>%. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I l^|2.8 1^ 1^ I li^ 12.0 2.5 III 1.8 1.25 i.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► ^ vQ 7, ^/ ^^ '^> y -f^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^ i CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes techniques at bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. n n n n n Coloured covers/ Couverture de couleur □ Covers damaf^ed/ Couverture endommagee □ Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture restaur^e et/ou pellicul6e Cover title missing/ Le titre de couverture manque I I Coloured maps/ Cartes gdographiques en couleur Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) □ Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur D Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ La reliure serr^e peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion le long de la marge intirieure Blank leaves added during restoration may appear within the text. Whenever possible, these have been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^es lors d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte, mais, lorsque cela itait possible, ces pages n'ont pas dt6 filmdes. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppldmentaires; The I to th L'Institut a microfilm^ le meilleur exemplaire qu'il lui a dt6 possible de se procurer. Les details de cet exemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvenf'exiger une modification dans la mithode normafe de filmage sont indiqu6s ci-dessous. n Li □ n D D Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Pages damaged/ Pages endommag^es Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurdes et/ou pelliculdes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d^coior^es, tachet^es ou piqu^es Pages detached/ Pages d6tach6es Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of print varies/ Qualit^ in^gale de {'impression Includes supplementary material/ Comprend du materiel supplementaire Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou pjirtiellement obscurcies par un feuillet cl'errata, une pelure, etc., ont 6X6 film^os d noiiveau de fagon d obtenir la meilleure image possible. Thei poss of th filmi Origi begii the I sion, othe first sion, or ill The shall TINl whic Map diffe entir begii right requ mett This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film4 au tnux de reduction indiquA ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X SOX J 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks to the generosity of: Library of the Public Archives of Canada L'exemplaire fllm6 f ut reprodult grdce d la g6n6rosit6 de: La bibliothdque des Archives publiques du Canada The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les linages suivantes ont dt6 reproduites avec le p!ijs grand so]n. compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet6 de l'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde sont fiimds on commengant par le premier plat et en terminant ^oit par la dernidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soil par le second plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires originaux sont filmds en commen9ant par la pramidre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre page qui comporte une telle empreinte. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol — »> (meaning "CON- TINUED "). or the symbol V (meaning "END "), whichever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ^- signifie "A SUIVRE ", ie symbols V signifie "FIN". Maps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reductio/i ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre fiim^s d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reprodult en un seul clich6, il est film6 d partir de Tangle supdrieur gauche, de gauche & droite, et de haut en has, en prenant le nombre d'Images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 o UN J I RESIDENCE AND TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA. VOL. I. \. G. WOODFALL, anoel counr, skin.vk R STRBKT, LONOO.V. r ' f JOURNAL v./ OF A RESIDENCE AND TOUR IS THE UNITED STATES OF NORTH AMERICA, FROM APRIL, 1833, TO OCTOBER, ,834. BY E. S. ABDV, FELLOW OF .KSCS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. humanity. witl,i„ the reach of our law, or our „7 '° l'""^-iples of justice and Uo not e.ert ourselves to restrain and ab "'"^^' ,7 ^^ '— ^^le if we lBNT IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. iWDCCCXXXV. ■■■■ IQ^Q INTRODUCTION. A FKw words may perhaps be necessary to explain the chief objects of the following Work. Having left England in company with two of his countrymen, one of whom (Mr. William Crawibrd) had been sent out by our Government to inspect the prisons of the United States, the Author was induced to remain after their return ; and, fincUng the .lournal he had kept, contained what he thought might essen> tially serve the cause of humanxcy, he detemiined to sacrifice his reluctance to appear in print, and give a full and faithful picture of the cruelties he had witnessed. If too much space should appear to be taken up hy the same subject, it should be remembered that slavery, as it exists in America, comes home to our " business " as well as to our « bosoms " ; and appeals no less to English pockets than to English sympathies ; for the slave trade, which has cost us VI INTRODUCTION, SO much blood and treasure, springs naturally from the compulsory system of the new world, and must follow its fate. We have paid upwards of ten mil- lions sterling between the years 1825 and 18;3-j (inclusive) for the suppression of that traffic, and have aggravated its horrors in proportion to our activity and expenditure. Our ships of war have Ibrced an open commerce into the hands of the smuggler ; and our bounties for captured negroes have called into action the worst passions, and the most cruel devices. Let the moral influence ol' England be substituted in America for her cannon on the Atlantic ; and the black man will gain by our philanthropy what he now loses by our money. Commerce and civilization will spread their healing wings over Africa; and Christianity will follow in their train. It may be added, that we have a closer and a deeper interest in the question of American slavery; for, if the Southern portion of the Union should endeavor to prevent its discussion, and resist or separate from the other, a civil or a servile war would ensue, and the interruption of its staple cul- tivatiou would cut off' from our cotton ftictories the INTRODUCTION. vii chief sources of tl.eir prosperity, before a supply could be obtained from our Eastern settlements, or iiom other quarters of the globe. The Author would observe that, in deviating from the usual mode of spelling some words, he had no desire to set up a new standard, where it would more become liim to conform to what exists. He has quoted fre- quently from American vmtcrs, and he has adopted tlieir orthography, because he wished to preserve unifomriity. The title « .Journal" has been retained, though not strictly in accordance with the order of dates. \ CONTENTS OF VOL. I. f CHAPTER I. Arrival at New York—First Introduction—Governor Marcy-House of Refuge— Public Schools -Mistakes of Travellers-Language— W. L. Garrison- Singsing Penitentiary-Prerogative of Pardon— Education in the United States Page ■?*■ I CHAPTER II. Trades' Unions-State of Economical Science-Good breedmg._Aln)s.house, Penitentiary. Hospital, &c-Pre- sidents visit to New York-Aristocracy of the Skin- Relative value of the two races-Colonization Society.. CHAPTER HI. Second Visit to Singsing- Prison Discipline-Strike for Wages-Second Visit to House of Refuge-Servants- Domestic Manners-National Character- Machinery - Fourth of July._Corporation Dinner-Episcopal Minis- er of Africo- American Church-Liberia-Protest of Colored People against Expatriation-New Jersey- Canal •' 30 56 CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. Page Connecticut. -~ New Haven — Hartford. — Weathersfield Penitentiary — Large number of colored Convicts accounted for — Hartford Retreat for the Insane. — Mode of Treat- ment. — Character of the late Superintendant. — Mr. Wads- worth's Villa (Monte Video). — Confectioner's noncha- lance 89 CHAPTER V. .Founicy to Northampton Farmers. — Custom in the dis- tribution of Property by Will. — Law of Descents in case of Intestacy. — Manners. — Prices of Provisions. — Mount Holyoke. — Stage, Driver, and Passengers to Boston — Lecture on Slavery. —African Repository's friendship for the Black Man. — iNIeetingof Colonization Society. — Death of Dr. Spurzheim. — Africo- Americans excluded from Seats in Church. — Cruelty to a Brazilian and his Wife. — Antiquity of Estates in New England. — Character of White Servants Improvement in the Black portion of tlie Population. — '* Liberator" and Abolitionists. — Five thousand Dollars offered by Georgia for Garrison's Arrest. — Squib upon the fair of Boston at Boston Fair.— Mrs. (Miild. — Black Man preaching in " White" pulpit. — Whites not allowed to marry any but the true " Cau- casians." — Lunatic Asylum. — Cambridge. — Stage '* tabu" for Colored Women. — Boston Pere la Chaise. — Body- snatchers. — Nahant. — • Young Ladies independent. — Episcopal Church Young Gentleman's solicitude for his distant descendants. — Treatment of Africo- American Mechanics 110 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER VI. Journey to Providence. — Nullification. — Slavery and " American" Language— Dexter Asylum for the Poor. -Friends' School.-. Views of Slavery and Abolitionists. -" Canterbury Tale. "-Miss Crandall.- Origin, nature, and " constitutionality " of the Law passed to put down her School—Connecticut persecution of knowledge.— Stage-opinions of the School-mistress.— Return to Hart- ford Page 184 CHAPTER Vn. Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Hartford.-Girl, deaf, dumb, and bhnd.-Impressment of British Sailors.-Deed of Sale -Un.versalists.-Female Seminary.- Lunatic Asylum.." 222 CHAPTER VHL Salary of Preacher.-Country PeopIe.-AIbany.-Auto- Si-aphs.- Marriage Ceremony. _ Shakers. - Saratoga - Utica.-Sale of Negro by hin,self.-Auburn.--Convict labor unpopular._Canandaigua.-Avon.-Gene^ -'seo 248 CHAPTER IX. Country Gentleman's House-English Settlor.-American Hosp.tal.ty.-En.igrants to the West.-Buffalo- Seneca Ind.ans.-Canada.-City of Ararat.-Falls.-Eccentric Enghslnnan.-Canada Farnu- Difference of Prices in the wo Countries.-Strike of Masters against Servants.- Low Lde above Stairs.-Brock's Monument 27C ■f 1,(1 Xll CONTENTS. / CHAPTER X. Page Pride of Skin. — Toronto — Canadian Methodists Indian Preacher and his English Bride. — Latter insuUed Im- provement of Upper Province. — Fugitive Slaves prciected. — Lewiston. — Smugglers. — Custom-house Anecdotes. — Tuscorora Indians Curious Incuriosity of Scotchman. — Rochester Polemics. — Morgan's Abduction. — Masonic Oaths Anti-masons. — Mormonitcs 300 CHAPTER XI. Rochester — Rules and Remedy for bad Roads. — Fence Laws — Trenton Falls. — Erie Canal Governor Clinton. — .■alton. — West Point Academy. —Kosciuszko's philan- - thropy. — Poor Laws. — Sermon on Wilberforce. — Coloniza- tion Society again Chancellor Walworth. — Antipathy. — Africo- American craniology. — Young Lady's " Notions" upon Marriage. — Civilization of Africa 32<) CHAPTER XIL Free Blacks.— Abolition of Nortliern Slavery.— Discussion on Rights of Man. — Congress at Panama. — Too much Freedom in South American States. — Saint Domingo ex- cluded from West India Trade. — Philosophy of tiie Skin. —Mulatto's Parental Feelings. — Chivalry of Slave-Owners and Cruelties of Slavery. — The Fanatics mobbed. — Aboli- tionists. — Non-intercourse and Non-consumption 358 JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE AND TOUR, ETC. CHAFIER I. Arrival at New York.-First Introduction—Governor Marcy. -House of Refujre.-Public Schools.- Mistakes of Travellers. -Language— W. L. (iarrison.-Singsing Penitentiary.- Pre- rogative of Pardon. Education in the United States. I LEFT Liveipoul, 3Iarcli 3, 183;3, in the Canada, Captain Wilson, and arrived at New York on tlie 1 nil of April. My Iriends proceeded, in the course ofa few days, on tlieir journey; and I remained to recruit my strength, liaving been confined by sickness to u'.y berth during tlie greater part of the voyage. After a moniirs nursing, being still too ilf to join my iellow-travellers, I delivered some of the letters of introduction, with which I had been luniished in l^:ngland, and met with that friendly and liospitable reception which every " stranger in America" «x- perieuces on such occasions. VOL. I. J Q TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [chap. I. 'i If first impressions have any influence upon our opinions, I could not but think favorably of the society among which I found myself. I was in- vited to dine at a house in Laight Street. It was a family party, consisting of twelve or thirteen : the latter number is not connected with any superstitious feeling in that part of the world. A hearty welcome, and an unaffected manner, that put every one at once at his ease, greeted my entrance; and the absence of dis])lay and reserve rendered the conversation that passed during the evening, exceedingly agreeable. The delicate attentions I received, made me forget that I was a foreigner and an invalid. I could per- ceive but little diflference in what I saw and in what 1 had l)een accustomed to : the greater or less de- gree of formality seemed to be the chief national distinction. Upon further acquaintance, I found lliat the different members of the family were as much distinguished for amiable dispositions as for natural good breeding. Here, as in other houses I visited, were signs of domestic attachment, not very common in the old country. Under the same roof were living the parents, their mother, and sisters, and the growu-up children. Whether so striking a differ- ence between two nations, descended from the same stock, is to be referred to the difference in the law of descents that prevails in each, is not unworthy of consideration. Of the beauties of the Broadway, and the Battery, CHAP. I.] GOVERNOR MARCY. 3 of the City Hall, and the Exchange, and of other pub- lic buildings, it would be needless to speak where so much has been \urance of two boys, who had no signs of the Pariah caste about them. They were both of fair complexion with light, silky hair. 1 immediately pointed them out to one of the visitors, who was standing by me, and he looked as if he was shocked at the sacrilegious inter- mixture. Questions were eagerly put, and whispers passed mysteriously from one to another ; when, at last, it was agreed that further inquiries should be made into the matter, and the inci])ient contamina- tion be an'ested, by removing the objects of their so- 8 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [chap. I. licitude from the black sheep among whom they had been so improperly placed. The first Africo- American free school was established at New York in 1787, by the Manumission Society of the State. In 1790 the girls were taught needle-work by a female engaged for that purpose. In 1808 the school was incorporated, and the next year the Lan- casterian system was introduced into it. There was not an instance, according to C. C. Andrews, who has published an account of the schools for colored children, of any pu]iil, instructed in this institution, having been, down to the year 1830, " convicted of crime in any of the courts of justice." The Trustees of the Manumission Society, under whose care the " African" schools are placed by the commissioners of the school-fund — (some of them are Quakers), — have made a distinction between the white and black teachers, that is consistent neither with justice nor good policy. They give higher salaries to the former than to the latter, without refer- ence to the qualifications of the master or the num- ber of the scholars. A man of color, of the name of Hughes, receives but 500 dollars a year : while a white man, whose name it would be invidious to mention, as he is acknowledged to be inferior to the other in every respect, has 600, for perfonning the same duties in a school of the same class. The city of New York paid, in the year 1832, the sum of 90,748 dollars, eighty-six cents, for the use ^ I. CHAP. I.] PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 9 I I of the public schools. As great remissness on the part of parents to have their children educated was experienced, an agent was appointed by the school society, with a salary of 800 dollars per annum, to visit the poor, for the pui-pose of removing whatever objections or obstacles might exist to the perform- ance of this great parental duty : at the same time an ordinance of the corporation of the city excluded " from the participation of public charity, when it may be required, all out-door poor, whether emi- grants or not, who, having children between the ages of five and twelve, neglect or refuse to send them to some one of the public schools." In spite of what has been done in this and other States for popular education, a very large portion of the population is still deprived of its benefits. A writer in Niles's Register states, that there are nearly a million and a half of children in the United States destitute of the school instruction they require. Add to this amount the slaves and a great many of the free blacks, and the waste of human intellect is frightful indeed ! Having visited the schools, we proceeded to the City Orphan Asylum, a well-conducted establishment, containing about 140 objects of charity ; boys and girls. The guardian had been, for twenty years, at the head of an " African " school, lie assured me that he could not discover any difference of intellect in blacks and whites : — he thought that, with similar b3 10 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. I. . i advantages, the former would be fully equal to the latter. This testimony is not to be hastily rejected, derived, as it is, from a man highly respected, of much experience in the tuition of both races, compe- tent to form a sound opinion, and coming to a con- clusion directly opposed to all that he had been taught and all he still hears. The business of the day concluded with a plain but plentiful dinner at the Alms House — a spacious and handsome building in what are now the out- skirts of the city, and commanding a noble view, in front, of the East river with its numerous beauties. A proposition was made, after the good things on the table had been disposed of, that the school fund should be transfeiTed from the trustees to the cor- poration, or, at least, some more effectual control exercised over them, on the principle that no man is exempt from temptation to abuse a public trust. The measure, however, was opposed with the same good humor as had been shewn in recommending itj no danger of the kind to be provided against was ad- mitted to exist: and the general feeling was in favor of the existing arrangement. That no man is to be trusted is said to be a political maxim in the United States. My first attendance at a public meeting af- lorded a striking exception to the rule. There are of course many things in New York and in London that strike an Englishman and an American on their first arrival as singular, if not absurd. A better I *A CHAP. I.] MISTAKES OF TRAVELLERS. 11 illustration of tlie embarrassment alluded to cannot be given, than a passage that occurs in a little work published some thirty years ago by a Yankee on his return from a trip to England. " The first funeral, he says, I saw, was such a novelty, that I followed it a short distance, not knowing what it was ; and, as my manner is to question every one, who, I think, can give me any information, [a Yankee custom,] I asked an honest fellow, * what the show was ? ' — he seemed a little offended, but directly replied — ' you may know one day, if you do not come to the gallows !' This man, like Chatham, was ' original and unac- commodating.'" Austin's Letters, &c. Now, it is evident that the man imagined Austin was bantering him, or he would not have used an expression, the humor of which — and it really is not without point — would have been thrown away, as the answerer must have known, upon any one unacquainted with the nature of the procession. The writer adds — " observing I was surprised at his answer, and feel- ing perhaps a little mortified, he asked me, ' if I lived in London ? ' I told him ' I had just come.' *Well! but people die sometimes in your town?' By this time I discovered the performance was a funeral. The plumes being white, a sign of a virgin, instead of black, which are more usually cUsplayed, account for my ignorance. Had I been in Pekin, 1 should have expected a white funeral, but was not prepared to see one in London." Thus it is that 12 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. 1. ir ^! f nature is punished for the blunders of a traveller's imagination ; and nations are angry with each other because their respective customs do not correspond with their own preconceptions. What is allowable at Pekin is ridiculous in London or Boston. Veniam petimusque damusque : — I shall have frequent oc- casion to claim the benefit of the act. That two nations, separated by the broad expanse of the Atlantic, should differ in many points from each other, is to be expected ; but why should their agree- ment in a matter common to both excite surprise ? Yet several persons with whom I conversed, complimented jne on the correctness of my language, and seemed to be astonished that an Englishman should speak his mo- ther-tongue with propriety: — that he should leave the letter // in its right place, and suffer v and w to speak for themselves. One man observed to me, that the gram- matical accuracy with which Charles Kemble spoke struck the people on his first arrival in New York a.s something unusual in one from " the old countrie." We may " guess" from this what sort of gentry are used to honor the United Stales with their ])re" sence. Many who go thither upon business and are distinguished at home for nothing but vulgarity and ignorance, set up for gentlemen— (though they have no pretension, or rath(U- are all pretension) — and complain that outward a])pearancc is not treated with sufficient respect, as if insolence would be taken for full payment of personal merit any where* ) CHAP. I.] LANGUAGE. 13 As John Bull, when he travels, generally assumes the rank which is most wanting to him at home, and puts forth his claims in an inverse ratio to his quali- fications, it is not surjjrising that he should impose upon " the natives" in a double sense, and sink his country while he is raising himself. It is probable that the average of literary accom- ])lisliraents is higher among our brethren in the new world, while the extremes at either end are less dis- tant from the middle point of the scale. It may be observed that the P^nglish and the Anglo- Americans are placed in circumstances less favor- able to a fair appreciation of each other's peculiari- ties than any other two nations, with the excep- tion of those which bear the same relation to each other. Their common language is the chief impe- diment in the way of a mutual understanding. That which seems to bind them together, serves too often to dissever them ; and the i)leasurable feeling which attends their approximation is irequently merged in the sensation of an unaccommodating dissimilarity. When a word has two meanings, one that we have been long accustomed to, and the other, not only new but opposed to the former, it need not be asked to which we would give the preference. But when the new associate attempts to displace the old, and by connecting itself with the expression, to take sole possession of the mind, it is extremely diflicult, under the shock of conflicting feelings, to do justice both J 14 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. I. i i 'i to past and present impressions — to retain our former attachments, and to enter, by sympathy, into those that are equally cherished by others. No such pre- possessions are interwoven with a foreign language ; and our partialities take a different direction when we are among those who speak it. About tliis time I received a visit from a man who had already made some noise in the country, and is destined, if he live, to fill a niche in its history. The person of whom I speak, is William Lloyd Gar- rison — the Apostle and Martyr of Emancipation. I had expressed a wish to see him, to the steward of the vessel which took me out ; and the latter, com- municated what I said to him, as he was taking his passage by the same ship for Liverpool. He was going on a mission from the New England Anti- slavery Society, with the view of undeceiving the British abolitionists, whom Elliott Cresson, an ad- vocate of the American Colonization Society, had misled with regard to the objects and motives of the latter institution. As I was fully aware of the de- ception that had been practised both by the princi- pal and the agent, I was anxious to learn how the impression it had made was to be removed, and was highly gratified that a measure had been adopted, the ultimate effects of which would involve the des- tinies of millions not only in America, but in Africa ; and, I may add, of the whole globe, — for freedom is the parent of civilization, and civilization of com- I. CHAP. I.] W. L. GAIlRiaON. 15 el- se merce. Upon the solution of this important ques- tion depends the continuance or the dissolution of the union; and every one who visits the States that compose it, must feel interested in all that Ijears upon it, whether the aspect in which he views it, be moral or political. Efforts had been made to de- tain Garrison by a legal process, through the me- dium, fictitious or real, of an action for libel. Like all pioneers in the cause of refonn, he had employed weapons of a rough kind, more suited to the nature of the work and the paucity of coadju- tors than agreeable to the taste of his opponents and the delicacy of his friends. His private character, however, was unimpeachable ; and those who diflered most widely from him in opinion, could not have found in his manners that severity which those, who most agreed with him, lamented in his writings. As soon as he had sailed, a cross fire of abuse was opened by the morning and evening papers upon him and all connected with him, — " the fanatic " Garrison, and his "crazy" coadjutors re-echoed through the columns of the journals, which were thus, by exciting discussion, giving activity to the cause they were trying to smother. The merits of the question might be inferred from the manner in which it w^as urged ; and the result might safely bo predicted from the demeanor of the disputants. Those who would have us think a feeble advocate must have a bad cause, should take care lest we 16 TOUR IX THE UNITED STATES. [cHAP. I. t I ihink a violent advocate cannot have a good one. Fanaticism * is not more closely allied to philan- thropy than to selfishness ; and the pride that would "humble" a fellow mortal is as " crazy" as the hu- mility that world "exalt" him. The papers had the public with them ; then why should they have been so angry ? May 27. I accompanied the Governor on a visit, which, he had informed me, by a very polite note the day before, he was going to make, to the prison at Singsing, about thirty miles up the river. We left the city at 7 a.m. by a steam boat, and arrived at 11 o'clock. The morning was fine and clear, and the scenery, on both banks, delightful. Some militia men, who were on board with a band, amused themselves with dancing reels ; while tlie gaiety and cheerfulness that prevailed, reminded me of some scene on the Rhine. The latter is, however, nar- rower than the Hudson, and differs from it as nmch in the style as in the variety of its beauties. Tlie military left us at Yonker's Hotel, which lay on our right, and gave the Governor a salute as they landed. Five or six miles further, and on the same side, we passed Tarrytown, the spot where Andre was taken. Much has been said and sung ♦ The anti-aholitioiiists are the rcvA fanatics : — in their eyes, every shive is happy and every master beuev < i i I (1 !. il CITAPTER III. Second Visit to Singsiiig. — Prison Discipline. — Strike for Wages. — Seconii Visit to House of Refuge Servants, — Domestic Manners. — National Cliaractcr. — Machinery — Fourth ttf July. — Corporation Dinner. — Episcopal Mini '*r of Africo- American Cinirch. — Liberia. — Protest oi '' ored People against Expatriation. — New Jersey. — Canal. On the lUtli of Juno, I wont with the King's Com- missioner, who liad just retUimed i'rom a fatiguing journey to the west, to Kingsing penitentiar} . Dr. Leiber, a naturalized German, who was ther«-' at the same time, seemed nuieh surprised that the black convicts sliould make got>d mecl aiics. lij any otlier part of the world, I should have been equally sur])rised at the I )«)etor's remark — but he had bt3*?ii some years in America, rol)ably knew no more of these people than what the whites IijkI told h*m ; assertions that foreignins are too apt tobelw^v*- wittv- out further incpiiry. The agent, however, who i« » better judge, told me that they evine( < nuMSk • ( CHAP. III.] SIXGSING. 57 industry and intelligence as the other convicts, and more docility. This officer appeared to possess despotic power over his subjects ; the strenj^th of the prerogative and the severity of the punishment connected with its exercise being in a direct ratio with the facility of esc'a])e and the necessity of enforc- ing silence. The " ca(j^ by its immediate and irresponsible application may succeed in securing the strict observance of discipline ; but it is of very equivocal policy, and opens the door to all sorts of abusijs. It is not unfair to judge of a system, the details of whicii are somewhat studiously concealed, from the ])rincii)les it involves and the tendencies it creates. JMessrs. Tocqueville and Beaumont, whose re]>ovt to the I'rench }n)vernmcnt has not been long published, were not permitted to converse unrestrict- edly willi the convicts at Singsing, as they were at the Pliiladel))hia ])enitentiary. Nor was Mr. T' awford more fortunate. It is extremely dillicult therefore to form a correct estimate of the dispositions with which the prisoners quit their ])lace of confmeiaent ; whether the dread of corporal castigation has greater effeet in deterring from crime, than the angry feel- ings it has left on (he mind lo prompt its com- mission, or wealieu the resistance to temptation. One strong objeclion attaches to the system. J*hy- sical jiain ii))]ieals to the baser ])assions and admits of few modilieutioiis ; moral discipline has a higher ainij and adapts itself to the character of the iudivi- D 3 58 TOUR IN " HE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. III. ! , I U I I ! i n dual. The heart that is untouched by the one may be hardened by the other. The dispute between the journeymen and master carpenters terminated in an advance of wages to the better class of workmen. If the law, which regulates the price of labor, was not clearly understood by those engaged in this quan'el, it should be observed, that " the best instructors of the public " have done little to enlighten them on this important question. " The theory of the wages of labor, upon which the modem school of British political economists have thrown so much obscurity by their extravagant and wholly baseless imaginations is," says a writer in the North American Review for June, 1831, " extremely simple. The wages of labor are its products. Whatever the laborer is able to produce in a given period, excepting so far as the government may interfere, and take away part of it, is the amount of his wages for that period, Hfc. Hence the rate of wages varies in different countries according to the intelligence, activity, and moral habits of their re- spective inhabitants." Simple enough ! By " pro- ducts of labor" is probably meant what the laborer earns. The proposition is cither false or identical — what follows is still more absurd. The rate of wages is said to be twice as high in America as in Europe, because the laborer can do twice as much work. It is singular while a man can draw upon the imagi- nation for his facts, he should forget that the judg- CHAP. III.] WAGES. 59 ment wall dishonor the inference ; — that there should be as httle logic in the conclusion as there is truth in the premises. This writer is an enemy to free trade ; and thinks tliat the division of labor, which is found to be so profitable to individuals, will be ruinous to nations. Strange that the loss of physical power should be an evil in detail and a good in the aggregate ; that societies should stand aloof from one another while the component parts of each co-operate ; and men be called upon to act in accordance with those laws of nature, which communities are to violate ! Diver- sities of soil and climate, it seems, are not entitled to the same regard as difference of talent and m- dustry : and the human family is to be separated by the sympathies which unite its respective branches. It is some consolation, however, to find that political economy is destined to find the source of its pure streams in the new world. For this better prospect we are indebted to the Southern Review, by which we are comforted with the assurance that " tho science has by no means attained to perfection. In Adam Smith's own words, * this is reserved for the nineteenth century' — and, did it not," says the mo- dest writer, " seem like gasconade, we would gladly add, for our country." Mr. Grimk6 has less hesi- tation in doing justice to that country. " In every department of knowledge, whether theoretical, or 60 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. III. I I li ; Mi! practical, where thinking and reasoning are the means and the criterion of excellence, our country must, if there be truth and power in the principles of the reformation, sm'pass every people that ever existed." — Address on the Anniversary of the Phi- losophical Society of South Carolina. On a second visit to the House of Refuge, the management of which is well worthy of more fre- quent study, I had a closer view of the establish- ment, which contained 183 boys and 38 girls, com- pletely separated from each other. When assem- bled in the chapel, the gallery, in which the latter sit, prevents them from seeing each other. The chap- lain, who is resident, has the charge of the schools and the library. Though eight hours each day are al- lotted to labor, it is found that the children make nearly, if not (piite, as much progress in education as those who are instructed ia connnon schools. The boys are employed in making brushes, brass nails, cabinet-work, in the manufacture of seats for chairs and settees, and whatever is most suitable to their condition. The girls attend to the cooking, the washing, and other departments of domestic in- dustry. They wer • all in a good state of health, — not one of either sex being in the infirmary. This may be attributed to the great attention ]>aid through- out to cli'anliutss, exercise, and constant occupa- tion. At the Orphan Asylum 1 was informed by a CHAP. III.] HOUSE OF REFUGE. 61 lady, who had been for many years well acquainted with the details of that establishment, that there had been for forty-four years, on an average num- ber of 100 inmates, but forty-four deaths. Among the juvenile offenders at the Refuge were twelve colored boys; another building was about to be erect- ed, or that occupied by the girls, on the completion of new amingements, was to be appropriated for their use. At present both classes were compelled to work together, to the great horror of the white young gentlemen, who were not contented that the strictest barrier should be placed between them and the objects of their scorn on every practicable occa- sion, whether marching in military order to or from moiTiing and evening service, partaking of meals, or engaged in any way that admitted of separation. No small share of the disgrace and degradation con- nected with a forced residence within the walls seemed to result from the necessity of this hated as- sociation. Comment upon such folly and wicked- ness is needless— one instance of the baneful influ- ence thus exercised over llie tender minds of youth will suffice. In the annual report for 1827, it is stated, that a boy, who had been put out as an ap- prentice by the Society, had absconded, being " un- willing to eat with t)ie l)liieks, wliile the laborers sat at the table with his master." The good eflects of this institution have been >een in the diminution of juvenile crime. " 1 lind no difficulty now," said ■If 63 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [cHAP. III. Ill' \ ith her father, who was kind and assiduous in su])])lying all her wants and whims, she was constantly whining out, "Ma! ma!" when with her mother, her cry was "Pa! pa!" with ('(pial ))('rtinacity, her jireference for the absent ))arent being meted out wilii the nicest impartiiUity. IJoth pursued tlie same method to quiet her; — not by taking her at once to the other, or telling her she must not be nidulged ; but by striving to coax her attention to some other object, and keei)ing up in her mind a continued alternation of excitement and m i CH.Vr. III.] SPOILED CHILDREN. 7S disappointment. The poor thing was thus system- atically taught evasion and deception, and her request was met by the same want of rational con- sideration, whether it were proper or capricious. The answer to any observation upon the effbcts of indulgence is — " poor creatures ! they will soon have hardships enough ; a little indulgence now can do them no harm : " a singular sort of preparation for a world that is thus acknowledged to require self- control or resignation in all who are to pass through it. They manage their horses differently : — they accustom them, at the earliest age, to the saddle and the bit ; and teach them when young, to bear and obey. The result in boih cases is what might be expected. Their children are plagues, and their horses admirable. It might really be thought that common sense had nothing to do with the treatment of youth ; and that there were no years of discretion but what have been fixed by legislative enactment. Men are governed by names ; and because, by a per- version of language, "childish" and "foolish" mean the same thing, " child" and " fool" are taken to be convertible terms : and language, which is fitted for nothing but to amuse the one, is too often cm- ployed to inslruct the other. The women an; good-looking and amiable ; but their beauty is not liki' tluir temper, the hr/fpr for kcopiHt/. Though lew are "fair" as well as " fat " at " forty," tli«;re has been a good VOL. I. £ 71 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. III. i I deal of cxagger.'ition on tliis point. A young English officer, who was making a forced march through thc! country, ohserved to nie one day that they a])pearcd to him neither impassioned nor susce])til>le ; because they exhii)ited little emotion at dramatic representations, and upon other occasions wliere the fine arts address themselves to thc senses. A Frenclnnan, who had enjoyed more leisure and more o]i])ortunities for judging, expressed an opinion as o])])osite to the former as the vivacity o])ser\ab]e in tlu; native country of the one to the phlegm in that of the other. Human nature is much the same here as she is on either side of thc Jiritish Channel, ^iany wonu'n, who seem cold as ilint in general, give out fire enough v hen thoy iiml a " blade " that suits them. INIuch more regard is j)aid in the IJnitcid Slates to dress and external appearance than with us. This ])rocecds from the same source as thc love of money. Where no disthiction is attached to rank or birth, it is natural that other " outward and visible signs" should sui)ply their ])lac<>«, and be ])ro])ortionably valued. Fashion has, unha])])ily, despotic suay in these mat- ters ; and the imitative principle, as it descends, is not likely to elevate the character, or uicreascthe hapi)iness of those below. There nuist be a connnensurate sacri- iice somewhere, when milliners charge high ])rices and give low wages. I havi- known a whole family living in a garret, and the mother borrowing a few T f I A «iin.»nai I .. I CHAP. III.] LANGUAGE. 75 shillings to buy a pound of tea, while the daughters were vying % in the Broadway with the wives of wealthy merchants, and " fishing" for admiration with silks, and ribbons, and all the arts of the toilette. It is curious to observe the difiercncc of meaning affixed to the same word by the diflerent classes of society. To one all above, to its opposite, all below, a certain point, were gentlemen and ladies : to both, the rest of the world was made up of men and women. " Are vou the man," said a driver to Duke Ikrnard of Saxe Weimar, " that is to go in that carriage ? " " Yes." " 'J'hen I am the gentleman to drive you." A young female of New York, while look- ing over an l^iUglish })rayer book, was much shocked with that expression in the marriage service — " Wilt thou have this n CHAP. III.] STRIKE FOR WAGES. 77 smile of scornful incredulity. To be quizzed and caricatured for vidgarity is intolerable to the same people, who seem not to know, or not to care, that you despise them for their prejudices. Hint to them that they eat pease with a knife, and they are highly enraged : tell them that their conduct to the " nig- gers" is inlmman and unmanly, and they laugh in your face. They look to Euro])e for " mint and cummin," and leave her " the weightier matters of the law.'* Purity of language is more valued thsin generosity of sentiment or nobleness of behavior. To speak with more grammatical accuracy than an Englishman, is matter of general boasting ; but to be his inferior in the kind and benevolent feelings he exhibits to every member of the human family, neither excites rellcction nor insj)ires shame. Concession to the journeymen caqicnters soon produced its natural fruits. The rope-makers at Brooklyn followed their example and " struck," be- cause an improved method had been introduced into the trade for saving time and labor. If theri> be one spot on the globe more than another whore this hostility to machinery is mischievous ;«iid foolish, it is a new country, which is obliged to borrow foreign funds lor many of its \uidertakings ; and whicK is sacrificing its rosouives ami risking its tranquillity hy forciiKj the production of tlear goods. Yet these men have the same clanii to protection as the sugar grower and the iron-master. They have as strong IT" h li !' }' 78 TOUR I\ TIIK UNITED STATKS. [CIIAP. III. a pcrc('])tion of llieir veal interests, and tlieir argu- ments are equally valid. Machinery is not less in- jurious as a com])etit()r, whether at Brooklyn or at Birmingham ; and the laborer, who would dictate to the capitalist, is as reasonable as the capitalist who would dictate to the community. The manner in which these misguided men pro- ceeded was highly creditable to their sense of order and probity. Having connnitted to the llames the products of the hated machine, after they had paraded it through the town, they agreed to pay the full cost of the hemj), from which the yam had been manufac- tured, and to spin a like quantity, in time to enable Mr. Lewis (the owner of the machine) to fulfil his en- gagement for its delivery. Tliey accordingly paid 260 dollars and eighty-twc cents, and spun an e<]ual quantity within the time agreed upon, of a quality, as they stated in an advertisement, far su])erior to any that could be manufactured by niachhiery, " as is well-known," the} say, " to any practical roi)e-nuikcr and seaman.'' If so, why object to a machine that cannot work so well as themselves } * * Ini!toad of opposin;: viilsiar iirejudicos, the nowspapcr-press almost universally oiu'oiiram's tlicm, " Among iumv iiivcii- tioiis," says tlu' Evoiiiiitr Star, (August, 1834,) one of the best written JQunmls of New York, — ''to increase the paupcrixm of England, ne observe a portable steam tlircshing machine." — This foolish remark would most probably be copied into all the l)apers, and run the round of the " union " within the Union— 4f t* u CHAP. III.] FOURTH OF JILY. 70 it The 4th of July, the great aiinivcrsarv of the na- tional in(l(!])entlence, ])asscd off in the most orderly and ])eaceal)le manner. Though the city was crowd- ed from an early hour, and the streets were thronged with all sorts of people from every quarter till mid- night and still later, there was no disturbance or con- fusion. I saw neither (quarrelling ncjr drunkenness, nor anything offensive to ])ublic decorum. The different processions of the trades and various as- sociations were well airanged, and contributed to the liveliness of the scene. The festivities were said to be less joyous and imposing than usual ; and each successive anniversary to be attended with diminish- ed marlvs of triumj)h and congratu'ation. Many families are accustomed to go out of town to avoid the bustle and noise ; and the return of the day seems likely in time to sink, like our " glorious revo- lution," into a mere ceremony, to be observed as an occasion for relaxation or an excuse for convi\ iality. I had the honor of dining with the coqjoration. There were between three and four hundred ])ersons at table. The usual number of toasts (thirteen) was given, and most of tluni received with applause and .acclamation. Nothing transpired that the most sen- sitive l\nglishman could have taken umbrage at. There were few s))eethes, an tcr LO I.I 1.25 %^ IIIIM ^ lis IIIIIM 111^ U ill 1.6 6" VI. .