazed hat, and, thus equipped, we descended the stair-case, and, gaining the sloping bank, descended for 70 or 80 paces under the overhanging rock, until within a short distance of the dense cloud of spray, and dark semicircular en- trance, when a council of war was held with regard to ulterior movements. The day was stormy, and inclined to rain ; the wind blew in strong gusts up the stream, making the waves to curl up in wreaths of foam, and cast such a dismal gloom over every thing around us as to render the appearance of our undertaking far from in- viting One of the party backed out, asserting that his lungs were weak, and a friend had told him " there was a difliculty in breathing behind the Fall," so that he would not attempt to explore the dark recess : a second said that he '* decidedly would not go any farther, that there 34 A subaltern's furlough. was nothing whatever to see, and that mere braggadocios only went behind, so that they might talk about it after- wards." I was thus left in the minority, but, as Falstaff says, " Honour pricked me on," and, being resolved to see all that was to be seen, I boldly told the guide to lead the way, and, with a caution to keep my head down,, we entered the thick mist, boring our way slowly through it in the dark. The path was at first over a narrow ledge of rock, only a few inches in breadth, and affording but a very insecure footing ; the guide however grasped one of my hands firmly, while with the other I took hold of the rough projections in the rock. The wind, which equalled a tornado, blew the water against my face in such torrents that I could scarcely see ; but I felt no dif- ficulty in breathing. After proceeding 30 or 40 feet be- hind the sheet of water, the wind moderating a little, the water descended in a more perpendicular stream, and my surprise almost amounted to disappointment when the guide stopped, and said we had arrived at " Termination Rock." I scarcely credited that we had advanced 150 feet, and made an attempt to pass the ne 'plus ultra, but found it utterly impracticable, the rock becoming too abrupt to afford either a footing or a firm hold to the hands. Until this point the path is about 2^ feet above the level of the water, and the base of the curve, between the great body of the falling sheet and rock, is about 40 feet. The guide here told me to look up ; but the water dash- ed with such impetuous violence against my face, and the light shone so dimly through the watery medium, that T made the experiment but thrice. While I amused myself with shouting at the extent of my voice, the guide was making the best use of his time in securing a quantity of the eels which abound amongst the loose stones. I could scarcely, however, hear myself ; so, despairing of having any effect upon the ears of my friends in the open air, I rejoined them but a trifle wiser than when I entered, and felt rather hard pressed for an answer to their oft repeat- ed enquiries of "Well, what did you see ?" and their jests upon my half-drowned appearance, as I stumbled over the stones, pumping the water out of my shoes at every Step, and my hair adhering to my cheeks in long straight A subaltern's furlough. 35 lines. Having resumed my habilaments, the following certificate was handed to me, so that hereafter no one might venture to doubt my prowess : " This may certify that Mr. Coke, British Army, has passed behind the great falling sheet of water to Termi- nation Rock. Given under my hand at the office of the General Register of the names of visitors at the Table Rock, this 15th day of August, 1832. "John Murray." And on the reverse, as the medallists would say, the fol- lowing exquisite morceau : — "Niagara Falls." The following was suggested by paying a visit to the '' Termination Rock," 153 feet behind the great falling sheet of water at the Falls of Niagara, on the 6th of August 1828: — "Look up ! look up ! the spray is dashing — Roaring waters foaming sweep ; O'er our heads the torrent's clashing, Hurling grandeur down the steep. Oh, mortal man ! beneath such splendour, How trifling, empty, vain, and poor I Prepare, then, Sinner, to surrender ^ All thoughts unhallowed or impure. Tremenduous is the scene around us ; Oh, mark how wild the waters ring! Terrific columns, bright, surround us : Grand are thy works, O God, our King." David M. Day'^s Print^ Buffalo. Two days afterwards, those gentlemen who had de- serted the cause on the previous occasion proposed to pass in rear of the Fall, and, wishing to ascertain the appearance of it in a clearer state of the atmosphere, I accompanied them, and was much gratified with my se- cond trip. The vast curved sheet over head nov/ looked beautifully white and glaring, presenting an effect simi- lar to that of the sun's rays upon ground glass, which render surrounding ■ objects dim, and is too dazzling to gaze long upon. The smiling green verd ure of the banks, with the deep blue sky reflecting on the smooth surface 36 A subaltern's furlough. oftheriverin the distance, and the brilliancy of the Ameri- can Fall, seen through the thick spray at the entrance of this watery cavern, formed a strange contrast to the turbulence of every thing within. Though there was scarcely a breath of air without, yet the wind blew in the same heavy gusts behind the Fall as on the preceding day, and, upon our return to the atmosphere, we were pushed out by the force of it so rapidly as to impress those persons standing v/ithout with the idea that we were escaping as fast as possible from the Fall. I might be said to be scudding before it under bare poles ; for, the guide's wardrobe being too scanty for our party of four, each of us was under the necessity of dispensing with certain portions of the requisite dress ; and it fell to my lot to obtain only a pair of the afore-mentioned torturing shoes, a hat four inches less in circumference than my head, and a short frock coat of oil-skin, and thus equipped, a V JZcossois, I encountered the fury of the storm. I should pronounce the undertaking perfectly safe for a man of the most delicate lungs, and even for ladies possessed of moderate nerves ; one of the latter, with whom I have the pleasure of being acquainted, penetrated as far as Termination rock, and I believe this is not a solitary in- stance. Any one who can make up his mind to walk out in a heavy thundsr-shower, accompanied by a stiff gale of wind, may as safely venture in rear of the Falls. With proper caution, there is no real danger ; the first sight of the enormous column of water, as it descends from the mountain (Niagara bfiing derived from two In- dian words signifying "coming from above," or " from a mountain,") may raise fears, which, however, become dissipated on further acquaintance. The hotel, and 400 acres of ground, have been lately purchased by a company (of which, I believe, the Brit- ish Consul at New York is the head,) who purpose found- ing a city, which is to be commenced immediately, un- der the name of the "City of the Falls," or "Clifton" — I forget which. The hotel, which is to be pulled down, may be well spared, without loss in any respect. It was not only a dirty and uncomfortable place, but I felt my English blood almost boil in my veins when I found A subaltern's furlough. 37 myself sitting in company with two servant women at the table d'hote, at the same time that their mistress oc- cupied a place at the other end of the table. I could have very well accommodated myself to such neighbours in the States, but never expected to have found the level- ling system introduced into the British provinces to such an extent. After being exposed to it during every meal for three days, I crossed the river to dine at the Ameri- can village, where the hotel was much more comfortable, and kept by no less a personage than a general. This, however, was no novelty ; for in such a nursery for mi- litias, volunteers, and citizen guardsmen, as the States, a man need not think himself in the shghtest degree hon- oured by being waited upon by a general officer. The company of speculators intend erecting grist-mills, store-houses, saw-mills, and all other kinds of unorna- mental buildings, entertaining the most sanguine hopes of living to see a very populous city. The die then is cast, and the beautiful scenery about the Falls is doomed to be destroyed. Year after year will it become less and less attractive. Even at this time they were surveying and allotting, and proprietors were planning one front of their house upon the Falls, the other upon Lundy's Lane, and meditating the levelling some of the rock, so as to form a pretty little flower-garden. It would not much surprise me to hear, before many years have elaps- ed, that a suspension bridge has been thrown across the grand Horse-shoe to Goat Island, so that the good peo- ple of Clifton may be the better enabled to watch the pyramidical bubbles of air rising from the foot of the ca- taract. 'Tis is a pity that such a ground was not re- served as sacred in perpetuum ; that the forest trees were not allowed to luxuriate in all their wild and savage beauty about a spot where the works of man v/ill ever appear paltry, and can never be in accorda,nce. For my own part, most sincerely do I congratulate myself upon having viewed the scene before such profanation had taken place. The small manufacturing town of Man- chester (what a romantic name and what associations!) upon the American Bank, at present detracts nothing from the charm of the place, the neat white-washed VOL. II. D. 36 A subaltern's furlough. houses being interspersed with trees and gardens ; but when once the red and yellow painted stores, with their green Venetian blinds, tin roofs, and huge smoking chim- neys arise, farewell to a great portion of the attraction Niagara now possesses. A ferry-boat, half a mile below the Canadian Fall, crosses to Manchester, landing the passengers within fifty yards of the American one, where the water is precipitated over a flat perpendicular rock 300 yards in breadth. The prosperity of this village has been much retarded by two causes, one from its liabiHty to destruc- tion, being a frontier settlement ; and the other — by no means an uncommon cause in the United States, — the extravagant price demanded by an individual, the great proprietor, for a grant of the water privileges allowed by the Rapids. Two or three hundred yards from the bank above the Ferry, and at the entrance to the village, a wooden bridge has been thrown over the Rapids to a small island on which there is a paper mill, and con- nected with Goat Island, which is of considerable extent, and divides the two falls. Truly the men who were employed in the erection of this bridge must have been in full possession of Horace's cds triplex, for a more pe- rilous situation could scarcely be imagined. A slip of a workman's foot would precipitate him into the Rapids, whence he would pass with the rapidity of lightning over the Falls. It was constructed at the expense of General Porter, an American officer of distinction, during the late war, and- appears strong and firmly situated. The piers, are of loose stones, confined together by a wooden frame or box, and the floor of planks twelve feet in width. — There was one erected previously at the upper end of the island, and out of the great power of the Rapids, but it was continually subject to injury from the drift-ice, whereas in its present situation the Rapids render the ice harmless, by breaking it before it arrives so low as the bridge. Goat Island is thickly covered with trees ; but a road has been formed round it, and across it, to a position on the opposite side, from which the Canadian Fall is seen to great advantage. Another platform (for it can scarcely be called a bridge) has been constructed A subaltern's furlough. 39 upon some detached masses of stone, called the Terrapin Rocks, which extend into the stream nearly 300 feet, and to the very verge of the cataract. The platform projects 12 or 15 feet beyond the last rock, so that a per- son standing at the end can look down into the foaming abyss. The situation apparently is not a very secure one, for the end is utterly unsupported, being merely up- held by the superior weight of the timber upon the last natural pier. A large party of us walked to the outer extremity ; but observing upon what a slight thread we were trusting ourselves, and the idea of the stage being overbalanced by our weight, and launching us all into the cataract and the next world, occurring to our minds, we soon retreated to a more secure position. It has been estimated that upwards of 100,000,000 of tons of water pass the Falls in an hour, of which at least two-thirds fall over the Horse-shoe. The centre of this Fall is particularly grand, the water falling in so thick a body that it descends nearly 50 feet in an unbroken sheet of the most vivid green. At the upper edge, where it begins to descend, the dark thin ledge of rock over which it is precipitated is distinctly visible, and gives the water in that part a beautiful and deep blue tinge. The noise of the Falls is not near so stunning or so loud as the descent of so large a quantity of water might be sup- posed to produce. Some writer (Captain Hall, I believe) has compared it to that of the surf at Madras ; the simi- larity of sound struck me, but I thought the roar of the waves breaking upon the sandy beach, even in mod- erate weather, much greater than that of Niagara. 1 have heard the former in calm evenings at the canton- ment of Poonamallee, a distance of fourteen miles ; but the latter was very indistinct at nine or ten. My bed- room at the hotel was only 400 yards distant from the river, and I thought the noise of the Falls, at night, much resembled that of boisterous and windy weather, and just sufficient for producing a most soporific effect upon me. Frequently I sat down upon the banks of the stream with my eyes closed, racking my brain in vain to discover what the sound of the cataract did really resemble. — When the wind was blowing from the Falls towards me 40 A subaltern's furlough. at the distance of two miles, it was like that of a vast quantity of flour-mills at work, or large manufactories in the immediate vicinity. And then it appeared as if nu- merous carriages were driving at a furious rate along the road, and more than once I started up on my feet to ascertain who were coming. At times the noise would rise and fall as if the water were aflfected by some gust of wind or a heavy swell; the next moment the sound of machinery, and again the surf at Madras, would appear before me, and not unfrequentjy it would resemble the sound of a common waterfall, with which, probably, every one is well acquainted, but which almost any one would find it difficult to describe. Although Patch, of fall-leaping celebrity, has generally the credit of leaping these Falls, he is entitled only to that of having descended from a platform at an elevation of 120 feet near the stair- case upon Goat Island into a backwater of the river. There is a spring under the bank, within a few feet of the edge of the Rapids a mile above the Falls, the water of which emits gas in such quantity as to flame out to the height of three feet when a light is applied. A small wooden building has been erected over it, and, upon opening the door, there is a powerful rush of air, not- very agreeable to the nasal organs of the visitor. The water boils up out of the ground into a barrel, where there is a tube eighteen inches in length, to the end of which the light is applied. The boy who makes a live- lihood by showing it took the barrel up afterwards, to prove that no deceit was practised, and tried the experi- ment upon the water, which burned for half a minute and then expired. The same kind of springs are very com- mon along the small lakes and near the village of Canan- daigua in the State of New York. Being bent upon seeing all the lions at Niagara, we enquired what next was worth seeing, and, hearing of a place having the awful designation of the Devil's Hole, we procured a guide, and after a hot walk of a mile and a half arrived at a turn of the river. By dint of hard scrambling, and lowering ourselves by the roots of trees, we succeeded in gaining the foot of the steep bank, when we stood before this modern entrance into Pluto's domi. A subaltern's furlough. 41 nions, expecting that we should find an equal to the far. famed one in the Peak of Derbyshire, — that we should be wafted over subterraneous rivers, be half, or probably wholly, stifled by the foul air, and encounter various dens of rattlesnakes, or receive the hug fraternal from a par- ty of bears. The guide, saying, " Follow me," crept forwards on his hands and knees into the dark and nar- row chasm, with the rest of the party close in his rear. After proceeding for a few feet, we were brought to a dead halt, and found ourselves in a small cave of about 20 feet square and 5 or 6 in height ; but in no part could any one of us stand upright. One of the party asked, in a melancholy tone, if that was all ; and, being answer- ed in the affirmative, we made up for the disappointment of not visiting the infernal regions by making the cave re-echo with our peals of laughter, and returned to the hotel, despatching half a dozen new sight-seekers to visit the Devil's Hole. The Field of Battle of Lundy's Lane is in the vicinity of a small village one mile from the Falls, and was the scene of the hardest contested action during the late war. A burial ground has been formed and a church is in meditation upon the rising eminence where the British artillery was posted, and where the bodies of those who fell were buried. The remaining portion of the field was purchased after the conclusion of the peace by an officer who was present in the action, and who now re- sides there. The whole of this part of the frontier is a fine and fer- tile country ; but, owing to its long settlement and sad mismanagement, the soil has become nearly exhausted. I did not see any part of America which 1 should prefer as a residence to that which lies between Lakes Erie and Ontario. It is much sought after by retired officers, and the better class of emigrants. The majority of the com- pany at the hotel during my stay there consisted of families lately arrived, who were making purchases in the vicinity. If the settler seek society, he may meet a continued stream of his countrymen on their pilgrimage to the most stupendous natural curiosity in the world ; and, if he wish retirement, he may have it in perfection, 42 A subaltern's furlough. for the attention of all travellers is so entirely engrossed by the one grand object, that they trouble not them- selves with making visits, or intruding upon those who have settled down within hearing of the roar of the ca- taract. Every one with whom I had previously conversed upon the subject most carefully impressed upon me that I should be disappointed with the Falls. Like a good philosopher, therefore, I had prepared myself to meet the disappointment with calmness and resignation, recalling to my mind all the penny prints I had seen in my child- hood, representing the pine tops, the bare rocks with a solitary goat or an Indian perched upon a promontory, and a smooth sheet of water rolling over the side of the said rock. The result was that I gazed upon them hour after hour, in the bright glare of the noon-day sun, the soft light of the moon, the sombre haze of the storm, the mild and lovely serenity of a summer's eve, with re- newed and increasing admiration. I condemned those who had told me I should be disappointed as having no taste, and found fault with every living and dead author for not having sufficiently praised them. But I soon discovered that I could not succeed any better in descrip- tion than in delineation of the scenery upon which the full power of my poor pencil was in vain bestowed, and all my labour was lost in attempting to give a represen- tation which might impart to my friends some faint idea of the stupendous grandeur of the scene. The more a person gazes upon the Falls, the more he admires them. New beauties appear with every change of wind and every passing cloud. In a damp and calm atmosphere, when the spray ascends like a dense fog to the height of 500 or 600 feet, and mingles with the clouds, the scene diifers more than one who has not witnessed it can ima- gine, from the appearance on a clear, sun-shining, mid- day, when only a light mist rises and curls gracefully like the smoke of a distant hamlet, or as the sun verges towards the western horizon a beautiful rainbow is seen dancing in the spray, or when a strong breeze allows it to rise for a few feet above the upper level of the Fall, and then sweeps it along within a few feet of the earth, A subaltern's furlough. 43 it sprinkles the traveller, at the distance of half a mile, with a bounteous summer shower. My time was so limited that I could spare only four days for Niagara, during which time my eyes were scarcely fit for any other object but the Falls, and I part- ed from them with as much regret as if bidding farewell to an old friend, frequently turning round, when advanced many miles upon my journey, to gain a last glimpse of the light pillar of spray. " What an idea Mr. must have formed of them !" thought I, musing as I moved onwards. He was an old fellow-traveller I had met by chance at Buffalo, and, seeing him step into a coach after breakfast, 1 had the curiosity to ask him where he was bound to. " To the Falls," was his reply. " And how long do you intend staying there?"— "I shall return in the evening;" and verily I met him eight hours afterwards half way back to the hotel from which he had started. He had hurried down to Manchester, 14 miles distant, peeped at Goat Island, pulled across the Ferry, toiled up the zig-zag road, peered over Table Rock, and, throwing himself into another coach, hastened back by the Canada shore, and could now enjoy the satisfaction of telling his friends that he had seen the Falls, or use the laconic words of the Roman, " veni, vidi." An hour's drive brought us to Queenston Heights, upon which there is a monument of freestone 130 feet high, with the following inscription over the entrance door : — "Upper Canada has dedicated this monument to the memory of the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. C. B., Provisional Governor, and Commander of the Forces in the Province, whose remains are deposited in the vault beneath. Opposing the invading enemy, he fell in action, near these heights, on the 13th of October, 1812, in the 43d year of his age, revered and lamented by the people vehom he governed, and deplored by the sovereign to whose service his life had been devoted. 44 A subaltern's furlough. We obtained a fine view from the summit of forts George and Niagara, with the vast expanse of blue wa- ters of Lake Ontario, and York (the capital of Upper Canada) on its northern shore. Part of the scaffolding above the upper gallery has not yet been removed, it being intended to place some time or other a statue of Sir Isaac on the pedestal at the summit. The spot where he fell is near three poplar trees at the back of the vil- lage ; he was shot while leading on his troops to attack the Americans, of whom a small detachment had crossed the river during the night a short distance above the Ferry, and succeeded in ascending the heights, where, surprising the British sentry, they lay in ambush until the main body effected a landing opposite the village. The British army moving forward to attack the latter were warmly received, at the same time that their rear was gained by the party from the heights. In this attack the British commander fell, and with him the position, until the arrival of a reinforcement from Fort George, seven miles distant, under General Sheaffe, who attacked the enemy in their position on the heights so impetuously that the rear of a column was pressed by the front over the precipice to whose verge it had retired. Numbers met a terrible death by being dashed against the rocks, or, falling stunned into the river, 300 feet below, were lost among the eddies. The ferryman told me that some few gained the American shore by swimming, but those few must have been powerful men who could stem such a stream, divided as it is between its natural course and the backwater which runs up with nearly as much rapi- dity on the Canadian side as the stream flows towards the ocean on the American bank. The village of Queen- ston is a miserable-looking place, but previous to the conflagration in 1812 w^as of some importance ; the in- habitants, however, taking warning from their misfor- tunes during that period, removed to more distant parts of the province, where they might hope to retain more peaceable possession of their property. Lewiston, a mile from the Ferry, on the opposite side of the river, though not possessing so fine a situation, promises to become a flourishing village ; but presenting A subaltern's furlough. 