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A TOUR 
 
 IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 ARCHIBALD PRENTICE, 
 
 MEMBER OF THE MANCHESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 
 AND LATE EDITOR OF THE “MANCHESTER TIMES.” 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 CHARLES GILPIN, BISHOPGATE-STREE T WITHOUT. 
 1848. 
 
/ 
 
 %\1- z 
 
 To THE Reader. — Page 19, for Congregational Calvinistic 7, Unitarian 17, 
 read Calvinistic 17, Unitarian 7. . 
 
 MANCHESTER. 
 
 PRINTED BY A. W. P AU L T O N, “ T I M E S ” OF F I C E, D U C I E -P L A C E. 
 
 
» > ^ 
 
 i/ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It had been an arrangement between Mr. John Brooks 
 and myself, after the termination of the long struggle for 
 free trade in corn, in which, as members of the Council of 
 
 ing part, that we should seek some relaxation in a journey 
 somewhere ; and a pretty long voyage, for the benefit of his 
 health, having been recommended to Mr. Brooks, we resolved 
 to see the magnificent scenery of the United States, and 
 to observe the working of democratic institutions in that 
 great republic. I had long desired to visit America in pre- 
 ference to the old states of continental Europe, not only 
 because I had relatives there, but that I regarded the country 
 as destined to contain the most numerous branch of the 
 Anglo-Saxon family ; and my pursuits in life had given me 
 more interest in the prospects of mankind than in their 
 past history. A brief tour needs but a brief record. In the 
 following pages little more is intended than to convey the 
 impressions made upon the eye and mind of a hasty passenger 
 through a country of much present beauty and great future 
 promise. 
 
 Manchester, 6th October, 1848. 
 
 the Anti -Corn -Law League, from its commencement to its 
 close, we had both taken an active, and rather an exhaust- 
 
 192893 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 9 
 
 and glowing with beauty and activity; Staten Island, with 
 its splendid villas on our left, shining out in their whiteness 
 from the surrounding verdure — more green than even the 
 idea of greenness;” Long Island, with its beautiful, siiburban 
 Brooklyn on our right; New York, with its spires and 
 forests of masts before us ; the whole bay crowded with 
 noble vessels, with their canvass white as snow; while, ever 
 and anon,, splendid steamers, crowded with passengers, shot, 
 along vyith railway speed. Nothing could be more beautiful 
 as a scenes — as a mere picture— nothing more illustrative of 
 the activity of our republican brothers. Their nation was 
 
 going a-head, and here was proof of it. Lady P 
 
 who had so boldly kept the deck in all weathers, said the 
 scene was worth coming across the Atlantic to see,, even 
 though the spectator should turn home again without land- 
 ing* and Mr. Brooks, in his delighted survey, forgot all his 
 previous sickness. Preparation was now made for landing. 
 The quarantine doctor took the captain s word that we were 
 all in good health ; his attention was required for the in- 
 spection of some very. large emigrant ships that lay near us.: 
 There had been 4,700 : emigrants landed on the previous 
 Thursday, and we learned on Monday that 10,035 had 
 arrived on the Saturday and Sunday, principally German’s, 
 each possessed of a small capital, and all ready to proceed 
 instantly to the various German settlements in. the interior, 
 without staying, to waste their means. in New York. The . 
 Custom-house officer’s duty was a. mere form. We landed 
 on the New Jersey side, and Mr. Brooks and’ I entered a 
 vehicle which drove right on board a river steamer, and the 
 moment we touched the New York shore it was driven on, 
 and we were on. (he streets, remarking in our short -driye. 
 four things, — the shocking- bad pavement of the carriage way, 
 made of round boulders ranging from three inches in dia~, 
 meter to twelve, and, with holes here and there three dr four 
 feet wide and from a foot to eighteen inches deep, affording . 
 
10 
 
 TOtTR IK THE 
 
 very provoking shakes ; the absence of all heavy vehicles^ 
 and the abundance of light spring waggons, drawn at great 
 speed by light active horses ; the great quantity of merchan- 
 dise of all sorts covering the foot pavement, under awnings ; 
 and the heaps of stones and bricks piled up in the streets, 
 as if every third house was about to be rebuilt. Mr. Brooks 
 said it appeared as if every body had been removing, and 
 had not yet had time to put things straight. 
 
 As we wished to do at Rome what they do at Rome, we 
 resolved to go to a thoroughly American hotel, and so drove 
 to the Astor House, which can splendidly accommodate more 
 than four hundred inmates. It is an immense and handsome 
 pile of buildings, enclosing a court-yard like the quadrangle 
 of an Oxford college. The three fronts are of a beautiful 
 granite like that of wdiich London Bridge is built. The 
 bustle in the wide corridore w^as like that on the Manchester 
 Exchange, and we thought it would be difficult to find com- 
 fort in so public? a place. The dinner, to which 150 persons 
 sat down, was exceedingly luxurious. I could not help 
 remarking the quiet and gentlemanly demeanour of the 
 company, a great portion of whom were tall finely-grown 
 men, with a very intellectual cast of countenance. As we 
 did not find two seats together, a gentleman said courteously. 
 You are strangers, and would like to sit together. T will 
 find another seat for myself.*’ There was no hurry — the 
 Americans do not seem to be in a hurry — -but they get on- 
 In thirty-five minutes after, the covers were removed, the 
 cloth w^as taken ofif, and the dessert placed on the table ; 
 and in half an hour more there were only five of the 
 hundred and fifty left. Many, no doubt, had gone ofl* to 
 business, but a number had only removed to the great 
 entrance, where they sat smoking cigars, their feet up on 
 the white marble ballustrade, and spitting on the marble 
 floor. Four were in the handsome drawing-room with a 
 spittoon before them, and, as each spat once in a minute. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 li 
 
 on the average, there was a bending towards the spit-box 
 every quarter of a minute. Others had their feet as high 
 as their heads on the arms of chairs, and one who could not 
 find such accommodation had his planted firmly against the 
 wall. I sat down on a sofa, musing on the different habi- 
 • tildes of different countries, until I was awakened from my 
 reverie by Mr. Brooks saying: ‘"Well, Prentice, you look 
 very comfortable with your feet up, and your snuff-box in 
 your hand.” 
 
 “ O that some power the gift would gi’e us 
 To see ourselves as others see us ! ’’ 
 
 We lounge on sofas in England, and laugh at Jonathan, 
 who puts his feet on the window sill. However, wishing 
 well to our younger brother I should like to see him spit 
 less. 
 
 In our walks through the city we have been exceedingly 
 struck with its appearance of universal activity. Broadway 
 seems to have almost as many omnibuses as the Strand in 
 London, and the beautiful ferry boats on the East and 
 North rivers are in constant requisition. The houses are 
 mostly built of brick of a fine colour and smooth surface, 
 
 . four, five, and six stories in height. The signs have black 
 'letters on an ample white ground, the doors and all the 
 wood-woik are white ; the steps and the door pillars of the 
 better class of houses are of white marble, or the light grey 
 Siennite granite. All this, and the absence of smoke, give 
 an exceeding lively air to the whole aspect of the city. We 
 have nothing to match it in that respect in the old country. 
 We have been much struck also with the great number of 
 good dwelling-houses in proportion to the population. Thei e 
 are juiles of streets in which there is not a house worth less 
 than 500 dollars, or £100, per annum, and many of them 
 worth three or four times that amount. We have been over 
 to Brooklyn, and were delighted with the aspect of the 
 dwellings there, each side of each street being planted with 
 
12 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 trees, most refreshing, to tKe sight, and giving the appear- ' 
 ance of a quiet retirement, that is really delightful/ The 
 weeping willow here -assuiiies the most graceful appearance 
 imaginable, attaining the Height of fifty feet, suspending 
 slender perpendicular drooping strings oi the richest and yet 
 most delicate foliage and of twenty feet in length. The ‘ 
 vievv from Brooklyn, of New York, and of the East River, 
 with its shipping, is very fine; 
 
 This is “a great city, and is daily becoming greater. In 
 1845 the population of. New York was 370,000, and of 
 Brooklyn 60,000. At the previous, ratio of increase “the . 
 number of inhabitants will • exceed half a million in 1850. 
 
 Its present appearance,* at once substantial and lively, will . 
 improve as the populatioii increases. . Everywhere the old 
 wooden houses are being pulled down and replaced by 
 capital edifices of brick, and the old brick buildings are 
 coming down to be replaced by others of granite’ and’ white 
 marble,.-* ; ■ . ' ! 
 
 One of the newspapers of this morning says, ^^ The tem-r ' ' 
 perature is delightfully cobl, the thermometer standing at 
 only 75 in the shade.” We should call that pretty hot in ' f 
 the old country ; but I find it exceedingly pleasant, and \ 
 shall not complain if it do not become more than ten * 
 degrees higher. We had strawberries to dinner yesterday, 
 not; grown in the neighbourhood, however, but brought 
 from the south. Eaten with iced cream they formed a very | 
 pleasant part of our dessert. Ice is an article of great con- * 
 sumption.. At table your tuniibler is supplied from a great 
 jug one fourth filled with lumps gf ice ; a lump of ice is 
 put into ’your champaign glass ; and a lump of ice is on i 
 every piece of butter set down.^ We have found a* tumbler ' 
 of milk with a piece of .ice in it a great luxury after, break- ^ 
 fast and tea.; Probably the roost effective means to miti- f 
 gate the fervour of the climate is the temperance generally j 
 practised in respectable society. At our dinners in the; • 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 13 
 
 Astor House, at Which not fewer than a hundred and firty 
 have sat down, we have not seen ten or a dozen persons 
 taking wine, and we have not seen a single instance of the 
 use of malt liquors. Gin-slinging and sherry- cobbling are 
 vulgarities confined to the bar-room, which in this hotel is 
 modestly kept out of sight in the ground floon 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 The Wharves — River Boats — Increase of Population — 
 Emigrants — Splendid Shops — Building Materials — 
 Supply of Water, 
 
 Astor House ^ New York, Zrd Jane, 1848 . 
 
 It might be predicated from a person’s previous pursuits 
 what objects would be most likely to arrest his attention in 
 a foreign land. After our long labours for the promotion 
 of free trade, and especially for the free importation of corn, 
 it might be supposed that a country’s capacity for the pro- 
 duction of food would always be to us a matter of deep 
 interest. Accordingly, We have not gone to the Five Points 
 to observe and describe the squalid misery that is there to 
 be found— the result of vice and improvidence which are 
 everywhere to be found, or to Broadway to observe and 
 laugh at the vanity which is an abundant product in the 
 village as well as in the city ; hut our w’alks have been to 
 the wharves, where vessels lie deeply laden with the means 
 of sending luxury to the tables, of the wealthy, and substan- 
 a2 
 
14 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 tial comforts into not only the houses of the industrial 
 classes here, hut into the wretched cottages of our own half- 
 starved population at home. Here bright visions arise in 
 the imagination of the utilitarian. He sees the farmer on 
 the Hudson, the Mohawk, the Ohio, the Illinois, the Miami, 
 and the lakes Michigan, Erie, and Ontario, cheerfully 
 labouring in his own fields for the sustentation of the Man- 
 chester spinner and weaver ; he sees the potter of Hanley, 
 the cutler of SheflSeld, the cloth-manufacturer of Yorkshire, 
 and the sewer and tambourer of Glasgow, in not hopeless or 
 unrewarded toil, preparing additional comforts and enjoy- 
 ments for the inhabitants of the American woods and 
 prairies. He conjures up a great co-operative community 
 all working for the mutual benefit; and sees in the universal 
 competition the universal good. He sees the individual 
 and the general advantage combined, and the world as only 
 one vast brotherhood. 
 
 They are strange things these Hudson river-boats — 
 strange, unwieldly, and helpless-looking things, but with a 
 wise adaptation in them. Jonathan is not wedded to old 
 custom. He has no reverence for the form of ship in which 
 Hendrick Hudson entered the Narrows. He found out 
 that there was a great loss of labour in hoisting his sheep 
 and oxen, his corn and his butter, up to the deck and then 
 lowering them down into the hold ; in hoisting them up to 
 the deck again and then lowering them down to the quay. 
 He cut away his ship down to the water s-edge, planked it 
 over, drove his cattle and carried his corn and hay right on 
 to the deck, put posts up and laid planks upon them to form 
 a shed, on that shed heaped up all I hat the rain and sun 
 could not spoil, and then, when a steam-boat passed, hooked 
 his vessel to it and had it laid, hundreds of miles oflf, along- 
 side a projecting pier, where it could be unladed with as 
 much ease as it had been laded. Here, on lire North river 
 and on the East, are hundreds of these strange floats ,im- 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 15 
 
 proved upon that original model, covered rather than filled 
 with all kinds of agricultural produce, some of which has 
 come more than a thousand miles, each forming, when laid 
 alongside its wharf, an open market, where the farmer sells 
 directly to the consumer. These boats come by the Erie 
 canal and down the Hudson, from Oswego, Rochester> 
 Buifalo, Toronto, Sandusky, Detroit, and the far west 
 Chicago, distant nearly a thousand miles, bringing the pro- 
 ducts of an immense continent which, little more than half 
 a century ago, had been the hunting grounds of wdld and 
 scattered Indians. 
 
 No place can be better situated than New York for a 
 vast commerce. Its bay would hold all the navies of the 
 world ; its river is the outlet for the best corn producing 
 country in the world ; its merchants are probably the most 
 active in the w^orld, native-born or drawn from every country 
 where there is commercial enterprise. The city is not so 
 much American as Cosmopolitan. English, Scotch, Ger- 
 man, and French names abound in the directory and on the 
 sign-boards. Even the Irishman becomes commercial. If 
 a wise and unintermeddling external policy, and free trade, 
 and domestic tranquillity prevail, it will become the largest 
 city of the world. It has already made wonderful advances 
 and claims to be fifth in the rank of great commercial cities, 
 yielding the precedency only to London, Paris, St. Peters- 
 burgh, and Constantinople. When the British evacuated 
 the city, November 25th, 1783, it ‘contained about 25,000 
 inhabitants. In 1790, the population was 33,131 ; in 1800, 
 it had increased to 60,489; in 1810, to 96,373 ; in 1820, 
 to 123,706; in 1830, to 202,089; in 1840, to 312,710; 
 and in 1845, to 371,223 — Brooklyn, separated from it by a 
 river of only 700 or 800 yards wide, having at the same 
 period a population of 60,000. The present population of 
 the two united is supposed to be nearly. 500,000 ! 
 
 The state of the working men in so large a community 
 
16 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 is a subject of deep interest. MhcIj misery must prevaiL 
 Tens of thousands of immigrants land here and linger here 
 tvuthout a definite object ; but yet the wages of common 
 labour are about fifty per cent, more than they are in 
 England, and the price of food is one-third less. It is true 
 that rent, clothes, and coals are fifty per cent, higher; but 
 where a man has scarcely earned more than has kept him in 
 food, the change by coming here is decidedly to his advan- 
 tage, always premising that he brings the kind of labour 
 which is ill demand. If the labourer has earned three 
 shillings a day in England, he will earn four shillings and 
 sixpence here. Let us compare his relative })osition in the 
 one country and the other. At home his food has cost him 
 twelve shillings a week, and his rent, clothes, and coals, six 
 shillings, absorbing all his wages. Jjet him live in the same 
 Style here, and he will pay eight shillings for his food, and 
 nine shillings for his rent, clothes, and coals, leaving him 
 ten shillings a week of clear savings. The misfortune is i 
 that whisky is only a shilling a gallon — -very wretched stuff, j 
 no doubt — -not at all the real Glenlivit*’— but men get 
 drunk upon it for a trifle, and either die, or half-starve, or | 
 seek refuge in the almshouse. There is encouragement for 
 sober and industrious men. Irish labourers save a few 
 pounds, enter into some small street trading, ultimately jj 
 take a store of one kind or another, and their sons become III 
 respectable merchants— a process which we never observe ij 
 in Manchester. German agricultural labeurers come in I 
 great numbers, and an association of their own cauntrymen .f 
 have made arrangements for passing them instantly into the || 
 western parts of the states of New York and Pennsylvania, 
 to Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, wliere the German 
 language continues to be spoken, until the next, or even to a 
 succeeding generation. English, Irish, and Scotch unskilled 
 labourers should follow their example, and proceed westward 
 at once, if they cannot find immediate employment here. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 17 
 
 Emigrants of the working classes sliould not leave out of 
 their calculation the enervating effects of a hot climate. 
 To-day the thermometer is at 82® in the shade, and I can 
 get no one to say that it is hot or even warm weather. The 
 reply is:' “It is pleasant, and we shall have it warmish in a 
 day or two.” Mr. Brooks and I do not find the heat oppres- 
 sive, but we find ourselves more disposed to lounge in the 
 wide lobbies of the Astor, than to observe our w^onderfuliy 
 shortened shadows on Broadway. 
 
 I had occasion to remark- in my last letter on the great 
 extent of streets containing dwelling-houses worth a hun- 
 dred pounds a year and upwards, probably to five hundred. 
 In the enjoyment of New York hospitality we have seen 
 the interior of some of the^ best, and their elegance is, if 
 equalled, not surpassed by any I have seen anywliere in 
 Great Britain. The shops— stores they call them here — 
 give evidence of the existence of, if not a very wealthy 
 class, at least one demanding the appliances of great luxury 
 and splendour. One silversmith and jeweller in Broadw^ay 
 has a shop far surpassing in splendour anything of the kind 
 I have ever seen. That street, for three miles, has shops 
 on each side, hundreds of wdiich have a front of tw:enty-five 
 feet, and a depth of a hundred and twenty, and scarcely one 
 of them is rented at less than three hundred pounds a year. 
 In one pile of buildings there is a draper, an upholsterer, 
 and a looking-glass and picture-frame maker, each of w bom 
 pays six hundred pounds a year ; and their premises are 
 nothing like thoseiof Stuart and Co., drapers, which l\ave a 
 front of a hundred feet, four stories high, aU of beautiful 
 white marble, the interior, independently of its uses, being 
 an example of architectural magnificence. In that fashion- 
 able locality I found Stodart, the piano-forte maker, wdiose 
 reputation here is equal to his uncle’s in London, when he 
 and the Broadwoods had almost the monopoly of the trade. 
 
 So long a member of the Improvement Committee of the 
 
18 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 Manchester Town Council, and taking a warm interest in 
 its proceedings, it may be supposed that I have looked 
 curiously at the appearance of the streets with regard to 
 width and external effect. The old part of the city has 
 been immensely improved by the calamity of great fires ; 
 comparative palaces have risen out of the ashes of the 
 old wooden and old brick edifices, and every opportunity of 
 widening streets has been taken. The whole island, thirteen 
 and a half miles in length by an average of a mile and a 
 half in width, lias been laid out on a fixed plan, to which 
 every one must build. The avenues, running lengthwise, 
 vary from 80 Jto 100 feet in width, and the cross streets have 
 a width of from 60 to 80 feet. From Broadway, the middle 
 avenue, the streets beyond Fourteenth,” slope gradually 
 down to the East River on one side, and to the North River 
 on the other, giving the eye relief by the sight, at every 
 crossing, of water and the passing of ships and steamers, 
 the heat at the same time being tempered by the sea breezes. 
 The new part of the city is rapidly enlarging — the old part 
 is rapidly improving. Granite, furnishing single blocks for 
 columns thirty-five tons in weight, is abundant ; while 
 marble, ready prepared in polished blocks, by the prison- 
 ers at Sing Sing, is brought by a water conveyance of only 
 thirty miles; the old red sandstone obtainecTin the immediate 
 neighbourhood, is of an exceedingly close grain, is of great 
 durability, and of an agreeable light brown colour; and the 
 brick is ‘of good quality and colour, and looks very well 
 with marble, granite, or brown sandstone door and window 
 dressings. Thus New York may become not only the 
 largest but the finest city in the world. 
 
 The supply of water is calculated for the future rather 
 than the present city, being at the rate of sixty millions of 
 gallons in the twenty-four hours, three times the quantity 
 proposed, also with a view to futurity, to be supplied to 
 Manchester under its new water-works bill. It is brought 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 J9 
 
 from the Croton river, a distance of nearly fifty miles, by 
 an aqueduct, sometimes tunnelled through rocks, and cross- 
 ing valleys by embankments, till it reaches Haarlem river, 
 which separates the island of New York from the main- 
 land, crossing by a bridge of stone 1400 feet in length, 
 having eight arches of eighty feet span and seven others of 
 oO feet span each, — the height 1 14 feet above tide water. 
 The aqueduct is of .stone and brick, arched over and under, 
 and is six feet three inches wide at the bottom and seven 
 feet at the top, and eight feet five inches high, with a descent 
 of thirteen inches in the mile. This magnificent work was 
 finished at a cost of 13,000,000 dollars, or £2,700,000 
 sterling ! Notwithstanding the immense supply there is a 
 very limited use of water in cleansing the ill-scavenged 
 streets. 
 
 There is no want of churches in this city though there is 
 no state-supported “ Establishment.” The following is a 
 list : — 
 
 jBaptist 23 Presbyterian Association Re- 
 
 formed 2 
 
 Ditto Associate 3 
 
 Protestant Episcopal 41 
 
 Roman Catholic 16 
 
 Universalist 4 
 
 Welsh Presbyterian ] 
 
 Ditto Methodist 1 
 
 Ditto Baptist 1 
 
 Miscellaneous 12 
 
 ongregational Calvinistic... . 7 
 
 Ditto Unitarian.... 17 
 
 I jriends 4 
 
 ^Synagogues 9 
 
 Lutheran 3 
 
 VIethodist Episcopal 30 
 
 Ditto Protestant 1 
 
 ' VIormon 1 
 
 I 'few Jerusalem 2 
 
 .^resbyterian 32 
 
 ^resbyterian Reformed 3 
 
 About the same population in Manchester and its imme- 
 liate neighbourhood has only 114 places of worship. The 
 30,000 population of Brooklyn has thirty churches, most of 
 beta spacious and handsome. The various sects live in 
 comparative amity one with another, there being no state- 
 ipoils to fight about. A rather hot war between prolestams 
 
 Total. 
 
 .215 
 
20 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 and catholics was waged a few years ago, the catholics com- 
 plaining that the system of education in the Common 
 Schools excluded their children; The dispute has been 
 allayed by the establishment, in addition to the Common 
 Schools, of Ward Schools, the managing committees of 
 which are elected by the inhabitants of the ward, so that 
 where the majority consists of catholics there is a catholic 
 committee, or at least one that satisfies catholics that there 
 will be no attempt to proselyte to protestantism. It may be 
 supposed, therefore, that whatever religious instruction is 
 given will be in accordance, or at least not at variance; with 
 the religious opinions of the majority in the ward. 
 
 Some writers have complained of an offensive familiarity 
 on the part of American citizens. I have seen nothing of 
 it. The look and demeanour of the nien at this immense 
 hotel, with its four hundred inmates, is rather staid and 
 aristocratic than otherwise.. Self introductions are made 
 respectfully, but without grimace and without the affected 
 gesture of an overstrained courtesy. Yesterday an old gen- 
 tleman came and, sitting down beside me, said: 'fWell; 
 Sir, do you see anything worth looking at in our city ?” I 
 said that there was a great deal worth looking at ; there wert^ 
 a beautiful city, great commerce, and an active go-a-head|^| 
 people. “ Ah,” he said, we have considerable of activity.”/! j 
 "‘But,” I remarked, "‘ some people in our country say that / 
 your activity keeps you in a constant turmoil, and that your ; 
 whole year is one continued contested election.” "‘Well,’] 
 he replied, that now is a W2i.stake. We have eighty thou- 
 sand persons here who might vote if they 'liked, but there i 
 seldom half of that number who vote. Loafers run abou 
 talking and debating about elections because they won’ 
 work, and old men like me because we have retired from] 
 business and have nothing else to do. The noisy talkei 
 make themselves heard, and the quiet people are out o 
 sight. You would think that heaven and earth would come] 
 
21 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 together if we do not elect some particular man, but the 
 moment the election is over all ^oes on just as before.” 
 To-day this gentleman brought another genllemaD, a large 
 woollen-manufactiirer from Boston, and introduced me to 
 him as one who was. taking the very same tour to the south- 
 west^' which we intended to take:- When this ceremony 
 was.. over, I turned to. the Boston, gentleman and said: 
 Now, Sir, will you be good enough to introduce me to tlie 
 gentleman who has introduced me to you.'’ He laughed 
 and did so. Amongst the small storekeepers and working 
 men the familiarity with persons of, in. the parlance of the 
 old country, superior station, would no doubt be offensive to 
 fastidious gentlemen who' have been accustomed to a defer- 
 ence 'which is paid rather to their Wealth or rank than to 
 the rnan... I see nothing more shocking in. this than in the 
 manners of the quaker, who does not pull off his hat to 
 you and call you ;^' Sir.'’ No offence is intended, and he 
 would be a fool who took offence. I believe that here, and 
 everywhere, the man who is really entitled to respect . will 
 receive it. '• • •' . - " 
 
 There has been .a' strong expectation, with some an 
 exulting anticipation, that, following the example of the 
 revolutionists in France, the chartists of Great Britain and 
 the Tepealers of Ireland would succeed in establishing a 
 republic in each of those islands. The -coercion resorted to 
 by our Government, seemed to be a conclusive proof that 
 our affairs were in a deplo-rable state. A newspaper placard 
 with the v/ords "'dreadeux calm in Ireland,’’ put all 
 the England hatei-s on the .eager look-out for news of the 
 storm that was to follow. To those .who expressed to me 
 their that such might he -the .result, I . did not admi- 
 . nister much apparent consolation when t assured them .that 
 in our country there was a very general belief that a better 
 consututloirwas not likely to be had by fighting ; that the 
 physical-force tjhartists had put themselves down before the 
 
22 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 Government professed to put them down ; and that the 
 physical-force repealers had already been well thrashed by 
 the moral-force repealers, and had become nothing. ^^We 
 gained something by fighting,” said one gentleman, ^^when 
 we threw off the thraldom of England.” I laughed, and 
 said: ^^Yes, you gained the continuance of the liberty to 
 cowhide your niggers ; you threw off the small impost on 
 tea, to tax yourselves to the amount of twenty-five per cent, 
 on all you put on your backs ; you emancipated yourselves 
 from our Government, to follow all the absurdities of our 
 commercial policy. We may become republicans sometime 
 or other, but it will not be until we see some republic 
 setting an example of rational legislation.” Men of ano- 
 ther class expressed a genuine regret that anything should 
 occur in Great Britain or Ireland to retard the progress of 
 reform, which seemed inevitable, if the middle classes were 
 not alarmed by insane appeals to arms. 
 
 We purpose to go to Philadelphia to-day, and thence 
 onward, after staying a couple of days in the Quaker city, 
 to Baltimore, Washington, Cumberland, over the Allegha- 
 nies to Pittsburg or Wheeling, and down the river to Louis- 
 ville, the extreme limit, westward, of our intended journey. 
 
united states. 
 
 23 
 
 LETTER IIL 
 
 New Jersey — The Forest — Philadelphia — Cemeteries— 
 The Whig Convention — Journey to Baltimore, 
 
 Baltimore, "1th June, 1848 . 
 
 We left New York in one of the splendid river steamers. 
 The deck projected considerably over the water, being made 
 flush with the outside of the paddle-wheels, obtaining thus a 
 width of sixty feet. The length was two hundred and forty 
 feet. On this wide platform, room being left for a pro- 
 menade, were erected the gentlemen’s saloon, about thirty 
 feet in length, very handsomely fitted up ; the ladies’ 
 saloon rather larger and more magnificently furnished, hav- 
 ing all the elegance of a drawing-room ; and between these 
 two apartments were a dining room, forty-eight feet in 
 length, the engine-house, and kitchen with its adjuncts. 
 Below was an extensive bar-room. Over the entrance to 
 I the dining-room was the inscription ; “ Gentlemen will not 
 take their seats until the ladies are seated.” Our course was 
 across the inner bay, and we had another opportunity of 
 surveying its beauty. We had formerly passed on the 
 norih of Staten Island, and we had now to pass it on the 
 west side, through a channel some eighteen miles in length, 
 resembling a river rather than an arm of the sea, the width 
 being seldom more than three hundred yards. The whole 
 western shore of the island was studded with villas, many of 
 them adorned with porticos. A ridge along the centre of 
 the island, richly wooded, strongly reminded me of the Cor- 
 storphine Hills near Kdinburgh. The New Jersey shore 
 
’TOUR IN THE 
 
 n 
 
 was ^flatter^ but at a little distance from tlie strait the abun^ 
 dance of well-grown trees gave it very much the look of 
 Trafford Park, near Manchester, as seen from the Eccles 
 side of the Irwell. ■ I could scarcely believe a gentleman 
 who told me that the woods were remnants of ancient 
 forests, full of unwholesome swamps, and not worth reclaimr 
 ing. 'The English -like, beauty was* evidence of sterility to 
 the more experienced- eye of the American. 
 
 Emerging from= thfs narrow channel, with its home-like 
 banks, into the outer bay of New York, we shot across to ' 
 Amboy, New Jersey, where we first set our feet on the 
 American continent, and in a few minutes, were on the rail- 
 way and in the forest. ()n vve went for nearly twenty miles 
 without seeing more than little cl 6 ai’iug-s here and there, 
 and these of such barren sand as to be utterly worthless, 
 some, of tt.hem without a particle of vegetation, and others 
 bearing a‘ miserably thin crop. of rye that would scarcely re- 
 pay the cost of* reaping. There were some orchards of 
 peach-trees; however, which seemed thriving. There, was j 
 not, barren as the tract was, wanting beauty of a certain j 
 sort. Sometimes the forest assumed the appea,rance of a I 
 copse of underwood, sometimes of a new and thriving plan- ; 
 tation ; and, bad as the soil was, .there was a vigorous growth 
 of numerous kinds of hardwood trees and a foliage of bright * 
 and healthy verdure. Passing through this sterile country j 
 we came upon more fertile and leveller land, and the Dela- 1 
 ware . was before us, a majestid river, two hundred yards . 
 wide, rolling its deep waters slowly towards the bay .to' 
 which it gives its name. The soil was. now more fertile, j 
 and extensive fields were seen of wheat and Indian corn, | 
 but -the Gountiy was flat and swampy, and the cultivation - 
 seerned to be of an inferior sort. Passing down the east . 
 bank of the river we arrived opposite Philadelphia, in six. 
 hours from our departure from New York. We were soon 
 ferried across', and at tea in the United States Hotel, the 
 
25 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 waiters not Irishmen and Germans, but blacks, of various 
 shades of colour and various indications of intelligence. 
 
 Philadelphia, like New York, lies between two rivers, the 
 Delaware (w^^hought of the De-la-warres of Manchester) 
 and the Schuylkill,^ but the New York rivers are arms of 
 the sea, and thus more important to commerce. Philadel- 
 phia has i^^t increased so rapidly as New York. The inha- 
 bitants, to use Mr. Brooks's comparison, have got into their 
 houses and put things straight. There is not such pulling 
 down and building up as there is in the northern metropolis, 
 but there is a great number of new and good buildings 
 goingon, the streets bear evidence that many have recently 
 been erected, and the population iS steadily advancing. It 
 has not .such a country opened up behind it as New York 
 has, but it is the port and the mart of a beautiful and pro- 
 ductive' state, having a population of nearly two millions. 
 Its canal and railroad to the west will secure the progress 
 of its trade ; its command of coal is causing the establish- 
 ment of numerous small manufactures ; and its quietness 
 and beauty, and its comparative healthiness, are making it 
 the residence of retired capitalists from the south. The 
 .streets. have much greater liveliness than I expected, consi- 
 dering their stiff regularity. The private dwellings are 
 elegant and substantial, and the liberal use of white, marble 
 in the steps and door-pillars give many of them an air of 
 great magnificence. The public buildings have not so much 
 magnificence as I expected from their valuable and durable 
 material. The Custom House/ formerly the United States 
 Bank, has indeed a.massive white marble portico at each 
 end, like the Parthenon, but the sides are of whitened brick, 
 
 I without either, columns or pilasters, and the interior is 
 gloomy and dirty looking. The centre building of the 
 Girard College, columned on all sides, is a Parthenon re- 
 produced, and grows upon the eye till it becomes magnifi- 
 Icent. To , the Post Office and Exchange Buildings, also of 
 
26 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 marble, the term elegant would be more appropriate. We 
 visited, with a feeling of reverence, the old City Hall, where 
 the declaration of independence was signed, and one of 
 strong regret that the noble men who vindicated the free- 
 dom of their own race, had not provided for the future, if 
 not the immediate emancipation of their fellow-men of 
 another colour, and thus rescued their country from what is 
 at once a serious calamity and a deep stain. The small 
 square behind the hall is filled with fine trees, and many of 
 the principal long and wide streets are similarly graced, the 
 effect, under a bright sun, being exceedingly refreshing. 
 
 I had expressed to an old schoolfellow my disappointment 
 at the appearance of the country between New York and 
 Philadelphia. ^^Show me,” said I, ^^some good trees, some 
 good w^heat, some good Indian corn.” You shall see 
 them all ; aye, and shall admire them, too,” he said. He 
 drove us out in the direction of Laurel Hill, and I was again 
 struck with the English appearance of the scenery — of 
 decorated English scenery, such as is to be seen in the | 
 immediate neighbourhood of a nobleman’s park ; and here u 
 there is not merely the semblance of fertility. A rich loamy C 
 clay produced good clover, good pasture, good wheat, good I 
 Indian corn, and beautiful trees, especially the elms, maples,! 
 white oaks, walnuts, and chestnuts. It was England undei’ft 
 a warmer sun — our own land with a little more luxuriancetj 
 of growth upon its surface. A pleasant undulation ren- 
 dered the whole more park-like. Our drive extended tO| 
 the Cemetery, which occupies a steep bank over-looking the 
 Schuylkill, the hollow being so filled with trees of the 
 richest foliage as almost to hide the noble river from sight. 
 Here I was compelled to confess that nothing more beautiful 
 in trees had I ever witnessed. It was not their size, although 
 in that way they were not to be despised, but it was the 
 freshness and vigour of the vegetation which I so much 
 admired. Nothing was stunted, nothing scrimped ” of its 
 
 d 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 27 
 
 fair proponions. There was vegetable life in its very per- 
 fection. On our return, we visited the Fairmont water 
 works, from the elevated reservoirs of which we had a 
 splendid view of Philadelphia. Forcing pumps raise the 
 water of the Schuylkill ninety feet, at the rate of twenty 
 millions of gallons in tlie twenty- four hours. A. liberal 
 use is made of this supply in watering the streets and wash- 
 ing the fronts of the houses ; and, should more be needed, 
 
 , as the population increases, double the quantity might be 
 easily had from the pure and abundant waters of the river, 
 or brought from a few miles further up, should increasing 
 manufactures, encouraged by the abundance of iron and 
 coal, contaminate them. 
 