^. <» /> 7 /A Photographic Sciences Corporation \ N? :\ \ [v ^'<*. ^^^ 6^ 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WEBSTER, NY. 14S80 (716) 87a-4S03 >* i ! ;i I I ^1 si t / 80 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. III. pithy. What was said was appropriate and well- timed — with sufficient heartiness to satisfy the claims of patriotism, and not a particle of rancor or exult- ation to offend the jealousies or prejudices of other nations. The company were requested by the Mayor, who presided, to sit down to table without grace, as no clergyman was present to officiate. Ministers of the gospel are seldom seen at public places in America, and are little anxious to put themselves forward on festive and convivial occa- sions. Like the fair sex, they are the more respected as they are less conspicuous, and obtain by reserve and retirement the esteem, which would be refused to ostentation and obtrusiveness. While the daily and weekly papers, the maga- zines and reviews, were insulting the colored peo- ple and chaunting the praises of Liberia, I called again upon Mr. P. Williams, in search of informa- tion about this extraordinary settlement. He had just received a letter, which he read to me, from one of the colonists, formerly a member of his church, and had, not long before, had some conversation with one of the emigrants about to return to Africa. The account given by both of the colony was anything but favorable ; the former had lost his wife and one child, and had another in a dangerous state of ill- ness ; the latter owned that not one convert to Christianity had been made among the native tribes. The climate, it seems, is very unhealthy, and par- ^ifT- CHAP. III.] LIBERIA. 81 ticuiarly fatal to those who go to tliat country from the Northern States of the Union. The Governor exercises the despotic power, with which he is en- trusted, in such a manner as to produce a general feeling of discontent and division among his sub- jects ; many of whom are in a very destitute and deplorable condition. Such was the purj)ort of what had been communicated to Mr. Williams. Both his informants expressed themselves in terms of great caution and circumspection ; the one, lest his letter should be intercepted ; the other, under an excusable apprehension lest any thing he might say against the colony should be recorded against him on his return. Upon the whole, the board of managers were now placed in an awkward dilemma ; if they were acquainted with these facts, they had been guilty of the gi'ossest deception in concealing them ; if they were ignorant of their existence, they were not tit to be entrusted with the management of an institution, to the care of which the lives and for- tunes of thousands were entrusted. Not contented, liowever, with thus suppressing what it was their duty to make known, they had pompously an- nounced to the "reading public" that the Lieuten- ant-Clovcmor and the Jligh Sherifi' of Liberia had arrived at New York ; that they had left the ])eo])l(! of that prosperous colony '"^contented and fi/>f/'\' and that they were on their way to Washington, *' to confer with the T3oard of Managers on the pro- E 3 m h II >i il 82 TOUn IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. Ill* priety of allowing the colonists to choose all their officers, and to make such allaraiiom in their con- stitution as are considered necessary.'''' This wish for change in a " contented and lia])py" people re- minds one of the Italian, who was well and wanted to be better : Liberia may borrow his epitapli. Of all the " wonderful wonders that the world ever wondered at," this African-colonization-scheme is certainly the most astonishing. A more thorough humbug never existed. It is fortunate that many ol" those, who would most suffer by becoming its dupes, detected its malignant designs from the connnence- ment of its operations ; and the planters of" the south will not much longer be permitted to gull the ])hilan- thropists of the north. " This society," (says the Convention of the free people of color, in their ad- dress to their brethren of the United States, 1833,) " has most grossly vilified our character as a people : it has taken nuicli pains to make us abhorrent to the public, and then jileads the necessity of sending us into banishment. A greater outrage could not be committed against an unoffending ]ieople ; and the hypocrisy, that has marked its movements, deserves our universal censure. We have been cajoled into measures by the most false representations of the advantages to be derived from our emigration to Africa. No argument has been adduced other than that based on prejudice ; — and that jn't^udice found- ed on our difTcronce of color. If shades of dif- I I 1 ' HAP. IIL CPIAP. III.] COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 83 all their leir con- iis wish ople re- [ wanted h. c world i-scheme horougli many of Ls dupes, nmence- hc south 3 philan- says the heir ad- s, 1833,) people : )rrent to sending d not be and the deserves led into of the iilion to ler than found- of dif- L' ference in complexion are to operate to make men the sport of powerful caprice, the colonists may be again compelled to migrate to the land of tlicir fathers in America." Appended to this address is a report from the committee on African colonization. It commences thus : " The committee, consisting of one delegate from each State, for the puqiose of re- porting the views and sentiments of the people of color in their respective States, relative to the prin- ciples and operations of the American Colonization Society, respectfully beg leave to report. — that all the people of the States they rcjiresent (eight in number) feel themselves aggrieved by its very exist- ence, and speak their sentiments of disapprobation in language not to be misunderstood. The only ex- ception to the rule is of those who are receiving an education, or preparing themselves for some pro- fession, at the expense of the society." E\'ery friend of humanity will rejoice to hear that this proscribed race have shewn that they are un- deserving of ill-treatment, by resolving to sul)mit to it no longer, and, in the words of one of their bitter- est enemies, are '■ disjjosed to assert the prerogatives of human nature, \\ithout distinction of rank or color." American (iua.lcrly Review, Sept. 1H-2H. The patience of these peo])le, under a series of provocations and injuries, compared with which our Catholic disabilities and ou; Jewish disqualifications were mere trilles, is above all praise. What, indeed, 1^4 41 ^ [?■> 1, [i 84 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. III. must be the rancorous hostility, — the contemptuous suspicion, — the scorn and hatred that are universally felt against those, who, though differing in com- plexion from us, are equally formed in God's ow^l image, when a minister of the gospel of love and humility could dare to express himself before a crowded congregation in such tenns as the follow- ing ! " No station of honor or authority is accessi- ble. These disabilities are the result of complexion ; and, till the Ethiopian can change his skin, they admit of no remedy. Who would employ a black to minister at the bed of sickness ? Who would en- trust to him the maintenance of his rights, and the protection of his interests in a court of justice ? — or what congregation would consent to receive him as a herald of salvation, whose lips should announce to them the will of heaven, and whose hands should break to them the bread of life ? Whose feelings would not revolt, not only at seeing an individual of this class seated in the chair of state, presiding in our courts of justice, or occupying the hall of legis- lation, but even at seeing him elevated to the lowest and most trivial office in the community ? In all these respects the blacks, if not by the provisions of our constitution and laws, at least by public senti- ment and feeling, and by setdiment and feeling too, which if groundless and reprehensible , admit of no correction, are a proscribed and hopeless race. But not only are none of the fields of generous enterprise i \ [AP. III. CHAP. III.] PREJUDICE. 85 [iptuous versally n com- i's own >ve and efore a '■ follow - accessi- )lexion ; in, they alack to Duld en- and the ce ? — or p him as inouncc should ■eelings dividual iding in )f legis- lowe/it In all sions of senti- Hng too, 't of no e. But terprise and honorable ambition open to them, they are made to see and feel their debasement in all the cvery-day intercourse of life. No matter what their characters may be, however amiable and cxcellect their spirit, and however blameless and exemplary their conduct, they are treated as an inferior and despised portion of the species. No one, unless himself sunk so low as to be an outcast from those of his own colur, ever associates with them on terms of equality." Extract from a sermon preached by Professor Hough, before the Vermont Coloniza- tion Society. As this discourse was published at their request, it is to be supposed that they agree with him in his declaration, that this "proscribed" people are "a degraded, imenliffhtened, unprincipled^ and aban- doned race;" and that they are ^^ equally worthless and noxious in themselves, and a nuisance to the public." The arrogance of this language is lost in its impiety ; the preacher has insulted his Maker in insulting the work of his hands. Whatever he may assert to the contrary, the diabolical prejudice which he thus, to the disgrace of his religion and his country, encourages and endeavours to justify , does admit of coiTection ; and will be corrected, if there be justice in Heaven or shame on earth ; if there be such a thing as public opinion in Europe or public conscience in America. A fire has been kindled in the hearts of the good and the generous that will ••^■rx,»i'-*t»*i»»H* •<« -^••(»>*^?n «-•■ if f I ( a •f i' if! hi m 86 TOUR IN THE UNITKD STATES. [CIIAP. III. never be extinguislicd till tlic wickedness, which feeds it is utterly consumed. July 8th. I went ^vith two English friends, early in the morning, to Jersey city, on the opposite bank of the North river, and thence to Newark, where we joined Mr. C olden, on his visit to inspect the Morris canal. We had previously spent two or three very agreeable evenings with Mr. C olden, who was living at Jersey city with his wife, a remarkably lady-like and amiable woman. This place, though it contains much less than two thousand inhabitants, has five ])]aces of worship ; two Episcopal, two Methodist, and one Catholic — all, with their respective ministers, sup- ported by voluntary contributions. As the law neither protects nor prohibits opinions, profession and conviction are more closely allied than where it is less impartial. Not but what there is room for a closer approximation. The nature of religious free- dom will be better understood, when every man is allowed to choose for himself, without incurring the censure of those who mistake uncharitablcness for zeal, and confound the gratification of spiritual pride wath a regard for their neighbor's spiritual welfare. The scenerv along the banks of the canal was very picturesque and beautifid, and the inclined plane, one of twenty-three to be found along its whole course of 101 miles, delighted us with the simplicity and ease with which the cradle, that re- u CHAP. III.] DRIVER. 87 sup- 3SS for pride ceivetl our boat, was hauled up its declivity. Our little excursion was cut short, as my companions were obliged to return, at Paterson, where the beauty of the country is said to increase. We got back t(^ New York bv another road to Iloboken, in the dusk of the evening. The boy, who drove us, seemed unwilling to change the route, and he was declared to be insolent and unaccommodating. I had sat on the box with him, and had found him neither the one nor the other. One charge against him was, that he had driven too slowly : — the truth is, I had requested he would not distress his horses, as the weather was hot, and the poor creatures seemed to suffer very much. So little indeed had 1 found him disobliging, that when he went, of his own accord, in search of Mr. Colden's servant, at Newark, J could not help telling him I was sony to give him so much trouble. I should not, however, have un- dertaken his defence, if his alleged misconduct had not been imputed to my indiscretion in encouraging his familiarity — a charge which the accused paity best shews to be undeserved by his silence. I had found the lad both chatty and communicative ; and was pleased with the questions he asked me about the inclined plane, and the rail-road we had come by on our way back. 1 was anxious to see the ex- tent of knowledge and intelligence to be met with in American boys of his class ; and I felt unwilling to hurt his feeUngs by checking his loquacity, or i I 88 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. III. assuming a degree of reserve which might remind him of the difference between our conditions in life. I should have acted on the same principle in England, and in any other country, as the best security against disrespect or incivility. It is a great mistake in many who visit the United States, to confound republican tendencies with the infant state of society, which prevails in many parts of the Union ; and to ascribe to political equality what, in fact, arises from the peculiar relation in which labor stands to capital. The master is often more indebted to the servant, than the servant to the master ; — a corresponding state of manners is the result; and the same adaptation to circumstances which makes an European master expect submission fi'om his ■wrvant, makes the American help expect indulgence from his employer. After all, servitude carries with it everywhere something humiliating. It is surely no great crime to smooth its asperities with a little courtesy and kindness*. * Mr. Golden is now no more : — the winter, that succeeded, was his last. He died regretted, as he had lived respected, by all parties. His funeral was attended with all tlie honors that the corporation of New York, the members of the Bar, and his friends, could pay to his remains. The common ex- pression at the time was, that " he was an honest man." Those who were most intimately acquainted with his virtues, corild hardly add to thiij eulogy ; however much they might enlarge on the simplicity of his manners, the acuteness of his mind, and the goodness of his heart. CHAP, rv.] CONNECTICUT. 89 CHAPTER IV. Connecticut—New Haven. —Hartford.— Weathersfield Peni- tentiary.— Large number of colored Convicts accounted for.— Hartford Retreat for the Insane.— Mode of Treatment— Cha- racter of the late Superintendant Mr. Wadsworth's Villa (Monte Video) — Confectioner's nonchalance. July 10th. I left New York for Hartford in Con- necticut with Mr. Crawford (the Commissioner for inspecting the prisons) and his coadjutor Mr. New- man. We went by the steam-boat to New Haven, (eighty-four miles,) and the rest of the way (about forty) by stage. The whole fare (by sea and land) i^as three dollars each. It was eight o'clock p.m. when we amved at the end of our journey, having started at seven in the morning,— New Haven—a very beautiful town, with many well-built houses and neat gardens. I had afterwards an opportunity of revisiting it. We passed through a delightful country, more remarkable, however, for picturesque scenery than fertility of soil ; some of the towns on the road, particularly Middletown on the Connecti- ■71 l\ VI.: (1 t ' 90 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV'. 1 : cut river, aro well chosen for salubrity of air, cheer- fulness of situation, and beauty of prospect. At the hotel where we put up, the first on entering Hartford, we found every thing extremely good. The rooms were clean and well furnished, and the people of the house particularly civil. The next day we proceeded to the ]3rison at Weathers- field, four nii^es from Hartford. The ])lan, on which H is built, and the system, upon which it is con- ducted, are something similar to those at Singsing ; except that the prison is much less in extent, and the discipline milder. No flogging is used lor breach of rules. A diet of bread and water, with solitary confinement in a dark cell, is found to bring the most refractory to reason in a very short time. It should be observed, that the time thus spent by the convict is added to the term of his imprisonment. He has therefore a direct interest in shortening its duration. Add to this consideration, that every prisoner is charged, on his entrance, with the ex- penses of arrest, prosecution, &c. : amounting, on an average, to 100 dollars*. This debt he is made to work out, should he be guilty of any misconduct. * This law is of long standing. By the code of 1650 for the colony of Connecticut, it is ordered hy the General Court, " That all persons hereafter committed uppon delinipiency, shall heare the charges the country shall bee at in the prose- cution of them ; and shall pay to the master of tlie prison or howse of correction, two shillings sixpence, before hce bee freed therefrom." i 1 CHAP. IV. iv, cliccr- first on 'xtremely iirnislied, >il. The v'eathers- m which . is coii- iiiigsing- ; cut, and >r breach solitary ring the imc. It it by the ionment. ning its Lt every the ex- g, on an made to conduct. •0 for the al Court, nquency, le prose- prison or bee freed ciiAr. IV.] WEATIIERSFIELD. 01 's % These little auxiliaries to the ordinary motives for good conduct lessen the chances of disobedience. The number of cells for male prisoners is 23G, and that for females 32. Of the former there were 187 ; and of the latter 14. The" cat", though allowed by law, is never employed by the warden ; a man who unites great firmness of character with mildness of disposition ; and who has now an additional stimulus for vigilance and attention to his official duties in the injustice with which he has been treated, having been displaced by the basest intrigue — an event that too often bcfals this class of func- tionaries in many of the States. At the period of our visit, he had just been reinstated, in the most honorable manner, after an absence of nine months, during which the laxity of discipline, that ensued, cost his life to one of the keepers, who was nnir- dered in attempting to prevent the escape of four convicts: two of the murderers were then under sentence of death for the crime. The proceeds from the labor of the convicts more than cover the ex- penditure of the establishment. There are no outer walls to the prison : to prevent escape, two guards with rifles parade the rampart or projection, that overlooks the yard, and commands every part of the building. Two or three, at the first establishment, attempted to make their escape, but were retaken. It seems hardly justifiable to subject a man to the penalty of death for obeyhig a natural impulse, and r,^^ (:, 92 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. u to inflict the same punishment for an offence, with- out regard to the character of the offender, or the consequences of his guilt. The proportion of free blacks among the convicts is about twenty or twenty- five per cent., while they form but three per cent, upon the whole population of the State. This dif- ference may be accounted for by the greater degree of temptation to which they are exposed *, and the little encouragement they receive to good conduct. To be excluded, directly or virtually, from many em- ployments, (for the whites will not work with them,) and to be despised in all, affords but sorry induce- ments to honesty and self-correction. What attach- ment can they have to virtue, when it affords them no protection, and meets with no reward ? How can those, who are disposed to crime, retain their honesty, when they see the honest treated like criminals ? How singular is the policy of this countrj^ ! On one hand it prepares men for the penitentiary, while on the other it is laboring at the diminution of crime, and the reformation of offenders. But what shall we say of its justice, which thus forces its subjects Ihi * By the report of the inspectors of the Massachusett's State Prison, in 1832, three-fourths of the colored convicts confined there could not write ; wliile out of sixty-eight white prisoners, thirteen only were eiiuully uneducated ; whereas to preserve the same proportion between crime and ignorance, the number shouhl have been fifty-one. The latter, therefore, had not so good an excuse for their guilt. CHAr. IV.] PENITENTIARY 93 •'Ji .5 into by-paths, and then punishes them for the de- viation ? Crime, of course, increases, as the motives to good conduct are removed, and the means of an honest livelihood refused. The same principle may be seen in the manufacturing districts of France and England ; where the criminal calendar is found to swell with the pressure of commercial distress, and diminish with its removal. It is a trick of very long standing to refuse straw to the brickmalvcrs, and then exclaim against them — ye are idle ! ye are idle ! Among the blacks was a native of St. Domingo, and formerly one of Napoleon's Mamelukes. He had been condemned, about three months before, for adultery with a woman, who, he declared, had de- ceived him by conceaHng her marriage. Adultery is considered in the vState of Connecticut a civil offence, and is punished by imprisonment. Of the different trades here pursued, some of the contractors (shoemakers, for instance) require a cer- tain quantity of work from those under them. If it is completed within the time, the rest of the week belongs to them; when they are ])aiJ for extra labor, and the money is delivered to the warden, who makes it over to them when the tenn of their confinement has exi)ired ; or, if they wish it, trans- mits it to their families. A colored man had just infonned the clia])lain, from whom I had this ac- count, that he had iiniyhed his week on the preced- ing Tuesday. One observation the chaplain made it; T' J I 94 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. struck rac as singular; lie said, that the generality of convicts were, in point of intellect, below medio- crity. There is a passage in the African Repository for January 1834, that ought to have some weight with the haughty Caucasians, in modifying the un- favorable inference th?y are so fond of drawing from the disproportioned numbers of the colored race, who are found in the prisons and penitentiaries. It is of the more value, as it comes, according to the Editor, from the Rev. R.J.Breckenridge of Baltimore, who, by his speeches and exertions in aid of the colonization society, has long been doing his utmost to drive them out of the country. — " It is true," he says, " thr^t the proportion of convictions of free l)ersons of color is greater than that of white people. But this is to be taken with great allowance, as evi- dence of criminality. For their temptations are, usually, manifold greater and more pressing : their offences are more narrowly looked after ; and there- fore a greater proportion are detected, and of those de- tected a greater proportion are convicted, by reason of their possessing less public sympathy, smaller op- portunities of escaping, and less means of blinding, seducing, or bribing justice. In addition to all this, the very code of offences in the slave-states is more stern as to them than to the whites ; and the very principles of evidence arc altered by statute so as to bear most rigorously against them. Or, if we con- trast them with the slaves, we have no means of 1 i' CHAP. IV.] COLORED CONVICTS. 95 ■'■■?t fonning a judgement ; for the very nature of offences and punishments is different in the different classes. We have known a slave hanged for what a white man would hardly have been prosecuted for ; and we have known free blacks put into the penitentiary for several years for evidence that was illegal by statute against a white man ; and for offences, for which a gentle-tempered master would have re- buked his slave, and a hot-tempered one have caned him. We admit the general corruption of free blacks ; but ^^'e deny that it is greater than that of the slaves ; and we affirm that it is judged of by false methods, and is in a high degree exaggerated. We once thought differently ; but we have seen reason to change our opinion." * To the other causes here alluded to, should be ad(i 1 the suspicion, which, when any crime that excites general attcntitm has been committed, at- taches itself, through public opinion, to those whom public o]iii»ion has already condemned to vice and ignominy ; and the strong inducement in white criminals to shelter themselves by false accusations, or cunning inveiglement, of these helpless and * I liavc given the above passage in full length, because it affords an unanswerable argument against slavery ; for if it were possiltle for any one, possessed of common sense, to lie- liove tliat slaves could bo bappy, bo never can maintain tliat tbo free blacks can bo so under such a system, or bo ever sccuro agiiinst injustice and oppression. ^.^ faamteautaa V' i 96 I i. TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. Ik:. friendless people. There was, at the very time we were there, an old black in this penitentiary, nearly a hundred years of age. He had been confined within its wails a long time, under a charge, which was supported, as was well known in the prison, by evidence of a nature anything but conclusive of his guilt. There seemed, indeed, to be little or no doubt of his innocence. Here my fellow-travellers left me ; and we agreed to meet again at Boston. In the afternoon, I called on Mr. Wads worth, a relative of the gentleman from whom I had received so much attention at New York. He received me with that urbanity and kindness, which are habitual to men of gentlemanly feelings and an amiable disposition. He belonged to an old and wealthy family, that had long been settled in the coun- try. Oui conversation turned upon the social economy, that prevailed in the land of his birth. His remarks upon the rank, which servants hold there, and the treatment best adapted to their condition and ex- pectations, were highly interesting and just. For nearly forty years, that he had kept house, he had found, he told me, but one domestic who had proved dishonest or unfaithful. He had met with no dis- respect from them, for he had never shewn any towards them. They were attached to him, because he was indulgent to them ; and obedient, because their services were neither exacted with rigor, nor received with indifference. Tlie next morning, he mAP. IV. CHAP. IV.] CHARTER OAK. 97 time we jr, nearly confined e, which rison, by ve of his e or no iQ agreed , I called man from ew York, kindness, ilings and 1 old and the coiin- conomy, remarks and the and ex- st. For he had d proved no dis- jewn any because because igor, nor iiing, he took me in his gig to the lietreat for the Insane, of which he was a director. On our way, we turned a little out of our road, to visit the famous old oak, where the charter, on which the Colony was founded, was concealed in 1686 by a lineal ancestor of Mr. Wadsworth. The hole, into which it was put, is now closed over. The tree, however, is in full vigor, and likely to survive many years. That arbitrary power, the baneful effects of which are presented to the mind by the sight of this tree, cost the monarch his crown, and one of his successors its " brightest jewel." What will it cost this great confederation, when it is wrested from the hands of the slave- owner ? The house, in the gi'ounds attached to which the charter-oak stands, belongs to a man who made a considerable fortune as a shopkeeper in Charleston. Not having much taste or inchnation for laying out grounds or improving his fields, he has sadly neglected the place. It commands a fine view of the country beyond the river, and might, with little trouble or expense, be made a very agreeable spot. A man of color, who happened to be in the garden, shewed me the grounds, while my " guide, j)hilosopher, and friend" remained in the gig. Upon my asking the man, how his brethren were treated in the town, he repHed that they were insulted and annoyed in a very shameful manner. Frequent broils and fights were the consequence ; and the bitter feeling of animosity, that existed against them, VOL. I. p \71 i n 'i y . Is I I ! I I I 1. If 98 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. had much increased since the Colonization Society had become more active. After this, we proceeded to the Retreat, on arriving at which we found that the superintendant, Dr. Todd, was out. An officer of the institution, however, conducted us over the buikhng, and ex- plained its details in such a clear and satisfactory manner, as to make me feel less regret for the absence of a man who had obtained great celebrity by his skill in curing insanity. The principle, on which the esta- blishment is conducted, differs very considerably, and, as far as I was enabled to judge from what I saw and heard, very successfully, from the methods usually ])ursued in the treatment of lunatics. No kind of deception, and, if possible, no restraint, is exercised upon the patients, who arc allowed every indulg- ence and gratification that are not incompatible with the object for which they are sent hither. They are informed, on their first arrival, that they are laboring under some disease, which has aflected their minds, and requires peculiar treatment. If, as is generally the cas(>, they deny that they are thus afllictcd, they are requested to submit to a fair experiment, that they may be restored to their friends, with the testimony of competent judges, to confimi or dis- ])rove their own account of themselves. With the aid of soothing language;, occuj^ation suited to their inclinations, proper exercise, and appropriate medi- cines, an alleviation, if not a cure, of the malady is m lAP. IV. Society eat, on tendant, ititution, and ex- isfactory ! absence his skill the esta- ibly, and, '. saw and s usually > kind of exercised indulg- ible with They are laboring ir minds, generally ted, they lent, that tvith the or dis- li the aid to their tc medi- iialady is CHAP. IV.] LUNATIC ASYJ.UM. 99 1 n i ^■a* i m effected. The confidence of the most suspicious, and the acquiescence of the most refractory, are thus obtained ; and, by the judicious employment of the principle of association, the mind is gradually led to exert its dormant powers, and the bodily functions are restored to their natural state. No one is con- fined, however violent or intractable, in irons or in solitude. No breach of promise, no attempt to mis- lead, is ever pennitted. The little glimmering of reason, that remains even in the worst cases, is skil- fully employed by the keepers and assistants to lead the sufferer into feelings and habits, that at last con- duct him to a clearer sky, if not into open day. " Let gentleness my strong enforcement be ", seems to be the guiding mle to all who are to co-operate in carrying this principle into practice. The whole machinery throughout is consistent in its structure and operation ; and the results are most gratifying and encouraging. Even in those unhappy cases, where certain functions of the body are involuntarily and unconsciously ])erformed, some peculiar want or fancy may be discovered, whicli, when combined with the decent and regular discharge of this office, will uhimately destroy these distressing symptoms, and substitute a habit, to which the former will gra- dually yield. While we were standing in front of the house, some of the invalids (three young women) were retiiining from a ride with some of the assist- ants in a bai'ouclie. We assisted them to get out ol" F 2 i 100 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. :J 'Ji' the carriage, and made the customary observations, which were received in the usual way, on the wea- ther, and other topics of a similar kind. Riding on horseback for both sexes is found very serviceable : gardening, or any other occupation that may interest or amuse, is employed with good effect ; and, as the liouse is open to visitors at all times, and the same courtesies are observed towards the inmates as are practised in common life, a constant succession of (objects presents itself, to give gentle exercise to the tastes and affections, and dispel the morbid illusions of the imagination. To gain his confidence, and imperceptibly lead him to the exercise of its disused energies and faculties — " waking thoughts that long had slept "^ — ^is all that the physician studies in the management of his i)atient, who seems to give to candor and conciliatorv mildness those affections and regards, which harshness and distrust had driven from their natural channels. The patients attend their respective ])laces of worship, when not inca- pacitated by the nature of the malady, under which they labor. Tliis is considered an indulgence ; and, as it may be withdrawn on disobedience or infringe- ment of the conditions on whicli it is granted, an additional motive for self-restraint is obtained, be- yond what may be expected from attendance on public worship in the house. The \vish to be ad- mitted, in common with those who are in good liealth, and the apprehension of being thought unde- IHAP. IV. CHAP. IV.] LUNATIC ASYLUM. 101 [rations, he wea- iding on iceable : ' interest d, as the he same s as are ;ssion of 36 to the illusions lice, and J disused hat long s in the give to ections id driven attend ot inca- which se; and, nfi'inge- nted, an ned, be- ance on be ad- n good it unde- f % serving of that privilege, are powerful inducements with persons, who find their comforts to depend upon their conformity with the will of their attendants. Whenever it is necessary to put a strait-waistcoat upon a patient, it is done, if possible, with his con- sent. He is told that the excitement under which he suffers may be considered as the work of an enemy, and not the result of any voluntary action of his own mind, for which he would, if in sound health, be responsible ; and that self-defence requires and excuses a precaution that might otherwise appear degrading. He is thus induced to submit, when any attempt to control his own violence by force, would be resisted or resented. Cases often occur of patients, under the conviction of an approaching paroxysm, suggesting themsdves the propriety of being bound. A man of highly cultivated mind had resolved upon suicide, from what he deemed a sense of religious duty. The monomania, with which he was afflicted, consisted in supposing that the wicked one had substituted an imaginary for a real body ; and had placed him under this dreadful metamor- phosis in the midst of an ideal world, with the object of obtaining from him such an acquiescence in the new order of things, as would make him act and be acted upon in the same way, in which created beings perform their respective parts in life. Upon this contingency depended the fate of his immortal I It M 102 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES, [CHAP. IV. soul: — should he once yield to the enchantment, and give way, but for a moment, to the belief that he was a living material man, he woidd fall im- mediately and irrevocably into the power of Satan. To escape the charm, he had determined to take laudanum. He made no secret of his intention ; and no inducement could make him swerve from his piu-pose. Dr. Todd, to whom the treatment of this singular case was referi'ed, after trying various methods of diverting his mind into some other channel, reasoned with him, at last, in this way. — " In your present state," said he, " you are, as you are well aware, a mere spiritual existence, upon which nothing that is material can have any action. The poison you are about to take, ought, in order to produce the desirdR effect, to be adapted to the recipient, and analogous, in its qualities, to that, of which the functions are to be affected by it. Would it not be better that you should apply imaginary laudanum to an imaginary body } " The question was answered by a laugh ; and not one word was ever again uttered upon the subject. Still the wish to commit suicide remained ; and the patient made up his mind to starve himself to death. The Doctor's tact did not forsake him in this emergency. Finding that the illusion arose from an apprehension that guilt existed, where the will was consenting to do or suffer any thing, that might tend to prolong existence, he peremptorily ordered the monomaniac L i ^HAP. IV. aiitment, ?lief that fall im- )f Satan. to take itention ; from his t of this various ae other 5 way. — B, as you ce, upon y action. in order d to the ) that, of Would naginary question ord was he wish nt made The ergency. (hension nting to prolong 3maniac CHAP. IV.] DR. TODD. 103 to sit down, that his hands might be bound ; assur- ing him that he would call for assistance, if he did not comply, and telling him at the same time, that he was no longer a free agent, as he was under coercion. " I submit," said the patient, " because I am compelled ; but I protest most earnestly against such usage." " Now, Sir ! you will open your mouth," said the physician. — " No ! " nothing should make him yield to such an indignity. A repetition, however, of the same sort of argument succeeded : — and by successive appeals to his physi- cal fears, and his fancied conscience, food was administered to him ; and as the real man was strengthened, the ideal man vanished. He is now so far recovered as to live with his family ; enjoying, though not perfect health, yet a greater degree of comfort, than it seemed possible for human power to bestow upon him. Not many months after my visit to this interesting spot, the intelligence, which had shed its healing influence upon it, had returned to its kindred spirits. Dr. Todd had terminated his earthly career. His loss may be viewed in the light of a national calamity, as it is almost impossible to find a man at once qualified and willing to fill his place *. He had been at one * The importance of having the situation properly supplied must be great indeed, if Dr. Brigham's opinion be correct. In a work published by him in 1833, second edition, he says that there wps in Connecticut, in 1812, one in 2G'2 inhabit- r I ^^ in 104 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. time, a victim to all the horrors of dyspepsia ; and having, it is said, had two members of his own i'amily afflicted with insanity, experience and ob- servation had supplied him with materials for reflec- tion, which an acute and powerful intellect had moulded into a most effective instrument of practical utility. One little anecdote I was told of him will give a good idea of the quickness and sagacity, with which he converted any minute incident or feeling to his own purposes. One of the female patients put her head out of the window one night, and commenced uttering the most horrid screams and cries imaginable. Throwing up the sash suddenly, and putting his head out of the window, — he called out in a loud voice : — " Is that you, Mary, making such a noise ? — I could not have believed it ! Here have I been working all day for you, and the rest of the house ; and to-morrow I have a great deal to do. It is very hard that you thus disturb my rest." " Doctor ! " she replied, " I beg your pardon most sincerely ; if I had thought I was disturbing you, I would not hav^c made any noise for the world." ants insane — more than twice as many as in any part of Europe. Tliis he takes as a standard for the whole country. Dr. Emerson of Philadelphia would restrict the observation to the Eastern States, though he doubts its correctness there. Dr. Brigham ascribes this melancholy pre-eminence in misfortune to premature and excessive employment of the intellectual faculties. CHAP. IV.] LUNATIC ASYLUM. 105 She immediately retired to her bed ; and all was quiet again. One of the greatest advantages resulting from the method pursued at this asylum, is the obvious tendency, in the publicity w^ith which it is conducted, to destroy a very silly, but a very pernicious and a very prevalent feeling — a prejudice that confounds misfortune with crime, counsels concealment of what ought to be known to be fairly dealt with, and makes a man blush for an infinnity, to which the noblest minds are most subject. But it is of still greater value, as it strikes at once at the root of an evil, to which all private receptacles of the kind are exposed, in spite of every legal enactment for their regulation. That evil arises from self-love, whether it operate upon the keeper, the visiting physician, the trustee, or the patient himself. Here we see arrayed against one poor unfortunate being the profit to be made out of his malady ; the import- ance, if nothing worse, to be derived from the management of his worldly affairs ; and his own distrust of all who approach him. How can par- liamentary commissioners give disinterestedness to the sordid, clear-sightedness to the ignorant, or confidence to the suspicious ? Were more eyes upon these institutions, fewer would be blinded by ex- culpatory circulars, medical testimonials, and official acquittals. The next day Mr. Wadsworth drove me over in F 3 106 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. lif his gig to Monte Video — a very beautiful place belonging to him, about ten miles from Hartford. We passed through a fine country, studded with farm-houses, and resembling^England in its fields and enclosures. The grounds surrounding the villa, were, before they came into the possession of the present owner, a wild and impassable forest; the approach to which was so difficult and dangerous as to require a whole day to visit the mountain from the city. It took twenty men two years to clear away the wood and make the road. Three thousand loads of stone were precipitated into the valley beneath, before the work was completed. The proprietor has been well repaid for the trouble and expenditure of the undertaking. A nobler view, than is here presented on each side of the mountain, is rarely to be met with. On the west is seen a considerable part of the State of Connecticut, with the Farmington dividing the valley witli its woody banks ; on the opposite side, Massachusetts beyond the Connecticut river ; and towards the north-east the view stretches into the States of New York and New Hampshire : the one presenting the mountain Taghko- nic, the western branch of the green mountains ; and the other Monadnock, distant about ninety miles. Beneath your feet, whichever way you tura, is a fore- ground of the finest forest scenery. The house is merely a summer residence for two or three months during the sultry season. It was at first but a small :HAP. IV. CHAP. IV.] MONTE VIDEO. 107 ful place Hartford. led with [ields and he villa, •n of the rest; the ^erous as :ain from to clear Three into the jmpleted. le trouble )ler view, lountain, |s seen a ut, with s woody s beyond east the md New Taghko- and miles. s a fore- louse is months . a small u ins cabin; and has become, by successive additions, what it is at present — a small but convenient cottage — suited to the modest wants of the proprietor, and large enough for the claims and pleasures of hospitality. Nature had done every thing for this beautiful eminence; and asked but the hand of art to remove the obstructions to her temple : and well has the task been performed. There is no misplaced ornament, and no attempt to surprise the spectator by unexpected contrast, or artificial embellishment. The only deviation from the rigid observance of simplicity is in the erection of a wooden tower on one of the summits, into which tlie ridge of rock seems to have been abruptly broken by some great convulsion of nature — a shock that has left between the corresponding heights one of the most charming features of the scene- -a lake of pure and transjiarent water. The opposite summit consists of bare and crumbling rock ; and, being the first visited, presents at once a view of the lake, the house and grounds, and the distant prospect, which is terminated by the horizon. The top of the tower, which is hexagonal, is 960 feet above the Connecticut. The house is 040 feet above the Farmington. The place reminded me strongly of the gi'ounds belonging to Colonel Maclean (Coll) near Tobcnnory in the isle of Mull. There were e.^ual diflicultics to contend with in both cases. As the latter, however, resides hr ^ I' i I 108 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IV. on the spot, he has taken more pains to improve the garden and plantations. Scott's description of Loch Katrine in his Lady of the Lake, might be applied to much of the scenery at this place — my amiable cicerone, who had an excellent memory and great literary taste, repeated the whole to me, as we stood on one of the points that overlook the lake ; and marked with his finger, as he proceeded, the singular coincidences and resemblances, that were to be found in the imagination of the poet and the various objects that lay before us and around us. While standing on the top of the tower, and surveying the noble prospect below, I could not but reflect how many happy human beings its circum- ference embraced; and how few are the eminences in Europe, distracted by the fears and hopes of revolutionary changes, whence one could look down on an equal quantity of comfort and contentment. In the evening, after drinking tea with the family, and conversing with several agreeable persons who called, as is at Hartford and elsewhere the " custom always in the afternoon," I went into a confectioner's shop in the town to get some ice, and was shewn into an inner room, where I found the master of the house, reclining at his ease upon a sofa. He made no movement to rise ; nor appeared to take any notice of my entrance. The competition, it was plain, was more among the buyers than the sellers ; and in fact, as the weather was oppressively hot, I stood h CHAP. IV.] CONFECTIONER. 109 more in need of his ice, :han he of my money. While the young woman who assisted, was getting what I had asked for, I entered into conversation with him ; and found him very obliging and civil. Perceiving I was an Englishman, he was anxious to hear how matteu were going on in the old country, and his questions were readily answered. A neigh- bour coming in, our talk continued for some time ; and when I took my leave he begged I would call again, and have some more chat with him. No- thing was further from his thoughts than to mortify me by any appearance of slight or inattention :— nor was I disappointed at not meeting with that assi- duity and obsequiousness, which self-interest would have prompted a London tradesman to display before a customer, and which would have been as little connected with real respect, as my Hartford friend's nonchalance with rudeness or ill-manners. '1' Jl Vi l! ! I! li 110 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. CHAFrER V. Journey to Northampton Farmers. — Custom in the dis- tribution of Property by Will Law of Descents in case of Intestacy. — Manners Prices of Provisions Mount Holyoke. — Stage, Driver, and Passengers to Boston — Lecture on Slavery. — African Repository's friendship for the Black Man. — Meeting of Colonization Society. — Death of Dr. Spurzheim. — Africo- Americans excluded from Seats in Church.