45 no object of interest, excepting the remains of Fort Gray upon the river's bank, I recrossed the Niagara, and ar- rived by sunset at Newark, Fort George, or Niagara, (as it is severally called,) at the junction of the river with Lake Ontario. The first mentioned was the original name, but it was changed by law in 1798, and of late years has been more generally known as Fort George by the military and Niagara by the provincialists. As the Americans have a garrisoned fort of the latter name on the opposite bank, it creates much confusion and occa- sions frequent mistakes amongst travellers. Crossing the common, a crown reserve which is used as a race-course, my eyes were once again greeted with the sight of St. George's banner, and the athletic figure of a Flighland sentinel, pacing to and fro on the broken ramparts of a fort near the entrance to the town. A few minutes brought us to the best hotel, where, though the landlord used his utmost endeavours by civility and attention to render us comfortable, yet still I could not resist drawing secret and inward comparisons between the American and Canadian hotels — comparisons, indeed, which were far from favourable to the latter ; and I began to find my British prejudices in favour of the infaUibility of every thing Canadian already wavering. The town occupies a pretty situation on the margin, and about twenty feet higher than the lake, which has so much encroached upon it by the waves undermining the banks, that batteries which were thrown up but a few years since, as near as possible to the margin of the wa- ter, for the laudable purpose of annoying the enemy's fort on the opposite peninsula, have now nearly disap- peared. The common above the town is intersected with the breast- works and redoubts of the English and Ameri- cans, as each party alternately had possession. The most extensive of them, dignified with the appellation of Fort George, contains some low wooden decayed bar- racks; and another below the town, in a still more mouldering state, is named Fort Mississagua, from a tribe of Indians, the original possessors of the tract of country between it and Fort Erie, thirty miles distant. These works, which are now rapidly crumbling into dust, and 46 A subaltern's furlough. possess but the shadow of their former greatness, might with some trifling expense be again rendered formidable. At the present time they are only put to shame by the neat, white appearance of the American fort Niagara, which being built exactly opposite the English town, and not 800 yards distant, might annoy it by a very effective bombardment. During the late war it was rendered al- most useless, being surprised by Colonel Murray during the night, when the olficer in command of the garrison had retired to his private residence two miles distant, and the royal salute fired for the capture first conveyed to him the news of the loss of his post. It was built by the French so far back as 1725, passed into the hands of the British by the conquest of Canada in 1759, was ceded by treaty to the United States in 1794, and restored to them after the peace of 1814. A long spit or bar of sand, running out from it into the lake, compels vessels bound up the river to pass under the guns of Fort Mississagua, which completely commands the entrance. The following day being Sunday, I attended service at the Scotch and English churches. As the former had been commenced from the foundation within only a few months, the interior was in a very unfinished state ; but the congregation was large, and I was much struck with the fine soldier-Hke appearance of two companies of the 79th Highlanders, who attended in their full costume. There having been a death by cholera in the hotel during the night, I was anxious to leave the town imme- diately ; but, no public conveyance travelling on the Sabbath, I was necessarily detained until mid-day on the Monday, when embarking in a steamer I crossed the Lake, and in five hours entered the harbour of York, the capital of Upper Canada. A subaltern's furlnugh. 47 CHAPTER IV. From this place the navigation down the river St. Lawrence was rendered extremely difficult and dangerous, by a great num- ber of violent riffs or rapids, and falls, among which he lost above fourscore men, forty-six batteaux, seventeen whale-boats, one row galley, with some artillery, stores, and ammunition. Smollett. The old Indian name of York was Toronto, and it was so called from the circular bay upon whose margin the town is built ; but the same rage and bad taste for moder- nizing the names of places has spread over the Canadas as in the United States. The first objects which meet the eye upon approaching the bay are the miserable bar- racks and mud fort upon the left, Gibraltar Point and Light-house on the right, and the large building of the new Parliament House in the town, about a mile distant from the fort, in front. The town, containing between 8000 and 9000 inhabitants, is situated on low ground, which rises gradually as it recedes from the lake, but at- tains no great elevation. The streets are straggling and ill paved, but the greater proportion of the private houses and shops are of good substantial masonry. The public buildings, with the exception of Government-house, which in point of external appearance is little superior to a cot- tage, are plain and excellent, and the English church, when completed, will be a tasteful and ornamental struc- ture, The new Parliament House a spacious brick building, was in an unfinished state, and had been appro- priated for the purposes of an hospital during the preva- lence of the cholera, of which cases were daily landing from every vessel that brought emigrants from Montreal. It was truly melancholy to see some of the wretched objects who arrived ; they had left England, having expended what little money they possessed in laying in a stock of provisions for the voyage and payment of their passage across the Atlantic, expecting to obtain work immediately they landed in Lower Canada. Being de- 48 A subaltern's furlough. ceived in these prospects, they became a burden upon the inhabitants of Quebec, or the provincial government. Forty-five thousand emigrants of all classes landed in that city during the first three months of the season, and the fate of many of them was miserable in the extreme. Nearly every headland of the St. Lawrence was occu- pied by an hospital, tenanted by numerous sufferers. Those who had some small funds, and intended settling in the lands belonging to the Canada Company, were forwarded to the Upper Country in the following manner. The emigrant who purchased not less than 200 acres in the scattered Crown Reserves, or 100 acres in the Huron Tract, received a passage to the head of Lake Ontario, upon depositing with the Company's agent at Quebec a sum of money equal to the price of his conveyance to the head of the Lake. After he had fixed upon his land, he showed the receipt for his forwarding-money to the Company's agent at York, and it was taken in pc^rt pay- ment of his second instalment, the Compan)'^ allowing the purchasers of their lands to pay by six instalments in five years, and giving them a right to occupy the lots after payment of the first instalment. The situation of York is far from an inviting one, the inhabitants being subject during certain seasons to the fever and ague, caused by the marshy ground which lies close to the town and around the head of the bay. It is almost to be regretted that a better site could not have been chosen for the capital of an increasing country. Though a more central position than Kingston at the foot of the lake, yet in no other respect does it equal it. The bay is too shallow to admit vessels of even moderate bur- den, and in time of war it is always exposed to the incur- sions of American gun-boats, and the town subject to be sacked, as in 1813. Some years since it was proposed that the capital of Upper Canada should be on the bor- ders of Lake Simcoe, and a water communication be opened with Montreal by means of the shallow lakes and Rideau Canal ; but I believe all thoughts of removing the seat of Government from York are now entirely laid aside. The land in the immediate vicinity is poor and cold, but becomes more fertile as the distance from the A subaltern's furlough. i9 ^iake increases, and good farms are abundant towards LakeSimcoe, and on the sides of the road called Young- street. The place is however only in its infancy as yet, and said to be increasing rapidly, though the compari- sons between it and Buffalo, the last American town I had seen, and of a very few years' growth, were much in favour of the latter. There are no places of public amusement, and the chief diversion for the young meii appeared to consist in shooting musquito' hawks, which hovered plentifully about the streets and upon the mar- gin of the bay in an evening. Upon these occasions the sportsmen made their appearance, equipped in shooting jackets, and attended by their dogs, as if prepared for a 12th of August on the rnoors of Scotland. O I found nothing here to make a longer stay than three days desirable, and was on the point of proceeding to Burlington Bay, for the purpose of seeing the head of the lake, and visiting Brandt, the celebrated chief of the Six Nations of Indians, who possess a large reservo^ion there, when an officer, who had just arrived from Brandtford, informed me he had seen a man dying of cholera in the chief's house the pi'eceding day.* Being in a bad state of health myself at this time, and uncertain of obtaining medical assistance there if required, in company with a friend I embarked in a steamer, and arrived at Kingston the following morning, after an unpleasant voyage of twenty hours, over a short, dancing sea, which I found by far more disagreeable than the long swell of the At- lantic. The town and uncomfortable inns were crowded Uj excess, owing to the assizes and the Bishop's visitation occurring together ; nor was it without great difficulty that we succeeded in obtaining a sleeping apartment upon the ground floor of the principal hotel. Justice appeared to be distributed and the representatives of the law to be * Brandt (or Tekanehogan, as he was sometimes called) wa« carried off by the same disease a few days after I left York. He liad distinguished himself upori several occasions during the last war with the United States, and was a poHshcd, well-informed man. His habits were those of a Enropean, and, in his earlier days, he had resided for some time in England. His fathef's name has been immortalized in " Gertrude of Wyoming." Vol. II. — E 50 A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. attired in the same plain and simple manner as in the States. We saw the sheriif dressed in plain clothes, hnt with a cocked-hat, queue, and sword, walking through the streets to the court-house, with a judge, undistinguish- ed by dress, upon either side of him. The town, Avhich contains about 5000 inhabitants, lies upon the margin of an arm of the lake, with the navy- yard upon the opposite peninsula, formed by this inlet, and the entrance to the Lake of the Thousand Isles. By the Indians, an old encampment which they had upon the spot w^here the town now stands w^as called Catarakwi. When the French became lords of the soil, they erected a fort, and named it Frontenac, in honour of the Governor of Canada, and both Avere in turn ousted by the English; and Kingston, during the late w^ar, being the great naval dep6t for the fleets upon the lakes, it was a busy flourish- ing place, but declined with the peace. It may now, however, experience a re-action from the Rideau Canal communicating with the lake here, and be again restored to its former prosperity. This canal continues up the in- let of the Bay until it reaches the first locks at the mills, live miles distant : the masonry and the whole workman- ship connected with them are much superior to those upon the Erie or Chesapeake and Ohio Canals. The total number of locks between Kingston and Bytown, upon the Ottowa River, 136 miles distant, is 47; their length about 140, breadth 33, and depth 16 or 17 feet. Dams, upon a very extensive scale, have been had re- course to throughout the line of canal, instead of excava- tions as in England. Where such works have been thrown across marshes, or the Rideau River, in order to swell the Rapids, and form a navigable stream, so vast an extent of stagnant water (in one place 10,000 acres) has been created as to render the settlements in the vici- nity exceedingly unhealthy. I saw many of the work- men at the mills who were perfectly helpless from the marsh fever they had caught. These large inundations, however, in a few years will destroy the drowned forests, and a quantity of valuable land may then be reclaimed by small embankments. The whole work was completed at an expense to the Imperial Government of 700,000?. A SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH. 51 Ie the event of war with our neighbours, it will be found invaluable for the transportation of military stores and troops from the lower to the upper province, without be- ing subject as heretofore to captures from the American force upon the St. Lawrence, or to running the gauntlet of the batteries upon their bank of the river. Like the Erie, in the State of New- York, it will also encourage settlers along the vv'hole line, as an outlet is now opened for the produce of their farms. Two steamers were at this time continually running between the Ottawa and Ontario, and the traffic of heavy boats also appeared con- siderable. Several large hulks of vessels of war, built during the last war to cope with those of the Americans on the stocks atSackett'sHarbour, and which were never launched, are now fast falling to decay in the Navy-yard at Kingston, A seventy-four had been sold two or three months pre- viousij^ for 25/., and a few daj-s before our arrival a hea^'y squall of rain, accompanied by lightning, had split the St. Lawrence, of 120 guns, down the centre, and, the props giving way, the vessel broke into a thousand pieces, co- vering the ground all around with a heap of ruins. Ere long the remaining four or five frames will meet with a similar fate, as they are in a very advanced state of decay, partly OAving to the want of proper care, and being run up hurriedly and of unseasoned timber. There is also the Commodore's House (his flag, by the bye, was at this time flying on a cutter stationed in front of this squadron of hulks,) and some fine marine barracks in the Navy- yard. The ground rises abruptly in rear of them, and forms a shelter to the capacious bay in front of thetoAvn. On the summit of this elevated land a fort of consider- able extent was repairing; it occupies an excellent posi- tion for defending the entrance to the harbour and the narrows of the St. Lawrence. The new Barracks in the town are also fine substantial buildings enclosed by a loop-holed wall, and erected at the opposite extremity of the bridge to the marine barrack. The land in the vicinity of Kingston is rocky, and in favourable seasons makes but a poor return to the farmer; there was even on the 25th of August, the morning upon which we quitted the town, so severe a frost as to cu^ 52 A SUBALTERNS FURLOUGH. down many of the vegetables. Grand Island, 24 miles in. ienofth. extends from Kino-ston to the villao-e of French- town, where the lake of the Thousand Isles commences'. These isles are of every intermediate size, from a small barren rock three yards in diameter, with a solitary pine growing out of a cleft in it, to one of seven miles in length partially covered w4th a cold soil. Although the scenery in those parts where the river from being contracted amongst the islands for some distance suddenly expands again into a broad lake, is rather pretty, yet generally it is very tame and uninteresting, the banks being low and thickly covered with pine, and bearing scarcely any symptoms of civilization. Brockville', upon the English bank, 50 miles from Kingston, is the prettiest town and situation I saw in Upper Canada. It is on the side of a hill, rising gradually from the St. Lawrence, with the Court-house and three churches on the summit, and the principal street running parallel with the water orna- mented with a fine row of trees. The country on the bank below the town becomes better cleared and culti- vated, with pretty hamlets and farm-houses, which are well opposed to the dense dark forests on the American shore. Wearriv^ed at Prescott, 72 miles from Kingston, early in the evening; but the inn was in so dirty a state, and the whole town presented such an uninviting aspect, that we were induced, in spite of the necessity of subjecting o\ir baggage to the scrutiny of a custom-house officer, to cross the river to Ogdensburgh, immediately opposite, in f.he State of Nevv'-York, where we found a comfortable hotel. This town, which much differs in cleanliness of appearance from its Canadian neighbour, contains about • 1200 inhabitants, and is situated at the mouth of the dark taarshy waters of the Oswegatche, which, flowing from the Black Lake, eight miles distant, unites here with the deep blue St. Lawrence. The remains of the barracks, originally built by the French, and occupied by the Bri- tish prior to the cession of the town in 1793, but burnt in the subsequent war, are seen on the point of land formed by the junction of the two streams. Prescott contains from 800 to 1000 inhabitants; and A subaltern's furlough. 53 being the head of the small craft navigation from Mon- treal, and the foot of the sloop and steam navigation with Lake Ontario, much business is carried on in the for- warding of goods and travellers, and a vast deal more in the smuggling line. Endless are the disputes and broils on account of the seizure of a steam-boat which plies between the two towns every ten minutes for the convenience of passengers, who are not unfrequently well supplied with contraband goods. Broad cloths and English goods of every description being much cheaper in the Canadas than in the United States, the summer shoal of Yankee travellers unite pleasure and business in their tour to see the Falls of Niagara and the fortifi- cations at Quebec, by ordering their stock of apparel for the year at Montreal, thus evading the frontier duty. Many of the mercantile houses in Prescott and Ogdens- burq-h are connected. I had some conversation with a storekeeper who sat next to me at the table d'hote m the latter town, and, walking into a warehouse in Prescott the following day, found him busily employed there. He said he had another establishment on the opposite side of the river. Fort Wellington, a mud redoubt of considerable strength, is half a mile below Prescott. There is a larofe and strons: block-house in the interior, but the bomb-proof barracks have fallen m under the great pres- sure of earth upon the timber roofs. During the time the last war was so unpopular, in certain parts of the United States, that meetings of a favourable tendency to the British took place in many of the principal towns, a numerous party of the inhabitants assembled at Ogdens- burgh for the purpose of drawing up a remonstrance against the proceedings of the American government. The force in Fort Wellington, not aware of the circum- stances of the case, and observing a large crowd assem- bled about, a house in which the meeting was held, fired two or three shot amongst the traitorous orators, who speedily dispersed, postponing their discussions upon the subject sine die. The weather had now begun to be rather chilly, and we passed the evenings in sitting with our host, who was E* 54 A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. an original in his way over the wood fire. He was a oative of one of the New England States, and migrated early in life, as one half of the young men do in that part of the country. "As soon as he knew the points of the compass," to use his own expression, he " cleared out from his native village, and bore off to the westward to pioneer his way through the woods." Chance brought him to the banks of the St. Lawrence, where, finding there was an opening, he established a tavern,., and realized a small fortune. After the lapse of some years, he revisited tl)e place of his birth ; but the appearance of every thing hud clianged. Scarcely any one knew him ; all his old S'lijioolfellows, with the exception of one in each family, " to look after the old folk," had gone ofl" into the Ohio country, and, in two hours, having satisfied the curiosity of every one, he determined upon returning to his old liaunts. My friend putting several questions to him re- specting elections for president, senators, and state repre- rsentatives, for two good hours " by Shrewsbury clock" did he hold forth upon the constitution. My head was .•sj.il) running upon what he had said about Fort Welling- ton so uncivilly dispersing the meeting at which he was prci^ent, and the French barracks at the mouth of the (>8wegatche. Once or twice I made an attempt to gain Home more information upon the subject, as being more It) my way, but all m.y efforts at putting in a word and changing the subject, when the old man stopped to take Irreath or cough, were received with " Stop a bit — I'll tell you — I a'int got through yet;" and, truly, at last I began to despair of his ever getting through. My friend's at- tention to his lecture, and the compliments he paid the old gentleman, so warmed his heart that he produced some beer (a most vile composition,) than which, he said '• there was not better in the old country." 1 tasted it ; and my friend, imprudently recommending it, could not escape without finishing the tankard, mine host encour- aging him the while, with "a'int it good? — you a'int finished it yet." After a detention of two days we succeeded in meeting with a bateau, which was proceeding down the St. Law- rence, a mode of travelling we considered preferable to a A subaltern's furlough 55 heavy coach over a bad road. The boat had arrived the preceding evening at Prescott with fifty Irish emigrants, after a passage of 8| days from Montreal, and was re- turning with a cargo of 100 barrels of floar from the Cleveland mills in Ohio, which, after payment of a duty of one dollar per barrel, at the Coteau du Lac, where it crosses the frontier, is rated as Canadian flour, and finds its way to England in British vessels. The bateau was a strong-built craft, from 40 to 45 feet in length and 7 or 8 in width, and being heavily laden, so much preparation was made by nailinsf skirtinof-boards round the bulwarks to prevent the spray damaging the cargo that I imagined we had embarked upon rather a dangerous undertaking. We set sail, however, with a fine, ten-knot, westerly breeze, aud dashed through the water at a spanking rate. The crew consisted of four men to work the oars, when their use was required in a head wind, and a captain or steersman, who guided the boat with a long and broad scull They were all French Canadians, lively as usual and polite in their attentions. Though good sailors and navigators, they are but clumsy seamen in fresh water even, and in making sail, which consisted of a main- sail only, with the foot of it stretched along a boom, a haul-yard or rope of some description becoming jammed in the block, our captain lay out upon the yard-arm to set it free. His rig differed much from our notions of what a Jack Tar's dress should be, being a brown frock-coat which reached to his knees, coarse gray trowsers, a rusty old hat upon his head and his feet en- eased in a pair of Indian mocassins. The whole com- plement of navigators, captain included, were longer in setting our solitary piece of canvass than it would have occupied the crew in reefing topsails on board of a man- of-war Our steersman bore the character of being the steadiest and most able pilot upon the river, having been accustomed to the navigation of it for twenty years. He took the vessel down the first Rapid with sail set, which is considered rather an unusual thing, and so very slight was the inclination of the water that we began to think, if such were the far-famed Rapids of the St. Law- rence, that the whole affair was a complete bugbear. 