 • I visited another cemetery in this city, called Ronald- 
 son s in the olden maps. Ronaldson, who was a type^ 
 founder, a native of the vicinity of Edinburgh, had been 
 applied to by one of his workmen for a loan of eight pounds, 
 to enable him to bury one of his children, and found that it 
 ivvas principally for burial fees. He said,— It is a shame 
 phat working men should be put to such expense ; bury 
 jthe child in that field, and I will have it made into a regular' 
 jgrave yard. This was done. The ground was enclosed, 
 '^nd trees were planted, which are now in great beauty. 
 )i\mongst the marble monuments one was inscribed to the 
 memory of -Helen, the wife of John Cochran’— my sister. 
 V¥hen I stood beside her grave, the scene I had witnessed 
 pearly forty years ago, when she left her native home, came 
 vividly into my recollection. She was going to reside with 
 our elder brother, David, then an engineer in Philadelphia, 
 Afterwards the Fulton of the great western river navigation. 
 jAmidst the deep grief at parting with one so dearly beloved, 
 my brother .John hastily declared his intention of going 
 yith her. My mother exclaimed in a tone of agony: - Are 
 jill my bairns going to leave me ?” My brother ‘'did not 
 eave her. Up to that time there had not been a death in 
 
28 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 our closely knit together family. . Now, the graves of a 
 household are far asunder ; the father’s and the mother’s on 
 their native vale of the Clyde, one son’s on the banks of the. 
 Hudson, a daughter’s and a son’s on the Schuylkill, and 
 another daughter’s on the Ohio. 
 
 We had taken up our abode at the United States Hotel, 
 which happened to. be the principal rendezvous of delegates 
 to the great Whig Convention, held to decide who, of that 
 party, should be brought forward as a candidate for the pre- 
 sidentship. i never saw, in an assemblage of three or four 
 hundred, so many fiue,*tall, noble-looking men. It might 
 have, seemed that their constituents had ‘chosen them, as the 
 Israelites did Saul, for their stature. One half of the num- 
 ber overlooked me, although I have not usually need to look 
 up to many. Some dozen were about six feet two, two or 
 three were six feet four, and two were six feet six. The 
 under part .of the house, American fashion — ;and, in hot 
 weather, a very comfortable fashion — was one great open 
 hall, the promenade and the place for discussion. Here, 
 paced, stately, the tall delegates in deep discourse on thi 
 merits of the candidates to be proposed. As the talk bel 
 came , more animated, they stopped, and groups gathered 
 around. The casual remark swelled into a speech; mdn 
 gathered round ; there must be a reply, and it also must h 
 a speech. The hearers rally round their favourites 
 orator forms the centre of a crowd ; each is' speaking fron f, 
 his own "' stump” — till all is confusion.^ Then a voluntar 
 
 EacflM 
 
 dispersion of each little distinct mob is made. . The statelj 
 walk is resumed and the calm discussion. Anon, somebody 
 
 stops in warmth and speaks— there is a ring; some othei 
 person forms his ring; there are ten separate speakers to 
 ten separate mobs. The abs.urdity is seen, loud laughter is 
 heard — the stately walk is resumed; and in ten minutes 
 more, ten men have again a circle round each, to be broker 
 up with laughter once more, and once more resumed. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 29 
 
 We did not take a very warm interest in the subjects of 
 these discussions. General Cass had previously been nomi- 
 I nated by the democrats. The whigs wished to put forward 
 I Henry Clay, the champion of their party. The slave ques- 
 I tion was tabooed altogether at this convention. Clay was a 
 peace man, but a furious protectionist. Cass was a free 
 trader, but a furious man of war. At home our peace men 
 are all free traders — our free traders are all peace men. 
 fThe principles seem inseparable — peace promoting trade 
 and trade promoting peace. Cass would admit English 
 goods at a low duty, but would eagerly take Cuba from 
 Spain, and Canada from England. Clay would oppose 
 conquest and annexation, but he would tax everybody to 
 protect some little manufacture which holds up its sickly 
 frame and says : Nourish me till I become a giant.” I 
 
 said to some of the gentlemen : — “ It would be a very curi- 
 ous thing, in this great republic of yours, if the bitterness 
 between your two great parties should run so high as to in- 
 duce you to join together and elect a man who belongs to 
 neither. You whigs will, very probably, set General 
 Taylor’s military reputation against Henry Clay’s states- 
 manship to gain the votes of democrats who approve of the 
 Mexican war. You will have a compromise president — -a 
 ' man whose only recommendation to both parties is that he 
 has not hitherto belonged to either. In our country we 
 think that the best sovereign is the one who the least med- 
 dles with party; and the probability is that, as the democrats 
 will not let you have a whig, and as you will not have a 
 democrat, you will so far follow our example as hereafter 
 to choose one who is known to have no opinions at all.” 
 Before we left Philadelphia we had come to the conclusion 
 that the soldier would be preferred to the statesman — that 
 the appeal to the vulgar love for military glory would con- 
 ciliate many of the war-loving democrats — and that Taylor, 
 
30 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 a man unheard of except for his success in the field of • 
 destruction, would be president of the republic. 
 
 The population of Philadelphia, which at the time of the 
 declaration of independence was short of 6,000, had in- 
 creased to 228,691 in 1840, and is now more than 250,000.11 
 For this number there are 150 churches, a much larger! 
 proportion to the population than we have in Manchester ; 
 
 so that it does not seem- that the absence of State aid t( 
 
 ■4l 
 
 the building and endowment of places of religious worshij; 
 has had much effect in hindering the supply. It would bd^ 
 presumption in one who has beeii so short time a visitor tJlf 
 say anything as to the religion and the morality of the city ;■] 
 but I can safely say that the external observance of the 
 Lord’s Day was probably as strict as it is to be found in 
 Edinburgh and Glasgow ; and that if there be vice, as there 
 must be everywhere, there is a decent concealment of its 
 grosser manifestations. ^ 
 
 Railways come right into the centre of the city along the? 
 middle of two of the widest streets, but the engines are] 
 detached at the outskirts and horses substituted. I have 
 observed as we passed through villages that the rails were 1 f 
 on the level of the common road and run along the lines oi 
 the streets. I thought it would be well if the charters” o: 
 
 the various companies contained the late Richard Potter’s 
 
 clause that no railways should be on the level of common’ 
 roads; but I was assured that accidents very seldom occur. 
 
 On Tuesday afternoon we took our departure from Phila- 
 delphia to Baltimore. Our course .was down the river 
 Delaware to Newcastle, a distance of thirty-five miles. We 
 again remarked the exceedingly English character of the 
 scenery, especially on the Pennsylvania side, and I could 
 easily comprehend the character that had been given of the 
 State, that it abounded in fertile land, and excelled in tbe 
 productions of the dairy. From Newcastle we run across, 
 by railway, a distance of sixteen miles, and there we were 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 31 
 
 flaunched on a little creek called Elk river^ for a voyage of 
 some sixty miles down Chesapeake bay. The appearance 
 1 of this little . creek astonished and delighted me. It was: 
 /icompletelyTarid-locked, an exquisite little lake, the banks 
 Ifringed to the waters edge with trees of the richest verdure, 
 land happiest form; Tittle semicircular bays bending put, 
 jand little peninsulas jutting in, as if taste herself had dic- 
 I tated the arrangement of the simple materials for pictorial 
 I beauty and richness of effect.. While gazing on it in rap- 
 \ ;ure, as it presented picture after picture of exquisite beauty, 
 die light being as if made of the very degree that suited the 
 ^subject illuminated, the sun sunk below the horizon, to the 
 i; sudden diminution of light, and in half an hour (so short 
 j-is the twilight in this southern. latitude) we were in total 
 'darkness. We arrived at Baltimore six hours after our 
 peparture from Philadelphia. This alternation of steam- 
 boat and railway conveyance is exceedingly pleasant, and 
 ^ithe charges are very moderate, the fare from New York to 
 iPhiladelphia being 12s. 6d., and the same from Philadel- 
 phia to Baltimore. 
 
 Finding that the House of Representatives has ;adjourned 
 lithe conclusion of the convention at Philadelphia, and. 
 lat Washington is almost deserted, we. have resolved on 
 froceeding westward at once, following up the course of the 
 btomac to the Alleghany ridge, and crossing the moun- 
 ains to Pittsburg. The weather hitherto has been delight- 
 ul, the heat having been felt oppressive only for a few hours 
 n the middle of the day at Philadelphia on Sunday, when 
 he thermometer was at 85^ in the shade. . We are told that 
 bersons coming from England do not feel the first sumrner’s 
 beat so oppressive as the second. Perhaps we of the old 
 country are the better able to bear heat from having been 
 spared the infliction of a winter when the thermometer 
 stands ten degrees below zero. Our individual experience 
 bas been that of a temperature exceedingly favourable for 
 
32 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 a pleasure excursion, although, when I have seen men ho( 
 ing Indian corn, under the ardent sun at noon-day, I have 
 not had the slightest inclination to join them in their rural 
 labour. Musquitos have not yet introduced themselves t(! 
 our notice, and we are told that they are not trouhlesom* 
 till the height of hot weather, untempered by breezes, oj 
 August. By that time we shall be ready to leave sue! 
 annoyances behind us. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Baltimore — A Winding Railway — Harper’s Ferry- 
 Crossing THE Alljighanies — The Monangahela. 
 
 Monangahela Hotel, Pittsburg^ \0th June, 1841 
 Baltimore claims to be the fourth city in the States 
 point of population, which was 102,313 in 1840, being a f< 
 hundreds in advance of New Orleans, standing the next i] 
 rank. In ten years more Cincinnati, in the free State 
 Ohio, will have greatly outstripped both of those slave citie; 
 Baltimore has much of the sea-port look, but contains, li 
 New York and Philadelphia, a great proportion of capit 
 dwellings. It has the most magnificent monument to th 
 memory of Washington which the United States posses 
 It is a column of white marble 160 feet in height. Therl| 
 is another handsome monument which I could not see with 
 out deep pain. It is erected to the memory of the officer 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 33 
 
 ) fell in the attack on the city hy the British army, in 
 1814. The warfare then waged against the States was not 
 lustified hy necessity, was characterised by the wanton and 
 irritating attempt, at the defenceless capital, to destroy a 
 Inational building, usually respected in contests between 
 civilised nations ; and it revived and perpetuated, amongst 
 pur transatlantic brethren, that bitter war-spirit, engendered 
 py the revolution, which wa^ beginning to fade away. 
 
 The view of the surrounding country from an eminence 
 lis beautifully undulating and, spite of slavery, very English. 
 It happens that this tobacco-growing State is also a great 
 Avheat-growing country, and in Baltimore and its neighbour- 
 |iood there are upwards of seventy flour mills. I believe 
 fithat wherever the soil and climate are favourable to wheat 
 8they*are unfavourable to the existence of slavery. Delaware 
 Jhas nearly cleansed itself from the stain, the corn growing 
 art of Maryland is preparing to follow the good example, 
 ind although the gentlemen of the south of Virginia consti- 
 ,ute the most influential of the non-abolitionists, there are 
 symptoms of revolt in the northern division of the State, 
 Where slavery, if it be not utterly profitless, yields no return 
 jipquivalent to the opprobrium incurred. Nor are there men 
 /wanting who would make some sacrifice of pecuniary interest 
 p!rather than be charged with injustice, even although they 
 are not vet prepared to acknowledge that there is injustice 
 in man holding property in man. I shall have other oppor- 
 tunities of making observations on this subject. In the 
 meantime, I rejoice that in this fair portion of God s 
 creation — so much fairer than I had anticipated — there is a 
 reasonable prospect of the speedy arrival of a time when all 
 who tread its soil shall be free. In skirting along the bor- 
 der of the regions afflicted with the moral contamination I 
 gave a sigh to the oppressed, and to those who feel that they 
 are instruments of oppression although they have not yet 
 acquired the courage necessary to emancipate themselves 
 
34 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 from the degradation of holding property in their fellowmerij 
 Mercy is twice blessed ; it blesses him who gives - and him 
 who receives. Slavery is twice cursed;^ it curses alike him 
 who suffers and him who inflicts. This is beginning to be 
 acknowledged, and the acknowledgment of the disease will, 
 in time, lead to the cure. ; , 
 
 We intended to go from Baltimore to Washington to see 
 and to converse with some of the celebrities of that capital ? 
 we had letters of introduction to the President, and to some 
 of the- most distinguished men of the Senate and House o 
 Representatives, but as both branches of the legislature had 
 adjourned on account of the holding of the Whig Conven 
 tion, and as the officials were likely to avail themselves of] 
 a few days’ absence, we resolved to proceed westward. We 
 left Baltimore by the cars,”—/, c., the railway carriages 
 Emerging from the dusty streets, we came to higher ground,! 
 which, with gentle undulations, stretches inwards from they 
 bay. We were now seeing a country not from a river or from 
 the sea, but as we were passing through it. A nearer view 
 of the fields certainly did not render them more attractive. 
 The remaining stumps suggested the idea of obstruction and 
 difficulty in cultivation. I could not imagine the plough 
 man cheerily whistling as he held the plough, but fretting 
 and fuming at the tarnal obstructions. But still there 
 were the remnants of the ancient forests in every variety of 
 beauty and form, as if planted expressly to gratify and 
 refresh the eye. At one of the stopping- places —stations 
 they cannot be called — where a small river swept in a 
 graceful curve round a meadow, enclosed by well-wooded 
 heights, I was reminded of some of the choicest bits of 
 landscape that qan be found on our Shakspere’s own Avon. 
 An American gentleman, though pleased that an English- 
 man could admire anything in the new country, was asto- 
 nished at my expressions of delight. Yes,” said he, ^^it 
 would look considerable well if it were not for the trees.” 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 35 
 
 ;JjV^e were soon in a narrow valley and were obviously 
 jmscending. By and by, rocks, high and with trees growing 
 Jin their fissures, began to hem in our path on each side; 
 [now an opening resembled the Esk below Langholm hy 
 hlsylvan Ganoiibie; then we were in a wild Highland glen. 
 Upwards and upwards we went till our river became a trout 
 stream, with little rocky linns, and here and there jtiny 
 ^ools where ^^a lang-legged callant” in a blue kilt, catching 
 minnows, would have been appropriate to the scene. And 
 then came winding after winding of our little stream, and 
 ' 3ur railroad faithfully followed them all, ncnv to the right, 
 low to the left, in all imaginable curves and all imaginable 
 gradients, very beautiful certainly but excessively rough and 
 (^;haky and jumpy to the passengers, who began to long for 
 i return once more to the unpicturesque monotony of the 
 level and the straight. At one place we had a semicircular 
 ^urve to the right with a radius of fifty yards, and then one 
 ,0 the left of the same radius and extent I thought of the 
 'ailway down the valley of Todmorden, where, for the 
 fattainment of the straight line, every spur from the steep 
 [ bill side is tunnelled through, and every ravine is crossed 
 t, oy' a high bridge. 
 
 [ At length we escaped from the narrow defile, and I 
 khought that, in the manner of our own country, we should 
 /find ourselves on- a heath-covered hill, or some drearily- 
 extended Langwhang Moor. But we had on'ly come to the 
 shedding of the waters, woody as ever, the brook as winding 
 as the one we had left, the railway faithfully taking all its 
 curves and all its gradients, now rounding away on one 
 Jside, now on the other, till the valley began to widen and to 
 present to us clearings from the forest, producing wheat and 
 Indian corn, growing up amongst the stumps. The country 
 improved as we went on, and just before the sun went down 
 we came upon a larger river, and a scene lay before us of 
 singular beauty, resembling the valley of the Tweed near 
 
36 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 Melrose, the resemblance aided by a blue ridge like tbi 
 Eildon bills. I bad again occasion to lament the short/ 
 twilight, and in the dark we were hurried on to Harper’s] 
 Ferry, in Virginia, a place famed in America for its grand 
 and picturesque scenery, and where we had determined to 
 stop that we might, next day, compare our own impressions 
 with those of the people whom we had come to visit. 
 
 At the Astor Flouse, in New York, at the United States r' 
 Hotel, in Philadelphia, and at the United States Hotel, in 
 Baltimore, the gong was sounded at seven in the morning, 
 the signal for at least fifty persons sitting down to break- 
 fast — the first of a succession, at half hours’ intervals, of 
 breakfasters. At the United States at Harper’s Ferry 
 about the same number sat down at six, and made room foi 
 a like company at half-past six. Before this early meal 
 was out to see the famed confluence of the Potomac and the 
 Shenandoah. Previously I had seen splendid scenery when 
 I had expected none ; here I bad expected great grandeurJJ 
 and v/as disappointed. The rocks were not so high, th 
 rivers were neither so broad nor so full as I expected. But 
 the anticipated grandeur grew upon me. I found by pacing! 
 the railway bridge — a wooden tunnel — that the Potomai 
 was 250 yards in width ; I saw, by comparison, that th 
 Shenandoah must be 150 yards wide; I learned that the 
 perpendicular rock, facing the inn, was 300 feet in height, 
 and that the woody ridge that crowned those stupendous 
 rocks was nearly 900 feet high ; and thus, by degrees, I 
 obtained a perception of the promised magnificence. The 
 two rivers were, with equal grandeur, hemmed in and con- 
 fined, and the long stretch, ‘after their waters were united, 
 had, if possible, an aspect of still greater grandeur and 
 majestic beauty. Mr. Brooks and I afterwards ascended a 
 high rocky point behind the inn, where we looked down on 
 the river and its two forks. The view up the Shenandoah 
 reminded me, though its stream was three times larger, of 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 37 
 
 I the Clyde, at Auld-Brig-End, near Ijanark, and I could 
 see the place where Cartland Crags might have been, if the 
 Americans had possessed a Michael Scott, to command 
 obedience to his behests on the part of a powerful, but ill- 
 spoken-of personage. 
 
 At the inn we found an obliging gentleman, the agent of 
 a company who had purchased a quantity of land, and 1,700 
 horses’ power of waterfall, on the Shenandoah, with the 
 capacity of being easily increased to 2,500. They intend 
 to erect a paper mill, and woollen factory, and offer facili- 
 ties to other persons to erect factories. There are some 
 power-loom cloths made, principally by women, the wages 
 expected by men being more than the manufacturers can 
 afford to give. The women earn from 10s. 6d. to 12s. 6d. 
 a week. The expense of living is not more than one-half 
 of what it is in Manchester, so that, although the wages are 
 not high, they give a greater command over the necessaries 
 of life. A portion of the waters of the Potomac is applied 
 to the machinery used in the works established by the 
 government for the manufacture of fire arms, but a very 
 much greater power might be commanded for spinning and 
 weaving when there can be a corresponding command of 
 labour. No great amount of expenditure would be required 
 to create a water-power equal to that of 10,000 horses, and 
 there is a strong desire to rival New as well as Old England 
 in manufactures. Breakfasting at six we were ready for 
 dinner by twelve, and at one o’clock we entered the ^‘cars,” 
 and again went westwards towards the Alleghany Moun- 
 tains. 
 
 For a short time we proceeded between the Potomac and 
 the high rocky and woody ridge on its left bank, from 
 whence we diverged through a country pretty well cleared, 
 but not very well cultivated. We again came upon the 
 Potomac, and were astonished ‘and delighted with the 
 variety of beauty that presented itself in constant succes- 
 
 B 2 ’ 
 
38 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 sion. At one place we had the Tay, with its hill of Kinnoul, j 
 brought to remembrance; at another, the richest part of 
 Wharfdale; at another, the links of the Forth, the railroad 
 following its grand windings; the hanks, however, being high 
 and wooded, scarcely ever allowing us a view of a quarter of 
 a mile before us. Sometimes these banks came so close to 
 the river as only to leave room for the railroad on one side, 
 and the Chesapeake canal on the other, and sometimes they 
 receded, leaving half a mile of cultivated land on each side 
 of the river. The grand, the rich, the beautiful, the riant, 
 followed in constant change. I scarcely regretted that there 
 was little evidence of improvement, little evidence of good 
 cultivation, and the frequent proof that the clearings were 
 reverting rapidly to their original forest state ; the dis- 
 covery had been made that it was not profitable to employ 
 slave-labour in cultivating the land. In a few years Ger- 
 mans of indefatigable industry, and of economy carried to 
 the extreme, will obtain little patches, and cultivate them 
 like a garden. These men are the hewers of wood and ' 
 drawers of water now, and their descendants will be the 
 owners of the land, the water, and the woods, and the 
 Potomac will be a more beautiful Rhine. 
 
 At six o'clock we arrived at Cumberland and left the 
 cars for heavy stage coaches, in which we were to cross the 
 Alleghanies. Our first ascent was along the banks of a 
 rapid stream, climbing up and up for miles and miles toge- 
 ther,. I thought we must surely, with such a steep ascent 
 so long together, he nearly attaining the summit, when after 
 some two or three hours’ painful jolting over a road rougher 
 than any that has existed in England these last forty years, 
 we began to descend again, the wheels all locked— again ta 
 ascend for hours together, then to descend, then again to 
 ascend — tired beyond all endurance, unable to sleep from 
 the frequent jolting, and unable to keep awake from exces- 
 sive fatigue. I never in my life, and I have travelled much, 
 
I 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 39 
 
 encountered such a journey, and Mr. Brooks was almost 
 beaten into a jelly. Imagine Pendle Hill thrown down 
 alongside Blackstone Edge, and Rivington Pike alongside 
 of that— that half-a-dozen of Alderley Edges have been 
 tumbled down on each side of this triple ridge — cover them 
 with closely-growing wood, from the bottom of the deepest 
 ravine to the top of the highest ridge— -cut a line of road 
 through the trees, right over the hills, and right down the 
 hollows between them — macadamize this perilous way with 
 stones the size of a man’s head — you will then have some 
 idea of a journey of some fifty-six miles which occupied 
 from six o’clock in the evening to seven o’clock in the 
 morning. We did get a transient view of the western 
 country as we were upon the last ridge, but tired and sleepy, 
 I grumbled out to Mr. Brooks that the view over Notting- 
 hamshire from the high ground near Newark was worth 
 half-a-dozen of it. We found, on our arrival at Union 
 Town, that our caravan consisted of seven coaches full, each 
 having six passengers and each drawn by four capital horses. 
 Having breakfasted, we pushed on to Brownsville, where we 
 went on board a steamer, and sailed down the Monangahela, 
 there about a hundred yards wide. We were now in the 
 coal country, and on the steep banks of this placid river, 
 from Brownsville to Pittsburg — a distance of forty miles — f 
 were seen a succession of small tunnels running horizon- 
 tally into the hill side, from whence the coal was discharged 
 into boats upon the river. No steam-engines, no horse 
 gins to raise the coal or pump out the water ; the seams 
 cropped out on the banks ready to be dug out. I under- 
 stood that the price on board was from twopence halfpenny 
 to threepence per cwt. We saw flat-bottomed boats— a sort 
 of barge — square, shallow chests, without lids, being filled 
 for New Orleans, distant more than two thousand miles, 
 where the chests are broken to pieces for fire wood and 
 other purposes. Iron was in abundance in the same locality. 
 
40 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 There can be no doubt that, with abundance of coal and i 
 iron, the western part of Pennsylvania will become a great \ 
 manufacturing district, at least in articles in the price of 
 which labour is not the principal constituent. From the 
 conversation on board the steamer I could learn that more 
 ""protection’’ was earnestly coveted, and that there was no 
 little jealousy of the northern states as monopolisers of the 
 right to tax the whole republic for their own especial 
 benefit. A person who had been very civil to us, com- 
 plained grievously that the last tariff was ruining "" the cut 
 nail trade” of Pittsburg. "" I have no objection,” he said, 
 
 "" to low duties, but the home manufactures of the country 
 ought not to be destroyed by foreign competition.” I told j 
 him he ought to be ashamed to ask protection with coal and 
 iron so cheap and abundant. He said if we opened our 
 markets to American produce, he would not object to Our 
 manufactures being received on a moderate duty. I re- 
 minded him that our corn laws were repealed, and that 
 there was now no duty on the importation of cotton. "" No r 
 thanks to you for that,*’ he said; "" You cannot do without | 
 our corn and cotton. It is a matter of necessity that you r 
 take both. It is not a matter of necessity with us to take \ 
 your cut-nails.” "" How many makers of cut-nails have : 
 you ?” I asked. "" Oh, not a great many.” "" How many 
 persons use cut-nails "‘ Why, almost everybody.” 
 
 "" Then,” said I, "" you tax almost everybody for the benefit 
 of some half-dozen nail-makers.” He could not see that 
 this was argument. Another person complained that the 
 competition of England had made the production of iron 
 rails unprofitable, and that this was a national as well as an 
 individual loss. I endeavoured to show him that the cheap- 
 ness of iron was a great national gain. I said that nine- 
 tenths of the land in the States was lying valueless for 
 want of the means of communication ; that every mile of 
 rail would give a new impulse to agriculture and to com- 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 41 
 
 f 
 
 rnerce ; and that so far from grumbling at English competi- 
 ;ion in this particular manufacture, every man who had a 
 ^article of patriotism in his bosom ought to rejoice and be 
 thankful that England was thus enriching his country. 
 
 We sailed up to Pittsburg under a cloud of smoke worse 
 than we have that annoyance in Manchester, for it teemed 
 IS if unable to find its way upwards from the valley, and a 
 :rowd of large steamers, each with two great funnels, kept 
 Augmenting the density of the cloud. 
 
 I 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Pittsburg — Protection— Beauty of the Ohio— Charles 
 Dickens — Cincinnati. 
 
 Cincinnati, IZth June, 1848 . 
 
 ^ Pittsburg presents every indication of increasing pros- 
 perity. Above it and around it is a fertile and improving 
 :ountry, the produce of which may be conveyed either to 
 lakes and thence to the great port of New York, or 
 own the Ohio and the Mississippi to New Orleans ; and it 
 las great store of iron and coal. It must he commercially 
 mportant, and it may become largely manufacturing if the 
 abour of its population be directed into a course in which 
 t does not come into competition with cheaper foreign 
 abour. With cheap materials, close at hand, it can find 
 •rofitable employment for its workmen, without making 
 
42 
 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 Sheffield whittles, or cut-nails.” With 60,000 inhabitant 
 in close vicinity, it will be able, by and by, to demand pro 
 tection, which means that unprofitable labour should b^ 
 made remunerative, by taxing the country to make up th 
 difference. It is to be hoped that the agricultural con- 
 sumer will see that while it is better that he should get £ 
 certain quantity of heavy iron implements for four bushel 
 of wheat from Pittsburg, than that he should give fiv^ 
 bushels for the same quantity from England, he will als^ 
 see that it is better that he should give four bushels fOj 
 light iron articles from England, 'than to give five bushel 
 for them from Pittsburg. I can scarcely meet a manufajj 
 turer of any kind, who does not think it necessary ai 
 right, that the country should support him in whatever wal 
 he may choose to invest his capital or direct his labour. I 
 a man with a small capital, instead of buying a farm ani 
 raising wheat in the growth of which no English farmer ca] 
 compete with him, buys a clay-pit and commences a pod 
 tery, he demands protection against the produce of the chea] 
 labour of Staffordshire. He diverts his capital from thj 
 employment of profitable labour to the employment of un 
 profitable labour, and then asks bis country to make up th^ 
 loss. If,” I said to one manufacturer, you take a blackj 
 smith from the making of horse-shoes, by which he earns 
 dollar and a half or two dollars a day, and set him to mal 
 needles, by which, in competition with the cheap labour ( 
 England, he can earn only half a dollar, is there not on! 
 an individual but a national loss ?” He acknowledged th: 
 there would be, but would not allow that a general ru 
 could be drawn from the particular case. 
 
 The inost interesting view of the new towns in the westii 
 to regard them not as they are, but as what they may be 
 come. Pittsburg has wide streets, fast being filled up witl 
 substantial stores and good dwelling-houses, and gives the 
 promise of soon becoming a great city. The Monangahela 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 43 
 
 otel seems to have been built with reference to the future 
 ■ather than the present. It is on the model of the Astor 
 
 ouse, in New York, with improvements. It has Iwenty- 
 iix large and handsomely furnished public rooms, immense 
 orridores, and 225 bed-rooms, with 300 beds. The custom 
 of all dining at an ordinary, a table d* hole , enables the 
 occupier to give magnificent repasts at half the price which 
 jjhey would cost in England. Nobody remains in the refec- 
 jory after breakfast, dinner, or tea; the ladies retire to their 
 ^agnificent drawing-room, and the gentlemen to their large 
 ^rlours, or letter-writing room, or news-room. There is 
 p loss of time at repasts ; but there is no indecent hurry. 
 i^(Ourists complain that there is no conversation during 
 iieals ; but there is abundance of it elsewhere in the house, 
 [f Englishmen have it not, it is their own fault. They 
 seldom invite conversation, and the Americans think them 
 'eserved and haughty, and do not wish to come between the 
 vind and their nobility. I think the custom is a good one, 
 !^f not remaining in a dining-room, redolent of the scents of 
 ["he cuisine, where there are other handsomer and airier 
 ipartments to retire to. 
 
 We had been told that there was no reliance to be placed 
 >n announcements of the sailing of steamers. We did not 
 ind it so. There are regular packets which keep to the 
 iinounced time of sailing, and we found the Messenger more 
 •rompt in this respect than some of the steamers between 
 jiverpool and Greenock, or from Fleetwood to Ardrossan. 
 It eleven o’clock on the forenoon of Saturday, we were 
 [loving down a river which, there of the width of the 
 !"hames at London, flows onwards more than two thousand 
 liles ere it discharges itself into the sea — an internal stream 
 learly as long in its majestic course as the distance from 
 lur western shore to the continent of America ! There was 
 imething exciting in the thought; and the man whose 
 nagination was not aroused by the mere consciousness of 
 
44 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 such a fact, would pass unmoved over Marathon and Iona. 
 Neither mj compagnoti-du-voyage nor myself were disposed 
 to .regard the river as a mere utility — but even if it were?! 
 what a canal this Ohio was! The very coal-seams (for 
 coal is your great advancer of civilization), cropping out on 
 the face of the banks, were a sight worth looking at. We 
 did not expect much beauty on a large slowly-flowing river 
 
 with its narrow margin of meadows hemmed in by steeji 
 banks. We even expected a tiresome continuity of th^ 
 
 same forms, broken clay -bluffs and rounded sand-hills, fo/j 
 
 lowing each other till the eye sunk fatigued under tb 
 infliction. A glance at Dickens’s Notes, reprinted in NeJ 
 Y ork and sold for twelvepence-halfpenny, did not tend t, 
 raise my expectations. Reading his description again, afW 
 I have had the opportunity of testing its truth, I am tempte* 
 to transcribe it as a curious specimen of the authors utte; 
 indifference to the beautiful in scenery under which *h« 
 remained sitting in ^‘the little stern gallery” of the ladiei 
 cabin, rather than mounting on the paddle box or on th' 
 upper deck, to see that which it is to be presumed he wen 
 to see. He says : — 
 
 A fine broad river always, hut in some parts much wide 
 than in others : and then there is usually a green island 
 covered with trees, dividing it into two streams. Occasion-] 
 ally, we stop for a few minutes, may be to take in woodJ| 
 may be for passengers, at some small town or village (j 
 ought to say city, every place is a city here); but the banki 
 are for the most part deep solitudes, overgrown with trees] 
 which, hereabout, are already in leaf and very green. Fo: 
 miles, and miles, and miles, these solitudes are unbroken b 
 any sign of human life or trace of human footstep; nor i 
 anything seen to move about them but the blue jay, whosi 
 colour is so bright, and yet so delicate, that it looks like 
 flying flower. At lengthened intervals, a log cabin, with iti 
 little space of cleared land about it, nestles under a risinj 
 ground, and sends its thread of blue smoke curling up int( 
 the sky. It stands in the corner of the poor field of wheat. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 45 
 
 I. . 
 
 Wiich is full of great nrisightly stumps, like earthy butchers’ 
 I j)locks. Sometimes the ground is only just now cleared : 
 yihe felled trees lying yet upon the soil, and the log-house 
 "H nly this morning begun. As we pass this clearing, the 
 ■'Ijettler leans upon his axe or hammer, and looks wistfully at 
 'll he people from the world. The children creep out of the 
 ^Temporary hut, which is like a gipsy tent upon the ground, 
 ){)ixnd clap their hands and shout. The dog only glances 
 j round at us, and then looks up into his master’s face again, 
 las if he were rendered uneasy by any suspension of the 
 common business, and had nothing more to do with plea- 
 H surers. And still there is the same eternal foreground. 
 k The river has washed away its banks, and stately trees have 
 jiJ alien down into the stream. Some have been there so 
 Jong, that they are mere dry grisly skeletons. Some have 
 j^^ust toppled over, and having earth yet about their roots, are 
 
 i athing their green heads in the river, and putting forth 
 lew shoots and branches. Some are almost sliding down 
 s you look at them. And some were drowned so long ago, 
 bat their bleached arms start out from the middle of the 
 urrent, and seem to try to grasp the boat, and drag it 
 nder water. Through such a scene as this, the unwieldy 
 lachine takes its hoarse sullen way.” 
 