— Cruelty to a Brazilian and his Wife. — Antiquity of Estates in New England. — Character of White Servants. —Improvement in the Black portion of the Population "Liberator" and Aboli- tionists. — Five thousand Dollars offered by Georgia for Garri- son's Arrest. — Squib upon the fair of Boston at Boston Fair. — Mrs. Child. — Black Man preaching in " White" pulpit Whites not allowed to marry any but the true •' Caucasians." — Lunatic Asylum. — Cambridge. — Stage "tabu" for Colored Women. — Boston Pere la Chaise. — Body-snatchers. — Nahant. — Young Ladies independent. — Episcopal Church. — Young Gentleman's solicitude for his distant descendants. — Treatment of Africo- American Mechanics. On the 13th I left Hartford by the stage for North- ampton at eleven, a.m., and arrived about eight, — the CHAP, v.] FARMERS. Ill 4 i distance being forty-eight miles. Eleven miles from the city we came to Tariffville, a very pretty village, situated in a most lovely valley, through which flows the Farmington river, pui'suing its devious course to join the Connecticut. At this place a carpet manu- facture is carried on by about 400 workmen,— partly American and partly foreign. The quality is said to be good. Three miles further we came to Granby, where we dined. Though it is but a small place and the traffic not sufficient to maintain an hotel, yet we had a luxury at table which a stage-coach passenger would look for in vain at one of our best inns on any of our most frequented roads. We had iced water. The same luxury at a petty tavern was procured for a young woman who was in the stage. It should be obser\ed, however, that there is greater facility, as well as gi-eater necessity, for laying in a provision of this kind in America than with us— as the winters arc much more severe, and the summers much hotter; were it not, indeed, for this refrigerating anti- septic, many articles of domestic consumption would be spoiled. At the hotels, during the warm weather, a piece of ice is generally placed upon the butter. The country between Tariffville and Granby is de- lightful. The farms, which are cultivated by the proprietors, average about 100 acres. The land is poor, having been worked for some time, and re- ceiving but little manure. This offset of the old English yeomaniy are, however, happy and con- M i ) i: t t ; 112 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. tented, and retain the stern virtues which distin- guished their ancestors. A son of one of them was in the coach, and described to me their customs and manners. At the death of the possessor, the estate is distributed among the members of the family, ac- cording to the most equitable principles. If any of the children have received a learned education, the advantages to be derived from its acquisition, and the labor lost to the father during the inten al, re- quire a commensurate deduction from his share, that all may be put upon an equality. Any miscon- duct or want of j)rudence is visited with a diminu- tion of the portion according to the demerit of the party, or the chance of his becoming extravagant and dissipated. These matters are so well under- stood, that the claims of justice are satisfied, where the interposition of the law might produce supineness or evasion. In case of equal partition by will or intestacy, the farm is saved from too minute sub- division by an arrangement between the claimants, which shall leave one of them to till the patenitil acres, while the rest receive an equivalent, and trans- fer their labor to some other place, or some other employment. Where the chikben are likely to sufler from the vices of the parent, the law steps in, and, by an appeal to the Court of Probate, a guardian is appointed to administer tlie estate, and protect the family. In every State of the Union, with the exception 1 J i CHAP, v.] DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY. 113 tion 4 f — I believe the only exception— of Louisiana, where restrictions exist on the power of willing in propor- tion to the number of children, any one may dispose of his estate at his death in any way he pleases. It is a very common thing to omit altogether making a will, under the impression that the law will distri- bute the property more equitably than the owner could himself. " There is generally, in the Statute laws of the several States," says Kent in his Com- mentaries, IV. 417, " a provision relative to real and personal estates, similar to that which exists in the English Statute of Distributions, concerning an ad- vancement to a child. If any child of the intestate has been advanced by him, by settlement, either out of the real or personal estate, or both, equal or su- perior to the amount in value of the share to such child, which would be due from the real and personal estate, if no such advancement had been made, then such child, and his descendants, are excluded from any share in the real and personal estate of the in- testate. But, if such advancement be not equal, then the child and his descendants are entitled to receive from the real and personal estate sufficient to make up the deficiency, and no more. The main- tenance and education of a child or the gift of mo- ney, without a view to a portion or settlement in life, is not deemed an advancement." I was well acquainted with a man, upon whose education his father had expended a greater sum than ~i" 114 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. V. \ i i!? It . I, 1^ i i I ' upon that of his other children. The former re- funded tlie diiference, as soon as he was enabled to do what he considered an act of justice — not wishing that the iamily harmony should be endangered by any thing like partiality to one of its members. In most countries this would have been thought a re- markable instance of virtue. In I'iUgland the family is sacrificed to the estate ; in France the estate is sacrificed to the family. The Americans have avoided both extremes. They can- not see the justice of giving the whole " mess" to one son, whether he be Reuben or Benjamin. They are in eiTor, however, with respect to our system. They imagine it to be obligatory; and not, as it really is, except in the case of intestacy, or entails, (which are not, like those in Scotland, pci-jietual,) a matter that is regulated by custoiL, and fluctuating as the opinion which upholds it. As soon as the stage arrived at Northampton, I was shewn into the tea-room of the hotel, where I found, among other guests, a young man at table, conversing with a lady opposite to him. When they had both retired, I was informed that they were a new-married couple — a fact of no very great import- ance to a stranger, yet shewing him that young people can comntit matrimony, without letting the whole world know it, by sitting side by side, recijirocating little attentions and whispers, and throwing an air of mystery and restraint around them. Tlie tea, as CHAP, v.] TEA-TABLE. 115 is every where the custom, was made at a side table, and served round to the guests as they wanted it ; while at dinner the next day, the meat was to be carved by the " consumers^'' — thus reversing the natural order of things, giving trouble to those who had something else to do, and saving H where it would not be felt. There were seventeen at table ; and it fell to my lot to cut up one of the joints, (the last comer being always put at the top of the house and the bottom of the table,) so that I had some reason to complain of the inconvenience. There seems to be a sort of superstition about the art of mailing tea — a jnivilege confined to the fair sex. A man may help himself to every thing at the break- fast tabic without exciting sui-prise or remark ; but he must no more presume to pour out the infusion of " China's fragrant leaf," than a lady to fill her glass with the juice of the grape. Not a word was said at table. No doubt the puritans, fi*om whom the people are descended, were men of iew words. By parity of reasoning, they despatched their meals very quickly. They had long graces — they had no time to spare for talking or eating. After dinner, the men retired to a handsome and convenient sit- ting-room, provided with newspapers ; and the " wo- mankind," with their friends, to another apartment, appropriated to their exclusive use. I had some difficulty, after I had exhausted the contents of the journals, in finding any one to con- ii m mm I'M t 11: %: I \ \ % ■!r( 116 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. I hi' I- M' ; \ sii verse with. A young Bostonian, who had been in Europe, had a sort of fellow-feeling for me, and met my advances with much politeness. He was going to Saratoga springs ; and before we parted, he re- commended me to a boarding-house at Boston, and gave me his card as an introduction to the landlady. Northampton is a very pretty town, with hand- some houses, surrounded by gardens laid out some- what in the French style. It would be an excellent place of residence for a man with a large family and a small fortune ; — a sort of domestic antithesis too common with us. The prices of provisions are low. Pork averages from five to six cents the pound dur- ing the year. Beef and mutton about three or four. Veal and lamb a little higher. Eggs ten cents a dozen, and butter twelve cents the pound. Farming men can earn one dollar and a quarter a-day during harvest, exclusive of meals, of which they partake with their employers. The rest of the year the average, with board, is twelve or fourteen dollars a month, washing included. Free blacks are occa- sionally employed by the farmers ; and sometimes even sit down to the same table with the whites. This confinns what I was told in New York, and shews that their services are more wanted in the country than in the towns. When the carpenters struck work at New York, some of the blacks got work from the masters— an additional reason for jealousy to the mechanics. The abuse that is heaped upon " I ('HAP. v.] MOUNT IIOLYOKE. 117 the whole race proves that it is rising in the world. The worst are treated with contempt ; while the better portion are spoken of with a degree of bit- terness, that indicates a disposition to be more angry with their virtues than their vices. It is insufferably disgusting to hear them sneered at as dandy waiters and insolent puppies by men whose ancestors were perhaps transported convicts. Illiberal as this re- mark may be thought, it is surely a very mild recri- mination to treat your forefathers' crimes as a mis- fortune in you, who treat my forefathers' misfortunes as a crime in me*. Every stranger, as a matter of course, pays a visit to Mount Ilolyoke before he leaves Northampton, from which it is distant about three miles. The road lies through the " flats ", which are celebrated for their rich alluvial soil. The river is crossed by u ferry, which is worked by two horses by means of a horizontal wheel -a sort of tread-mill that puts two paddles, similar to those of a steam-boat, into motion. The view from the mountain, which is se- paratcd by the Connecticut below, at the distance of 1200 feet, from its twin-brother Tom, is very nol)le and imposing— commanding an extent of vision, on a fine day, of 100 miles. 'Ihe Stales of IVIassachu- * " The doscendants of pedlars talking about rank ! and those of exported paupers, or felons perhaps, gathering to them- selves respect, because of the virtues of their ancestors." Nile's Register, 1831. jy ' m p X 118 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. I 'h i 1! Ill f( ^ I 't ! setts, Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire are visible from licnce. The river, which is rather less than a quarter of a mile in breadth, runs, in a very in-egular current, towards the sea, and, fonniug a singular curve, presents one of the most striking features of the scenery. Such is the concourse of visitors to this far-famed spot, that a miserable log- hut on the summit, a sort of tavern for selling re- freshments, is let at 150 dollars during the season. The average number of daily pilgrims in the sum- mer is about 100. 1 left Northampton on the 16th, at three, a.m., for Boston, and amved at that place about eight in the evening. The road was good ; and, if we had not changed our vehicle three times during the journey, and stopped at the various post-offices for the bags, and at the hotels for refreshment, we should have got in much sooner. The iirst fifteen miles were perfomied in an hour and forty minutes. The distance is ninety-four miles. The passengers were inclined to be sociable ; ano, as it was a fine day, and the country not uninteresting, the journey passed off pleasantly enough. An English coachman would have been somewhat amused with the appearance of the stage and the costume of the driver. The for- mer was similar to some that are common enough in France, though not known on our side of the chan- nel. It was on leathern springs ; the boot and the hind part being appropriated to the luggage, while CHAP, v.] STAGE AND DRIVER. 119 the box was occupied by two passengers in addition to the " conducteur," and as many on the roof. On the top, secured by an iron rail, were some of the tmnks and boxes, and inside were places for nine ; two seats being affixed to the ends, and one, parallel to them, across the middle of the carriage. Our driver sat between two of the oulsides, and when there was but one on the box, over the near wheeler ; and holding the reins, or lines, as he called them, in such a manner as to separate his team into cou- ples, not a-breast, but in a line or tandem lUlshion, drove along with considerable skill and dexterity. When he got down, he fastened the " ribbons " to a ring, or a post in front of the house where he had occasion to pull up. One or two of these jchus w^ere witliout their coats— an undress I was glad to adopt during the heat of the day,--and others in a plain country frock. I sat on the box most part of the time, and had a good deal of conversation with my companion. He was a very pleasant meiTy fel- low. As he at first objected to admit a third to the honor of sitting by his side, I endeavored to joke him into good humor, and very soon succeeded, by laughing at his fun. When 1 asked him, for instance, whether he was full inside ? he replied, with a knt)w- inglook:— "1 guess I am— for I have just had a good dinner." We all laughed heartily. The joke was new to me ; and the others were not in a vein to be nice about novelty. Three young men, who S t , t Mi \h '■! T I I ill 111 I i I ^:fe 120 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. were inside, amused themselves by bowing very gravely and with profound respect, to the old folks, who were sitting at their doors, or looking out of the windows as we passed, and who were puzzling their brains, long after we were out of sight, in try- ing to make out to what acquaintance it could pos- sibly be that they were indebted for this piece of unexpected civility. No one of our party, which was so numerous as to fdl two stages, had any rea- son to complain of its formality. On my arrival, 1 was well received by the lady of the house to which 1 had been directed, and a comfortable bed soon made me forget the fatigues of the day. The next morning I went out to call upon some persons whom 1 had known at New York ; and, on my way, met one of them, lie was going to the Athenaeum — a literary institution well provided with papers, and other i)ublications, and an extensive li- brary. After I had looked over the establishment under his guidance, and had had my name inscribed in due form as a visitt)r, 1 took my leave of him, and went in search of my English friends. Having with some difRculty found them, we went together in the evening to hear a ])ublic lecture on the subject of slavery. The (piestion \vas clearly stated and ably discussed, as far as the principle, on which the sys- tem is founded, is involved. The remainder of the discourse was deferred to the next and a subsequent meeting. The orator's manner was rather more de- ^i CHAP, v.] FREE BLACKS. 121 clamatoiy, and accompanied with more gesticula- tion tlian we arc accustomed to in England. The matter, however, was excellent; the aiTangement and the reasoning clear and conclusive ; and the spirit that breathed throughout such as evinced an earnest conviction and a steady purpose. Ihc audience was profoundly attentive, and both numer- ous and respectable enough to justify the hope of a more speedy settlement of this difficult question than the enemies and pretended friends of freedom arewilHng to admit. The business of the eveninc- commenced and ended with a prayer from the lee! turer, (a minister of the Congregationahsts,) and a hymn from a school of colored children, who were stationed in the gallery under the care of their mis- tress. There were several of the same race present • all oi them decent in their dress and decorous in their behavior. Some of them appeared to be in easy circumstances. There are fewer of them in Boston tlian in New York ; but they arc not better treated. One of them complained to me that he had experienced great difficulty in obtaining an em ployment in which he could get his bread decently and respectably : with the exception of one or two employed as printers, one blacksmith, and one shoe- maker, there are no colored mechanics in the city ^ Even a license for keeping a Innise of relieshme nt IS refused, under some frivolous or v(^xatious pre tcnce ; though the same can easily be ,,rocured bv VOL. I. ^ (J V 11: . ft F u ' 'I M l;. ff I 122 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. a white man of an inferior condition and with less wealth. The insults heaped upon these unoffending kind-hearted creatures are of such a nature as would not be credited in England or in any other part of Europe. " Free blacks," says the African Repository, " are a greater nuisance than even slaves themselves." " There is not a State in the Union not at this mo- ment groaning under the evil of this class of persons — a curse and a contagion wherever they reside." This publication is the organ of the Colonization Society — a professed friend of this people, that of- fers them benefits and insults with the same hand ; when their acceptance of them would be the strongest proof, that the former were throwTi away, and the latter fairly merited. Well may its opponents say that it will rivet the chains of the slave ; since its success, as well as its origin, is connected with that abject state, ill .v'hich the planter keeps the manumitted black, whose condition it is his policy to assimilate as much as possible to that of bondage — as an ex- cuse for the continuance of the one, and to render the other less desirable. The breeder of slaves for sale has an interest against the increase of his " cat- tle " beyond what will give a profitable return. The buyer has an interest directly the reverse. Hence the Colonization Society, which holds out the hope of sending tie surplus numbers to Liberia, finds a zealous friend in Virginia, and a detennined foe in Louisiana. The retributive hand of Providence CHAP, v.] PREJUDICE. 123 may be traced in the proceedings of this Association. It has united the friends of tlie black man, and sown dissension among his enemies ; it has converted the indignation, that its attempt to deceive had excited, into zeal for the cause of its victims ; it has attracted the attention of Europe to matters which, for a long time, might have escaped or eluded observation: and, finally, it has produced a re-action in the public mind, that will not rest contented with the exposure of its iniquities. I trust, and I believe, that there are many of those, who entertain contemptuous opinions of their darker brethren, quite unconsc'ous of their injustice and absurdity. They see the prisons and penitentiaries crowded with them, and are not aware that they are driven into them by their " poverty" and not their " will." They forget, or know nci, that they have often to struggle with temptations and obstacles, that the ordinary share of human fortitude and for- bearance cannot resist or remove. They are as little acquainted with them, as our peers with our scaven- gers, or our fine ladies with their scullions. If, as servants, they are honest and civil, they look upoii them as exceptions, that serve to prove the general character, and bright spots, that shew the darkness and deformity of the general mass. At the anti- slavery meeting there were three or four hundred persons present ; chiefly from that class of society, that constitutes its foundation and strength, and by g2 i Liii 124 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES, [CHAP. V. which all great national changes are commenced or consummated. The next night I attended a meeting of the rival society. According to the advertisement, it was to take place at eight o'clock in the evening ; but, after half an hour and moie had elapsed, not more than thirty people had assembled, and some of them from curiosity alone ; as a man behind rac asked me what was the object of the meeting. After a good deal of mysterious whispering and prejmration, Mr. Gurley, the secretary of the Colonization Society rose : "oculos pauliim tellure remotos sustulit;" and explained, in a very embarrassed and hesitating manner, the purpose for which they had been called together. A crisis, he said, had arrived in the af- fairs of the institution ; the calls on its bounty far exceeded the funds at its disposal ; and, unless " the elements of public opinion with regard to the colored people," which were now so strong, were embodied in a more effective form, the colony must retrograde or be abandoned, " comparatively speaking." He complained that the subject had produced " an un- fortunate excitement"; that he had devoted the best years of his life to the cause ; and most pathetically observed that sooner than " go over to the doctrines of the ullva-abolitionists ", he would be contented to lay his head beneath the ruins of an enterprise so im]K)rtant and benevolent. Having expressed a hoj)e that Boston would support her character, by CHAP, v.] COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 1-25 opening her heart and her purse-strings to the im- poverished friends of Africa and her children, he sat down, « qiialis ab incepto," confused and dejected. He was followed, after a short pause, by the chair- man—if chairman he might be called, who sat on one of the cross benches : and a similar appeal, in the same tone and manner, was made to the as- sembly. Another and a longer pause now en- sued, when a third speaker, with somewhat more self-possession, took the floor, and entered more fully into the question. All I could gather from his speech was, that the opposition, which had sprung up against them, was unintelligible in its motives and weak in its influence ; that he and his co-adju- tors were the real friends of the blacks, bond and free ; that many of the latter were anxiously waiting for emigration to "the land of their fathers;" that they were men of excellent character and conduct ; and, that if "the extreme want of means" were not speedily supplied, the society must pause in its operations, and the opportunity of relieving the Southern States from their apprehensions would be lost for ever. It was now getting late, and, as the chainnan observed, for the second or third time, no specific proposition had been made, when a middle- aged man, who had the organ of self-esteem " pretty considerably" developed, left his seat, and rushed at once into a stream of impassioned eloquence, more 1' ..u jji. .lam ^a i ! 126 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. suited to the warmth of his feelings than the rules of oratory. He was fortunately, (for I was beginning to get impatient,) unable to sustain himself at the elevation to which he had mounted so rapidly, and was, therefore, compelled to descend to humble prose and offer a resolution, which, after some little debate, was ultimately adopted unanimously. Its purport was that a committee of thirteen should be formed, to collect subscriptions to the amount of 5,000 dollars in Boston and its vicinity. Some one suggested that the subscriptions should be annual, as that mode of obtaining money would be as easy as the other. As this was the only thing I had heard in which I could most cordially concur, I took my departure ; fully satisfied that the bubble would soon burst, and that the " American Colonization Society" had received a blou: which would ulti- mately cany it into the limbo of vanity*. i^'j * Among these orators, so eager to expel " a degraded and inferior race " from the land of their birth, was one, who is said to be the author of a work entitled, " America, or a general survey," &c. The following is a passage from it : "It would seem, from even a slight examination, that the blacks (whether of the African or Asiatic race) have not only a fair right to be considered as naturally equal to men of any other color, but are even not without some plausible pretensions to a claim of Huperioritif." Again : " If any race have a right, on the fair and honorable ground of talents displayed and benefits conferred. CHAP, v.] BLACKS LONG-LIVED. 127 The impudence of these pseudo-philanthropists, in asserting that Africa is the home of the Africo- American, is most astonishing; well known as the fact is, that this part of the population, in spite of the great destruction of life in the sugar-grounds of Louisiana and the rice-fields of South Carolina, in- creases more rapidly than the whites : that, though but one-fifth of the nation, there are four times as many of them, who live beyond the age of 100, as tliere ai-e of the "pale-faced" race; i. e. for every white above 100 years of age, there would be, were their numbers equal, 20 blacks ; and that, conse- quently, the soil and climate of their native country are more congenial to them than to those of Eu- ropean descent. When the Spartan slaves became ti-oublesome by their numbers, they were hunted down, and knocked on the head, like wild beasts. The American helots are goaded by prejudice and it is precisely this very one, which we take upon us, in the pride of a temporary superiority, to stam^ with the brand of essential degradation." The modest motto of this work i§ : " O matre pulchra filia pulchrior !" It is amusing to see how personal vanity assumes the garb of patriotism; and, while it thhiks it is merely paying a just tribute to national glory, is seeking its own gratification. Even the smile, which this weakness elicits, proceeds from the same feel. iU ll i v! wmmmmmmmmm ■•^ i 1 1 i\ ! t. 128 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. proscription into "voluntary" exile, and are shipped off by their Christian brethren for a distant shore, to struggle with a tropical sun, a barbarous people, and a pestilential cUmate. All this is done that the increase of the black population may be kept down to that exact point, which shall quiet the fears, and secure the profits, of the slave-owner ; while the New Englander lends his aid to this cruel policy, and talks about abolishing slavery, with the same self-complacent inconsistency with which the phi- lanthropist sweetens his tea with free-labor sugar, w^hile he lulls his cares with the fumes of slave- grown tobacco. Men will bear much and long before they make up their minds to quit their native land for ever, and seek an unhealthy settlement among the most ignorant and uncivilized tribes. To say that these people are " willing " emigrants to Africa, is to acknowledge, that they are driven by injustice and cruelty from America. July 22d. The weather was oppressively hot. The thermometer stood in the shade at 92, and in one place at 94. The air seemed to have passed through a furnace. It was more than my constitution could bear, though I w^as assured, by w^ay of consolation, that the second summer is more trying to an Eu- ropean in America than the first. It was fortunate, however, that I had fallen into good hands ; and that the few wants I had were supplied by the people of 1' <^-L CHAP, v.] DR. SPURZHEIM. 129 Id e. the house with gi-eat kindness and soHcitude. My Bostonian friends, too, called frequently to see how I was, and to offer me their services. One of them took me out several times in his gig, to enjoy tlie fresh air, and the beautiful scenery with whicli the neighborhood of the city abounds. It was in this house that Dr. Spurzheim breathed liis last, on the 10th of November in the preceding year. He had been for some time in a very weak and nervous state ; and, when first attacked by the illness which carried him off, seemed to foresee its termination, and persisted, through its successive stages, in de- clining medical assistance. Some opium he had taken to counteract what he thought too violent an operation of a slight aperient, is supposed to have accelerated his end. He met his death with {^leat calmness and composure ; prepared, by habitual resignation and self-government, for the extinction of those faculiies, whicli he had dedicated to the service of his fellow-creatures. The lectures lu; gave at Boston on his favorite subject were well attended ; and he had a fair prospect before him of obtaining, by his exertions, an independent and an honorable competency. It was his intention to re- turn to P^urope ; and the feeling, to whicli he most fondly clung, and which he gave up with the greatest reluctance, was the hope of again meeting his liiends at Paris, and passing the remainder of his days among i1 ' h mmm I 130 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. I ' !l V I I I, t;fM his early attachments and associations. A short time before his death, he received two letters from France ; but was too much affected by their contents to finish their perusal. His manner was reserved and dejected; and he seemed to be oppressed by some painfiil recollection or anticipation. It was probably the loss of his wife that so much affected him ; as he was strongly attached to her, and felt deeply the absence of those delicate attentions and affectionate regards, which render home the refuge and comforter of the sick man, and which his well- known dislike of giving trouble would not allow him to exact or expect fi'om any but the nearest relative. Though he had resided but a short time at Boston, he was respected by all, who were acquainted with his public character, and beloved by those, who had had an opportunity of witnessing the uniform bene- volence of his disposition, and his unassuming de- meanor. The servant, who waited upon him diuing his illness, spoke of him to me as of some superior being ; so deeply had he been impressed with a sense of his worth. This, after all, is the sincerest and the most valuable testimony; for it is in the presence of this portion of society that a man's natural cha- racter is best seen. It is before them that he lays aside the restraint, that caution or etiquette requires from him before his equals, and strips from his real features the mask of " the hero " or of the philo- CHAP, v.] DR. SPURZHEIM. 131 sopher. Dr. Spurzheira was fifty-six years of age at tlie time of his death. Professor Follen of Cambridge, in his interesting tribute to the memory of his countryman, says, that when he was asked " what peculiar effect his system had had on his own mind, he said, that, without it, he would have been a misanthrope ; — that the knowledge of human nature had taught him to love, respect, and pity his fellow-beings." Dr. Spurzheim observed, that the Americans paid more attention to the controversies, which had sprung out of the Christian religion, than to its influence over the practical duties of life : and that he never experienced so much restraint in the expression of his opinions under monarchical governments, as he had felt in a country where republican freedom is supposed to exist. Every one, who has resided saxy length of time in the United States, will admit the justice of these remarks. You may traverse the ^'^hole globe, and not find on its surface so many men and women, who make their own opinions in matters of faith the stand:trd of orthodoxy, and shelter the suggestions of their ow/v. conceit under the name of piety and the sanction oi the church, which they have honored with their adherence and allegiance. The heat continued to be very oppressive; the thermometer rising at one time to ninety-eight. In the evening of the same day it fell to seventy-six. I «, via ■ -1 i I 'Hi ■PR 132 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. ; \ I ' I was told that one day, the year before, there had been a difference of more than forty degrees in the course of four hours. While lying in bed one night, unable to get any sleep from its effects, I heard one of the lodgers let himself into the house between twelve and one o'clock, and close the front door again without fastening it or turning the key. The door remained in that state all night. It would be no easy matter to find in Europe a city of sixty or seventy thousand inhabitants, where locks and bolts are not thought necessary against midnight intruders. It was a connnon practice to leave the entrance thus unprotected. — Another circumstance that was men- tioned to me shews that the peoi)le are honest, or the police extremely vigilant. It is customary for the market people from the country to leave at the doors of the inhabitants the provisions that had been ordered of them. This is often done at an early hour. The hackney coaches are perfect models of neat- ness and cleanliness ; and have all the appearance of private carnages : — such carriages I mean as we see in Paris or London ; for an American gentle- man would be puzzled to find a coachman who would take such care of the carpets and cushions within, and the panels and harness without. They do not stand for hire in the streets, as at New York, but remain on the premises of the proprietors, till CHAP, v.] ARISTOCRACY OF THE SKIN. 133 ill tliey are wanted. Tlieir jiricc, wlien regulated by time, is about a dollar an hour. Tlie owner of one of them, that attracted my attention as it stood at a door while I was passing, very civilly answered my inquiries about the trade. The people of lioston are, indeed, as civil and obliging as any I ever saw. One person took me through his house to direct me on my way to a street I wanted to find; and another sent her boy with mc to point out a house I was looking for in the neighbourhood. How far the aristocracy of the skin is carried in this pious city, may bo seen by a curious document that was putintomyhandsby an abolitionist. A free black, some fc . years ago, came into possession of a pew in one of the churches here. It was the only thing he could obtain from a man who was unable, or un- willing, to pay a legal claim he had upon him. Having furnished it, he ofl'ered it for sale. Not finding a purchaser at the price he demanded, — and few would be likely to give the full value for what no one imagined the owner would dare to make use of, — he determined to occupy it himself; — whether he was unconscious of the offence he was about to give, or thought he might as well speculate upon the white man's pride, as, it would seem, the whit(! man liad speculated upon his submissiveness. The sen- sation produced by his unexpected appearance among the favored children of Nature in the very sancium sanctorum of their distinctions, can be described by m J! i' l| 'I 7= msm n ft- II I i S i f 1 134 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. if: I those only who witnessed it. The next Sunday, he took his wife and children with him. — Tt should be observed that the colored people are not admitted to places of worship, except to small pews or boxes set apart expressly for them, and so placed that they can hear without offending the fastidious delicacy of the congregation. — At Albany, there is one where a curtain is placed in front to conceal the occupants, when there are any ; for those for whom they are destined, seldom enter them, and speak of them with the contempt they deserve, as " martin -holes " and " human menageries." It was now high time that notice should be taken of this contumacious spirit ; and the intruder received the two following notes. " Mr. Brinsley. <( SIR, " If you have any pew-furniture in pew No. 38, Park Street Meeting-house, you will remove it this afternoon. " GEORGE ODIORNE, for the Committee. '« March 6, 1830." With the above was a copy of a note, written the day before to this Agent of the Committee, in these words. " DEAR SIR, ** Pew No. 38 in Park Street Church is let to Mr. Andi'ew Ellison. " Yours respectfully, "J. BUMSTEAD." I i CHAP, v.] ARISTOCRACY OF THE SKIN. 135 3se to The other letter was addressed " to Mr. Frederick Brinsley, colored mau, Elm Street ;" the contents are as follow. " Boston, March G, 1830. " Mr. Frederick Brinsley. " SIR, " The Prudential committee of Park Street Church, notify you not to occupy any pew on the lower floor of Park Street Meeting-house on any Sabbath, or on any other day, during the time of Divine worship, after this date — and, if you go there, with such intent, you will hazard the consequences. Tlie pews in the upper galleries are at your service. •' GEORGE ODIORNE, for the Committee." Mr. Brinsley, on going again, found a constable at the pew-door. No further attempt was made to assert the rights of property against such a formid- able combination ; and we may seek in vain for the consequences, which Mr. Odiorne, with official bre- vity, says, would have been hazarded by another visit to the house of God. The offender is now re- moved from this scene of persecution and mortifi- cation, to a place " where the wicked cease from troubling and the weaiy arc at rest." A similar circumstance occurred some years ago, when the question was tried in a court of justice, and decided in favor of the plaintiff — a colored man of the name of Joshua Jviston. He had sued for damages against certain persons, who had ejected ;M f'i'il 1 1 •>! i 'T 1 136 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. him from his pew, or rather had rendered it useless to him. Having purchased seats in a Baptist church, recently erected in the town of Randolph, in the State of Massachusetts, he found, on going thither one Sunday with liis family, that the seats had been removed. They, accordingly, sat down as well as they could on the flooring. The next Sunday, nothing but the ground being left for their accommo- dation, the party were obliged to stand up during the service. The enemy, finding that these repeated inconveniences were unavailing, coveted the place with pitch and tar. He was satisfied with the victory he had obtained, and shewed his superiority to this petty vulgar malice by not insisting on his right. He never entered the church again. While I was at Boston, a cause was about to be tried in a court of justice, for a breach of contract. The com- jdainant — a Brazilian, had been a major in the service of his native country, from which he was driven by political dissensions. He endeavored to obtain employment at Haiti ; and, subsequently at the Cavaccas, whence, distrusting the sincerity of Bo- livar, he came to the United States; this being his second visit. He was driven from a boarding- house, where he had been admitted on his arrival, to a miserable lodging, which he left for a private house; and was keei)ing a store when the circumstances, that gave rise to the litigation, occurred. In the month of November preceding,lie wa* going upon business to 1 CHAP, v.] ILL TREATMENT OF A BRAZILIAN. 137 Nantucket, and had reached New Bedford, where he took places in the steara-boat for his wife and himself. The boat was to start at ten next day : — at six, he sent his horse and gig on board ; when, from the negli- gence of the captain of the vessel, the poor animal was precipitated into the water, and would have been lost, had not the owner exerted himself to save it ;— * no one, for some time, offering any assistance. When, at last, the animal had been rescued, he was compelled to pay twenty dollars for the trouble it had given. At noon, the vessel left the place ; — a heavy rain came on ; and his wife descended with an infant at her breast, into the cabin ; where she was stopped, and informed, that she must not enter, because she was a negro. There were, at the time, but two women, of the lowest description, in the room. It was in vain that her husband remonstrated against the injustice of refusing him an accommo- dation, for which he had agreed to pay the same as the other passengers. The captain was inexorable and insulting; and, though two Americans, who were ])rescnt, interceded in his behalf, and handed Mrs. Mundrucu down a second time, she was obliged to return on deck, and expose her health (for she was very unwell at the time) and the life of her child, to the inclemency of the weather, which was such, in addition to a lliick iog, that the steam-boat returned to New liedfitrd. The next day the Bra- zilian party were refused admittance into the boat i .1 IILIMJ.-Iii il i '„. 138 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. and their luggage, together with the horse and gig, were left on shore. These particulars I received from the man himself and from his wife — a very good-looking respectable mulatto. From one of his counsel, Mr. Child, a man whom to know is to esteem, I had some anecdotes — and he told me he knew many others of the same kind, — that shewed how undeserving he was of such treatment. When first he commenced business in the city, he became acquainted with a Polish refugee, whose " necessi- ties " were " yet greater " than his own. He as- sisted him to the utmost of his power, and gave him a new suit of clothes out of his store. Though fully sensible how inexcusable is the cruelty with which prejudice, unequalled by any thing in his own country, has stamped the black man as an inferior being, yet he would never consent to take Mr. Child's arm, while walking vvith him in the street ; lest such an instance of uncommon liberality should bring reproach or odium on his kind-hearted friend. At the risk of being tedious, I will mention another trait of generosity in this man. He had, not long before, retained the same counsel in an action he was about to bring against the editor of a newspaper for a libel ; when, having received an anonymous letter, advising him to apply for some money owed to him by a person about to fail, and finding, or suspecting, that his libeller and his cor- respondent were one and the same, he declared that I \ I I CHAP, v.] TREATY WITH BRAZIL. 139 he would proceed no further against him. It must be very galling to a man who is fit for any society - anywhere, — for such I found him, — to be insulted by the lowest blackguard, for no other reaso'n than that Nature gave him a brown complexion, and his own industry has given him a good coat to his back. While relating his story to me, he expressed himself with great propriety upon the subject, and exhibited a degree of forbearance, that added not a little to the interest attached to his situation. The Court of Common Pleas, in which this cause was tried, gave judgement in favor of the plaintiff, with 125 dollars damages ; but, on appeal to the Supreme Court, the decision was set aside. It would be difficult to reconcile these proceedings with the Twelfth Article of the Treaty of Peace, made on the 18th of March, 1829, (to be in force for twelve years,) between the United States and the Brazils. By that article, " Both the contracting parties promise and engage formally to give their special protection to the per- sons and property of the citizens and subjects of each other, of all occupations, who may be in their terri- tories, subject to the jurisdiction of the one or the otlier, transient or dwelling therein, leaving open and free to them the tribunals of justice for their judicial intercourse on the same terms wliich are usual and cus- tomary with the natives and citizens or subjects of the comitry in which they may be ; for which they may employ, in defence of their rights, such advocates," Pi lit ^»^^;: I i! mMH I I 140 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. V. &c. Whether apphcable to this case or not, this Article would have been openly violated, had Major Mundrucu gone to Charleston in South Carolina ; as he would have been imprisoned immediately by a law of that State, directed against the introduction of colored persons. When last I saw INIundrucu, he was about to quit the country on his return to his native land, having been recalled and reinstated, not only as regarded his rank, but the arrears of pay due to him. I pointed out the above Article to him ; and he said he would bring it under the notice of his government. He had appealed from the State courts to the Federal court ; but the matter would probably be dropped, as his residence in North America was shortly to cease. Among the many mistakes and misrepresentations, that have been published with regard to the manners and customs of the country, are two, that a very little observation and inquiry will detect. One, to which I have before alluded, is, that estates are cut to pieces by the law of descent, or lost to the family altogether in a couple of generations. This is so far from being the case, that antiquity of possession sometimes goes further back, relatively, than with us. Not, however, that this is any benefit to the community, for, as Sir John Sinclair says, in his Statistical Account of Scotland, " It has often been observed (though there are many exceptions to the rule) that, when a family has long been in possession il CHAP, v.] ANTIQUITY OF POSSESSION. 