5(5 A subaltern's furlough. Passing sufficiently close to Crysler's farm on the left bank to see the riddled gable ends of the cottages, and the extent of the position where the American army were re- pulsed in November, 1814, when on their march to Mon- treal, we approached the Rapids of the Long Sault. Our sail was stowed snugly away some time before we came in sight of the white breakers, and, as soon as the bateau dashed into the heavy swell, it evidently became a dif- ficult matter to guide it. The steersman had laid his hat upon the deck, and his lips moved as he muttered a prayer to some favourite saint, whilst every nerve was strained in the guidance of his helm, as if the slightest deviation from a narrow track Avould subject us all to destruction. Upon the summit of every wave, the boat gave a bound forwards ; the centre of it yielding to the shock, rose and fell with the motion of the waves, and, when it entered an eddy at a bend in the river, the full power of th e oars was required to prevent it broaching to, when we, should have inevitably been lost. The descent on the Ca- nadian side of the river cannot be made, excepting for rafts of timber, and the only channel is by the terms of the treaty thrown entirely into the hands of the Americans, the is- lands being divided, b}^ each power taking the alternate one ; the island in this place lies between the Channel and the British shore. With an unskilful or timid pilot, the descent of the Rapids would be a perilous undertaking as any chance of safety by swimming would be hopeless; and for real pleasure one descent is quite sufficient. If I were ever to travel down the course of the St. Lawrence again, I should take the land conveyance from Prescott to Cornwall, though I never enjoyed myself more than during the five hours I was on board the bateau this day, and we outstripped the coach two hours and a half in the journey of fifty miles. We saw a steam-vessel which was off the stocks, and nearly completed, at Prescott, for the purpose of running down the smaller Rapids, and constructed upon a novel principle. The vessel was of grea! ength and extremely narrow in the beam, with six long cylindrical boilers, and the paddles astern, on the supposition that in ascending the stream they will propel the vessel quicker th.an paddies on the sides, which might A SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH. 57 retard its progress, by being opposed to the full power of the current. Four rudders were placed equi-distant on the stern, so as to give the steersman more command over the vessel in the violent eddies ; and, if the experiment answered in the smaller Rapids, it was intended to attempt* the passage of the Long Sault. While strolling about at Cornwall, which lies a little inland, we by chance fell in with a well-dressed Irishman of the farming class, who had been in the country only- two years. When he landed (to use his own words,) " he had not a tenpenny to bless himself with," but hired him- self out as a labourer at eight dollars per month ; and as. the winter set in, being an athletic man, he soon became an expert lumberer, and earned from fifteen to twenty dollars in the woods, in felling timber upon the Crown lands. He had, by being frugal and temperate, managed to lay by so much money that he had now purchased a farm of 150 acres, near Williamstown, some miles in the interior, with an agreement that the whole of the pur- chase-money should be paid in two years. He was like all Canadian farmers, very independent, in one sense of the word, being his own baker, butcher, tallow-chandler, cider-brewer, sugar-boiler, soap-maker, and, in short a f omplete jack of all trades. I never met a man so de- lighted with his prospects : and he seemingly attributed all his good fortune to not having been encumbered with a wife and family when he was in less prosperous circumstances. After passing a most miserable night, tossing about in a heated room, and disturbed by the whipping and scream- ing of children, and the scolding of mothers, we embarked on the morning ofthe 28th of August on board a steamer, at that most uncomfortable of all hours a-board a ship, — live o'clock, when the passengers are all asleep in the cabin, the crew are washing and swabbing the decks, and a thick cold mist rises from the surface of thewater. The boundary line between the British territories and the United States runs on the verge of the village of St. Regis, where the Irroquois tribe of Indians have a large settle- ment, a few miles below Cornwall, and just within the Canadian frontier. Their priest, a French Canadian, 58 A subaltern's furlough. came on board, and accompanied us to Montreal : he was a sensible, well-informed man, and told us, in the course o( conversation, that he was a native of Quebec, and had never been out of the Provinces, though he intended visit- ing Europe the ensuing season. His whole tribe, 800 in number, were Catholics, and, with the exception of 70 or SO, much addicted to drink, their mode of life (being employed in the arduous work of transporting goods up the river to Prescott) rather encouraging their natural inclination for spirituous liquors. The cholera had been raging amongst them violently, eighty of the tribe having died in a very short space of time, the priest performing the duties of surgeon in addition to his own. He was evidently a worthy man and much esteemed by the tribe ; all the Indians we met upon the road, and even in the streets of Montreal, sixty miles distant, saluted him by touching their hats and smiling with pleasure when they saw him. Throughout the country every one spoke in high terms of the exemplary conduct of the priests during the prevalence of the disease. The Irroquois have a Second village at St. Louis, of five hundred inhabitants, within a few miles of Montreal, and there is a third of four hundred farther down the St. Lawrence. We were informed by the priest that daring the war of 1812, and the two ensuinof years, the tribe took an oath at the altar, before entering the field, that they would not commit any cruelties upon their prisoners, nor even scalp their enemies when dead, and that in no single instance was this sacred pledge broken. They had bestowed one of their significant, fine-sounding names upon him, the pronunciation of which I in vain attempted to learn, but the interpretation of it was, " The man who carries the work :" that of his predecessor in the pastoral duties had been "the rising moon," from his eyes being generally fixed upon the heavens. At the village of Coreau du Lac, at the lower extremity of Lake St. Francis, we took coaches through a flat but well-cleared country, with a continued street of French settlers' houses on the road side. At the Coteau Rapids there is a fort of considerable extent; and a few miles further are the Cedars, the prettiest Rapids on the St, A subaltern's furlough. 59 Lawrence, where a detachment of General Amherst^ s army was lost through the imskilfulness of the pilots, when moving down to the attack of Montreal in 1760. A canal is now excavating for the purpose of avoiding these Rapids, which are more dangerous than any of the others, the water being shallower. As we passed them the wreck of a bateau w^as visible above the surface. At a point of land below the Cedars we again embarked in a steamer, and, proceeding through Lake St. Clair, passed a fort erected during the late war by a Convent at Mon-j treal in a spirit of loyalty. It appeared to be kept in ex- cellent repair, and formed a pretty object upon a head- land of the smooth lake. A cross erected on its summit betokened its present unwarlike occupation, and accord- ingly we found it now the residence of nuns. At the village of Lachine, on the island of Montreal, we again landed, and took coaches through a densely- populated country, and on that account more closely re- semxbiing Europe than any district I had seen in Ame- rica. The suburbs Of Montreal are muck like those of a French town, and crowded with small taverns with seats and trees in front of them. Signs are suspended across the street, upon Avhich all the good things that may be obtained within the house are recounted, and inscriptions in both languages attract the traveller. One or two dis- pensers of cafe and eau-de-vie have soared higher than their neighbours, and posted up some such couplet as the following : — " Belfast Hotel, Good morning, friends — Come in and rest — there's yet a chair, As you can have refreshment here." The city, when viewed from the low range of hills upon which the road is formed, has much the appearance of a European town The approach to it from Lachine, nine miles distant, is exceedingly fine, the city being backed by the broad St. Lawrence and a bold mountain- ous country ; but, upon entering it, we passed through such narrow and filthy streets, that it seemed to me suf- ficient to account for the dreadful mortality which had 60 A subaltern's furlough. taken place from the cholera. Every seventh person had been cut oif in the course of a few weeks, and every one seen in the streets showed by his dress that he was mourning the loss of a relative or a friend. At the time the disease was raging* with the greatest violence, there being from 170 to 200 deaths daily, out of a population of 32,000, a stranger entered the city, in his appearance almost resembling an Indian Faquir. His beard had been unshorn for weeks ; his attire was tattered, and but little better than that of a common mendicant. He carried several small cases suspended from his neck, containing hog's lard, maple sugar, and charcoal, with which he proclaimed he would check the fury of the disease, and exposed himself wherever his assistance was required without receiving any remuneration. Many of the people looked upon him as being deranged, and held him up to ridicule; but others, who had seen whole families of their dearest friends swept off in a single day, were anxious to catch at any thing which bore even a most distant chance of cure along with it. Whether from having" faith in these his simple medicines, or that they actually had some effect, I know not, but they grew so into repute that, when I arrived at Montreal, the " Charcoal Doctor,"' (as he was called) was esteemed by some as no less than their guardian angel. I saw a long letter addressed to him, signed by nearly 200 people whom he had attended, and who did not hesitate to say that they considered him as sent by Divine Power to their assistance. He was now residing in an eminent practitioner's house, and still attended persons without making any charge for his ser- vices, only whoever required them paid for the hire of a carriage, his practice being too extensive for a pedestrian. I never could ascertain, nor could any one, I believe. have informed me, whence he came, who he was, or any thing about his previous life. There were, of course, ten thousand surmises, but the general opinion appeared to be that he was an American, from one of the New England States, and had been residing among the Indian tribes for many years, until accident had informed him of the dreadful pestilence raging in Montreal. A. subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER V. The death of General Wolfe was a national loss, universally la- mented. Brave above all estimation of danger, he was also gene- rous, gentle, complacent, and humane: the pattern of the officer, the darling of the soldier. Smollett. A death more glorious, and attended with circumstances more picturesque and interesting, is nowhere to be found the annals of history. Belsham. With less of good fortune, but not less of heroism, expired the equally gallant Montcalm. Marshall. The island upon which Montreal is built is about 32 miles in length and 7 in breadth, and formed at the junc- tion of the Ottawa, or Grand River, which divides the Upper from the Lower Province, and the St Lawrence. The black waters of the former river do not mix with those of the St. Lawrence even at the city, which is ten miles below the union of the two streams; but a distinct line or bouudery between their waters can be seen at a considerable distance. This circumstance gave rise to the old Indian saying of, " As soon shall the waters of the Ottawa mix with those of the St. Lawrence as the blood of the red man with that of the pale faces." The river in front of the city is nearly two miles wide, but the depth is only sufficient for brigs and ships of small burden, of which but a very fev/ lay in the stream at this time, though more mercantile business is transacted here than at Que- bec. A noble quay extends for some distance along the margin of the water, and, being constructed of good sub- stantial materials, is a great ornament to the city; it was only just completed, from the design of Captain Piper (I believe) of the Royal Engineers. The prettily wooded island of St. Helens, two miles in circumference, lies opposite the town. There is a srnall fort and barracks at its lower extremity, which must, how ever, have been constructed only for the purpose of dis- VOL. II. — F. I 62 A subaltern's furlough. puting" the passage of the St. Lawrence, as the rocks ris^ so closely behind some of the buildings, that a moderately active man might leap without much exertion on to their roofs, or a small party of riflemen might subject the gar- rison to great annoyance. It is the grand dep5t of artil- lery and military stores for Canada: and, judging from late circumstances, such an establishment is much re- quired. The 15th regiment of foot were encamped amongst the trees, having been withdrawn from their quarters in the city in consequence of the cholera having made such havoc in the ranks; and, though at this time only half a mile distant from their barracks, not a single case had occurred since their residence in the island. The mountain from which the city derives its name rises about 700 feet above the level of the river, and two miles in rear of Montreal. The summit and half way down its sides are covered with forest, but the base is oc- cupied by some neat houses, with gardens and ornameu* tal grounds. The city possesses some fine public buildings, of which the Catholic Cathedral is probably superior to any thing of the kind on the whole American Continent, or any- structure of the 19th century. The funds failed before it was completed; the tower, therefore, and some of the ex- terior ornamental work are unfinished. It is of dark gray stone, and built after the Gothic style of architecture. The dimensions of the interior are 255 by 130 feet, and it is capable of containing 12,000 people, there being two galleries on each side of it. The vaulted roof is support- ed by eighteen columns, stained in bad imitation of mar- ble, and, with great want of good taste, has been chequer- ed Avith alternate black and white stripes, which detract mucPi from its beauty. At the south end, there is a larger stained window, representing the ascension of our Sa- riour, but in my opinion executed in too gaudy a style to be pleasing: bright greens, and yellow, which are the predominant colours, neither have a good eflfect, nor do they throw a soft and mellowed shade over the body of the church. I was shown through the convent of Grey Nuns by a garrulous veteran of the 2yth regiment, who had joine:^ A subaltern's furlough. 63 his corps in Canada in 1785, and the Hospital in 1791, having lost his left leg by accident. His recoUeclions of England were indeed very faint; he had an indistinct idea that it was not so well wooded as America, that turnpike roads were more general, and that the population was rather thicker upon the ground, but nothing farther. He asked me if I was acquainted with Mr. Walter of Lon- don, and Mr. So-and-so of Liverpool ; and though by his own account he was a native of some village in Hertford- shire, 1 overheard him telling one of the nuns that he came from the same town as myself and was well ac- quainted with my family ! The Hospital or Convent (for it is known by both names) is situated between the St. Lawrence and a deep, dirty creek, over which a stone arch was erecting, so as to cover it in, the prevalence of the cholera having been partly attributed to the un- wholesome effluvia arising from it. It is a large, heavy pile of building, and has been much augmented of late years; the Chapel was also now enlarging by means of funds transmitted from France, and, when 1 entered it, the fat old superior and t\\ o of the sisters were planning im- provezTit'Dts, assisted by a host of carpenters and masons. All religions, sects, and nations, are alike admitted ; and but lately the representatives of nine diflfc rent nations were within its walls. Every room was ntat and clean, and the inmates appeared as comfortable and happy as infirm and aged people could be. Including from filty to sixty orphans, there were no fewer than SCO inmates, but a striking difTerence was cTpparent between the care and at- tention paid to the legitimate and illegitimate children, he were not on!}'' in separate rooms, but the former were ikr neater in their personal appearance, and bore evident symptoms of being better cared for than the others, who it would seem were supposed to have less powerful claims. A considerable income is derived from the sale of little fancy articles made by the nuns, of whom there are near- ly tliiity, and by the children, every visitor purchasing a few, for which he generally pays well without scruple, having been witness to the excellence and benefit of the institution. Though I visited it as early as half past 10 64 A subaltern's furlough. oVIock, I found old and young sitting down at well-co- vexed dinner tables. The Catholic is the prevailing religion in the city, and the Seigniory of the island is held by the clergy of that church, from which, with a heavy per centage upon ihe transfer by sale of all real estates, a large revenue is derived. Though so many English and Scotch reside in the city, the French language is very generally spoken, and but few of the natives of the lower class speak the English fluently. The shops are very excellent, and I never saw in one place so many for the sale of clothes, the entire street of Notre Dame being occupied by them. The Markethouse is not only a shalby, but a dirty build- ing; at the head of it is a monument erected to Nelson, about thirty feet in height, surmounted by his statue, with an inscription and relievos u; on the pedestal. Adjoining it is the Place d'Armes, alevel'ed platform on the side of the hill upon which the city stands. Its length is about 300 yards, and breadth 100, and is a fine promenade, but no ornamental buildings front upon it. One side over- looks some fields, and the others are formed by the rear of 4he gaol and some common private dwellings. The Ho- tels are excellent, and the British American, where I re- sided during my stay at Montreal is very comfortable ~-^in fact, the finest house for the accommodation of travel- lers in the Canadas. A person is there relieved from witnessing the disaoreeable habits socommon in the Unit- ed States; the habits indeed of the Provincialists differ but very little from those of the old country. At the time of our arrival, the Court of King's Bench liad opened, and the trial of two British officers (Colonel M'lntosh and Captaiti Temple o^'the 15th foot) was tak- ing place, for firing upon a mob during election riots in the month of May, by which three men (French Cana- dians) were killed and several Avounded. The coroner's jury could not agree upon any verdict, and bills were sub- mitted to the grand jury, charging the officers withmur-^ der. They were finally honourably acquitted, and re- ceived public thanks from the Governor-General for theit conduct during the election. There was indeed little doubt that, but for the praiseworthy conduct of the ma- A subaltern's furlough. 66 g-istrate who called the troops out upon that occasion, the city of Montreal would have been subject to similar scenes which have taken place elsewhere, when a mob has gain- ed the ascendancy. There appeared, I was sorry to see, a most violent ill-will existing between the French and English settlers, which was carried to an extraordinary pitch on the side of the former, who in their public meet- ino-s did not hesitate to accuse the British Government of sending a torrent of Protestant emigrants "to wrest their native country from them, and'' (to quote the lan- guage of one of their orators) "to obtain the disposal of a property which ought to serve as an outlet for the in- dustry of the Canadian youth, and as an asylum for their posterity." But he yet hoped "that they might preserye their nationality, and avoid these future calamities, by opposing a barrier to this torrent of emigration." A re- solution to the same intent was passed at a meeting held at St. Charles's, at which opulent and influential persons^ who had filled high and honourable posts in the colony, took a lead. The Montreal Herald, an able and well- conducted paper, in noticing the proceedings of this meet- ing, says of the above resolution, "This uneasiness about the uncultivated lands arises from the anxiety of a party (who have long lived upon the delusive dream of on© day reverting to France, or being able to revolutionize Canada) to arrest emigration, and thus prevent the settle- ment of those lands by British subjects, which must of course strenghten the hands of the Government, and for ever dissipate the ridiculous idea of ' La nation Cana- dienne.^ " At this same meeting the British were also ac- cused of having introduced the cholera into Canada; or,. in the words of the resolution itself (the 13th,) "That England will, in any case, have to justify herself, for having suffered so considerable an emigration at a tim«» when she was under the frightful influence of the cholera., which by this means has been introduced into this colony, the climate of which is the most hea'thy in all America, and has covered it with mourning and desolation." In its remarks upon this suhjtct, the same paper says, " It is impossible not to be struck with the impious pre- sumption, and reckless disregard of truth, which to serya J* A subaltern's furlough. the hostile views of these leaders, and excite the prejudices of the people against the new population, dares to charge the mother country with the wilful introduction of a pesti- lence from which the All-wise Disposer of events has not exempted these provinces or this continent, and which has been felt with more or less severity in almost every part of the habitahle globe. The resolution, though puerile, is important, from showing how far these derr a gogues pre- sume on the ignorance of their followers, and the mon- strous fabrications they dare to palm upon the deluded and ignorant people, as serious and irrefragabV. truths." 1 must confess that the little I saw and heard of the French Canadians impressed me with very unfavourable opinions of them. In the full enjoyment of their own religion, civil laws, and political rights — burdened by no taxes of any description— with free trade, and England's prctection, they were dissatisfied and discontented. Not the slightest wish to improve the state of the country w^as any where visible ; but every public undertaking of any im|ortarce was the work of too kind a step-mother. I do not view the circum- stance of their forming themselves into i^olunteer corps, at the breaking out of the late war, as originating in pure loyalty to their sovereign, but rather in a desire to defend their own property, and because they would prefer being the spoilt and indulged children of England to falling under the dominion of the United States, which would shortly inundate them with a torrent of speculators and enterprising men. as well as lay a few taxes upon their shoulders. I had crossed the frontier with the expecta- tion of finding one of the happiest and most loyal nations in the world ; but, as far as my judgment w^ent, found it far otherwise. To me the Canadians appeared utterly devoid of that spirit of enterprise which dis.'^inguishes the English and American settlers ; and, though three-fourths of the inhabitants of Lower Canada (or nearly 300,000) are of French descent, they are almrst confined to the original settlements, along a narrow strip en the banks of the St. Lawrence, where they have impoverished the soil by their slovenly system -of farming. Leaving Montreal at 8 o'clock in the evening, I lost a view of the scenery below the town, and of Sorell at the A subaltern's furlougk, 67 mouth of the Chaniblee or Sorell River, where the Go- verrjor-Geni ral usually passes some of the summer months. But the recollection of our two hours' stay there is w,e[\ impressed upon my memory. It was about midnight when we arrived, and the fe\v passengers (only sixteen in number) had early retired to their berths. The vessel was scarcely moored alongsidethe pier ere I was awaked from a sound shop by the violent screams of some poor man whom the crew were carrying ashore, just attacked by the cholera. I had been suffering much the preceding Aveek from an illness which at one time threatc ned to take a dangerous turn, and had not yet recovert (1 from the effects of it. I shall never forgxt the misery I endured the re- mainder of that night ; I threw myself off my cot, and walked the upper deck in the cold night air, while the screams of agony still rung in my ears, and paced up and down until dawn of day, by which timc^ I had mustered up all my stoicism, and was prepared for any event. A naturally good constitution, however, in a few days ena- bled me again to undergo almost any fatigue. The steamers on the Si. Lawrence, between Montreal and Quebec, are superior to those even on the American waters which had so much surprised me. The "British America" and "John Bull" are fitted up in a magnificent style, and are comphte floating drawing-rooms. The di- mensions of the latter are on the grandest scale, being 188 feet in h ngth by 70 in breadth, the wings included, and about 1200 tons burden. Its name is well merited, having towed six vessels, two of them of 350 tons, from Quebec up to Montreal, at onetime. The traveller may really experience something like comfort on board of them, there not being the crowd cf passengers, nor the scramble for meals, to which he is so accustomed in the States, The country below the town of Trois Rivieres, at the mouth of the St. Maurice, becomes more diversified, af- fording occasional views of rising hillsbelow Quebec, and long streets of houses with white roofs and walls, which when first seen at a distance on the loft}?