 What might be expected, after this description, but an 
 nbroken solitude and an eternal monotony relieved only 
 py an occasional deformity ? The map of the country 
 through which the river flows might show that a considera- 
 ble population, and immense tracts of cultivated land, are 
 (close upon its banks ; a look at the river guide” might 
 fehow that between Pittsburg and Cincinnati there are no 
 fewer than forty seven landing places, most of them at 
 rising towns and villages ; and it might thence be conclu- 
 ded that the solitude is not exactly such as Daniel Boone 
 and Charles Dickens found it. But still there might he 
 expected the absence of all beauty ; still it might be expec- 
 ted, from Dickens’s description, that the eye would be more 
 Istrongly arrested by the mere dry grisly skeletons of trees 
 {ban by luxuriant foliage ; still it might be expected that, 
 ^0 far as the beautiful and the picturesque were concerned. 
 
46 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 
 . Tell 
 
 foJ 
 
 
 there was nothing to be found between the Dan of Pittsburg!^ 
 and the Beersheba of Cincinnati— nothing to tempt a pas- 
 senger to leave the ladies’ cabin for the roof of the deck. 
 The passengers do not sit sociably after dinner in the cabin 
 — don’t they? Why, no man with an eye in his head could®^ 
 sit still to pass unseeing a single turn in \h\^ Belle Riviere, 
 as the French truly named it. Constantly winding, every 
 quarter of a mile presents a new form of beauty. At one 
 place we have steep hills on each side, clothed with treeS' * 
 growing as if they never could grow old ; at another the^i 
 ends of ridges, with magnificjent monarehs of the forest^^ 
 filling the hollows between them; at another the high banks^] 
 receding half a mile or a mile on each side, presenting 
 combination of lawns and trees such as might be dxpectedF^ 
 around an English nobleman s seat ; at another islands of^^ 
 surpassing beauty; at another vineyards and orchards ; and®^ 
 at every opening, clearings which indicate the cultivation^^ 
 that is going on behind. I grudged every moment spent*'] 
 at the breakfast, dinner, or tea table; 1 spent hours alone^l 
 at the highest elevation, where the steersman, perched aloft^ 
 for a good long look-out, steered the long light steamer 
 through its tortuous course ; and after the brief twilight, le; 
 felt as one might feel after listening a whole day to the^l 
 grandest and most beautiful strains of music, sorry that it 
 was over, yet fatigued with the very intensity of pleasure^- 
 enjoyed. The next day was Sunday, and we enjoyed the^J 
 same succession of splendid pictures; and I thought of thesj 
 time when, fresh from the Creator’s hand, the earth was? 
 seen rejoicing in its loveliness. And then the sunset ! It^ 
 was worth while to cross the great Atlantic for that sight^ 
 alone. We were in a bend of the river, seemingly com-ai 
 pletely land-locked. When the sun went down behind the^ 
 western bank, a deep shade was thrown on the trees on that^ 
 side, while those on the opposite bank were of a brighter 
 and livelier hue ; and then the shadow went upwards from 
 
jj ■ , UNITED. STATES.. ' 47 
 
 J^e bottom of the deep slope, and upwards, with a distinctly 
 •parked line,, till that bank was also in the shade. And then 
 Lde bright-white clouds—,as white as snow— began to 
 y^hange to all mahUer of bright colours, the orange predom- 
 I'.nating, in a -gorgeousness of which the imitative art could 
 jpnvcy no idea; and all this splendour was reflected by the 
 S jittre inland lake— not perfectly, for that would have been 
 j)i repetition, but reflected from a liquid surface slightly in 
 notion, the colour becoming more golden till there lay 
 >efore us a living sheet of molten gold.” / Early next 
 |norning we found the vessel lying in-shore in a fog so 
 
 |;lense that we could not see ten yards on each side, 
 
 btrange. contrast to the scene of the preceding night. Per- 
 haps ill such a mist Charles Dickens might have come 
 Sown the river, onlj he does not say so. The sun soon 
 Jvspelled the fog, and then the river was before us again in 
 ill its glory, widening, and its high banks receding— the 
 vhite houses and villages, and small cities increasing in 
 lumber, as we went onwards. 
 
 I Our steam vessel was so constructed as to draw only four 
 eet of wafer,. and, even with this shallow draught, was, fre- 
 [uently in danger of running aground on sand banks, 
 rhe navigation of- the Monopgahela on which we had 
 ailed down from Brownsville to Pittsburg had been im- 
 roved by the erection of locks, through which vessels 
 ould pass where there were shallows, but nothing had 
 een done for the improvement of the Ohio, which, from 
 'ittsburg to Louisville, a distance of more than six hundred 
 liles, notwithstanding its great width, had not depth 
 lough for the large steamers for New Orleans and St. 
 ouis. The river is not confined to any one state, but 
 ows between the boundary of Virginia and Ohio, Ken- 
 icky and Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri, &c. Each state 
 IS a deep interest in its improvement:, but it cannot be 
 cpected that any one state should improve for the benefit 
 
48 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 of all the others. Nor could it be easily arranged in whajona. 
 proportion each should bear its share in the expenditu^ 
 
 The whole confederation of states, eastern and westeili>"erej 
 would benefit by the improvement of the navigation. The(fori 
 river is a great national highway and ought to be improvecf on 
 at the national expense. But the northern states wantWej 
 harbours, and claim ^‘appropriations” from the generalverj 
 revenues; and the southern states want harbours and riveree}' 
 improvements, and they claim “appropriations;” and thus th': 
 the Ohio, which might be made the first navigable river infoj 
 the world, remains incapacitated, during the greater part ofttl 
 
 the summer months, for the reception of vessels drawin^e j 
 
 more than four feet of water. tj 
 
 In the afternoon of Monday we arrived at Cincinnatiftsl 
 Here we took leave of two gentlemen — a gentleman is theted 
 same all over the wmrld — who in return for our talk of thetej 
 authors and public men of the old country gave us much'hd 
 interesting information relative to the institutions, an^es 
 especially of the recenlly-admilted state of Iowa, for theihl 
 reception of emigrants from Europe.- We experience en'.\ 
 great civility from a number of persons on board the 
 steamer, and although there was a little too much 
 tunity to make us admire the Ohio, and a familiarity from^ji | 
 some who in our own country would not have venturedn-j! 
 upon it, there was so evident a desire to oblige that 
 could neither take offence nor draw ourselves up in aj^J 
 haughty reserve. We were amused at Cincinnati by the,g| 
 porters who came on board to take luggage on shore. Eacho/| 
 of these men has a light w^aggon and a pair of horses, and^^^j 
 they are very independent sort of persons. One of them,^‘ 
 a tall good looking young man, of about six feet two, w^elh^^ 
 dressed, but with his coat off and apron on, coolly walking^- 
 up and down in our handsome saloon, took his cigar front 
 his mouth, and, with a patronising air, said : ^‘Now, gen->- 
 tlemen, I am quite ready to take your luggage.’’ Another,^ 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 49 
 
 i 
 
 squat old Irishman, quietly sat down beside Mr. Brooks 
 in the cabin, and looking him kindly and complacently in 
 ^the face, as a brother magistrate would in asking him to 
 ydinner, said, ‘'Shall I take your trunks for you?” 
 
 I We take the steamer to-day to Louisville, intending to 
 return here and stay a day on our way northwards to Lake 
 ^Erie. We have been much tempted to go down the Ohio, 
 up to St. Louis on the Mississippi, and up the Illinois and 
 on to Chicago, but the time to which we have limited our- 
 ; selves will not permit our taking so extended a route. We 
 ' have at length found two or three persons who acknowledge 
 that the weather is warm, and we are beginning to specu- 
 ^ late how we shall feel when there is an acknowledgment 
 that it is hot. The evening air is balmy and delicious; but 
 1 we do not feel, at noonday, at all desirous to go out a-hoe- 
 I ing potatoes. 
 
 0 ' 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 > Cincinnati — Irish Labourer — Bowie Knifes — The Ohio — 
 ‘ Louisville — Slavery — Soil and Wages. 
 
 Louisville, Kentuchy, 20tk June, 1848. 
 
 Cincinnati being a point to which we should have occa- 
 sion to return, we postponed our survey of that city and its 
 neighbourhood, and resolved to proceed onwards to the south 
 western extremity of our journey. In walking out, we saw 
 a man shovelling down large round stones, none of them 
 less than a man s fist, upon a street which had been maca- 
 damized, but which was sadly out of repair. I asked him 
 
50 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 )a 
 
 if they were not to be broken down into smaller and more^; 
 angular pieces, remarking that they never could consolidate 
 in that state. Faith, sir,” said he, I know that^ and if 
 was my own master, I. would order myself to break them.^^ 
 You are from Ireland, I hear.” ^‘Indeed, I am.^’ “Haver^ 
 you any wish to return ?” ^- Return.! ' Would you have aij. 
 
 man go from a dollar a-day to eightpence ? I left Irelanc.j 
 because I was turned out of my little farm for voting against^; 
 the will of my landlord. I would not go back even if L 
 could get my farm again, rnuch less to work at eightpence; 
 a-day with dear taties and meal.” You can live cheapo 
 
 here, I suppose I.pay two dollars a-week, and am welp 
 
 lodged, and get whatever 1 like !to eaU” So that aftei^ j 
 paying for your meat and lodging, you have 16s. left?’!^^ 
 ^'It is more than that, sir; it is 16s. 8d.” . Can you standi^^ 
 the heat?” ''Indeed, I can sir; it gives me no trouble at^^ 
 all. I wish it was summer all the year round, for I get 
 dollar a-day in the summer, and I get only 80 cental 
 (3s. 4d.) in the winter.” '‘Then this is a rare place for a^ 
 working man.” "’Deed it is, sir ; a man that can do hard 
 rough work, and can keep from the drink, need never look 
 behind him.” 
 
 this Irishman was at work, we saw, 
 hundred and fifty yards, four glass cases, set out on the^J 
 pavement, filled with pistols of all kinds, murderous bowiel 
 knives, and large clasp-knives with long dagger-like blades.^* 
 The habit continues with many in the new communities in j 
 the west, of carrying about with them these instruments ofi^ 
 destruction, and many instances occur of their fatal use when ^ 
 
 a short distance from, the place where ^ 
 distance of a^^ 
 
 the passions are excited. Time was, though quaker expe- 
 rience is to the contrary, when the strong hand and the 
 keen knife might be needed to guard the head; but no 
 Englishman can regard as harmless this remnant of barbar- 
 ism, or look without a feeling of either detestation or deep 
 regret on a state of public opinion which can find any 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 5 ) 
 
 Tpology for the use of the pistol or dagger in avenging what 
 "he perpetrator may deem to he an insult. 
 
 We left Cinemnati on Tuesday forenoon in a new boat 
 'f great dimensions, and of great elegance in all its interior 
 rrangements, named the Benjamin Franklin, It was some- 
 ^lirig to find that name thus honoured in a country which, 
 ke our own, is carried away from sober thinking by the 
 lare of a false glory. On hoard this splendid batimenty in 
 splendidly finished cabin, two hundred and forty feet in 
 ngth, we steered down a river, the waters of which, seventy 
 fears ago, were broken only by the oar of the wild Indian, 
 ijhe scenery below the city closely resembled what we had 
 r jreviously seen in its general characteristics, but the high 
 s,>ound receded more from the river ; there were more 
 Himpses of cultivated fields, more and snugger-looking 
 I etached houses, more villages, more towns, and here and 
 Were vineyards on the steep-sloping banks, evidences of the 
 Atient industry of the ever-patient and industrious Ger- 
 mans. There was a very good band on board, led by Mr. 
 fvosso, an excellent violinist; and when the splendid chan-. 
 f!|eliers were lit up, dancing, conducted with great propriety, 
 |fas commenced, and continued till a late hour. There 
 jpuld not have been a gayer assembly in the old country 
 pan on this recently wild-Indian river. We were detained 
 j)me hours at Utica, a few miles above Louisville, in con- 
 ^quence of some slight defection in the newly-used 
 jiachinery, and here I was teazed out of all patience by 
 ,1 American, who made great demands for. my admiration 
 r his country in general, and this river in particular. 
 Now,” said I, "'here is the way in which Arnerica is 
 jeated unjustly by English tourists. You will not let 
 lem admire silently. You are constantly pressing for 
 dmiration. You cannot believe that the Englishman has 
 1 eye for either the grand or beautiful. You tire him to 
 3a;th with your constant fishing for praise, and he revenges 
 
62 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 
 himself by withholding instead of bestowing it. Your rive 
 is both grand and beautiful, but why should you prid 
 yourself about that? You did not make it; you do ncte 
 even mend it. We might brag of our Clyde, which hal 
 not more than eighteen inches of water, but which has beeU 
 deepened to fourteen feet. Tf you want to be praised 
 not be so confoundedly importunate for praise.” ^‘Yoia| 
 English writers do us very great injustice,” said he. "‘Yc 
 heaped all possible honours on Dickens, and the ungratefii 
 fellow’s only return was abuse.” He served you right,” f 
 said. You tried to bribe him to praise, and he would n^ 
 agree to your terms; and no doubt he felt besides that yd 
 bestowed honours on the mere novelist, which you wou 
 have denied to the patriot or philosopher.” “We bestow^ 
 great honours upon your great philosopher, the editor 
 the Edinburgh Review^' “ And who might he be, pray 
 “Why, Dr. Lardner.” “Dr. Lardner!” I said; Dr. Lar 
 ner, editor of the Edinburgh Review ! Dr. Lardner o| 
 great philosopher ! Why he was the man who proved tl 
 steamers could never cross the Atlantic.” “ Neither th 
 
 have,” he said.; “ they have to stop at Halifax to take y 
 coal.” There was a laugh at this and I said : “ Now thei ' 
 
 I leave you. You are libelling the mechanical genius m 
 not only of my country, but of your own.” Passing tl 
 group a little afterwards, I over-heard some gentlem' 
 remonstrating with him for bringing his country into co 
 tempt with the foreigner. 
 
 At daylight next morning we were at the landing pla| 
 at Louisville, and there stood a dear brother whom I h4 
 not seen for nearly twenty years, who, broken down by del 
 affliction, could only silently wring my hand. His elde 
 son had expired on the previous day, smitten down, in tlB 
 highest vigour of life, by the hand of an assassin. I hjf 
 not lamented without cause the practice of carrying instril 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 C3 
 
 fj jaients of death about the person, ready for use to avenge a 
 i|presiimed or alleged insult. I had the. melancholy satisfac- 
 I lion of being in time to follow the earthly remains of my 
 tii^phew to the grave. When I sat at the bedside of his 
 mother she said : I never thought that I should see you 
 
 again, and far less that you should come here to follow my 
 5on to the grave and find me dying.” It was but too 
 ^ obvious that she would not survive him many days. 
 
 ' We were now to be a week in a slave state. There were 
 k slaves in the fields, slaves in the stores, slaves in the houses, 
 Virid the children of slaves in the streets, of every variety of 
 ^ indicated intelligence, from the miserable-looking wretch 
 ^ ipparently of the very lowest degree of human intellect to 
 filim who possessed the European thoughtful cast of coun- 
 llenance. I did not wonder that, self-interest and the pre- 
 vailing habit of thinking considered, the one was believed 
 >|o be an inferior race, born to do the work of the dominant 
 pwhites • but it was impossible to look on the other without 
 rJastonishment that he should be considered as of an unim- 
 -Wovable race, and without deep sympathy for the degrada- 
 lion to which he is condemned. I was particularly struck 
 rlvith the appearance of one little girl, who had a beautifully- 
 Jormed head, and whose large mild eye looked appealingly 
 |o me, when I gazed upon her, and, when I smiled, the 
 bright sunny beam of intelligence that passed over her dark 
 countenance showed that cultivation alone was wanted to 
 ievelop the moral and intellectual faculties. We saw 
 slavery in its mildest form. There was not labour in the 
 jeane-brake under an almost vertical sun; in a wheat-growing 
 and grazing country there was the assurance of abundance 
 pf food ; and, in the immediate vicinity of a free state, there 
 |was a public opinion repressive of open cruelty. I was told 
 that the poor creatures were happy; I saw that they were 
 light-hearted and thoughtless ; but I knew that there was a 
 law to prevent their discovering that they had higher destU 
 
54 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 nies than the lower animak which shared their labours ir 
 the field. I was asked to visit more southerly plantations^ 
 that I might see how well the black race were kept, but 
 said that I denied the authority to keep. I saw with pl<^ 
 sure, that there was, in the minds of some, a lurking doub 
 of the justice of holding fellow-creatures in bondage ; and 
 heard with pleasure, from others, an acknowledgment of th 
 existence of a great social evil, and the expression of a desir( 
 that it should be removed. I could only say to the latter, 
 that where there was the will, there was the way. 
 
 We have attended a ratification meeting of whigs. Thel 
 convention at Philadelphia had agreed to put General 
 Taylor forward as a candidate for the presidentship, an 
 the meeting was called to give the citizens an opportunity! 
 of giving in their adhesion to that nomination. Th 
 hearers were a little more noisy than a similar class would 
 be on a similar occasion in England, and the speakers, 
 little more declamatory. There was more of eulogy on th 
 candidate than of elucidation of principle ; and I though 
 there was too much allusion to the military glory he hac^l 
 achieved, from a party which, very properly, takes its stanc^j 
 on peace principles. One speaker lauded the General be-f ; 
 cause, although he had protested against the Mexican warj 
 he had bravely fought his country's battles ; but I thoughai 
 that a higher morality would not have separated the con 
 science of the soldier from the conscience of the man, an< 
 that killing, under such circumstances, was little bette: 
 than murder. Another speaker, in an ad captandum ap 
 peal, denounced the government for permitting the foreigri 
 labourer at sixpence a-day to compete with the labour o; 
 freemen, in a free country; perfectly unconscious, he, of th< 
 absurdity, while there is so great a demand for productivi 
 labour, to enter into such unprofitabler competition. Th( 
 whigs are for peace and protection; the democrats for free 
 trade and annexation. I had to tell persons of both parties 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 66 
 
 ^at the country would, by-and-by, require a new political 
 l^ivision, and that the real friends of peace amongst the 
 \{?igs, and the real friends of free-trade amongst the demo- 
 rats, would hare to come out from those whose cry was for 
 ' ar and protection, and form a new party. 
 
 We have made several excursions in the neighbourhood 
 3jf Louisville, and thus have seen part of the line and exten- 
 ive valley which extends to Lexington, called, from its 
 roductiveness, the garden of the States. On one extensive 
 trm we saw a field containing one hundred acres, all in 
 Pta to es. It was supposed that they would bring 2-5 cents, ) 
 I twelvepence half-penny, per bushel of 65 lbs., equal to 
 for our load. The price of new potatoes was two-thirds 
 f a penny a pound. The crop is planted without manure, 
 
 I are the crops of corn (Indian ) and wheat. This would 
 I excessively exhausting were it not that the cattle eat off 
 |e clover crop every third or fourth year, and thus keep 
 .leland in some “heart.” We should call the wheat a 
 oor crop, the average yield, even on this rich soil, not 
 eing more than twenty bushels an acre, whereas, under*^ 
 lore liberal cultivation, the yield might be from thirty two 
 forty. In the immediate vicinity of the city much of 
 ^eland is in what we should call “ market gardens,” on 
 liich there is a greater produce. Such land sells, out and 
 jt, at from £20 to £30 an acre. The Dutch are the only 
 lople who compete with slave labour, and by very hard 
 |rk, and very penurious living, they contrive to gather 
 gether a little money, and to place their children in a 
 »sition for further advancement. I believe that land 
 ight be purchased in the three states of Maryland, Vir- 
 juia, and Kentucky to pay. a large return for the capital 
 ^sted. Extensive tracts, now unprofitable for the pro- 
 fction of a filthy weed, are to be obtained cheap, and 
 ere are instances of great profits being derived by the 
 Itivators of the soil for the growth of articles of food. 
 
56 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 But the black stain of slavery rests upon the whole of thes] 
 states, not only most injuriously affecting their moral an 
 religious condition, but greatly retarding their prosperii 
 Kentucky is the garden of the republic, — over-grown wit] 
 weeds, choking up the useful and the beautiful. Free, ^ 
 would be, comparatively, a second Garden of Eden. 
 
 Louisville is not. progressing so rapidly as some of t 
 cities in the free states, to which the tide of emigrate 
 flows in greater strength. However, although its foundatioi^ 
 is in the memory of not very old men, it has now aboi 
 40,000 inhabitants, and there are symptoms of continu 
 increase. It is the port for the tobacco and other produ 
 of Kentucky, a/very fertile state, and it is sharing wi 
 Cincinnati in the salting and packing of pork. A lar| 
 trade with England would rise up, if that kind of produ 
 could be sent in good condition; but there is not sufficie; 
 capital to establish a more immediate communication, ai 
 in the delay that takes place at New Orleans the meat 
 often completely spoiled. There is a large margin for pro: 
 ^"' were this difficulty overcome. Pork is had for three hal/f 
 pence a pound ; and I tasted some excellent sugar-curi|'|^ 
 ham which had cost threepence half-penny, and a moi 
 common quality is to be had for a penny less. 
 
 We «have visited the prison for the State pf fndiail^i 
 which is situated across the river from Louisville. It c 
 tains only 125 prisoners, the whole number of persoli 
 under, sehtence in a population* of 800,000! They are 
 to work in yards and workshops as coopers, joiners,.bla<?i'^ 
 smiths, &cV and provisions are so cheap that the sale of t 
 produce' of their labour yields a profit to the state of £ 1,6' 
 a year, after deducting all the expense of their maintenan 
 including the salaries of their officers. They are not^vij 
 mitted to converse together while at work,, and are loclr 
 up in separate cells during the night. Some are workij 
 in brick-fields outside the walls, and do not attempt 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 57 
 
 scape. I thought the silent system was carried quite far 
 lenough, but I was told in Louisville that the utmost vigil- 
 ance could not prevent those evil communications which 
 : orrupt even good manners and make bad morals worse. 
 The older state of Kentucky, also with above 800,000 inha- 
 bitants, has only 160 convicted prisoners, and a considerable 
 ^^rofit accrues from their labour, after defraying the cost of 
 heir maintenance. 
 
 The condition of working people here is on the whole one 
 )f considerable comfort. For highly-skilled artificers the 
 wages, called here '^compensation,” or "equivalent,” are not 
 'faiuch higher than in the mother country, but provisions are 
 ^Very low, and since the filling up or draining of the ponds, 
 which formerly emitted most pestilential effluvia, the town 
 ^^as been healthy^ Carpenters earn from 5s. 6d. to 6s. 6d. 
 ■h day; cabinet-makers, from 6s. 3d. to 7s.; shipwrights, 
 7s. to 8’s. 4d.; blacksmiths, bricklayers, and plasterers, from 
 f^3s. 3d. to 7s. 6d.; moulders, from 7s. 3d. to 9s. ; and printers, 
 7s. to 8s. Flour is 1 |d. a pound, beef at 2|d. to 3id., 
 tjpork lid., good black tea at Is. 9d. to 2s., and good moist 
 sugar at 2id. The wages of labour and the prices of pro- 
 1/isions are much the same in the adjoining states of Ohio 
 rjknd Indiana, where emigrants escape the contamination 
 yhich is the result of the loose morality of the slave states. 
 
 f an artisan does not disdain, when out of employment in 
 pis own trade, to turn his hand to common day labour, he 
 tan earn from three shillings to four shillings and twopence 
 a day. Farm labourers, engaged by the year, have half a 
 dollar, two shillings and a penny 6f our money, a day with 
 board, or three shillings and threehalfpence without board. 
 
 Amongst the lions of Louisville is Mr. James Porter, 
 jvho stands seven feet eight inches in his stockings, the. only 
 man of his height L ever saw with a good head on his 
 shoulders and good legs beneath him. He is much respect- 
 ed, and has been one of the council-men of the city. He 
 
58 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 told me that Lord Morpeth called upon him at his coffee ^ 
 house, and that he was much pleased with his lordship s, 
 plain, unpretending manner. He did not like Dickens 
 who had sent for him. He had a double gold chain out- 
 side his waistcoat,” said Porter, ^^and such breast-pins, that 
 T thought he looked like one of our river gamblers;” a class, 
 of persons who, it seems, particularly affect a show of jew- 
 ellery. 
 
 Here is our turning point. Our journey was intended to 
 be mainly for pleasure, and we are unwilling to incur the 
 pain of witnessing more of a system which was revolting tc} 
 our feelings. Besides, I confess that I have not sufficient^ 
 temper calmly to answer sophistications drawn from the, 
 assumption that the man with a black skin is an inferior^ 
 order of creature, intended by the Almighty Father to be^ 
 the beast of burthen to another who happened to have lesSj 
 colouring matter under the cuticle. We had another reason 
 for not going further south. Coming on a journey of recre-j 
 ation, we had no inclination to place ourselves under a 
 broiling sun, and within reach of the musquitos. Hitherto 
 we have not suffered from the heat, although the thermo- 
 meter has frequently stood higher than 80®, and the morn-, 
 ings and evenings have been of a delicious temperature 
 We purpose to start to-morrow for Cincinnati, and to pro 
 ceed thence, right through the heart of the state of Ohio t 
 Sandusky, on the shore of Lake Erie. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 59 
 
 ' \ 
 
 letter vie 
 
 Cl 
 
 V 
 
 - -^tablishment of Manufactures Anticipated — Rail- 
 roads— The Little Miami— Prospect for Farmers and 
 Small Capitalists. 
 
 I ■ Urhana, State of Ohio, June 23, 1848. 
 
 •; During our stay at Louisville I had a long conversation 
 ^ '^th Mr. Hamilton Smith, one of the partners in a com- 
 I P'ny of about a dozen gentlemen who have purchased 
 ^Veral thousand acres of land in Indiana, on the north 
 ’•^ink of the Ohio, about 120 miles below Louisville. Mr. 
 ^nith told me that he had no desire to conceal the fact that 
 ^^ 3 y wished to draw capital and population to a part of the 
 , Western coal-field in which they had a personal interest, 
 
 I ^it he believed that their own interest would coincide with 
 ^^^ose who might be disposed to join in the object of bring- 
 ing that coal into use for manufacturing purposes. He 
 ^sked if I thought it was likely that English capitalists and 
 i^lnglish workpeople might he tempted to seek a new field 
 action ? 
 
 / I said that our spinners and manufacturers were not 
 iijkely to risk their capital in producing either yarn or 
 I §Cods in a country that required a protective tariff; and 
 ! lat workpeople, before they could be induced to go into a 
 ew country would require either a guarantee of employ- 
 [ ^ lent or payment of the expenses of emigration, or both, 
 j Iwhat,” I asked, would be the chance of success to a 
 ^^Anner or manufacturer who might he disposed to start 
 
 '^^derthe only permanent system, a perfectly, free import 
 
 )” 
 
60 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 He said that the Illinois coal-field covered at leas^ 
 70,000 square miles in the very centre of the Mississippi 
 valley; that it was found, not from 1000 to 2000 feet i^ 
 the bowels of the earth, but in the hills, and above thg 
 ordinary level of the country ^ that it was reached by drifig 
 instead of shafts — horizontally, not perpendicularly ; tha^ 
 the mines were self-draining and self-ventilating, requiring; 
 neither railroads nor canals ; that the coal, equal in heaij;. 
 producing power to the best of England, could be produce^ 
 at four cents per bushel of 80 lbs., or 4s. 6d. per ton; anj 
 that the freight of cotton from New Orleans to Indian^ 
 was a great deal less than the freight to England. 
 
 I acknowledged that cheap coal and cheap freights gav^. 
 a great advantage to the American manufacturer, but j 
 asked how he accounted for it that the Lowell manufao. 
 turers, although they had: cheap water power, and wen^ 
 near the market for purchase, and for sales, could not conc^. 
 pete with us without being held up, like ricketty children 
 a go-cart, by a protective tariff ? 
 
 He said that the Lowell manufacturers did successfully 
 compete with us in the heavy goods where the value of tWg 
 labour was small in proportion to the cost of the raw ma- 
 terial, but that water power was generally much moig 
 expensive than steam power; that the new factories no^^^ 
 erecting in New England are to 'haVe steam as a motiv e 
 power ; and that there coal costs five or six times what ) 
 costs on the Ohio. j 
 
 There cam be no doubt,’’ I said, that America wil 
 ultimately be a manufacturing nation, if she is wis 
 enough to make what she cannot obtain cheaper elsewhere . 
 But supposing you had spinners, and manufacturers 
 Cannelton, and that you had workpeople from Englanw^ 
 how are you to induce the latter to remain ? A man wrOi] 
 not keep toiling in your mills, tied to fixed hours, when hlg 
 can have good prairie land at five shillings an acre, and b^ 
 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 61 
 
 V 
 
 i 
 
 his own master and his own landlord.” They find work- 
 people at Lowell,” he said. Workwomen they do find,” 
 i said; ^'but not workmen. The farmers’ daughters go for 
 a period, earn a few hundred dollars, and then go off and get 
 married. The agricultural excess of population must precede 
 the demand for manufacturing labour. You must have the 
 farmer and the farm-labourer, before you can have for your 
 factories the farmers’ daughters and the labourers’ daugh- 
 ters. You must put the horse before the cart.” ^^Well,” 
 said he, "we can do that. There are hundreds of thou- 
 sands of acres of land, of a good quality, in a free state, 
 as healthy as any in the Union. If your farmers and 
 farm -labourers were to come here they would do well in 
 their own occupations, and, being so near iron and coal, 
 their children, by the time they are fit for labour, would 
 find employment in our rising manufactures.’' 
 
 Mr. Smith, on the day before I left Louisville, gave me 
 a pamphlet, not quite finished, which he is putting through 
 the press, and I may hereafter have occasion to refer to it ; 
 but in the meantime I may say that I have heard ample 
 testimony as to the truth of his remark on the healthiness 
 of Indiana. The winter is not so cold and the summer is 
 not so hot as in Canada. Ague is disappearing as the 
 woods get cleared and the swamps drained. . Avoiding the 
 undrained prairie, and the swampy woodland, the small 
 farmer, the farm-labourer, the blacksmith, and the country 
 joiner of England, Scotland, and Ireland, would greatly 
 improve their condition by a removal to that state, and, 
 with care, might become inured to the climate without any 
 very serious previous sickness. Much of the illness 
 suffered is from the want of caution, and much from 
 poverty. A decent house to live in, sheds for horses that 
 they may be found in the morning when wanted, instead 
 of being hunted for through the long wet prairie grass, 
 c 2 
 
1 
 
 62 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 would save matiy a * fit of ague, and many long hours of 
 deep despondency. 
 
 The Ohio at Louisville is of magnificent width, and the 
 rapids, though obstructing its navigation, add much to its 
 beauty.. It was something to say, We have sailed more 
 than’six hundred miles down a river, and we might con- 
 tinue our river-voyage for fifteen hundred more!” The. 
 immensity of this inland navigation gave a deep interest 
 even to the bare names and figures in a little twopenny map 
 of the Ohio which we had purchased. The perusal helped- 
 the imagination to realise the vastness of the distance 
 through which this placid river rolled its waters to the 
 ocean. Animated as it was now by the crowd of steamers, 
 what will it be when, its whole valley from Pittsburg to 
 New Orleans cultivated, and the stain of its slavery 
 washed out, it is filled with a free people I 
 
 We left Louisville on Wednesday, June 21. The -wheat 
 harvest had commenced and everywhere the scythe was jit: 
 work. On our return to Cincinnati we had the opportunity 
 of seeing a part, of the river which we had, the week before, 
 passed in the dark, and of observing evidences of progress 
 on both .sides of the river, Everybody, slave owners in- 
 cluded, agreed that the free states of Indiana and. Ohio on 
 the one side of the river were making far more rapid strides, 
 than the slave state of Kentucky oii the other. Land is 
 higher in price, labour in better demand, and population 
 more rapidly advancing. The one is nearly stationary in 
 its agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; the others are 
 advancing at a pace which astonishes even Americans^ 
 accustomed as they are to see things go. a head.'* The 
 state of Ohio, which, sixty years aga, had not a dozen white* 
 inhabitants, has now a population of nearly two millions, 
 and in ten years more will rank next to the state of New 
 York ; and Indiana, which, fifty years ago,* was dmost un- 
 
63 
 
 , tTNITEB STATES. 
 
 known, has now nearly a million of inhabitants. On the 
 slave side of the river the population of Kentucky, an old 
 state, and of unexampled fertility, has not yet a million. 
 To the one no immigrants find their way but the plodding, 
 saving, Germans;. to the others the tide of immigration is 
 constantly flowing, promising soon to make both states the 
 most populous in the union. As the representation in 
 Congress is regulated by the numbers of inhabitants, Ohio 
 and Indiana are rapidly increasing in representative power, 
 while the slave states of Kentucky and Virginia are rapidly 
 diminishing in relative political importance.. These facts 
 cannot hut suggest serious considerations* to the* slave own- 
 ers. A Virginia gentleman; bitterly opposed to the aboli- 
 tionists, and holding that the. negroes were a race intended 
 by the Creator to be the slaves of the more gifted and 
 intellectual whites, told me that he had serious thoughts of 
 selling his property in Virginia and investing his money in 
 land in Indiana. In my own state,” he said, in twenty 
 years my property may be worth nothing. In Indiana it 
 might probably be increased five-fold.” 
 