141 ions, Unevs very to cut imily o far ssion with the his been the sion of an estate, it is apt to be neglected ; whereas one, which frequently changes its master, becomes in reality an object of comracce, and every new pro- prietor endeavors to im \ove it." AVe call it an old family that can trace back an unintenupted descent from the Conquest. Some of our American relatives can trace to the flrst settlement of the countrv, when individual possessions were unknown. Mr. Joshua Coffin, of Newbury, in Massachusetts, a name with which Sir Isaac, to whom he is, I believe, distantly related, has made us familiar, has an estate which has been in his family very nearly two centmies ; and some of his neighbors, he told me, were of equal and of older standing. An estate in Long Island, belonging to the family of the recorder of New York, (Mr. lliker,) has descended regidarly from father to son for about two centuries. I had the fact from his sister. She added, a singular cir- cumstance, that the estate had usually, I believe I may say uniformly, been transmitted to the youngest son of the immediate occupant. The elder, it ap- pears, liad been successively sent from home, and provided for in difi'erent professions and employ- ments ; and the last, to whom the care of the farm thus fell, continued to cultivate it after the father's deatli : and the claims of the rest were settled by an arrangement satisfactory to all parties. Equal par- tition takes place in the case of intestacy alone ; and then "If the inheritance will not beai* partition, 'I 5| i i: ' > 1 t lli'^ 1 ,! I '1 I t If ■ i M ¥ 142 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. without injury to the parties in interest, the eldest heir, in some of the States, is judiciously allowed to take the whole estate to himself, on paying to the other heirs an equivalent for their shares in money." Kent's Com. iv. 385. The other circumstance referred to is the condi- tion of American servants, who are said to be uni- versally idle and insolent. My own experience convinced me that this opinion is entitled to no more credit than the other. At the house where I boarded I found the man, who waited at table, parti- cularly attentive. I had little occasion to ask for any thing ; as he was sure to observe what I was in the habit of taking at meals, or might want at any other time, and was ready to supply me. He was very active and obsen^ant ; and performed what he had to do with alacrity and good will. Two of his predecessors, I was told, were even superior to him in assiduity. One of them saved a thousand dollars in service ; and was, when I was at Boston, a mer- chant's clerk, with a fair prospect of rising to a higher station. Vermont and New Hampshire gene- rally supply the New England cities with this class of men. They prove honest, industrious, and pru- dent : and, when they have laid by a little capital, go into business, and raise themselves to a higher, but not a more respectable, rank. Good masters make good servants here as elsewhere ; and those, who complain that there is less distance between the 1 I CHAP, v.] NEW ENGLAND SERVANTS. 143 u ital, but lake vho the parties than there is in an old country, would do well to observe, that the proximity would be dearly exchanged for an estrangement, that might drive one of them into a collusive alliance with dishonest tradesmen. The housekeeper's douceur from the fishmonger, and the butler's per-centage upon the wine-merchant's bill, are extravagant considerations to pay for obsequiousness and servility. Servants are seldom taught here to say one thing and mean another. If a visitor calls upon any one, who does not wish to be seen, he is informed that the master of the house is engaged : " not at home " is not often the answer given. Falsehood and equivocation are odious vices among the country people ; and it would be doing unnecessary violence to the feelings of self-respect, which arc imbibed from early infancy, to make a raw and inexperienced lad the medium of commimicating what, however intelligible to the initiated, would appear to him either an unwarrant- able deception, or a silly deference to a very silly piece of etiquette. This description will not, I fear, apply to tlie large cities. Domestic service is less distasteful to a New-Englander than to a New- Yorker. One reason of the difference may perhaps be found in the circumstance that there are, with the exception of the most menial departments, fewer black servants in the eastern States. After all I had seen and heard during my resi- dence in the country, I was not a little surprised to Si '. rrr^ r^i.XJK ix-j^f^su-^rsyrsi^i^i, j t I ( I- iV «1 J' h 144 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CflAP. V. find ill Walsh's " Appeal", an assertion so un- founded that even those, whose character it is em- ployed to defend in the eyes of the world, must blush for it. " Nothing," he says, " can be more false than the representations of English travellers, concerning the treatment of free blacks by whites in the middle and eastern States. It is not true that they are * excluded from the places of public wor- ship, frequented bj^ the whites ' : — that * the most degraded white will not walk or eat with a negro ' : or that they are * practically slaves'. Their situa- tion as hired domestics, mechanics, or general la- borers, is the same, in all respects, as that of the whites of the same description : they are fed and paid as well; equally exempt from personal violence, and free to change their occuprition and their em- ployer. They approach us as familiarly as persons of the coiTespondent class in England approach their superiovs in rank and wealth ; and, in general, betray much less servility in their tone and carriage." —P. 397.* * Wlio would expect in any publication calling itself" Christ- ian " sucli an unblushing falsehood as the following? — " There are here, thank God ! no castes. We have no classes even, which are confined to the trade, business, or condition of their parents. We start, all of us, on equal terms as to rights and objects. The highest prizes of society are open to universal competition ; and, though in the nature of things, some must fail, the unsuccessful candidate is known only in the result. i CHAP, v.] LYCEUM FOR BLACKS. 145 irist- ["here pven, I their and [ersal Itnust psult. il There are public schools for the blacks at Boston, as well as at New York ; and they are in the same manner denominated "African"; though the chil- dren who attend them, are no more African, than the American children are English; the English Norman ; or the Norman Scandinavian. So far, and so low is this spiteful vulgar distinction carried, that, in the Boston Directory, the names of those, whom it is intended to mortify, are placed by themselves at the end of the book ; — in Philadelphia they are marked with an asterisk. Great and manifest improvement is going on among this portion of the population. They have formed themselves into a Lyceum, or school of mutual instruction, — at one of the meetings of which I was present at eight in the evening. It was held in one of their chapels. Mr, Isaac Coffin, — a staunch and zealous friend of the cause, — with whom I went, delivered a lecture to them on the elementary principles of arithmetic. There were several women among the auditors. They were all very attentive ; and answered, with much propriety, the various ques- tions that incidentally arose during the lecture. The business of the evening commenced with an extem- pore prayer from one of the men. His language was good, and his pronunciation distinct and cor- rect. The sentiments were appropriate to the place No man admits beforehand that he or his children should be put out of the race. There is no impassable bar to fortune, fame, rank or honors." Christian Examiner, March 1830. VOL. I. H W it I f ( ' I iu if i ■ T 'i i .H. ! I 1-16 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. and the occasion ; and the devout manner of all as- sembled was very impressive and interesting. In the coiu.s'^ of the evening, some conversation took place relative to Liberia, the last accounts from which had been very discoiu'aging ; the mortahty among those recently anived at the colony liaving been fright- fully great. The feeling against this inhuman and preposterous scheme of emigration was unanimous, and most deep-rooted. Yet, in the very next day's " U oston Patriot " an adch'css from the committee, formed at the meeting I had a short time before attended, was published, with the object of procuring funds for the Colonization Society, and declaring that " there were numerous respectable persons of color making ai)plication for assistance to emigi-ate." At the head of the signatures to this document stood that of A. H. Everett. The committee modestly asked for 10,000 dollars in aid of their undertaking ; and concluded their " begging letter " by drawing a sort of parallel between the original founders of New England, and those whom they are doing their utmost to drive out of it. " This appeal," they said, " is made in behalf of an afflicted people, seeking, as our fathers once sought, an asylum on a distant and uncivilized shore; where they may secure for themselves, and their posterity, through all time, blessings like those we so highly prize." These peo[)lc forget that they are themselves the persecu- tors ; and that the only heresy the black " pilgrims " CHAP, v.] THE LIBERATOR. 147 secu- lims " liave committed is that of the skin. They forget that non-conformity to an established creed was then a crime everywhere ; and that non-conformity to an established complexion is a crime nowhere — but among themselves. The " honest chronicler," pre- destined to spring from the bosom of Liberia, would do well to borrow Mr. Everett's motto, and expa- tiating on the matchless merits of his beloved mother-land, exclaim : O matrc pulchra jfilia pul- chrior ! That this Society have an instinctive dread of dis- cussion is plain from the conduct of many of its members. When " The Liberator" first made its appearance at Boston, in January 1831, they were willing to support the paper, on condition that it would not oti'er any opposition to their proceedings ; and would submit to the revision of a censorial com- mittee. These tenns were rejected by its conduc ors ; and Garrison and his intrepid coadjutor, Knapp, with whom it had originated, continued the publication with a zeal and perseverance that no opposition could daunt, and no discouragement could relax. They had not a dollar in their exchequer, and were often put to gi'eat shifts in their efforts to obtain printing paper. They worked, night and day, to procure funds, and keep their little bark afloat. I know, from the best authority, that they deprived themselves of every thing but mere necessaries, and had little beyond bread and water to subsist on. h2 my \i ii '-, i 1*1 ■ I it. p §■ 1 I 148 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. V. The result has rewarded their labors. The child of their creation — the Anti-slavery Society, — which first came into existence in 1831, has grown with astonish- ing rapidity. From twelve that gave it being, it numbered, when I was first at Boston, above 2000 members ; and auxiliaries were springing up on every side. Its expenditure has usually exceeded its means ; as other channels have re cived the con- tributions of those who have engaged ii\ the same cause *. The legislature of Georgia, indignant at the attack made upon its legitimate rights by a northern journal, and aware that the State of Mas- sachusetts would not protect its citizens fi:ora any indignity or outrage that hostility to the esta- blished system might bring upon them, passed a resolution, that would, if its spirit had been acted up to, have most efiectually sto])ped the editor's mouth, llis friends were, indeed, for a long time alarmed for his safety, under an appre- hension that he would share the fate of Mor- gan f, for daring to interfere with a matter much • WIkmi I landod at Now York, there wa9, I believe, but one Anti-Sliivcry Society in the United States— the one alhulcd to. i do not speak of the old manumission societies — they have otlier olyects, and employ other moans. When 1 left New York for Enudand, there were at least 150; and their numbers were increasing. t Morgan was the nanu? of a man whose Imprudence In i^- posing the secrets of the Masons, is believed to have cost him CHAP, v.] GEORGIA RESOLUTION. 149 more likely to excite angiy and resentful feelings than any connected with masonry. The State-paper alluded to throws some light on the real condition of that liberty which is supposed to flourish in the favored soil of tlie western world. It is as follows : — " In Senate, Nov. 30, 1831. " Resolved, by the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives of the State of Georgia, in General As- sembly met, that the sum of five thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated, to be paid to any person or persons, who shall arrest, bring to trial, and prosecute to conviction, under the laws of this State, the editor and publisher of a certain paper called the Liberator, published in the town of Boston and State of Massachusetts ; or who shall arrest, &c., any other person or persons who shall utter, publish, or circulate, within the limits of this State, said paper called the Liberator, or any other paper, circular, pamphlet, letter or address of a se- ditious character," &c. [Then follows the authoriza- tion of the Governor to draw on the Treasurer for tlie said sum of 5000 dollars, and to publish the re- solutions in the journals.] " Road and agreed to, " THOS. STOCKS, President." I )i {!' his life. He was carried off from the State of New York, a few years befi^re, by some memliers of t lut society, and never was seen or heard of acain. 1 .•f miiiinismiwi; nwmitiTw II ! i 150 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. After the attestations of the clerk, and the Speaker of the House of llejiresentatives, comes the signature of the Governor, Wilson Lum]>kin*. This l)ull, it is well known, was thundered at Gar- rison ; who, in the early part ol" tiie preceding year, had been sentenced in Baltimore, lo a fnie of fifty dollars, with costs oi" prosecution, for "a gross and malicious libel," published in his " Genius of Uni- versal Emancipation", against Francis 'J'odd .nd Nicholas Brown, owner and captain of a vessel, litted out at Ncwburypori in Massachusetts f(.r New Orleans, It had been their intention to take in a cargo ol' slaves at t '*i nore Ibr the latter city; and it M'as lor stigmatisnig these citizens of a " free State," where slavery is said to be held in abhor- rence, as "enemies of their own s])ecies," " liighway robbers and murderers," that the guilt of "" calling ;.i spade a spade" was punished l)y im]>ris(tnnientin the common jail of Baltimore^ — ihe iine alli\»d to the ,1 1 I f: * E»|iml attention w.t.^ paid duiiiit' tlic session 'o c(jninil)ial rights and tlw risihts of proptTty : twiMity-onr art- of divurco having hcen passed hy tho iegislatun'. In iHiJW, flu>re were twouty-wven. In Missouri, another slav*' Mtale. there were forty-nine divorces a year or two hack — prett} well for a popu- lation of whites under 115,000, mi 1h:Jo: An act of this kind, among other*;, was granted ni Mississippi, m IHyt*, heeause the petitioners eould not liv<> happily together- -" thr happiness of the people "—as tlie pr^amhle 'Velared-— •" Siting the ultintate end and ohject of all go' 'Uinenl* CHAP. V.J CRUELTY IN THE SOUTH. 151 crime being beyond the means of the criminal. He was subsequently released by the generosity of Mr. Arthur Tappan, of New York, — the firm and munifi- cent friend of the black man. It was proved, on the trial, that eighty-eight slaves (not seventy-five, as Ganison had stated) were taken in between Bal- timore and AnnapoHs, in Maryland ; a new clearance having been obtained at the hitltr place. The southerners n'ill not allow any one from the other States to interfere with what they consider vvitiiin their own exclusive jurisdiction. A Bos- tonian travelling not long ago in one of the slave States with his wife, met a ncgi'o in a cart. The poor fellow, overcome by the intense heat of the day, was leaning forward, as if hah'asloo]), when the driver^ as he passed him, stnick him with his whip across the face with such violence, that one of his eyes was either torn from the ocket or so nuich in- jured as to bleed most profusely. The New Eng- l.mders were indignant at this wanton barbarity ; and the husband — a very humane, but a very high- sj)irited man — expostulated rather wannly with the brute ; when lie was danui'd for a Yankee, and told to niiiid his own affairs, and not interfere with pi!0])le who had a right to do what they liked with the ifif/f/ct's. The well-meant a|)j)eal operated like Don (iuixote's intercession in favor of the boy whom his master was Hogging. The driver, during the rest 1 . 1 ''\' m i ■ ' ^ WW It 5! i ^m! 152 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. of the journey, lashed at every man of color he could reach with his whip. The villages about "Boston are very prettily si- tuated, and abound in fine views and picturesque scenery in greater variety probably than any other city of the Union. I had the pleasure of seeing some of them through the kindness of a friend, who took me with him in his open carriage, among several places, to Brooklyne, where there are some country residences belonging to the merchants of the city. Conspicuous above the rest were two, be- longing to two brothers of the name of Perkins ; to one of whom the public is indebted for the Athenaeum ; and to the other for the Blind Asylum. The way in which the latter donation was made was very judi- cious. The house — worth 30,000 dollars — was given as an institution for the purpose, on condition that 50,000 dollars should be raised by voluntary sub- scriptions within a certain time. The appropriation had just been made; and the contributions already exceeded the sum required. There was a fair or bazaar upon the occasion, when the ladies of Boston attended to dispose of the toys and trinkets and other articles they had made, or taken in charge, for the benefit of the charity. A little squib, that had reference either to this or some other meeting, had appeared, when I was there, and, as it depicted the personal peculiarities CHAP, v.] MBS. CHILD. 153 ,ies of some of the actors and actresses in the scene, it had given great offence to the parties concerned, and excited an extraordinary sensation everywhere. I looked over the publication — a little dialogue or drama of a few meagre pages ; and a more vulgar insipid performance I scarcely ever read — equally deficient in point, humor, and imagination. It was a coarse farcical picture of oddities that no one would care to see exhibited in others or attributed to himself, nothing indicative of character, good or bad, being connected with them. Yet, to hear what was said on the subject, one would have thought that the author had violated the sanctities of domes- tic life, and deser\'ed to be kicked out of society for a wanton breach of its most sacred obligations. Satire and caricature must be unknown, where a trifle so thoroughly insignificant can survive a week's notice, or extend beyond the limits of a country town. On my return from Brooklyne, I spent the re- mainder of the day at Mr. Child's, whose lady's writings are well known in England, where they are much admired. She had just completed a Hitle work on slavery, — a book that had not only given offence to some of her aristocratical friends, but was likely to affect her interests (if, where there is so much principle, there can be any pecuniary interests felt) as an author. Hints had been given to her, that her devotion to an unpopo' ir cause would II 3 w ■ ^^' iH r . 154 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. alienate some of her friends — I should say her ac- quaintances — from her. These considerations would not, however, have the slightest effect in altering the course of conduct prescribed to her by a sense of duty, as she was as little likely to abandon any ob- ject from the fear of censure, as to pursue it from the love of prdise. Pierpont, — whose " First-Class Book " had been discontinued in the schools at the south, because it contained " Webster's Remarks on the Slave Trade," and Cowper's beautiful verses on Slaveiy, — very considerately asked her whether she did not expect to be treated in the same way as himself for a similar want of prudence. American literature may be characterised, in ge- neral, as timid or mercenary, or both, in the silence it observes, or the defence it takes up on this topic. We, who breathe the air of liberty and liberality in England, and can openly express our abhorrence of the system, careless of the ridicule and resentment of its advocates, can form but a very inadequate conception of the moral intrepidity and strength of mind it requires to stem the toiTent of prejudice, — to brave the sneers and sarcasms of the worldly, — to face the cold looks of our intimate friends, — to be branded as fanatics and firebrands, — to be openly accused of a wish to loosen the bonds of our coun- try's union, and to risk, in the defence of rights withheld or denied, all the annoyances and petty persecutions that self-interest, and envy, and malice, !! I f 'ill CHAP, v.] COLORED PREACHER. 155 I and the consciousness of a mean subserviency to the vilest customs can suggest, to " the great vulgar and the small." All these, and more, will, I doubt not, be nobly and cheerfully borne by a woman, who has done honor to her sex, by being the first and the foremost to dedicate her time and her ta- lents to the honorable task of rescuing it fi'om the disgi'ace of having so long viewed with apathy and silence the unutterable brutalities by which their helpless and harmless sisters have been tortured and degraded in the slave-states of North America. On returning to my lodgings, after midnight, 1 found the window on the ground floor open, and tlie front door unlocked. Leaving every thing as I found it, I retired to my chamber, and slept with the door open, with no other fears than my hospitable friend's lobster presented to my dreaming fancy. The next Sunday there was si great a crowd at Christchurch, to which I went in the evening, that I had some difficulty in getting a seat. A well dressed man, in one of the pews, observing my cm- ban'assment, very civilly gave up his place to me, and insisted upon standing in the aisle. Tlie cause of this assemblage was the unusual appearance of a black nmn in the ])ulpit. J lis object in ju'caching was to procure funds for assisting him to liquidate a debt of 1100 dollars, with ;vhich the churcli he officiated in at Baltimore was encumbered. Ho had received episcopal ordination, and had been rcgu- I k\\ '. il ii' w 1 i Ml 1: 'II 156 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. larly appointed to a colored congregation in that city. The ser\uce was well performed; and the sermon, which was sensible, impressive, and well delivered, was listened to with much attention. Yet, though thus permitted to address a white audience, and treated with respect by the proper officers of the church, he was shamefully insulted on his return home. I was behind him and the clergyman of the church where he had preached, both of them in gowns, as is the custom with the Episcopal clergy, when half a dozen young men, whose dress denoted something like respectability, thinking a colored man in canonicals a fit object of ridicule for a Sab- bath evening in the orderly city of Boston, burst out into a loud laugh as he passed, and stopping to en- joy the amusement at their leisure, cracked their jokes upon him in the most pointed and offensive manner. I could not restrain the indignation 1 felt ; and tuiTiing towards them, I enquired what he had done to offend them, that he should be so insulted. They made no reply — but sneaked off, and shewed they had still some shame left. There were two other persons with me ; but they said nothing, hoping that a transaction so discreditable to the manners of the place would have escaped observa- tion. The next day I had an opportunity of conversing with the stranger, who proved to be a very shrewd and intelligent man. He put into my hands the ■i CHAP, v.] COLORED PREACHER. 157 ) I testimonial, or letter of recommendation, with which he had been furnished on leaving Baltimore to seek assistance in the middle and Eastern States. It was signed by the ministers of three Episcopalian churches and a domestic missionary in Baltimore, and stated that his object in soliciting aid was highly useful and praiseworthy. " It may be well to add," they said, " that Mr. Levington serves the parish of which he is rector gratuitously ; receiving his whole support from his school ; and that the payment of the small debt still due for the building occupied by his church and school, will leave him, without em- barrassment, to prosecute the important interest to which he is devoted." They spoke of him as " a prudent pious man, of reputable intelligence and sound judgement." Scanty as his resources were from his school, they were re idered less productive than they might hav3 been, by the unjust and unconstitutional law of the State, prohibiting the introduction of colored per- sons from without. In consequence of this iniqui- tous enactment, he had lost several pupils that were offered to him. For one of them, — the daughter of a respectable man at Albany, who, as well as his wife, had been educated by him, — he would have had 100 dollars a-year ; but he was compelled to decline re- ceiving her into his house. He related to me several instances of insult and indignity to which his color '1, i\ ^J»i ;■ I 1 > il ; i' 1 1 11 H % 4. hi f 1C2 TOT'U IN THE rNITF.D STATFS. [chap. V. ))rin(ij)l(Ml person ! Hy llii' revised statutes of Illinois (1H20), whites niarrvin^ negroes or nuiliittoes, are to be \vliij)pe(l, lined, and iuijmsoned ; and the mamage to he ipso facto null and void. Illinois is called a Tree State : she decreed at tho sam(! lime, that " any person who shall disturb the peace and good order of society by labor or amuse- ment on the first day of the Aveel<, (S:e., shall be fined — not exceeding five dollars." What broad phylacteries these pious peo])lc nuist have' I visited but few of the public institutions of Hijston, owing to causes, which, as they refer to personal ailments, are ecpially unfit to be recorded, and un])leasant to be reu:eml)cr(;(l. One of these institutions was the lunatic asyhnu, about a mile from Boston — an establislnnenl well situated and well conducted. The view from the house towards the city on the opposite side of the water, is very agreeable and cheerfid. There is a good garden attached to it with separate grounds for ))aliejits of both sexes in the ditferent stages of their com- plaint. There were forty-fiv(; men and thirty women there at the time. Tin; ])hysician (who is also .siiperinl( ndent) was out, but his son took my com- panion (an American gentlenian) an(' myself over the establishment, and e.xplaini'd with nuu'h polite- ness, the arrangements of the building an»l the mode of treatment, which did not a])])ear t(> have any striking peculiarity in it. He told us, that about CHAP, v.] LINATIC ASYLUM. 163 two-thirds of Uk cases were cured. Tlie pro])ortion had recently increased, as the rehictanc<' to send relatives to such establishments was decliiiiii^^, since greater confidence had begun to prevail in the ira])roved system of treaittuient, a?rnd more rational notions of what is due to a da^f* of sufferers, who are too often sacrificed to p#id<' aiKJ nvarice. The chance of recovery, it is well kii< wn, i« in an inverse ratio to the duration of the disi ase. About half a million of dollars had U».en laid out upon the institution. Forty thousj«n4 were orij^inally voted by the l<>gislaturc for the Mupose, on con- dition that 100,000 should be raised l>y subscription. The sum stipulated for was advanced ; and sub- sequent donations liave been added ; one, amount- ing to 100,000 dollars by the will of a benefactor, in honor of whom the place is called the M'Lean Asylum. It is connected with the IJoston llos))ital, and is, with that, under the management of a board of twelve trustees, and the ins])ection of a board of iiv(^ lisitors. The latter consists of tlie Governor, and Lieutenant-Governor of the State, the IVesident of the Senate, the Sjx-akir of the House of Represent- atives, and the Chaplains of the two houses. Tht; forjjier, wlutse services are gratuitous, are elected annually, four by the visitors, and the rest by the governors oi" the hospital. A conunittic, formed from this body, visit the asylum once every week, for the pmi)ose of seeing that the inmates are m ;t S !« *i *t . e country at an early age; and having received some in- struction from the ]»ers (l % 166 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. M t| ' 11 I ;i M duction that was honored with the praises of Jefferson, and has very lately made its rc-ai)pcarance in a new form, and with a biographieal memoir of its author. There is a copy in the library. In the preface, it is stated, that she had received but cif^hteen months' education in reading, when she could read, with great })r()j>riety and clearness, certain parts of the New 'J'estament " lo the astonishment of the be- holders." This expression marks emphatically the low estimalicm in which the African intellect was held at that time. She was in Londcm whence the donation is dated, when she was ]irescnied with Milton's ])()cm. She returned to IJoston, where she died in great distress, having married very unfor- tunately. After \wY death, her books were sold to pay her husband's debts ; and her copy of the Paradise Lost was presented to Harvard College, in March 1824, by Dudley Pickman, of Salem, in Mas- sachusetts. The donor doubtless ex])ected that the learned pundits of Cambridge would shew this won- derful j)rodiu;tion " as we shew an ape " in ^iUropc. Among the arcana of the library is a MS. edition of llipjiocrates, of such exquisite finish that it would l)e almost im])ossible to distinguish it from printing. Jl is i'ar superior to the imitations ol' (lie same characters by Porson. The writing was the work of an J'-nglish school-master of the name ofTliomasen. It was given to the coll(>ge by Dr. Nicholls, who sent it over from England. My guide told mc there w as an- CHAP, v.] GREEK MANTSCRIPT. 167 . t other spociiiien of the kind by the same haiu] at tlie British Museuin in the Oxford coHection ol" MSS.* Having heard from my English friends, wlio had now <[uittcd Boston, that there was a very interesting school in the town for coUired chil- (h'enf, under the care of a young woman of the name of I'aui, whose management of the })U])ils they had been highly pleased with ; I called at her mother's, and was inibrmed that her daughter was in the country. Some circumstances connected with her journey had given Mrs. Paul great uneasiness. * Till' work ho alhuled to is in the Ilarlciaii Miscellany at the British Miisciun, anil is marked G.'H.5. It is in folio. It is a inaniisiri|tt i(i()y of Pindar, and is j)rol)ably the most beantifiil imitation of Greek type in existence. Prefixed is a letter to the Bislioj) of Chester, dated " Tarvin, near Chester, December :U, 17-25," and sijined " .lohn Thomaseii." It was at the Ruiiiiestion «»f tlie former Rishop of the diocese that he had actpiired the art, of which this incomparable specimen remains, as " the i»nly means in his power to help out a small income, and make himself so far known as to be removed (if possible) into some less fatiguinv character. Her brother — a very respectable and clever lad — was entered at the grammar-school at liostcm : but the opposition to his admission was such, that, though very desirous of studying the dead languages, as a preparation to a higher employment than that he was engaged in, he was induced, by the advice of the Mayor, to withdraw. Some time after this, a nmlatto from Nassau, in New Providence, a mem- ber of the legislature, who was travelling in the United States, told me he had been much distressed by the insults lie had met with. He covdd not comprehend the reason. On taking his place from VOL. I. I H i, i #1 t I 1 1 170 TOl'R IN THE rXITED STATE8. [CHAP. V. ■ I Boston to Providence, the book-keeper, who had registered his name, tore it out in his presence, because he dechned riding outside. At another office, the driver agreed to take him up at his lodgings. After waiting in vain for him, he had no resource but to hire a private carriage, whicli cost him 17 dollars. The fare by the stage is not more than two or three. In the evening, I accompanied a party on an ex- cursion to Mount Auburn, where a cemetery, about five miles from liostcni, has been laid out in imitation of Pere la Chaise. Should the simj)le and appro- priate embellishments, of which this ])lacc is sus- cejitible, corres])ond with what has already been done, it may, without any stretch of fancy, be pre- dicted, that the child will be no disgrace to the parent. There are about 100 acres enclosed; and part has been appropriated to the projected object, by small allotments of land, which have been pur- chased for J'amily vaults. The ground is well wooded ; and ])aths have been made so as to shew the un- dulations and inequalities of its surface to the greatest advantage. A few monvunenls have been erected; and when a sufficient number lias been added to throw an air of interest and solenmity upon the pic- tures([ue scenery around, the effect will be such as to imju'ess the visitor with those feelings which sucli a s])ot is calculated to ])roducc. The gi-ouud was consecrated in Sept. 1831, and is CHAP, v.] MOUNT AUBURN. 171 ,o ij» now in possession of the Horticultural Society, of which any one who purchases an allotment by the payment of sixty dollars, becomes a member. As this is a chartered company, and the legislature has exempted these jiortions from attachment for debt, and the owners are empowered to dispose of them, there is the best security that the place will be pro- perly kept up, and the sacred character of its destin- ation preserved. At present there are too few emblems of mortality to arrest attention or impose restraint. Parties of pleasure come hither from the city in great number every day. No less than 600 visitors had bf^en tliere on one day the preceding week. When the cemetery is comjileted, and the novelty of tlie thing is w(mi off, a visit to this hallowed spot will call up reflections and associations more impressive and permanent. The place is not well secured against " body snatchers," who cany on a very prolUable trade in this part of the country — as much as 100 dollars having been given for a sidyect. Stone-N aults and iron-doors will not easily batHe such adventuivrs. The odium in whiv.b thi» vile, yet necessaiy trade is held, is sv> inveterate, that few peopK' would scruple to shvH>t the invader of the totwK One of these midnight niaraud(>rs was followed for upwards of forty miles, and narrowly escaped the vengeance of his pursuer. A recent law of the State, apprt)prialing I 3 u 1 .1 i.i i Hi !! 17-2 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. the unclaimed bodies of all who die in the public institutions to dissection, will do more to eradicate this band of outlaws than any throats of punish- ment, public or private, directed against robbing the gi'ave, or having dead bodies in one's possession. This enactment is very unpopular, as if it favored the rich, while in fact, it protects the ])oor, who were most exposed, under the former system, to be stolen when dead, by the " resurrection-men," and mangled while living, by luiskilful surgeons. The wealthy could hire watchmen for the grave, and pur- chase tho best medical assistance for the sick room. The poor could do neither. Exhumation is punished with great severity in the State of Vermont ; the pe- nalty being, in aggravated cases, 1000 dollars' fine, and imprisonment for ten years. Two young men of the name of Daggett — one of them a student of medicine, were sentenced there lately, to three years' imprisonment, and a fine of 500 dt)llars with costs of prosecution, for disinten'ing a dead body. About fifteen miles from Boston, at the extremity of a peninsula wliich forms part of the bay, is Na- hant, a small watering-place, a favorite resort for the city " folk." A friend, to whose kindness I am in- debted for similar acts of jiolitencss, took me over in his carriage to see the place. It stands on a rocky promontory, and commands some fine sea-views. The steam-boat, which plies regularly bcjtwecn lios- f I CHAP, v.] NAHANT. 173 ton and Nahant, (Sundays not excepted,) brings them into close contact, and affords, after the business of the day, to the merchants and professional men, the delights of country air in the midst of their fami- lies. There are several hotels and boarding-houses, generally crammed during the season. We went into one of them to see the billiard-room. There we found ])arties of men engaged in the game — there were two or three tables — and among them one soli- tary female, surrounded by the rougher sex, and exhibiting a degree of adroitness in knocking the balls about almost as remarkable as her self-posses- sion and ease, under circumstances that would cover a young lady in Europe with confusion and embar- rassment. There were at least a dozen men present : and others were continually coming in and out — yet the liiir Achilles parried the jokes of the ])y- standers, and the attacks of her adversary, with t'qual spirit and readiness ; and would not have betrayed her sex at the sight of jewels or laces ; nor thrown down the weapon in her hand for all the " armoiu" " of the toilette. She was young and good- looknig ; and her sister, who had not long been married, was considered the belle of the place. This exhibition of independence among the young women, is one of the most striking features to be observed in the manners and customs at places of jniblie resort in the United States. Chaque nation a ses usages; but we cannot f(n'get Madame Dacier's in- VOL. I. it 1\ ' II *'i , m o o G o ^ 7] .■^v*' ^J" on /A IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 |;^|28 |50 '"^™ I.I 1.25 ^ liL 1. ^ UUu 1.4 2.5 in 2.0 = 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation // % -^ ^^ S. "^ rV ^ :\ v \ ^ <>A ^ 6^ «!> 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4503 ^\P i , o\ , I ftS 171 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. scription * in the German album, and must agree v/ith her, that reserve is one of the brightest ornaments in the fair sex. My companion, who was engaged to dine with the Humane Society, introduced nie to some ladies, with whom I passed the rest of the day very agree- ably till our return. They were well-bred, well- informed Avomen ; and had travelled a good deal in Europe. They amused me much with the descrip- tion they gave of the extraordinary ignorance they found among the English, of every thing Ame- rican. They spoke, however, favorably, as all Ame- ricans that I have seen, do, who have been there, of their reception in England. The testimony of travellers from both nations is on this point fully reciprocated. The ladies had not long been returned from a visit to the South, and represented that part of the Union as undisguisedly hostile towards the other. " Confusion to New England", was a toast given one day in a convivial party, in presence of a lady from the North. They had a white servant with them ; and, as he was the only man of his color who waited at table, the rest being slaves, much surprise and displeasure were I'elt, at the house where they boarded in Richmond, at the unusual spectacle of a freeman among the helots. One per- son present exclaimed, in a transport of fury against what these self-created nobles consider an infringc- I tHAP. v.] MOCK HEROIC. 175 L ment of man's dignity, — " It makes my blood boil in my %-t'ins to see a white man standing behind a chair." One circnm stance, mentioned by these ladies, as having particularly struck them in England, — and indeed I have often heard the remark by others, — seems to afford a key to a very curious passage in the American Quarterly Review (1827). As it af- fords a fine specimen of the mock-heroic, 1 will give it at full length ; premising that the connecting link between the ladies at Nahant and the writer in Phi- ladelphia, is the notion entertained among the uneducated classes in the old country, that the inhabitants of the new are all black or dark-colored. " The chief part of our countiymen conscien- tiously believe that a mixture of the two races would deteriorate both our physical and intellectual cha- racter. Of this hypothesis we give no opinion. It, however, does not want arguments both of reason and authority to support it ; but, whether it be true or false, so long as it prevails among our citizens, they will view with aversion and dread what must subject all of their country and race to a lasting physical de- basement *. Nor can they be expected to be indif- ferent to the future jeers and scoffs of the unmixed European race on either side of the Atlantic ; who, with the ever-ready disposition of mankind, to claim • Horo, as far at least as regards the physical character, the Reviewer assumes as true the very hypothesis upon which he iiiad just before said he would give no opinion. 176 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. a merit from any peculiarity of their own, would twit them \vith the ignominy of their descent." It is unnecessary to point out the extreme ab- surdity of declaring hostility to the spirit of ridicule; at the moment of inviting its shafts by the display, in all its malignity and sensitiveness, of the " ever- ready disposition " which gives it its existence and amusement. If the feelings here described be really national, it would be difficult to say which was most disgi'accful : — the imputation of such a silly taste for jeering, or the dread of becoming its victim. To escape the embarrassment of this conting(!ncy, the Reviewer recommends that nearly one-fifth of the whole population should be expatriated: — O fortes, pejoraque passi ! — eras ingens itcrabimus aequor ! What a dilemma for a great nation ! To tremble at the idea both of insurrection and of amalgama- tion ; and to shrink equally ii'om the resentment and from the love of the African race ! There are several Episcopal churches in Bos- ton. The first 1 attended was the Trinity Church (so called, as many would say, who look upon the congregation as heretics, like " common sense " because it is uncommon). It is a neat and very convenient building ; — the pews, as well as the aisle, carpeted ; and the galleries so placed on each side, as to obstruct neither the light nor the sound. Over the entrance is the organ ; and opposite, ad- CHAP, v.] EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 177 joining the wall, the reading-desk and pulpit : below them the connnunion-table, on that spot where the parish clerk, with us, sits in all the dignity of the squire's old black coat, and makes the responses mechanically. That office is perfonned in the Ame- rican Episcopal churches by the congregation. It happened to be a sacrament day ; and there was a • goodly, yet modest, display of plate. The clergy- man, who officiated, was dressed as his brethren are in England ; and descended, at the proper time, to read the Communion service at the table below. The liturgy was nearly the same as ours, with some few alterations, adapted to the political institutions of the country, and the existing state of delicacy with which some expressions in our ritual are not quite in accordance. It was announced, ^jreviously to the reading of the Litany, that the prayers of the congre- gation were requested for two sick persons. A sepa- rate prayer, appropriated to this object, was offered up, after the Litany, in which tlie words, occurring to mat effect in ours, were omitted. The singing, as 1 found in most of the places of worship I attended, was good. The glorification was sung, not between the psalms, but at their conclusion only. As for the sermon, it was, to my cars, perfectly unintelligible ; pai'tly oning to the affected pronunciation of the preacher, and partly to his dropping ti\e termination of his sentences and syllables in a low and abrupt voice. This was the more perplexing.^ as he had I 3 I i ■ »i 3' I 178 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. read the service very distinctly. On conversing afterwards with one or two persons on the subject, I perceived that the unvarying repetition of the same words every Sunday was becoming, as it is else- where, unpalatable to many, \nth whom the finest composition in profane prose or poetry would lose the greatest part of its beauty, if often read or re- cited, and cease to command attention, or leave any permanent impression. Bishoprics are very different things among the de- scendants of the pilgrims from rvhat they arc in other places ; and perhaps there may be an equal differ- ence in the motives for accepting them. The pre- decessor of the minister I heard at Trinity Church gave up his rectory, which was worth between 3000 and 4000 dollars per annum, and was appointed to a bishopric, which was said to be scarcely more than so many hundreds. Such instances of a pure mind, uninfluenced by mean and mercenary feelings, are, I was told, less rare than they may sound to ears ac- customed to tales of a very opposite character — well known histories, that tell us preferment means a higher stipend ; and translation signifies removal to a richer see. The oldest Episcopal church in New England is King's Chapel, at Boston. The proprietors made, in 1785, some alterations in the Liturgy, in accord- ance with Dr. Samuel Clarke's suggestions, and con- tinued the use of the Common Prayer thus revised r 4 CHAP, v.] EPISCOPACY. 