^ banks of the river^ may be easily mistaken for a large encampment. The Flench settlers usually paint the roofs white, as tending to preserve the shingles of which they are constructedj 68 A isubaltirn's furlough* and also to repel the heat of the sun's rays. I have seen many washed in this manner from the foundation to the ridge-pole, and the chimney painted black; 1 always' thought they bore a close resemblance to a negro ^^omaIl deck'^d out in her best bib and tucker. After passing the mouth of the Chaiidiere River, over which a fnebritgeof one arch is thrown, and entering Wolfe's Cove, the ship- ping and fortress of Quebec begin to open out from behind a promontory ; and few places can boast of so magnificent an approach. The bold craggy rocks of Cape Diamond, crowned with the impregnable fortiess, stand in bold re* lief against the sky; numerous ships lieattheir anchorage in the broad and smoolh river, S£0 feet beneath, between the citadel and point Levi; and in the distance a lofty range of blue hills form a fine background to a level ana thickly-populated country. For some time the old and picturesque buildings only of the lower town at the water's edge are visible ; nor until wnthin the distance of half a mile from Point Levi does the upper town, with its nii> merous glittering spires and convent roofs, begin to show itself on the opposite side of the citadel, or. the more pro- minent object, the castle of St. Lewis, the residence of the Governor-General. It is supported upon the e(^,ge of the precipice by large buttresses under the foundation of the outer walls of the building, and almost overhangs the houses at the margin of the water. But all these favour- able impressions are dispelled upon ent^eiing the dirty narrow streets of the lower town ; nor was it until after much perseverance that we obtained accommodation of a ▼ery indifferent kind in the upper town. The principal hotel had been closed, without any consideration for the comfort of a few travellers, as scon as the cholera broke out, the landlord finding that he was a loser by keeping* the establishment open. The capital of Lower Canada occupies the tongue ofn peninsula formed by the junction of the St. Charles with the St. Lawrence, and contains upwards of 20,000 people. The upper town is encircled by a strong wall nearly three miles in extent, with batteries at intervals, and is entered by five gates, the principal one from the harbour being- at. the summit of a steep and winding road up the side of th» A subaltern's furlough. 69 rock. The lower town is built in some ploces upon piers, and land reclaimed fom the river; in ethers by under- mining the base of the rock. Instances have occurred (one during my residt nee in America) of iarge j oi lions of it giving wa)'^ and rushing down upon the re ofs of the houses from a height of two or three htndrtd feet. The citadel, which is the great lion cf'.heplace, t ccupies a large proporticp of the upper loA\n, ard is situated upon the highest part of Cape Diau ond, a hard but hi ittle rock with quartz crystals interspersed. The stone, however, is not of a fit quality for the fortificat;ons, and the mate- rials used in their construction are brought by the St. Lawrence from Montreal to the foot of an inclined plane, whieh has been corslructed from the river in!o the in- terior of the citadel, and hoisted up the railway by means of machinery. Great additions were making within thr fortress, but the old French walls, erected during the time of Montcalm, and which the engineers were facing afresh, were yet firm. Much yet remains lo be done in the in- terior, and even on the exterior works on the lace towards the plains of Abraham. An obelisk has lately been erected by the officers of the Sfarrison to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm, in front of the government gardens. It is 65 feet in height, but bears no inscription, nor even the names of the h roes in whose honour it was ereened. Ihe plains upon uhichboth fell lie about a mile to the west of the citadel, IVom which the ground rises and falls in small and abrupt undulations. The field of action is yet open, and used as a race-course ; but the rock apainst which the British general reclined, when dying (near a redoubt which may le even now traced out on the borders of the plains,) Avas destroyed by blasting with gunpowder seme time since, the Vandalic proprietor of the garden in which it was situated com- plaining that his fences were injured by the curiosity of visitors. There is a figure of Wolfe carved in aa ood, and fastened at the side of a house at an at gle ef a street about 12 feet from the ground, which has always been considered an excellent likeness. "^Ilie General nppearsin. rather a strange costume for a warrior : a doubh bre^asted red frock coat with yellow facings, cocked hat, yellow top- 70 A subaltern's furlough. boots, white breeches, and white shoulder-belt for his sword ; his position — one arm a-kimbo, and the other ex- tended as in the attitude of giving orders. The spot where General Montgomery was killed in his attack upon Q,uebec on the night of the 31st of December, 1775, is within a few pacts ( f the foot of the inclined plant-, and his Tv mains were interred, until 1818 (when they were re- moved to New-Yoik,) ntar the gate of St. Lewis. The Jesuits' Convent, \\ hich reveitt d to the Crown some years since, is now occupied by a regiment of infar^try, and makes an excellent and capacious barrack. What w^as the f thers' pleasure-oaidtn in olden times is now the parade ground. In other respects, it apptars to have undergone very little change (except with regard to its occupants ) being surmountt d by the old spire, and retain- ing the stiong iion-stuc'dtd gates, with the sacred devices upon them. On the opposite side of the market-place is the large and ungraceful building of the Roman Catholic Cathedral, where I attended one day at the performance of high mass, but vvasglad to make my escape again into the open air, such a dense crowd was there in every part of it. As in Montreal, the Catholic clergy possesses an exten- sive property in Gluebec. The seminary which adjoinsthe Cathedral occupies, together w^ith its garden, seven acres of ground in the upper tow n, the U rsuline Convent pos- sesses as much more, and the Hotel Dieu even as much as twelve; so that, what with the citadel, convents, churches, barracks, and open squares, the population of the upper town is reduced to a mere cypher compared with its extent. The old parliament-house situated near the gate lead- ing from the St. Lawrence on the easttrn side of the town, was formerly the residence of the Catholic bishops. It is a crazy old edifice, and much requires the support of a new w'ing, which is now erecting. Within a few yards of it, over the door of a shop, opposite the post-of- fice, is the rude representation of a dog gnawing a bone, which it holds between its fore paws. The whole heart the marks of having at one time been richly gilded and ornamented. Upon the same tablet is the following ii^^ scription :-— A subaltern's furlough. 71 Je suis un Chien qui ronge Pos — En le rongeani je prend mon repos — Un tenis viendra, qui n'est pas venu — Clue je mordrai qui m'aura niordu. 1736. For the solution of these enisfmatical lines I was oblio-ed to an officer in the garrison of Gluebec. The story is, that some ninety or a hundred years since a Mr. Phiilibert, a merchant in the city, and Mr. Bigot, a gentleman at the head of the financial department under the French govern- ment, were not upon amicable terms. The latter em> braced every opporlunity of oppressing the other, who, not possessing sufficient influence to have his complaints against his powerful enemy redressed, took the above poetical means of preferring them. Mr. Bigot's cause was soon taken up by an officer of the garrison, who plunged his sword through Mr. Phillibert's body as he was descending the hill, and made his escape to the French settlement of Pondicherry in the East Indies, where he in turn was killed in a duel with the brother of Mr. Philli- bert, who had left France for the purpose of avenging th& murder of his brother. Although there is little of interest in Cluebec itself, yet the surrounding scenery is sufficient to compensate for any loss. In company with two English gentlemen, I made an excursion on the 1st of September to the Falls of Montmorenci, about seven miles from the city. The foad crosses the St. Charles River over a long wooden bridge, and becomes execrably bad as soon as the out- skirts of the lower town are passed, although a continued line of houses and small farms extend the entire distance. The hills which run parallel with the river, at the dis- tance often or twelve mib-s, form the boundary of the narrow belt of cultivation. Putting our horses up at the small French inn on the banks of the Montmorenci, we walked down to view the Falls , but with what far differ- ent feelings from those with which we had visited Nia* gara three weeks before ! We had been told every whers in Quebec of the Falls of Montmorenci, and consequently fonsidered ourselves, as travellers, in duty bound to visil them, though, had each of us spoken the candid truth, vfft 72 A subaltern's furlough, should have said we had seen quite sufficient falls of wa- ter to sitisfy the taste of any moderate man. And really Niagira, the great climax of every thing grand in a ca- taract, o-ives one a sad distaste for all future sights of that description No one, unless he is blessed with the happy talent of forgetting thino-s as soon as he has seen them, should venture near another fall for at least a twelve- month after he has seen that at Niagara. If he does, it is ten to one that he annoys his friends who act as chape- rons upon the occasion, by showing the most perfect in- difference, or something even approaching to sovereign contempt, at the sight. At Montmorenci the Fall itself is every thing : there are no grand accompaniments. The water shoots in a sheet about 120 feet broad over a precipice to the depth of 24J feet, and then rolling onwards a few hundred yards unites with those of the St. Lawrence. The banks on each side of it are smooth and precipitous, with their summits crowned with trees, and a mill is perched on high upon the verge of the Fall. There is, however, a fine view of Quebec, and the isle of Orleans which forms the eastern side of the noble harbour, from the junction of the rivers. One of my companions and myself thought proper to ford the Montmorenci below the Falls, where it is 1500 feet broad, to the ruins of a large saw-mill upon the opposite side, for the purpose of ascertaining the depth of water and forming some idea of the difficulty of the heroic Wolfe's enterprise when he stormed the French batteries under a heavy fire. In twenty-five minutes we gained the opposite bank, having narrowly escaped being washed off our legs several times; but our wounded feet, (owing to the sharp edges of rocks,) with cramped and stiff legs for the next forty-eight hours, gave us ample cause to repent our undertaking. The mill, which was the most extensive in the province, had, by some strange accident or neglect, been consumed by fire a few months previous, though a sufficient body of water could have been thrown upon it to have almost w\ashed away the entire building. A broad and deep water-course conducts a powerful stream from above the Falls along the summit of the bank until immediatelv above the mill, when it A subaltern's furlough. 7S rushes down an inclined plane of 300 feet in length, witii amazing power upon the wheels. From it, conductors were so arranged as to lead the Avater throughout the building in case of necessity, hut all appeared to have been of no avail in staying the destruction. Several acres of ground were covered with the timber which had been prepared for exportation. Wolfe's Cove also was so dense- ly covered with it that it was like one huge raft ; and, notwithstanding thirty or forty vessels were taking in, it made no perceptible diminution, YO.L. n. T4 A subaltern's furlough. CHAPTER VI The wind it was fair, and the moon it shone Serenely on the sea, And the vessel it danc'd o'er the rippling waves, And moved on gallantly. Old Ballas^./ Where cliffs, moors, marshes, desolate tlie view. Where haunts the bittern, and wliere screams the mew, Where prowls the wolf, where rolled the serpent lies, Shall solemn fanes and hall;- of justice rise, And towns shall open (all of structure fair) To bright'ning prospects and to purest air. Previous to the appearance of the cholera, a steamer plied between Quebec and Halifax in Nova Scotia, but, owing to the long quarantine imposed upon vessels arriv- ing at the latter port without a Bill of Health, the pro- prietors declined making any further trips until duebec should be pronounced free from infection. This w^as a most unexpected impediment to the tour I had meditated through the Eastern provinces, and the uncertainty of the length of voyage in a sailing vessel was such that I cam«j to the resolution of making an overland journey through the dense forests, or paddling myself in a canoe down the rivers into New-Brunswick. My time, too, being very limited, it was necessary that I should either pursue that course or lay aside all thoughts of seeing any thing fur- ther of the B ritish Provinces. My friends attempted to dis- suade me from the undertaking, on account of the lateness and unhealthiness of the season, and the weight of a hair would almost have turned the scale, when I fortunately became acquainted with Mr. Reid (a gentleman from Georgia,) who having much the same object in view as myself, we agreed to make the journey in company. Hav- ing, therefore, laid in a small stock of provisions, a hot* tie of laudanum, a whole box full of opium pills, with & suitable qua iility of eau-de-Cologne and eau-de-vie, as a pre- caution against the cholera, we set sail with a light wes* lerly breeze down the broad St. Lawrence at mid-day on FURLOUGH. 75 the 3d of September. As the weather appeared settled and plea&ant, we preferred taking- an open pilot-boat to travelling in a carriage over a hundred miles of roiigh road, and at considerable additional expense, the owner of the land conveyance having the conscience to demand fif- teen dollars (3/. sterling) per diem for the trip. Being ebb tide, we glided rapidly past the isle of Orleans, where those huge floating masses of timber, the Columbus and Baron Renfrew, were put together, and, by the time the flood had set in, were thirty-eight miles from Quebec; when, not havirig sufficient breeze to stem the tide, we came to an anchor. The sun had set some time, but it was a mild and pleasant evening, with a bright moon shin- ing overhead, and every star in the heavens so clearly reflected in the smooth mirror upon which we lay that indeed we should have been insensible to the charms of nature, had we not been delighted with our situation. Thinking that music would well accord with the time and place, I produced a flute from the depths of my port- manteau ; and having in my earlier days learned the gamut, "God save the King," "the British Grenadiers," and a quick step or two, favoured my companion and the pilot with a solo. Though, probably, not equalling the strains of Orpheus, it had some effect upon the crew of a schooner which lay at anchor about two cables' length abeam of us. A deep and hoarse voice immediately hailed us across the water to come a little nearer to them, followed when we spurned their invitation (rather rudely I must confess,) by a most authoritative order "to strike up ' Hearts of Oak,' or they would board us." Now, having no ladies in our company, as was the case with the old story of Dr. Young and the guardsmen upon the Thames, we had no plea for consenting ; so sounding *" Britons, strike Home," we boldly defied them to mortal combat. Not knowing, however, with what force they had 10 contend, they contented themselves with saluting us with a broadside of most mellifluous sea-phrases, and firing at intervals half a dozen rounds of small arms, well loaded with powder. Although the night was so lovely, I cannot say that we by any means passed a comfortable one The boat 7l)i A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH. having no deck, and being too narrow in the beam to admit of reclining at full length on the thwarts, we were obliged to sleep in a sitting posture on the bottom, with the back of our heads against the edge of a seat, and ac- cordingly each of us awoke in the morning with a neck as stiff as that of a raw militia-man in his patent leather stock upon the first training day. Getting early under weigh, we beat slowly down against a head wind, and passed the quarantine station off a rocky island 45 miles from Quebec. A drizzling rain coming on at mid- day, and increasing to torrents, accompanied by a heavy gale towards sunset, rendered us in a most miserable plight. The river was now ten miles in breadth, and, a heavy sea rising, my companion became very unwell. The pilot soon followed his example ; and I, not doubting but that it must be the cholera, busied myself in search- ing for the laudanum, brandy, and opium pills, which^ as is ever the case when things are most required, were not found until the whole contents of my portmanteau had been turned out upon the wet deck. All my fears, however, respecting cramps in the legs, and other alarm- ing symptoms, were quite unnecessary. '' Parturiunt montes ; nascetur ridiculus m.us:" the upshot of all was — they were only troubled with that very common com- plaint, or rather, I should call it, worst of all miseries — sea-sickness ! A thick fog coming on at dusk, with flood tide, the pilot informed us that, not knowing whereabouts the land lay, he dare not venture to run in-shore on account of the rocks, and that we must pass another night on board; and the prospects of such a night too ! For some minutes we endeavoured to prevail upon him to run on; but, finding he would not hazard any thing, we began to make the ne- cessary preparations for weathering it as well as possible. I. drew on two pair of trovvsers, a seal-skin cap and hat, two coats, and a seal-skin jacket, with hood like that of an Esquimaux, which I had purchased at Q,uebec; and, as ihe anchor was again let go, quietly sat down, and most patiently endured the pitiless peltings of the storm. At mtervals, during the night, 1 fell into a slight doze, but by degrees the heavy pitching of the boat would cause A subaltern's FURLOUGH- 77 my head to strike against a thwart, or touch the bottom of the vessel, in which the water was now from four to «ix inches in depth, and awake me — for the purpose of going throujyh the same motion again at the expiration of another quarter of an hour. When the morning dawned the wea har had not moderated in the slightest degree ; but with heavy hearts and drenched clothes we again got under weigh. For my own part I was so en- cumbered with the weight of my heavy apparel that, had the boat swamped, 1 should have gone to the bottom like a lump of lead ; my companion, being an indifferent sailor, could scarcely raise his head, and the only active service I could perform was to sit at the bottom of the boat, wrenching the rain out of my cap and jacket, oi take a turn at haling out the water. And when this last occupation had ceased, the three of us huddled ourselves into the stern-sheets, about 4 feet by 3^ for mutual warmth ; and with chattering teeth sat there, for all the world like so many dripping fowls upon a perch during a shower of rain. We did not make the land round Kamouraska Bay, ninety miles below Quebec, until we had been exposed to the full fury of the storm for twenty-four hoars In another hour we landed, and were soon comfortably stowed away in a little French inn, busily employed in overhauling our wet portmanteaus, and inspecting the state of our stock of provisions. The report upon them was about as follows: the biscuit and salt had dissolved in the water ; the cheese required a place in the oven for an hour or two ; the meat had been rolling about at the bottom of the boat throughout the night ; my companion's claret-coloured over coat, which he had bought at a slop shop in Cluebec, was three shades lighter; and the notes and sketches I had been taking the preceding day were were no bad representation of the state of the heavens during the storm. The uncertainty whether we could carry our baggage throughout the journey had occurred to us before leaving Q,uebec,and we had resolved to leave it if anyv/i;e cum- bersome, with some villager, retaining only sufficient •lothes to fill a knapsack, which we could ourselves carry. e* 78 A subaltern's furlough. Upon inquiring at Kamouraska, we met with a Yankee pedlar who was returning with his cart to the States, and would travel 55 miles upon the same route as ourselves. He volunteered to carry our trunks for four pounds, with a proviso that we should walk by his side; alleo-ingat the same time that it was impossible to perform the journey under three days. " We might have seen roads," he said, '' but we had never seen the Temiscouta Portage ;" and, as to making a bargain of us, he would not carry the port- manteaus for twice the sum, if his own business did not compel him to go that way; and, furthermore, as the track was very dreary, he wished some pleasant company. Fortunatt ly we had no occasion to close with this disiri' terested offer, a bystander offering to furnish two carts for the same sum, affirming that one could not carry the two small portmanteaus. The chagrin of our Yankee frieiid at losing so good a bargain was very evident, not- withstanding all his assurances that his only desire was to see us safe to the end of the journey, and prevent our being imposed on. He took his leave of us, saying that the man who offered to accompany us neither knew what he said nor what he was undertaking; and, finally, that we should not travel the 55 miles agreed upon under four days, and that the flies in the woods would bite our ears off, if we did not tie thdm on with a strong handkerchief We also experienced much difficulty in replenishing our commissariat department, and could obtain only a loaf of bread and a cold shoulder ( f mutton — a short supply for seven days, which we calculated our journey would last. But our severest loss was not discovered until we were on the point of starting; the pilot had appropriated our whole stock of brandy, consisting of two bottles, to his own use. On the 6th of September, with two guides, to whom the cart belonged, we pursued our routc^ do vn the course of the St. Lawrence, the road passing a'orga narrow and thickly settled belt of ground, which had •' pparently once been in the channel of the river, judging from the nature of its soil and a rocky range of hills running parallel with it on the out.^r side of the cultivat< d lands. The scenery was strikingly fine and bold, aad numerous ships, FURLOUGH 79 tacking to and fro with an adverse wind, rendered it a most enlivening scene, until our arrival at the Terais- couta Portage, nineteen miles from Kamouraska, when we struck off to the southward, and ascending some high ground for ever lost sight of the St. Lawrence. The road Avas, however, still passable, and, though our progress was but slow, there was nothing as yet to warrant the pedlar's alarming accounts ; while the log huts though presenting a most miserable exterior, would at least shel- ter us from the threatening storm. When the rain, however, began to descend, and night set in, we made several fruitless applications for admission : one said there was too many of us another referred us to his neighbour a little farther on ; and a third had a sick per- son in the house. At last we bade adieu to enjoying a night's rest within doors, and approached the dark and apparently impenetrable wall of the tall forest, when de- scending a small ravine, with a rivulet at its bottom, we spied out another log hut, though scarcely distinguisha- ble amongst the blackened stumps. Considering it as our last hope, we made so pathetic an appeal that we were all admitted. I'he tenement was but a very small one, and occupied by an old couple of about sixty win- ters, with their niece, about fifteen years younger. The room into which Ave were ushered was scarcely seven feet to the ceiling, and blackened by the smoke of years. A straw mattress and a blanket occupied one corner of the room ; the square iron stove, two chairs, a couple of stools, and an old wooden shelf, with an oil-skin hat, and a lamp suspended from the haft of a knife stuck into a crevice between two logs, formed the rest of the furniture. But it was amply crowded when the horses had been suitably provided for, and the seven of us were assem- bled. After enjoying a cheerful chat over the fire tor some hours, and attending to the gesticulations of our host, who, as he sat on a corner of the bed whh a thick red Kilmarnock cap upon his head, related anecdotes of his life to a group which would have furnished a fine study for any of the old Dutch artists, we were shown into a room containing a single bed for the accommoda- tion of Mr. Reid and myself, who went dinnerless and 80 A SUBALTERN S FURLOtJGHt. aupperless to bed, lest our provisions should fail us when most required. At daylight the following morning, after an early meal upon our bread and mutton, qualified by a draught of cold water, we prepare d for another day's fatigue, tendering some trifle by way of remuneration to our hostess for the night's lodging. We had some difficulty in prevailing upon her to accept it, and, when once accepted, the old iady in the warmth of her heart would insist upon cram- ming our pockets with wood nuts. With many expressions of thanks and wishes for a good journey from the worthy couple, we crossed the small stream (the Green River, I think,) and entering the forest lost nearly all Semblance of a road. The trees had been certainly cut away, so as to afford a passage from six to nine feet in width, but the stumps had been left standing, and, where a marsh was to be crossed, that horrible invention " corduroy" had been resorted to. Frequently a decaj^ed timber gave way un- der the weight of the horses, which floundered up to the top of their backs in black wet soil. In other places the road was floating on the surface of a deep f ond ; and then for a mile or two we had some little variety in clamber- ing up hills over husfe masses of rock, or stumbling up the bed of a torrent. Now and then, indeed, cutting away the windfalls (as the Americans term the trees which are blown down by a gale of wind) afforded us a short respite from the jolting, but during that time we had to ply our axes unremittingly. Mr. Reid had taken charge of the first cart, and the Canadians walking;' alono-side of us in their large mud boots, for some time I attempted to derive advantage from my companion's misfortunes, and learn to steer clear of them, but generally found mys; If deposited in a much deeper and worse hole, or brought to a stand still by a large piece of rock ; so, despairing of bettering my condition, I calmly awaited the shock, and setting myself well against it in my seat, and compressing my lips, I plunged into the midst of every thing up to the axletree, with my loose portmanteau tossing about, and flaying my legs at a most unmerciful rate. The selfsame abominable fiies, too, the Yankee had so glowingly described, added to the pleasures of the journey by tearing pit ces of flesb A subaltern's furlough. 