 The inhabitants of Cincinnati say that they are 100,000 
 in number.* I- can scarcely suppose that they can be so 
 many. The population* in 1840 was 46,338, and from pre- 
 sent appearances I "would judge that it had increased to 
 75,000. In 1789' it Contained only a few log cabins. It 
 has canal and railroad communications,* right through the. 
 centre of the states, to the Lakes, and thence to the port of 
 New York, and with these and its position on the Ohio, 
 there are guarantees for a great further increase of its 
 commercial and manufacturing importance. We went 
 into one foundry and machine shop where from 300 to 350 
 hands are employed at wages rather better than are given 
 at first-rate establishments of the kind in Manchester and 
 Liverpool, so that with such ^^compensation,” as wages are 
 jhere called, and with provisions at half the price which 
 
64 TOUR IN THE 
 
 they bring in the old country, notwithstanding a higher 
 rate for clothes and rent, working men are in a position to 
 make considerable savings. I could make about as good 
 wages in Liverpool as I can here,” said one of the English 
 workmen ; “ but if I were to propose to go back, my 
 children would object, for all the young folks here have got 
 the notion into their heads that this is the only free country 
 on the face of the earth.” A Scotchman said : It is a 
 
 fine country, sir, if they wadna brag and blaw so much 
 aboot it.” A large water power is obtained by the surplus 
 water of the Miami Canal, and coals are cheap, so that to 
 the foundries, machine shops, cotton mills, saw mills, 
 planing-machine mills, &c., it is likely that other manufac- 
 turing establishments for the production of articles where 
 labour does not make a heavy component part of the value, 
 will speedily be added. 
 
 We left Cincinnati on Friday morning by the railway 
 for Sandusky on Lake Erie. Its level is about fifty feet 
 above the Ohio, so that we had an opportunity of looking 
 down upon the bottoms which were seldom seen from the 
 river. They were more extensive and more fertile than we 
 imagined ; and here, as at Louisville, we found ourselves, 
 at midsummer, in the middle of the wheat harvest. The 
 scythe is universally in use, and the wheat is laid ready for 
 being put in sheaves by the use of ^‘.cradles,” attached to 
 the blade and handle of the scythe. The crops of this 
 grain were very light, the temperature of the country being 
 too high for its abundant production. The hilly bluffs 
 rising up behind the bottoms or, scotice, ‘‘ holms,’’ appeared 
 to greater advantage than when seen from the river. 
 
 Folks go a great way to see Alderley Edge,” said Mr. 
 Brooks; ‘^but here are hundreds of Alderley Edges, on 
 each side the river, one after the other, all the way from 
 Pittsburg to Louisville — six hundred miles of Alderley 
 Edges on one side the river, and six hundred miles of them * 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 65 
 
 on the other.” The comparison was a happy one, for the 
 irregular face which Alderley Edge presents to Wilmslow 
 is exceedingly like the bluffs, which, in endless succession, 
 present themselves on the ever winding ever placid, ever 
 beautiful Ohio. 
 
 The American railroads are of the cheapest possible 
 construction ; the stations are mere sheds ; the curves fre- 
 quent and short ; the gradients those of the surface of the 
 ground almost without cutting or embankments ; and the 
 rails are only narrow slips of iron an inch thick, nailed 
 down to horizontal sleepers. An average of fifteen miles 
 an hour on railways so constructed, is considered as a- fair 
 speed. It is slow work in our estimation, but it is flying 
 compared to the stage coach, which, on many roads here, 
 does not accomplish more than four miles an hour. This 
 line from Cincinnati to Sandusky, 219 miles in length, 
 connects the navigation of the Ohio with that of the Lakes. 
 Constructed as the English railroads are, it would not have 
 stretched more than forty miles into the interior, and would 
 have been almost useless. Jonathan has calculated wisely 
 that it should supply the means for its own completion. In 
 our own country it would have saved thousands from ruin 
 had his example been followed. 
 
 After following upwards for a few miles the course of the 
 Ohio, the railroad’ diverged to the banks of a small river. T 
 asked its name, and was told that it was the Little Miami. 
 The Little Miami ! What a train of recollections that 
 name conjured up ! Thirty years ago I had formed the 
 scheme, and several friends had joined me in it, of leaving 
 our own land, which seemed to be delivered up to the 
 tender mercies of the boro ugh mongers, and forming a com- 
 munity on the banks of some small stream, contributory to 
 a large navigable river in the Western States of America. 
 We had fixed on surveying the Little Miami first; and 
 1^V2, after a lapse of thirty years, I was on it without being 
 
66 ' 
 
 TOUR IN THE ' * •'"v ' ^ 
 
 aware. And how did it answer the idea that so long ago. I 
 had formed of i t ? It was wonderfully like. The bottoms 
 were richer, and the uplands were more stony and barren, 
 but the general resemblance was in accordance with whatJ 
 had imagined. It was our own Clyde above Lanark, but 
 fertile and wooded. Near the Ohio it was- sometimes like 
 the Clyde about Both well Brig, and sometimes like the 
 Irwell about Agecroft Bridge. Farther up, the valley nar- 
 rowed, but still there were the rich alluvial bottoms, and the 
 woody rising grounds. Farther up still, the valley widened, 
 the river becoming a small stream, flowing through well 
 cultivated fields, with here and there a-thrivingy well-built, 
 cheerful-looking little town, * amongst which Wanesville 
 and Xenia were the most-attractive. In this beautiful. part 
 of the country, I found that land, having the rich alluvial 
 soil all in a state of cultivation, and th^ woodlands partially 
 cleared, with a good substantial farm house, and the neces- 
 sary farm. oflSces, hfiight be had at froni £7 to £8 an acre. 
 A well informed farmer was in the- train with us, who said : 
 '"If a young man comes on uncleared land, he is com- 
 pletely worn out before he has his work done, and dies 
 when he should be beginning to enjoy himself; but he 
 escapes almost all the hardships if he begins with a good 
 bit of cleared land, and has a house to go dn to, and ashed 
 to put his cattle into.” I asked him \vhat an English 
 farmer could do . who should bring £L000 into such a 
 country. "" Do !” he said. Why he could buy and slock 
 a farm of a hundred acres of capital land, and live like a 
 gentleman.” Land partially .cleared can frequently be had 
 very cheap. It may sell for ten or twenty times more than 
 it originally cost the clearing purchaser, and would be much 
 cheaper than the forest land at five shillings an acre. The 
 tendency is still westward. A farmer has four or five sons, 
 and he desires that each should have a farm of his own. 
 He sells his eighty acre lot for a sum which will enable him 
 
UNITED STATES. 67 
 
 to purchase five hundred acres farther west, and there, with I, 
 a hundred acres for each son, he says: Now lads, clear 
 
 away.” He has been the pioneer into the forest west of 
 the Ohio, and is quite ready to become the pioneer west of 
 the Wabash. His sons will have the same migratory spirit. 
 
 As fAeiV sons grow up, each father will sell his hundred 
 acres that he may purchase five hundred west of the- Illinois 
 or the northern branch of the^ Mississippi. Thus can the 
 English farmers always find small lots, piirchaseable at a 
 rate cheap in comparison with, the cost of clearing land, 
 with a dwelling house and cattle sheds all ready ; and thus 
 he. may avoid the fever and ague, which are almost certain 
 to attack the northern Europeans who venture to break 
 ground in the dank forest or swampy prairie. 
 
 Money may be lent on good mortgage se.curity in this 
 state at eight per cent., payable half yearly. I thought it 
 probable that the high rate of interest and the facility of 
 obtaining small portions of land, transferable at a mere 
 trifle of expense, would hereafter induce a class of persons 
 to emigrate whose aim would not be to work hard for a 
 living, but to live easily on a small capital already acquired. 
 We have hundreds of tradesmen in our towns who cannot 
 continue in business without the fear of losing all, and who 
 have not accumulated sufficient money to retire upon. A 
 man of such a class in England cannot live upon the 
 interest of £1,000-; but here, for £200 he could purchase 
 and stock a little. farm of twenty-five acres> which would 
 enable him to keep a horse and cow, sheep, pigs and poultry, 
 and supply his family with every “article of food, while his 
 £800 at interest would give him an income of £64 a year. 
 He could even have his own sugar from his own maple* 
 trees to sweeten his cup and preserve the peaches from his 
 own fruit trees, and almost all he would need to- buy, besides 
 clothes, would be tea, which may be had, of good quality, 
 at Ifrom twenty-one pence to two shillings a pound. Still 
 
 i 
 
68 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 
 farther west he could have ten per cent, interest for his 
 money. 
 
 After travelling 85 miles on the railway, from Cincinnati, 
 we had fourteen miles to go by stage, to get to Urbana, 
 from whence the railway was completed to Lake Erie, In 
 this higher part of the country where the brooks seem to 
 stand still, to consider whether they shall flow to the Ohio 
 or to the Lakes, there are extensive tracts of very level and 
 very fertile land, but dry as the season had been, I could see 
 that in wet weather the whole would form an extensive 
 swamp, perfectly impassable during the wet seasons. At 
 present it was covered with rich crops of Indian corn and 
 wheat. We were more than three hours in coming these . 
 fourteen miles, and are glad to have a rest, after this tire- j 
 some travelling, in this little town, situated in the very ! 
 centre of the State of Ohio. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 69 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Prospect for Immigrants — Buffalo — The Falls of 
 [N’iagara — Rapids of the St. Lawrence — Lake Cham- 
 plain. . ' . 
 
 In the centre of the State of Ohio there is a great extent 
 of .level ground, which seems to have been a swampy 
 prairie. In the wetter portions the earth closely resembles 
 in appearance the peat of Chat Moss, and it produces, in 
 that state, nothing better than a coarse herbage growing in 
 tufts. Where there happens to be a fall towards a stream, 
 the soil, with nearly the same appearance, becomes a friable 
 black mould, so full of decomposed matter, ready to furnish 
 the food of vegetables, that white crops may be raised in 
 succession for twenty years, without any exhaustion of 
 fertility. When these central plains are drained the 
 country will be at once rich and healthful ; but the English 
 farmer would do well to avoid the temptation which they 
 present, and be content to make a slower progress, in locali- 
 ties less liable to disease. The railroad from Urbana to 
 Sandusky, a distance of a hundred and twenty miles, runs 
 through a country still almost entirely covered, with the 
 original forest, of which great portions may yet be had at 
 the government price of one dollar and a quarter per acre. 
 The partially-cleared ground may be had at a comparatively 
 cheap rate. The current of population flows towards the 
 prairie land of Indiana and Illinois, and numbers of men 
 there are who will abandon their improvements if they can 
 sell an acre of land at a price whicli would purchase four 
 
 Saratoga Springs, 1st July, 1848. 
 
70 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 or five acres of the tempting prairies of the west. This • 
 affords an excellent opportunity to the agricultural immi- 
 grant from the old country. He can buy cleared land ~ 
 cheaper than he can clear it; he can have a house and ; 
 cattle-sheds ready for use ; fields ready to yield him pro- 
 duce ; and he will escape the fever and ague which pertina- 
 ciously follow the breaker of fresh ground. The man with 
 a large family of boys, who, disregarding present comfort, 
 will risk something of present health, for the sake of a good ; 
 future provision for them, may be better to have woodland 
 or prairie (part of both is best) ; but he who has a small 
 family, who is not disposed to sacrifice the present health 
 for the future wealth, would do better by buying land, with 
 buildings erected, and some portion of it in cultivation. 
 Even if one-tenth were cleared out of a lot of a hundred 
 acres he would be saved much’ actual suffering and much 
 of dreary despondency, and he might clear the ninety acres 
 just as he could afterwards find labour to bestow upon it. 
 On any decent line of road affording conveyance to a 
 market, an industrious man, with such a beginning as I 
 recommend, would, in a very few years, be in more com- 
 fortable circumstances than the majority of small farmers 
 in Great Britain and Ireland. Farm labourers may have 
 two shillings and a penny a day, say twelve shillings and ^ 
 sixpence a week, and their board ; or, if they do not take 
 the board, they may have eighteen shillings and ninepence : 
 a week, with provisions at half the price they cost in the 
 old country ; so that they, if industrious, sober and saving, 
 may very soon become small owners of land themselves. . 
 A decent competence is to be had where in the old country : 
 there would be poverty and wretchedness ; but no farmer i 
 need come here to become rich in money. The necessaries ■ 
 and many of the comforts of life may be had in the woods ' 
 and on the prairies ; but very few of its luxuries. There 
 will be a rough plenty and the relief from anxious cares 
 
 It’ 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 71 
 
 about provision for a family ; but elegancies and luxurious 
 ease need not be expected. 
 
 In the sail from Sandusky to Buffalo, on Lake Erie, the 
 shore, near to which our vessel kept the whole way, pre- 
 sented the appearance of a forest, broken only here and 
 there by small clearings. At Cleveland, however, a very 
 thriving town, increasing rapidly in population and impor- 
 tance, there were abundant indications of a comparatively 
 populous interior, the produce of which finds its way to the 
 Lakes through the Ohio canal. There seems full faith in. 
 its future increase, for here is one of those splendid hotels, 
 in this town of 10,000 inhabitants, which surpasses the 
 greatest in London. We took a walk through the streets, 
 which were straight and wide, and shaded on each side by 
 luxuriantly growing trees. Altogether the place had a look 
 of great promise. We were much struck with Buffalo after 
 our sail of 250 miles on a fresh water lake. It had all the 
 appearance of a thriving sea-port town, and the main street, 
 of great width and length, had a substantiality of appear- 
 ance which we did not expect in so new a place, the build- 
 ings being principally of brick and stone, and from three to 
 five stories in height. The population, which was only 
 about 1,000 in 1814, when the British burnt down the 
 town to the ground, is now 35,000, and it is likely to 
 increase, as the town is at the termination of the navigation 
 of the great lakes, and at the esistern termination of the 
 Erie canal, which opens up a communication through the 
 Hudson river to New York. The following extract from 
 the Financial Report of the Legislature of New York, pub- 
 lished a few years ago, will more particularly explain the 
 causes of this extraordinary increase : — 
 
 The western termination of the Erie canal looks out 
 upon the Lake Erie, the more southerly and central of that 
 great chain of navigable lakes, which stretches far into the 
 interior from our western boundary. Around these inland 
 
72 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 seas, a cluster of five great states is rapidly rising. The 
 territory which they comprise, and which is to become 
 tributary to the canal, embraces that great area, extending 
 from the lakes on the north to the Ohio on the south, and 
 from the western confines of this state to the upper Mi s- 
 sissipi, containing 380,000 square miles. To measure its 
 extent by well known objects, it is fifteen times as large as 
 that part of the state of New York west of the county of 
 Oneida — nearly twice as large as the kingdom of France — 
 and about six times as extensive as the whole of England. 
 It contains 180,000,000 acres of arable land, a large portion 
 of which is of surpassing fertility.*’ 
 
 After adverting to the great increase of population in the 
 states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, 
 and even in the territory beyond the upper Mississippi, the 
 report continues : — 
 
 ‘^This group of inland states has two outlets for its trade 
 to the ocean; one by the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico; 
 the other through Lake. Erie and the navigable communi- 
 cations of the state of New York to the Atlantic. Whether 
 it be attributable to similarity of origin, or laws, or habits, 
 or the ties of consanguinity, or superior salubrity of climate, 
 their people evidently prefer the market in the Atlantic, and 
 they are making prodigious efforts to reach it. Three great 
 canals, (one of them longer than the Erie canal,) embrac- 
 ing in their aggregate length about one thousand miles, are 
 to connect the Ohio with Lake Erie, while another deep and 
 capacious channel, excavated for nearly thirty miles through 
 solid rock, unites Lake Michigan with the navigable, waters 
 of the Illinois, In addition to these broad avenues of trade, 
 they are constructing lines of railroads, not less than 1,500 
 miles in extent, in order to reach, with more ease and speed, 
 the lakes through which they seek a conveyance to a sea- 
 board. The undaunted resolution of this energetic race of 
 men is strikingly evinced by the fact, that the cost of. the 
 works which they have thus undertaken, (and most of which 
 are in actual progress,) will exceed forty-eight millions of 
 dollars — a sum far exceeding all that New York, with two 
 millions of inhabitants, and two hundred years of accumu- 
 lated wealth, has ever attempted. The circumstance, more- 
 over, is particularly important, that the public works of 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 73 
 
 each of these great communities are arranged on a har- 
 monious plan, each having a main line supported and 
 enriched by lateral and tributary branches, thereby bringing 
 the industry of their whole people into prompt and profit- • 
 able action, while the systems themselves are again united 
 on a grander scale, in a series of systems, comprising an 
 aggregate length. of more than 2,500 miles, with Lake Erie 
 as its common centre.’' 
 
 A short ride on the railway brought us from Bufialo to 
 the village of Niagara and the Cataract Hotel, close to the 
 back of which are the great falls. I was soon on the point 
 of rock on the American side, where they are in full view. 
 
 It takes some boldness to. avow that I was less awe-sfruck 
 than tourists generally profess" to he ; but I was delighted 
 by the exceeding beauty of the scene. Close at hand the 
 falling water was broken, into millions of resplendent dia- 
 monds ; farther off it was a perpendicular fall of snow ; in 
 the middle it was the rush of the green ocean-wave into a 
 chasm opened in the great deep ; and again in the distance 
 was the gentle snow-fall ; all illuminated by a brilliant sun, 
 and all gentle and lovely. There was no rage, no discord, 
 no tumultuous chafings of the immense flood. There was 
 the. quietness as of a conscious possession of power; perfect 
 harmony ; perfect beauty.* I saw no death of the stream as 
 it fell — no tremendous ghost of spray and mist.” No 
 voices spoke to me from out the thundering water. There 
 was the 'majestic^ softened by the beautiful; — calm, gentle, 
 
 . tranquil, exceeding loveliness^ 
 
 We had a different aspect of the falls from the deck of a 
 sma;ll steam-boat which took us right up the river, the rocks 
 on each side rising 200 feet in almost perpendicular height, 
 to the spray which ulways keeps the lower half of the falls 
 veiled in its cloud. The sublimity was fearful as our little 
 boat was tossed on the surface of the agitated basin into 
 wdjich rushed the , great cataract. Oil the Canadian side, 
 the view from Table Rock combined the magnificent and 
 
 
74 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 the beautiful, and both grew upon us as we gazed and com- 
 pared. Two of our company, not quite satisfied that their 
 sensations had been sufficiently excited, went across the 
 river, about two miles below the falls, in a basket suspended 
 from a wire, 800 feet in length and 200 in height above the 
 river, which forms the commencement of a grand suspen- 
 sion bridge to connect the Canadian and the United States, 
 just above the rapids, where the whole body of the river 
 pours itself along at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, 
 although the depth of the water is more than a hundred 
 feet. 
 
 In the ride down to Lewis-town, we had, for several 
 miles, the Niagara river on our left hand, two hundred feet 
 sheer down from our level, and a magnificent sight it was. 
 About half-way between the falls and Lewis-town, the level 
 of the land suddenly was lowered from that of Lake Erie 
 to that of Lake Ontario. Before our descent we saw a 
 wide extent of rich cultivated country lying below us, level 
 as if the lake had at one time come up to the base of the 
 higher table-land. From this sight I could easily suppose 
 that agriculture had made much greater progress upon the 
 shores of Ontario than upon those of Erie ; and it is repre- 
 sented to be one of the finest tracts of land in the United 
 States. In our steam-boat sail across the lake to Toronto, 
 the comparative merits of the south and north shores of the 
 lakes as settlements for British emigrants, became the sub- 
 ject of conversation. Lower Canada was left out of the 
 comparison, on account of its long and severe winter. 
 There was a general agreement that the triangular territory 
 of which two sides are formed by the lakes Ontario, Erie, 
 and Huron, is as fertile as any tract of the same extent in 
 the States ; but it was also agreed that improvement made 
 much more rapid progress in the States than in this the 
 most favoured portion of Canada. Canada as a whole has 
 not had a favourable start. The Habitans retain the old 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 75 
 
 French philosophy of being contented with little; they 
 would be canty wi’ mair” if more could be had without 
 much trouble. The Highlanders are not much more dis- 
 posed to go ahead.” It was much in their favour that 
 they came in large bodies and formed extensive Highland 
 settlements, for they brought home and neighbourhood with 
 them ; but after their first years of struggle their clanship 
 was a great injury instead of being an advantage. They 
 form a community by themselves; they retain their old 
 indolent habits; they were penuriously saving rather than 
 actively industrious and enterprising; and Canadian Glen- 
 gary is, as yet, little better than Highland Glengary. A man 
 settled in Canada with a certain amount of capital, indus- 
 try, and enterprise, may be as successful as another under 
 the same circumstances in the United States, so far as indi- 
 vidual exertions go ; but the man in the States profits not 
 only by his own activity but by the activity of all around 
 him. His farm is not only improved by his own labour 
 and skill, but it is increased in value by the rapidly-increas- 
 ing populousness of the district in which it is placed. It 
 is probable that the, as yet, very thinly-populated but fertile 
 district on the lakes may take great strides in advance of 
 the rest of Canada; and a well-informed farmer, who. is 
 settled about twenty miles back from Toronto, told me that 
 a British farmer possessing from £200 to £500, accustomed 
 to work and to plain living, could not fail to do well. I 
 asked how a man with £1000 could do. ‘‘He could do 
 anything,” he said. ‘^He could be either a farmer or a 
 dealer ; he could either grow wheat or corn, or buy and sell 
 it; or he could do both. Bless you, sir, a thousand pounds 
 of your money makes a considerable snug man either in 
 Canada or the States.” 
 
 We went ashore at Toronto and, hiring a vehicle, were 
 soon through the main streets, which are wide and well- 
 built. Altogether there was as much outward appearance 
 
76 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 of advancement as in the towns on the American side. 
 Our republic friends looked curious’y at the house of a real 
 state-paid bishop, whilome a minister of the Scotch Relief 
 Kirk; and at real. British soldiers, a. part of our standing 
 army. They affected great forbearance towards us in their 
 comments upon these novelties, but I could see that they 
 were exulting within themselves at such, proofs of British 
 inferiority, and I overheard one say to another, sotto voce, 
 pretty considerable, tarnation set of fools,” which I am 
 afraid was intended to designate our great and enlightened 
 nation. While sailing near the shore from Toronto to 
 Cobourg we saw many beautiful openings in the forest land, 
 giving intimation that active cultivators were at work, and 
 that much more was doing in the way of improvement on 
 this northern shore of Ontario- than on the southern and 
 Aiiierican shore of Erie. We , went during the night from 
 Cobourg to Kingston, at. which latter place the British sol- 
 diers were again the subject of comment with our American 
 friends. One of them asked me,: Cannot you trust the 
 defence of your colonies to the colonists ?” He was a whig, 
 and had previously been condemning the Mexican war. I 
 said : “No, there are thieves abroad. We will not let you 
 take Canada. . If you asked us to giye .it you in a present, 
 we should give the proposal our most serious consideration.” 
 At Kingston we left the lake boat and weht on board an 
 iron steamer admirably constructed for the rather hazardous 
 navigation of the rapids on the St. Lawrence, We were 
 soon amongst the “Thousand Islands,” and here, as at most 
 places much praised^ I was somewhat disappointed. The 
 islands were flat and the wood was stunted and thin. The 
 scenery was little better than we see in England when a 
 river has overflown its banks, leaving only the hedge-rows 
 and little hillocks visible above the water. But the islands 
 ^ became larger, rose more abruptly from the river, and in- 
 creased in magnitude, till, instead of a wide lake studded 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 / / 
 
 with islands, we had an endless succession of canals cut in 
 the solid rock — now straight, now curved ; now wide, now 
 narrow ; now running in a strong torrent ; now placid as 
 the surface of a mirror. It was not until very recently that 
 the steam boats went through from Kingston to Montreal, 
 the navigation of the rapids being considered too hazardous; 
 and the passengers were thrice landed and thrice had to 
 proceed portions of the way by stage coaches. Now, the 
 vessels go right through, for although the mighty stream flows 
 with extreme rapidity, there is a great depth of water, and 
 little real danger if the steersmen do their arduous duties 
 faithfully. The passage down one of these rapids is rather 
 an exciting scene. Although the rocks are far down in the 
 depth of the river, the surface is agitated like the face of 
 the sea in a brisk gale. Through the high waves the ship 
 dashes bravely. The danger is only from careless steering; 
 but one feels that the slightest blunder would dash the ship 
 to pieces on the rocks that line the rapids on each side. 
 There is life and excitement in the scene; and we, who had 
 been much urged to take a voyage on the sluggish and 
 muddy Mississippi, rejoiced that we had chosen rather to 
 entrust ourselves on this magnificent and impetuous outlet 
 to the great inland fresh water seas. At Lachine our noble 
 steamer stopped all night; the rapids between that place 
 and Montreal being too hazardous to be passed except in 
 broad daylight. Many of our passengers took the railway 
 thence to the city, a fine steamer having been lost in the 
 strongest of the currents only a few days before, in con- 
 sequence of coming upon an unperceived raft of wood, and 
 the passengers rescued with difficulty We thought there 
 might be safety in the additional vigilance that would be 
 exercised after an accident, and we were rewarded by the 
 sight of a beautiful and highly exciting scene. While car- 
 ried downwards at an alarming velocity, rocks rising up at 
 each side, in the middle, now here now there, often as if we 
 D 
 
78 TOUR IN THE 
 
 were inevitably upon them till a sudden twitch of the wheel 
 changed our -course, we enjoyed a sight not to be forgotten. 
 There were six men at the wheel on the fore part of the 
 deck, and their muscular strength was constantly in full 
 requisition. I know not which was finest, the look down- 
 wards to the raging stream, or upwards to the eagle glances 
 of the Indian pilot and his assistants, whose looks betokened 
 their deep sense of the great responsibility they had un- 
 dertaken. When we were safely through the greatest chute 
 we again breathed freely.- 
 
 I had been told that Montreal had much the appearance 
 of an old continental city ; but it was as fresh in its look as 
 any of the new towns in the States. Fires had done their 
 part towards improvement ; but there were evidences that 
 there was a gradual progress in pulling down the old quaint 
 looking wooden buildings and putting handsome and sub- 
 stantial stone, erections in their place. Our American 
 . friends were rather surprised to see so many fine large ves- 
 sels in this far inland port. One gentleman from Louisiana 
 and another from Massachusetts, accompanied us in a drive 
 round the mountain” — a barren, uncultivated, unadorned 
 
 elevation — and they were delighted with the extensive and 
 beautiful- view from its summit, especially the Louisiana 
 gentleman, accustomed to the scenery of the sluggish Mis- 
 sissippi. It was the festival of St; Peter, and the catholics 
 were at the Cathedral, which is the largest place of worship I 
 ever saw, there being room for 7,000 or 8,000 persons seated. 
 There was much ceremonial going on, many genuflections of 
 •priests, much waving of censers, much blaze of enormous 
 candles. Well,’’ said one of our republican friends, it 
 is all right that men should be permitted to worship God 
 according to the dictates of their own consciences, but I do 
 think it is a little too much when they ask other people to 
 pay for this sort of thing.’*^ . 
 
 On Thursday evening we crossed over the river from 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 79 
 
 Montreal to Laprairie, and went thence to St. John’s at the 
 lower end of Lake Champlain, passing through a very level 
 arid very poorly cultivated country, which might be made 
 exceedingly productive if that part of the country possessed 
 a rnore active population than the Habi tans. Putting our 
 baggage on board the steamer, we took our tea in the 
 j village; and here again were British soldiers strutting 
 about, giving opr American friends again the opportunity 
 of standing a little taller' than wp did. Next morning, soon 
 after daybreak, we began our voyage up the lake, which at 
 first, under the rising sun, was characterised by no more 
 than sweetness and placidity ; but as we proceeded it swelled 
 out into the dimensions of our own Windermere at its 
 widest part, wanting only mountains to give it grandeur. 
 These were soon supplied. As the lake widened, two 
 mountain ridges ^approached nearer and nearer — one, west- 
 ward, of a deep green, the commencement of that long 
 chain which divides, the eastern states. from the valley of 
 the Ohio — the other, eastward, of the various tints of blue 
 which distinguish our Westmoreland and Highland hills. 
 These mountain chains a little nearer to the lake, a little 
 closer to the eye, would have given to the scene a close 
 resemblance to the upper and grandest part of Windermere. 
 The mountains on the left, part of the chain which gives its 
 name to Vermont, formed as fine an outline against the sky 
 as any we have in our finest mountain scenery in Scotland, 
 and my eye turned to them with ever-renewed delight. 
 The. resemblance to the Ambleside head of Windermere 
 was greatly increased by the woody heights, which to the 
 elevation of one, two, or three hundred feet, rose from the 
 shores of the lake, covered with trees clothed in the richest 
 verdure. The scene was worth coming, direct from Loch 
 Lomond, to see. Burlington, the capital of the State of 
 Vermont, overlooks the grandest portion of the lake, and, it 
 - is something to say of a town, detracts neither frorii its 
 
80 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 beauty nor its grandeur. Here some thirty Irish immi- 
 grants, male and female, were landed, to encounter mueh 
 hard work, sickness and despondency, and for months, 
 perhaps for years, the yearning after their old homes in the 
 green island ; but to find hope growing up in the lovely 
 valleys sheltered by those high green hills — hope, which 
 could not have been entertained in their old homes, of ease 
 in their old age, and the prospect of their children taking 
 respectable stations in the unburthened land. A man, 
 probably of thirty-five years of age,, took leave here of a 
 woman about the same age. Hard featured they were, and 
 ill-looking. I knew not their history ; they might be 
 brother and sister, or they might be lovers not yet to be 
 united, after long waiting for the favourable time. Most 
 unlikely subjects they for fine emotion; but I saw when 
 the time came for parting that their hard thin lips were 
 firmly compressed, to keep concealed the expression of 
 feeling. They kissed awkwardly, as if such salutation was 
 new to them. The meeting of those hard dry firmly-com- 
 pressed lips, and the quick walk in opposite ways, neither 
 man nor woman daring to look back, had much of pathos 
 in it. 
 
 We were now on battle scenes, — battles in the war of 
 conquest waged against our so-called natural enemies’’ the 
 French, — battles with the descendants of our own country- 
 men in the revolutionary war. I took no interest in them. I 
 wished that there could be no battle fields to be looked on 
 in all God’s fair creation. I had not come to revive the 
 history of men’s folly and men’s wickedness, but to see 
 present beauty, and to anticipate future prosperity to the 
 Anglo-Saxon race, and future peaceful blessedness to the 
 family of man. 
 
 We saw Lake George at a disadvantage, the evening 
 being cloudy and cold. I could imagine how beautiful it 
 would be in the gorgeous tints of autumn. It appeared to 
 
UNITED STATES, 
 
 81 
 
 me, however, that this sheet of water had been overrated, 
 and Champlain underrated. At particular places, however, 
 it greatly resembled Ulswater. We slept on Friday night 
 at Caldwell, situated at the top of the lake, and this morn- 
 ing a ride of twenty-seven miles, which took us seven hours 
 by stage coach, over a rolling country, brought us to this 
 Harrogate of America, where we shall probably remain for 
 a week. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 The Representative System of the United States — 
 Limitations op the Suffrage — Vote by Ballot — Re- 
 distribution OP Seats — The Climate, 
 
 Saratoga Springs, July QtJi, 1848 . i 
 
 I take the opportunity of quiet and leisure in this retire- 
 ment to note down some particulars as to the extent of 
 suffrage enjoyed in some of the largest states of the union, 
 believing that they will not be uninteresting in England at 
 the time when a great movement has been originated for a 
 reform of the Reform Bill. 
 
 Maine. — The government is vested in a governor, senate, 
 and house of representatives, who are elected annually. 
 The right of suffrage is possessed by every male citizen of 
 the United States, 21 years of age (excepting paupers, 
 persons under guardianship, and Indians not taxed), who 
 shall have resided in the state for three months next pre- 
 ceding an election. 
 
 Massachusetts. — The governor, lieutenant governor. 
 
82 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 senate, and house of representatives are elected annually. 
 The governor and lieutenant governor must each own a 
 freehold worth £1,000, and declare his belief in the Chris- 
 tian religion. Senators must possess a freehold of £300 
 and a personal estate of £600; representatives must possess 
 a freehold of £300. Every male citizen over 21 years of 
 age (except paupers and persons under guardianship), who 
 has resided in the state one year, and in the town or district 
 in which he claims to vote, six months, and shall have paid 
 a (direct) tax in the commonwealth within two years, 
 enjoys the suffrage. 
 
 New York. — The governor is elected biennially. The 
 senate is elected for two yesCrs, one-half going out annually. 
 The assembly is elected annually. The suffrage is pos- 
 sessed by white male citizens 21 years of age, who have 
 resided one year in the state, and four months in the county 
 where they claim to vote ; and persons of colour, who have 
 resided three years in the state, and who possess a freehold 
 of 250 dollars, and have held it one year previous to the 
 election, and paid a tax on it. 
 
 Pennsylvania.— The governor is chosen for three years ; 
 the senate and the house of representatives annually. 
 Every white male citizen of the age of 21 years, who has 
 resided in the state for one year, and in the district ten 
 days, and has paid a state or county tax, enjoys the suffrage. 
 
 Virginia. — The senators and delegates are apportioned 
 anew among the counties every ten years. The senators 
 are elected for four years, one-fourth going out annually ; 
 the delegates are chosen for one year. All appointments 
 are made openly and not by ballot. The right of suffrage 
 is extended to every male white citizen 21 years of age, 
 entitled to vote under the old constitution, or who owns a 
 freehold valued at twenty-five dollars, or who for twelve 
 months shall have been a housekeeper or head of a family, 
 and paid the taxes assessed by the commonwealth. 
 
UNITED STATES. 83 
 
 Ohio.— The governor is elected by the people for two 
 years. The senators are elected biennially, and are appor- 
 tioned to the number of male white inhabitants 
 
 over 21 years of age. The fepresentatatives are apportioned 
 among the counties according tb the number of inhabitants 
 over 2 1 years of age. The right of suffrage is enjoyed by 
 all white male citizens over 21 years of age, who have 
 resided in the state for one year nexf preceding the election, 
 and who have paid or been assessed with a state or county 
 tax. 
 