179 f i till 1811, when further changes took place. In 1787, the congi'egation ordained Mr. Freeman ; Bishop Pro- vost of New York, to whom application had been made for that purpose, not having returned a satis- factory reply. This iiTegular mode of proceeding, as might have been foreseen, gave rise to a shaip con- troversy; and the Divine, thus uncanonically ap- pointed, undenvent a sort of excommunication from the pulpits of five sister churches in New Eng- land. The only notice Mr. Freeman took of this document, was to insert a copy of it in the Colum- bian Sentinel. Since the revolution, there have been thirty bi- shops in the American Protestant church. Of these sixteen are now living ; three were consecrated in England, one in Scotland, and the rest in the United States. There are sixty-five students in the General Theological Seminary; eight missionaries employed at home, two in Greece, and one about to be sent to China. Between 1792 and 1832, the Episcopal clergy increased twofold in Connecticut and South Carolina ; fourfold in Massachusetts and Pennsyl- vania, and sevenfold in the State of New York. During the same period, the decrease in Virginia was from sixty-one to fifty-six. In the diocese of New York, there are 1 90 congregations and 183 cler- gymen. Having passed the evening at Mr. Child's, and expressing a wish to see how that portion of the (;.. B 'i ■ I ¥.: "■""""•Vpi III '1.1 f: 180 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. citizens really live, who are condemned to hopeless degradation, he conducted me to the house of a man, with whom he was well acquainted. The owner was ill in bed, and his wife at a religious meeting. On m}^ requesting his boy, who had open- ed the door, to allow us to look over the house, we were shewn into a sitting-room on the ground-floor, well furnished and in good order. Over the fire- place stood a French clock in a glass case with several neat ornaments : the whole bes])eaking the residence of an industrious respectable family. We then went up stairs to visit the invalid. The bed- room corresponded to the one below : — the bedstead of handsome mahogany, imd the rest of the furniture such as one might exi)ect to find in an English tradesman's house. We had a good deal of conver- sation with the sick man, whose language and man- ner were singularly correct and becoming. He tuid us he had caught a chill by sleeping, as he had always done, at his store, which was situated in a damp unhealthy part of the town. He had been in- duced to remain there, during the night, instead of returning home, from an apprehension, that, if a fire should break out in the building, his sons, whom he must have left there, to take care of his goods, would in all probability, be accused of an attempt to burn down the jn-emises. For a similar reason, though his dwelling-house, which he had built himself, had cost him upwards of 1500 dollars, exclusive of the % r CHAP, v.] JEALOUSY OF BLACKS. 181 furniture, he had insured it for 1200 only ; lest, in case of fire, accidents from which are very frequent in all the large cities, he should meet with some difficulty in recovering the amount of his loss fiom the insurers. Upon my companion asking him how one of his friends, whom he named, was getting on, — " very badly," was his reply ; " he can get but little employment, as the whites will not work with him." The poor fellow was a carpenter. This is a fair specimen of the encouragement given to Africo- American industry ! A committee of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts recommended, in 18-21, that some law should be passed against the introduction of free blacks from the south ; whence they were likely to be driven by harsh laws. Georgia, it was stated, had taxed every free negro twenty dollars annually. Among other things in this report was an apprehen- sion that these people wouid, if admitted into the State, " substitute themselves in many labors and occupations, which, in the end, it would be more advantageous to have perfonned by the whites and native population of the State," — a very remarkable testimony to the industry and enterprise of this class from those who represent them as incorrigibly idle and vicious. If they are so, why dread their com- petition ? if they are not so, why deprive the com- munity of their services ? When 1 took this man by the hand and sat by his bed-side, I could not com- *li I. ri I vff '■''■ 'l !,i 'I 1 m M. •/ I *'.i MS i "i 182 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. V. prehend how any one that professes the rehgion of" kindness and humility can think himself degraded if he take a chair in a sick negro's house I rlli. . ] I. ^i On the 3d of August, I left Boston by the stage at eleven a.m., and arrived at Providence, in Rhode Island, (about foity-tv,omiles,)at sixin the afternoon. One of the passengers was a Yankee, (as the New-Eng- hmders are exclusively called,) who had been resid- ing some time in Georgia. After a long silence, which I had inten-uptcd two or three times by vain attempts to jjromote conversation, my neighbor from the south observed to me that he was surprised to find the doctrines of nullification liad made so much progress in the north. In reply, I said tjiat the objection to ])rotccting duties seemed to me, from the different discussions I had heard on the subject, to be confined to the principle. He assured me that such was by no means the case : — that the I. * CHAP. VI.] AMERICAN LANGUAGE. 185 question would shortly be aj^itated more warmly tlianevor; and that nothing would satisfy the non- manufacturing States but a total change of system or a separation. This bugbear of ludlification is likely to be knocked on the head in a quicker and a more (juict way than by lowering the import duties, or arming the executive with summary powers. South Carolina has herself set up factories ; and will, if she can work them profitably with slaves, be as little hostile to the tariff as she was at its fust introduc- tion. Turning abruptly to another topic, my fellow traveller observed, that the dangerous experiment, which England was making with her colonies, had so much alarmed the slave States, that the species of property most likely to be affected by it had fall- en twenty per cent. The planters, he said, would have no objection to emancipation, if it were accom- panied by compensation. I felt as little inclined to discuss this matter as the former. To say that our slaves have been emancipated, while they are still compelled to labor, is an abuse of terms ; and to talk of compensation, when the toils and sufferings of the injured are still unremuneratcd and unrequited, is something worse. This man amused me much by telling me, by way of compliment, that I was almost the only Englishman he had ever met, who could speak American cor- '1 f If ■v. I ii lit i \^ '5Jf< -'i I t 186 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. Vh rectly : — " I believe/' he added, " I should say — English." M. Jourdain could not have been more astonished, when he discovered he had been speaking prose all his life, without knowing it, than I was at this piece of information. I was no judge of my friend's "American :" as for his " English", it certainly was none of the best. It is not every American, in- deed, who speaks our language granunatically. Per- haps our rules are too strict: a man would pro- bably be more at his ease who could " lay" or " lie" ad libitum: — to " set " might perhaps be more con- venient than to "sit" down: — jwtsotis need not be so fastidious as to reject a verb singular ; relatives ought to be equally welcome whether in the nomina- tive or the accusative, and the present tense is as good any day as the past. The next day, I walked up to an establishment for education belonging to the Quakers, who have selected a spot remarkable for a fine air and a noble prospect ; the view, on ascending the hill, which over- looks the town, takes in as great a variety of beautiful objects as can well be met with anywhere. Adjoining the school is the Dexter Asylum for the Poor — so calied in honor of the fomider Ebenezer 11. Dexter, who bequeathed a farm of forty acres and 60,000 dollars, a few years back, for the use and benefit of the poor of the city of Providence. The institution is under % I J CHAP. VI,] PAUPER ASYLUM. 187 the inspection of the Town Council, who appoint one of their own body to visit it every week. The buildings were completed in 1828; and the average number of poor in the establishment is 100 of both sexes ; the female being rather more nume- rous. The superintendant took me over the house, and shewed me the rooms, which were clean and in good order ; the kitchen being wcll-fumislied with an excellent range and other apparatus for cooking. The blacks, who form a large proportion of the in- mates, take their meals and work with the whites : — whether this regulation is to be ascribed to a more liberal spirit than generally prevails elsewhere, or to a desire of making a retreat to the alms-house more repulsive and degrading in the eyes of those who might feel disposed to prefer its accommodations to scanty fare at home, 1 did not inquire. It was by mere chance that I entered the house, having gone thither to ask the way to the school, and accepted the invitation of the keeper of the establishment to step in. He was very civil in answering my queries, and remarkably clear-headed and sensible in his opinions on the subject of pauperism. The com- forts to be found there, he said, were often superior to what a hard-working mechanic could obtain in his own house. Almost all, who were under his care, had fallen into distress through their own impru- dence, and cliiefly from habits of intemperance. When misfortune come.s uncxi)cclcdly and unde- '«.i it ^■I n hi mmmm ; w 188 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. servedly on the industrious and prudent, the chari- table sympathy of neighbors usually supplies a suf- ficient fund for its relief: any pennanent provision for poverty deadens these feelings, relaxes the efibrts of the indigent to recover or retain thei^ station in life, and merges the wish to secure a.^sistance, by conciliating respect, in the expectation of partaking, whatever may happen, of the relief which imprudent generosity holds out to the good and bad alike. Such being the result of experience everywhere, he thought the tendency inherent in such institutions, as that under his care, to produce the veiy evil they profess *,o remove, ought to be checked *. 1 1 , I t ■. f* I \ ; ■(■ 1 1 « '( I * The keeper's observations upon the impolicy of interfering with the principle that connects the wellbeing of every man with his own exertions, corresponds exactly with the testimony of those in our own country, who can best appreciate, as they suf- fer the most by it. " During the last session," (says Mr. Tidcl Pratt,) " Mr. Slaney brought in a bill for the purpose of sanc- tioning the formation of societies for the relief of members when out of employment. At his instance, I made incjuiries amongst s(.me of the most intelligent and respectable of the laboring ria-sses, as to what should be the extent of allowance to those who were out of work. I suggested to the parties that one-half the usual wages might be a proper allowance. The vnumimous reply of all the operatives with whom 1 conversed on the sul>- ject was, tiiat an allowance of one-third would b? ample; and that more than that would only induce the members to continiu' on the society rather than endeavour to find work." Report of the Poor Law Commissioner*, p. 232. CHAP. VI.] FKIENDS' SCHOOL. 189 From this ]3lacc I proceeded to the Friends' School, which stood within a short distance, and was re- ceived with much politeness by Mr. John Griscom, whose name is well known to men of science in Em'ope. There were about 1()0 boys and girls in the establishment, which is divided into sejiarate parts for their accommodation. The tenns are very reasonable, being but O'O dollars a year, and 100 for those who study Latin and Greek. The editions in use are coiTected and cleared of those passages which describe so minutely the state of ancient manners, and which are still retained in some of our mos't fashionable schools, to the great benefit and edifica- tion of youth. There is a philosophical apparatus for the students of physical science. The establish- ment originated in the bequest of an individual; — successive doi *ions have been added, and it is hoped that it will eventually fuHil the anticipations of its friends and supporters. jNIr. Griscom had been but a short time at the head of the institution. The population of Providence was upwards of 16,000 at the last census ; and probably exceeds •20,000 at present. Of these, 1500 or 1000 are co- lored. The latter, I was told by a person well ac- quainted with them, are a respectable class ; and superior in their houses and habits of life, to men of the same rank among the whites. Here, however, as at every other place, they are pre\ ented by the prejudices of their fellow countrymen from engaging Si. 1 i '. fif f !■ , i i i t'» in ft 190 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. in many occupations, by which they might be enabled to raise themseh^es to an equality with them, and provide a more honorable asylum in sickness or old age, than the poor-house can afford. They have, however, a few friends, who do honor to the city of Providence by their disinterested exertions in behalf of a persecuted race. Most of them are young men, and unfortunately not of the wealthy class. They ai'e subject to much obloquy and abuse. One of them had already suffered for his zeal in a kindred cause, and had been compelled to give up the business in which he was engaged. He was a baker; and having joined a Temperance society, many of his customers, who were connected with the spirit trade, would no longer deal with him, and refused to eat his bread because he refused to drink their brandy ; thus shev ing that the consumer of the staff of life is not necessarily " dependent " upon the producer — unless the latter be a foreigner. Among the abolitionists, with whom I became ac- quainted through a letter of introduction, was one who had resided a long time in Georgia. The ac- counts he gave me of the cruelties he had witnessed in that State, were more dreadful than the narratives we had so often from our West Indian cuh.nies — tales of woe ridiculed by the planters and their paid agents, and discredited by those who are now striving to gain " golden opinions " from the British nation, by a shew of kindness towards the objects of of CHAP. VI.] SOUTHERN MORALS. 191 its generous S}aiipathy. Of these atrocities I need say nothing. Of the depravity that must prevail where slavery exists, one example of the many I heard is too chiu'acteristic of the system to be omitted. A black Baptist minister, of the name of Andi'ew Marshall, and possessed of property sup- posed to be worth 30,000 or 40,000 dollars, was living at Savannah with his wife and his chil- dren — the latter, with their mother, were his slaves. A planter in the neighbourhood solicited this man's daughter to live with him. She refused ; and, when lu-gcd by her father to accept the offer, alleged as a reason for not complying with their joint impor- tunities, that her affections were engaged to a co- lored man, whom she had promised to marry. Her plea and her entreaties were equally unavailing. The wretch sold her to the less guilty seducer ; and she was living, when my informant left the place, with her master ; having had a family of nine chil- dren by him : — all slaves, destined to share the fate of their mother, and be sold, perhaps in the same way, by their father*. (3n the 5th of August, I left Providence by the stage for Brooklyn in Connecticut, on my way to * All tho particulars of this case were afterwards related to me by a man I met at New York, who knew the parties well, and corroborated the above statement, with the addition of facts still more revolting. 1 i > 'i 1 ! . " ■ ■ 1 |i ?|i '! I: j 1 192 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. Cantevbiiry, where a lady of the name of Crandall, — a name lliat had been heard in every hamlet and house throughout the Union,— had set up a school for colored girls. My object, in thus going out of my road, was to see what could have caused so much ire to the liberal minds (animis ccclestibus) of repub- lican America. ^ The road through which we passed was hilly, and the soil i)oor and rocl ' f ^^'^ 1 1 1 1,: ! , hi T 1 H I I il f' 1, ( n il u I (' ; i 'i i i'i 204 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. sliglit degree of interest in the friends of the Pariah caste, and a much greater degree of alarm among its enemies, as it may lead to consequences destruct- ive of the contemptuous ascendancy assumed by the latter. Among the many letters of condolence, and congratulation, and abuse which Miss Crandall had received, was one with this remarkable superscrip- tion : — " To Miss Prudence Crandall, (inhumanly and de- spotically imprisoned by a people calling themselves freemen,) Brooklyn, &c." The Montreal postmark was upon it ; but, as " private " was written inside, the writer's name was not mentioned to me. Such proceedings might well excite indignation in a free country like Canada. After all the ink shed in prose and verse about this little establishment, it must occasion a smile to hear that nothing like rivalry with " fashionable ladies " could ever be promoted by it ; that none of the ornamental branches of education were taught there ; and the utmost ever contemplated was to afford the simple accomplishments of reading, writ- ing, and arithmetic ; with a general knowledge of common subjects. To qualify its inmates by these, and the aid of religious principles, for the active duties of life ; and raise, by their example and in- fluence, an unhappy race from a state of degradation and despondency, to brighter hopes, and a more honorable rank in society, is the only crime that has ^•**w. CHAP. VI.] TRIAL OF SCHOOL-MISTRESS. 205 ever, witli the least shadow of truth, been imputed to the " village school-mistress " and her friends. Mr. Judson, whose name occurs most frequently in tliis business, as the chief actor, is the lawver and great man of the place. Soon after ho had dis- played so much zeal in the same cause as that which the Colonization Society have undertaken, he was elected Secretary of the Windham County Coloniza- tion Society ; — an appropriate reward for his ser\ices. Miss Crandall's trial came on at Brooklyn in August. Judge Eaton, who tried her, was one of the committee of the legislature that drew up the law under which she was indicted. He charged the jury three times to convict her ; and evinced throughout a marked spirit of hostility against her*. Five of the jury were for her, and seven against her each time. As they could not agree, she was discharged. The second trial I i.i V 1 I * The judges in Connecticut are appointed by the legislative power ; and, if I mistake not, are, with the exception of those in the supreme and superior courts, who hold office (juam diu se bene gesserint, removable on an address to the executive by two- thirds of t! e two houses of assembly. " If the legislature," says Daniel Webster, " may remove judges at pleasure, assigning no cause for such removal, of course it is not to be expected that they would often find decisions against the constitutionality of their cwn acts, if the legislature should unhappily be in a temper to do a violent thing, it would probably be in a temper, to take "are to see that the bench of justice was so constituted as to agree with it in opinion." Webster's Speeches, p. 220. ' !l 206 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. ought to have taken place in December following before the same judge ; but, in October, she was indicted under a new writ, and brought before Judge Daggett, who was well known, both for his attach- ment to the colonization-cause, and for the active part he had taken against a projected college for colored young men at Ncwhaven, the University of which, it was alleged, would be injured by its esta- blishment. It was not likely, therefore, that the question at issue would meet with an impartial and unbiassed consideration in that quarter*. The pri- soner was convicted ; and appealed, from the sen- tence, to the Court of Errors, where the original proceedings were quashed on the ground of an alleged infonnality — a very convenient loop-hole to creep out at. The law, under which Miss Crandall was aiTaigned, is as follows: !■! It i * How far the judges are inclined to be subservient to tlie legislature, (or whatever may be the appointing power,) may be seen in the case of Judge Clayton, whose example would inform them what price they nmst pay for independence. He was dismissed from his office in Georgia for the opinion he had given in favor of the Cherokees — an opinion confirmed by the high authority of Chancellor Kent, who thus expressed himself in a letter to him, dated Oct. 13, 1831. " I am most entirely persuaded that the Cherokee title to the sole use and undis- turbed enjoyment of their mines is as entire and perfect as to any part of their lands, or as to any use of them whatever." CHAP. VI.] LAW AGAINST EDUCATION. 207 i£ " Whereas attempts have been made to establish literary institutions in this State, for the instruction of colored persons belonging to other states and countries, which [meaning, probably, the attempts] would tend to the great increase of the colored population of the State, and thereby to the injury of the people : therefore it is enacted, that no person shall set up or establish, in this State, any school, academy, or literary institution, for the instruction or education of colored persons, who are not inha- bitants of this State, nor [or] instruct or teach in any school, academy, or literary institution ; or har- bor or board, for the purpose of attending or being taught or instructed [meaning, probably, harbor for the purpose of teaching] in any such school, any colored person not an inhabitant of any town in this State, without the consent, in writing, fust obtained of the majority of the civil authority and select men of the town, where such school is situated [to be situated] on penalty," &c. It was at first proposed to enforce an old law against Miss Crandall ; but its " damnatory clauses " went too far even for the I tier I y these people wish to exercise. By a similar enactment in llliode Island, the majority of any town may remove from among them any one settled there, if so disposed. Not long ago a Methodist preaqhev took u]) his abode in a country village of that State, and excited. p J [' ';i til /if!!'' m itl M wm J :! 1 : I I' f: 208 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. by his sermons, a spirit of great animosity among the people. They notified to the town clerk their wish that he should forthwith quit, or be expelled at the cart's tail. The man in office had happily more discretion than his neighbours ; and the intruder, though fully aware of the light in which he was viewed, remained. An old law of Connecticut, dated 1650, says : " no master of a familye shall give interteinment or habie- tation to any younge man to sojoume in his familye, but by the allowance of the inhabitants of the towne where he dwells, under the penalty of twenty shil- lings per week." It was reserved for the nineteenth century, and the town of Canterbury, to exclude females. The whole question turns upon one point; — whether blacks (a term that includes all the various shades of color) can be citizens. Mr. Justice Dag- gett maintained that they are not citizens, and quoted, in support of his dictum, the opinion of Chancellor Kent. The passage cited, however, is very far from confirming the position thus assumed. It is to be found in his 2d vol., p. 250. " In most of the United States there is a distinction, in respect to political privileges, between free wliite persons, and free colored persons of African blood : and, in no part of the country, do the latter, in point of fact, participate equally with the whites, in the exercise of civil and m *s. CHAP. VI.] WHO ARE CITIZENS. 209 political rights. The African race arc essentially a degraded caste *, of inferior rank and condition in society. Mannages are forbidden between them and whites in some of the States ; and, when not actually contrary to law, they are revolting, and regarded as an offence against public decorum." Tlie commentator then refers to the Statutes of Illinois and Massachusetts which I have before quoted, and proceeds : " A similar statute-provision exists in Virginia, and in North Carolina. Such con- nexions in France and Germany constitute the de- graded state of concubinage, which is known in the civil law ;" (the learned author means that such con- nexions are analogous to what are classed, under the civil law, under the term concubinage; not that marriage between blacks and whites is prohibited in France or Gennany — no such absm-d restriction * If by the word "essentially " be meant a distinction founded in nature, the author contradicts here what he said at the New York State Convention, that " the distinction of color was un- known in Europe." If he intended to say, that the minds of his countrymen are essentially imbued with a feeling that op- poses itself to the elevation of the class alluded to, he merely asserts what every body knows, and what, he must be well aware, is connected with causes, that explain its existence, while they demonstrate its injustice. The ex-chancellor is too shrewd a man to misunderstand the text in Tacitus : " proprium humani generis odisse quem la'seris :"— and too good a man to look for its commentary in his own bosom. What must be the force of prejudice, when such a mind can bend before it! ^1? ;l. I'. ! lil ! :! t :i i 1 i 210 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. V ; being known in either.) " But they are not legal mamages, because the parties want the equality of state or condition, which is essential to the contract." The author has declared, in another passage, that " Indians never can be made citizens"; but, he is so far from asserting the same of tlie people in ques- tion that he says, in tlie 1st vol. page 215 of his Commentaries, and in the 2d vol. page 71, directly the reverse. In the former he says, " The general qualification of electors of the Assembly, &c., arc, that they be of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and tree resident citizens, &c. In some of the States they arc required to possess property and to be white as well as /ree citizens." In the latter these are his words : " The article in the constitution of the United States, de- claring that citizens of each State were entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States, applies only to natural bom, or duly naturalized citizens ; and, if they remove from one State to another, they are entitled to the privileges that persons of the same description are entitled to in the State to which the removal is made, and to none other. If, therefore, for instance, free persons of color are not entitled to vote in Carolina, free persons of color emigrating there from a Northern State, would not be entitled to vote." It may well be doubted whether the restriction here employed is warranted by the words in the con- VI. CHAP. VI.] WHO ARE CITIZENS. 211 stitution, in which nothing is said about " persons of the same description": — a paraphrastic mode of interpretation, rather convenient than honest. There can be no doubt, however, tliat the alhision either acknowledges tlie right of citizenship in the black, or is perfectly nugatory and in'elevant. By the first section of the second article of the constitution of New York State, " No man of color, unless he shall have been for three years a citizen of this State (New York), and for one year next pre- ceding any election, shall be seised and possessed of a freehold estate of the value of 250 dollars, over and above all incumbrances, charged thereon, and shall have been actually rated and paid a tax thereon, shall be entitled to vote at any such election;" — (i.e. for representatives.) This is a question of the utmost importance : for as none but citizens can hold land in most of the States, or vote for members of Congress, not only would the titles of estates purchased of blacks by many whites be shaken ; but the whole frame of government, with all its obligations, internal and external, and all its statutes, made by legislators to whose election blacks liavc^ contributed, might be endangered, if it were decided by the highest au- thority of the land that no one of African descent can be a citizen of the United States *. * Aliens cannot hold land in the United States unless, as tiie Act of Congress of April, 1802, directs, in Sect. 4, they are ^'1 I :, ih 'fj ; f ,'1' ' \H' \ ! J 1 . V j ■ \ i 1: f I PJ 1 W 212 TOUR IN THK UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. VI. A few observations more upon tliis point may be pardoned. In tbe different Acts of Congress, which have been passed to establish rules of naturalization, " any alien, being a free white person, may be ad- mitted to become a citizen of the United States." Then follow the conditions and qualifications. Now, if, as the Judsonians maintain, a colored person can never be a citizen, why was tbe epithet " white " employed on the occasion ? Had no blacks been admitted to citizenship at home. Congress would not have thought of excluding them from it when aliens. Exclusion by legislative enactment implies the ab- sence of jirevious disciualification by the constitution. In most of the States, the word " white " is used in fixing the qualification for voters, with the ex- press object of excluding colored persons who would otherwise have been entitled to the franchise. A free mulatto convicted of a crime, which, by a law passed in 1823, subjected him to be sold, was purchased and taken from Virginia to Tennessee ; the Circuit Court of which, on his petition, decided in favor of his freedom, on the gro. ad that the statute *' naturalized or admitted to the rights of citizenship." Whether the law of Ohio, authorizing them to liold land, be constitution^ or not, is another (juestion ; but in New York State, they cer- tainly cannot. Now persons of color, as I have just shewn, not only hold land in that State and vote for repri'sentatives, — but must have a freeh<3ld estate of the value of 25'J dollars to have a vote at all. > ^-•^.■ ;^ -! iT" *> ^-Tt M w r r^ CHAP. VI. J VETERAN ABOLITIONIST. 213 under which he liad been condemned was contrary both to the Bill of Rights of Vir},'inia, and to that clause in the constitution of the United States which prohibits bills of attainder. Considering the origin and object of this instrument, the protection thus afforded must have been given to him as a citizen. The Secretary of State is empowered by an act of Congress, to grant passports to American citizens, visiting foreign countries. Mr. Purvis, son-in-law of James Forten, a man highly respected, in spite of his African blood, at Philadelphia, received one not long ago on application. As it described him as a person of color, another passport, through the kindness of Mr. Roberts Vaux, was procured for him in the usual form. Here is a recognition from the highest authority to every foreign nation, that a colored man is a citizen of tlie United States. It may appear tedious to dwell so much on this point ; but what must be the state of feeling in any coun- try, when a judge, who depends upon it for his bread, can risk his professional reputation in assert- ing what any stranger, who happens to be travelling through it, can see at once to be as unfounded in principle as it is iniquitous in its motive and ob- ject ? On our return to Brooklyn, Mr. May introduced me, after I had partaken of his hospitality, to a very interesting old man, who has been for more than sixty years an uncompromising abolitionist. Ho t , ' a 1: !i -' 'i I« ill '1 i ij 1 214 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. VI. was then in liis SOtli year, and was enjoying the re- trosiject of a good and useful hfe, and doubling its tenn by recalling past events in thd bosom of his family. Here 1 spent the remainder of the evening, with as much pleasiure as if I had been surrounded by the friends of my youth. It was a lovely night ; and we sat chatting in the porch before the door, till the hour of retiring to rest disjiersed the grou]"), the female part of which had already been drawn away by a young man, whose voice, accom])anied by a guitar he held in his hand, had greater attractions for his fair audience than a philosophical discussion on the aristocracy of the skin, or a moral estimate of the influence which public opinion in Europe might exercise upon public conduct in America. The next day, I paid a visit to somt; of the farmers in the neighbourhood of the town, accom])anied by a young man from ]5oston, who was reading with Mr. jNIay. We were received in a very friendly and obliging manner by the women, (tlicir husbands being out,) and sat some time, conversing unvm the usual to])ics which suggest themselves on such oc- casions. The house was kej)t in a very neat and comfortable state; the sitting-room and kitchen and dairy (the latter <»f which we ins])ecled at one of them) reminded me of our own snug farm-houses. There were the long-backed rush-bottomed chairs ; the maple tables, with the leaves down ; the clock ticking against the wall ; the gun slung upon the 'i CHAP. VI.] PREJUDICE AGAINST FAinilNG. 215 cross-beam of the ceiling ; the nice tiny looking- glass, and the cozy arm-chair for the old folks m the chimney comer. Some of these estates have remained a long time in tlie families of the present possessors. The average duration, indeed, from all 1 could learn, is longer for the landliolders here than is generally as- signed to our gentry — whose extent of domain is the chief cause of alienation, with the assistance of mortgages, settlements, and the various expedients to unloosen what is tied up, or dissi])ate what is within reach. Simplicity of manners, virtuous ha- bits, and domestic aii'ections, are the chief charac- teristics of a class of men, to whom the institutions ol' their country give a s])irit of IVaid^ncss and inde- pendence ; and whom an inexhaustible stock of land ill the western country secures from the pres- sure of low profits, by ()])ening a safe and salutary valve to a superabundant iiopulation. A feeling, "almost peculiar to New l-'ngland," prevails, that fanning is " not so geiitecsl and honor- able as some other employments." Such was the statement made by the llev. Cj. Perry, at the meet- ing of the Essex Agricultural Society in IS.'J-i. This prejudice has, jterliaps, some ellect both in jirevent- ing the s])]itting of farms, and increasing the amount of emigration to the new slates and teiTilories where no such discouragement to agrieuUure exists. I had afterwards, as well as on this occasion, op- 1 :i I ^ 111 I ,, 1 I I 1 ■' I :lr 216 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. ! i ii I 'ML' })ortunilics of conversing with the farmers in differ- ent parts of the country ; and found them, in general, better infonned, and less nanow-minded than the inhabitants of the cities. It is not only in this respect that they differ widely from the same class of men in Elngland, where the rural districts are less enlightened than the towns ; — but they possess, from the favorable circumstances in which they are placed, a much greater spirit of independence, having no landlords to control their votes at the elections, and keep them in a state of thraldom more galling than the yoke of feudal vassalage. Not but what there are plenty of men, as the present ])ossessor of the enormous patronage vested in the Federal Executive has shewn, mean enough, if they had it in their power, to whisper " rents " or " tithes " in their ears at the polling booths ; and others, still meaner, to crawl into the Leg'^lature on their submissive shoul- ders. The prices of provisions are low in this jiart of the Union. Board and lodging at the inn where I staid, would be about two dollars a-wcek, with three meals a-day (meat at each). The same for a single man in a private family, somewhat less, ov lot) dollars a-year. A gentleman at Brooklyn told me he paid for himself, his wife, and two children (one an infant), six dc'lars and a-half a- week, in- cluding every thing — rooms, fuel, attendance, &c. A house, fit for a man with four or five children, = .- J; 1 I CHAP. VI.] COUyTRY MANNERS. 217 {t. i would let for about 100 dollars. The tenant of one of this descii])tion (such as our village-lpwyers and prosperous tradesmen are contented with) paid 140 dollars a-year, six acres of land being attached to the house. There is so little litigation in the district, cheap as law is, that the few lawyers to be found there, are obliged to maintain themselves by farming or some other occupation. It is common for brothers to live together; or, if neighbors, to assist each other on their fanns. Feelings of distrust or sus- picion are little known. To impute unworthy mo- tives or fraudulent intentions would be thought to manifest, not a regard for the interest?, of the family, but a malicious disposition or a domineering spirit. Divisions are rare where no distinctions are ac- knowledged. The person, of whom I have spoken as my guide in the morning, took me with him in his open carriage in the afternoon to see the coun- try. As we passed, we were saluted by the differ- ent persons wc met on the road, particularly by the children, who smiled and bowed and curtsied in their best manner. Much courtesy and kindness are kept up between the various classes and ranks of society, the members of which seem to form but one family, where kind offices are reciprocated by a fair interchange, and blended into one hannonious feeling of confidence and contentment. At this par- VOL. I. I. 1 i ii ■| HI I i''i '.I • n I ,■ !' I hi t 218 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. ticular time there was an interest attached to the spot, that will render it memorable in the annals of the nation. A new aora was commencing for no inconsiderable portion of its population; and the success which awaits the noble efforts made in their behalf, will be associated iii the memory of a grateful race with the humble but honored ntme of a school-mistress in the neighborhood — a " vil- lage Hampden, that with dauntless breast the little tyrant of" her " fields withstood." The plague-spot that has infected the cities and towns and hamlets of the whole commonwealth, has been thrown off from the healthy and manly minds of many of the farmers in the neighborhood of Brooklyn. One of them said to me in his frank and open manner, that hg knew no distinction be- tween man and man; and should think himself disgraced if he refused to sit down at the same table with any human being who differed from him in complexion only. This same man, when it was proposed at a public meeting, to remove the people of color to scats more remote from the body of the church, to which he belongs, strongly opposed the pro])osition, and declared, that, if the resolution were canied, they should sit in his own pew. The thin-skinned whites took nothing by the motion. On the 9th I proceeded to Hartford, the distance of which from Brooklyn is forty miles. There is nothing remarkable in the country, except that the I 11 CHAP. VI.] AMERICAN SILK. 219 soil improves as you approach the river Connecti- cut, and several factories rear their heads along the road, evincing, with the plantations of white mul- berry trees, that are seen here and there, the fixed policy of " encouraging" national industry, and be- coming " independent " of foreigners, both for ma- nufactures and for raw produce. It has long been a favorite object to introduce silk of native production. Premiums have been offered, legislative protections granted, and detailed instruc- tions given, for the culture and management of the trees and the cocoons and the filament. Experi- ments in various parts of the Union have been made and their results published to the world. In short, nothing has been spared to effect what, if it add to the natural resources, by a more profitable invest- ment of capital than foreign trade oflbrs, will prove highly valuable and important. ]Mr. Wadsworth of Hartford told me, that, forty years ago, he had a waistcoat made of silk that had never crossed tlu; ocean. The annual consumption of silk in the United States is said to amount, in value, to ten millions of dollars. The legislature of Massachusetts has lately gi'anted a bounty of one dollar for every 100 white mulbeiTV trees, proi)erly planted in that State ; and the same bounty for every pound of silk reeled from the cocoon and adapted to manufacturing purposes. The stage was nearly full ; and the conversation l2 I if I i.P Hi; « '•^ I I 220 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VI. turned upon the subject of the Canterbury school. A military man, who was one of the passengers, observ- ed, that he had never heard so much about the blacks as he had during his short stay in Brooklyn, to which he had come on a visit from Pittsburgh, where he was quartered. All parties were agreed in condemn- ing poor Miss Crandall. One said that she was a mere tool in the hands of agitators and fanatics, who had gained her over to their cause by paying her debts: another assured the person, with whom he was zealously discussing the matter, that, to his certain knowledge, all the disturbance had origin- ated with Mr. Judson's enemies — who were his ene- mies he did not say. The friends of a man, who could persecute an unprotected unoffending female, can be bound to him by no tie that honor or hu- manity would acknowledge. Having listened very patiently for some time to what was said, I. at last, remarked that it seemed to me to be " much ado about nothing," and that, as an European, I thought it highly ridiculous that a great nation should see civil war and commotion in a swarthy skin. I could not understand, I said, how it was that, in the very place where the white and black children of the humbler classes were educated together, any one should in- sult the parents of the latter by openly asserting that schools for the wealthier classes ought not to admit a colored pupil among them. This citizen of a re- CHAP. VI.] STAGE-COACH DISCUSSION. 221 public must be either above or below public opinion. He does not want the suffrages of his neighbours, or he despises them. If the carpenter's and mason's child escape contamination in the public schools, the lawyer need not fear for his daughter's " gen- tility" and purity, even though a brunette should be admitted to her presence. ill. i ft ' ^,-!| i^ y. ' ' i'.'i . . IK. in Si I' •■ I I .♦ m , ill i ^ 222 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. CHAPTER VII. Deaf and Dumb Asylum at Hartford. — Girl, deaf, diunb, and ))lind. — Impressment of British Sailors. — Deed of Sale. — Uni- versalists. — Female Seminary. — Lunatic Asylum. The day after my return to Hartford, I went to the Deaf and Dumb Asylum with Mr. Wells, the trea- surer. I had had a cursory view of the establishment on my former visit. On entering the house, we found several visitors there, and were ushered into a room, where some of the pupils were taking their morning's lessons from a deaf and dumb teacher, who received us with great politeness ; and invited us, by signs, to be seated. The class had been two years in the establishment, and were receiving in- struction in grammar. The manner in which they wrote on boards affixed to the wall their answers to his questions on the meaning of words, and explain- ed the distinctions between the relative pronouns, shewed that they had made gi'eat progress during that time. Their hand-writing was good, and gene- rally coiTcct in point of spelling. Among them was a black boy, or rather a mulatto, who had been sent by the State of Massachusetts to the Asylum. As it I if CHAP. VII.] DEAF AND DUMB. 223 I is very unusual to see the different colors thus har- moniously mixed in a place of this sort, I felt an- xious to know whether any proof of the supposed dif- ference of intellect between the two races was to be found here. There had been two or three instances of a similar kind in the house before. It was pro- bably through the influence of the superintendant, who is a very liberal man, and at the suggestion of his brother, whose mind has long been thoroughly cleared of the "perilous stuff" of prejudice, that such a departure from a general rule was permitted. I wrote down on a piece of paper the following question, and put it into the teacher's hands : " Is the black as intelligent as the white ? " He directly WTote with his pencil, " No, Sir ! he has a pretty good mind." I wrote again : — " Is it so with all the blacks ? " The answer was, " No, Sir ! " Thinking he might suppose I asked if they all had pretty good minds, — I added : " I mean, is the black race in- ferior to the white r " " No," was his reply. On asking an elderly woman who appeared to be the matron, whether any repugnance or feeling of dis- pleasure had been shewn, on his arrival, towards the colored boy by his companions, " not the least," she replied, " on the contrary, they all crowded about him when first he came, and seemed highly delighted with him. He is ? great favorite with all of them, and more beloved than any of the others." Had the Judsonian law for the suppression of n. I; 'I ?i ? ' AM ! M i '.\ t : I Hi'. 