81 from our ears, as though each of them had been provided with a pair of the best Sheffield forceps. Having- endured this patiently for three hours, during which time we had advanced just so many miles, we could bear it no longer, and dismounting we proceeded on foot. By mid-day we arrived at the river St. Francis, a small stream which is involved in the boundary question between Great Britain and the United St^ates, where we met the royal mail upon its way from. Halifax. The letter bags were fastened upon a dray or low sledsfe drawn by a single horse, which was moving quietly along, cropping what little grass grew by the road-side. The guard, fifty yards behind, was taking it equally leisurely, amusing himself by blowing through his tin horn, and listening to the echo of the unmusical notes he produced, as they rt sounded amongst the distant hills. The meeting was unexpected on both sides, and as he came suddenly round a turn in the forest, raising his hand to salute us, he slipped over a stone, and fell upon his back in a mass of mud and water ; but rising again immediately, with the most enviable unconcern, he stood up to his knees in it, answering our numerous queries. He travelled over the road, or seventy two miles, once a week, without meeting a human being in three months, and I will bear witness he had no sinecure. At three o'clock we reached the first hut, w'here the guides proposed passing the night, but the interior was in such a filthy state, and so crowded by a large family, that I preferred trusHng to the weather in the woods, and, as an inducement to proceed, urged the possibility of arriving at a fiirm house q on the lake, fifteen miles farther. The Canadians willingly assented ; so once more we toiled away over the rough hills, gathering the bilberries, nuts, gooseberries, strawberries, and other wild fruits, which grew in abundance on every side. Partridges too crossed the path frequently, almost within reach of our sticks, with the greatest impunity : for never were there such peaceably disposed travellers in the woods before : we had not even a pistol, gun, tinder-box, or, as Sheridan says, " a single bloody-minded weapon" with us. Throughout the day we were journeying in a kind of no-man's land. The British Government claim it partly 82 A subaltern's furlough. by the riszht of possession (which, as every one knows, is nine points in law,) and have thie credit of having ex- pended at various times within the last dozen years, up- wards of 1000/. in forming this road, (which is the only one between Q,uebec and Halifax,) out of an old Indian Hunting path. A traveller has some difficaty in account- ing for the expenditure, unless he comes to the conclusion that it has been sunk in one of the m^irshes, or frittered away upon a corduroy. The United States claim the de- batable land hy right of treaty (which same treaty each party construes according to its respective interests,) though it will be evident to anyone who will refer to the map, that brother Jonathan wants to possess it merely in •order that he may serve as a thorn in the side (to which indeed the form of the tract in question bears a strongs resemblance) of the British provinces, thus cutting off the direct route to Quebec, the key of British North Ame- rica in time of war, dividing the less; r provinces from the Canai'as, and probably erecting fortii. cations upon a frontier which would extend W'ithin thirteen miles of the 8t. Lawrence. The intrinsic value of the land is next to nothing, and can be but insignificant to a nation already in possession of I,205,0C0,0dO acres ol' land, or 2,000,000 of square miles. Three hours after sunset the guides, m ho were a-hea4 hailed us with the cheerful sound of " une bonne espe- ranee /" This was followed by a charge of several cows, which, rushing past, were greeted also by us as a happy omen. Scarcely more exultation could have been express- ed by Xenophon and the 10,000 Greeks of old, when the ocean again displayed its broad waters to their view, than was by us when we saw the light surface of the Temis- couta Lakelying far beneath us. But a few minutes he- fore we had held a council of war about biveuackingin the woods, the want of the requisites for striking a light, and a sprinkle of raiti, alone causing us to persevere in oui journey, which came to an end by eleven o'clock, when we arrived at Mr Frazer's house and farm, after eighteen, hours of most fatiguing toil, over twenty four miles of ground, and through ibrest where we could never se© twenty yards from the road, the only object worthy ol A SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH SS notice being the majestic hemlock trees, or the branchet of the pine, with long streamers of green moss hanging from them. Although the hospitable ovvnei of the house had retired to rest sometime, he rose immediately upon our knocking, and gave us a hearty welcome, with a cup of excellent tea, and a shake-down upon the floor. He told us he had lived there nine years, but the land was poor, and he was so tired of his solitary life that he in- tended to leave his farm, and retire to some property he possessed on the river Du Loup, shuated in a district of which he was Seigneur. He furnished us, the next morning, the 8th of Septem- ber, with two canoes and a man in each, and, parting with our Canadian guides, we paddled down the lake until we arrived at the residence of Mr. Frazer's next and nearest neighbour, six miles distant. We presented him with some late newspapers, and his wife in return soon provided a comfortable breakfast. The settler, when we arrived, was sitting at the window, poring over an old- number of the Sailor's Magazine. He had served twenty- four years in the 4;)th regiment, and three years in a veteran battalion, when, receiving his di charge, he was settled with several other soldiers on the borders of the lake and upon the portage, to keep open a line of com^ munication with the St. Lawrence. All the others, des- pairing of making a livelihood after the first two or three years, \vhen their rations of flour were withdrawn, had migrated to some more populous and promising country. Sixteen years had expired since he landed in the thick forest, on the spot he then occupied, with his wife and two boys. He said that for the first twelvemonth he much f dt the loss of his barrack-room society ; but, setting to work with a good heart, he built a log hut, which wai now occupied as a pig-stye, and persevered in clearing the ground until the seventh year, when disease attacked his cattle, and carried offevery head. This so discouraged him that he quitted the place, and returned into the in- habited part of the country, but soon again visited his old farm and commenced anew. From that time every thing had gone on in a flourishing manner. He now possessed iftine cowB and a hundred acres of cleared land, and waff 8^1 A subaltern's furlough. perfectly happy and contented. His sons were grown up men, and were mowing- a few acres of grass, but the corn was yet green, and did not appear as if it would ripen before winter. It did not, however, seem at all to con- cern the worthy veteran, who said " he must hope for the best." I asked him how he disposed of the produce of his farm, and his answer was that " his farm did not yield any thing more than would provide his family. Butcher's meat they did not require, and were well satis- fied with salt pork and vegetables." His maple sugar was most excellent, and he had made 460 lbs. from 800 trees the preceding year; but the land in the vicinity was generally poor, and upon the headlands (to use his own expression) " there was not enough to feed a mouse, though there was a good farm here and there away from the lake." He was a true Corporal Trim : in the first instance, he fought the battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane, for my edification, upon the white hearthstone with a piece ef charcoal, but, finding my undivided atten- tion was bent upon something more substantial, he trans- ferred the scene of action to the breakfast table, where he most gallantly carried the heights of Glueenston upon the top of the loaf of bread, and stormed Fort Erie through the spout of a tea pot. He talked with the greatest pride of having served in the same regiment with Lord Aylmer and Sir Isaac Brock, regretting much that the former was not at home when he made his biennial trip to Quebec for his pension during the summer. To show, however, his esteem for him, he had a large proclamation respect- ing the cholera, and the performance of quarantine, with the signature of the Governor- General, nailed up against the wall of his house. Wishing him success, we again pushed on, lashing the two canoes together and keeping closeunder the lee-shore, there being so fresh a breeze that we were several times in imminent danger of being swamped, from the frequent strong gusts of wind which swept down the valleys between the high lands with which the lake is skirted. In the widest parts, the lake does not exceed a mile and a half in breadth, and is about twenty-five in length. After entering the narrow and rapid stream of the Made waska River (the FURLOUGH. S5 'Outlet of the Temiscouta Lake) we glided swiftly along- between undulating and beautifiil banks, the hills rising from 100 to 500 feet in height, and covered with every de- scription of forest tree, but touched only here and there with the dark foliageof the pine, while, at the very margin of the water, the white trunks of the birch were most prominent. We rested an hour at mid-day for the purpose of dining, our table and couch being one of the veteran's hay-cocks, in a cleared spot of ground twenty miles from his house, the first open space we had seen since quitting it. Ten miles farther we heard the merry chattering of some children, evidently Irish, from their accent, and, rounding a point, found a parcel of little urchins in high glee throwing peb- bles and sticks of wood at another who was anofling- in a most artist-like manner, as he floated down the stream in a bark canoe. In the background, a party of five or six newly-arrived emigrants were sitting round a fire super- intending the cooking department, their log huts being in an unfinished state. The ground for the space of an acre Avas covered with the smoking trunks of trees, and black- ened logs, and here and there the murky skeleton of some decayed giant of the forest was gradually consuming away as it retained its erect position. From this small settlement there were partial and new clearings for an extent of five or six miles, when the thick forest again closed in upoi« the river. About eight o'clock we were moving along with in creased velocity, having passed over several Rapids most gallantly, and shipping but a small quantity of spray, when I heard a hollow roar a-head, which I was well «ware must arise from some cataract, and hinted to the boatmen that they had better keep a sharp look out a-head They, however not pleased I suppose at being dictated to by a greenhorn in such matters, ran on in the same course, until we could not well make the shore, and had a good chance of taking a leap over some falls of 12 or 14 feet, had not a rock 20 or 30 yards above them luckilj' intervened, and brought us up with such a shock as near- ly to throw Mr. Reid out of the bottom of the canoe, where he lay fast asleep, into the water. I was on the point of throwing myself in to swim, when I obserre-i TOL. II. — H. 86 A subaltern's furlough. that our head-way was stopped, and after some difficulty we succeeded in gaining a little inlet formed by a rock on the verge of the Falls. Taking out our baggage, we • carried it as well as the canoes over the rocks to the level below, and, again stepping in, were in a few minutes at the settlement of Madawaska at the confluence of the Madawaska and St. John's Rivers, It was formed by the Acadians, after their expulsion from Nova-Scotia about the year 1754, and is situated in a pretty and rather fertile spot, but with no regular village. We could ob- tain some tea and beds at a small inn, the landlord of which also filled the twofold occupation of grocer and retailer of rum; but, as elsewhere upon our journey, there was no butcher's meat, not more than half a dozen tra- vellers visiting the settlement in the course of the year. When we arrived the landlord was superintending the erection of a grist mill^ some miles distant ; but his son rode off and summoned him to attend his guests: and, before we had dressed in the morning, a tall, dark, but sanctified and clean-shaved man, walked into the room, and announced himself as our host and humble servant to command — Simeon Abair by name. After the creation of many difficulties upon his part, he agreed (as the Rapids were too dangerous to attempt paddling ourselves down the St. John's) to provide us with a canoe and man for 5/., assigning "harvest time" as the reason for making so exhorbitant a demand. As he would not abate any thing, the money was paid him; but upon proceeding to the river, to which, as we subsequently remembered, he hurried us, without allowing the boatman to approach, or even to speak to us, we found a little cockle-shell which would have filled and swamped in the first cat's-paw or or a slight summer shower. Protesting that I would not run the risk of my life and loss of baggage for a distance of 150 miles in such a craft, sooner than loose such good customers he furnished us with a more capacious one, and we proceeded on our course down the St. John's. Two days afterwards, we had the curiosity to inquire of the boatman whether he had been paid for the trip ; he said, " Yes ; that he had received 3/." The sight of the man's features, when informed of the- sum the landlord had charg- A subaltern's furlough. 87 ^d us, was worth the other 21, and Ave could not forbear bursting into a hearty laugh as he told us, with the most piteous face imaginable, that he "should not have so much cared if any one else had cheated him, but that the land- lord was his godfather;" that he had said we were fa- tigued, and wished not to be annoyed by seeing the boat- man, but would make a bargain with him ; and " that though he had made a good thing of it, he could screw only 3/. out of us." Had not our time been so valuable, scarcely any thing would have given both of us so much pleasure as returning and ducking the old bear, making him refund the money, and then handing it over to our honest hard-working boatman. Our canoe was a long one, 24 feet in length by 3 in breadth, so that with our baggage and three heavy peo- ple, its sides were within four inches of the water. As we floated along, numerous fair damsels at work in the fields on the river's banks, waved their large black hats to our boatman, or gave him innumerable commissions for ri- bands and other finery to be purchased at the capital. Although he answered ** oui, oui," a hundred times, yet still, as he paddled along, there was a last request, until we were so distant that nothing but an indistinct murmur reached our ears. The day was squally, with heavy showers of rain, so, coming in sight of a respectable- looking farm-house, about twenty miles below Madawas- ka, we pulled in shore and landed, for the purpose of seeking a few minutes' shelter from a heavy storm which was threatening to burst over us momentarily. Upon entering the house we found half a dozen men and women most earnestly engaged in discussing a substan- tial dinner, and drinking tea at the same time. The whole party were crowded round a little table where there was just sufficient space for them to squeeze their elbows in, while a rear rank or corps of reserve, was formed of ten or twelve hungry-looking young children whose countenances expressed the greatest anxiety to be called into action. Although we took our seats on a bench fastened to the wall, with the usual salutation, not the slightest notice was taken of us by any of the party, so intent were they upon the subject before them ; nor •iy^s any offev made about partaking of their cheer, ;?48 A subaltern's furlough. though we were drenched to the skin, and might rea- sonably be supposed to have no distaste for the good things we saw upon the table. At intervals we heard one of them addressed by the title of Captain, and 1 must acknowledge, though I had seen many strange captains in the United States, I had never before bi en in the presence of such a libel upon a military rank. The noble commar.der had a face as round and as red as the rising moon, with little grey eyes protruding from his head like those of a boiled lobster ; a few white hairs scantily covered a forehead whose capaciousntss would have puzzled Spurzheim himself, and his rotundity would have even put old Falstafl' to the blush. Our boatman wishing to consult him upon some military matter, he waddled down to the water's edge with us after the shower had passed over, and laid down the law in the most direct terms. As we proceeded on our voyage, the boatman informed us that he carried a mus- ket in the captain's company !n the militia, and had been called out on duty the preceding year to check some ag- gression of the Americans ; btit, not having received any remuneration for his services, his captain had given him the requisite directions for obtaining it by making appli- cation at Fredericton. Excepting the lately arrived Irish upon the Madawaska River, these were the first British settlers we had seen since leaving the veteran's house upon Temiscouta Lake, and from this specimen we were almost justified in forming but a mean opinion of the New-Bruns wickers' hospitality. Twenty miles farther broiijght us to the Great Falls, where we again landed, the Portage commencing at the rather dangerous vicinity of about 150 yards above them, the influence of the cataract being very evident upon canoes which must cross the river to gain the entrance of the Portage, situated in a small circular bay. The sur- face of the river is perfectly smooth and unbroken until it gains the very edge of the rock, when it is precipitated 70 feet in a sheet of amber-coloured foam into a narrow and rocky channel, not exceeding 35 in breadth, down which it boils and bubbles for the space of half a mile, aiiid then expands into its original width of about 1^0 A subaltern's furlough. 89 yards. There is a tradition, though seemingl3r not a very probable one, that several canoes of Mohawk In- dians, who had attacked a tribe near the source of the river, and massacred all, excepting two old squaws, were (accompanied by their prisoners) floating down with the current at night, and were to a man dashed to pieces over the Falls, of whose existence they had not even the most remote idea. The squaws aware of the circumstance perished with them, not wishing to survive the destruction of their tribe. Sitting upon the rough crags on the margin of the cataract, we made a late din- ner upon the last remains of our shoulder of mutton, sacrificing the well-picked bone to the shades of the old squaws and the Grand Falls. The river banks formed of a hard rock with light covering of soil, exceed 100 feet in height above the Falls, and more than 200 half a mile below them. The man who conveys the boats across the Portage* earns a good livelihood by his two-fold occupation of farmer and boat-carrier. Our canoe, with the baggage in it, was drawn along a wind- ing road on a sledge by two oxen, and launched again into the water half a mile below for a quarter of a dollar. Timber was formerly drawn up on the level of the bank, and then launched again into the water down an inclined plane, but this system was soon abandoned as too expen- sive, and it is noAV allowed to shoot the Falls, which in the freshets but little injures it. For seven or eight miles the current carried us on with great velocity over the " While Rapids," the " Black Rapids," and a series of others, all sufficiently dangerous to encounter without a skilful pilot, and we landed at dusk near a small log hut, the first we saw" after leaving * Owing to the numerous rapids on tiie river St. John, these por- tages or carrying-places are frequent. The Eastern Provinces, more es- pecially New Brunswick, are so intersected with streams, whose sour- ces are in the immediate vicinity of each other, that the whole country may be traversed by means of them w4th very little difficulty : and, in short, the rivers are the highways of the province. The Grand Temiscouta Portage is of an extraordinary length, being thirty-six miles over a mountainous country, and very little used except, by casu- al travellers, but some of the navigable streams are within two miles of each other, yet flowing ixi opposite directions. subaltern's furlough. the Portage. The banks had continued a hundred feet ir^ height, and covered with a dense pine forest, but we fre- quently passed groups of woodsmen bivouacking by their fires at the water's edge after their day's labour had ceased. Throwing part of the baggage over my shoulder, I walked up to the hut, through whose small window the bright light of the wood fire could be seen blazing cheerfully, and knocking at the door walked in, and found a family of j*even, who welcomed me most hospitably. My compa- Mons following me, we joined the circle, and, after enjoying a bowl of excellent milk, asked the settler's history. He Imd been a comrade of the veteran upon the lake, and had been settled there at the same time, v/hen his nearest Jieighbour lived at twenty miles' distance. He had now one within six miles, but considered it no advantage, and would rather that people did not settle so near to him, as he should then have no fear of quarrelling. Part of his kouse had been washed away by the freshets during the ;ipring of the previous year, and, although it was 20 feet above the level of the river, the water had stood 5 feel 5 inches in his kitchen, w hich was the only room he had remaining. This summer, too, the bears had destroyed 13; sheep and 4 hogs of his stock, but he had yet 23 sheep remaining, and two cows. The only neighbours, however, he did not appear, in any manner, to approve, were the Americans, whose boundary w^as within five miles. He R^aid that he had been over amongst some of them lately, and told them that they had better be silent upon the subjectof the boundary question now, for that New Bruns- wick had a governor who had ju^t been most satisfactori- ly arranging the same kind of a dispute in the East Indies, As the night was advanced, wishing to obtain a few hours sleep, I threw my wet great coat upon the floor before the blazing hearth, as the most comfortable berth I could se- lect ; but the settler's wife w^ould so positively insist upon Mro Ileid and myself taking possession of the only bed in the room, upon which, she asserted, " she had just placed new blankets for our express comfort," that I was compelled most reluctantly to relinquish it, while the set- tler and his son went out and sought a night's rest amongst the straw in the stable. I had heard from the boatman. jl subaltern's furlough. 91 on the Madawaska River that the house was not celebrat- ed for its cleanliness, and a sight of the bed convinced me that there must be very substantial reasons for its fame haying spread through a hundred miles of nearly unin habited country ; so I walked out of the house with the intention of sleeping in the open air, and thus avoid giv- ing any affront to our hostess, but the mist rose so thick and cold from the water, and remembering the story of the bears, I thought it more prudent to undergo a night's tortures within doors. On returning into the house, I found my friend already between the far-famed blankets : the boatman had taken up my comfortable position on the hearth ; the children were lying upon a bed at the foot of ours, and the settler's wife sat in a chair watching custom, in hopes of seeing something worth sketching, while they "shifted horses," I fell in company with a man who was proceeding in the same direction. After answering his queries, whence I came, whither I was bound, and passing a few cursory remarks upon the cholera and the weather, I cross-examined him with regard to the quality of the soil, and what kind of a harvest had been gathered during my absence. One of his answers was unique and des- criptive. " Why, sir, turn a goose into a ten acre lot of it at spring, and it will come out at fall thinner than it went in ; it could not get its bill between the stones to pick up the grasshoppers, and there are plenty of ^Acm." The country certainly did not promise much, but the apple trees were weighed to the ground with the over powering load of fruit. We crossed the rapid and shallow A subaltern's furlough. 