 North Carolina. — The senate and house of represen- 
 tatives are chosen biennially. The senate is chosen by 
 districts, the number being apportioned by the amount of 
 state taxes paid. The representatives are apportioned 
 among the counties according to tkeir popttlalion. The 
 right of suffrage extends to all free white persons 21 years 
 of age, who have resided for twelve months in the state j but 
 in order to vote for a senator, a freeman must possess a 
 freehold of fifty acres of land. 
 
 South Carolina. — The senate is elected for four years, 
 and representatives, apportioned according to population,^ 
 to two. The representatives, and one half of the senators, 
 are chosen every second year. Every free white male 
 citizen 21 years of age, who has resided in the state, and 
 who is possessed of a freehold of fifty acres of land ; or not 
 possessing this freehold, who shall have resided in the elec- 
 tion district in which he claims to vote, six months before 
 the election, and have paid a tax of three. shillings sterling 
 to the support of the government, enjoys the suffrage; 
 
 Georgia.— All the free white male inhabitants who shall 
 have resided within the state six months previous to the 
 election, and shall have paid taxes for the year previous, 
 have the right to vote. 
 
 Alabama. — The representatives are elected annually, and 
 are apportioned according to the population. The electors 
 
84 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 are the free white male citizens 21 years of age, who have 
 resided for one year next preceding the election, and the 
 last three months within the county, 
 
 Tennessee. — The representatives are elected biennially, 
 and according to the number of qualified voters. Every 
 white person over 21 years of age, who is a freeholder in 
 the county where he offers his vote, and has resided in the 
 county six months, has a vote. 
 
 Indiana. — The representatives are chosen annually, and 
 apportioned every four years according to the population 
 qualified as electors. Every male citizen, 2 1 years of age, 
 who has resided one year in the state, has a vote. 
 
 Kentucky. — Every free white male citizen, 21 years of 
 age, who has resided two years in the state, or in the county 
 in which he claims to vote one year next previous to the 
 election, has the suffrage. Votes are given viva voccy and 
 not by ballot. 
 
 Property qualifications are required in Connecticut, 
 Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Payment 
 of taxes and citizenship are required in the above states, 
 and in New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
 vania, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, and Ohio. Citizen- 
 ship, and residence in the state of three to twelve months 
 are required in Maine, Maryland, Alabama, Arkansas, 
 Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana and Michigan. 
 The right of voting is limited to the whites in all the states, 
 except the six states of New England, Pennsylvania, and 
 Georgia. In the state of New York coloured persons may 
 vote if they possess a freehold of 250 dollars. 
 
 These are the limitations on universal suffrage, but even 
 with these requirements there are two millions and a half 
 of voters in a population of twenty millions, while in our 
 country we have fewer than a million in a population of 
 twenty-seven millions. In the United States one person 
 out of eight has a vote. In Great Britain and Ireland one 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 85 
 
 person out of twenty-eight has a vote. There is not much 
 fault found, even amongst conservatives, with this wide 
 extension of the suffrage. The great complaint is that 
 foreigners acquire the light to vote long before they can 
 make themselves acquainted with the legislative require- 
 ments of the country, and especially that the Irish immi- 
 grants, of impulsive temperament, and accustomed at home 
 to constant agitation, are admitted, either by defective regis- 
 tration, or by the required residence being too short, to 
 exercise rights of citizenship which require prudence and 
 knowledge. I have heard this complaint bitterly urged by 
 persons who do not scruple, when votes are to be gained, to 
 bestow the grossest flattery upon the noble and generous- 
 hearted Irish who have, in their ardent love of liberty, 
 become citizens of the republic 1” Complaint is also made 
 that the Germans are admitted too early to the exercise of 
 the elective right, not on account of any unmanageable 
 vivacity on their part, but because they have a very trouble- 
 some aversion to putting their hands into their pockets. A 
 writer in Putnam’s American Facts” on the Pennsylva- 
 nian -Bonds repudiation, says: ‘^The really blameable 
 
 parties are the agricultural German settlers, who possess a 
 majority in some of the counties; many of them cannot 
 either write or read in any language ; almost all are unable 
 to understand the English language, and place a ban upon 
 any descendant who should so far forget the manners of his 
 forefathers as to make any attempt to assimilate himself by 
 his acquirements to these people among whom he dwells. 
 At present there are nearly as many German newspapers 
 published in Pennsylvania as English ones. Now, however, 
 that the Germans have been made to understand that deep 
 dishonour has fallen upon their state, and that Faderland 
 sees with sorrow the contempt into which they have fallen, 
 they have readily come forward with their hard dollars, and 
 contributed to remove the stigma.” 
 
 D 2 
 
86 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 A periodical apportionment of representation, or re-dis- 
 tribution of seats, has place in the voting for members of 
 Congress, and the choice of President. The following table 
 of the votes allowed to each state will show that as the 
 states change in relative importance they change also in 
 their relative shares, of representation : — . 
 
 Fourth Term. - Fourteenth Term. 
 
 States. ' 1801 to 1805. 1841 to 1845. 
 
 . No. of Elector^. No. of Electors. 
 
 New Hampshire ■ 6 7 
 
 Massachusetts 16 14 
 
 Rhode Island.. . 4 ....; 4 
 
 Connecticut ." 9 -8 
 
 Vennont...., ’. 4.................. 7 
 
 New York 12 42 
 
 New Jersey .................. 7 8 
 
 Pennsylvania' 15 30 
 
 Delaware 3 3 
 
 Maryland ........ T. . 10 . . ; TO 
 
 Virginia ^ . 21 23 
 
 Kentucky. . ... ... ..... .4 ....... ..j. ...... . 15 
 
 North Carolina .. 12 i . 15 
 
 . Tennessee 3 15 
 
 South. Carolina...'. 8 ^ . 11 
 
 Georgia......;,..,........,. 4 11 
 
 Total...... 138 States. 
 
 • • * Maine. 10 ' ’ 
 
 . T'. ■ , Ohio,..'..* 21 
 
 
 • - - ■ •. 
 
 Louisiana.. * . . . 
 
 ..' 5 
 
 
 
 
 Mississippi. . . . 
 
 . . 4 
 
 
 
 
 Indiana.. 
 
 ,.. 9 
 
 
 
 
 Illinois... 
 
 ,.. 5 
 
 
 
 
 Alabama 
 
 .. 7. 
 
 
 
 
 Missouri 
 
 .: 4 
 
 
 
 
 Arkansas i 
 
 .. 3 
 
 
 
 
 Michigan... . •. . . 
 
 .. 3 
 
 
 . . . . .. .;■-TQtaL...^. 294 • ‘ 
 
 Thus the free state of New York, which, in 1801, had only 
 a little more than an eleventh part of. the representation, 
 had. so increased as to be entitled, in 1841, to one-seventh; 
 and the slave state of Virginia, which, in .1 80 1, had a seventh 
 part, had so retrograded, relatively^ as to have only a thir- 
 teenth in 1841. The slave state , of Maryland had; a four- 
 teenth part in 1801, and only a twenty-ninth part in 1841 ; 
 
UNITED STATES. 87 
 
 while the free state of Ohio, which had no representation at 
 ' all in 1801, returned, . in 1841, a fourteenth of the whole 
 number of representatives sent by the twenty-six states. 
 Had we, in our country, had periodical apportionments, 
 according to population, or to assessment — -for both gave 
 about the same results, property usually being according to 
 population^we should no.t haye 300,000 persons, in. 50 
 boroughs, returning 72 members, whilst Manchester and 
 Salford, with their 300,000 inhabitants, send only three. 
 
 The slaveholders 'have, however, tahen- care that they 
 should have more than their own faiT share in the repre- 
 sentation. In the constitution of the IJnited States, it is 
 provided, article I, section II, that representatives . and 
 direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states 
 which -may be. included within this union, according to 
 their respective numbers,' wdaich' shall be determined by 
 adding to the whole number of free persons including those 
 bound to Service for a term of years, and excluding Indians 
 not taxed, tKree-Jifths of all other, persons.^ The other 
 persons/’ of whom five, are to be counted as three in appor- 
 tioning the- number of representatives for a state, are slaves. 
 Thus, snpposing that after an apportionment of a certain 
 number of representatives to a state at one period, and that 
 there has been one representative for every 60,000 of the 
 population, it should be found at anotbei* that there has 
 been an increase of 30,000 whites, and 50,000 slaves, another 
 representative will be apportioned to that state, although 
 the slaves; counted as equal to ’ three-fifths of the value 
 of whites, cannot enjoy political -rights.. Thus the. white 
 man possessing five slaves has a vpt^ four times the value of 
 that of a white in a free state.. John Quincy Adams says of 
 this arrangement under the. constitution : ‘‘ Ye^ ! it cannot 
 be denied — -the slaveh.olding lords of the south prescribed, as 
 a condition of their assent to the constitution, three special 
 provisions to secure the perpetuity of their dominion over 
 
88 
 
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 their slaves. The first was the immunity, for twenty years, 
 of preserving the African slave trade ; the second was the 
 stipulation to surrender fugitive slaves — an engagement 
 positively prohibited by the laws of God, delivered from 
 Sinai ; and thirdly, the exaction fatal to the principles of 
 popular representation, of a representation for slaves — ^for 
 
 articles of merchandize, under the name of persons 
 
 Its reciprocal operation upon the government of the nation 
 is, to establish an artificial majority in the slave representa- 
 tion over that of the free people, in the American congress, 
 and thereby to make the preservation, propagation and per- 
 petuation of slavery the vital and animating spirit of the 
 national government.” 
 
 I recollect asking Mr. Cobden, when he returned from 
 the United States, how the people talked of the Ballot, and 
 his saying that it was not a subject of discussion at all, that 
 the mode of voting was settled, and nobody talked about it, 
 for nobody thought of altering it. I have had almost the 
 same answer from every one to whom I have put the ques- 
 tion here. Anather question is often put in return : Why 
 should we not have the ballot ? What right has any one to 
 know how I vote ? I am not a delegate, and I am not 
 answerable to any one how I vote.” Do you not find,” 
 I have asked, that it is generally known how a man 
 votes ?’ ^'It is not knowny has been the reply; we may 
 guessyhwi we do not know. We may know how a very decided 
 man will vote, but one-third, often one-half, of our electors 
 are not decided party men, and we never know how they 
 will vote. If we knew how men would vote, we should have 
 no contested elections.” The fact is, however,”'! have 
 urged, that the votes of a great many men are known ?’ 
 Yes no doubt a correct conjecture may be made as to the 
 way many men vote, but that is no reason why we should 
 proclaim from the housetops how everybody votes.” One 
 gentleman said: Sheep will be stolen, no matter how much 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 89 
 
 care is taken to prevent the theft, but we are not therefore 
 to pass a law to legalise it.” ‘^They give votes viva voce in 
 Kentucky and Virginia,” I said. Kentucky and Virginia 
 are slave states,” was the reply. 
 
 We arrived in the United States about the time when 
 the Democrats nominated Cass for the presidentship, and 
 on the day after we left Philadelphia the Whig convention 
 met, and put Taylor in nomination. In the five weeks that 
 have elapsed since the latter period we have travelled more 
 than two thousand miles, and have scarcely heard the 
 subject made one of discussion. In England we should 
 have heard ten times as much of Villiers being proposed 
 for South Lancashire, or of Cobden for the West Riding of 
 Yorkshire. We have seen enough of it in the newspapers 
 — more than we had any desire to read — but it would seem 
 as if the public were disposed to leave the matter, for the 
 present at least, in the hands of the newspaper editors, and 
 the orators at ratification meetings. An English lady, a 
 bold thinker, and a clever writer, told us that the United 
 States year was only one bitter contested election, from the 
 first of January to the thirty-first of December. We have 
 not yet seen that there is either more earnestness or more 
 animosity in an American than in an English election. 
 
 Of the climate, as affecting English constitutions, we 
 cannot report with accuracy. The temperature has been to 
 us most delightful. We have seen notices of very hot 
 weather in New York, where the thermometer has been at 
 86 repeatedly during the last half of June, and at Wash- 
 ington it has reached 94 ; but where we have been it 
 has never risen beyond 82 in a fair shade without reflected 
 heats. We felt that as hot certainly, and the Americans 
 confessed that it was warm; but while we have been specu- 
 lating how we should bear a continuance of that degree of 
 heat, a change has suddenly taken place, the thermometer 
 falling to from 70 to 75. People concur in opinion that the 
 
90 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 heat is more moderate west of the Alleghanies than it is on the 
 Atlantic shores, and that the winters are very much milder. 
 We have not had more than two hot days together. Here 
 the weather has been cold according to the American notion 
 of temperature. Far a week the thermometer has been as 
 low as 50 during the night, and has never risen above 72 in 
 the hottest part of the day. Thursday, yesterday, and to- 
 day the ladies have been crowded before a great wood fire 
 in their drawing room, and even the gentlemen have' craved 
 the same luxury for their backgammon room. There is 
 evidence -in the ; appearance of the persons we meet, espe- 
 cially in the countenances of the ladies, that there is a 
 much ‘more relaxing degree of heat experienced than we 
 have yet encountered. In form and feature the females are 
 attenuated to a degree that an Englishman cannot reconcile 
 with his ;notions of beauty;* and yet th6. girls, before they 
 have passed the period of shuttlecocks and skipping ropes, 
 are. veiy lovely. It appears as if the women of America 
 lead too artificial a -life to enjoy vigorous health. At this 
 place they sit, dressed^ from morning to night, scarcely ever 
 stirring out, although the walks in the neighbourhood would 
 tempt English ladies to make long excursions daily. The 
 men look much more healthy ; they use more exercise in 
 the open air; they permit perspiration to cj^rry off the extra 
 heat. The ladies dare not go to that vulgar extent, and 
 insulted nature has her revenge. There is no chance of a 
 mother of thirty-six years .of age being taken for the 
 daughter’s oldest sister ; and at forty she is an old woiiian. 
 
 On Tuesday was celebrated here, as at every town in the 
 states, the anniversary of tho Declaration of Independence. 
 The place was crowded .all day with country people, who 
 came in the Jersey waggons of ‘which every farm furnishes 
 one, with a couple of exceedingly active yviiy horses,, that 
 pull those light vehicles at a trot of twelve or fifteen miles 
 an hour. The waggon Js a box about seven feet long, three 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 91 
 
 feet and a half wide, and from nine inches to a foot deep, 
 placed upon four light wheels of rather large diameter. 
 With two light spirited horses put to this Vehicle, farm 
 produce is conveyed to market at a great speed. On visiting 
 or gala days, one^ t#o, or three seats, each to bold two 
 persons, and . each with grasshopper springs, are placed 
 across the box, and then the farmer . drives along his wife 
 and his daughters in as good style, bating the glare and 
 glitter, as can be assumed by any nobleman in our land: 
 The procession was no great thing, but a great number 
 of persons gathered in the open air to hear the declaration 
 read and the oration delivered. The declaration contains a 
 summary of the tyrrany exercised by the King of England 
 — an indictment of twenty-eight counts — certainly justify ing 
 the determination to achieve the establishment of an inde- 
 pendent government. ‘ It is well to keep alive the* patriotic 
 spirit by a commemoration of so great an event. Whether 
 it is well to keep alive feelings of animosity, after the noble 
 achievement,.! have some doubt. It seems. a little too 
 much akin to our hanging, up the conquered flags of other 
 nations in St. Pauls. The people of Britain, were to be 
 held, according to the declaration, as ‘^enemies in war,” but 
 '‘in peace, friends;” and it scarcely seems like the cultiva- 
 tion of peaceful relations,, this annual enumeration of old 
 wrongs. However, the wrongs were perpetrated, and we 
 now have not much reason to find fault that a periodical 
 complaint is made of a war-loving King, a profligate Minis- 
 try, and. a corrupt Parliament, representing not the people, 
 hut the boroughmongers. . One sentence in the Declaration 
 is worth repeating, not only annually, but daily : — " We 
 hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men a/re created 
 equOil r that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
 malienaide rights ; thafamongst these are life, liherty, and 
 the pursuit of happiness.” One-half of the United States 
 have recognised these truths; the other half cannot, in 
 
92 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 common decency, continue, in all pomp and solemnity, to 
 declare them, and, in their practice, deny them. 
 
 The country around this place is what is called “rolling.” 
 To call it “hilly” would not describe it accurately, for the 
 elevations do not deserve the name of hills. “ Undulating” 
 is not a much more appropriate designation, for it gives the 
 idea of longer and gentler surface weaves. “Knolly” or 
 “hillocky” would be more accurately descriptive, if care 
 were taken not to imagine the knolls or hillocks as very 
 small. At Manchester some idea may be formed of this 
 sort of country, when I say that it is like what we see on 
 the field footway going off from the Cheetham Hill road by 
 the back of Mr. Loyd s house, along by Mr. Alexander 
 Henry’s grounds, and past Crumpsall Hall up to White- 
 smithy Bar. The soil, though in many places light and 
 stony, hears good crops of clover, potatoes, Indian corn, and 
 rye; the latter just about ready for the scythe. The cleared 
 and cultivated land ranges in price from six pounds to 
 twenty pounds an acre, according to proxknity to the 
 market, a few miles, so heavy are the roads, making a great 
 difference in value. A man who possesses fifty acres close 
 to the town, one who has one hundred at a distance of from 
 one to two miles, and one who has one hundred and fifty 
 at a distance of from three to four miles, are persons well 
 to do in the world. The farm labourer has two shillings 
 and a penny a day with board, and six shillings and three- 
 pence a week extra if he finds his own lodgings and food. 
 
 Saratoga consists principally of a wide street, a mile in 
 length, one side occupied by large and handsome hotels, 
 with their gardens. On the other side are good shops and 
 dwelling houses. The settled population is about 2,000, 
 but in a full season there are as many as 3,000 strangers 
 here, at one time, from all parts of the Union, but more 
 especially from the south, to take the benefit of the waters, 
 which are very efficacious in bilious complaints. Our hotel. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 93 
 
 the Union,” is far from being the largest in the place, the 
 ‘'United States” being nearly twice the size, but it contains 
 220 bedrooms, can make up 300 beds, and its dining room 
 can accommodate 350 persons. There is great attention 
 and civility, and every possible comfort is provided at the 
 charge of ten dollars, or two guineas, a week. At eight in 
 the morning all meet at breakfast, at two for dinner, and 
 at seven for tea, with additions, which is called supper. 
 During the whole week I have seen no liquors taken except 
 one pint bottle of porter, which a gentleman shared with 
 his wife, and on the celebration day there were only seen 
 two persons drunk, of all the multitude that attended, one 
 of whom was an Irishman, and the other a young American 
 farmer. What with the medicinal water, the pure and 
 mild but bracing air, the quiet, the rest, and the comfort of 
 our hotel, Mr. Brooks is greatly renovated in health, and 
 says he is quite ready to take his part, on his return to 
 England, in the proposed new movement for the extension 
 of popular rights. 
 
94 . TOUR IN THE; 
 
 
 Migration of Southerns Suggestive — Manufactures on 
 THE Hudson — Scenery of the Hudson — New York/ ^ ' 
 
 ' ' :lSfew York, \4itli July y 
 
 A New York gentleman who was at Saratoga when we 
 were there, and who usually spends a week or ten days in 
 its comparatively cool air when the heat is greatest in the 
 eastern part of the state, remarked to us that it was a 
 curious thing to note the improvement in the health of 
 persons from the southern states after a few days use of the 
 water. They arrive languid and sallow, dying-like. The 
 eye begins to recover its brilliancy, then the yellow tinge 
 gradually leaves the complexion ; in the course of a fortnight 
 or three weeks, activity and cheerfulness are restored, and 
 then the patients are able to take a tour to Champlain, 
 Montreal, Quebec, Niagara, and the great Lakes, before 
 their return to the relaxing heats of the south. This tour 
 becomes an annual necessity, and with many of the planters 
 an annual luxury. We were told of one gentleman who, 
 bringing his family with him, spends £3,000 sterling every 
 season in pursuit of health in the country, and amusement 
 in the great towns ; and of two others who each spend 
 £2,000 in their northern trip. The following is an analysis 
 of the Congress water, the kind which is most in use 
 
UNITED STATES. 95 
 
 Chloride of Sodium . ... 390.246 
 
 Hydriodq-te of Soda * 6.000 
 
 Carbonate of Soda; 9.213 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia 100.981 
 
 Carbonate of Lime 103.416 
 
 Carbonate of Iron 1.000 
 
 Silex and Alumina 1 .03Q 
 
 Solid contents in a gallon. 611 .892 
 
 Carbonic Acid Gas * ; . . . . . . 383.777 
 
 Atmospheric Air. 2.36 1 
 
 Gaseous contents in a gallon... 386.138 
 
 When taken fresh from the spring the water tastes plea» 
 santly sharp, like the soda water of our shops, and is a 
 pleasant beverage rather than a nauseous dose. Four half- 
 pint glasses before breakfast are commonly taken, and one 
 young lady told us that she usually took eight ! Great 
 quantities are bottled, the corks being wired down, and sent 
 to every part of the states. At New York it is sold in the 
 shops at twenty-five cents, or twelvepence halfpenny the 
 quart. 
 
 The annual migration of the southerns is very suggestive. 
 It is acknowledged that south of 36' 30® no white man can 
 labour in the fields^ — cannot even enjoy health without the 
 northern reviving excursion. It is one of the arguments 
 for slavery that, south of that latitude, the land could mot 
 be cultivated without negro labour. The great attempt at 
 present, and it is likely to be successful, is to get the consent 
 of Congress to what is called the ‘^Missouri Compromise.*' 
 The slaveholders demand, as a right, to take their property 
 to any new state, the acquisitions from Mexico opening a 
 new field for slave labour. Others stand upon the Wilmot 
 Proviso,’* that slavery shall not be admitted into new states. 
 The abolitionists contend against any provision that shall 
 stand in the way of ultimate emancipation. In the conflict 
 it seems likely enough that there will be an agreement upon 
 th6 Missouri compromise, that is, that the line of 36' 30® 
 
96 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 shall separate the free from the slave states. That line 
 separates Virginia from North Carolina, Kentucky from 
 Tennessee, and Missouri from Arkansas. The amount of 
 slavery will not be lessened by this plan ; it will be concen- 
 trated southward. The black population in proportion to 
 the white will be greatly increased in the southern, and 
 greatly decreased in the northern. The entire flow of 
 immigration will be into the free states. The increase of 
 black inhabitants will be confined to the southern states. 
 There, ultimately, the concentrated black population will 
 become too powerful to be held in thraldom by the white. 
 The question will then be : Will the free assist the slave 
 states should there be a revolt of the negro race ? I may 
 venture to say, that they will not; and I have urged this 
 almost inevitable result on slave-owners, as a reason why 
 they should agree with the adversary quickly, whilst he is 
 in the way, lest he should deliver them to the judge. 
 
 We left Saratoga on Monday morning, by the railway 
 " cars for Troy, passing through a country which gave 
 evidence that a constant succession of white crops raised 
 without manure and without the rotation of green crops, 
 does not tend to increase the fertility of the soil. It is a 
 question agitated in the states, whether it is most profitable 
 to have a small produce from a small outlay of money and 
 labour, or a large return from a large outlay. The farmers 
 between Saratoga and Schenectady, seem to have decided 
 in favour of the former. My own impression is, that a 
 hundred acres, carefully cultivated, would yield far more 
 profit than two hundred on the mere surface-scratching 
 system that seems to be the rule. At Schenectady we 
 came upon the Mohawk river, wide and shallow, like parts 
 of the Tweed, flowing rapidly over a bed of rock and 
 pebbles, very Scotch like, and to my eye very beautiful. A 
 short ride brought us into the valley of the Hudson, in which 
 Troy stands— a real valley, not a mere narrow water-course 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 97 
 
 — a valley raising gradually from a great river, presenting 
 a fine variety of corn fields and woodland — yellow, gold, 
 and deep bright green. The locomotive which drew our 
 train was named the Ben Marshall,” after a Manchester 
 gentleman who has long been a resident at Troy, whose 
 judgment and enterprise has added much to the prosperity 
 of the city, and whose benevolence has been actively and 
 extensively exerted in behalf of its philanthropic institu- 
 tions. 
 
 Troy is the capital of Rennselaer County. The Renn- 
 selaer estates, which are of great extent, are by some sort 
 of entail, having the sanction or guarantee of the state, 
 unsaleable, and consequently the occupiers are tenants pay- 
 ing a yearly rent. They have occupied the land so long as 
 now to hold it to be their own, and they have ceased to pay 
 rents, resisting the collectors by the force of arms. They 
 say that entails are contrary to the principles of the Ameri- 
 can constitution ; but they do not demand the breaking of 
 the entail, that the land may be brought into the market, 
 where they might buy from the owners what they now rent. 
 Their argument is : ^‘Entails are injurious to the country, 
 ergOf it will benefit the country if we take this land as our 
 own property.” Their deduction is the same on which the 
 eviction of the Indians is justified. The government, both 
 before and after the revolution, said of them : '^We can 
 make a better use of the land than you can, and therefore 
 we will take it.” It is the same on which the occupation of 
 part of Mexico is justified. We can make a better use of 
 it than you can, and therefore we must have it.” On the 
 same principle the United States might claim Canada and 
 Cuba, and we might claim the United States. It is, how- 
 ever, a dangerous doctrine to be held by either governments 
 or individuals. It is not for the government, or the indi- 
 vidual who is to be 'profited by the transfer of property, to 
 judge of the public utility of the transfer. It would be a 
 
98 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 Strange thing to leave it to my decision, whether the public 
 would be benefitted by my possession of the large property 
 of liiy fellow-traveller, Mr. Brooks. I might argue that I 
 should make a better use of it than he does, but common 
 sense would decide that the propriety of the transfer should 
 not be left to my decision; . 
 
 Troy city. is increasing rapidly in population and impor- 
 tance, while Albany, only six miles distant, is understood 
 to be making little progress. Troy is at the extremity of 
 the steam navigation of the Hudson, and is consequently a 
 great depot for the fertile hack -country with which it com- 
 municates by railway and canal. It has also the advantage 
 of a considerable amount of water power. Mr. Marshall 
 possesses a fall of two hundred and forty feet. His exten- 
 sive factories for spinning, weaving, and calico printing, 
 illustrate the mischiefs inflicted by a government which acts 
 in ignorance or defiance of the true principles of political 
 economy. A high tariff was passed, retaliatory towards 
 England, ostensibly protective of domestic manufactures. 
 It was found that prohibitory duties were not revenue- 
 producing, and the tariff was lowered, greatly to the injury 
 of those who had erected factories on the faith that they 
 were to continue in the enjoyment of a home monopoly. 
 The demand now is for increased import duties; and all the 
 old fallacies with which our landlord class here urged 
 against the repeal of the corn laws, are urged in favour of 
 additional protection to native industry.” 1 am afraid 
 that this demand of the northern states will make them less 
 zealous than they have been for the abolition of slavery, 
 and that the desire of the southern states to retain their 
 peculiar domestic institution ” will make them less active 
 in resisting the manufacturers’ monopoly. The interested 
 opponents of liberty of person, and the equally interested 
 opponents of freedom of trade, "are already accused of a 
 favourable leaning towards each other, just as our West 
 
UNITED STATES. 99 
 
 India interest and our landed interest leagued themselves 
 together in defence of their respective monopolies. There 
 is an operation called ^Mog-rolling” in the process of clear- 
 ing the forest. Help me to roll my logs/’ says one, '‘and 
 when you have logs to roll I will help you^” "Help me to 
 roll my log,” says the slave-owner to the manufacturer who 
 is asking for further protection, " and I will help you to roll 
 yours.” If it were not to preserve their " domestic institu- 
 tion ” of slavery, the southern states would not submit to . 
 have a heavy tax inflicted on them for the benefit of the 
 northern manufacturers ; and if it were not that they wanted 
 more protection, the northern states would take care that 
 there should he no Missouri compromise— no introduction 
 of slavery- into new states. 
 
 Let no man visiting America trust himself in the heavy, 
 lumbering vehicles called stages. If he cannot find lake or 
 river steam-boats, or railways, let him walk, if he wishes to 
 spare himself from fatigue and to save time. With the 
 choice of railroad and river we took the stage to Albany, 
 and suffered accordingly. We found it a much larger and 
 a much handsomer town than we anticipated. The public 
 buildings, some of them marble, are even magnificent, and 
 long lines of stores and of stately dwellings hear, evidence 
 that it is an important place, whatever may be its compara- 
 tive state of progress. In a branch of the river lay nearly 
 one hundred large canal boats, fitted for the conveyance, of 
 both goods and passengers; and it was rather a pretty sight 
 to. look down upon their white roofs or decks, while at the. 
 same time it gave a lively idea of the traffic to and from the 
 lakes. On sailing down the ‘Hudson to New York, I saw 
 a steam-tug with a dozen of these boats in tow, not behind, 
 but six on each side — accompanying, not following. 
 
 After seeing the Ohio and the- St. Lawrence, it was" 
 difficult to command the admiration due to the Hudson. At 
 Albany, a hundred and fifty miles above the outer bay of 
 
100 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 New York, it was more than the width of the Thames at 
 London, and the land sloped up gradually and beautifully 
 from the water’s edge. To an American it must present a . 
 picture of great beauty, for with him cleared space is evi- 
 dence of a progression from the rudeness of the dark and 
 dank native forest; hut, grown fastidious in taste, after 
 seeing so much to delight the eye, I grudged that the 
 uplands were so much cleared — so much denuded of that 
 rich foliage which with us is considered as an indication of 
 fertility. The scenery gained in grandeur as we descended 
 the river, and at Catskill, where an opening on the right 
 disclosed the high mountain of that name, some ten miles 
 distant, its summit shrouded in clouds, it was magnificent 
 exceedingly. At West Point, on the right bank, where the 
 river makes an angle, the combination of mountain and , 
 river scenery was grand and picturesque. The Highlands, in 
 name and appearan.ce, recall the entrance to the mouth of 
 the Clyde, but the hills have not the altitude of those of 
 Argyle. They are precipitous, rocky and woody, or rather, 
 to coin a word, underwoody, like so many Dumhuck hills 
 thrown down together, through amongst which the Hudson 
 has to find its way. Below the Highlands great bays swell : 
 out, adorned with numerous snow white sails of vessels 
 tacking about on all points of the compass. And then com- I 
 mence the Palisades, so named, I presume, from the vertical | 
 cleavage of the basaltic rocks, giving the perpendicular face ! 
 of the cliffs not so much a columnar as a paling-like appear- 
 ance. For three or four miles of their great extent they 
 rise almost perpendicularly to the height of four hundred 
 feet, resembling a great straightened-out range of the Salis- 
 bury Crags, which overhang the city of Edinburgh — mag- 
 nificent, beautiful Edinburgh, not to be forgotten amidst 
 the splendid things of America. A sail of ten hours, in a 
 vessel not regarded as a crack” one, either in size or speed, 
 brought us to New York, a distance of 145 miles. I was 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 101 
 
 scarcely more impressed with the extent, bustle, and hand- 
 some appearance of New York when I visited it for the first 
 time than when I re-visited it after a six weeks’ absence. 
 
 I had now the opportunity of looking into one of the 
 public schools and of seeing the kind of education which is 
 there given. I was introduced to Mr. George Trimble, an 
 excellent member of the Society of Friends, wh.o takes a 
 jd^ep interest in educational institutions. He kindly accom- 
 panied me to Public School No. 7,” which contained two 
 large, clean, light, and well ventilated apartments, one for 
 boys, of whom about 30Q were in attendance^ and one for 
 girls, of whom there were about the same number. An 
 able master and an assistant directed in the boys’ room, and 
 an able mistress and an assistant in the girls’. They had 
 all salaries sufficient to prevent the temptation to leave the 
 school for any ordinary occupation. There was great order 
 amongst the pupils, and a cheerfulness and look of intel- 
 ligence that betokened;kindness and attention on the part of 
 the teachers; and the propriety of accentuation and em- 
 phasis in reading showed that the pupils, understood what 
 they read. When we first went into the girls’ 'school Mr. 
 Trimble, his fine countenance beaming with, benevolence, 
 asked: ‘Ms not this a pleasant sight ? ” And truly so it 
 was. Clean faces, and clean hands, nicely^ combed and 
 nicely arranged hair, clean frocks, clean stockings, and 
 clean shoes; and intelligent, cheerful, and happy coun- 
 tenances certainly did make it ‘^a pleasant sight” — ^and 
 long may you live, George Trimble, to enjoy it! It was a 
 pretty drawing-room scene, vyithout drawing-room afibrita- 
 lion or constraint. On looking at the book contmning the 
 names of the scholars, I found they were the daughters of 
 smiths, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, porters, waiters, 
 draymen, and men of like classes. In the neighbourhood 
 of this school was a ^‘Primary School,” in two departments, 
 
 • ,E 
 
102 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 one containing about 150 boys, and the other about 150 
 girls, of from four to seven years of age, who undergo tuition 
 somewhat similar to what is given in our schools for in- 
 fants, having rather more of individual, and rather less of 
 general or gallery’' teaching. On the whole, from what I 
 have seen here and at other places in the States, and from 
 what I have heard in answer to numerous inquiries, I 
 believe that the schools intended for the children of the 
 wwking classes are creditable to the country, and fulfil, to 
 a certain and considerable extent, the intentions of their 
 promoters. The question as to their support by assessment, 
 involving as it does very grave difficulties, I will not now 
 enter upon. I must however say, such is the absence of 
 sectarian rancour and jealousy, in consequence of there 
 being no established, state- paid, and dominant church, that 
 I do not find those difficulties regarded so seriously here as 
 I continue to regard them. Mr. Trimble gave me the 
 Report of the Committee for 1848, to which I may here- 
 after refer to show the obstacles which have retarded the 
 diffusion of instruction amongst the classes which need it 
 most. 
 