224 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. VII. I Nt' if -,* ¥ 1 i I ' i knowledge been enacted three years sooner, this poor fellow might have been excluded from the Asylum, and remained a burthen to that society of which he will now be an useful member. It was found, on inquiry some years ago, that there was in the State of Pennsylvania, one person deaf and dumb to every 2000 among the whites. If the same pro- portion holds throughout the Union ; and if there are everywhere, as is said to be the case in New York State, two blacks to one white thus afflicted, it must be as impolitic as it is illiberal, to exclude this class of the population from institutions that are open to every other. After this, we went into an adjoining room ; where we found twelve or thirteen pupils — among whom were three girls, going through their exercises in writ- ing. They wrote down, in answer to the questions put by the teacher, the ten commandments, taken in- discriminately ; and afterwards gave, by signs, a gram- matical analysis of sentences he had put down upon a board. Their answers were perfectly coiTect, though they had been but fifteen months in the establish- ment, and knew not the meaning of words when they first came. Our next visit was to the work- shops ; where we saw some beautiful specimens of cabinet-making, which, with shoe-making, is the trade taught to the boys. The girls learn sewing The work of the former is done by contract ; and the proceeds have, for the last two or three years, i 'ii U^^Mn m CHAr. VII.] DEAF AND DUMB. 005 covered the expenses of teaching and purchasing the raw material. The shoe-making leaves a small profit. The person who instructed them told us that his pupils were docile and intelligent ; and would do, upon an average, better and more work than most journeymen. When he goes out, he leaves the class under the care of one of the boys ; and he has never found the confidence thus placed in him abused. One boy, whom he represented as idle and artful, he has sometimes set over the rest on these occasions ; and he has always discharged his duty faithfully. Such are the good effects of trusting to the principle of honor as a motive of conduct. It is a common opinion, that persons who are deaf and dumb, are more sensitive and irascible than those who are not afflicted in the same way. This notion, like most of those that are unfavorable to human nature, is entirely erroneous and unfounded. Their character depends, like that of all mankind, upon the treatment they meet with, and the circum- stances in which they are placed. Tliough it be doubtful whether congenital deafness is hereditary, yet there are numerous instances of its prevalence in the same family. Cases have occurred of this infirmity having been found in three, four, five, and even more children of the same parents. Three cases only are known at the i] istitution that had the appearance of being hereditary. One of the instruct- ors is deaf and dumb, and his wife is the same. L 3 il I ■i:^f m , 1^ ir I ■ ix! ■v» •I'! \ }l ■!' f I i m \ i W I t i! .1 i •226 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. They have four children, who have no defect of the kind. Some inconvenience is experienced from this double i)rivation in the domestic circle, but less than would probably arise in a crowded city, or among strangers. Intermaniages of this kind are indirectly discouraged ; the absence of all restraint upon the affections renders prohibition unnecessary ; and no secret attachments arc likely to take place where suspicion has not counselled concealment. One old woman in Massachusetts has no less than fifteen great-grand-children who are deaf and dumb ; yet not one of the intermediate links, which connect her with these unfortunate beings, labors under the same infinnity. Six of them belong to the same family, in which there are eight children ; two only having escaped this calamity. In another, where there are ten, every other child is thus afflicted, though neither of the parents is so. The proportion of persons thus deprived of a sense, on the possession of which the exercise of one of the most valuable faculties depends, is said to be, in the United States, one in 2000. This is less than what prevails in Europe, where one in 1537 is the estimated average. This interesting institution owes its origin to the father of a young lady at Hartford, who was deaf and dumb. To establish a school for young persons laboring under her infirmity, a subscription was raised among the inhabitants ; and Mr. Gallaudet, ! I i: ^i m CHAP. VII.] the DEAF AND DTMB. 007 descendant of a Protestant refugee from France, was commissioned to enquire into the best methods of instruction in Europe. On his return, the asylum was formed, and he was appointed the principal or superintendant — an office now filled by Mr. Weld. A grant of land in Alabama was obtained from Congress ; and, from its sale, a fund of about 200,000 dollars has been created in furtherance of its benevolent objects. Each pupil pays (cither through the State to which he belongs, or through his family) 100 dollars a-year — a reduction from 115 having very recently taken place. The rest of his expenses is defrayed out of the fund. The annual charge originally fixed by the Directors for e; :h pupil was 200 dollars — a reduction was subsequently made to 150 ; — and from that, in 1825, to 115. The number of pupils dur- ing the last year has varied from 120 to 136 ; for whom there were about nine tutors. Scarcely one of them required any medical advice in the course of the year. Visitors are admitted at all times, if strangers ; and those, who were foraieriy pupils, have full liberty to call upon their former companions ; as no restraint or restriction is known. Many of the Hartford people are familiar with the use of the signs, as they are in the habit of seeing the pupils, both at the institu- tion, and at their own houses. Some of the latter, who are now settled in the neighborhood, were present while we were in the i ih iff <' li ■I [, !.: M >■ I I ^ r: I I 1 q " I 228 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. house, and were conversing by signs with their school-fellows, without exciting distrust; the dis- cipline pursued throughout being of that nature as not to suggest any thing clandestine or im- proper by interdicting comnumication or prescrib- ing irksome regulations. Mr. Weld's observations upon this subject were particularly judicious and sensible. Mr. Gallaudet, whose wife is deaf and dumb, told me that his children learn their mother's signs more readily than their mother-tongue ; and communicate their ideas by this mute language with astonishing facility, and in a very short time. The same is observed with respect to the children of the tutor, Mr. Clair, of whom I before spoke. The parents and the children have no difficulty in understantUng each other ; though the former cannot speak a word. These facts go far to confirm what Arrow- smith has said upon this point. He recommends that deaf children should be educated in the com- mon schools, on the presumption that the symjjathies of infancy and the natural instincts of imitation, will suggest to the pupils — both the perfect and the deficient in the sense under consideration — some method of interchanging their ideas. Mr. Gallaudet approved of the principle, and added that its ap- plication should be confined to the early periods of life, that tlie subject may come, in some measure prepared, into the regular establishments for such persons. The experiment might easily and safely .k CHAP. VII.] DEAF AND DUMB AND BLIND. 229 be made in an infant school. Another plan might be tried of teaching the use of language, by directing the attention of the pui)ils to the movements of the or- gans of speech, as they are brought into action by the exercise of the voice. One poor unfortunate inmate of the establishment, (Julia Brace,) about twenty-six joars of age, is blind as well as deaf. This calamity came upon her when she was four years of age — at which period she may be supposed to have acquired a con- siderable stock of ideas. Before she was brought to the asylum, she had been accustomed in the absence of her mother, to take charge of her younger brothers and sisters ; and, in the performance of this duty, acquitted hersell' to the satisfaction of her parents. It is by the touch and the smell that she is enabled to distinguish objects, and recognise the different in- mates of the house. She is neither idle nor useless ; being employed in sewing, arranging the linen, and cleaning up the tea-things. While occupied in the latter task, she one day found, among the tea-spoons, one that was made of silver, and of the same size with the rest. It is extraordinary, that she should have perceived the difference of metal among 120 or 130. She immediately took it to the matron. She is very neat in her dr(>ss, and the arrangement of her hair. The fashions of the day are familiar to her ; and she shews a marked preference, in selecting a gown or a ribbon, for those articles, which are most ,1- i; Vtfr I: (. If' h !:gi :| I ll'tl lis 1,1 ■'i I I 230 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. in vogue, for the cut or the quality. Having observed that tlw3 looking-glass is generally con- sulted in the important affairs of the toilette, she places herself mechanically before it, when similarly engaged. Her notions of ])roperty are very orthodox, and strictly enforced upon others when her own rights are concerned. She has never been known to take any thing that did not belong to her, or to allow any one to deprive her of what was her own. There is a box, at the entrance to the Asylum, appropriated to her sole use. The donations, which are placed here to the average amount of more than 100 dollars a year, arc funded for her benefit, and will fonn a valuable resource in case of accident. Last year the donations were 110 dollars — rather less than usual. Some little opposition was at first made to her admission, as an object not con- templated by the regulations of the institution. As it is supposed that there is but one other person in the Union similarly afflicted, no fear of establishing a precedent by deviating from the letter of any law, is to be entertained. She has, as may be supposed, her attachments, and evinces her regard by any little attentions or kind offices in her power : — such us nursing her favorites in sickness. When they are about to quit the place, she is generally aware of their intention, and gives intimation of her know- ledge by various signs, expressive of her feelings. The sense of smell chiefly serves her to discrimhiate CHAP. VII.] JULIA BRACE. 231 1 ( one thing or one person from another. When I put a silver pencil-case into her hand, she drew out the pencil two or three times, and tried the point with the palm of her hand; having first ascertained where the sUde was ; she then applied the case to her nose, and afterwards to her tongue, which seemed to be a finer organ of perception than the hand, and to be used in this instance, for the pur- pose of discovering what metal the instrument was made of. When any one she is acquainted with dies, she indicates by certain signs, that he has ceased to breathe, and is laid in the ground, it is not ur- usual for her to express a, wish to visit a dead body ; — to pass her hand over it, when brought into contact with it ;— and to manifest clearly her knowledge that life is extinct. When an infant, her temper was very irritable. It is now subdued; and she seems to be cheerful and happy. It is not certain whether she has any idea of a Supreme Being or of her own responsibility, beyond what the most scrupulous observance of decency and propriety might imply. It is difficult to form any correct conception of what is passing in her mind, or to separate the results of mere imitation from the operations of re- flection. The case of James Mitchell, recorded by Dugald Stewart, is somewhat similar to this; his sight, how- ever, for the short time he possessed it, was too (lit •i ■ (;. .'I w 1 - r ■ 5 !« I |l! ' ^1,1 232 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. VII. weak to convoy ideas to the mind. There are strong marks of resemblance in the character and actions of these afflicted beings. Julia, however, if less intelligent, seems to be more amiable. The differ- ence may arise from circumstances of situation. Her active powers are less exercised than her passive. It is to be hoped that some philosophical in- quirer will give the world a detailed narrative of all the phenomena connected with the physical and moral existence of a being so rare and so inter- esting. Imperfect as her organization is, it is gratifying to know that the narrow range her mind is permitted to take, is made, by kind and judicious management, to bring back to her as much enjoyment as her lot will admit of; and that sufficient communication is opened with the external world, through the few channels that remain, to secure her against the bitter pangs of loneliness and desolation. The sense of touch seems to be the first used by infants. It is by that that they regulate the exercise of the rest. How wonderful is it that the instrument which is generally employed to correct the others, should be able to take their place, when they are want- ing ! and that the same organ which is an auxiliary in fixing ideas should be capable of forming them by itself ! The sense of touch may thus supply the want of hearing, or of sight, or of both ; but would the >V!i CHAP. VII.] IMPRESSMENT. 23:5 otlier senses, separately or in conjunction, supply the want of touch ? There arc in the United States six institutions of this kind. The one described ; another in the City of New York, containing about 124 pupils; another at Canajoharie (in the same State), containing '34; the Pennsylvania Institution (80); the Ohio Institution (25) ; and the Kentucky, containing about the same number. There is great remissness on the part of relatives in sending these unfortunate beings to the asylums provided for their instruction. The State of Massachusetts appropriates more money to this object than is actually expended ; the surplus being made over to the Trustees of the Blind Asylum at IJoston. After dining with Mr. Wells, who is an English- man, long resident in Hartford, where he is very highly respected, I spent the rest of the day at Mr. Wadsworth's. A circumstance he mentioned in the course of our conversation, exhibited in a very strong light our unjust and impolitic system of impressment for the navy. On his way to Newhaven, during the last war, he fell in with four of our sailors, who had been taken prisoners in the Macedonian by Decatur. They all told him they were glad their vessel had been captured ; as they hated a service into which they had been forced : and they added that they hoped they sliould never return to their own country. " It is a common thing with us ", they said, " when wc are going into action, to whisper to one another, i 'I I,' ,ti i 4 i ^lr I f, 1 i 23i TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. when we are out of hearing of our officers, * let us hope we may be taken prisoners.'" The Superb was off New London when news arrived that peace had been signed. Admiral Ho- tham, who commanded the blockade, was so affected by the intelligence, that he is said to have shed tears of joy. He had been anxiously waiting for the ter- mination of a contest, which was peculiarly un- popular with the naval men engaged in it, as it was felt to be something unnatural to be fighting against a nation, who, in their habits and language, might be considered brothers. The English captain came on shore ; and Mr. Wadsworth's description of the manner in which he was received at New London and at Hart- ford, and of his delight and astonishment, which the kindness and cordiality everywhere shewn him, ex- cited, was as vivid as if the events he was narrating had recently taken place. He could not restrain his feelings on beholding so many well-dressed and cour- teous people pressing forward to welcome a stranger who had come to their shores as an enemy, and found a friend wherever he went. He frequently exclaimed, when accompanying the party of American gentle- men, who had gone out through a deep snow to escort him to their town, that he was " the happiest man in the world." All who were introduced to him were amused with his vivacity and channed with his frankness. He remained under the hospitable roof of his kind-hearted eulogist three or four days ; 'III k ■p CHAP. VII.] DEED OF SALE. 235 and left behind him, in favor of the British navy, an impression, which even its enforcement of an ini- pohtic, if not an unjust, claim, will not easily efface. In the course of the evening, a r.eiglibor, a justice of the peace, came in upon ' siness. The object of his visit was to obtain signatures to a deed of sale. Nothing could be more simple than the form required. If printed, it costs 6 cents, (about three-pence of our money,) though any piece of paper or parchment would be sufficient for the pur- pose. The justice of peace receives 20 cents for his trouble, but this is frequently not demanded or ex- pected ; and the town-clerk, who records the deed, the same sum. Two witnesses are neccssarv. How- ever valuable may be the estate transferred, the cost does not exceed this sum. The greatest possible security is thus given to the title ; for the register is accessible to every one, and is legal proof of the transfer, should the original deed be lost. Tlie lawyers have as little reason to be pleased with Hartford as with Brooklyn. Some of them have found the study of their profession too dry without the practice, and have sought more satis- factory ways cf employing their time. I saw, this evening, for the first time, a humming- bird on the wing : it was flitting about from flower to flower, inserting its long bill into the calix, in search of its food, and reminded me, by its actions and habits, of the moth known in England as the 1:1 s II I Mil ' i IM ■'■■! f \ n si ^liii .' .13 % h 236 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. jasminc-havvk. It appeared to be veiy shy ; darting off with astonishing rapidity as any one approached, and returning to its task as the intruder retired. It rarely perches during the day. The city contains about 7000 souls. For the instruction and amusement of these, there are seven political newspapei-s, and five devoted to religious subjects, in addition to periodical publications of a different description. Besides the above, there are circulated, or taken in by the inhabitants, 80 daily papers, 432 published once a week, and 110 twice a week : — all from other places. Of churches, there are no less than ten, one of them belonging to the colored people. This calculation was made two or three years ago. An increase has no doubt taken place, since that time, in the particulars above stated. Among the churches is one belonging to the Uni- versalists, a sect little known in England, and not Well understood in America, if I may judge from the unsatisfactory answers I received to the questions I asked about them. To solve the problem, I resolved to go to the fountain-head at once. On aniving at their place of worship, I found part of the congre- gation assembled in front and in the door-way, wait- ing for the preacher. Observing a black about to enter, I asked a man, who was standing on the steps, whether they admitted persons of that descrijjtion in the body of the chapel among the whites. " No," h CHAP. VII.] UNIVERSALISTS. 237 he replied : " tliey set here, as in all other meeting- houses, in little slips set apart for them. They don't ought to be among us ; so they have places by them- selves. It is giving the poor creturs a chance, you know." The service commenced with a psalm; after which the preacher, a plain homely -looking old man, between sixty and seventy years of age, read one of the psalms, in a version so completely new, that the simplicity of the common translation was lost in the various alterations which the text had undergone ; omissions and inteqiolations having been added to the substitution of modern for the old phrases. To this succeeded one of Addison's hymns, which had also felt the revising hand of the compiler. The " airful throne " of Jehovah was changed into the ^^ royal throne." Then followed an extempore prayer, and another hymn ; and, after them, the dis- course. The text was, " Blessed are the people that are in such a case ", &c. ; and the commentary upon it embraced two topics, — happiness in this world, and in the next. In the former part, the minister drew a picture of the prosperous state of his native country, enjoying independence, in con- trast with what it would have been, had its efforts to throw off the yoke imposed by England, failed. The language was grossly familiar and unpolished ; and the facts stated in support of his assertions, were equally opposed to historical truth and to good taste. The (piaint and vulgar manner of the preacher ! !l ' ' fi:i| 1 i : • '■\i ii^ !!i I i ;« fl :• ;i i !f . P I;' r^ 238 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. (b'ew frequent smiles and titterings from his audience, who seemed to be highly amused with his illustra- tions and examples, all of which were derived from every -day life, and were suited as little to the place as to the subject. He then repeated that part of the declaration of independence, in which a nation, one fifth of which is in a state of abject slavery, or social degradation, proclaims to the world, that all men are created equal, and said that he could not sufficiently admire the intrepid signers of that immortal instrument. After much more of this common-place declamation, which he delivered with the utmost volubility, he looked at his watch, and observed that he had not time enough to do justice then to the theme, or enter as largely as he could wish into the second head of his discourse. He assured his auditory that tlie fears generally entertained of the punishments that were supposed to await us in another state of being, were groundless and iiTational ; that tlie Creator, or as the word Lord, according to his interpretation, signified, the " Owner," who had bestowed upon us so plentifidly his bounties in this world, would not, in- consistently, torment us in the next. " As for the storj'," he added, " about the ground being cursed for Adam's sake, there is not a word of truth in it. Do you think those people, who believe their chil- dren are to be miserable hereafter, could be happy, if they really believed what they said ? — No such i CHAP. VII.] UNIVERSALISTS. 239 thing ! I don't believe one word of it ! We shall be happy, every one of us, when we have left this present scene. So we may make ourselves happy while we are here — that is, not wickedly happy ; for the wicked can't be happy." This was almost the only sentence I heard that implied any distinction between vice and virtue ; and this recognises no moral obligation, except so far as a man is bound to make himself happy. The rest of this disjointed rhapsody was made up of dis- torted passages of scripture, sarcasms on the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, and assurances that the goodness of God is inexhaustible, irrespec- tive, and unmixed with any other attribute. Alter the service was over, I asked a man who sat in the same pew with me, if the present occiii)ier ol" the pulpit usually preached there ? lie replied, that he merely officiated occasionally. " Pray," said I, " are these the doctrines maintained by the Universalists ? " " Yes ! " was the answer, " we believe that men are punished for their sins here : not in the next world." A very convenient sort of doctrine truly ! — and one that it is hai'dly worth while paying a man for teaching, unlesfi it be necessary for those who believe it, to be reminded of a tmth, which has been con- cealed from every nation that has any idea of a God, and might perhaps be forgotten under so blind a guide as conscience. The Universalists arc sometimes confounded with u V \\'{ IP I r-i . ;i iw III' I 15, 240 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. the Rcstorationists, who maintain that the duration of future i)unishment is limited and not eternal ; — relying chiefly for the sujjport of their opinions on the interpretation they affix to the word aiuviov. The imjiortance of the distinction is not confined to the persons who hold these tenets ; for if the statute concerning oaths were strictly enforced in the State of New York, hi none of tlie courts of justice there could the evidence of an Universalist be received — tliat act requiring that a witness should believe in the existence of a Supreme Being and a future state of rewards and punishments. The sect labors un- der the imputation of disguised infidelity ; though its origin may be traced to the Calvinistic doctrine of atonement — pushed to its extremest consequences ; the ransom that was paid being supposed to embrace all mankind, and to absolve them from responsibility in the next world for the deeds done in this. From the following list of the various denominations of religion as they existed in 1831, it will be seen how many churches belonged to the Universalists. The Baptists and Methodists had 4484 churches. The Presbyterians 1472 Congregationalists 1381 Episcopalians 922 Roman Catholics 784 Dutch Reformed 602 Friends 462 Universalists 298 CHAP. VII.] FEMALE SEMINARY. 241 Lutherans 240 churches. Unitarians 127 Calvinistic Baptists 84 Swedenborgians 73 Moravians 56 In addition to the above, the Jews had ninety-six synagogues. The next day, I went with Mr. Gallaudet to the Female Seminary; and my conductor, having in- troduced me to the master, Mr. Brace, withdrew, having other matters to attend to. The young ladies had just assembled for the business of the morning ; and, as soon as "absence" had been caUed over, and some observations had been addressed to the pupils, they proceeded to their respective class- rooms : — some to study geography, others geometry, arithmetic, history, &c. Two or three of the girls, whose ages were about twelve or thirteen, went through some propositions in the third book of Eu- clid, and worked out the demonstrations by means of a board, on which the figures were chalked. They performed the allotted task with great clearness and very correctly. The proficiency of the historical class was ascertained by a female teacher, who put several questions to them, arising from what they had learned the preceding day. The master then took me into another room, where his Latin scho- lars were ready with their lessons. One of them translated, rivd voce, part of the second book VOL. I. M I ; :-ifii !♦ '. ■ '! . 3 'I 'fl ._,.,....„-.L KM I i 242 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VH. of the iEneid, in a way that shewed she fully un- derstood the subject as well as the language. When she came to that passage, where the poet represents Dido as dreaming that she sees and hears .Eneas, she hesitated at the words " infundum si f alloc possit amorem." The master said that fallere meant to reject — to throw away — looking at me at the same time, as if to ask my opinion. I ventured to observe that the expression had another signification, and quoted one or two well-known passages in Horace. She imme- diately remarked, that it would be inconsistent with the character that Virgil has given to i)ido, if she were represented as wishing to get rid of her love. I could not help thinking that the engaging picture of the tender passion thus presented to the imagina- tion, was not exactly the fittest study for a girl of fourteen or fifteen years of age. There are about 100 girls who attend this esta- blishment. They board with their families ; or, if strangers, in some respectable private house. The average expense of education, including board and lodging, does not exceed 200 dollars a year. The discipline ap])ears to be judicious and effective. No rewards or punishments are employed to conciliate or enforce it ; nor is any humiliation inllicted, either by reproving disobedience in the presence of others, or allowing prcceduucu to superiority of nicril. The IIP CHAP. VII.] EDUCATION OF FEMALES. 243 : master told me he seldom had occasion to find fault twice for the same ofTencc. A hint, either in pri- vate, or through the parents and friends, is generally sufficient to ensure obedience and stimulate exertion. Among the hooks belonging to the institution, I ob- served Vattel, Ferguson on Civil Society, Kames's Sketches, Say on Political Economy, and Brown's Philosophy of the Human Mind. I believe it will be found that the women arc more highly educated in this part of the country than the men — too much so, according to a Hartford physi- cian. Dr. Brigham. " In general," he says, in a work belore quoted, " the mental ])eculiarities of the female mind are not regarded in education. Their in- tellectual ])owcrs are developed to the greatest de- gree ; and thus their natural sensibility is changed or rendered excessive. This excessive sensibility is not always counteracted by bodily labor and exer- cise ; for there is probably no country in the world where women belonging to the wealthy class exer- cise so little, especially in the open air, as in this." Calisthenics, as they are ])ractis(!d at this school, form no exception to the neglect thus censured. It can j)romot(' neither strength nor beauty to move the arms about mechanically, while the body is gently waved to and fro, or curved backward and forward, without any change of position or active (.xercise of the nuiscular powers. M '2 ill I m \. i |i 11 .■iiiiiL.iiuiivii«n9*wiawpH«iiHnMpnm ;>W» 244 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES, [cHAP. VII. Hi' are, keeps up a gentle exercise of ihe sympathies; and, in feeling for the misfortunes of others, they learn to forget their own. To cultivate the benevolent af- fections, is doubtless a very imjiortant principle in the treatment of insanity, as well as the best ])ro- ])hylactic ; for what INT'Laurin says of its proven- tion may be said of its cure. " I thnik company not the securest remedy against this black passicm (melancholy); but rather the filling the vacanciesB of our minds with the highest degree of those noble if ;' I ;« \y 111 I < i| ,y i? 1| ''^^'^^^•PPPIP PUM mmmmmmmmmmm Mi ■if- h Ai I I t'n' 246 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VII. ardors and affections to the good of mankind, and of doing good and gallant actions which may en- large and cultivate and exalt our miiids, and keep them still keen and bright." I particularly asked what was done with a violent maniac on his first coming into the house, I was told that the method pursued, in such a case, was to put the patient in a room with a very powerful keeper, whose duty it is to divert his mind if pos- sible, and to prevent his doing any mischief. No sti'ait waistcoat is put on, or any physical coercion used, if it can possibly be avoided, during the day. At night his arms are secured ; and, if he will pro- mise to be quiet, the straps, or whatever instruments are employed for the purpose, are removed. After a short time, an improvement generally takes place ; the confidence of the patient is obtained, new asso- ciations spring up in his mind, and something like self-control succeeds to the former violence and abeiTation of the will. A curious case was mentioned. It was that of a man afflicted with the monomania of self-destruc- tion. He was permitted to go into the town with a keeper. One day he complained that he was followed by a spy wherever he went. He was as- sured that he should be watched no longer if he would promise the physician not to make any at- tempt on his own life. He refused to do so ; and \i. CHAP. VII.] LUNATIC ASYLUM. 247 his shadow continued to follow him. Tired out, at last, by this annoyance, he resolved to comply with the terms offered. He made the promise, and he kept it faithfully. His restoration to health was the result of his agreement. hi i,': i i i 1 ', Si f 1 _.ft-: ill I n I 248 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. CHAPTER VIII. Salary of Preacher Country People. — Albany. — Autographs — Marriage Ceremony Shakers — Saratoga — Utica. — Sale of Negro by himself. — Auburn Convict labor unt)()pular. — Canandaigua. — Avon. — Geneseo. On the 13th I left Hartford at 10 a.m., and did not get to Sandisfield, though but forty miles distant, till half-past seven in the evening, as the road was very hilly. After passing through several towns or villages, the stage stopped at a small place called Colebrook, — a pretty picturesque village, — where an old lady got in. All the other passengers, a very noisy and a very numerous set, had taken their departure. Finding she lived in the neighbor- hood, I asked to what denomination a handsome church by the side of the road belonged, and what stipend the minister had. From her answer I learned that the congregation belonged to the Inde- pendents, who had lately settled 700 dollars a-year on their pastor. The usual mode of proceeding on I CHAP. VIII.] BILL OF FARE. "249 such occasions, is lo try, or as she termed it, to iiire a prcaclicr ; and, if he suits the people, to give hhn a call ; when, if he accepts the proposal, he states what salary he expects. There was some demur, ou the part of the more elderly, as to the propriety of allowing so large a sum ; but the younger portion of the community took up the matter very warmly, and the stipend was fixed at that amount. When the low price of provisions is considered, (board and lodging of the best description being, in the neigh- boring town, less than two dollars a-wcek,) it will be seen how much better paid the incumbent is, than many of our clergy. The Americans are said by many to have no rehgion, because the State is not its nursing father : perhajis they pay so much for religion because they want it ; while others want it because they pay so much for it. On arriving at the little tavern where I was to sleep, I begged to have some tea and some meat, or some eggs and bacon. The following is a bill of the fare placed before me : — Four or five large slices of toast, swimming in a pool of melted butter — a large dish of fried bacon — half-a-dozen boiled eggs — an apple pic — some preserved quinces — cucum- ber in vinegar — cuiTant jam — potatoes with butter- sweet cake — cheese — bread and butter — and tea with its usual accompaniments. As soon as I had finished my repast, the driver, with whom I had been chatting during the latter M 3 i n %' h ■ i k '1 i I I ■ i 1 11 I! 250 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. part of the journey, came in and sat down to table. I told him I would have waited for him, had 1 been aware of his coming. He made some excuse for his absence ; but I could see plainly that he had felt unwilling to intrude upon me. It was a wild and poor country ; and the manners of the people were simple and primitive. The front door of the inn was left open the whole night. They seemed to have a very sumn)ary and conclusive mode of collecting taxes ; I copied the following notice which I found on the wall of the bar-room. " All persons who have neglected to pay their taxes on bills committed to Josiah H. Sage, collector, are hereby notified that, in consequence of the sickness of the said collector, the bills are at my house, where those who are willing, can have opportunity to pay their taxes, if they improve it soon ; and those, who neglect, may expect to pay a constable with fees ftn* collecting. " J. BOS WORTH. " Sandisfield, Aug. 2, 1833." The next moniing I started early in a light carriage for Albany. The lad who drove was very loqua- cious. He talked a great deal about iMigland, which he said he longed very much to sec — a feeling more connnon in this class of the people than any I met with. I made it a point, whichever way 1 travelled, and whatever person 1 conversed with, to give some hint that I was from the old country. I uniformly found that the inhabitants of cities, with few ex- CHAP. VIII.] REASON FOR HATING. 251 >:-.■ ceptions — chiefly of men of cultivated minds, — very seldom made any remarks upon the state of Eng- land ; whereas the country -people, more particularly the stage-coachmen, if inclined to talk, generally evinced a desire to know what is passing in the old world. The state of our roads, the system of farming, and other matters connected with their occupations, were objects of curiosity and interest to them; while the former observed that dignified silence which becomes the consciousness of an un- doubted superiority. We were talking about the Irish laborers, w1k» bear but an indifferent character everywhere. " They are an ugly set of people,"" said the boy: — " but there arc no people I hate so much as the niggers — I always drive over 'cm, when they get in my way." " But why do you hate them ? — I suppose they are much the same as other people." " So thty are, to be sure : — I don't know why I hate 'em : — but J do hate 'em." There was no answering this. Tt had good classical authority. Martial himself could not have given a better reason. At Stockbridge, a very pretty town, where \\f. stopped some time, 1 stcp})cd into a saddler's shop, where I found an Englishman, working as a jounioy- man. His wages were five dollars a-week, besides board, lodging, washing, and mending. He spoke highly of the people, who were always ready to shew (I \ M 8 !' it, a iit :;l; ll $ M ]^ \ h : J h i ; 1 1 i '. I; I ! ii : iS 252 TOUB IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. liira civility, and inclined to befriend the industrious and prudent. 'riie day after my arrival at All)any, I called upon a clerical gentleman to whom I had a letter of intro- duction, and was invited to drink tea with his family. He had a singular taste, which he had acquired in England, for collecting autograph signatures of persons remarkable in their generation for some- thing or other. He shewed me a considerable number — many of them of very equivocal celebrity. There were some of an early date ; and others more " modem instances." He had the signs manual of Lord Teignmouth — Lord Bexley — and Sir Francis Burdett: — all obtained directly from these dis- tinguished personages in reply to letters he had written to request the honor of having specimens of their hand-writing. He had sent four : — the fourth received no answer. He asked rac to guess who ii was, after telling the names. I was right : it was Lord Brougham. He had made applications of a similar kind to upwards of fifty public characters in his own country, and had, with one or two ex- ceptions, attributable to accident, met with obUging and coiuleous replies. About nine o'clock, a young man entered, and whispered something in a mysterious manner into my host's ear ; when he got up from his seat, and went out into the passage, whence he returned CHAP, vni.1 MARRIAGE CKREMONY •253 with a young couple, who had come, in ap])Vopriate cbesses, and accompanied by th(> bride's-maid and another swain, to be joined together in holy matri- mony. As I thought I might be rather in the way on this solemn occasion, I was about to leave the room, when I was requested to remain ; and the rest of the family made their appearance. An extempore prayer was then offered up by the minister, who placed the hand of the damsel in that of her be- trothed ; and the questions, adapted to such cases, having been put to the parties principally concerned, the ceremony concluded, and the new-married couple made their " excimt ;" one of the young men having put something into the clergyman's hand. It proved to be one dollar only ; more is generally given for the job, — from five to fifty. The names of the husband and wife were subsequently inserted in a register with those of the witnesses and the dates. The whole was over in five minutes. Marriage is considered a civil contract, and, when properly attested and registered, is equally valid, whether solemnized by ministers of religion, justices of the peace, or the proper municipal authorities. The Quakers, as with us, have their own forms. Consent of parents or ^niardians is not necessary, in the State of New York, to legalize marriage, pro- viding the parties hav<3 aiTived at the age of legal consent, which is fomteeu for males and twelve for females. rJ (iJ I' I H 254 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. After this business was dispatched and our auto- graphic decipherings were renewed, an Enghsh dis- senting minister made his aj)pcarance with letters of recommendation from l)is own country, wliich he had recently quitted. His object was to obtain the charge of a congregation, or to find employment as a teacher. lie had emigrated to the New World in the hope of finding bread for himself and his five children. When he had left the house with a pro- mise that his case should be attended to, I was told that many applications from persons of a similar description and from the same country had lately been made — some of them of such a distressing na- ture as to imply a great mass of misery hi the class to which they belonged. One case among many \\ as that of a respectable man with a family of ten chil- dren in a state of complete destitution. At the hotel where I lodged, I met accidentally with one of my fellow ])assengers from Ijiverpool, who was on his way to the Shaker-establishment at Watervliet, about eight miles from Albany. As it would have been an unpardonable omission to leave tliis part of the country, without seeing these singu- lar people, I gladly availed myself of the opportunity, and we went over together the next morning. On our arrival, we found a party assembled for the same purpose, and joined them in the round they were about to make under the guidance of one of the sisters. After inspecting the kitchen and the dairy. CHAP. VIII.] SHAKERS. 255 which were througlioiit distinguished for the clean- liness and ingenious contrivance observable among these people, we fell in with an elderly man, to whom I addressed a few questions, relative to the establish- ment. His replies were very brief and abrupt ; and his manner indicated something like displeasure, as if he thought our object in coming was to ridicule the fraternity. When I told him that we were (roin the old country, and that we wished to judge for ourselves of a system about which so many conflict- ing reports had been given, his countenance bright- ened up, and he offered us his services ; inquiring at the same time whether wc belonged to the ])arty with whom he had found us. " Well ! then," said he, fniding that we did not, " come along with me ; and I will shew you what is most worth seeing." He then took us with him into the bed-rooms of one of the buildings, of which there arc three or four; and remarked to us that we might see the falsehoods that had been propagated about them with respect to the total separation of the two sexes. On the pegs in the passage, into which the doors of the rooms opened, were hanging, (m one side hats, on the other bonnets and cloaks ; their respective owners being occupants of the adjoining chambers, as we could perceive by the furniture and clothing in them. As a ])rotection to the wall, a large sheet of brown paper was affixed to it ; so that the hat or bonnet, while suspended from the peg, left no mark or stain ;|k I m '■ III 'i\ id " ^ 1, IF, II w ■256 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [cirAP. VIII, vvhcn removed. Every part of the place was re- markable for the utmost order and neatness. Our next visit was to the working-rooms, where there were several women, dressed in the Quaker style, and busily occupied in weaving cotton stuHs, and in other employments suited to their sex. One or two of them were youLg and good-looking. They seemed to be very clieerful, and replied to our observa- tions in a shrewd and laughing manner. They were disposed lO be merry and enjoy a joke as much as any of their unregenerate sisters in the world. There was nothing like restraint or embarrassment in the women we met in our round. They were moving abou! in all directions, and exchanged sallies of wit witii o ir guide as they passed each other. Having satisfied our curiosity, the old man led us into a little room, where he said he passed his leisure hours in making whips; and, begging us to be seated, he exclaimed — " Now let us have a little chat about the affairs of Europe ; and first let me ask you, do you know who O. P. Q. is?" I had been the chief in- terrogator, as my companion was a mere lad, and was now questioned in my tarn. " I believe," said I, " 1 can tell you who he is, or at least who lie is sup- posed to be." The name and the history of the Morning Chronicle's reputed correspondent were communicated to him ; and I wrote down the former at his request, adding the titles by which it was once followed. Having obtained all the information I CHAP. VIII.] [AKF.RS. 261 could give him upon this point, he procet'dcd lo dis- cuss the political events and prospects of tlie old world ; and exhibited a good de;d of knowledge and sound sense both in the questions he ]^ut annt him in possession of a few lacts that are too well known in llurope to excite surprise or indignation, lie was not dis- posed to make allowance for vices and failings, from which it would be unjust to exjxct exemption in these " chartered libertines." 'I'hi' venerable recluse launched out on the subject of these " delicate in- vestigations*' into a strain of morbid curiosity that re- quired no further encouragement, to illuslrato the powerful eflfecls of human nature upon feelings long sui)in'essed or diverted I'rora their ordinary channels. It wa^ getting late; and we had seen enougli lo judge of the reaction which forced celibacy and re- Hgious seclusion have a lendi'ucy to produce ujx)!) the nnnd. I suggested, tlierefore, that it was time to tako our leave ; when our guide proposed a visit to r if ■ < i 4 ii ! i 258 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHA1», VIII. the school ; where, as he told us, we miglit judge for ourselves how far it is true that the Shakers are purposely kept in a state of ignorance. To the school then we adjourned, and met the children coining out. They all wilUngly and cheerfully ac- ceded to our recjuest that they would return to their lessons ; and wc had an opportunity of witnessing the care bestowed upon their education. Two lett(!rs, written by the pupils, — one a girl of thirteen, the other rather older, — 1 have now in my jiossessicn. They are well written and well expressed, and fully disprove the imputation of neglecting instniction. That sort of knowledge is alone imparted, which may be useful to them in the occupations to which they are destined ; and the elementary books used in the ])ublic schools of the country are employed for the purpose. I may here observe, that the facility with which the Shakers receive children into their establish- ment, has a tendency to produce many of tlio abuses arising from Foundling lIos})itals. One case I am myself acquainted with where an illegitimate cliild was left with them by its parents, who preiended to be man and wife, and unable to provide for it ; — leaving at the same time a fictitious name, under pre- tence of reclaiming it on the first op[)ortunity. We saw several copies of the Bible and Testament in the common versions. These are accessible to the scholars at any time — so unfounded is the report CHAP. VIII. 1 SHAKER CKKED. 