141 stream of the Merrimac, nearly 200 yards in width, three miles beyond Andover, where there are the fine buildings of an extensively patronized theological seminary. At the village of Methuen, seven miles farther, I walked to view some falls on the Spicket Creek during the time the letters were sorting, and was well punished for breaking the vows I had made not to look at any thing in the shape of a cataract for another twelvemonth, so surfeited had I been with them. Upon a moderate calculation, about a hatfull per minute contrived to escape over a rocky ledge thirty feet in height, from a dam which diverted the main body of the stream to two large grist mills. We had six-in-hand throughout our journey over tole- rably good roads, with a light load, and I never saw men more expert at their business than coachmen on the 260 miles road between Boston and Burlington. Jt was ra- ther amusing to witness the manner in which they restrain- ed the horses when descending a steep hill, wrapping the reins of the leaders round their arms up to the elbows, using their feet to those of the wheelers, and then, lean- ing back on their seat, with the whip thrown upon the roof of the coach, they tugged away with both hand and foot. By sunset we arrived at Concord, the capital of New Hampshire, situated upon a light sandy soil on the west- ern bank of the Merrimac, which is navigable for boats to Sewall's Falls, a few miles higher. The town, con- taining about 2000 inhabitants and five churches, consists of two streets running north and south, each more than a hundred feet wide, and a mile in length, with a row of large drooping elms on each side. The houses are of a pretty style of architecture, with double verandahs sup- ported by light colonnades, and may vie with those of Northampton on the Connecticut River. The State House, a fine granite building with two wings, the roof surmounted by a hght tower, dome, and globe, with a pro- digious golden eagle to crown all, is situated in the cen- tre of a grass square 155 by 100 paces, with iron railing in front and rear. I never entered one of the State Cap- itals but I found some additions or alterations making in the prisons, and, though not a Howard, I generally pryed 142 A subaltern's furlough. into all. The Americans have an excellent system of admiting visitors to these institutions, upon payment of a trifling sum, usually a shilling sterling, which is sufficient to keep away mere idlers, the incurious, and the old ac- complices of the prisoners, and to produce an income from which salaries are allowed to extra keepers, whose time is occupied in attendance upon visitors In the Con- cord prison, sixty males (five of them for life) were con- fined, and one female, who, according to the keeper's ac- count, was a more troublesome and mutinous subject than all the rest together. It was conducted partly on the Auburn system, but fell far short of it in interior econo- my and indeed in every other respect : the shops, cells, and kitchen were not equally clean, nor were the priso- ners under the same discipline and good management. When at work, the prisoners are allowed to converse upon subjects connected with their trade, the keeper acknowledging it would be an improvement if total silence could be insisted upon, but stating that some communica- tion between them was indispensable (at Auburn however, it is not permitted). The articles which they manufac- ture are not disposed of according to contract, but by the warden, with the same injurious effects to the industrious artisans in the neighbourhood as at Auburn. The trades- were few, being shoe makers, blacksmiths, carriage ma- kers, and stone masons: these latter were employed in erecting an additional wing to the prison, to contain three tiers, or 120 of the honey-comb cells in use at Auburn. Heretofore, from two to eight prisoners have been confined during the night in a large, badly ventilated cell, with a solid iron door, and a narrow loop hole to admit a breath of air and ray of light. This free intercourse in their cells has been the cause of several attempts to regain their liberty. The use of the lash has not been intro- duced, the refractory being punished by soHtary confine- ment ; but, when the latter is adopted to the extent of the Auburn system, it is difficult to see how the former can be dispensed with, or, if so, what will be the means used to keep up the necessary discipline. From Concord we waded, on the 18th of October? through 18 miles of white sand, to breakfast at the village A subaltern's furlough 143 of Sandbornton, leaving the Shaker settlement at Canter- bury three or four miles to the right. Some of the houses were similar to many I had observed in the British pro- vinces, being built without any foundation, and merely resting like a large box upon the levelled ground, or on a piece of rock at each angle, and, from all appearances, very liable to be blown over by the first heavy gale. Such a fate had befallen one I saw in Nova Scotia, which was literally topsey turvey. The road was carried over the apex of every sugar-loaf hill between the manufac- turing town of Meredith and Centre Harbour upon Lake Winnipiseogee, when a circuit of half a mile would have taken it upon nearly a dead level. The latter village is situated at the western end of this lake with the long name The sheet of water is twenty three miles in length, and varies from two to five in width, and is so studded with islands as to warrant the assertion of the country people that there are as many as there are days in the year. The dominion of the sovereign of some of tliem would not however extend over more than five square feet of solid rock, nine inches above the surface of the water. A steamer was upon the stocks, intended for the navigation of the lake; and it was in contemplation to form an inland communication with the tide waters and Connecticut River, by Squam Lake, two mile's to the north west, Baker's River, and a chain of ponds. It is 472 feet above the surface of the Atlantic, and 272 above the Merrimac, at the junction of their waters. A magnificent view is said to be afforded from the summit of Red Hill, 1500 feet in height, three miles from Winnipiseogee, but the scenery was too wooded and had too great a same- ness for my taste. The road circled round the base of the hill, which appeared at a distance, with the sun shining upon it, like burning lava, so brilliant were the autumnal tints of the trees. Dense forests of pine stretched far away upon every side and at the base of the Sandwich mountains, 3000 feet in height, whose summits were tliick- ly enveloped in clouds. The narrow stream of the Bear Camp, with which the road ran parallel, was choaked up with masses of timber which had been cut the preceding winter, and floating down towards the Saco, had been 144 A subaltern's furlough. left by the falling of the waters. In many places, for the distance of a quarter of a mile, we could not obtain a glimpse of the stream, such a perfect and solid bridge had been formed over it by the logs. Heavy rain set in at sunset, and, to add to our misfor- tunes, we were detained two hours at a small inn near Tamworth for the Dover coach, which brought an addi- tion of a fat gentleman, who, weighing at least twenty stone, occupied a third of the interior of the two horse vehicle in which we were to proceed. AVhen our coach- man saw his new passenger squeezing himself edge-ways out of his late conveyance, he exclaimed with a shrug of his shoulders, in great astonishment and alarm, *' My eye ! a'int he a burster ? it might well be late ; we shan't see the end of our journey this night." Preferring exposure to the rain to being crushed to a mummy with five insides upon two seats, I took my place with the coachman, who found it no easy task to steer us safely between the large stumps which lined the narrow opening, misnamed a road, through the forests of Norway pine. The darkness of the night w£is rendered more gloomy by the thick foliage of the trees , so, v^^hile the coachman attended to the in- tricate navigation, he requested me to " fix" the lamps, the oil and wick being of so bad a quality as to fully oc- cupy me in trimming and snufliing throughout thirteen most dreary miles. After twice breaking dov/n, both of which accidents were placed to the credit of the fat man and his carpet bags, we succeeded in reaching Conway, seventy-three miles from Concord, by half-past nine o'- clock, after a fatiguing and rough journey of eighteen hours. A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH, CHAPTER XL Has nature this rough naked piece designed To hold inhabitants of mortal kind ? 145 Savage. And from the hideous crash distracted flies Like one who hears his dying infant's cries, Near, and more near, the rushing torrents sound, And one great rift runs through the vast pi'ofound, Swift as a shooting meteor, groaning loud, Like deep-rolled thunder through a rending cloud. Ibid. The year was now so fast upon the wane, the days shortening, and the weather so intensely cold, that it re- quired no small stock of resolution to enable one to desert a warm bed at a quarter to three in the morning, and en- counter a keen north-wester. In four hours we arrived at Bartlett, sixteen miles from Conway, when I walked out with my sketch-book while breakfast was preparing, for the purpose of attempting an outline of the fine moun- tain scenery, but could not command my pencil, and soon found my way back shivering to the house, where 1 esconced myself in a corner by the bright kitchen fire until the coach was once more ready to start. We were now hemmed in by lofty mountains, between which the road wound, preserving a level along the right bank of the Saco, a strong mountain torrent, which, notwithstanding the en- croachments made upon it with strong embankments, on- ly allowed sufficient space for a single carriage to pass in many places between the rocky barrier on the one hand and its impetuous waters, a considerable depth beneath, on the other. Numerous broad water-courses, which bore the marks of great periodical inundations When they are swollen to gigantic rivers, descend to it from the moun- tains' tops, being, as a gentleman who was by chance my fellow-passenger with great pathos expressed it, "as the veins and sinews to the human constitution." All vestiges of cultivation ceased from Bartlett until the seventh mile, when we arrived at a small farm in a solitary but pretty spot, which had been nearly carried away by the floods VOL II. N. 146 A subaltern's furlough. six years previously, with a loss of land of the value of 2000 dollars to the proprietor. Another hour's drive broug"ht us to the Notch of the White Mountains, when I alighted from the coach with a request that my baggage should be left at an inn eight miles farther, and sat down by the road side to admire the awfully grand and sublime spectacle which the Notch presents. The day which had been so cloudly and cold in the early part became more favourable, and the sun darted its invigorating raj^s through the clouds, resting on the sum- mit of the bleak and precipitous rocks with which the val- ley is bounded. By degrees the light vapours arose, melting into air, or floating away gracefully and majes- tically, and laid open a scene which vv/^ould defy the pen- cil of any artist to delineate faithfully. The Notch, as the term implies, is a narrow pass, six miles* in length, at the southern end of the White Mountains, the loftiest of which, Mount Washington, is 6234 feet above the level of the sea ; but on each side of the pass they rise only from 1800 to 2000, at an angle of about 45", forming a valley less than half a mile in width between their bases, and down which the roaring Saco takes its course. The whole extent of their front is furrowed and scarred by the tre- mendous storm of July, 1826; and the valley, choked up with trees uptorn by the roots, remnants of bridges, build- ings, and huge masses of rock piled upon each other in th^ greatest disorder, presents what might be almost ima- gined as the wreck of nature. A melancholy and inter- esting story is connected with this storm, which will for years to copie be the cause of thousands making a pil- grimage to the White Mountains. J. give it as related to me by one who, though not an eye-witness, v/as in the immediate vicinity at the time it occured; it ^vas as fol- lows: — A farmer of the name of Willey, with his wife, five children, and two labourers, occupied a house with a small farm at the upper end of the valley. They were much esteemed for their hospitable attentions to travellers, who overtaken by night, sought shelter at their hearth, which was the only one in the Notch, their nearest neigh- bours being at the farm aforementioned, six miles distant. The hills at that time were thickly overgrown with forest- A subaltern's fuhlough. 147 trees and shrubs ; nor had any thing- ever occurred to make them suspicious of the safetjr of their position, un- til the descent of a small avalanche, or slide of earth, near the house in the month of June, 1826, so terrified them by the havoc it caused, that they erected a small camp in what they deemed a more secure place, half a mile lower down the Saco. The summer had been unusually dry until the beginning" of July, Avhen the clouds collecting- about the mountains poured forth their waters as though the flood- gates of the heavens were opened, the wind blew in most terrific hurricanes, and continued with unabated violence for several days. On the night of the 26th of the month, the tempest increased to a fearful extent, the lightning flashed so vividly, accompanied by such awful howling of wind and roaring of thunder, that the peasantry ima- gined the day of judgment was at hand. At break of day on the 27th, the lofty mountains were seamed with the numerous avalanches which had descended during* the night. Ever}'- one felt anxious respecting the safety of the family in the valley, but some days elapsed before the river subsided so far from its e^ttraordinary height as to allow any inquiries to be made. A peasant swimming his horse across an eddy was the first person who enter- ed the Notch, when the terrible spectable of the entire face of the hills having descended in a body presented it- self The Willeys' house, which remained untouched amidst the vast chaos, did not contain any portion of the family, whose bodies, after a search of some da3-s, with the exception of two children, were discovered buried under some drift-wood within 200 yards of the door, the hands of Miss Willey and a labourer grasping the same fragment. They had all evidenth^ retired to rest, and most probably, alarmed by the sound of an avalanche, had rushed out of the house, when they were swept away by the overwhelminsf torrent of earth, trees, and water The most miraculous fact is that the avalanche, descending with the vast impetuosity an abrupt declivity of 1500 feet would give it, approached within four feet of the house, when suddently dividing, it swept round, and, carrying away an adjoining stable with some horses, it again form- ed a junction within a few yards of the front. A flock 148 A subaltern's furlough. of sheep which had sought shelter under the lee of the^ house were saved ; but the family had fled from the only spot where any safety could have been found, every other part of the valley being buried to the depth of several feet, and their camp overwhelmed by the largest avalanche which fell. A person standing m rear of the house can now with ease step upon the roof, the earth forming such a perpendicular and solid wall. A small avalanche was seen descending from one of the mountains some days after the above occurrence. The thick pine forest at first moved steadily along in its up- right position, but soon began to totter in its descent, and. fell headlong down with redoubled fury and violence, fol- lowed by rivers of floating earth and stones, which spread over the plain, carrying devastation far and wide. The long heat of summer had so dried and cracked the ground that the subsequent rains found easy admission under the roots of trees, which, loosened by the violence of the wind, required but little to set the whole in motion. There was no tradition of a similar descent having ever taken place ; but, upon a close examination, traces of one which had eridentlj occurred more than a century before could be discovered amongst the forest. * A chance stone rolling down the mountain's side, and a partridge starting up from under my feet during the time I was occupied in sketching, brought an unvoluntaiT shudder over my limbs, and the very idea of an avalanche descending and interring me alive caused me to hurry through my work and pursue my progress out of the lonely valley. The ground ascends gradually to the gap, which is twenty feet wide, between lofty barriers of solid rock, the Saco and road both passing through this space, which was widened by blasting twenty-two years since. Previous to that time the road passed over the summit of the rocks, at so precipitous a pitch that the farmers were obliged to carry their produce on its way to Portland over that part of the road themselves, assisting their horses by means of ropes and the bridle up the ascent. A new sleigh, formed of two young pine-trees, in a few minutes enabled them to pursue their journey. The Saco rises in a small flat opposite T. Crawford's inn, half a mile far- A subaltern's furlough. 149 tber, from which to E. Crawford's, where I found my bag-gage, was four miles through an almost impenetrable forest. There being no other visitors at this late season, my evenings were passed by the fire-side in listening to my host's lengthy stories about hunting the cariboo, moose, deer, bears, and partridges, with which the mountains abound, and which he went in pursuit of with a gun of four feet barrel; or in sympathizing with him in his dis- tress at what he considered his sole property being poach- ed upon by no less a person than the proprietor of a rival hotel, which was opened within three-quarters of a mile, and, displaying a gaily painted sign of a lion (like a snarling cur) and an eagle, looking unutterable things at each other from opposite sides of the globe, had already attracted numerous guests. Mine host stated the merits of his case with great eloquence, and, from his having been the original guide, surveyor, and maker of the road up the mountain, he had some right to look upon the new comer in the light of an interloper. The spirit of rivalry had, however, proved of some service, having incited him to m.ake considerable additions to his own house, all of which Were run up with true American expedition. The white pine was growing in the forest in January, and in June formed an inhabited house, the planks, which coit only five dollars per thousand, being kiln-dried as soon as they came from the saw-mill. After waiting most patiently two days for the clouds to clear off, and afford me a sight of the lofty mountains, I resolved to take my departure the following morning, with- out attaining the grand object of my journey. Upon awaking on the 21st of October, after a violent stormy night, I found the window of my room thickly encrusted with frost. In an instant I sprang out of bed, and, seeing a clear blue sky, hurried on my dress, tumbled down stairs head foremost, minus hat, stock, and boots, but with pen- cils, paper, rubber, and board in hand, and throwing back the door of the house, rushed into the open air to seize the long-wished-for sketch, when, lo and behold! thick dark clouds hung more heavily about the mountain's brow than even on the preceding days. The wind, too, cut N* 150 A subaltern's furlough, like a razor (that of the briny gods upon the equator, I mean,) so I darted up stairs again into my berth, and, burying my head under the clothes, blamed myself for not having selected a room which had one window at least towards the mountains. My host, however, consoled me at breakfast with the news that the wind was blowing the clouds away, and that my wishes would be gratified in the course of the day ; but, upon my proposing to ascend Mount Washington, which was thickly covered with snow, the guide said that " he would not go up for a five-dollar bill, for that it would require two men to hold my hat on." I therefore satisfied my climbing propensity for that day by ascending Mount Deception, which is well named, and affords ample fatigue for unambitious travellers. The prospect that the ensuing day would bring more moderate weather induced me to prolong my stay for the purpose of ascending the loftiest. Mount Washington is nearly in the centre of a con- tinued range running from north to south, each of which, is named after the presidents of the United States in suc- cession : but, as usual, one political party of the people- will not consent to General Jackson's name being aggran- dized or immortalized in the range of White Mountains The height of the principal of this chain above the waters of the Connecticut River at Lancaster, 300 miles from the sea, is as folio v^s ; Washington, 5849 feet ; Adams, 5882; Jefferson, 5280; Madison, 5038; Monroe, 4931 ; auincy, 4470 ; Pleasant, or Jackson, 4338. T. Crawford's houso is 635 higher than the Willeys', and 345 higher than E. Crawford's, which is 1069 feet above the Connecticut. Avalanches have descended from all the summits, and continued for a great distance along the level ground, the largest (which is from Mount Jackson) being upwards of four miles in lenofth. At half-past four, on the morning of the 22d of Octo- ber, I set oft' in company with a guide for the foot of Mount Washington, leaving the selection of the road to luy steed, which, having served a long apprenticeship, car- ried me safely through the Huckleberry swamps and forest for six miles. We were detained a few minutes by some windfalls, which the guide cleared away with his A subaltern's furlough. 151 axe ; and after fording two small creeks, and the broad bed of the Ammonoosuck River four different times, we arrired at a place where the road being impassable for horses, we tied them to a tree and commenced the ascent. The guide favoured me with brief advice upon the thesis of" Festina lente," and, profiting by his hint of not com- mencing the journey at too rapid a pace, I led the way up a rough and steep path, which admitted of our walk- ing only in Indian file. It became excessively precipi- tous at Jacob's Ladder, 100 feet in height, which is formed of smooth angular stones, and could not be ascend- ed except by assistance from the roots of neighbouring trees. The lower part of the mountain was covered with deep moss and forest, which diminished in growth as we ascended; the beach and mountain-ash gave way to spruce, which dwindled at every step, and at the cape of a long projecting ridge called the " Camel's Rump," it did not grow more than six inches high, the branches shooting out in long horizontal fibres, inclined towards the base, as if seeking shelter from the strong gusts of wind which sweep down the mountain's side. At Table Rock, two miles from the base, all vegetation ceased, excepting a few- occasional patches of cranberries and coarse grass, which, half a mile farther, gave place to sharp glittering frag- ments of rock, partly overgrown with grey moss. All natural landmarks ceasing, small fragments of loose stones have been erected for the guidance of people who may be enveloped in the clouds. After climbing up one or two steep pitches, we gained the summit at a quarter past eight, having been an hour and three- quarters in the performance of three miles from the base. The view from it is most extensive, nearly one hundred mountain tops rising beneath the feet like the billowy swellings of the ocean; but it did not, I must confess, altogether answer my expectations, nor, to my taste, was it equal to that from Mount Holyoke, where all was richness and life. Here was an unvaried view of moun- tain and dale alike covered with forest, the small settle- ments but indistinctly visible from such an altitude, and scarcely relieving so dark a mass. The course of the rapid Connecticut was marked out by the light morning 152 A subaltbrn's fvrlotjgh. mist floating over it ; the green mountains of Vermont were visible eighty miles' distant in the west ; and a long streak of light, far away upon the eastern horizon, appeared to point out the waters of the broad Atlantic ; but the sun shining brightly upon the surface of the va- pours in the valleys rendered appearances so deceptive that it was difficult to distinguish between them and the numerous lakes with which that portion of the country abounds. The summits of all the White Mountains, excepting that of Washington, which has a short flat ridge with a slight peak at each end, are rounded off, and composed of loose fragments of granite, which, at the distance of some miles, assumes the white appearance from which they take their name. The intense heat of the American summer usually thaws the snow upon them by the end of August, but this year it was found, during that month nearly ten feet deep in the ravines upon the eastern side, and for several days had again covered the last mile of the ascent with a fresh coat. The walk had so heated ' me that when I sat down on the cold rock, to partake of our bread and cheese breakfast, with ice in lieu of water (the springs being frozen,) the keen air almost made my blood, which had been accustomed to warmer climes, freeze in my veins, the thermometer standing three de- grees below the freezing point at nine o'clock, with a cloudless sky. The Ammonoosuck River, rising in a small pond between the summits of Washington and Madison, rushes down the declivity for 4000 feet, with a tumultuous uproar, and, taking its course past E. Craw- ford's house, flows into the Connecticut a few miles below Bath. I found the descent more difficult, though more rapid, than the ascent, my feet slipping from under me several times upon the icy surface, and causing me to shoot far- ther a-head than my own free-will would have dictated The guides have a great source of profit in the beavers with which the mountains abound, each skin producing a dollar. They take many hundreds of them in the autumn, by means of traps composed of a larch tree, with a transverse one upon it, set along the sides of the A subaltern's furlough. 