 In talking with a New York bookseller about the law of 
 copyright, I said, in reference to a heap of English 
 novels, republished at a cheap rate, that lay upon his 
 counter: Well, you may say of yourselves that if you do 
 
 steal from us you only steal trash.” In justice, however, to 
 the American reading public, it must be acknowledged that 
 a fair encouragement is given to the authoi’s and publisher.s 
 of expensive works. Mr. Putnam in his American 
 Facts ” says : — 
 
 As illustrative of the demand in the United States for 
 original works of this character, it may be repeated, that of 
 Mr. Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella,’ in three expensive 
 octavos, nine editions were called for in four’years ; and of 
 his " Conquest of Mexico,’ 5,000 copies were printed as the 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 103 
 
 first edition from the stereotype plates. Each of these 
 works is elegantly printed, and costs about a guinea and a 
 half per copy. The first volume of Bancroft’s " History of 
 the United States’ was published in 1834; and the last 
 edition was the tenth. The three volumes cost the same as 
 Prescott’s. The writings of Washington, collected by Mr. 
 Sparks, form twelve illustrated octavos — an expensive set; 
 those of Franklin fill ten volumes; yet no less than 6,500 
 sets of the former, and 4,500 of the latter, have actually 
 been printed, and purchased by the not ungrateful coun- 
 trymen of those two great men. A similar taste and 
 demand exist for good books of travels. The first two 
 works of Stephens, although published anonymously, and 
 the subject not very novel, had an immediate and extensive 
 sale worthy of their subsequent reputation ; and no less 
 than 12,000 copies of his expensive work on Central 
 America were called for in less than three years. Of 
 Dr. Robinson’s Biblical researches in Palestine, in three 
 octavos, which even the ‘ Quarterly ’ was ready to praise, 
 the first edition consisted of 2,500 copies. The great work 
 on the Government Exploring Expedition to the South 
 Seas speaks for itself. It is in five large volumes, with an 
 atlas, magnificently published at a heavy cost; and this 
 work and the expedition itself shew that the Government 
 has done something for the advancement of science, as well 
 as of commerce. The Journal of the American Oriental 
 Society gives a list of sixty-three volumes of American 
 works on Asia, Africa, and the South Seas. 
 
 “All these, be it observed, are instances of original 
 American works, the copywright of which yields the 
 authors a suitable and handsome compensation, though 
 the publishers might reprint foreign works for nothing. 
 To prove that science is not utterly neglected, it may be 
 mentioned that Dr. Bowditch, the self-taught, ci-devant 
 cabin boy, translated and published, in four large quartos. 
 La Place’s Mecanique Celeste, adding a commentary of 
 abstruse calculations and problems, about equal in bulk to 
 the text. The legislature of New York appropriated 
 200,000 dollars (£40,000) for the preparation of the 
 ‘Natural History’ of that state, in twelve quarto volumes. 
 Professor Silliman, as already stated, has continued his 
 quarterly ‘Journal of Science ’ -more than a quarter of a 
 
i04 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 century; the Franklin Institute of Philadelphia has, for 
 nineteen years, issued a monthly ‘Journal’ of their tran- 
 sactions; Mr. Audubon, whom Americans are proud to 
 mention as their countryman, had, in Boston, United 
 States, alone, twelve subscribers for his great work on birds, 
 at 180 guineas each; and 800 American subscribers to the 
 smaller work at about £24 each ; and is now producing a 
 splendid work on quadrupeds, beautifully executed at Phila- 
 delphia, and costing sixty guineas per copy ; the American 
 Philosophical Society sends forth ten quartos on science; 
 and other societies and individuals have contributed many 
 works of much scientific value.’’ ' ^ 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Leavino New York— Steam the Great Civiliser — Yale 
 . College— Hartford — Descendants of the Puritans’. 
 
 We left New York on Friday afternoon. There is a pain 
 in leaving agreeable persons when you think you are never 
 to see them again. There is a like pain in leaving agree- 
 able places, perhaps because places and persons are associa- 
 ted, when there is no prospect of revisiting them; but, 
 independently of this feeling, we Were unwilling to think 
 that we should not again see a city which, notwithstanding 
 our English associations, and, it may be, our pride of 
 country, we could not help regarding as on a course of 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 105 
 
 rapid progress towards the first rank in this ^^age of great 
 cities.'’ Franklin jocularly expressed a wish that his life 
 could be revived at the end of a century, that he might see 
 what the United States had become. Probably my fellow- 
 traveller and myself, should we live to the age of our 
 fathers, might have occasion to rejoice in the fact that forty 
 millions of persons in those states, and forty millions in 
 the British islands and territories, were in the full, undis- 
 turbed, and.undisturbable possession . of the civil, religious, 
 and commercial freedom, for which, in our own humble 
 sphere, we have earnestly contended,— that eighty millions 
 of the most energetic of existing races spoke one common 
 language and had one common interest, — -that the language 
 of the English translation of the Bible, and of Shakspere 
 and Milton, was not only the commercial language of the 
 world, but the medium through which all that was great in 
 truth, in thought and in sentiment, was communicated to 
 every nook and corner of the earth. Would that men in 
 both countries would drop all narrow jealousies, and, look- 
 ing to the great mission of the Anglo-Saxon family, ear- 
 nestly and honestly resolve that the sole struggle between 
 those of its hranches, only geographically separated, should 
 be which most jealously and most energetically should 
 labour to christiafiise and civilise the whole human race ! 
 
 The romance of the passage through the narrow part of 
 Long Island Sound has been destroyed by the power of 
 steam. A few miles on our way to Newhaven we passed 
 through Hell Gate, without having the slightest conception 
 that there ever could be any danger encountered there. 
 When told, some time after, that we had gone through this 
 far-famed place, we did recollect that we had noticed a rock 
 or two, and that there was something like a current. I 
 suspect that the novelists have made a little too much of it. 
 The rapids of the St. Lawrence created high excitement on 
 board when oiir noble vessel shot down the swift and surg- 
 
106 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 ing volume of water ; but we were much disposed to vote 
 Hell Gate a humbug. Mind has triumphed over physical 
 obstruction, and the sublimity is now in the steamboat, 
 notwithstanding all that Tom Moore or Fenimore Cooper 
 may have to say to the contrary. In five hours we were 
 borne on to Newhaven, a distance of seventy-eight miles, 
 and we found next day that the Connecticut, a new steamer 
 which we met on its way to New York, had performed the 
 voyage in three hours and three quarters. Could the same 
 speed be attained on the ocean, the passage between Boston 
 and Liverpool might be made in less than six days ! Is 
 not the realisation of this within the category of things 
 possible ? With a reduction of one half of the time and 
 one half of the expense, I do think that there could be no 
 more wars between the two countries. The citizens of the 
 United States do not dislike Englishmen individually ; on 
 the contrary they are rather pre-disposed to like them, and 
 to pay them most kind and respectful attention when they 
 visit America. Their dislike is to John Bull — the tradi- 
 tional big, bullying, boroughmongering and monopolist 
 John Bull — the John Bull as he was at the time of the 
 American and the French revolutions; before Catholic 
 Emancipation and Negro Emancipation; before repeal of 
 Orders in Council; before the Reform BiW; before amended 
 Tariffs; before the repeal of the Corn Laws; and before 
 any movement to amend the Navigation Laws. And we 
 do not dislike the citizens of the United States; on the 
 contrary we are pre-disposed to like them and to give them 
 a cordial welcome amongst us. Our dislike is to Jonathan 
 — bragging, annexing, and repudiating Jonathan. The 
 individual likings will become the national in proportion to 
 the greater intercourse of the individuals of both nations. 
 Give us then the quick and cheap steam-boat. The paddle- 
 w^heel is the emblem of civilisation and peace. Why may 
 it not be regarded as one of the means, in the hand of God* 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 107 
 
 to hasten that happy time when men shall beat theii swords 
 into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and 
 shall learn the art of war no more ? 
 
 We landed atNewhaven at nine o’clock, and in our drive 
 to the Tontine Hotel we passed through a succession of 
 avenues of tall elms behind which rose up, in the bright 
 moon-light, handsome white pillared villas and high white 
 church spires. Next morning I had some difficulty to find 
 out the town amidst the groves of luxuriant trees, and was 
 rather surprised to find it bustling and active, for I had 
 expected an air of academic quietude about it. The old 
 brick buildings of the university, half hid by the lofty elms, 
 for which the place is remarkable,, were, however, secluded 
 enough for the purpose of uninterupted study. In the town, 
 outside of the park in which the college buildings, the state 
 house, and three churches are enclosed, there are numerous 
 small manufactures requiring a good head and a skilful 
 hand, aided, not superseded, by little steam-engines, making 
 little noise and little smoke, working away quietly in little 
 back workshops. Carriages, combining lightness and 
 strength, are made here in great number, and exported to 
 all the sea-board of North and South America. There is 
 nobody very poor and nobody very rich — a very happy 
 little community seemingly ; not destitute of the means of 
 religious instruction, for, to a population of about 15,000, 
 there are twenty churches, erected and supported without 
 state aid ; while for the instruction of the young there is an 
 equal number of schools, partly supported from the Connec- 
 ticut State Education Fund, and partly by voluntary taxa- 
 tion of the citizens in the township. For a professional 
 education, and for the completion of the studies of young 
 men likely to hold an elevated station in society, the college 
 offers the advantages of professors favourably known, even 
 in Europe, for their piety, learning, and scientific acquire- 
 ments, and of an economy which may be compared with 
 
108 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 that of the Scottish and contrasted with that of the English 
 universities. The annual charges in the treasurer s bill 
 are : — ' V ; • 
 
 ■ . Dollars. 
 
 For instruction • 33.00 
 
 For rent -of chamber in college, 9 to 1 6 dols. average . . 12.00 
 
 For ordinary. repairs and contingencies . . » . . . . / 2.40 
 
 For general damages, sweeping, &c 3.60 
 
 .iFor expenses of i^citation*school? ..... . .. .... . .;. ..... 3,00 
 
 / - . 34.00 
 
 or £13 5s. sterling. The following may be considered as a 
 near estimate of the necessary expenses without including 
 apparel, pocket money, travelling, and hoard in vacation : 
 
 Dollars. Dollars. 
 
 Treasurer’s bill, as above 54.00 „ 54.00 
 
 Board forty weeks, from .... . . . 60.00 to 90.00 
 
 Fuel and lights, from ... . . . . , . . . . . . ...... . . 6.00 to 15.00 . 
 
 Use of books rented and stationery. . ....... 5.00 to 15.00 
 
 Use of furniturej bed, and bedding. -5.00 to 13.00 
 
 Washing....... 3.00 to ,15.00 
 
 Taxes in the classes 5.00 to 6.00 
 
 Total, from ’. 140.00 210.00 
 
 or from £29 3s. 4d. to £43 i5s. sterling. I was told that 
 a great desire;!^ manifested bn the part of young men of 
 the humblest cldss in this -industrious state of Connecticut 
 to avail themselves of the opportunity thus afforded of 
 obtaining a professional education. Sisters, to aid brothers 
 in this ambition, will go into factories for a few years, 
 devoting all their savings to that purpose; and many lads 
 will perform services for their richer companions in study, 
 or keep the books of small manufacturers, to enable them to 
 attend the classes. The competition of these determined 
 young . students has a favourable effect on those who are 
 born to inherit more wealth, for the son of a rich merchant 
 does not like to be outstripped by the son of his father’s 
 porter or carman. There are twenty- three professors in the 
 faculty, and eleven tutors in the languages, mathematics, 
 and drawing. The following is a summary of the students; 
 
UNITED STATES. 109 
 
 • Theological students 44 
 
 Law students . 41 
 
 Medical students 45 
 
 Scholars of the* house, . 2 
 
 Students in philosophy and the arts * 11 
 
 Seniors 89 
 
 Juniors 103 
 
 Sophomores 92 
 
 Freshmen 95 
 
 Total number of under, graduates 379 
 
 Total number 522 
 
 On Saturday we proceeded by railway to Hartford,, a 
 distance of thirty-six miles, which was gone over in an 
 hour, being more than double the speed on the western 
 lines. The country was far from being fertile, the rocks 
 everywhere protruding through the thin dry soil, except in 
 little marshy bottoms, which were generally in grass. It 
 seemed the very country to furnish emigrants for the far 
 west. An educatedy enterprising people, on comparatively 
 unproductive land, are sure to send off swarms to the more 
 fertile soil. The farmer’s son, brought up in the enjoy- 
 ment of plain uomforts, will not permit himself to sink 
 into the rank of the day-labourer. If he cannot find 
 a farm— and all farmer’s sons in a long-settled country 
 cannot I)e farmers — or if he cannot have a good reward for 
 his toil as a mechanic or manufacturer, he betakes himself 
 to the west, and the prairie or the forest witnesses his 
 energy and his skill. I regarded this district with interest 
 not only as the abode of the descendants of the puritan 
 fathers, but as the. place whence the great west was to 
 receive a leavening of the high moral and religious tone 
 of the ancient puritanic spirit, united with the clearer 
 notions of modern times with respect to religious liberty. 
 
 We had met, on the lakes, a gentleman and his wife, 
 both descendants of the early settlers of Hartford, and 
 both members of the same congregational church in which 
 more than two hundred years ago their forefathers wor- 
 shipped. My descent from covenanters in Scotland, who 
 E 2 
 
110 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 would have been of the number of puritan emigrants, had 
 they not determined, after deliberate consideration, to re- 
 main and shed their blood, if need were, in defence of 
 religious liberty at home, led me to take a deep interest in 
 the information given us about Hartford. You must see 
 our charter oak,” said the lady, and we resolved to do so. 
 Here is its history. In 1639 a constitution of government 
 was adopted by the associated freemen of the colony. All 
 the public authorities were annually appointed by the whole 
 body of the freemen, and the election was by ballot. Up 
 to the time of obtaining the charter of 1662 there is not to 
 be found, in the records of the colony, the slightest recog- 
 nition of the jurisdiction of the crown of England. That 
 charter did little more than assure and ratify the constitu- 
 tion of 1639, and Connecticut was a complete republic in 
 everything but the name. The wonder is that such a 
 charter should have been granted to a colony in the very 
 year in which the act of conformity banished two thousand 
 English ministers from their pulpits. In 1687 (the dark 
 hour before the dawn) Sir Edmund Andross was sent over 
 with authority to vacate all the charters of the New 
 England colonies. Having arrived at Hartford, with a 
 guard of sixty men, to demand the charter of the assembly 
 then in session, it was found convenient to postpone the de- 
 bate thereupon till the evening, when, suddenly, the lights 
 were extinguished, and a Captain Wadsworth, seizing the 
 charter as it lay on the table, conveyed it to a place of safe 
 keeping in the hollow of an oak on Wylly's Hill. In less 
 than two years afterwards. Sir Edmund, with about fifty of 
 his associates, was seized at Boston and placed in confine- 
 ment, and the people of Connecticut then brought forth 
 their charter from the hollow of the oak, and the chartered 
 government was resumed. Let that tree stand,” says the 
 Bev. Dr. Hawes, the present pastor of the first congrega- 
 tional church, and still bear the honoured name of the 
 Charter Oak. While it remains we shall seem to stand 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Dearer to the age of our fathers. One monument will 
 remain to remind us of the care of our ancestors to preserve 
 for their descendants the great deed of their civil and reli- 
 gious liberties.” 
 
 As soon as we arrived in Hartford, we set out to see the 
 oak, which stood in a field on the outskirts of the town, the 
 footway to it worn like the path up to the martyr’s grave in 
 the Old Grey Friars’ Churchyard, in Edinburgh. Great 
 care has been taken for its preservation, and a noble living 
 monument it is of the olden time. The stem or bole has 
 not much height before its great branches, each a tree in 
 itself, are sent out; but the circumference; at five feet from 
 the ground, is thirty feet. On our return a carriage was 
 suddenly stopped, and we were cordially hailed by our lake 
 friends, who were going out to take an airing with their 
 daughter, but whose purpose was immediately changed, 
 that we might be driven to all the objects of interest in and 
 near the town. Our first visit was to the churchyard where 
 the fathers of the community slept, and here we found the 
 grave-stones of nine of the pastors who had successively 
 filled the office and died in the charge, during a period of 
 nearly two hundred years, no one having left his church 
 and congregation during all that time until death separated 
 the pastor from his flock. Our friend obtained from Dr. 
 Hawes the copy of a sermon he had preached in 1836, at 
 the close of the second century from the first establishment 
 of the church, from which I give a list of the pastors: — 
 
 
 
 Ordained. 
 
 Died. 
 
 Aged. 
 
 Ministry. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Hooker . . 
 
 , . 1633 , . 
 
 July 7, 1647 . 
 
 . 61 .. 
 
 14 
 
 years. 
 
 )> 
 
 Samuel Stone . . . . 
 
 . . 1633 . . 
 
 July 20, 1663 . 
 
 .61 .. 
 
 30 
 
 33 
 
 5) 
 
 John Whiting . . . . 
 
 .. 1660 .. 
 
 1689 . 
 
 . — . . 
 
 10 
 
 33 
 
 )> 
 
 Joseph Haines , . 
 
 .. 1664 .. 
 
 May 24, 1689 . 
 
 . 38 .. 
 
 15 
 
 33 
 
 jf 
 
 Isaac Foster, . . . , . 
 
 .. 1679 .. 
 
 Jany. 7, 1683 . 
 
 . — . . 
 
 3 
 
 33 
 
 3) 
 
 Tim. Woodbridge... 
 
 ... 1685 .. 
 
 April 13, 1732 . 
 
 . — . . 
 
 , 47 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 H. Wadsworth. . . . 
 
 .. 1732 .. 
 
 Nov. 12,1744 . 
 
 . 43 .. 
 
 16 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 Fidward Dorr . , . . 
 
 . . 1748 . . 
 
 Oct. 20, 1772 . 
 
 . 50 .. 
 
 25 
 
 35 
 
 33 
 
 Nathan Strong. . . . 
 
 .. 1974 .. 
 
 Dec. 25, 1817 . 
 
 . 69 .. 
 
 40 
 
 33 
 
 33 
 
 Joel Hawes 
 
 .. 1818 .. 
 
 still in the charge. 
 
 
 
112 
 
 TOUR IN THU . 
 
 Mr. Whiting was also pastor of the South Church frora 
 1670 to 1689^ the first of the three churches organised from 
 the overflowings of the first. 
 
 Braintree church-rate case in England this year of .1848 
 came into my mind. From Braintree, in Essex, came the 
 fathers of this church, out of which th^se churches sprung, 
 escaping from oppression in the old country, and seeking 
 religious liberty in dreary forests, then the haunts of mur- 
 derous savages. Of Hooker, their pastor, and their leader 
 in the wilderness, it is said, that though kind and afiable in 
 his common intercourse, he appeared in the pulpit with 
 such majesty and independence as if ‘‘ while engaged in 
 his Master’s work, he could put a king in his pocket.” 
 
 I .regretted much that I . had not leisure to inspect more 
 minutely the valuable and interesting Museum and Library 
 in the Wadsworth Museum, a noble institution, most credit- 
 able to the enlightened public spirit of Hartford. The 
 Library has been enriched by a donation-— for he has- sti- 
 pulated for only a small life income— from the Rev. Dr. 
 Robbins, who, at the age of upwards of fourscore, still 
 delights in showing its treasures, now open to the public. 
 Mr. Buckingham, who had visited Dr. Robbins at Mata- 
 poisett, where the venerable collector had been a pastor for 
 more than forty years, much beloved and much respected, 
 thus describes the library before it vvas so generously 
 devoted to the public: use: 
 
 “We were conducted by him over his library, which for 
 such a spot is both extensive and valuable, and particularly 
 rich in antiquarian and biblical lore. He has collected 
 also vast numbers of pamphlets and ether works on the 
 early history of America, which are all so well classified 
 and arranged, as to be immediately available for the illus- 
 tration of any point of American history, and form alto- 
 gether perhaps the most valuable and expensive collection 
 oi historical memorials in the state— the number of the 
 separate pamphlets exceeding 4,000. In addition to thfese 
 
113 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 there are upwards of 3,000 volumes in general history, 
 the belles lettres, and theology ; and amongst them no less 
 than 300 ponderous, folios^ many of them printed between 
 1450 and 1500. The richest part of his library is, how- 
 ever, bis eollection of. ancient bibles, afnong which are a 
 copy of Cranmer’s, another of- the Geneva bible, and several 
 of King Janies s, one of 1613, and one .of 1630 in black 
 letter, a copy ' of Goverdale’s bible, and a very fine copy of 
 ,St. Jerome’s, printed at Venice in 1478. He has also a 
 copy, of Elliott’s bible, translated by that missionary into 
 the language of the Naragansett . Indians^ who formerly 
 occupied these parts, printed at Cambridge, near -Boston, so 
 long ago as the year 1683. Having passed some hours, 
 when in England, with the late Dr. Adani Clarke, in 
 examining the Duke of Sussex’s, collection of bibles at 
 Kensington, I advised Dr. Robbins to. open a communica- 
 tion with his royal highness, on the' subject of biblical 
 literature> which might be productive of Anutual gratifi- 
 cation.” 
 
 Dr. Robbins adopted the advice of Mr. Buckingham, and 
 addressed the duke, offering him a duplicate copy of Elliotts 
 bible, and expressing a desire to obtain a copy of the- 
 “Bishop’s Bible.” The venerable (>ld gentleman showed 
 me the duke s reply which had accompanied a copy of the 
 bible he wished to procure, declining to deprive him of the 
 copy of Elliott’s bible, as he already had one in his library 
 at Kensington. It was more gratifying to me to see this 
 gracious document in the hands of a successor of the puritan 
 divines, than to hear, as I had at Halifax, of a crippling 
 monopoly having been handed over by the Duke of Sussex’s 
 brother in part payment of a debt due to his silversmith. 
 
 I cannot but express the pleasure I had in witnessing, on 
 the Sunday morning,, the retired Chief Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of Connecticut, one of the Associate 
 Judges of that court, and the Judge of the County Court, 
 members of Dr. Hawes’ church, each presiding over a class 
 in the Sabbath school. It was particularly interesting to 
 watch the animated countenanees of four or five young men 
 
il4 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 as they sat at the feet and listened to the instructions of the 
 ex-chief-justice — a Christian Gamaliel. We are here, at 
 Boston, on our way to the new manufacturing town of 
 Lowell, and we intend to sail for England by the Niagara 
 to-morrow week. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Lowell — Its Manufactures — Its Population — Its Moral 
 , Machinery — Churches and Schools. 
 
 Gloucester, Cape Anne, July 22, 1848. 
 
 We left Hartford on Monday last, travelling to Boston 
 on a very well constructed railway, passing through a 
 country neither fertile nor beautiful, except along the banks 
 of the Connecticut river, where the soil is comparatively 
 rich and the trees luxuriant. We spent the afternoon of 
 Monday and the whole of Tuesday in Peninsulate Boston 
 — the Venice of New England ; but the weather being 
 intolerably hot, we resolved to proceed to Lowell on Wed- 
 nesday morning, distance twenty-six miles, by one of the 
 numerous railways which branch out from the capital of 
 Massachusetts. I found this new manufacturing town a 
 much larger and more important place than I had anticipa- 
 ted. A description written half a dozen years ago is now 
 out of date, so rapid has been the progress. In 1822 the 
 population was only 200; in 1825 it had increased to 2,500; 
 in 1836, to 18,000; and it is now 33,000! From the 
 statistics now lying before me, in this sea side retreat, I am 
 enabled to give an account of the extent of its principal 
 manufactures, and the number of persons employed in each. 
 
PRINCIPAL MANUFACTURES, AND NUMBER OF PERSONS EMPLOYED IN EACH. 
 
 UNITED STATES 
 
 115 
 
 I . 
 
 Wool. + Cotton. 
 
116 TOUR IN THE’ * 
 
 The general rate of increased production during the last 
 twelve years is indicated by the increase at three of the 
 principal factories. 
 
 The Merrimack Company, in 1836, had 35,704 spindles, 
 used 2,288,000 pounds of cotton, and produced 9,568,000 
 yards of cloth. In .1848 it has 68,000 • spindles, uses 
 4,100,000 pounds of cotion, and produces 18,000,000 yards * 
 of cloth. 
 
 The Lawrence Company, in 1836, had 31,000 spindles, 
 used 3,328,000 pournds. of cotton, and prpdnced 10,400,000 
 yards of cloth. In 1848 it has 45,000 spindlesf uses 
 5,000,000 pounds of cotton, and produces 13,500,000 yards : 
 of cloth. 
 
 The Massachusetts Company, established in 1840, has 
 now 45,700 spindles, uses 7,800^000 pounds of cotton, and 
 produces 25,000,000 yards of (drillings) cloth. 
 
 In addition to the mills b^onging to the large companies 
 enumerated, are a number of small factories, saw mills, 
 planing machines, and other works necessary to the con- 
 struction and maintenance of manufacturing establishments, 
 producing, to the amount of a rnillion of dollars, or rhore 
 than £200,000 annually. 
 
 The operatives, 13,000 in number, employed in the 
 twelve larger establishments, have strict rules to follow. 
 The following are the regulations to be observed by all 
 persons employed in the factories of the Hamilton Manu- 
 facturing Company : — 
 
 The overseers are to be always in their rooms at the 
 starting of the mill, and not absent unnecessarily during 
 working hours. They are to see that all those employed in 
 their rooms are in their places in due season, and keep a 
 correct account of their time and work. They may grant 
 leave of absence to those employed under them, when they 
 have spare hands to supply their places, and not otherwise, 
 except in cases of absolute necessity. 
 
 All persons in the employ of the Hamilton Manufacturing 
 Company are to observe the regulations of the room where 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 117 
 
 I they are employed. They are not to be absent from their 
 i work without the consent of the overseer, except in cases of 
 ' sickness, and then they are to send him word of the cause of 
 their absence. They are to board in one of the houses of 
 the company, and give information at tho counting-room 
 where they board, when they begin, or whenever they 
 change their boarding place; and are to observe the regu- 
 lations of their boarding-house. 
 
 Those intending to leave the employment of the company, 
 are to give at least two weeks’ notice thereof to their over- 
 seer. 
 
 All persons entering into the employment of the com- 
 pany, are cpnsidered as engaged for twelve months, and 
 those who leave sooner, or do not comply with all these 
 regulations, will not be entitled to a regular discharge. 
 
 The company will not employ any one who is habitually 
 absent from public worship on the Sabbath, or known to be 
 guilty of immorality. 
 
 A physician will attend once in every month at the count- 
 ing room, to vaccinate all who need it, free of expense. 
 
 Any one who shall take from the mills or the yard, any 
 yarn, cloth, or other article, belonging to the company, will 
 be considered guilty of stealing, and be liable to prosecu- 
 tion. 
 
 Payments will be made nionthly, including board and 
 wages. The accounts will be made up to the last Saturday 
 but one in every month, and paid in the course of the 
 following week. 
 
 These regulations are considered part of the contract, 
 with which all persons entering into the employment of the 
 Hamilton Manufacturing Company engage to comply. 
 
 John Avery, Agent 
 
 The females, after their labour is over in the factories, 
 are not removed from the superintendence of the manager. 
 The following are the regulations for the boarding-houses 
 of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company 
 
 The tenants of the boarding-houses are not to board, or 
 permit any part of their houses to be occupied by any per- 
 son except those in the employ of the company, without 
 special permission. • 
 
 They will be considered answerable for any improper 
 
118 
 
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 conduct in their houses, and are not to permit their boarders 
 to have company at unreasonable hours. 
 
 The doors must be closed at ten o’clock in the evening, 
 and no person admitted after that time, without some rea- 
 sonable excuse. 
 
 The keepers of the boarding-houses must give an account 
 of the number, names, and employment of their boarders 
 when required, and report the names of such as are guilty 
 of any improper conduct, or are not in the regular habit of 
 attending public worship. 
 
 The buildings, and yards about them, must be kept clean 
 and in good order; and if they are injured, otherwise than 
 from ordinary use, all necessary repairs will be made, and 
 charged to the occupant. 
 
 The sidewalks, also, in front of the houses, must be kept 
 clean, and free from snow, which must be removed from 
 them immediately after it has ceased falling ; if neglected, 
 it will be removed by the company at the expense of the 
 tenant. . 
 
 It is desirable that the families of those who live in the 
 houses, as well as the boarders, who have not had the kine- 
 pox, should be vaccinated, which will be done at the expense 
 of the company, for such as wish it. 
 
 Some suitable chamber in the house must be reserved, 
 and appropriated for the use of the sick, so that others may 
 not be under the necessity of sleeping in the same room. 
 
 John Avery, Agent. 
 
 The hours of attendance at the mills are thirteen and a 
 half; an hour and a half is allowed for meals, making the 
 actual working time twelve hours. From what'cause has 
 the large amount of manufactures in this new town arisen, 
 and how have the proprietory companies attained the power 
 to dictate such regulations in a country where labour is so 
 seance ? 
 
 The establishment of manufactures is mainly to be attri- 
 buted to the English Corn Law, the operation of which 
 gave rise to a general desire throughout the states that a 
 home market for agricultural produce should be created. 
 The more immediate impulse was given by the war of 1813, 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 119 
 
 occasioned by our impolitic Orders in Council, and our 
 rigorous enforcement of the right of search. The inter- 
 rupted commerce and high prices,*’ says Mr. Miles in his 
 Lowell As It Is, which attended the last war with Eng- 
 land, turned the attention of monied men, in various parts 
 of this country, to manufactures.” There was a prospect 
 not only of great profit, but of great popularity, to those 
 who would contribute to make the United States less 
 dependent on England for textile fabrics, and the erection 
 of a cotton mill came to be regarded as an act of the most 
 exalted patriotism. 
 
 Profit and popularity combined offered the strongest 
 motive for speculation. Your acute American has always 
 a sharp eye for the discovery of an available water privilege. 
 The shores of the Merrimack river were covered with forest 
 trees, and it was found that the falls of Pawtucket offered 
 a serious obstruction to the floating of timber down to 
 Newburyport, at the mouth of the river. A company was 
 established in 1792 which formed a canal a mile and a half 
 in length, having four locks, to accomplish the descent of 
 thirty-two feet. The speculation, however, was not a profit- 
 able one, for in 1804 another canal was completed which 
 connected the Merrimack with Boston harbour, and much 
 of the timber which had previously been sent down to New- 
 buryport found its way to Boston, where there was more 
 ship-building. After the impulse given to home manufac- 
 tures in 1813, several small factories had been erected on 
 the banks of the canal, but it was not for some years that 
 its full value as a water privilege was discovered. The 
 success of the Waltham Mills, commenced in 1814 and in 
 1820 employing more than four hundred hands, gave encou- 
 ragement to greater undertakings. Mr. White relates that 
 in the latter year Mr. Paul Moody had charge of the 
 Waltham Mills, and a friend of his, Mr, Ezra Worthen, a 
 former partner in business, was connected with the manu- 
 
120 
 
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 facturing, establishment at Amesbury. From his childhood 
 Mr. Worthen had been acquainted with the neighbourhood 
 of the Pawti\cket Falls ; and when the profitableness of the 
 manufacturing business led to inquiries for waterpower, the 
 immense advantage which this, place held out soon struck 
 his eye. While on a visit to Waltham, he expressed a wish 
 to Mr. Patrick T. Jackson, one of the principal directors 
 of the company there, that they would set up works in some 
 new place, and give him employment in conducting them. 
 Mr. Jackson replied, that they would willingly do this, if he 
 would find a good water power. Immediately Mr. Worthen 
 named the Pawtucket Falls; and with apiece of chalk drew 
 a map of the river and canal on the floor. The rude sketch 
 was enough to give Mr. Jackson a favourable* impression, 
 and he requested Mr. Moody to visit, with Worthen, the 
 place which the latter had described. It was not long 
 before they explored the . whole neighbourhood, tracing the 
 course of the canal, surveying the adjoining land and shores, 
 and satisfying themselves that the place afforded great faci- 
 lities for building up a large manufacturing town. Soon 
 after the reception of their highly favourable report, the 
 directors of the Waltham Company resolved to procure this 
 eligible site. 
 
 Land was purchased to the extent of four hundred acres, 
 the whole stock of the canal company was bought, the 
 Merrimack Manufacturing Company was incorporated, and 
 operations were vigorously commenced, the first of which 
 was to enlarge the canal to sixty feet in width and eight in 
 depth. In November, 1823, the first cloth was produced by 
 the Merrimack Company. Additional joint-stock manu- 
 facturing companies were formed, and additional water 
 power became necessary. A new and large canal has been 
 constructed 'during the last two years, at an expense of 
 upwards of £100,000, which renders a great portion of ’the 
 river available. Its water section is 1-iOO square feet, being 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 121 
 
 generally 100 feet wide and 15 feet deep ; in places the 
 width is narrower, but the depth has been increased so as to 
 still have the same section, the depth being at the river 20 
 feet. A covered canal, or under ground aqueduct, is now 
 in. the course o£ construction, from the New or Northern 
 Canal to the Merrimack Canal, to distribute the advantages 
 of the new supply, and .to maintain the level in the other 
 feeders. Owing to these late improvements, the available 
 fall at the mills may be reckoned at 33 feet ; the flow of the 
 river in its lowest stages is 1700 cubic feet per second, and 
 since this is used but 13 hours out of the 24, and the pond 
 made by -the darn is of sufficient capacity to retain the 
 water, the supply during working hours is 3,140 cubic feet 
 per second ; of this wg^ter and fall from 80 to 90 per cent, is 
 made effective by the use of the turbines constructed by 
 Boyden. As the result from the above data, we have the 
 available and effective power on the jact-shaft, the equiva- 
 lent of 10,000 horse power. To make constant, and to 
 increase the power of the river during the dry months, the 
 large lakes at the source of the Winnipiseogee and Squain, 
 covering an extent of above 100 square miles, have been 
 ^secured, and by this means not only will the water power 
 of Lowell, but for the whole extent of the river, be in- 
 ' creased.' This" increase may be estimated at 50 per cent., 
 giving a total of 15,000 horse power as the supply of the 
 Merrimack at Lowell. The turhineyhy which so large a 
 per centage of the water power is made available, is a hori- 
 zontal water-wheel with a vertical axis and curved float- 
 boards. The whole is boxed-in,”. as it were, with solid 
 granite round the circumference and at top and bottom, so 
 that none of the water, which enters at the upper part of 
 one side and escapes at the lower part of the other, is 
 wasted; and the- wheel works although the back water is 
 level w»ith its upp6r surface if the top of the column from 
 which it comes be on a higher level. The principle is a 
 
122 
 
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 modification of one that has been long in use in Languedoc 
 and Guyenne, in the south of France, where the water flows 
 upon a horizontal wheel in the shape of an inverted cone 
 with spiral float-boards. 
 