259 that tho Scriptures arc studiously kept out of the hanir office and manner of operation." No one can deny that this is incomprehensible enough to answer all the ])urposes of mysticism, liy pennitting mamage, however,-- the only way in which man and woman can be made one, — Mother Lee might have ccmipleted the analogy, and ap))lie(l the dcK-trhie of dualism as well to the object, as to the author, of Divine Good- h\ ill! CHAr. VIII.] TEKSECUTION OF SHAKERS. 261 ness. llcr domestic trials might perhaps have con- firmed, if they did not produce, her attachment to celibacy ; for her husband, not long after her arrival from England, left her to live with another woman, and dissolved the connexion for one less spiritual. The ShaktTs allow no distinction whatever be- tween man and man, but what is founded on moral worth, and admit persons of all colors to the same privileges. Hence, probably, arose those bitter and cruel persecutions to which they were at first ex- posed, rather than from the charge of alienating children liom their pai'ents and disturbing the natu- ral order of society. About thirty years ago, an establishment they had formed in Union Village, in the State of Ohio, was attacked by a lawless mob of 500 armed men ; led on by officers, and followed by nearly '2000 ])eople, who had assembled to witness this brutal outrage on a peaceable community of religionists. The pretence of all this violence was, as is usual on similar occasions, to protect religion from dangerous fanatics. Such, however, was the patient mildness with whicii the Shakers conducted themselves towards these turbulent intruders, (the real fanatics,) tliat their malice was disarmed, and they retin-d with far different feelings from tliose with which they had arrived. I had 11(1 ojiportunity of seeing the society either at tlieir meals or at their devotional exercises j the -..■J-JIUJ I 262 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. latter of which arc said to be inexpressibly ludi- crous—though the sight of rational beings cutting capers to the glory of God must be rather humiliat ing than amusing. These peculiarities are becoming less preposterous ; and, as the distortions of the body are exchanged for movements more natural and graceful, the attention of the in([uisitivc to these ceremonies will probably be lessened; and visitors will c(mtent themselves with the picture of a ha])})y and harmless connnunity, usefully em- ployed and exempt from most of the cares and follies of civilized society. We returned to Albany in time for dinner; and at three o'clock 1 started by the rail-road for Saratoga. The first sixteen miles we performed iii forty minutes, when we dismissed the locomotive power, and having descended, for a short distance, down an inclined plane, went on, by means of a single horse, to the Springs, which we reached at eight ; the whole distance l)eing thirty-six miles and a half. We were detained some time at Schenectady, twenty-two miles IVora Saratoga. The place was crowded ; and I was glad to return the next day lo the western road, ii'om which 1 had deviated for the pur})ose of taking a peep at the American Cheltenham and its " fashionables." I staid there so shorl a time that I am not a fair judge of either. There must, however, be some great attraction A\ CHAP. VIII.] AMERICAN SUPERSTITION. 263 in the one, when the other can congregate in such numbers, in spite of a liot sun, a sandy soil, and noisy liotels. The next day the rail-road conveyed me back to Schenectady in an hour and eighteen minutes, the cars having stopped ten minutes atBalston Spa to take up some passengers. From the former place I went by the stage to Palatine (thirty-nine miles). The road runs by the side of the Mohawk river nearly all the way to Utica, and presents some fine views. One of the drivers made a singular remark to me. He was saying that many of the Dutch or German settlers have colored servants *, who generally prove honest and industrious in return for the kindness shewn to them. " You Europeans," said he, " must be astonished at the sui)crstition you see here. It is disgraceful to our national character, and contrary to common sense and justice to despise a whole race, who are just as good as we arc. It is cowardly to insult people who cannot defend themselves, and ungratelul to oppress those who are working for us." • Tlic " Dutch " farmers are accused, most absurdly, of cm- ploying tlii'sc men, because they can jrct them nt lower wages tiiaii whites — as if there ccudd be two rates of remunera- tion in the same place tor the same kind of work. I once heard a black and a white laborer comparing the amount of what they could earn as farming men. I was sitting by them on the top of a stage, and listened to tlieir conversation. it •y , 11 ' liii— r t '. 204 T«)rR IX THE PNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. Tlicsc were nearly the very words he used. The custoins here are certainly capricious and somewhat |)uzzlin^^ If a black man be free, he is not allowed to get into the stage — if he be a slave, he is. An American will tell you that the exclusion is owing to the olfactories; — what is the admittance owing to? The day ^efore, I observed a black woman, with some ladies and other persons, in one of the cars. She was the slave of one of them. In England, a man would be considered ill-bred, if he were to put his livery-senant into a stage-coach with gentle- v\omen. Yet even " a natural antipathy " is sacri- ficed in America to the vanity of one section of the Union and the servility of the other. If the North- cm States had a proper spirit of independence or becoming pride, they would adopt some retaliatory measure, and ])rohibit the introduction of slaves from every State that ])rohibits the introduction of their colored citizens, liut this they dare not do. Well may the planters laugh at the " jiedlars." They out- vote them in Congress ; and they thrust their " nig- gers " into their stage-coaches under thnir very noses. The next day I went on to Utica (thirty-seven miles). In the evening, as I was strolling about, I entered into conversation with one of my swarthy friends, and obtained from him a singular ])iece of infornuition. lie had been sold not long before by his own consent. Upon inquiring into the particu- CHAP. VIII.] YANKEE TRICK. 205 lars of what I had hitherto thought a very uncom- mon occuiTcnc'c, Iio assured me that such kinds of bargain were by no means so rare as one would imagine. The manner in which he (hsposed of liim- self was this. He agreed with the captain of a ves- sel from Albany, to go out with him to Martinique, where he was purchased by a planter for 5Qf) dollars, and received half of the sum as his share of the l)argain. On the depailurc of the vendor, who had made a previous arrangement with the commander of another vessel to take him off the island, he made his way, with the assistance of the port-officer, whom he bribed, to the latter ; and, before the ship that had taken liim out retiu'ned, got back to New \ ork, with his freedom safe, and what he had received for a few hours' slavery in his pocket, lie told me he had had several offers since; to engage in a similar speculation ; but had declined, as he coidd not trust the pro])osers. A few miles before we reached Utiea, a passenger in the stage related an anecdote, which, though a choice specimen of what are called Yankee tricks, nuist yield the palm to the fonntT. The circum- stance occurred at i\w very sjvot we were ])assiNa^ over, when the limils of the settlement had not reached what is now the po}>ulous city of Ttica. About that time, an unlettered man, known by the name of .ludge Sterling, had been raised to the bench, or rather appt)inte«l, ou account of his supe- VOL. I. N < 1 i M ; \\ ''■.\\ ,»i '; I -JT" I: i( •2G6 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAT. VIII. rior shrewdness, to administer justice to the district, and arbitrate between the settlers and the squatters from the East, lie was very pious and fond of mo- ney ; and contrived to gratify both dispositions, by placing a chain across the road, in front of his house on a Sunday, and exacting a toll from every j)assen- ger. A \ ankee, who was on his way to the wilder- ness beyond, was sto})ped, and the customary de- mand made. " Give me a receipt," said he, " that 1 may not have another toll to pay as I go through your district." The judge produced a blank piece of paj)er, and desiring him to write one, affixed his signature to it. The rogue had written over it : — " l*lease to pay to the bearer the sum of 100 dol- lars." This draft he got cashed in the village at a store, having added the owner's name to it, and it was not till some time after, that the fraud was dis- covei'ed by the dupe. The next day, I proceeded to Auburn (seventy-five miles). The road was uninteresting, and none of the best. While we were going slowly up a hill within a few miles of the city, two very pretty chil- dren, neatly dressed, and api)arcntly daughters of substantial farmers, held out a basket of plums to us, when one of the ])assengers, after he had taken o\it the contents, inquired of the little girl, who had taken it back from him, what she asked for them. " Nothing," was her answer. " Oh I but you must take something." " No ; you are very welcome to t m 1*1 CHAP. VIII.] AUBURN PENITENTIARY. 2(57 hi ! them." lie still pressed lier ; but she declined the money, lie was a Southerner: — a New-Englandcr would not i>r()bably liave accepted the })rofrerc(l kindness so ungraciously. As the stage was pro- ceeding—" 1 should not have expected," said he, " to find so much disinterested civility in this part of the country." This was as chilling and as illi- beral as Moliere's " la vertu — ou va-t-ellc sc nichcr ? " It was not very complimentary to the people of the northern section. One or two of them were present ; but said nothing at the time. The remark, however, was not lost upon them, any more than upon my- self, as the comment made upon it alter\\'ards con- vinced me ; while it confirmed the inference I natu- rally drew from this trifling incident, as to the difl'er- ence of rank, and its accompanying respect, that prevails in the Slave-States and Free-States. The next morning I visited the ])risou ; the exter- nal a])pearance of which bears a much stronger re- semblance to places of the same kind in Europe, than any I had before seen in America. It was here, I believe, that the Penitentiary system was first tried. As the agent was out, the cba})lain took me round the different parts of the establishment. There are altogether 770 cells ; i220 of which are in a building lately erected on a better plan of con- struction than the old one ; though, in both, the means of properly ventilating the cells are defect- ive ; as there is no aperture in any of them, like N 2 ♦'! •J; 'a 'f 1 V] o / /!^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 ^ IIIM I.I 1^ ^ 1^ 12.0 1.8 Photographic Sciences Corporation 1.25 1.4 1.6 < 6" ► 23 WiST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 873-4503 'tis § ; s 'I 2G8 TOT R IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. those at Siiij^slng, {<€ keeping up a cuiTcnt of air by an open connnunication from tlie back part of the room witli tlie air at the roof. The space, however, ))et\veen tlie dormitories and the wall, which forms the opi^osite side of the passage, is much larger tlian that in the old ])ortion of the building. There is a difference in the manner of securing the convicts in their cells between this prison and that at Singsing ; each lock being separate, and the door too fiir willidrawn from the range in which the rooms are ])laced, to admit of any communication between tliem. TIk! dinner, too, which at the latter is taken se- ])arately and in the cells, is here eaten in common, at tables provided for the purpose. One advantage, said to arise from this arrangement, is the facility with which tlu! quantity of food can be regulated accord- ing to the exigencies of the prisoners ; among whom the hard-w(nkers require more than those whose employment is less laborious. This accommodation, however, might be obtained, if required, by a liberal apportionment of diet, as easily in the other system, by sendhig the keepers with a su])ply along the line, and requiring the convicts to make the same signs through the bars of the cells, when they want more meat, that are here made at the public table with th(^ same object. At Singsing the convicts have the same rations; but that is not a necessary conse- (puMice of eating separately. There is a greater variety of manufactures carried CHAP. VIII.] PENITENTIARY. 269 3ord- lom lose Lion, irried on at this prison than at Sinpsing or Weathersficld ; and the avenues, or covered ways, through which the lieepers, by means of small sUts in the wood- work, are enabled to see the men at work, are more compl(!te ; as, in most cases, they are carried all round the workshops. These contrivances not only afford the best security for the due? observance of silence, and of obedience to other regulations, by impressing on the minds of all at work, tliat they art; under the immediate eye of vigilance and authority, — but enable visitors to see all that is going on, without occasioning any trouble or intcn-ruption to the business of the place. Out of (!})0 tliat were under confinement at the time of my visit, there were but eight in the infirmary — a greater luimber than the average. Here, as in other establishments of a similar kind, it is found that the sudden transi- tion from immoderate indulgence to total abstinence, in the case of habitual drunkards, has a good effect upon the general state of health; shewing that re- form, to be salutary, need not always be gradual ; and that a remedy may be radical with the pliysician, and yet conservative to the ])atient. The system pursued here is milder than that at the penitentiaiy on the North river. From the latter there have been transferred to the Auburn prison, at two successive periods, 120 convicts ; and all of them have exi)ressed a decided ])reference to the treatment that has followed the change. This i i' ' ■ ^ ' i1 I- i l':lk, f^t 111; [Ml i ■ ■ i m m Kl I I I TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. testimony may be thought to favor the system it is employed to discredit ; and, if capital punishments were the best, because a man would rather be flogged than hanged, severity of discipline would find its best advocate in the terror it excites. Other feelings, however, are to be enlisted in aid of refonnation ; and preventive checks to crime arc not to be esti- mated by the tortures applied to the body or mind of the criminal. Any one can perceive in the coun- tenances of the convicts at Auburn, much less of that ferocious and resentful feeling, which the " cat " at the Singsing penitentiary has left impressed on the features of its inmates. A violent and ignorant outcry, which has forced its way from the workshops of the mechanics to the doors of the legislature, has been raised, particularly in the State of New York, against convict labor, from its supposed tendency to ruin trade by lowering its prices. A slight consideration, however, will shew that no such injury can possibly arise from an open contract ; the nature of which is to keep down the profits of the new competitor to the level of the general market. I was assured by a very well in- formed man, whom I met at a time when public attention had been directed to these disputes, that he could purchase shoes at Albany, of a commissioner from Lynn, — a town in Massachusetts, famous fi r its " cordwainers," — fifteen per cent, below what they would cost at Singsing, to which place he had CHAP. VIII.] CONVICT LABOR. 271 gone under an impression that he could get them cheaper there. lie added, that it was not an un- common thing at Auburn, to procure household fur- niture from New York, rather than from the prison in the neighborhood. Such arc the fallacies and falsehoods relative to the work done in the peniten- tiaries ; the inmates of which arc accused of inflict- ing a fatal blow to the interests of honest industry. That this opinion is very general, is evident from the high prices at these places, occasioned by the influx of those who, while they entertain it, afford the best refutation of an error that will cure itself. Unfortunately, this question, like every other of a public nature, has assumed a political form ; and the ignorance of the wor^dng-classes is used as a tool for party purposes. The Whig (or anti-Jackson) convention, recently held at Utica, have resolved, in their wisdom, as follows : " Inasmuch as the me- chanic arts are among the great sources of a nation's wealth and hap])iness, it becomes the duty of the government to extend its protection to the most in- telligent and impo'tant class of our citizens ; and that the employment of State convicts in the fabric- ation of articles which come into ruinous competition with the labor of honest industry, is a burthen upon mechanics so onerous as to demand the prompt and efficient attention of the legi'=lature." The Buffalo Whig contained a circular (dated August, 1831) from th.^ agent and keeper of the %'J ■:i '■ V. > N It r^ — .^' ,m . 90 iMm n •mm IM'l I I' :l J.i i I I 272 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. Auburn prison. To tlie queries therein inserted, the editor gives certain answers, as they were made by a mechanic, — the last person whose evidence on a subject involving so intimately his prejudices and interests, would be taken as conclusive by the agent, or any one who wishes to get at the truth. " The several mechanical branches," says this judge in his own cause, " with which the prison Avarcs have come into competition, arc seriously injured; and it is said, some establishments have been broken up in consequence, and that others must follow. It is believed, that the low prices at which the prison wares are sold, is the principal cause of coni])laint ; it being, on some articles, but little above the price of the raw material." The Editor of the Whig observes upon the above : " We were recently acquainted with a very worthy t mechanic in this city, now deceased, who, previously to his residence here, was employed in su])erintend- ing the blacksmiths in the Auburn prison. That trade he followed here ; and, from his knowledge of the discipline of the prison, and the signs by which the prisoners (not being allowed to s])eak) call for what they need, he often detected those Ik; employed as graduates of the Auburn Institution, lie in- formed us, that he detected in this way, from fifteen to twenty of these, in the course of two years. Se- veral of them proved most arrant knaves ; and no one so demeaned himself as to retaui his place bovc : rorthy iously itend- That Ige of iwhich 11 for loy(?(l e in- ifteci) So- ld no place CHAP. VIII.] REFORMATION OF CONVICTS. 273 longer than a few days. Some of them pilfered his small tools ; and one broke open his shop at night, and robbed it. A chair-maker, also at work here, plundered his employer and decamped, who was from the same school. In short, reformation, we believe, can seldom be found to have resulted from our prison system." The last paragraph is quite unnecessary. The whole style of argument clearly shews, that public opinion has already passed a M'r- dict of " guilty." What chance of reformation is there in a discharged convict, when he knows that he is recognised, suspected, and despised } He is precisely in the same situation with men of the same class, who, in France, are placed under the surveillance of the police, and subjected to a system of discouragement, that has long been com]^luined of as reproducing crime in a multiplied and aggra- vated form. Alter this, we need not be surprised at what fol- lows: Mr. Humphreys, who is said in the Me- chanics' Magazine (an American publication) to be " better able to judge of the effects produced by at- tempting to reform criminals by state-prison-labor than any one else in the coMUiumity," says, in his report to the legislature of New York, in 1S34, " To the first question: ' What portion of offenders sen- tenced to the penitentiary, or to the State-])rison, as far as your experience enables you to say, reibrm ? ' — I answer ; I regret to say, very few. My opinion n3 ;' I :ii,' Pi I i ' ! I In i ! ■ i ! i i i I 1 t j , 1 t' 274 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. VIII. is, as far as my experience enables me to give an opinion, that there are not more than two out of 100 well-attested instances of durable reform." Again — " At every court of th^ general and special sessions, held in the city, with few exceptions, several old offenders, who have been before sent to our peniten- tiary or State-prison, or to the State-prison of some other State, are again tried and convicted." The next day I left Auburn with the same party, and reached Canandaigua — one of the prettiest vil- lages in the State, where I remained till the 22d, having been invited to dine with a Scotchman, who has been living there some time, and has just finished a splendid house, to the great delight of his neigh- bors, who have thus the prospect of retaining among them a man of sterling worth and good sense, I was indebted for his acquaintan-^e to a person whom I had met at New York, while in attendance upon the governor, and who recognised me in the Court- house, while I was listening to a tedious and unin- teresting trial for petty larceny, and was happy to accept his polite offer of an introduction to his friends. With Mr. Greig, who had asked one or two persons to meet me, 1 passed a very agreeable even- ing. The towns, springing up like magic, and the beau- tiful lakes I passed between Albany and Avon, which I reached the following day, have so often been depicted, that I should rather claim praise for omit- CHAP. VIII.] GENESEO. 275 ting, than risk blame for enlarging upon, a subject, which, in one of its features, almost eludes descrip- tiou by constant addition and extension, and, in the other, demands a more skilful hand for delinea- tion. I had written a few days before to Mr. Wads- worth, who had invited me, when I met him in the summer in New York, to take his house on my way to the Falls of Niagara ; and soon after I got t!) Avon, his eldest son arrived at the hotel, and drove me with him in his gig to Geneseo, about ten miles out of the Buffalo road. Avon is twenty-five miles from Canandaigua; and the latter thirty-nine from Auburn. Geneseo, the county town of Livingston county, IS beautifully situated on an eminence, that over- looks part of the fertile and delightful valley through which the Genesee flows on its way to the lake Ontario. i: I' v 'I. m '/J ' Hi ii ) f 276 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. IX. I i I ! ilri I I I i i 1 l^ ,1 '■ 1 1 ) i ( 1 ' I I CHAPTER IX. Country Gentleman's House. — English Settler — American Hosj)itality, — Emigrants to the West. — lUiJflilo Seneca In- dians — Canada City of Ararat Falls — Eccentric English- man Canada Farm. — Difference of Prices in the two Coun- tries. — Strike of Masters against Servants — Low Life above Stairs — Brock's Monument. Mr. Wadsworth's house commands a fine view; the rising gvound on the other side of the river pre- senting an undulating surface of woods and fields, interspersed with farm-houses. Such a prospect, whether you regard the variety of the scenery or the richness of the pasturage it embraces, is rarely to be met with. Such is the fertility of the alluvial soil, that a farm of eighty acres, situated higher u]i in the flats, near Mount Morris, has continued to bear the finest cro])s of wheat and other grain, for thirty- seven years without intermission, and without ma- nure. It was purchased for sixty-six and a half dol- lars an acre : and the year before, yielded twenty, and was expected, in the ensuing harvest, to yield H! CHAP. IX.] AMERICAN FARM. 277 lew ; prc- elds, [pect, • the o be soil, the the irty- mti- (lol- nty, •ield thirty dollars net profit ])er acre. The average crop on Mr. Wadsworth's laud was twenty bushels an acre ; tliat on the best l)cing forty ^ Tlie establish- ment is on a very large scale ; above '2000 acres, if I was rightly informed, being in the proprietors own hands, — in addition to other farms and lands which are estimated at more than 100,000 acres. The average price of land cleared for sale is twenty dol- lars an acre ; the best land sells for thirty, including a good dwelling-house, barn, &c.,with the respective lots. The net profits of one field of wheat, the year 1 was there, Avere twenty dollars an acre ; — just two-thirds of the fee-simple of the land. Where the farms arc let out, the rent is usually one-third of the crop ; the tenant defraying all the expenses of cul- tivation. The grain, tlius obtained, is made into flour and sold. The retail price of meat is mode- rate, averaging six cents a pound for the best heel through the year. Eggs ten cents the dozen : cheese six to eight cents the pound. Wheat eight dollars the quarter. Board and lodging at an hotel, for one person, about two dollars per week. A clergyman, in this part of the country, receives about 500 dollars a-year for his stipend j and can live comfortably upon it, being able to keeji a horse and chaise, besides maintaining his family. Tlu; fanning-men on Mr. Wadsworth's estate have ten dollars a month, in addition to board, lodging, &c. One of them saved, the preceding year, fifty dollars. (- ^' ■ ( :i i •r^ Ksmmmt^mm 278 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. IX. li n i . I. ) \ c ! I 111 a few years, tlicsc men, if industrious and pru- dent, become ])roprietors of land, and lay the found- ation of a com])etent provision for their children. An Irishman, who had, souk? years before, the care of the sheep, the number of which was at that time about 7000, (since succeeded in their luxuriant pastures by eight or nine hundred buUoclis,) laid l)y oOO dollars during the period of his sen'ice on the estate, and purchased 300 acres of land in the territory of Michigan with the earnings of his industry, which, by successive accumulations, now am unt to eigh- teen or twenty thousand dollars. I wish this were a fair specimen of Erin's sons ; but the prevalence of dissipation and improvidence among the most nume- rous class of Irisli emigrants, has stamjjed them with a character too generally unfavorable to be removed by such examples of prudence. I am indebted to Mr. Kemp — an Englishman, who has resided four or five years on a farm of 600 acres, in the township of Groveland, five miles south of Geneseo, for the following statement. He gave fifteen dollars an acre for his land ; and it is now worth, including the house and outbuildings, thirty dollars an acre ; or twenty-seven exclusive of them. The average produce of what he has cleared is about the same as that on the estate at Geneseo. A swing plough, with cast iron fittings, costs about seven dollars ; a threshing machine from one to two hun- dred dollars. A barrel of pork, of 200 pounds, costs iHi CHAP. IX.] ENGLISH SETTLER. 279 fourteen dollars. Farm horses, eighty to one hun- dred dollars each. A yoke of oxen, fifty to ninety. A very fine one I saw at Genesco cost sixty ; while the keep of each yoke averaged half a dollar per week. A milch cow cost sixteen dollars. Mr. Keni]) and his family, consisting of his wife and six children, had enjoyed excellent health. Sj)eak- ing of his native and his adopted country, he thought the rural part of the community, as far as he could judge from what he had observed in his own neighborhood, superior, in point of integrity and morality, to the con'esponding classes in l^ng- land. The population of the cities he considered nearly the same in both respects on each side of the Atlantic, lie complained, as most Europeans do, (rather unjustly, for the new world was made for man as well as master,) of the great difliculty he had experienced in finding, and still more in keep- ing, good servants. A servant, he said, if indus- trious and saving, can lay by, in the course of two years, sufficient to purchase eighty acres (half a quarter-section of land) in Michigan : — the " el dorado" of agricultural emigrants from both sides of the At- lantic. He was of opinion that the part of the Union he had selected for his residence offers, upon the whole, the greatest advantages, from the excellence of the soil and the easy access to a market for its produce, to the investment of a small capital in land. The Eric canal is but thirty miles from Genesco and n ' s ■ f ■■1 •1 '• ! t. I ■; -Si I t II. miBpni « i •\ ,i :' li ft •; i 280 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IX. accessible by the river. Cash may at any time be obtained for grain from the agents in the villages, who are employed by the Rochester millers. While I was there, flour from wheat gromid but five days before at that city, was on sale at New York, from which it is distant upwards of 400 miles by the canal. Mr. Kemp spoke in very high terms of his neigli- bors, who had been uniformly kind, conciliatory, and respectful in their intercourse with him. He had been occupied exclusively in agricultural pur- suits, and was satisfied with the success that had attended them. To a question, whether he ever felt any anxiety with respect to a future })rovision for his family, his answer was — " none whatever." The mode of living in this part of a country, till within a few years an inaccessible forest, is extremely sociable and friendly ; and, if Groveland resembles Geneseo in hospitality and kindness, Mr. Kemj) will find every day less reason to regret his removal from Poole in Dorsetshire to the " wilds of America." Such a man, however, would be an ac<|uisition to any society : — obliging, intelligent, industrious and unassuming. After a " visitation " of three weciks, during which the attentions I received from all were such as could be expected from none but fi'iends of old standing, attentions that were given with a delicacy that would be hurt by an adequate acknowledgment, 1 y ;r .' ! ■; CHAP. IX.] EMIGRANTS TO THE WEST, 281 liicli )uld that took leave of Mr. Wadsworth and his family on the 12tli of September ; and, havhig been driven to Avon by his eldest son, continned my ronte the next morning to Buffalo (sixty-four miles), through a mo- notonous country. Among the passengers in the stage was a farmer from the eastern part of the State, on his \\'ay to Illinois, whither he was emigrating with his four brothers, their families, and their household gods. The rest of the party were a little in advance in covered waggons, travelling about tvvcnty-five miles a day, antl passing the night in tents, under which they had their usual meals, with as nuieh coml'ort and security as if at home ; having brought caii)ets and bedding with them. They were to embark, with their carriages and baggage, at Ibiilalo, and proceed by a steam-boat to the nearest spot that would lead to the ])lace of their destination. This nomadic tribe consisted of twelve or fourteen families, most of them neighbors. In tlie spring they ex])ected a reinforcement to their jjrojected colony of fifty more families, chiefly from A'ermont ; and as they had their spiritual guides with them, and were not un- provided with medical assistance in case of need, the wants of man's double nature would Ijc amply sup])lied. ^ The old man, whose conversation was remarkably sensible and entertaining, ex])atiated fully and fre- quently on the rich harvest that the inexliaiistil)le ii jli 1- I .^ \ la »^ i?r 'JWMM 11: iH Ml , ii ' ■ i i: 11 I* t (i! 'I I 282 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. IX. prairies, to which his clan were hastening, presented to his view. He had heen on the spot the year before ; and, on his return, had prevailed upon his friends to sell their lands, and set out on a pilgrimage of 1000 miles to the " fa: West." He had no fear, he said, that the sangmnc expectations his descrip- tion of the " promised land " had excited, w^ould be disaj)pointed. We passed several parties journeying in the same direction, and with similar views. They reminrled me of Horace's " campestres Scytha:, quorum plaustra vagos rite tralumt domos." The picture, indeed, he draws of the ancient "squatters", whom the great officina gentium sent forth into the adjoining countries, is not inapplicable to a class of emigrants that are driven by the sa.ne hopes and fears to seek a subsistence in other lands, to clear the way for their successors, and to dispose of the ground they have brought into cultivation to some new comer, wh- shall again ])ush them forward in their turn, when the advancing wave from behind shall have reached himself. " Defunctumque la- boribus ajquali rccreat sorte vicarius." It was quite dark before we entered Buffalo ; and one of tlie ])assengers, who sat at the back part of the stage, was busily employed in looking out, from time to time, to sec that no marauder had carried off" liis luggage from the boot. His brother-in-law, he informed us, had had his trunk, a few days before, cut off, and " gutted " of its contents at that very •V. CHAP. IX.] BUFFALO. 283 and irt of Voni !d oft" V, he jfore, very spot. I had heard of such occurrences before ; but shoukl not have expected to meet with this sort of highwaymen at such a distance from the gi'cat cities, where there arc never wanting hands to strij) the stages, on a fair opportunity, of a trunk or two from the cargo that is most unaccountably exposed behind, or slightly secured by a chain. Buffalo, however, contains above 12,000 inhabitants, and is much fre- quented by travellers and men of business, few of whom have leisure to stop and hunt after any one who may hive taken a fancy to their wardrobe. The progress of Buffalo has been very ra[)id, and is likely to continue, as its situation on the great road to the West, and the Erie canal, give it ad- vantages which no rival can hope to wrest from it. in three years, the tonnage on Lake Erie increased . -ra G,000 to 18,000 tons. Upwards of 200,000 entered the port of Buffalo the year before ; and half that number of passengers, it is supposed, passed through the place on their way to the New States. There were 20 steam-boats and 128 sloops and schooners on the lake in 1833. The value of property, and the amount of profits which trade offers at this place, may be estimated from the circumstance of a broker proposing to give 25 per cent, for money on good security ; his olyect being, as he informed the person from whom I had the account, to lend it at an interest of 50 per cent. Making every allowance for exaggeration, the or- H f ir^ i li Mi 4 m ijl- 1 , i Hi t ' i^'^ ni I '( ) 'I 284 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IX. dinary value of money must be great to admit of such a statement. A transaction of this kind is of course managed indirectly ; as the law, which, in this State, limits the rate of interest, must be evaded. The policy of usury laws, as they are called, was discussed by the company in the stage between Avon and Buffalo. The emigrant defended them, while the rest of the party were strongly o])])osed to him. When he is settled in Illinois, the government of which he praised for promising to " protect" him against usurious bargains, by fixing the price he is to pay for the capital he may want, he will find himself a loser, and the lender a gainer, by all the difference between the demands of an open market and the indemnity that must be given, not only for the usual risks, but the chances of loss for infringing the cnactrient he approves of. If these laws could be strictly enforced, the spirit of improvement would be checked, tlie uncleared land must remain a baiTen waste, and the price of grain would rise as the supply diminished. The greater part of that industry and enterprise by which such astonishing results have l)een obtained, has been put in motion by boiTowed capital, much of which would certainly be withdrawn if its ])rofits were not commensurate with the risk it incurs, and ihc return it contributes to make. What would remain would be of still higher value, and less likely to continue without an increased remuneration. In 1 CHAP. IX.] SENEC\ INDIANS. 285 Canada, the lojr.'il restriction upon interest is evaded in exact ])r()i)()rtion to its severity; the borrower being i)unished by the hand held out to protect him. I remained but one day at Buflalo, and spent part of it in a visit to a setth-ment of Seneca Indians, between three or ionr miles from the city. I was accompanied by an Englishman, who is resident at the latter. The colony contains about 300, a large proportion of whom are converted to the Christian faith. The latter have a small and neat church, near which is the residence of a Presbyterian mis- sionary, wlio has the sjnritual care of the congrega- tion. Their cottages and faiTO-houses are some of them in good order ; and the land, of which but a small portion is as yet cleared, is tolerably well cul- tivated. We called on ihe widow of lied Jacket,— a celebrated chief of the tribe,— she was living in a log-hut, where her husband had resided, and was in a very destitute state, ha])py to receive the donations of casual visitors. SIk^ was unable to speak English ; and the little girl who waited upon her, and was busy preparing some Indian corn for her supper, was not inclined to make use of the little knowledge she had of cur language. The inside of the cottage, though rudely and imj.erfectly furnished, Mas not without the appearance of comfort. We afterwards went into the farm-house of a very respectable good- looking Indian, who had just beiore passed us on fii \l f};: yr i' 086 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CJIAP. IX. r ■ liorseback. His dwelling-house was in excellent condition, and his children, of whom, he told us in the little English he knew, he had six, looked healthy and cheerful. To judge from the fields about his house, he was in a prosperous state. It was unfortunate that he was not better acquainted with the only language by which we could commu- nicate together ; as from the expression of his coun- tenance, and the quickness with which he compre- hended what we said, he seemed to possess a good understanding, and a communicative disposition. These people are fast melting aw^ay, — not so much by the pressure of a more civilized community, as by the influence of an unaccommodating and cruel prejudice, which forbids a closer intercourse, and drives its victims into habits of intemperance and idleness, as a refuge from despondency and dis- couragement. The vicinity of such a city as Buflalo is peculiai'ly unfavorable to these people, as it holds out iiTcsist- ible temptations to drinking, and while it gives the citizens an interest in getting rid of a troublesome neighbor, deprives the latter of that stimulus to ex- ertion and forethought he might find, if surrounded by people whose feeUngs and occupaiions were less uncongenial to his own. The following morning I lei't Buffalo for the Falls of Niagara ; and, after crossing, at Black-rock, the river that joins the lakes Erie and Ontario, contumed IX. CHAP. IX.] CITY OF ARARAT. 287 the journey on the Canada side, having the Niagara on the right all the way to the Falls, at which the stage anivcd about the middle of the day, the dis- tance being twenty-two miles. The diiference, on passing the frontier between the two countries as they appear on each side of the river, is very perceptible ; great part of the land in Canada having been under cultivation for thirty or forty years ; whereas on the American side, the forest still presents an unbroken surface for a considerable distance. On our road we passed by Grand Island, which contains about 20,000 acres, and is still uncleared. It is here that it was intended — if such intention ever really existed — to build an asylum for the Jews from different parts of the world. It was to be called the city of Ararat. The projector (Noah, the editor of the New York Evening Star, — a man " bene notus" throughout tlie Union) who, it is said, was to have five dollars a head from the dispersed members of his race, memorialized the legislature of New York upon the subject in 1820 ; but the historical reminiscences of the Israelites were not in favor of the American wilderness ; and the zeal of their disinterested brother was lost upon them. The wild scheme has long since been abandoned. The Pavilion hotel, at which the stage stopped, was ncariy deserted, as the arrival of the autumn. ,; '!■ ii "•-- »* hi Mlj i I !;' ■ i i i , 1 » 296 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IX. was likely to continue in an increasing ratio. Many English emigrants, who had passed his house in prosperous circumstances on their way to Michi- gan and Illinois, and other places in the United States, had returned disheartened and ruined ; the titles to the lands they had bought not having proved to be good, or the accounts they had received having misled them. What estimate may be formed from this representation of the relative advantages held out by the two countries to emigrants, it would not be easy to say. Allowance must be made for the disposition to make the best of every thing con- nected with what we want to dispose of. An Eng- lishman, however, who intends to settle in the New World, would do well to remember, that the cheap- ness of land is not its only recommendation ; and that difference of manners may add no small item to the sum total of his privations and inconveniences. As there is but a very small duty in Canada on English manufactures, clothing is cheaper there by one-third, if not by one half, than it is in the United States It is a common thing for the citizens of the latter, who reside near the frontier, to cross over for the purpose of purchasing whatever they can take back with them as articles of personal con- sumption. I was told at New York of a person going into Canada to furnish his winter wardrobe, and finding, on his return to that city, that the dif- ference of prices between the two countries just n I by CHAP. IX.] SERVANTS AND MASTERS. 297 covered his travelling expenses going and rctuming. The same complaints are made about servants on both sides of the frontier. It seems, however, both useless and foolish to grumble at the inevitable con- sequence of the peculiar state of things in a new country. The master and the servant perfonn every where the same quantity of work. It is but a division of labor. The share of each varies with the circum- stances of the society in which they are placed. In some, none of the drudgery is done by the master ; in others it is equally divided between them. In England, the servant stands submissively below, and has all the hard work to do. Iri America, he is fre- quently the " top-sawyer." I had an amusing illus- tration of this simple truism from the young English- man who had just left me. He had called a few days before on an old acquaintance of his family, who was living in the interior of the Upper province; when an apology was made for not asking him to dinner, as there was neither meat nor cook in the house. The master was without a servant ; and his wife confined to her bed by sickness. Ilis do- j«estics had all left him ; and no one would take their places. The cause of this desertion was, that he had told the females they should no longer sit in the same room with their mistress. This resolution so exasperated them that, in resentment for what they viewed as an mijustifiable infringement of tlicir privileges, they left the house immediately. The; o3 ,i ii 11 1 ,1 i \ !.: 1 * 1 ! f ' fi ! »: ^ -% SSI mm 298 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. IX. I ' ?■ I ; neighbors took up the matter very warmly, and en- tered into a sort of combination to alter the domestic arrangements of the country, aud draw a stronger line of distinction between the parlor and the kitchen. It is a hazardous experiment ; and iJiey will pro- bably pay dearly for it, whether the result be victory or defeat. A circumstance that occurred not long pgo at a sequestered village in Massachusetts affords a fair commentary upon this anecdote, with an useful hint for some of the actors. A woman who had been hired as a servant, insisted upon taking her meals with the family. The lady of the house, find- ing her bent upon canying her point, agi-eed that they should exchange places, and that they should sit by turns above and below stairs. When Betty's turn came to preside at the dinner, she was placed, with due form, in the post of honor ; — to partake of the good things she had just dressed, and exhibit her skill in carving, after having exercised it in cooking. There happened to be a large party at table ; and the instructions they had received, when invited, prepared them for the scene, and enabled them to preserve their gravity. The poor girl main- tained her ground for some time, till her situation became so extremely painful, that she burst into tears, and left the room. The next da}' she requested that she might be allowed in future to confine her person, as well as her labors, to the culinary depart- ment. CHAP. IX.] brock's monument. 