153 path at forty yards' distance from each other, and baited with meat. In two hours we gained the hotel nine miles from the summit, and taking one of the common dear- borns or wagons which was passing a few minutes after, and perfoimed the duty of the mail in those rough roads[ I proceeded thirteen miles through an uninhabited dis- trict to Bethlehem, the settlement of some new religious sect, and arrived at Littleton the same evening. 154 A subaltern's furlough, CHAPTER XIL I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician. Shakspea-RE. Once more upon the -waters ! yet once more ! And the waves bound beneath me as a steed That knows his rider— w-elcome to their roar ! Swift be their guidance. ^ Byron. My native isle, lov'd Albion. SOTHEBT. .... the natural atmosphere, Extremely wholesome, though but rarely clear. Byron. The 23d, from sunrise to sunset, was cold and rainy; and the small village of Littleton, with its streams and streets blocked up with rafts and piles of timber, present^ ing no inducement to move out, my morning was passed away in flattering the landlady's vanity, at the expense of my own taste, by praising a wretched daub (evidently the handiwork of some sign-painter) intended as a repre- sentation of her pretty daughter, and afterwards discuss- ing state affairs with a weather-bound American tra- veller, who had settled it much to his own satisfaction, notwithstanding all my assertions to the contrary, that he was addressing a colonel high in command in the British army. No one upon earth, save a Yankee, could have discovered that I even held a commission of any degree ; but he possesses a kind of sleight-of-hand method of un- dermining and grubbing out news. " Well but, Kernel, you are taking minutes, and intend publishing, I calc'late? You can prepare your sketches for the type?" " Well now, I declare there is Ethan Crawford's and the White Mountains ! a'int it so ?" I thought the man must be a decided quiz, and resolved that he should not have all the sport to himself, so gave him a story or two, about th« truth of which I wished him to be rather sceptical, of the A subaltern's furlough. 155 fingernails of the East Indian devotees growing through back of their hands — the burning of widows— a banian- tree covering several acres of land — the Arab horses eating sheeps' heads, and a long string of similar marvellous but daily occurrences. At the onset his countenance assumed a stare of the greatest admiration and astonish- ment ; but when I brought the sheeps' head to bear in full force, he rose from his chair, and, squirting a mouth- ful of tobacco-juice into the grate, walked to and fro upon the floor of the room, with his hands in his pockets, whistling " Yankee Doodle," and thus made my triumph complete. " I rode out early the following morning to the iron- works at Franconia, about six miles distant. They are the property of a company, and produce a metal of soft, tough quality, considered superior to any in the States. The ore is found in considerable quantities in the hills, three niiles distant, and supplies another foundry in the imme- diate vicinity; both establishments, however, are upon a small scale. Pursuing the Plymouth road for seven miles, I entered the Franconia Notch, a continuation of the White Mountains' range, and visited the " Profile of the Old Man of the Mountain," which is a most singular lusus natur®. An exact representation of the human features, as seen in profile, is most correctly delineated by the hand of nature upon the brow of a bare rock nearly iOOO feet in perpendicular height. No art could improve the ef- fect, nor could any attempt be made to assist it; for, the profile being seen perfect only from one point, the slight- est deviation from that spot throws all into a confusedmass. The upper part of the rock, too, upon which it appear, is so overhanging and free from shrubs for nearly 200 feet that all access to it is impracticable. One branch of the Pemigewasset River, which subsequently takes the name of the Merrimac, rises in a small pond at its base, and opposite to Mount Lafayette, which is 4300 feet in height. We set of the same afternoon in a mail cart drawn by one horse, over a hilly road and a good farming country, to the Connecticut River which we crossed to Waterford in the State of Vermont. Walking into a small tavern at 156 A subaltern's furlough, seven o'clock, during the time our solitary horse was re' lieving, we found a fine portly landlord, sitting with his legs crossed, reading a newspaper by the blaze of a cheerful wood-fire, " Good evening, Colonel," said the driver; "tarnal cold weather this." "Aye," answered the gallant officer, rising from his arm-chair to make room for us, and resembling a trundling hogshead of ale in colour and shape, as he moved towards the bar; '•you are here sooner than I calc'lated; I've been at work fixing the road till sun-down, and making it as easy for you as 1 could by throwing dirt on it." So, in truth, it proved; for we could scarcely move two miles an hour through this marsh of his creation. I had fre- quently taken notice of this novel method of making or repairing a road in these parts of the States. The art consisted in first turning the ground up with a common plough, which was followed by a slightly-curved, broad board, edged with iron, and a long handle attached, which, upon being elevated by the person who had the guidance of the machine, penetrated the loose earth, and scooped itself full, when, being again depressed, the load was moved by a yoke of oxen to that part of the road which required repairs, and not unfrequentlywas it emp- tied into a deep rut filled with water. The Americans m general are not much given to wasting time, labour, and expense, upon the highways. During a journey of !500 miles J did not see a solitary labourer employed xipon them. Three hours' cold drive over the same miserable roads took us by six o'clock on the morning of the 25th to Ca- bot, nine miles from Danville, where we had passed the night. Thence passing the pretty falls of the Winooskie, which rushed over a forest-crowned precipice by the road side, we continued along the tourse of the stream to Mont- pelieT,the capital of V^ermont, containing 2000 inhabitants, and situated in a retired valley about half a mile wide, encircled by lofty hills, and at the junction of the Onion and Winooskie rivers. It was a day of election, and the State-house, a shabby-looking edifice occupying one side of a square, was crowded with the inhabitants, amongst whom a great sensation had been created by the A subaltern's furlough. 157 proposed removal of the seat of government to Burling- ton on Lake Cliamplain, thirty-eight miles distant. Six horses took us rapidly from Montpelier along th^ margin of the Onion River, a narrow stream, but subject to heavy and sudden floods. The preceding year all the mills and factories at Middlesex, through which we passed, were carried away by the waters, and in many instances rough gravel-beds, or plains of white sand, had been left in exchange for rich and fertile meadows. One house was pointed out to me as having floated three-quarters of a milo from its original position, without much apparent injury ; another had been left by the retiring of the wa- ters on its gable end, and many had been swept away with all the proprietors' goods and chattels towards Lake Champlain. Not a bridge escaped uninjured: we crossed one, constructed entirely of thick planks, upon a similar principle, and with similar success, to the sloop "Experi- ment" at Washington. Symptoms of yielding to passing carriages early appeared, and the centre was now strengthened and supported by strong props from the bed of the river. The coachman pulled up for a few minutes to enable us to take a peep at the natural bridge near Bolton, the road passing within a few feet of the deep chasm at whose base it is formed. Appearances plainly demonstrate that the ridge which appears on each bank was originally connected, forming the dam of a large lake, and that the bridge was caused by the w^aters forc- ing the barrier, and the falling masses of rock becoming wedged in the narrow space. Four or five miles farther is seen the loftiest of the Green Mountains, known by the name of the Camel's Rump, from the form of its summit, which however bears a much closer resemblance to the Li- on Couchant at the Cape of Good Hope. The whole jour- ney from Montpelier was delightfully pleasant, andthrough a most romantic valley, from a quarter to a half mile in width, bounded by abrupt limestone rocks, which rose at intervals, w^ith the lofty range of the Green Mountains in their rear. Extensive farms of rich alluvial soil occu- pied either side of the Onion River, and numerous pic- turesque villages were scattered over the face of a hilly and wooded country. VOL. II. — o. i58 A SUBALtERN's FURLOUGP?. The sun had set ere we arrived within a view of ihd buildings of the University of Vermont, which crown the eminence at the entrance to Burlington. My limited time would not admit of a stay of any duration, but it ap- peared, en passant, a neat, pretty town, built on a light, sandy soil, lising gradually from the Lake. Taking the steamer which touched at ten o'clock the samenio:ht on its passage from St. John's, on the Sorel River, we proceeded down Champlain, with a cabin full of fiery, hot-headed Clayites and Jacksonmen, each espousing the cause of his favourite candidate so warmly that sleep was out of the question for any of the non-combatants. Fa- tigued with the length of my day's journey, I retired ear- ly to my berth for the purpose of inviting the drowsy god; but, the war of words waging louder and louder, I relinquished it, for the sake of learning whether any individual could possibly broach any thing new upon the subject. The only instance that occurred was in the person of a tall, broad-shouldered Kentukian, some six feet two inches in height, who, to my infinite satisfaction, put an end to the discussion, and dispersed the entire conclave, by saying to a little Clayman, "You are a pretty sample of a white man, now a'int you? I wish I had a tallow-candle here to grease your head, and I would swallov/ you whole." The man of Clay, though little in body, was great and spirit, and, nothing daunted, drew himself up to his utmost height, which did not exceed five feet three, and bustling up to the tall Kentuckian he an- swered, with a w^ariike shake of his head, " You would find me a bitter pill, I guess." The several disputants, however, slunk off to their cots before the wrath of the western giant, and in a few minutes more, all electioneer- ing animosities appeared buried in temporary oblivion, or superseded by the long arid deep-drawn breath which is- sued from their respective berths. We passed the classical spot of Ticonderoga, the scene of so much bloodshed, at break of day, and arrived with- in a mile of Whitehall by eight o'clock, when, the river becoming too narrow for the steamer, the passengers walked to the town over a flat, swampy ground, and im- mediately after breakfast embarked in a packet-boat, on A subaltern's rURLOUOH. 159 the Champlain and Hudson Canal. The piers were covered with people, who assembled to witness the start- ing" of the opposition coaches and boats, w^hich, as usual elsewhere, were exerting themselves to ruin each other. A steamer gained a quarter of an hour's start, but six horses towed us through the water at a half canter, and we overtook it upon the point of entering a lock, when it again gained a few minutes by leaving it full of water. Any one would have imagined that all the passengers had some great stake at risk, so laboriously did they toil at opening the gates, and exert themselves to gain upon their rival. The road running parallel with the canal, I stepped into a coach which was pursuing the same route, my baggage in the hurry being thrown ashore most unceremoniously. The steamer's progress through the Avater being impeded by having her paddles under the centre of the vessel, she was soon left far in the rear. Two miles beyond the long straggling village of Fort Anne, we entered upon the military road constructed by General Burgoyne for the transportation of his batteaux and artillery, on the march from Quebec upon the Hud- son in 1777, two months previous to his surrender at Saratoofa. Portions of it are at this time in an excellent state of preservation, though upon the marshy ground it is formed of the trunks of trees a la corduroy. It takes nearly a direct line for the town of Sandy Hill, below which the British General threw a bridge of rafts across the river, and took post at Saratoga on the opposite bank. At the last-named town, twenty miles from Whitehall, we gained the first view of the Hudson, which is here about 200 yards wide, and bounds, murmuring between high and well-cultivated banks, over a succession of shallows, with a descent of seventy feet in a quarter of a mile. Descending the hill into Fort Edward, two miles farther, an aged pine tree, w^hose summit has been blasted by the lightning, is :seen within a few yards to the right of the road. By the side of the spring at its foot, the melancholy murder of Miss M'Crae was perpetrated by the Indians who accompanied Burgoyne's army in the disastrous expedition of 1777. ThitS young ladj, who resided at Fort Edward, was both 160 beautiful and highly accomplished, and was contracted in marriage to a refugee officer of the name of Jones, in the British service, who, anxious that the union should take place, despatched a party of Indians to escort her to the British camp. In opposition to the wishes and entreaties of her friends, she willingly entrusted herself to their charge, but had proceeded only thus far upon the journey when they were met by another party, sent upon the same errand. A dispute arising about the promised reward (a barrel of rum), she was slain in a fit of savage passion by the chief, from whose hands she was snatched, and her scalp carried to her agonized lover, who was anxiously expecting the return of the parties, as a testimony that they had not failed in part performance of their commis- sion. It is said that the officer died soon after of a broken heart. The Americans at that time industriously promul- gated a report throughout the country, for the purpose of further incensing the people against the English, and widening the breach between the provinces and the mother country, that the unfortunate young lady had been mur- dered by the express desire of General Burgoyne, and that he had actually paid a reward to the Indians for her scalp. Such was the tenor of a letter from Gates, the American General, who did not hesitate in the most direct terms to accuse the British chieftain of so revolting a deed. Bur- goyne's answer was spirited and manljr- he said that, in this instance, he was induced to deviate from his general rule of "disdaining to justify himself against the rhapso- dies of fiction and calumny," lest silence should be con- strued into an acknowledgement of the charge, at the same time expressing his abhorrence of the deed in these words : " By this motive and upon this only, I conde- scend to inform you that I would not be conscious of the acts you presume to impute to me for the whole conti- nent of America, though the wealth of worlds was in its bowels, and a paradise upon its surface." We have seen that Dr. Emmons has charged the British wdth having committed similar barbarities during the late war and doubtless for similar laudable purposes. The tree, with Miss M'Crae's initials engraven upon it, still con- tinues an object of veneration to the inhabitants of the A subaltern's furlough. 161 village ; and an old-fashioned house was pointed out to me, near the outline of an ancient French fort, as being ■the residence of the unfortunate young lady. Her re- mains were removed eight or nine years since from the spot where she fell to Fort Edward Church. Three miles below Fort Miller, the surface of the country becoming more broken, we crossed the river to the right bank. The canal, which runs parallel with the road, crosses at the same time, by means of a dam to lull the rapids, thrown across the stream some distance below the bridge ; and in a few minutes we arrived at Schuylerville, the scene of Burgoyne's surrender. The field in which the British laid down their arms is upon a long plain, between two ranges of heights, near the banks of the Hudson. We changed horses and coachman at the village, the latter mounting his seat in such disgraceful state of intoxication that he could not even see the reins, but attempted to make amends by the use of his whip, with which he plied the horses so im- moderately that they whirled us along at full gallop over hill and dale, with the coach at a most alarming vicinity to a fifty-foot precipice whose base was washed by the river, with no defence nor guard between them. After he had twice fallen from his seat and injured himself se- verely, we resolved to run no further risks, but alighted upon the field of battle of B emus' Heights, eight miles from Schuylerville, and, having taken a short inspection of the ground, proceeded onwards a-foot. A farmer over- taking us in his wagon, proposed to convey us to the next town, six rniies distant, where we arrived about an hour after our baggage. After twice crossing the river again, once by bridge at Waterford, and, by ferry at Troy, four miles lower down, we arrived at Albany, the capi- tal of the state of New- York, when the night was far ad- vanced. At eight o'clock the following morning, we proceeded in the Champlain, a splendid steamer, down the Hud- son. The channel, for several miles below Albany, is intricate and shallow ; the banks low, not well cultivated, and possessing but little interest, until we came to Cox- sackie Landing, when they become more elevated, and 0* 162 A subaltern's furlough. the scenery gradually improves as the stream approaches the ocean. The lofty range of the Catskill Mountains are seen rearing their wooded summits to the height of 3800 feet, ten miles distant from the right bank, with the long white buildings of an hotel, the favourite rendez- vous of New- York fashionables in the summer sea- son, at the cool elevation 2200 feet above the Hudson. A few miles below, at Kingston and Red Hook, is the only considerable group of gentlemen's country resi- dences (in the English acceptation of the term) I had seen, which have more an air of Aristocracy about them than the houses in any other part of the States I visit- ed. They are prettily scattered along the margin of the river for an extent of several miles, with extensive pleasure grounds attached to them. I took advantage of the steamer touching to land at West-Point, the seat of the Government Military Aca- demy, 94 miles from Albany. It is situated in a roman- tic spot at the entrance to the H^ighlands, a mountainous rocky ridge, running parallel v/ith the Hudson on both banks for twenty miles, and generally rising very abruptly from the water to various heights, from 800 to 1000 feet. The Cadets' Barracks, the game formal and substantially- built edifices as elsewhere for similar purposes, with the houses of the commandant and officers attached to the institution, form nearly three sides of a square, with a parade-ground in the open space, upon a plain about 200 feet above the river. The rear is sheltered from the south and west by a hill 600 feet in height, crowned by the remnants of a revolutionary fort, which are, as the Americans boast, the only ruins in the United States. In a redoubt at an angle of the parade-ground, a white marble monument is inscribed with the name of Kosci- usko, the Polish patriot, w^ho resided in a small house on the sloping bank of the river, and occupied much of his time in cultivatinsf a ora.rden, w'hich still bears marks of his industry and taste. West-Point was one of the strongest American holds during the war of indepen- dence, and is celebrated as being the cause of the unfor- tunate Major Andre's death. Colonel Beverly Robin- son's house, which was confiscated in consequence of A subaltern's furlough. 103 the active part the proprietor took in bringing about the conference between Andre and Arnold, is on the oppo- site side of the river, and visible from the parade-ground. The institution received its first organization by an act of Congress in 1812. The number of students is limit- ed to 250, all of whom are educated and maintained at the expense of the general Government, the annual cost of each being about 72Z. sterling. At this time there was nearly the full complement, being a much greater number than is required for the officering of the small .American standing army of 6000 men; but many of those educated here prove of infinite service in the su- perintendence of public works as civil engineers, and in organizing the militia. The average number of those who are commissioned in the regular army from the aca- demy but little exceeds one-third of those who are enter- ed at it; about one-eighth are discharafed, and the re- maining proportion resign. They are permitted to en- ter between the ages of 14 and 22, preference being given to the applications of the sons of officers engaged in the revolutionary war ; and next to the sons of officers killed in action, or the sons of deceased officers who were ensfao-ed during; the last war wnth Great Britain. The system of education and military drill are taken closely from that of the French, and I verily believe that the Americans would give the preference to a system which emanated from that nation, though it were inferior to that in practice in England. The drills are confined to the infantry and artillery service, there being no riding-school nor detachment of cavalry at the station, for instruction in that useful arm of warfare, which' will daily become more requisite as the forests disappear be- fore the woodman's axe. In many respects the site of the Academy is an ill-chosen and inconvenient one, the ground being too contracted and abrupt for cavalry movements, in case they should be required, and too rocky for the construction of field works and landscape sketching. It cannot be a matter of surprise that so ma- ny of the young men resign their claims to commissions, the army being scattered in distant and small detach- ments along some thousands of miles of coast and fron- 164 A SUBALTERN S FITRLOUGH. tier, many of them removed far away out of the pale of all society, which, in times of peace, tends so much to render the profession an agreeable one. The ranks of it are also recruited with great difficulty, and many European emigrants may be found serving under the American standard. The very nature of the government totally unfits the people for strict military discipline ; they are more calculated for militia and active irregular warfare than for garrison or outpost duties. Although the term of enlistment is for a very limited period (five years only, I believe,) desertions thin their ranks daily, as may be seen by the following report of the Secretary of War, bearing date the 22d of February, 1830 :— Year. Desertions. 1823 . 668 1824 . 811 1825 . 803 1826 . 636 1827 . 848 1828 . 820 1829 . 1083 .1 Courts Martial. Cost, in dollm's. 1093 . 58,677 1175 . 70,398 . 1208 67,488 1115 59,393 991 . 61,344 . 1476 62,137 96,826 So, calculating the army at 6000, which is its utmost ex- tent, upwards of one-fifth have deserted and one-fourth have been tried by courts-martial during the last year in- cluded in the above return ; and, taking that of the low- est year one in nine have deserted, and one in six hav« been tried by a military court ! The general average gives the number of desertions in nine years equal to the whole army, and that of courts-martial equal to it in four years. Desertions from the English troops on the American frontier, I am sorry to say, are not unfrequent but they are extremely insignificant when compared with the above. That the present standing army of the United States is too small for even checking the preda- tory incursions of the Indians is evident from the cir- cumstance that, at the breaking out of the war with the Sac and Fox Indians, near the Illinois territory, imme- diately after my arrival in America, a placard, address- ed " to the Patriotic Young Men of New- York," was posted in every conspicuous part of that city, stating that A subaltern's furlough. 