 Water in abundance, and the use of mechanical means 
 for its economical application, the question was, where 
 were the workpeople to come from ? To obtain the supply 
 of labour there was an admirable union of philanthropy 
 and worldly wisdom. The sagacious founders of the town 
 knew that unless the various manufacturing establishments 
 made a moral provision which would satisfy parents, in a 
 country where much of the religious strictness of the early 
 puritans prevailed, young people would not be permitted to 
 become mill operatives. Amongst the well-educated com- 
 munity of New England, where the standard of morality 
 stands confessedly high, it was necessary to offer high moral 
 temptations — to give unequivocal assurance not only that 
 there should be none of the evil communications which 
 corrupt good manners, but that the means of religious, 
 moral, and intellectual teaching should be amply provided. 
 In reading the regulations of the boarding-houses the 
 Englishman wonders why, in a country where labour is 
 scarce, the workpeople submit to so much strictness of rule. 
 The fact is, that without strict regulation workpeople could 
 not be had. The managers have to exercise the strictness 
 of parental rule that parents may feel the conviction that 
 their children are safe. Mr. White says : — 
 
 ‘^The productiveness of these works depends upon one 
 primary and indispensable condition — the existence of an 
 industrious, sober, orderly, and moral class of operatives. 
 Without this, the mills in Lowell would he worthless. 
 Profits would he absorbed by cases of irregularity, careless- 
 ness, and neglect; while the existence of any great moral 
 exposure in Lowell would cut off the supply of help from 
 the virtuous homesteads of the country. Public miorals 
 and private interests, identical in all places, are here seen 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 123 
 
 to be linked together in an indissoluble connection. 
 Accordingly, the sagacity of self-interest, as well as more 
 disinterested considerations, has led to the adoption of a 
 strict system of moral police. 
 
 There is one consideration bearing upon the character 
 of our operatives, which must all the while be borne in 
 mind. We have no permanent factory population. This 
 is the wide gulf which separates the English manufacturing 
 towns from Lowell. Only a very few of our operatives 
 have their homes in this city. The most of them come 
 from the distant interior of the country. 
 
 To the general fact, here noticed, should be added 
 another, of scarcely less importance to a just comprehension 
 of this subject, — the female operatives in Lowell do not 
 work, on an average^ more than four and a half years in 
 the factories. They then return to their homes, and their 
 places are taken by their sisters, or by Other female friends 
 from their neighbourhood. Returns will hereafter be given 
 which will establish the fact of the average above named. 
 
 ‘^Here, then, we have two important elements of differ- 
 ence between English and American operatives. The 
 former are resident operatives, and are operatives for life, 
 and constitute a permanent, dependent factory caste. The 
 latter come from distant homes, to which in a few years 
 they return, to be the wives of farmers and mechanics of 
 the country towns and villages. The English visiter to 
 Lowell, when he finds it so hard to understand why Ameri- 
 can operatives are so superior to those of Leeds and 
 Manchester, will do well to remember what a different class 
 of females we have here to begin with — girls well educated 
 in virtuous rural homes ; nor must the Lowell manufacturer 
 forget that we forfeit the distinction, from that moment, 
 when we cease to obtain such girls as the operatives of 
 the city. 
 
 To obtain this constant importation of female hands 
 from the country, it is necessary to secure the moral pro- 
 tection of their characters while they are resident in 
 Lowell. This, therefore, is the chief object of that moral 
 police referred to. 
 
 It should be stated, in the outset, that no persons are 
 employed on the Corporations who are addicted to intem- 
 perance, or who are known to be guilty of any immoralities 
 
124 
 
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 of conduct. As the, parent of all other vices, intemperance 
 is most carefully excluded. Absolute freedom from intoxi- 
 cating liquors is understood, throughout the city, to be a 
 pre-requisite to obtaining employment in the mills, and any 
 person known to be addicted to their use is at once dis- 
 missed. . This point has not received the attention, from 
 writers upon the moral condition of Lowell, which it 
 deserves ; and we are surprised that the English traveller 
 and divine. Dr. Scoresby, in his recent book upon Lowell, 
 has given no more notice to this subject. A more strictly 
 and universally temperate cl-ass of persons cannot be found, 
 than the nine • thousand operatives (now 13,000) of this 
 city; and the fact is as .well known to all others, living 
 here, as it is of some honest pride among themselves. In 
 relation to other immoralities, it may be stated, that the 
 suspicion of criminal conduct, association with suspected 
 persons, and general and habitual light behaviour and con- 
 versation, are regarded as sufficient reasons for dismissions, 
 and for which delinquent operatives are discharged.” 
 
 A part of the moral machinery employed is that all the 
 boarding-houses are the property of and under the direction 
 -of the various corporations. We visited one in a long 
 range of excellent three-story houses, with a good pavement 
 in front and a row of trees. They were such dwellings as 
 would let for £40 a-year in .TVIan Chester, private looking, 
 each having a brass plate with the name on the door, well 
 finished inside and o.ut, scrupulously clean, with two car- 
 petted and neatly-furnished parlours, fifteen feet square 
 each, used as the Sitting-rooms of the young women, and 
 the bed-rooms such as one might expect to find in a 
 respectable English boarding-house for .young ladies. I 
 observed that every boarder had her little library, generally 
 of religious books, and. that a number had well-engraved 
 and well-framed portraits of their respective ministers. In 
 the spinning and weaving-rooms of the Merrimack Com- 
 pany I saw the young women at work, plainly but neatly 
 dressed in dark-coloured prints or ginghams coming up to 
 the throat, all bearing evidence of good health, although tile 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 125 
 
 actual working time is twelve hours a day. I regarded their 
 appearance as a corroboration of a theory I had formed that 
 women in America who had work to do were likely to have 
 better health than those who had none. I saw them going 
 to dinner, in twos and threes, arm-in-arm, all with hoods or 
 bonnets, and perhaps one-half of them with green veils, 
 having the look of farmers’ daughters in our own country 
 when, in their ordinary clothing a little tidied, they go an 
 errand into the village shop. At night I went out into the 
 main street, and saw hundreds of them a shopping,” in 
 the perfect security that in this town of more than thirty 
 thousand inhabitants there was not one person who dared 
 to offer them an insult, either by word or look ! These 
 young women receive on an average three dollars a week, 
 out of which they pay a dollar and a quarter for board, so 
 that out of their savings, put out at interest in the savings’ 
 bank, they can accumulate, during their five years’ stay, a 
 pretty little marriage portion. 
 
 The Savings’ Bank was incorporated in 1829, since which 
 time it has received two millions five hundred thousand 
 dollars, and paid out one million eight hundred thousand. 
 
 the two thousand depositors in the bank, about one-half 
 are factory girls, the amount of whose funds is a hundred 
 and twenty thousand dollars, or £25,000 sterling. Many 
 of the young women have £40 or £50 deposited, and some 
 have as much as £100. Two per cent, interest is paid 
 every six months, which, if not withdrawn, is added to the 
 the principal, thus compounding interest every year. New 
 England being rather a sterile country, many of the young 
 men emigrate to the far west, carrying with them the sober, 
 industrious, and moral habits of their fatherland — and 
 young wives of similar habits, with a “ tocher ” or portion 
 derived from their labour and saved by their economy at 
 Lowell. 
 
 E 
 
126 
 
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 There are in Lowell twenty-three regularly-constituted 
 religious societies, viz., one Episcopal, four Congregational 
 Orthodox, one Congregational Unitarian, three Baptist, 
 three Universal! st, two Episcopal Methodists, two Wesleyan 
 Methodists, two Roman Catholics, two Free-will Baptists, 
 two Christians, and one Free Chapel, connected with the 
 Ministry at large. These societies have erected nineteen 
 churches, at a cost of three hundred and eight thousand 
 dollars ; and two new churches have been commenced this 
 season. They are served at the present time by twenty- 
 two ministers, whose support, with other expenses of public 
 worship, amounts to twenty-five thousand dollars per year. 
 Connected with these societies there are six thousand one 
 hundred and twenty-three Sunday-School pupils and 
 teachers, constituting about a fifth part of the entire popu- 
 lation of the city. Though all these societies. are composed 
 altogether of working people, and many of them almost 
 exclusively of factory operatives, yet their charities are 
 many in number, and are considerable in their ag^egate 
 amount. Contributions of four hundred dollars have 
 repeatedly been made, in a single church, for missionary 
 purposes. One of these societies raised, two years ago, one 
 thousand dollars for the purchase of a pastor’s library. 
 Another has established, within a few years, a parish library 
 of two thousand six hundred volumes, of - permanently 
 valuable books, and has recently undertaken the support of 
 a Ministry at large, pledging itself for this purpose to the 
 amount of eight hundred dollars a year. It has been 
 ascertained that the charities of the religious societies of 
 the city, during the past • year," beside what was raised for 
 their ordinary expenses, amounted to ten thousand three 
 hundred and twenty-six^ dollars. 
 
 I bad occasion, in . a previous letter, to remark on the 
 comparative absence of rancourous feeling amongst the 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 127 
 
 various religious sects in this country. Mr. White, the 
 historian of a city which has only a twenty years’ history, 
 says of the above numerous body : — 
 
 A better feature still of the Lowell churches is that 
 higher kind of charity, which the Apostle has placed above 
 the bestowing even of all one’s goods to feed the poor. 
 Few are the places which, on the whole, are more exempt 
 from bigotry, intolerance, and the little arts of persecution 
 and censoriousness so often suggested by sectarian zeal. 
 The clergymen of the city often meet together, to consult 
 and act in concert, to promote some moral end; and such 
 meetings have encouraged generous feelings between the 
 professors of different forms of faith. * The factory girl, 
 who comes to Lowell, finds a church professing the creed 
 in which she has been educated ; and many become inter- 
 ested in their Sunday-school, and attached to their pastor, 
 and have occasion to remember this city with gratitude, as 
 the birth-place of that higher life to which the^ have here 
 been awakened.” 
 
 But I must bring my letter to a close. We were exceed- 
 ingly pleased with our visit to Lowell. 1 said to the kind 
 and hospitable family with whom we w^ere guests : It is all 
 
 very delightful ; but I think I could form something nearly 
 as good in England if it were possible to give me the privi- 
 lege of taxing all the other inhabitants to the amount of 
 twenty-five per cent, on all that my community produced.” 
 The mills, though enjoying this protection, do not yield 
 more profit than could be had by ordinary investment on 
 mortgage ; but it is believed that even additional outlay will 
 be safe, and new factories of various kinds, in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and where water power can be had, are in the 
 course of erection, the capitalists either expecting addi- 
 tional protection, or calculating on the effects of our Teii 
 Hours’ Bill, and believing that young women who can earn 
 their marriage portion in five years will not call for such 
 a change as would compel them to work six years for that 
 object. 
 
128 
 
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 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Character op New Englanders — Gloucester — Aboli- 
 tionists — Oliver Caswell — On board the Niagara — 
 American Economy. 
 
 On hoard the Niagara^ 
 
 • We left Lowell on Thursday, the 20th, for Boston, but 
 with the resolution of passing onwards to Gloucester for 
 a few days’ enjoyment of the cool sea breezes of the latter 
 port, which lies on a small and beautiful bay on the south- 
 western side of Point Anne. The railway was carried 
 through a country one-half level salt marsh and one-half a 
 slightly elevated ground, the granite everywhere breaking 
 through the thin soil. The puritans were not very fortunate 
 in the selection of a home in the bay of Massachusetts. 
 Plymouth, Boston, Salem, and Gloucester offered little 
 scope to the agriculturists, and an early emigration to 
 Newhaven and Hartford took place, where a greater extent 
 of fertile land was available. Thus generation after gene- 
 ration sent forth its active young men, widening their con- 
 quests over the forest and the swamp, till all New England 
 became well peopled. In the same manner emigration 
 goes on now, and a frugal, active, and rapidly increasing 
 population, pressing closely as Malthus would say, on the 
 means of human subsistence in this stony territory, keeps 
 sending out hardy adventurers to the more fertile states of 
 the west, there to set an example of activity, industry, 
 sobriety, scrupulous regard to the moral obligations of life, 
 and a decent, and seemingly a very sincere, observance of 
 religious requirements. Was it chance that the early set- 
 tlers should set themselves down in a country so sterile that 
 their moral and religious habits might remain uncontami- 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 129 
 
 Dated by the looser principles of men who sought, not 
 freedom from persecution for conscience sake, hut merely 
 the means whereby to live ? Was it accident that they 
 settled where there was so little room for increase that they 
 had to send their well-instructed sons and daughters out 
 farther into the wilderness to subdue it? Was it a ‘‘for- 
 tuitous conibination of circumstances,” that, two hundred 
 years after their settlement on this rocky land, their 
 descendants, inheriting their principles, are constantly 
 sending Out detachments to all the rest of the free states 
 in the Union P To me, it appears not chance but provi- 
 sion, design^ — design to furnish the leaven for leavening the 
 future great mass. 
 
 In the southern states, the New Englanders, nicknamed 
 Yankees, are held in much dislike. Their decency of man- 
 ners rebukes the licentiousness, and their frugality, the 
 extravagance of the south. Achille Murat speaks the pre- 
 valent opinion of the slave states when he says : — “ They 
 betray a shameless avidity after profit, and, like Petit- Jean, 
 candidly tell you — 
 
 ‘ Que, sans argent, honneur n’est qu’une maladie.’ 
 
 This spirit of calculation and avarice is strangely blended 
 with the strict observance of the Sunday, which they call 
 Sabbath, and of all the puritanical practices of the Presby- 
 terian religion which they have generally adopted. Morality, 
 according to them, consists much more in not swearing, 
 singing, dancing, or walking on Sunday, than in not mak- 
 ing a fraudulent bankruptcy. This species of hypocrisy is 
 so natural to them, that the greater number practice it as a 
 thing of course. They glory in calling themselves ‘ the 
 country of steady habits,’ not because they are more virtu- 
 ous than other people, but because they assume a contrite 
 air once a week, and eat nothing on Saturdays but cod-fish 
 and apple pies,” Mr. Dickens, in his notice of Hartford, 
 has adopted a little of this southern imputation of hypocrisy. 
 
130 
 
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 Murat seems to think that without swearing, singing, and 1 
 dancing, there can be no cheerfulness, and no honesty ll 
 without Sunday walks. One can only report the ford as j 
 one finds it. I saw more cheerfulness in Connecticut than \ 
 I saw in all the other states put together. 1 
 
 Nothing could be more delightful than the weather I 
 during the five days that we remained at Mr. Hudson’s ? 
 very comfortable hotel at Gloucester. We heard of the 
 thermometer being at 93® in Boston, while it was not • 
 more than 82® with us; and the air was so pure and 
 elastic, that to breathe it was a positive, at once-felt luxury, ? 
 and the bathing was delicious. I regretted that before we 
 went on our voyage we had made up our minds to be home 
 again in three months, for I saw Mr. Brooks improving so 
 much in health, and enjoying himself so much, that I felt 
 assured he would entirely recover his strength by a further 
 residence of a couple of months, not necessarily at Glou- 
 cester, for in the beautiful Indian summer we could have 
 moved about anywhere. The sea breeze was always refresh- 
 ing. If, when the thermometer was at 82®, we walked to 
 an old windmill on a granite mount which overlooked the 
 little bay, the temperature was pleasantly cool ; and in the 
 evening, when the heat was indicated at no more than 65® 
 or 70®, we found our woollen coats more comfortable than 
 our light Moses ’’jackets. 
 
 I had a good deal of conversation with ' a Boston aboli- 
 tionist on the difficulties which were thrown in the way of 
 the anti-slavery movement. I found, with deep regret, that 
 the timidity or cowardice of a number of ministers of reli- 
 gion had led many abolitionists to doubt the power of 
 religous principle in the repression of cruelty and injustice. 
 They saw zealous professors of Christianity either silently 
 submitting to, or faintly protesting against, the atrocities of 
 the slave system, but most energetically exerting themselves 
 for the better observance of the sabbath,” and they were 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 131 
 
 running into the illogical conclusion that a strict observance 
 of that day was an obstacle to the progress of anti-slavery 
 principles. They were hearing of ministers who were using 
 the Bible to justify slavery, and because this mistake was 
 made, they were running into the greater mistake of believ- 
 ing that the Bible was unworthy of credit. Satan was 
 quoting scripture for his own purpose, and the inconsequen- 
 tial inference was that scripture was of the devil. It is 
 deeply to be lamented that the ministers of religion should 
 shrink from the full expression of its dictates — and more 
 deeply still to be lamented that benevolent men, honestly 
 striving to promote the happiness .of their fellow-men, 
 should fall into the blunder of charging upon religion itself 
 the faults or errors of its professors. 
 
 We left Gloucester for Boston on Monday. The city 
 has not the regularity of New York and Philadelphia, and 
 the streets are much narrower ; but it has some splendid 
 public buildings, and the wai’ehouses and stores, many of 
 them recently built, being of a fine greyish white granite, 
 have an air of great substantiality and beauty. We had 
 not left ourselves time to visit the various philanthropic 
 institutions, which prove that the New Englanders, whether 
 hypocrites, as Achille Murat calls them, or not, have set an 
 example to all the world in the works of active benevolence. 
 One establishment 1 had resolved to see, that in which 
 Laura Bridgman, the deaf, dumb, and blind girl, and 
 Oliver Caswell, a boy suffering the same calamities, had 
 been educated, but 1 had an opportunity without visiting 
 the asylum, of seeing the latter. When we went on Tues- 
 day to see the JViagara, the noble vessel in which we were 
 to sail, I saw on board a young man, talking in the finger 
 signs to a blind lad, and as that mode of cornmunication 
 was not necessary with the merely blind, I concluded that 
 the lad was Caswell, and was right. He had come to see 
 the vessel, and to hear all about her, and to say what he 
 
132 
 
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 thought about her. He examined all that he could reacb^ 
 and was incessantly asking for an explanation of uses. He 
 asked if the vessel was built in England — if the officers and 
 sailors were English, and if there were to be English 
 passengers in her ? I requested the tutor to say that an 
 English passenger would be glad to shake hands with him. 
 He laughingly held out his hand and cordially returned 
 my grasp. He wished to know if the ship had cannons. 
 I asked — What does he know of cannons ?” He feels 
 the concussions when guns are fired in the bay.” I have 
 with me the fifteenth report of the trustees of the asylum, 
 which contains a special report by Dr. Howe on the cases 
 of Laura Bridgman and Oliver Caswell. Laura had passed 
 through a period of illness, and had been on the brink of 
 the grave without knowing her danger. Before her illness 
 she had been a happy and a merry child; since then she 
 has been a thoughtful girl, from whom the spontaneous 
 joy of childhood has departed, and who is cheerful or sad 
 in sympathy with the feelings of those about her.” She 
 •was beginning to understand that there was an obligation 
 to the worship and love of God ; and some complaints were 
 uttered that her teacher was not sufficiently desirous to 
 convey to her the knowledge that was necessary to eternal 
 salvation. He defends himself by saying that her parents, 
 who were pious and orthodox people, had left her religious 
 instruction entirely to him, and he says: — 
 
 Her friends, and to the credit of humanity be it said, 
 they are a multitude, need not be alarmed ; the form of faith 
 which I shall try to give her will be catholic and charitable; 
 it will be charity and good will to all men — love and obe- 
 dience to God. I shall explain to her the bible as I under- 
 stand it; I shall try to make her believe, as I do, that it 
 ’ contains a revelation of God’s attributes, and that it points 
 out to us all the way to happiness through the path of duty. 
 It is already something more to her than a cold and barren 
 abstraction. If she does not understand its doctrines, she 
 b^ins to feel its spirit. On the last occasion of her mani- 
 
133 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 festiiig any impatience, she said to Miss Wight, 'I felt 
 -cross, but in a minute I thought of Christ, how good and 
 gentle he was, and my bad feelings went away.’ For some 
 months she has been in the habit of asking her teacher 
 every Sunday about the sermon she heard.’' 
 
 Dr. Howe reports that Oliver Caswell, during the previous 
 year had been in good health, and . continued to be the 
 the same gentle and am'iable boy as ever. He says : — 
 
 His progress in Iea:rning language and acquiring intel- 
 lectual knowledge is comparatively, slow, because he has 
 not that fineness of fibre; and that activity of temperament 
 which enable Laura to struggle so successfully against the 
 immense disadvantages under which they both labour. 
 Still he continues to make gradual improvement, and can 
 express his thoughts pretty well upon all ordinary subjects. 
 
 His case proves, therefore, very clearly, that the success 
 of the attempt made to instruct Laura Bridgman was not 
 owing solely to her uncommon capacity. .Oliver is a boy 
 of rather unfavourable organization, and of sluggish tem- 
 perament; he had been deaf and blind from infancy ; he 
 received no instruction until he was twelve years oldf con- 
 sequently he lost the most precious years for learning; 
 nevertheless he has been taught to express his thoughts 
 by the finger language and by writing; he has become 
 acquainted with the rudiments of the common branches of 
 education, and is an intelligent and morally responsible 
 person. Henceforward there can be no exj^iise for leaving 
 . any deaf and blind mute, who has ordinary eapacity, in a 
 state of irresponsible idiocy to which pers.ons in’ his . situa- 
 tion have heretofore been condemned by high l%al autho- 
 rities, as well as by public opinion. 
 
 “Oliver's memory is hot tenacious. A. great part oi 
 what has been taught him he forgets in a hionth afterwards. 
 This is true of all the intellectual branches, especially of 
 those in which objects are not used as illustrations; but it 
 is not true of the mechanical arts, of the knowledge of 
 persons and things with which he comes in contact. He is 
 a very apt learner at any handiwork; he delights in the use 
 of tools^ a;nd excels most of his companions in the 
 workshop. He never forgets a lesson which has been 
 taught him there,, beeausedt Is a lesson upon ahjects*', • 
 
134 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 At one o’clock in the afternoon of Wednesday, July 26, 
 we went on board a small steamer which conveyed us to 
 the Niagara, lying off the light house, about ten miles 
 from Boston. In build and model she extremely resembles 
 the Hihernia, but is of larger dimensions, and of much 
 greater engine power. An ordinary passage to Halifax is 
 made in thirty-six hours, but our speed was so rapid that 
 we could have been in the harbour before nine o’clock on 
 Thursday evening, but for the dense fog which made the 
 attempt dangerous. At nine o’clock on Friday morning we 
 were again on our passage eastward, and just as the wind 
 was filling our sails, and the steam had been got up to its 
 full power, and as we were careering onwards at the rate of 
 twelve knots an hour, a gun from a steamer, which was 
 recognised as her Majesty’s war-ship, the Scourge, tried the 
 patience of Captain Ryrie. On his passage out, it had 
 been similarly tried by guns from a Dutch vessel ten or 
 twelve miles out of his course. Fearing that she might be 
 short of provisions or water, his humanity impelled him to 
 put about and go to her, to find, when he hailed her, that 
 all the captain wanted was to know what news there were 
 from Paris ! The Scourge had tried the previous evening 
 to get into Halifax harbour, but failing, we had to stop our 
 career and take in her letter bags. Once more we pursued 
 an uninterrupted course, and after a few days sailing, the 
 captain and his mates began to talk pretty confidently of 
 arriving in Liverpool on the Sunday ! 
 
 I have brought with me several volumes of statistics and 
 reports of public institutions, intending to take advantage 
 of the leisure on board to condense the information they 
 contain, but smooth as our course is, the vibration occa- 
 sioned by the working of the engines makes writing rather 
 too much of a task ; and I find that, although I escape 
 sea sickness, a close application to statistical figures is very 
 apt to bring on a squeamishnfess that is anything but com- 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 135 
 
 fortable. I would not advise any one to leave work undone, 
 which might be done on land, in the belief that he can 
 make up for it hy working at sea when he has nothing else 
 to do. He will have enough to do to take care he does not 
 become sea-sick. Here are, however, some gleanings. 
 
 In my letter upon the manufactures of Lowell, I men- 
 tioned that, notwithstanding the advantage of protection to 
 the amount of 25 per cent, the several joint-stock com- 
 panies did not divide more than what might have been 
 obtained on mortgage. The following is the par and market 
 value of the most prominent manufacturing companies of 
 New England on the 1st January: — 
 
 Companies. Par value. Market value. 
 
 Stark, (Manchester) , 
 
 Appleton, 
 
 Boott, 
 
 Hamilton, 
 Laurence, 
 
 Lowell, 
 
 Merrimack, 
 Middlesex, 
 
 Suffolk, 
 
 Tremont, 
 
 Jackson, (Nashua). 
 Nashua, do.... 
 
 do.. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 do. 
 
 Cabot, (Springfield) . 
 Chicopee, do ... . 
 Dwight, do ... . 
 Perkins do ... . 
 Palmer, (Palmer) , . 
 Thorndike, do .... 
 
 Manchester 
 
 N. E. Worsted, (Framingham) 
 
 twenty years* history. I 
 
 1000 dols. , 
 
 
 900 
 
 5 > • 
 
 
 ?? 
 
 1000 
 
 * 
 
 925 
 
 
 1000 
 
 )) • 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 » * 
 
 1010 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 
 750 
 
 ?? 
 
 1000 
 
 ‘ 
 
 
 5) 
 
 1000 
 
 5) ‘ 
 
 900 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 >5 
 
 1200 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 
 1170 
 
 * yy 
 
 1000 
 
 ' 
 
 
 yy 
 
 loop 
 
 JJ 
 
 
 yy 
 
 800 
 
 
 
 yy 
 
 500 
 
 » • 
 
 
 yy 
 
 650 
 
 5 ) ‘ 
 
 
 yy 
 
 420 
 
 5 ) ' 
 
 200 
 
 yy 
 
 500 
 
 » • 
 
 500 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 
 900 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 » • 
 
 600 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 * 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 • • 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 )) • 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 » • 
 
 
 yy 
 
 500 
 
 J) • 
 
 
 yy 
 
 1000 
 
 » • 
 
 1180 
 
 yy 
 
 5000 
 
 
 3750 
 
 yy 
 
 100 
 
 )) 
 
 
 yy 
 
 100 
 
 )> 
 
 83 
 
 yy 
 
 if Lowell, a 
 
 town with only a 
 
 before 
 
 me 
 
 the labours of 
 
 an 
 
136 
 
 TOUR IN. THE 
 
 historian of Laurence — a town, which has not more than a 
 three years’ history, althoiigTi it has a population of 7,000 / 
 persons. ' 
 
 Laurence is situated on the Merrimack river, nine miles- 
 below Lowell, and, like Lowell, is to be a manufacturing 
 town. With this object in view, a company of manufac- 
 turers purchased some thousands of acres of land during the • 
 suinmer and autumn of 1844, and on the 20th March, 1845, 
 the charter of the Essex Company,” empowering them to • 
 build a dam and canal, and create water power for manu- 
 facturing purposes, with a capital of one million of dollars, 
 was signed by the Governor of Massachusetts. The Essex 
 Company was organised April 16, 1845. On the 1st of 
 August, 1845, the excavation for the foundation of the dam 
 commenced near the Methuen shore, and the first stone of 
 the dam was laid on the 19th of September. The progress 
 of the new city was very rapid. At the winter session of 
 the legislature, in 1846, the following charters were granted: 
 Bay State Mills, for manufacture of wool, capital 1,000,000 
 dollars; Atlantic Cotton Mills, for manufacture of. cotton, 
 capital 2,000,000 dollars ; Union Mills, for manufacture of 
 wool> 1,000,000 dollars; Bleaching and. Dyeing Company, . 
 capital 500,000 dollars. The incorporated capital thus far, . 
 amounted to 5,500,000 dollars. The laying o^t of the Bay 
 State Mills was commenced April 11., 1846. The first • 
 sale af land by the Essex Company, at auction, was on the 
 28th April, 1 846. Ground was first broken for the Atlantic 
 Cotton Mills, June 9, 1846.. The frame of the Essex 
 Company’s saw-mill, at the head of the canal, was raised 
 June 25, J846. In the.meanUme. the erection of dwelling- 
 houses and shops "was going on, and at the present time 
 the population is estimated at seven thousand. 
 
 .The dam which tlie Essex Company has made is from 
 25 to 36 feet in height, varying with the bed of the river. 
 The overfall is 900 feet in length, and the water . falls 25 ta ^ 
 
UNITED STATES. 137 
 
 27 feet. The wing walls extend from 200 to 300 feet in 
 shore. The dam is all on rock foundation, and is built of 
 solid. stone masonry, laid in cement. It is 36 feet thick at 
 the bottom. The front or down-stream side, which has a 
 slope of one inch to a foot> is of granite stone, hammered 
 on the bed and builds and vertical joints. The remainder 
 is of rubble stone of large dimensions, laid in cement. The 
 whole work contains more than 20,000 yards of masonry. 
 The canal is one mile long, 12 feet deep, 100 feet wide at 
 its upper end, and 60 at its lower, and parallel with the 
 river, from which it is about 400 feet distant. Already the 
 town has two weekly newspapers, one of which obtains 
 nearly a hundred advertisements ; and there are already six 
 plaices of worship, twelve physicians, and nine attornies ! 
 All this argues great faith in the progress of manufactures 
 under the protective system. The manufacturers ask pro- 
 tection until they become strong, and no doubt will use 
 their strength to secure its continuance. 
 
 In discussions on free trade, I should not be. afraid to 
 match one of our well-informed handloom- weavers against 
 Henry Clay, confident that the plain common- sense of the 
 one would destroy, one by one, all the fallacies of the great 
 orator ^and statesman ; and on the question of slaivery, 
 whether regsirded as one of principle or policy, I would be 
 content to leave the Issue, before unprejudiced judges, to an 
 argument, between any moderately-intellectual Sunday- 
 school teacher of England or Scotland and John Calhoun. 
 But let no man from the old country, of whatever amount 
 of ability, attempt to defend its extravagant expenditure. 
 Especially let him avoid any justification of the enormous 
 expense of our court, the great salaries of our state qfiicers> 
 or the cost of our army with a general for every regiment, 
 and our navy with an admiral far every ship, or our hier- 
 archy with its bishops each receiving more ‘^pay” than their 
 
138 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 president. On such subjects the citizens of the republic, 
 be they democrats or vvhigs, would soon make him look 
 ‘^pretty considerable tarnation small.” Let an Englishman 
 hold his head as high he likes on other points, he is obliged 
 to bend when assailed with the torrents of ridicule — the 
 loud guffaws,” of interminable laughter — with which he is 
 assailed when he tries to persuade them that the Master of 
 the Buckhounds is entitled to an annual salary nearly equal 
 to that on which their chief magistrate maintains a decent 
 dignity. Lords of the Gold-stick, and Lords of the Bed- 
 chamber, so far from exciting their reverence only excite 
 risibility. There is some respect for oiir youthful and 
 virtuous Queen, but the '^barbaric pomp” with which she is 
 surrounded alike arouses their laughter, contempt, and 
 scorn; and they cannot, for the life of them, see any 
 reason why we should give the King of Hanover three times 
 as much. Prince Albert eight times as much, and the Queen 
 Dowager nearly twenty times as much, as they give to the 
 man who fills the chair of Washington and Jefferson. And 
 how they do laugh at our Ambassadors, with their large 
 salaries and splendid outfits — sent out to dance attendance 
 upon courts instead of practical men whose business should 
 be to attend to the great commercial interests of their 
 country I 
 
 But, passing over the trappings of our court, and the 
 ineffective part of our army and navy, they point with exul- 
 tation to their superior economy in procuring the services of 
 able men for indispensable offices. Their President has 
 £1041 13s. 4d. a-year — the Viceroy of Ireland has 
 £20,000. Their Secretary of State has £ 1250 — our Home 
 Secretary has £5000. Their Secretary of the Treasury has 
 £1250 — our First Lord of the Treasury has £5000, and a 
 board of well-paid junior Lords. Their Secretary of War 
 has £1250 — our Foreign Secretary has £5000, and our 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 139 
 
 Colonial Secretary has £5000. Their Secretary of the 
 Navy has £1250 — our First Lord of the Admiralty has 
 £4500, with a board of well-paid junior Lords. 
 
 They can also obtain the services of able lawyers, as well 
 as able statesmen, at a much cheaper rate than we can — 
 cheaper being applied to quality as well as to price. The 
 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 
 has £ i041 13s. 4d. a-year, and each of the eight Associate 
 Judges has £937 10s. — our Lord Chief Justice of the 
 Queen’s Bench has £10,000, and the other four Judges 
 have £5,500 each — the Lord Chief Justice of Common 
 Pleas has £8,000, and the four Judges have £5,500 each — 
 the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer has £7000, and 
 the four Barons have £5,500 each. Besides the difference 
 of incomes, the American judges retire, some at the age of 
 60 and some 70 — our judges remain as long as they are 
 able to sit on their benches. 
 