165 500 volunteers were " required for immediate service upon the north-west frontier." I could not ascertain whether any such soldiers of a day composed part of the force which proceeded upon service, but nearly an entire division of which deserted to Upper Canada when their more dreaded enemy, the cholera, appeared amongst the ranks. I twice saw the cadets at drill, but their long hair, dirty grey uniform, and want of erect military carriage, were sufficient to mar the appearance of the finest body of men in the world under arms. The words of com- mand, too, were issued in such a drawling careless tone of voice, that the movements were necessarily performed in a similar manner, — devoid of all smartness and preci- sion. The interior economy of the establishment, how- ever, is said to be well conducted, and strict discipline is enforced by Colonel Thayer, the present gentlemanly and able commandant. Though the soldierlike appear- ance of the cadets might not have exactly come up to my expectations, yet, if ever the two nations are so unfortu- nate as to meet ag-ain in hostile array, the good efll^cts of this institution will be apparent in the polished manners and information acquired there by the American officers. In former campaigns, generals have been called from the rear of their counters to assume the command of armies, and men who could not even sign their name from the plough to head divisions. Owing to the scattered state of the forces, it was my fortune to become acquainted with only few military and naval officers ; but the uniform at- tention and kindness I experienced from all was such that I should feel proud in being enabled to render similar courtesies to any one bearing a commission from the Unit- ed States. We embarked in the afternoon of the 28th of October in the gigantic steamer, the " North America," which shot through the Highlands at the rate of sixteen miles an hour, f should have had all the New-Yorkers up in arms, and inveighing against me in no measured terms, had I ventured to express any thing like disappointment at the scenery of the Hudson. But so it was, and my expectations were not realized ; because, as at the Falls 166 A subaltern's furlough. of the Mohawk, its beauties had been much overrated. J had generally heard the Hudson compared to the Rhine, and many, indeed, professed to think it superior; but my Avant of taste (I should imagine) would no more admit of such a comparison than it would that New- York and London should be mentioned in the same breath. The scenery between Albany and West-Point is not in any ways remarkable ; the Highlands, when taken sepa- rately, have nothing interesting, and no single reach of the river possesses any particular beauty. The rocky hills, covered with a thin and low growth of trees, ap- proach to the water's edge, without any signs of cultiva- tion or habitations to give the scenery life. The tout ensemhle is all that is pleasing, and the numerous crag- gy precipices towering one above another alone possess any claims to the picturesque. I had kept the H^udson in reserve, as a kind of bonne bouche, previous to my im- mediate departure for England, expecting that I might .see it to the greatest advantage at a late season in the year. For this hint I was indebted to the great Ameri- can novelist, and shall make a short extract from the " 8py " as being more graphical than any thing I can compose upon the subject, and as exonerating me from the trouble of penning a laboured description. " To be seen in their perfection, the Highlands must be passed im- mediately after the fall of the leaf The picture is then in its chastest keeping; for neither the scanty foliage which the summer lends the trees nor the snows of winter are present to conceal the minutest object from the eye. Chilling solitude is the characteristic of the scenery; nor is the mind at liberty, as in March, to look forward to a renewed vegetation that is soon to check, without improving the view." After passing the Highlands, the river expands into several fine bays, and the shores assume a more fertile appearance. In turn we rapidly passed the extensive pile of buildings of Sing-Sing state prison, conducted on a similar system to Auburn, and Tarry -town in the vicinity of Sleepy Hollow, of Sketch-book memory, with Tappan upon the opposite side of the bay of that name. A pas. ^enger pointed out to me a spot upon the road which wind? A Subaltern s furlough. d^wn the side of a hill from the Highlands into the little village of Tarry-town, where the tree formerly stood under which the three militia-men were playing at cards, when Major Andre rode up, and, losing his usual presence of mind, was captured; one of the three men is yet living. I perfectly agreed in the old passenger's remark, as he was relating how he had played under the very tree when a child, " that Andre was too much of a gentleman and too honourable a man foj the undertaking." I believe that the Americans generally sympathized in his fate, and that great efforts were made by Washington to capture Arnold, and thus save Andre. Though it must be allow- ed that he suffered according to the rules of civilized war- fare, yet still I am one of those who think, considering all the circumstances of the case, that Andre might have been well spared, and such an act of mercy would have added another ray to the lustre of Washington's name. Andre's remains were removed at the latter end of the reign of George III. from the valley in rear of Tappan, to a vault in Westminster Abbey.* The Palisadoes, a range of perpendicular flutted rocks, like the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, extend along the right bank of the river, to the height of 200 feet, and exclude all prospects of the interior for 20 miles below Tappan. The opposite side is also high ground, but inter- spersed with villages and cultivated lancls. The evening had set in by the time we approached New- York, where the long lines of streets, running in a direct line from the river, brilliantly lighted with gas, and steamers momen- tarily passing us, which left a long fiery, comet-like train of sparks from the many chimneys of their timber-fed furnaces, presented altogether a fine Vauxhall effect. In three hours and a half from the time we had left West- Point, we landed at New- York, fifty miles distant, though a flood-tide hadbeenmaking against us during the greater part of the time. The " Champlain," in which I embarked at Albany, performed the entire trip of 144 miles in little more than nine hours, including fourteen stoppages to land passengers, being an average speed of nineteeii miles per hour. * Vide Appendix III. 168 A subaltern's FunLouaH. The city had now resumed its wonted gaiety ; the cho- lera panic had ceased; the citizens had returned to their customary occupations, and Broad way was again thronged with carriages and the battery with loungers. The theatres were re-opened ; the witty auctioneer was again punning to a crowded room ; and an Italian Companj^ had established themselv^es, bidding fair to supersede the per- formers of the drama in public opinion ; in short, all care appeared to have vanished with the pestilence. It now only wanted two or three days to the commencement, of the quadrennial election, and new squibs or caricatures were hourly teeming from the press. Hickory-trees, em- blems of the Jackson party, were planted in many streets of the upper part of the city, and were as often cut down during the night by the advocates of Clay. I saw one, nearly 69 feet in height, brought across the East River from Brooklyn, accompanied by a grand display of boats, colours, and music, and afterwards planted with much ceremony upon one of the quays. Every one assured me that party spirit had not run so high since the republic had been acknowledged, and I can certainly testify that the whole country was in a perpetual state of ferment from the day of my landing until that of my embarka- tion for England. Thereis generally a break in the weather in the month of October, which, from being cold and boisterous, be- comes mild and genial as spring during several days, and is termed " Indian summer." It continued during my stay in New-York, nor could any thing be more delight- fully pleasant than it was. The few days I had to remain ashore were passed in visiting Staten Island and the sur- rounding country, which I had omitted during my former visit. I also attended the Bowery Theatre one evening to witness the performance of a new national drama, en- titled " the Cradle of Liberty," in which, as usual, all the wit was upon one side, and levelled point blank at the British. Patriotic sentiments were received most enthu^ siastically, and one — " the proud flag of England shall be lowered never again to rise" — created most tumultuous ap- plause. The plot throughout was, however, a most meagre production, and the composition replete with plagiarisms, from the opening scene to the fall of the green curtain. A SUBALTERN S FURLOUGH, At sunset, on the 1st of November, 1832, the packet- ship, " North America," of (520 tons, in which I had en- gaged a passage, was clear of Sandy Hook, and standing out to sea in a thick haze before a southerly wind. The London and Havre packets were in company, but our swift sailing run them hull down in a few short hours, and we met not a single vessel from that time until we entered the chops of the channel. Scarcely any thing can exceed the comfort and attention experienced on board the American packet ships, where ilie cabins are fitted up in a costly and elegant style, and the dinner-table is loaded with a profusion of delicacies. When in addition to these recom nendations there is a gentlemanly Captain and an agreeable party of passenger* (as in this instance,) even the most misantiiropic being might live with fewreo-rets during a voyage across what has now become a mere ferry. Late oa the 5th day we were on the banks of Newfoundland, with a heavy swell, and thirty-fi ve fathoms water. The wind lulled for a few hours, as if in order to enable us to heave to under our main-topsail and take thirty cod-fish, when a north- westerly gale springing up, with sharp squalls and rairt; we scudded before it, and on tlie 14th day were in sight of the high lands round Bantry Bay and Cape Clear, Ireland, 3030 miles from our starting post. The Weather now became serene and beautiful, and, had not the dead calm which succeeded the gale threatened to frustrate all our expectations of making the shortest pas- sage upon record, we could with pleasure hav^e remained a week or two in the same situation. I never experienced a more delightful and sudden transition. The days were more mild and genial than in the month of May; the sun set with all the softness and mellowed tints of an Italian clime: and, on the nitrht of the 15th of Novembci the northern lights illumined the heavens with an unusual brilliancy. The heavy gale had swept away the dim blue haze which generally hangs over the land, and the bold and picturesque coast of the south of Ireland stood forth with all its transcendant beauties. All around us, save a dark line to windward, presented one placid and glittering sheet of long unbroken billows. Our ship was rolling VOL. IL — p. ▲ bubaltern's furlough, listlessly upon the smooth surface of the waves, just be- yond the verge of the last puff of the sea-breeze, and the number of vessels around us hourly increased, their well- filled canvass rising above the dark ripple on the distant horizon, and gradually creeping towards us with dimi- nished speed, until every sail flapped and beat itself against the straining masts in our ovvn hapless condition. In my eyes our sister isle never wore half so lovely an appear- ance, and I felt something like pride at her being seen to such advantage by the many strangers on board ; but, as if «oy and bashful, she soon drew a thick veil over her charms, or, in other words, true English v/eather set in. The long-dreaded south-easterly wind, with its usual con- comitant — a dense fog, succeeded after the expiration of two most delightful days. After beating a few hours to windward in order to wea- ther the Cape, we were enabled to bear up the channel with studding-sails set, and were ofTFlol^-head the follow- ingevening, when time again hung heavily on our hands. It was Sunday night, and the pilots preferred continuing their carousals to noticing the numerous rockets, blue lights, and signal guns we fired, and kept us beating on and off shore in squally, unpleasant weather, until day- light, when one of them took charge of the ship, and gave us the first news of a Dutch war. As usual in such cases, the accounts were greatly exaggerated ; but he had more compassion than a Cork pilot, who three days previously, boarded a vessel in which an acquaintance of mine was passenger, and destroyed the whole Russian fleet, with only the loss of a few English line-of-battle ships ; yet the information was such as to raise the military barometer of the officers on board to the hio^hest degree. The wind veered a-head during the two following days, which time barely sufficed to beat to the mouth of the Mersey, a distance of fifty miles ; nor did we land amongst the ha- zy and dark buildings of Liverpool until the 19th day from our leaving New- York bay : a fourth of this our short passage had been most provokingly swallowed up by the few miles of the Irish channel. *' You might easily pass muster as one of us ; fof I ghould never hare imagined you to be the countryman of JL subaltern's furlough. 171 TThcse sturdy fellows," said an American fellow-passengex to me, as we were pushing- our way through the dens© «rowd on the quay the following morning-, and escorting our baggage to the Custom House, where it was passed in due time ; and after the payment of half a crown for '' specimens of minerals" (videlicet, a lump of Schuylkill «oal, cedar from the tomb of Washington, splinter from the vessel which was carried over the Falls of Niagara, and part of Termination Rock from under them, with, divers other such valuable relics.) I was soon again, irundling rapidly in a good coach along the smooth road* and amid the well-cultivated lands of the broad-shouldv (td sons of Old Eng-land. APPENDIX I. The Colonies had appealed to arms for the decision of the controversy between them and the mother country for some time before they actually declared their independence of Great Britain. The subject of a separation had occupied the ablest pens in America throughout the winter of 1775 and 1776, and many of the Provinces had authorized their Representatives in the General Congress to make a proposi- tion to that effect. The breach was now too wide to be repaired, and it was evident to every one that a final separa- tion must take place. The provincialisls had now felt their strength, and had good prospects of maintaining iheir inde- pendence. The battles of Lexington and Bunker's Hill had been fought upwards of a year; the royal army had been blockaded in Boston by an undisciplined and partly unarm- ed militia ; Quebec had been laid siege to, and General Montgomery had fallen : Montreal had surrendered ; Fort Chamblee had been captured, and the whole of th» New England States were occupied by provincial troops. Colonel George Washington, who had distinguished him- self as aid-de-camp to General Braddock in his unfortunate expedition in 1755, and who was at this time forty-three years of age, had been appointed by Congress in June, 1775, as Commander-in-chief of the army "assembled for the de- fence of American liberty, and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof." At an earl)^ period in the same year, letters of marque and reprisal had been granted by the Con- gress of Massachusetts, though this heretofore had been a prerogative of the Sovereign ; and a resolution had been proposed that the Colonies should form governments inde- pendent of the Crown. At last, on the 7th of June, 1776j Richard Henry Lee, a Virginian, moved a resolution in gene- ral Congress, to the effect " that the United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent States." He wa* 1T4 APPENDIX, seconded by John Adams, and the motion \^ as carried on the 10th, by a bdre majority of the Colonies; and a cominittee consisting of Jefferson, John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Sherman, and R. Livingston, was appointed to prepare a Declaration. The first two were selected as a sub-committee. Mr. Jeffer- son, who was at this tin:e only thirty-three years of age, and by profession a lawyer, had the merit, of drawing up this important document, a few changes only being suggest- ed by Adams and Franklin. After a discussion of three days* duration, in which some iinimporta.it alterations were made by Congress, it received their approbation on the 4th of July, 1776. and was proclaimed from the steps of the State House in Philadelphia, where the assembled. It did not, however, receive the signatures of the members until the 2d of August, being previously authenticated only by those of the President and Secretary. Between the 4ih of July and this day many new, members, amongst whom were Carroll, Ta-'lor, Thornton, Clymer, Rush, Smith, and Koss, took their seats in the house, and affixed their names to the de- claration, though tliey were not present at the discussion. Hancock, an opulent merchant of Boston, was President of the Congress, though many men of more transcendent abili- ties were in that body ; hut he had gained popularity in the Provinces, from 'the circumstance of General Gage having issued a proclamation, offering a free pardon to all persons who should lay down their arms, excepting only from such pardon John Hancock and Samuel ^dams. The average length of the lives of the fifty-six signers was sixty-five years, and a remarkable difference is to be observed between the longevity of the New England dele- gates and of those from the more unhealthy States in the south. Taking the first fifteen from the New England list, there avarage age at the time of their death was sevent5^-six, while that of the ten delegates from Georgia and North and South C&rolina was fifty. The deaths of Jefferson and John Adams, who had both filled the presidential chair, form an epoch in the annals of American history; they both occurred on the 4th of Jul^r, J82H, within three hours of each other, and on the fiftieth anniversary of the day upon which they had been fellow-labourers in the work of drawing rp the celebrated document. To this may be added that Monroe, the fifth president of the United States, died on the 4th of July, 1831: thus doc^ this singular coinci- dence add a melancholy interest to that day of which, it appears, the Americans think they Can never be too proud. Charles Carroll of CarrolltOHj the last of this long list of APPENDIX. ns patriarches, has sunk into his grave within these few months, at the advanced age of ninety-six years. A copy of the original "draft is given in the following pages as produced from tlie study of Mr. Jefferson, and also another of that one which, having received a few amend- ments from the General Congress, was circulated through- out the United States, and was everywhere received with the greatest enlhusiasm. It was also proclaimed at the head of the army which was then lying in the vicinity of New-York, and only a short time previous to the disastrous defeat of the Revolutionists at Flatbush and the heights of Brooklyn on Long-Island. The fac-simile of the signatures has been taken from an authenticated copy of the original document preserved in the State-paper Office at Washington. The pen with which the signutMres were made is still to be seen in the library of one of the literary societies in Massachusetts. IN CONGRESS, Juhj 4, 1776, THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Mr. Jefferson's draft as reported by the Committee. "A Declaration by the Repre- j^entatives of the Lnited States pf America in General* Congress assembled. " When in the course of hu- man events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have con- nected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the ^s amended by Congress. " A Declaration by the Repre- sentatives of the United Statea of America in Congress assem- bled. Not altered. * The words expunged from the original draft are distinguished bj ttallai, as ar« the words that were introduced by Congress. 176 APPENDIX- earth the separate and equal sta- tion to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. " We hold these truths to be self-evident, — that all men are created equal ; that they are en- doAved by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that, to seciu'e these rights, gov- ernments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, Avhenever any form of gov- ernment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Pru- dence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and accord- ingly all experience hath shoAvn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, Avhile evils are suffera- ble, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to Avhich they are accustomed. But Avhen a long train of abuses and usur- pations, begun at a distinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right — it is their duty — to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient suffer- ance of these Colonies ; and such is now the necessity which con- " We hold these truths to hs self-evident, — that all men arc created equal ; that they are en- doAved by their Creator witk certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are institutud among men, derir- ing their just powers from ttic consent of the governed; that, Avhenever any form of gOA'^ern- ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new gOA'ernment, lay- ing its foundation on such prin- ciples and organizing its poAvcrs in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence indeed Avill dictate that govern- ments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes ; and accordingly all expe- rience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, whik evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to Avhich they are accus- tomed. ButAvhen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evin- , ces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right — it is their duty — to throw off such government, and to pro- vide ncAv guards for their future security. Such has been the pa- tient sufferance of these Colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to eUta- their former systems of gorera- APPENDIX. 177 •trains them to expunge their for- mer systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of un- remitting injuries and usurpa- tions, among which aj)pears no solitary fact to contradict the. nni- form tenoitr of the rest, but all have in direct object the establish- ment of an absohue tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid ■world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by false- hood. "He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and ne- cessary for the public good. " He has forbidden his govern- ors to pass Ia^vs of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended he has utterly neglected to attend to them. " He hns refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of peo}>le, unless those people would relinquish the right of representa'ion in the Legislature; a riglit inestimable to them, and formidable to ty- i-ants only. "He has called too-ether legis- lative bodies at i)lKces unusual, uncomfortable, and distant fi-nm the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. ** He has dissolved representa- tive houses repeatedly and con- tinually., for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rig^hts of the people. ment. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a histo- ry of repeated injuries and visur- pations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. Not altered. Not altered. Not altered- Not altered. " He has dissolved representa- tive houses repeatedly for oppos- ing with manly firmness his in- vasions on the rights of the peo- ple. 178 APPENDIX. " He has refused for a long Not alUred time after such dissolutions to cause others to be elected, wiiere- by the leii^islative powers, incapa- ble of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. "He has endeavoured to pre- Not altered, rent the populaiion of these States ; for that purpose obstruct- ing the laws for the naturaliza- tion of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. " He has 5?«^ererf the adminis- "He has oftsfrwcfcd the admin- tration of justice totally to cease i^tration of justice, by refusing in some of these States, refusing his assent to laws for establLshing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers, judiciary powers. "He has made owr judges de- pendent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries. "He has erected a mxiltitude of new offices, hy a self-assumed poicer, and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. "He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies and ships of war without the con- sent of our Legislatures. "He hasaflfceted to render the military independent of and su- perior to the civil power. "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and " He has made judges depen- dent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of theii salaries. " He has erected a multitiKle of new offices, and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our people and eat out their sub- stance. "He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies without the consent of our Le- gislatures. Not altered. "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdictio» foreign to our constitutions euid APPENDIX. iT£^ >»jaacknowledged by oiu* laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation for quarter- ing large bodies of armed troops among us; for protecting by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which they should eommit on the inhabitants of tliese States ; for cutting off our trade with all parts of the world ; for imposing taxes on us without ty which denounces our separa- tion, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. 182 APPENDIX, . % • tF ( /^fe\ V..'^'' /^¥.^^ ' 9 ^<}5///>'>-. E C •5'' • . ' •. M ^ iS^ ^^ HECKMAN BINDERY INC. ^ AUG 88 N. MANCHESTER, ^^ IN DIANA .46962 * isi^<;(^