 The same economy prevails in the Judiciary of the dif- 
 ferent states. The Chief Justice of the Supreme and 
 Superior Court of Connecticut, has £229 3s. 4d., and 
 each of the four Associate Judges has £218 15s., and I 
 was told that, so highly is the distinction of such appoint- 
 ments appreciated, there is no difficulty of obtaining good 
 and efficient lawyers. Compare their salaries with those of 
 the chairmen of Quarter Sessions in England — with those 
 for instance of Mr. Trafford, in Salford, who from the posi- 
 tion of a junior barrister, inexperienced and almost briefless, 
 was appointed at a salary of £800 a- year. Compare the 
 men as well as the salaries. Compare the venerable Chief 
 Justice Williams, and the chairman of the Salford Quarter 
 Sessions, and the disproportionate reward appears the more 
 preposterous. And yet Chief Justice Williams made no 
 complaint of the inadequacy of remuneration when he quit- 
 ted his lucrative profession for the dignity of the bench. 
 
 An Englishman, or a Canadian more English than the 
 
140 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 English, will sometimes contend that when the general 
 taxation by the United States government, and by the 
 government of each particular State -are taken together, the 
 aggregate will not amount to much less' than the taxation 
 of England; and he . wilUpoint, as an instance of double 
 expense, to the salaries of the Governors of some thirty 
 different states. He will sometinres say : ^^You have not 
 6iie President, but thirty Presidents.” Figures easily 
 dispose uf this appeal to ignorance. The Almanac tells 
 me that the Governors of twenty-riiiie. states have, on the 
 average, a salary of dE517 each. I suspect that a much 
 larger aggregate sum is paid to the Chaplains of County 
 Jails in England alone. I suspect that a much larger sum 
 is paid to the County Jailers, called Governors, in England 
 alone. . Let us look to the official returns, which I have 
 with me, of the, total expenditure of the state of Ken- 
 tucky, to see whether it bears out the assumption that the 
 taxation in individual states is an immense addition to the 
 general taxation. The* revenue of the United States is 
 raised by taxes on imports* The revenues of the respective 
 states are raised by direct taxation on land, town lots, 
 .slaves, hotses^ cattle, &rc., from a valuation and a numera- 
 tibnf made annually, furnishing,, collaterally, much useful 
 statistical information. From the Auditor s Report of the 
 Revenue and Expenditure of Kentucky for the fiscal year 
 ending I October- lOth, ■1847, coutatned in a closely printed 
 volume, I find the following items. and 
 
 -Items. • ' Value in dollars. 
 
 . 18,7fi7,505 acres of land ...... ... 121,974,164 
 
 27,536 town lots 24,906,120 
 
 189,549 slaves 58,115,984 
 
 356,231 horses and mares . . . . .’ . . .*..... . 1 0,743,492 
 
 37 j426 mules 1,318,779 
 
 2,227 jennies. i . •' 101,031 
 
 ; V 459,026 cattie».. .7. ... . ; . . . . ^ 1,779,3534 
 
 5^909 stores ^ .\i\ ’ 7,423,921 
 
 ' \ Value under the equalisatiou law . . . .' . i . . 28,353,058 
 
 Total. ....... . . 254,716,183 
 
 ii; 
 
 
UNITED STATES. l4l 
 
 The receipts under these and other items of taxation 
 are : — 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 On the above valuation 382,074 
 
 On carriages and barouches 3,119 
 
 On buggies ■ 1,242 
 
 On pianos * 1,418 
 
 On gold spectacles 548 
 
 On gold watches .5,367 
 
 On silver levers 1^340 
 
 Tax on auditors’ list 3,476 
 
 Tax on clerks’ list. 869 
 
 Total revenue 399,453 
 
 This is equal to rather more than £80,000 sterling. 
 
 The expenditure for the year was 284,934 
 
 Leaving for the sinking fund a supply of.... . 114,519 
 
 399,453 
 
 The following is a statement of the probable expendi- 
 ture of the State of Kentucky, for the year to end 10th 
 October, 1848 : — 
 
 Dollars, 
 
 For the salaries of Commonwealth Attorneys ........ 5,500 
 
 For the pay of members of the Legislature, including 
 
 appropriations and all incidental expenses 55,000 
 
 For criminal prosecutions 1 7,000 
 
 For amounts to be paid by Clerks in aid of the Jury 
 
 Fund 25,000 
 
 • For Clerks’ services, record books, &c. 11,000 
 
 For taking in lists of taxable property 15,000 
 
 For expenses under the head of contingencies 3,000 
 
 For Clerks’ accounts overpaid 200 
 
 For distributing Acts and Journals 400 
 
 For the Deaf and Dumb Asylum 4,000 
 
 For the Blind Asylum 2,600 
 
 For the Decisions of the Court of Appeals 1,800 
 
 For the expenses of the Executive Offices 1,500 
 
 For rewards and expresses 1 ,000 
 
 For the support of Idiots 1 6^000 
 
 For the services of Jailers 12,000 
 
 For interest, &c., for the Lexington and Ohio Railroad. 18,000 
 
 For military expenditures ... I 1,500 
 
 For money refunded 100 
 
 For public communications.#. 600 
 
 For the purchase of books for the Library 500 
 
 Carried forward 191,700 
 
142 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 Dollars. 
 
 Brought forward 1 9 1 ,7 00 
 
 For the salaries of the Executive and Judicatory De- 
 partments • 43,000 
 
 For Sheriffs comparing polls 500 
 
 For deficits of the Jury Fund 8,000 
 
 For Common Schools 15,000 
 
 For slaves executed 3,000 
 
 For Sheriffs’ accounts overpaid 200 
 
 For the killing of wolves 500 
 
 For the public printing 8,000 
 
 For the public binding l,500i 
 
 For paper for the Public Printer 2,500 
 
 For stationery for the public use 1,200 
 
 For the board of Internal Improvement 500 
 
 For the killing of wild cats 200 
 
 Total amount of supposed expenditures for the year 
 
 to end on the 10th day of October, 1848 275,800 
 
 This is equal to £57,500, to be borne by a population of 
 about 800,000, being rather less than eighteen-pence a~head. 
 It will be easy to compare this with the expenditure of the 
 crown-appointed and irresponsible county magistrates of 
 England. I have used the report for Kentucky simply 
 because it is the only one I brought with me. 
 
 River Mersey^ Sunday morning^ 6th August. 
 
 Our experienced Captain was right when he said we 
 should reach Liverpool on Sunday. We are now sailing 
 op the river to the mooring ground of the Niagara, and, 
 by my watch, which I have kept at Boston time, it is one 
 o'clock. Thus the time between port and port has been 
 ten days and a half, and, deducting the twelve hours’ 
 stoppage at Halifax, exactly ten days’ sailing. The dis- 
 tance is 2950 miles. In 1815, before steam vessels ven- 
 tured out to sea, I was the same time in making the voyage 
 from Glasgow to Liverpool. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 143 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE COAL FIELDS OF AMEEICA. 
 
 It is not easy to arrive at the actual extent of the whole 
 coal formations of the United States, but the measures 
 already ascertained are, in superficial contents, greatly 
 beyond those of the whole of Great Britain and Ireland ! 
 Mr. Lyell, after giving an account of the anthracite coal of 
 Pennsylvania east of the Alleghany ridge, says of the 
 western field : — 
 
 ^‘From Union, we went to Brownsville on the Mona- 
 ghela, a large tributary of the Ohio, where the country 
 consists of coal measures, like those at Union, both evi- 
 dently belonging to the same series as those more bent 
 and curved beds at Frostburg, before described. I was 
 truly astonished, now that I had entered the hydrographical 
 basin of the Ohio, at beholding the riches of the seams of 
 coal, which appear everywhere on tKe flanks of the hills 
 and at the bottoms of the valleys, and which are accessible 
 in a degree I never witnessed elsewhere. The time has not 
 yet arrived, the soil being still densely covered with the 
 primeval forest, and manufacturing industry in its infancy, 
 when the full value of this inexhaustible supply of cheap 
 fuel can be appreciated; but the resources which it will one 
 day afford to a region capable, by its agricultural produce 
 alone, of supporting a large population, are truly magnifi- 
 cent. In order to estimate the natural advantages oT such 
 a region, we must reflect how three great navigable rivers, 
 such as the Monongahela, Alleghany, and Ohio, intersect 
 it, and lay open on their banks the level seams of coal. E 
 found at Brownsville a bed, ten feet thick, of good bitu- 
 minous coal, commonly called the Pittsburg seam, breaking 
 out in the river cliffs near the water’s edge. Horizontal 
 galleries may be driven everywhere at very slight expense, 
 and so worked as to drain themselves, while the cars, laden 
 with coal and attached to each other, glide down* on a 
 railway, so as to deliver their burden into barges moored to 
 
144 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 the river s bank. The same seam is seen at a distance, on 
 the right bank, and may be followed the whole way from 
 Pittsburg, fifty miles distant. As it is nearly horizontal, 
 while the river descends, it crops out at a continually 
 increasing, but never at an inconvenient, height above the 
 Monongahela. Below the great bed of coal at Browns- 
 ville is a fire-clay eighteen inches thicks and below this 
 several beds of limestone, below which, again, are other 
 coal seams. Almost every proprietor can open a coal-pit 
 on his own land, and, the stratification being very regular, 
 they may calculate with precision the depth at which the 
 coal may be seen. 
 
 So great are the facilities of procuring this excellent 
 fuel, that already it is found profitable to convey it in flat- 
 bottomed boats for the use of steam ships at New Orleans, 
 2,100 miles distant, in spite of the dense forests bordering 
 the intermediate river-plains, where timber may be had at 
 the cost of felling it. But no idea can be formed of the 
 importance of these American coal seams, until we reflect 
 on the prodigious area over which they are continuous. 
 The boundaries of the Pittsburg seam have been determined 
 with considerable accuracy by Professor Rogers in Penn- 
 sylvania, Virginia and Ohio, and they have found the 
 elliptical area which it occupies to be 225 miles in diameter, 
 while its maximum breadth is about one hundred miles, its 
 superficial extent being about fourteen thousand square 
 miles.” 
 
 Fourteen thousand square miles of a single seam, and 
 that one seam ten feet thick, give the promise of a magnifi- 
 cent supply to the future manufacturing demand of the west. 
 But this is but a small fraction of the coal field to which it 
 belongs, lying principally in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and 
 Ohio, for a distance, as described by Professor H. D. 
 Rogers, of 720 miles, its greatest width being about 180 
 miles, and its superficial area amounting to 63,000 square 
 miles ! 
 
 Even this is only one of the great fields of the western 
 states. About a hundred and fifty miles farther to the west 
 commences another field, covering one-half of Indiana, one- 
 half of Illinois, with a considerable projection into Ken- 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 145 
 
 tucky, which, says Mr. Lyell, ^^is not much inferior in 
 dimensions to the whole of England, and consists of hori- 
 zontal strata, with numerous rich seams of bituminous coal.” 
 This immense field is traversed by the Ohio, the Great 
 Wabash, and the Illinois rivers, and at its northern point, 
 and again near St. Louis, by the Mississippi, all navigable. 
 
 North-east of the Illinois field and north-west of the 
 Alleghany or Ohio field, at about two hundred miles apart 
 from each, in the centre of the state of Michigan, and open 
 on one of its sides to the navigation of Lake Huron, and at 
 no great distance from that of Lake Michigan, lies still 
 another great field of 15,000 square miles superficial area. 
 
 In considering the vast importance of these enormous 
 deposits of coal, the extent of the river and canal naviga- 
 tion open for its conveyance ought not to be overlooked. 
 The whole of the long-extended lake navigation is open to 
 the Michigan field; and according to the report made to 
 Congress in 1844, by General Armistead and Mr. Long, 
 there are on the Mississippi river and its tributaries 17,169 
 miles of steam-boat and 747 miles of canal navigation, the 
 hydrographical or commercial centre being at a point near 
 the mouth of the Ohio, to which point the Illinois coal 
 field extends. 
 
 LIMITATIONS TO UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 
 
 Property qualifications are required in Connecticut, Vir- 
 ginia, North Carolina, and South Caroliua. Payment of 
 taxes and citizenship are required in the above states, and 
 in New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, and Ohio. Citizenship and 
 residence in the state of three to twelve months are required 
 in Maine, Maryland, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mis- 
 souri, Tennessee, Indiana, and Michigan. The right of 
 voting is limited to the whites in all the states, except the 
 six states of New England, and Pennsylvania and Georgia. 
 In the state of New York coloured persons may vote if they 
 
146 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 possess a freehold of 250 dollars, worth about sixty of our 
 shillings per annum. 
 
 These are the limitations on universal suffrage, but even 
 with these requirements there are two millions and a half 
 of voters in a population of twenty millions, while, in our 
 country, we have fewer than a million in a population of 
 twenty-seven millions. In the United States one person 
 out of eight iias a vote. In Great Britain and Ireland one 
 person out of twenty-eight has a vote. There is not much 
 fault found, even amongst conservatives, with this wide 
 extension of the suffrage. The great complaint is that 
 foreigners acquire the right to vote long before they can 
 make themselves acquainted with the legislative require- 
 ments of the country, and especially that the Irish immi- 
 grants, of impulsive temperament and accustomed at home 
 to constant agitation, are admitted, either by defective 
 registration, dr by the required residence being too short, to 
 exercise rights of citizenship which require prudence and 
 knowledge. I have heard this complaint bitterly urged by 
 persons who do not scruple, when votes are to be gained, to 
 bestow the grossest flattery upon the noble and generous- 
 hearted Irish who have, “ in their ardent love of liberty, 
 become citizens of the republic !” Complaint is also made 
 that the Germans are admitted too early to the exercise of 
 the elective right, not on account of any unmanageable 
 vivacity on their part, but because they have a very trouble- 
 some aversion to putting their hands in their pockets. A 
 writer in Putnam’s American Facts” on the Pennsylvanian 
 Bonds repudiation, says : — 
 
 The really blameable parties are the agricultural Ger- 
 man settlers, who possess a majority of sortie of the counties; 
 many of them cannot either read or write in any language, 
 and place a ban upon any descendant who should so far 
 forget the manners of his forefathers as to make any attempt 
 to assimilate himself, by his acquirements, to those people 
 among whom he dwells. At present there are nearly as 
 many German newspapers published in Pennsylvania as 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 147 
 
 English ones. Now, however, that the Germans have been 
 made to understand that deep dishonour has fallen upon 
 their state, and that Faderland sees with sorrow the con- 
 tempt into which they have fallen, they have readily come 
 forward with their hard dollars, and contributed to. remove 
 the stigma.’* 
 
 SILK MANUFACTURES. 
 
 In a volume entitled Annual Report of the Commis- 
 sioner of Patents to the House of Representatives, for the 
 year 1837,” one would scarcely expect to find the statistics 
 of agriculture and commerce, but it contains a great deal of 
 curious information, on various subjects, slightly as they 
 may be conlfected with inventions and patents. The fol- 
 lowing is an extract on the state of the silk rnanufacture : — 
 
 “This business, like all other branches of manufacturing 
 industry, has struggled against adverse fortune, and coun- 
 teracted difficulties not contemplated by its early founders. 
 But we believe for the past year or two the .manufacture of 
 sewing silk has been highly prosperous, and several new 
 mills have,been erected in different sections of the country. 
 In Tolland county, Connecticut, there are six factories, 
 which respectively turn off the following amounts of sewing 
 
 silk and twist per annum : — 
 
 Yyse and Sons, at Willington 12,000 lbs. 
 
 Rixford and Butler, at Mansfield 5,000 „ 
 
 William Atwood, „ . . 3,700 „ 
 
 Zalmon, Storrs, and Son, „ 2,000 „ 
 
 J. and E. Hovey „ 1,500 „ 
 
 Chaflee and Co., „ 1,000 „ 
 
 ^Mn addition to these we will enumerate the remaining 
 establishments which we know to be in operation in different • 
 sections of the United States, with a probably correct esti- 
 mate of the amount of goods manufactured per annum : — 
 
 Cheney and Brothers, Manchester, Connecticut... . *16,000 lbs. 
 
 A. B. Jones, do. do. ' . . 2,500 „ 
 
 Sowerby and Co., Northampton, Massachusetts... . 7,000 ,, 
 
 Joseph Conant, „ do 3,500 „ 
 
 , New Haven, Connecticut 1,500 „ 
 
 WiUiam Dale, New York city 2,500 „ 
 
 •Murry and Co., Paterson, New Jersey 10,000. „ 
 
 Livesy and Co , Canton, Massachusetts ' 2,000 ,*, 
 
 B. and A. Hooley, Philadelphia 3,000 „ 
 
 Brown and Co, Louisville, Kentucky 1,500 „ 
 
 “We believe this enumeration embraces all the manu- 
 
148 
 
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 factories of sewing silk in the United States. There is, 
 or was, a small mill at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, for the 
 manufacture of silk cravats and vestings, and also a small 
 establishment operated by a German association at Econo- 
 my Pa. Our estimate above will give an aggregate of about 
 75,000 lbs. of sewing silks manufactured per annum. The 
 business is yet in its infancy, is but imperfectly organised, 
 and never has been judiciously nor energetically pursued. 
 If the raw stock could be admitted free of duty, or the 
 duties more radically reduced — and we think they should 
 be — it would give an impetus to the business, and place it 
 beyond all contingencies of domestic misfortune or foreign 
 competition.” 
 
 HOG MARKET OF CINCINNATI. O 
 I was not in Cincinnati during the hog-packing season, 
 but I heard marvellous stories of the rapidity with which 
 the processes of killing, scalding, scraping, stripping and 
 cutting-np were performed— ^so marvellous that their repe- 
 tition at home generally excites an incredulous look. I 
 appeal to the authority of Mr. Cist, whose report is pub- 
 lished by the Commissioner of Patents in his volume for 
 1847, page 531 
 
 As a specimen of the amazing activity which charac- 
 terizes all the details of packing, cutting, &c., here it may 
 be stated that two hands in one of our pork houses, in less 
 than thirteen hours, cut up eight hundred and fifty hogs, 
 averaging over two hundred pounds each, two others placing 
 them on the blocks for the purpose. All these hogs were 
 weighed singly on the scales, in the course of eleven hours. 
 Another hand trimmed the hams (seventeen hundred pieces) 
 in Cincinnati style, as fast as they were separated from the 
 carcases. The hogs were thua cut up, and disposed of at 
 the rate of more than one to the minute.” 
 
 The entire packing of the western states for three years 
 is given as follows.- The figures show the number of hogs:— • 
 
 1844. 1845. 1846. 
 
 Missouri ] 6,000 31,700 70,898 
 
 Tennessee 16,000 1,500 42,975 
 
 Kentucky....' 91,000 ^3,800 215,125 
 
 Illinois 1 36,709 67,964 68, 1 20 
 
 Indiana. 257,414 147,420 251,236 
 
 Ohio 560,748 445,538 420,833 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 149 
 
 It will be observed that there is a considerable diminu- 
 tion of the number in Ohio for 1845 and 1846. This was 
 owing to the very large exportation of Indian corn to 
 England in those years. The farmers found it more profit- 
 able to export the corn than to feed pigs upon it. 
 
 POPULATION OF THE STATES. 
 
 In the five decennial periods after 1790 the increase of 
 the population in each period was about one-third. It was : — 
 
 In 1790 3,929,328 
 
 „ 1800 5,309,758 
 
 ,, ’1810 7,239,903 
 
 In 1820 9,638,166 
 
 „ 1830 12,856,165 
 
 „ 1840 17,062,665 
 
 Should the^ncrease continue in the same ratio the popula- 
 tion will be : — 
 
 In 1850 22,750,221 
 
 „ I860 30,333,628 
 
 „ 1870 40,444,837 
 
 Have the United States capacity to receive such a large 
 
 In 1880 53,926,439 
 
 „ 1890 71,901,918 
 
 „ 1900 95,869,326 
 
 increase of population ? Their extent in square miles, 
 exclusive of Texas, Oregon, and the new acquisitions from 
 Mexico, is 1,265,618. Massachusetts, the least fertile state 
 
 in the union except Maine, has 100 inhabitants to the 
 square mile. Populated as England, the states, exclusive 
 of their late acquisitions, would hold 350,000,000 inhabi- 
 tants; populated as comparatively sterile. Massachusetts is, 
 they would have 126,561,800. 
 
 TEMPEEANCE IN AMEEICA. 
 
 In our three thousand miles tour in the United States, 
 dining at a public table five days in the week on an. 
 average, we had occasion to remark how little wine was 
 used. At Boston, New York and Philadelphia there was not 
 more than one person in ten who indulged in iced champaign, 
 tempting as that beverage was in hot weather. Of malt 
 liquor we saw no consumption but at Saratoga, where one 
 pint bottle was asked for. No spirits were presented at 
 table anywhere. It appeared to us that drinking was 
 eschewed by some as a vulgarity, by many as an immorality, 
 G 
 
]oO 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 and by most as injurious to health. We found in our own 
 case that abstinence enabled us much better to stand the 
 heat than we could, have done had we even moderately 
 followed English custom. At Hartford I attended a tem- 
 perance meeting, and heard the Rev. Dr. Hawes say that 
 he did not know of a single member of a congregational 
 church in all the state of Connecticut who used, or dealt 
 in, intoxicating liquors. At the close of the meeting I 
 asked him if that was a condition of communion. He said 
 It was not, but that when men had made a sincere profes- 
 sion of religion they soon saw that, however moderate they 
 might be themselves, it was desirable that they ^ould afford 
 no excuse to those who indulged in habits that were alike 
 injurious ta health and morality. A great improvement, 
 he said, had taken place in Hartford within the last twenty- 
 years, his own predecessor, a decidedly pious and most 
 useful minister, having thought that it was not consistent 
 with his profession to be a partner in a distillery. The 
 utter ruin of many otherwise respectable families had helped 
 to lead to the conviction that it was necessary to the welfare 
 of the community that no sanction should be given to the 
 destructive habit. Wherever we went, except at the smaller 
 hotels in the smaller towns, the bar at which spirits are 
 supplied was banished to some -obscure part of the house, 
 that if men went to it, they should not offend the general 
 sense of decency and propriety ; and we heard that tippling 
 was considered amongst the working classes generally as a 
 disreputable thing. When one class avoid it as a detrac- 
 tion from their gentility, and another as a* lessening of their 
 respectability, the temperance cause will prosper. Mr. 
 Putnam says : The bar rooms are rapidly vanishing into 
 
 thin air. If travellers will write the rest into non-existence, 
 ninety-nine out of a hundred will say. Amen ! Captain 
 Hall, fifteen years ago, complained that the people in stage- 
 coaches drank, so much brandy as to be quite offensive. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 151 
 
 Mr. Dickens, in 1842, complained of temperance being so 
 general, that, on more than one occasion, he could not 
 obtain a glass of brandy. The writer, in 1843, dined at 
 some fifty tables d’hote, in different states, and he can con- 
 fidently say, that of all the guests at the fifty tables, not 
 one in ten drank anything but water.” We did not see one 
 in twenty who drank anything but water. With these 
 examples before them it is to be hoped that British and 
 Irish. immigrants will be induced to abandon the habits of 
 the old country, which either send them to an early grave 
 or condemn them to a life of poverty, wretchedness, and 
 degradation. I would advise no person to emigrate to the 
 United States who does not resolve to be what, in Lanca- 
 shire, we call a “teetotaller;” and I should recommend the 
 practice of abstinence six monihs before leaving home, 
 that the temptation of cheap — “dirt-cheap” — intoxicating 
 drinks may be the more easily overcome. 
 
 THE NEWSPAPER PRESS. 
 
 Since my return, a very powerful London journal has 
 said, in reference to the offensive and hostile tone of many 
 of the United States’ newspapers towards this country: — 
 We have on one or two occasions offended the patriot- 
 ism or the self-respect of those Americans, whose feelings 
 we should be extremely loath to irritate, by quoting extracts 
 from the bitterest of the anti-Anglican journals. “Why 
 do you do this ?’ they exclaim. ‘ The papers to which you 
 attach so much importance have no weight or influence 
 with the majority of the intelligent citizens of the states; 
 they form no opinions, they express none; they are merely 
 the vents of the bitterest and most bigoted passions, where- 
 with the very lowest of our community are tainted. You 
 might as well judge of the national mind of England from 
 the unstamped press of London, as of the disposition of 
 America from the journals which you so frequently tran- 
 scribe.’ This is the tone of many friendly remonstrances, 
 addressed to us by citizens of North America; and to. the 
 spirit which pervades them all we should long ago have 
 
152 
 
 TOUR IN THE 
 
 deferred, had it not been for the fact that, whatever may be 
 their influence in forming opinion or creating party, the 
 most anti-Anglican of the American papers are also the 
 most widely circulated and the most generally read. Our 
 quotations, then, may be taken as a fair index, if not of the 
 matured judgment and the more intelligent opinions, yet of 
 the predominant sentiments or popular tendencies of the 
 transatlantic republicans. In contrasting the bitter hostility 
 of these partisans with the kindly and temperate earnest- 
 ness of that less numerous but moderate and not powerless 
 party, whose good wishes were wafted across the ocean 
 during the crisis of our political struggle, we do that which 
 is no less grateful to our patriotism than to our conscience. 
 We owe, indeed, much more to the ^sympathies’ of America 
 than is generally acknowledged in England. These ^sym- 
 pathies’ have not uniformly been with treason, disloyalty, 
 or insurrection. They have — though not so loudly ex- 
 pressed — been as warm on the side of order, loyalty, and 
 law. There were few persons in England who looked 
 forward to the 10th of April with more anxiety and dread 
 than the merchants, traders, and lawyers of New York and 
 Boston. There were no persons in England who exulted 
 more cordially at its result than they did.'* 
 
 Long connected with the newspaper press myself, I 
 looked with some interest on the slate of journalism in the 
 republic, and I must say that 1 was deeply disgusted to 
 observe in many of the papers, much read, an utter want of 
 principle, made more ofiensive, although perhaps less 
 dangerous, by a vulgar and bitter scurrility. I believe, 
 however, that the Circulation of newspapers in the United 
 States is not so much influenced by the opinions they 
 express, as by the early intelligence which they convey. 
 The most largely circulated journal in New York is almost 
 universally condemned for the scandals against private 
 individuals which disgrace its columns ; but its proprietor 
 spares no expense in telegraphic expresses of its home 
 news, and in steam boats to meet the vessels from Europe 
 and obtain the intelligence which they bring, and, conse- 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 153 
 
 quently, it is largely purchased. It should be kept in mind 
 that the conductors of newspapers, both at home and abroad, 
 are very apt to make gross mistakes as to the state of 
 public opinion. Very probably the proprietor of the journal 
 alluded to deceives himself into the belief that its extensive 
 circulation is occasioned by the scandal that it dissemi- 
 nates, and that its offensive personalities are its best recom- 
 mendation. Similar mistakes are made nearer home. 
 
 The press generally reflects public opinion — at a distance. 
 It follows opinion — but it follows slowly. Before the intro- 
 duction of the Reform Bill who could have supposed, from 
 all that could be gleaned from our newspapers, that there 
 was any wide-spread desire amongst the people for an 
 amendment of the representative system? Before the agi- 
 tation for free trade, who could have found indications, in 
 the newspaper press, of an opinion which was to conquer 
 both of the factions which, in their turn, had swayed the 
 government of this country ? Before the recent discus- 
 sions in Parliament on the public expenditure, who could, 
 have supposed, looking at journalism alone, that there was 
 any very wide demand for sweeping retrenchment ? 
 
 The press of America, as the press of England has been 
 and is now, is behind an enlightened public opinion. It 
 clings to old traditions, panders to wearing-out prejudices. 
 The anti-Anglican spirit was patriotism after the inde- 
 pendence of the states was achieved. It was lessened 
 greatly by the subsequent commercial intercourse between 
 the two countries. The Orders in Council, and the aggres- 
 sive war of 1813, especially the ill-advised and semi-barba- 
 rous burning of the Capitol at Washington, revived the 
 national hatred, and the corn-law, excluding American 
 agricultural produce from our ports, kept up the irritation. 
 The press of the United States has not yet seen the change 
 of feeling which has taken place amongst the most respec- 
 table portion of the republican community, since the demon- 
 
154 
 
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 stration has been made that the English people were 
 opposed to the insulting and restrictive policy of our 
 government. Its conductors aim at following opinion — 
 they will see, by and bye, that they are too far behind it. 
 
 In my letter from Saratoga I expressed some doubt as to 
 the propriety of annually exciting feelings of animosity 
 against the mother country by an elaborate enumeration of 
 all the wrongs inflicted on the colonists of America, by a 
 government over which the people of England had no more 
 controul than if they had been citizens of Boston. It is 
 gratifying to know that at the anniversaries of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence, there is, occasionally, a bold asser- 
 tion of the peace principles. On the 4th July, 1845, Mr, 
 Charles Sumner, the orator appointed by the voice of the 
 city of Boston to deliver the annual address, availed him- 
 self of the opportunity of denouncing all war, not only 
 without offence, but so much to the satisfaction of the 
 municipal authorities, that a vote was passed in the Court of 
 Alderman requesting him to publish it for the perusal of the 
 whole community. A few extracts will contrast advan- 
 tageously. with the offensive and warlike incentives which 
 appear in some of the United States’ newspapers — 
 
 The subject will raise us to the contemplation of things 
 that are not temporary or local in their character; but 
 which belong to all ages and all countries; which areas 
 lofty as truth, as universal as humanity. But it derives a 
 peculiar interest, at this moment, from transactions in 
 which our country has become involved. On the one side, 
 by an act of unjust legislation, extending our power over 
 Texas, we have endangered peace with Mexico ; while on 
 the other, by a presumptuous assertion of a disputed claim 
 to a worthless territory beyond the Rocky Mountains, we 
 have kindled anew on the hearth of our mother country, 
 the smothered fires of hostile strife. Mexico and England 
 both aver the determination to vindicate what is called the 
 national honour; and the dread arbitrament of war is 
 calmly contemplated by our government provided it cannot 
 obtain what is called 2 iXi' honourable peace. 
 
UNITED STATES. 
 
 155 
 
 Far be from our country and our age the sin and shame 
 of contests hateful in the sight of God and all good men, 
 having their origin, in no righteous though mistaken senti- 
 ment, in no true love of country, in no generous thirst for 
 fame, that last infirmity of nohl6 minds, but springing in 
 both cases from an ignorant and ignoble passion for new 
 territories; strengthened in one case, by an unnatural 
 desire, in this land of boasted freedom, to fasten by new 
 links the chains which promise soon to fall from the limbs 
 of the unhappy slave ! In such contests, God has no attri- 
 bute which can join with us. Who believes that the 
 national honour vvfill be promoted by a war with Mexico or 
 England ? What just man would sacrifice a single human 
 life to bring under our rule both Texas and Oregon ? It 
 was an ancient Roman, touched, perhaps, by a transient 
 gleam of Christian truth, who said, when he turned aside 
 from a career of Asiatic conquest, that he would rather save 
 the life of a single citizen than become master of all the 
 dominions of Mithridates. 
 
 A war with Mexico would be mean and cowardly; but 
 with England it would be at least bold, though parricidal. 
 The heart sickens at the murderous attack upon an enemy, 
 distracted by civil feuds, weak at home, impotent abroad ; 
 but it recoils in horror from the deadly shock between 
 children of a common ancestry, speaking the same lan- 
 guage, soothed in infancy by the same words of love and 
 tenderness,' and hardened into vigorous manhood under the 
 bracing influence of institutions drawn from the same 
 ancient founts of freedom. 
 
 In our age there can be no peace that is not honoura- 
 ble; there can be no war that is not dishonourable. The 
 true honour of a nation is to be found only in deeds of 
 justice and in the happiness of its people, all of which are 
 inconsistent with war. In the clear eye of Christian judg- 
 ment vaiu are its victories; infamous are its spoils. He is 
 the true benefactor and alone worthy of honour who brings 
 comfort where before was wretchedness ; who dries the tear 
 of sorrow ; who pours oil into the wounds of the unfortu- 
 nate ; who feeds the hungry and clothes the naked ; who 
 unlooses the fetters of the .slave; who does justice; who 
 enlightens the ignorant ; who enlivens and exalts, by his 
 
156 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. J 
 
 virtuous genius, in art, in literature, in science, the hours \ 
 of life ; who, by words or actions, inspires a love for God j 
 and for man. This is the Christian hero ; this is the man 
 of honour in a Christian land. He is no benefactor, nor 
 deserving of honour, whatever may be his worldly renown, ' 
 whose life is passed in acts of force ; who renounces the 
 great law of Christian brotherhood; whose vocation is ; 
 blood ; who triumphs in battle over his fellow-men. Well 
 may old Sir Thomas Browne exclaim, ‘The world does 
 not know its greatest men;’ for thus far it has chiefly • 
 discerned the violent brood of battle, the armed men 
 springing up from the dragon’s teeth, sown by hate, and 
 cared little for the truly good men, children of love, 
 Cromwells guiltless of their country’s blood,’ whose steps 
 on earth have been as noiseless as an angel’s wing.” 
 
 “ The immediate effect of war is to sever all relations of 
 friendship and commerce between the two nations and 
 every individual thereof, impressing upon each citizen or 
 subject the character of the enemy. Imagine this between 
 England and the United States. The innumerable ships , 
 of the two countries, the white doves of commerce, bearing 
 the olive of peace, would be driven from the sea, or turned 
 from their proper purposes to be ministers of destruction ; 
 the threads of social and business intercourse which have 
 become woven into a thick web would be suddenly snapped' 
 asunder; friend could no longer communicate with friend ; 
 the twenty thousand letters, which each fortnight are 
 speeded, from this port alone, across the sea, could no \ 
 longer he sent, and the human affections and desires, of ; 
 which these are the precious expression, would seek in vain < 
 for utterance. Tell me, you who have friends and kindred ; 
 abroad, or who are bound to foreigners by the more worldly 
 relations of commerce, are you prepared for this rude 
 separation ? But this is little compared with what must 
 follow. This is only the first portentous shadow of the 
 disastrous eclipse, the twilight usher of thick darkness, that 
 is to cover the whole heavens, as with a pall, to be broken 
 only by the blazing lightnings of the battle and the siege.” 
 
 Printed hij A. W. Paiilton, “ Times^^ Office, Ducie-Place, Manchester. 
 
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