299 On our way to Niagara, about fifteen miles from the Falls, the passengers alighted to view the monument which was erected to the memory of Sir I. Brock, by the legislature of the Upper Province, on an eminence overhanging Queenstown. Sir Isaac, who was the Lieutenant-governor, and commanded the British forces, fell near this spot in the action which took place on the 13th Oct. 1812, with the Americans. On approaching the column, the most splendid prospect burst upon our view. Before and below us was the Niagara, expanded into a noble river, majestically moving onwards, to be lost in Lake Ontario; the opposite shores of which were plainly visible, with their outlines terminated by the horizon. This was one of the most noble views I saw in America. ill I ! ii H « SH5SB 300 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. iii! f CHAPTER X. Pride of Skin Toronto Canadian Methodists. — Indian Preacher and his English Bride Latter insulted. — Improve- ment of Upper Province Fugitive Slaves protected Lewis- ton. — Smugglers. — Custom-house Anecdotes — Tuscorora In- dians. — Curious Incuriosity of Scotchman — Rochester Po- lemics Morgan's Abduction Masonic Oaths Anti-masons. — Mormonites. I WAS now on British ground ; and I felt that I was breathing the pure air of Hberty, after having so long inhaled the foetid atmosphere of mock equality ; — that I was treading upon soil, which no slave could pol- lute with his presence * ; — and that I was among men who would not insult any one for the color of his skin, or the form of his hair. Some of the waiters in the hotel at Niagara were colored. I asked one * A slave could not breathe the free air of France, long before we had any right to make that boast. " Tcutes personnes sont franches en ce ro} aume ; et, sitot qu'un esclave a atteint les marches diceluy se faisant baptizer, il est ufFranchi." Institutes Coustumieres, p. 2. Paris, 1G79. CHAP. X.] PREJUDICE. 301 :!: 'fore ■lont utes of them, whether the same prejudice prevailed in that place as on the other side of the river. " No !" he replied, " we receive the same treatment as the whites : — we eat at the same table together, and associate as equals. I know what you allude to : I have been into the States ; and the only feeling I liad on seeing so much pride was that of pity for the white man's folly." I was assured by a person well acquainted with both the Canadas, that the colored servants are considered the most industrious and trustworthy of any. It is really painful to the friends of America to see her disgrace herself in the eyes of common sense and common justice, by her petty paltry per- secutions of her most valuable citizens. It would be endless as well as tedious to relate all I heard upon this subject. Some of the " fantastic tricks " of this childish spirit, that pouts its lip and knits its baby brow at the approach of a fellow mortal, are highly ludicrous, and would afford an amusing sub- ject for the comic pencil of II. B. A young French- man, who is settled in the State of JVIassachusetts, told me, that he once unintentionally and uncon- sciously " frighted " the " propriety " of a whole steam-boat load of white " China," by lighting his cigar at the mouth of a piece of black " earthen- ware". As he was walking on deck, he observed a man of color smoking near him ; when he boiTowed a light from him. " As soon as I had done so," '" I ^ .f W' ij a! * \<\ i)i\ l\« V' i! . i $ H 302 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. said he, " I remarked that every person's eyes were fixed upon me, and followed my steps whichever way I w^ent. At last a young man stepped forward and informed me * that I had committed an act which aU present were shocked at, as it was contrary to the usages of the country.' " The matter was easily explained. Monsieur was a stranger just anived fi*om a country where such refinements arc unknown ; and where every man is allowed to do as he likes. He assured the young gentleman that he had not the slightest intention to offend any one ; and re- solved, in his own mind, not again to risk his repu- tation and his reception by committing such an un- pardonable crime. Another Frenchman (the French, be it observed, are honorably distinguished for their liberal and ge- nerous feelings on this point) was pelted with brick- bats in the streets of New York, for merely speaking civilly to a woman of color belonging to the house in which he lodged. But the most laughable cir- cumstance connected with this subject, was told me by an American — an intelligent, and in other re- spects, an estimable man. Some years ago he was in London, where he became intimate with a young Oxonian, with whom he one day made an appoint- ment to visit some place. On proceeding to the spot, he met his friend arm-in-arm vnth — a colored man ! Horror-struck at the sight, he turned away abruptly, and went off in another direction. When CHAP. X.] PREJUDICE. 303 next they met, the Englishman asked why he had " cut " him so pointedly. " Cut you ! " rephed he ; " how could I do otherwise ? Why, I had made up my mind never to speak again to a man who could associate with such people as I saw you in company with." "What!" said the other, "do you mean that young man who was with me when we met each other ? Why, he is an old college acquaint- ance:— one of my most intimate friends." This contemptible folly reminds one of Horace's bom- bastic poet, who tumbled into the gutter while he was star-gazing. It calls itself Pride ; but it is no more connected with that feeling, than Prudery with Modesty, or Bigotry with Rehgion. Some years ago, one of those whom it delights to mortify and insult, was living at Hartford, possessed of a handsome competency, and respected as far as his external appearance would admit. This man was frequently heard to say, in the most solemn and emphatic manner, that he would joyfully submit to be flayed alive, if he could rise from the operation with a white skin. The very same expression was used by a black w^oman who lived as a servant witli a person from whom I had the anecdote. Though treated with great kindness in the family, (her master, indeed, is incapable of unkindness to any human be- ing,) she felt she was a Pariah, and could not be happy. On the sixteenth I left Niagara for York — now H IS illi ' '.' li ir } it i i'i\ 304 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. Toronto — the capital of Upper Canada; at which place I arrived about six in the afternoon, by the Canada steam-boat. The distance across this part of the lake Ontario is about thirtj'-four miles. Among the passengers were some delegates from the Wesleyan jNIethodists in England to their bre- thren in Canada ; who, it was said, had formed a closer connexion with the branches in the neighbour- ing States, than with the parent stem at home. Whether the object was to recall the straggling fold, or prevent its uniting with other sects in the province against a common opponent, is doubtful. It is certain, however, that the Canadian Methodists had partaken largely in the spirit of opi)Osition to the Church grant of lands ; and a singular coinci- dence of facts that I observed, induced me to think that the mission might be political as well as religions. I met one of the missionaries coming out of the Lieutenant-Governor's house, where he told me he had been for some time ; and soon after I saw it reported in the English papers that the Government at home had made some pecuniary provision for the Methodist preachers in Upper Canada. The missionaries were accompained by a half-caste Indian on his return from England. The tribe, of which he has the spiritual charge, are settled on the Credit river, about twenty-five miles from the capital. I had a good deal of conversation with CHAP. X.J PETER JONES. 305 him, and was much pleased with the sensible manner in which he expressed himself. While at New York, he had married an Englishwoman, who had formed an attachment to him, and had just anived in that city from London. This event, which would have excited neither sur- prize nor displeasure in a good or pure mind, was seized hold of by the press as a fit occasion to exhibit its subserviency to the base passions of "the great vulgar and the small." A long article appeared in a paper conducted by a Mr. or a Colonel Stone— Secretary to the New York Colonization Society, and one of the bitterest revilers of Miss Crandall and her friends. The writer, by his own account, was present at the marriage ceremony, and described most minutely what passed on the occasion. The whole paragraph, the substance, if not the words, of which, was inserted in the other journals and found its way into every part of the Union, was written with the express object of insult- ing both the bride and the bridegi-oom : accusing the former of infatuation, and the latter of fraud, and holding up to ridicule and contempt two strangers who were passing through the country, and had done nothing, that might exclude them from those courtesies which every community, that has the slightest pretension to civilization, is ac- customed to shew to foreigners. No one who had any acquaintance with Peter Jones, f. tl i< 1] ■"'\ 1 i, i 1, ,lr ■'!! ll fi*l 306 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [ciIAP. X. while he was in London, would think even an American female could be disgraced by becoming his wife. This intrusion upon the sanctities of domestic life, in a land, too, where women are always treated with respect, ought to be reprobated by every generous and manly mind. One would have thought that an Englishwoman, 'who had just quitted her o\sti country, and needed support under the pressure of those painful feelings that the abruption of family ties and the most endearing connections leaves, would have met with forbearance, if not with kind- ness, from strangers, of whom she asked nothing but an unmolested passage to an unknown home. Talk of our Halls — our Hamiltons — and our Fidlers, indeed ! When did they ever, in any instance, single out an innocent female as a mark for ribaldry and raillery ? When did they treat it as a crime, to have been taught by religion and nature, that character not complexion is to be the test of worth and the measure of .espect? With what face can these people cc ^^>plain that English travellers judge of American manners by an European standard, while they condemn European feelings because they are not modified and moulded by American pre- judices : absurdities which the philosopher would be contented to laugh at, if he could forget the pride they foster and the pain they inflict. As for the bugbear of " amalgamation,'"* about which so much is said as to sicken every European CHAP. X.] INTERMIXTURE OF RACES. 307 who visits the country, the only question he will ask himself, when he sees its effects every where, from Maine to Mexico, is — will it be brought about by marriage' or concubinage ? Shall the future occupants of the New World owe their existence to virtue or to vice ? That the majority will, in the course of time, be of mixed blood, is by no means im- possible, — long, however, before that period, the Haytian government will have had a resident ambassador at Washington; and a more liberal spirit will animate both nations*. The capital of Upper Canada, though it does not * " Are we yet prepared to send and receive ministers to and from Hayti? Could the prejudices of some, and the, perhaps, just fears of others, be quieted? Wo think not: the time has not yet come for a surrender of our feelings about color; nor is it fitting, at any time, that the public safety should be endangered." — Niles's Reg. 1823. This is fair and honest and consistent. But pseudo- republicanism has its esoteric and its exoteric doctrines. The reasons assigned for not acknowledging the independence of Hayti are so " frivolous and vexatious ", that tlieir allega- tion would not be credited, were not the documents in which they appear matter of history. The United States' Envoy Extra- ordinary to Panama, was instructed, in 1826, to state to the South American Delegates that the President was not at that time prepared to say that Hayti ought to be recognized as a Sovereign Power, because, among other things, " of the little respect which is there shewn to other races than the African." It is laughable enough to see one nation blaming another for 111 r. W' mm ; li 4 • i i I I 1 308 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. perhaps exhibit so much bustle and outward appear- ance of cnteqirise as the towns along the road from Albany to Buffalo, is making very considerable progress : the population, indeed, increases in a greater ratio than probably in any of the former. It amounted to 9,000, having been but 3,300 three years and a half before. This calculation includes the military, the numbers of which were 000. According to the Canadian " Literary Journal," there were in 1829, 15,945 emigrants from Great Britain; in 1830,28,000; in 1831, 50,254; in 1832, 51,746. Of these last 35,000 settled in Upper Ca- nada ; 10,000 in Lower Canada; 2,000 died of the cholera, and 850 returned. The remainder are not accounted for. During the four preceding years, emigration from Scotland to the Canadas had doubled itself; while it had trebled itself from Ireland, and quintupled itself from England. In the last case, the chief influx was from the southern counties. Thirty-eight thousand emigrants had arrived at this jDlace during the course of the year — more than balancing in wealth what was wanting in numbers, as several had brought out a good deal of capital with them. From all I could learn from those who had v piirsuing the same conduct towards tbreigncrs that has long disgraced herself, and making the natural consequences of her own folly tlie ground of continuing it. CHAP. X.] TORONTO, 309 ' the interior, the condition of the settlers, particularly in the western part of the upper province, is highly satisfactory. The soil is in many places extremely good ; and the grain it produces of the best quality. The year before, 1500 bushels of wheat had been grown on forty acres in that district— in the township of Dover. Several tradesmen, whose shops I went into, expressed themselves fully contented with the success they had met with since their emigration from England. One of them, who a few years before had quitted Otica, where he had been dis- appointed, had been so far fortunate, as a store- keeper at Toronto, that his jjroperty was worth nearly 1000 pounds sterling; though when he first came to the place, he had but eleven sove- reigns in his pocket, and was employed during the first year in keeping a school. I found the hotels extremely bad in every respect: and the many annoyances, to which a traveller from the other side is exposed, are felt the more not only from the contrast, but from the circumstance of some of them being kept by Americans. I could perceive no wish for separation from the mother country in any person with whom I conversed while in Canada. That there is much discontent with the local government is well known ; and, till some method be found of bringing the two legis- lative bodies more into hannony with each other, than they are ever likely to be, while one is elective Mil fl I- :' lii 1 i! i I; 310 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. and responsible to the community, and the other is dependent upon the very power that requires to be watched and checked, the republican spirit will gain greater strength and extension. But, even if this source of contention were dried up, another would be found in the bond that unites the eccle- siastical and the civil establishments. If the parent be distracted by the alliance, how can the child escape a reaction which will have neither pre- scriptive rights, nor time-honored recollections, nor fiscal difficulties to contend with ? That which was once an auxiliary to the State tends ultimately to weaken it ; and more is lost by the hostility of those who dissent than gained by the friendship of those who confonn. Our colonies benefit more by the connection than the mother coimtry ; and its dissolution is less to be dreadt v' by the latter. The Canadas, if separated from England, would not be able to maintain their independence against a powerful neighbor, who would soon find or seek cause of complaint against them on the subject of the asylum afforded, more particularly by the Upper Province, to runaway slaves from the Southern States *. This was one of * A report having been spread that the Canada Land Com- pany intended to introduce large bodies of negro settlers into the Up{)er Province, and the inhabitants of Gosfield and Col- chester having petitioned the legislature against the admission of such a population, the House of Assembly passed certain I CHAP. X.] FUGITIVE SLAVES. 311 the secret causes of the last war, which was as po- pular in the slave section as it was odious in the other. Our government, when applied to, refused to give up the fugitives ; but the reply, which was accepted, however unwillingly, from England, would hardly meet with the same acquiescence, when given by a young and weak State. It was with great reluctance that the Tory ministry, compelled by public opinion, rejected a request, wiih which some '\l Com- |s into CoU hission [ertain resolutions on the subject in 1830. They stated, in the fifth, that this class of people had proved " highly inconvenient and dangerous " to the neighbouring States ; thus giving implicit credit to the falsehoods ai:u calumnies of their oppressors : and, in the sixth, recommended the adoption, if practicable, of a Bill for preventing " the introduction of blacks and mulattoes, as settlers, participating in all the civil rights of the people " of the province. If they were admitted on these terms, they would prove not only a source of wealth but an arm of defence^ to the colony. They would have something to fight for, and something to fight against. On the one side high wages, on the other the whip ; they would be animated by all the gratitude that kindness can inspire, and all the desperation that the dread of a baffled master's revenge can instil into the human breast. It is worthy of remark, that the majority in Congress who voted for the war was chiefly of members from the south. Of all those who came from the States north of the Delaware, amounting to 68, 21 only were in flxvor of that measure. In a house that contained 128 members, 79 were for the war ; and 62 of these were from the south. Of the 32 senators, 19 wero on the same side ; and of these 14 were southerners. 111 'if m;. I i. El :' 1 I Jj 1 ■ i '^ I ft 312 of its TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. find members would doubtless have been happy to some good reason foi )mplying. Mr. Barbour, the American Minister at the Court of St. James's, said, in a letter to Mr. Clay, dated Oct. 2, 1828, "Lord Aberdeen remarked that similar complaints liad been preferred Vy other Powers, having West Indian possessions ; that whilst he would be happy to grant the most substantial re- medy, yet, in the present state of public feeling on this subject, which he said might properly be called a mania, tlie application of the remedy was an affair of some delicacy and difficulty ; that the law of par- liament gave freedom to every slave who effected his landing on British ground." Not long before I was in Canada, an application that had been made to the government for the de- livery of some slaves who had escaped from Detroit in Michigan, across the border, was rejected, on the ground that " the laws of the province do not re- cognize the giving up of persons guilty of such an offence as that said to have been committed by the fugitives." It does not appear that the legislature has been yet called upon to create a new offence. Kentucky cannot make the inhospitable soil of Canada a bugbear to her slaves, as Martinique would point to Antigua. I retiuTied across the lake on the 19th by the same vessel ; and, having passed over the Niagara by a CHAP. X.] SMUGGLER. 313 ie same ta by a ferry at Queenstown, got to Lewiston, on the New York side, about two o'clock in the day. As the coach for Rochester was to start at three or four o'clock in the morning, I accepted the offer of a lad, who had brought my luggage from the water's side to the hotel in his waggon, to go on with him to Lockport, where I might have longer time for rest, as I should thus be twenty miles in advance of the stage. The vehicle I had mounted was of the commonest description, without springs, and half filled with furniture. After waiting an hour in the village to get one of his horses shod, we proceeded, at a jog- trot, over an execrable road. I soon saw I was going "to be well shaken"; but I made up my mind to it, and consoled myself with the reflection that something would turn up to amuse me. There was a man with us who had been to Stam- ford, four or five miles from Niagara, to fetch what remained of the goods and chattels of one of his countrymen. The latter had been some time in the province, pursuing the trade of those people who, in our honorable House of Commons have been de- signated as the " benefactors of mankind " : in other words, he was a smuggler, as was also my com- panion, who described the other as a traitor for having accepted the appointment of collector, and betrayed his friends. For this offence he had been compelled to make a precipitate retreat; and his family were put under the care of this man, who VOL. I. p U Mil 7- i ■ I; I hi 314 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. was now on his way back with the furniture. From the various histories he narrated of the exploits he had been engaged in, I was fully initiated into the mysteries of smuggling, as it is carried on along the boundary that divides the two countries. He was a carpenter, and had found many o])portunities under pretence of following his occupation, to cross over, and share the harvest of a more profitable trade. If his estimate is to be trusted, this contraband traffic amounts to nearly a million dollars a year. He assured me he had once bought cloth at Niagara for three dollars and a half a yard, and sold it a lew days after at Lockport for eight. Thanks to the tariff, this lucrati\'9 commerce bids fair to go on and ])rosper. The statement of the profits he had made must have V)een overcharged, unless he alluded to the period of the war, when there were fewer com- ])etitors and more risk. It is probable that the gains of honest industry are not much below what may be derived from this source ; as those who embark in such speculations have to pay three or four times as nmch as the former for any labor they may hire, and are obliged not only to bribe whatever persons may be inclined to denounce, or share in, the expedition, but are under the necessity of paying tavern-keepers and otliers, with wliom they have dealings on tlie road, nmch more than is charged to connnon tra- vellers. Every meal they order at tlie taverns costs tliem a dollar. There is no doubt, however, that « A.P. X. From its he to the ag the was a under s over, Ic. If traffic r. He vara for ;\v days i tariff, on and [1 made Lided to 2\: com- |ie gains may be ibark in imes as ire, and >ns may edition, keepers on the on tra- ns costs er, that CHAP. X.] CUSTOM HOUSE. 315 this business is carried on, particularly at Rochester, to a great extent. The custom-house officer at Lewiston is by no means strict in the discharge of his duties. My trunk was allowed to pass unopened, on my de- claration that it contained nothing contraband. I met with the same civility when I landed at New York ; and it rarely happens that any one has reason to complain of diffi^rent treatment from this class of public functionaries. This is far from being the case in Canada. There was a good deal of conversation in the boat that brought me back from Toronto, about an occuiTence that had lately taken place at Niagara, at which town the trunks of an English officer, who had come up from New York, where he had landed, on his way to an estate he had in U])per Canada, had been opened at the Custom House, and a duty levied on his wardrobe and other goods ; though the whole had passed free and unexamined at the ibmier city, the inspecting officer having been satisfied with the assurance he gave, that what he had with him was for his own use. Something of the same kind not long before was refeiTed to, in support of the censure this account produced from all present. Two settlers, brother-officers, kit England about the sam(> time for Canada. One went by New York, with a large quantity of goods, (including some wine,) all of which were suffered to proceed without any search or inspection, and passed the Canada frontier in the p2 'I ' III 'i'A ?! n n t ; mmm 'I [it [lii I I h: III '!i 316 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. same way. The other came up the St. Lawrence, where he was detained till he had paid the duties upon everything except his wine, which he left at the Custom House. We went to Lockport by the upper road, and passed through a settlement of Indians of the Tus- corora tribe. The cottages inhabited by them were well built, and presented an ap])earancc of comfort ; while the land was in as good condition as if it had been cultivated by whites under similar circum- stances: — a good deal of it was still uncleared. Both the man, and the lad who drove us, gave a high character of the colonists; some of whom have ftirms of two or three hundred acres. So great is the confidence reposed in their honesty, that their word is sufficient security for the payment of a debt or the performance of a promise ; no written agreement being ever required of them. As they discharge their engagements to others with the strictest punctuality, they expect the same good faith in return, and will have no further dealings with any one who has once cheated or deceived them. It is very seldom, if ever, that they are seen as criminals in a court of justice. Tliey are con- verts to Christianity, and have a small church by the road-side, and a minister who resides near it. They sell their grain by measure, and will not al- low the bushel to be weighed ; — filling it up to the brim, so that it runs over, and is, in fact, greater in AP. X. CHAP. X.] SCOTCH CURIOSITY. 317 rence, duties left at I, and 3 Tus- a were >mfort ; it had ircum- :leared. gave a m have ^eat is it their t of a written s they th tlie good [ealings jceived Ire seen re con- Irch by lear it. lot al- to the later in quantity, than if submitted to the ordinary regula- tions of the country. It was ten o'clock before we reached Lockjiort, where I found a clean and comfortable bed, after a tedious journey, the fatigues of which were scarcely indemnified by the novelty of the adventure. At nine the next morning the stage arrived from Lewiston, and I left the rising town of Lockport without viewing its wonders, beyond what could be seen through the windows of the coach, as it passed by many substantial well-built houses ; the recent birth of which was attested by the stumps of trees about them. In the stage was a yoimg Scotcliman, who had been residing in Upper Canada for three years, and was returning to his native land by way of New York. Tliough he had been, to use his own expression, " a thousand times" near the Falls of Niagara, he had never seen them. " What," said I, " will you say to your friends at home when they ask you about the Falls?" " Oh!" he replied, " I trouble myself very little about that: — I have something of more importance to attend to than to visit a water-fall". Finding my companions rathei dull and heavy, (there were, besides this " man of feeling," a " silent woman" and two girls,) T got upon the box, but was soon driven in again by the rain. A few miles further, the ladies took their departure, and a farmer-like-looking man got in. The new-comer had plenty to say for himself, lie '4 i li ii II' I I W ' '! t- ^^\k. : I ' i ♦! 318 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. had been one of the first settlers at Rochester, and described the infant colony as existing in a state of perfect harmony and good-will. It was like one family; all the members of the little community assisting each other in pecuniary matters, and in- terchanging civilities and good offices, till some of them took it into their heads to build a hand- .somer church, and engage a preacher at a higher salary. From that moment religious discord found its way into the society; and the chronicler of its early feuds was the first to suffer under the infliction. He had been the proprietor of a line of stages for some years ; and having entered into a contract with the government for the mails, had run them every day of the week. This proceeding was viewed by the zealots of the place as an un- pardonable desecration of the sabbath ; and one of them waited upon him to intimate that an opposi- tion would be set up against him, unless he would discontinue the Sunday travelling. To this appli- cation he replied, that he would willingly comply wiih their request, if they would release him from his obligations by taking upon themselves the se- curities into which he had entered for the fulfil- ment of his contract. If they refused his ofler, and persisted in their resolution, his property, he told them, would be ruined. " We want you, not your property," — was the answer he received. " I never was, and I never will be a hypocrite," — these were CHAP. X.] SUNDAY MAILS. 319 his words :— " I cannot agree with you that I am committing a sin, I shall therefore continue run- ning my stages."— He did continue ;— the tlireat- ened opposition was started;— and lie gave up the contest, after he had lost 12,000 dollars, because he would not allow his neighbors to regulate his con- science. The result of thus setting religion against the man, was to set the man against religion; and, because his spiritual well-wishers had tried his actions by their opinions, he condemned their principles for the bigotry which accompanied them. He became an infidel. I met with seve- ral persons who had thus confounded the disbelief of religion with a dislike for its professors, and become hostile to the faith because they had suf- fered from the works to which it had led. The whole country was not long ago much agitated by the discussion of this question. Many efforts had been made to put a stop to the Sunday mails ; and petitions were presented to Congress for their prohibition. The result was a report from the legislature, against the proposed measure; one of the objections alleged against it, being its sup- posed tendency to a connexion between the Church and the State! Speaking of the harvest, the ex -postmaster, who was now a tiller of the soil, observed that there never had been finer crops in that part of the -^•>JL...->. ' I, ! ■ i (I I.' 1^ ■( ,1' P' 320 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. country. He pointed out, as we stopped at a small village (Clarkson) about eighteen miles from Rochester, a farm of 300 acres, that had been under cultivation for twenty years, and had never had any manure upon it. It belonged to a man, who had practised, for the first two or three years of his residence, as a physician. He commenced his career in life with only 300 dollars, purchased the farm in question, has now 600 acres, and is worth, as he told my informant, 120,000 dollars. The price of labor had been very high during the last harvest. My fellow-traveller had paid his men a dollar and a half a-day each, besides board and lodging. It was through this district that William Morgan, who had divulged the secrets of Free-masonry, was dragged from his residence at Batavia in Genesee county, by some of the honorable fraternity, as far as fort Niagara, where he was conhned and after- wards murdered or disposed of in some way still unknown. Eight or ten men from the county we were passing through, joined the kidnapping party, and the expenses of the prosecution that ensued fell upon the inhabitants, who were still taxed for the purpose. None of those who were concerned in this infamous transaction were adequately pu- nished. As this was a veiy remarkable event, a few de- tails may be excused. In September, 1826, W. Morgan was taken by force from the gaol of Ca- i Ca- CHAP. X,] FREEMASONS. 321 nandaigua, wlicrc lie had bi'cn confined for a fic- titious debt, and carried into Canada. There were various rumors with respect to his fate. No doubt, however, was entertained, that he had lallen a victim to his own imprudence and the resentment of tlie Freemasons, who were incensed against a brother of the craft for publishing its mysteries. As the sheriffs were Freemasons, every bill preferred against the perpetrators of this barbarous outrage was, though they were well known, ignored by the grand juries that were packed for the occasion. True bills, however, having been subsequently found against some of them in Ontario county, where the sense of justice prevailed over the influence of the order, legal jiroceedings were instituted in the other counties, through which this unfortunate man had been dragged ; and the conspirators who were convicted were sentenced to different terms of im- prisonment : — the maximum being under three years. The sheriff of Niagara county, Eli Bruce, was condemned to imprisonment for two years and four months in vhe common gaol of Ontario county, and removed from his office by the Governor of the State. The chief actors escaped ; and the odium of the crime, they had thus openly and deliberately com- mitted, fell most justl}-^ on a society of which some of the members were known to have screened them from justice, while the rest had taken no efiectual measures to save their own honor by consigning the p 3 it . II I li ^ M • li ^ ! n i Ik i 322 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. guilty to punishment. The wickedness of the act was scarcely greater than its folly. The savage ferocity exhibited against Morgan for charges and assertions that would have been disbelieved while unnoticed, gave ciUTcncy and confirmation to all that he had divulged. The whole proceedings connected with this extraordinary aftair were highly disgraceful to those who were concerned in it. In spite of public opinion, which loudly reprobated the assassination, the efibrts that were made to scrcon the principal parties to the crime, were but too successful. The counsel (John C. Spencer) who had been specially appointed by an act of the legislature to investigate what had been done, was so disheartened and disgusted with the obstacles he had to encounter during the inquiry, that, in a letter to Enos J. Throop, the Governor of the State, he expressed himself in the following words. " I have to complain that my communications to your Excellency have boen divulged, so as to defeat my measures, and bring undeserved reproach upon me. Those communications related to the means of discovering evidence of the fact of William Morgan's death. They wero not only in their nature strictly confidential, but the success of the measures suggested depended entirely on their being unknown to the parties and their friends ; yet they became known to a counsel of persons implicated in the offences upon W. Morgan. I cannot com- 1 i HAP. X. CHAP. X.] WILLIAM MORGAN. 32:3 the act savage gcs and d while (1 to all leadings c highly 1 in it. )robated iiade to eve but >})«.'nccr) t of tlie ne, was acles he it, in a ■ of the J words. ications o as to cproach to the William n their of the r being ct they dicated )t com- ment upon this fact in such a manner as to do justice to my feelings, and, at the same time, pre- serA'e the respect which is due to the chief magistrate of the State." — Again : " The conviction is forced upon my mind, tliat, if the laws are to be vindi- cated in that transaction, it must be done by some one possessing more fully than myself the con- fidence of those administering the government, and who will be better sustained by thtm than 1 have been. Public duty does not require me to forfeit my own self-respect, and the esteem of others, by con- tinuing in a situation where 1 should be exposed to treatment like that already received, and where I am practically disavowed and disowned by my em- ployers." An anti-masonic society sprang out of the in- dignation which these enormities excited ; and, if the object of its hostility be not most shamefully misrepresented, it was high time that a check should be laid upon the progress of secret societies, that are every where to be suspected, and cannot be necessary in a republic. Mr. Wirt, a man highly respected during his life for honor and integrity, stated, in his reply to the National Anti-]\Iasonic Convention, who had nominated him, in 183 J, as candidate for the Presidency of the United States, some curious and appalling Itu'ts relative to the masonic ob- ligations. Speaking of the oaths, which it wA-i 324 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. X. m proved on the trial for Morgan's abduction, were administered by the lodges in the State of New York, he said : — " I observed that in one of them (called the Royal Arch) the candidate swears, among other things, that he will aid and assist a companion royal-arch mason in distress and espouse his cause so far as to extricate him from the same, if in his power, whether he be right or wrong ; and that he will conceal the secrets of a companion royal-arch mason given him in charge as such, murder and treason not excepted ; and in other oaths, in still higher degrees, I also observe that the candidate binds himself to avenge the violated secrets of the lodge by the infliction of death on the ofiender, and to revenge the wrongs of a brother to the utmost extremity ; — and the whole mixed up with the most honible imprecations, and blasphemous mockeries of the rites and tenets of the Christian religion. In the details of the trials in the case of Morgan, it became manifest thattliese oaths are not considered mere idle and unmeaning words ; there is too much reason to believe they were tragically enforced " on that occasion. There is probably a good deal of exaggeration in this picture ; the freemasons in England, being bound, as I have been assured on the best authority, by no such oaths or obligations. The anti-masons are now a mere political party. My comnuuiicative companion was well ac- quainted with the person of Smith— the founder of 1 I CHAP. X.] FOUNDER OF MORMONITES. 325 Ihe Mormon sect. He had often seen him, and described him as a man of mean and insignificant appearance, between forty and fifty years of ag(;. He was one of those infatuated beings who are in the habit of searching for gokl by means of divining rods. Such persons are not very uncommon. The farmer had once himself a workman in his service, who followed this unprofitable trade, and who would often return home fi-om his nocturnal excursions covered with mud, and drenched with rain. I had an opportunity some time after of seeing a printed copy of the translation Smith pretended to have madeo; the " Shaster" he said he had found under a tree. I will give some account of it in another place. 326 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XI. CHAPTER XI. : I Rochester. — Rules and Remedy for bad Roads. — Fence Laws. — Trenton Falls. — Erie Canal. — Governor Clinton. — Fulton. — West Point Academy. — Kosciuszko's philanthropy. — Poor Laws. — Sermon on Wilberforce. — Colonization Society again. — Chancellor Walworth. — Antipathy.— Af'rico- American cranio- logy. — Young Lady's " Notions " upon Marriage. — Civilization of Africa. I STAID but one night at Rochester, the rapid rise and increase of which has so often been described. Its appearance is superior to that of its rival, Buffalo ; and shoukl the lowering of the toll on the canal be- tween those two places not divert that part of the produce of the Western States which now passes through the Welland canal in Canada, into New York State, from this new route, it will gain what is lost to the city of the lakes. The road between Rochester and Canandaigua was very bad, particularly in the township of Farm- ington, which is settled chiefly, if not entirely, by Quakers, who are said to be wealthy and to retain their old customs and manners. If the road were a turnpike road, the company to whom it belonged I CHAP. XI.] REPAIR OF ROADS. 327 might easily be compelled to repair it by a very simple expedient. A jury of the vicinage having pronounced a verdict against it, the gates are thrown open, and no tolls * allowed to be taken till it is put into a fit state for travelling. The fences that border the roads afford convenient materials for filling up the ruts in case of an emergency. They are made in a singular way ; and their zig-zag forn, strikes a stranger's eye by its novelty. They arc common both in Canada and in the States, and arc adinirably adapted to a new country, where wood is cheap and labor dear ; as they are easily constructed, and lar>t, upon an average, fifteen or sixteen years. Like the stumps of the girdled trees, which are left standing among the com, thrv shew that land is plentiful, and that its produce would not cover the expenses of a more costly cultivation. What is supposed to be lost between the angles, formed by the rails as they cross each other, is less than our hedges and ditches consume. How they arc to be kept in repair, and who are to pay any damages that may arise from neglecting this duty, is decided by arbitrators, called fence-viewers, whose award is final, and whose ex- penses ai-e defrayed according to a fixed per-centage, • Turnpike tolls are not piuable by persons going to or from public worsbip, funeral, gnst-niill, or blacksmith's >.hn[^ — for physician or midwife, or passing on public business, us jurors, electors, or militia-men. There is an exemption for those who reside within a mile of the gate, except carriers, &c. m i year, and the members of his family, who shall not have gained a separate settlement, shall be dee:ned settled in such town. i\ minor may Ix iniancipatcd from his or her lather, ai*d may gain a selilemeut; I. if a female, l>v being manied anfl living for one year witii her hn band; in \»liich case the luisliand's settlement shall determine that of the wife: 2. if a male, by being married, and r'sidin-r li»r one year sepaiately from the tamily of his lather: 3. by being bound as an a])pr»'ir(i<-e, and serving one year, Iv' virtue ol" such indentiw-es : 4. ))y being hired and actually serving lor one year for wages to be paid to such minor. Marrt*d woii»«»n i'ollow the settle- u^ent of their husi^^nds j ««(l. The minister (Mr. Williams, of whom I have before spoken) is RU])povted by his congirgation, as his while brethren are by their respective flocks ; that part of the .;tipend, however, which he receives cut of the Trinity fund is less than what they are paid from tlu! same source. Yet, when contributiims are raised in the chru'chcs of this denomination for religious or cluu-itable purposes, it sometimes happens that St. I'hilij) gives nu)re tlian tlie wealthier memlxrs of the white congregations, American Episcopacy, like the tree from which it q2 Hi ! i I ; I' i i\ f I t, j -'t ^ 1 1 I N b40 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XI. sprang, is separated into two distinct branches ; and the division embraces discipline as well as doctrine, — the one insisting r.n the necessity of distributing the Prayer-book with the Bible; the other as strongly denying it. The same terms, too, of " High-church" and " Low-church ", are used to designate the cor- responding sections. Trinity Church possesses great wealth ; the extent of which is less known ihan its origin. It is derived from lands granted by the crown, and was retained after it had lost in the co- lonies what was then considered its " brightest jewel." Some of the most valuable portions of the city of New York are now included in the reserv- ation. As the endowment was probably intended to pave the way for a permanent union between the State and a favored sect, it may admit of a doubt whether the independent legislature did wisely in confirming the appropriation, and thus conferring a mortmain upon a body corporate, the spiritual trea- sures of which have no necessary connexion with its secular riches. There is a French Protestant Episcopalian Church at New York — the remnant of what was a Calvinistic congregation, that was driven, at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, from Rochelle to Holland, and from thence to New York State. They had a church at the corner of Pine Street and Cedar Street — known at the time of its foundation, in 1704, as King Street and Little Queen Street. In 1800 their CHAP. XI.] AFRICAN SKULLS. 3 a exchequer was rather low, and they went over to the Episcopal Church, They had a grant of about 2000 dollars a-year from the Trinity fund, and are now comfortably provided for under Episcopal juris- diction ;— having recently built a place of worship that rivals its neighbor, the opera house, in splendor and magnificence. The service is regularly per- foi-med by the minister in the French language ; and many attend for the sole purpose of studying the idiom of a fashionable tongue. Before I relate what passed at the " African" church, 1 will mention a curious fact, which I had from the sexton. The skulls of those who have' been buried many years in the grave-yard, belonging to the congregation, were, he said, both thicker and more depressed in the front than those of recent inter- ment. This he had found to be invariably the case. As it may fairly be assumed that the former were the remains of native Africans, (he confined his re- marks to adults, and those chiefly old persons,) and to men who had enjoyed few of the advantages of civili- zation, it would seem, that, as the intellectual facul- ties expand by cultivation, a commensurate change takes place in the external structure of the head*. • Wlion Dr. Spurzheiin visittMl the Children's Hospital in Edinburgli, in 1828, he " took occasion to remark the very great contrast exhibited by the heads of those children whose parents arc in general of the very lowest ranks oflife, as com. f I -h; I y 1 H f ' B'^ ' 1' sssBm ii< I ![li 342 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XI. The fact is certain, whatever inrercnec may be drawn from it. My informant i;5 a man of highly respectable character, and not likely to assert a falsehood for the sake of a favorile theory, as he be- lieves that there is some difftrence between the European and African skulls. n<^ once ])layed off an amusing trick against the late Dr. Paschalis — a physician in the city. The doctor was pointing out to several persons the peculiarities of form which ho said distinguished the tvA'o races, when the sexton, who had just brought a cranium from the cemetery under his care, placed it before the learned physiolo- 'gist. It was immediately pronounced to have be- longed to a white ; when the other, who had taken off some hair that happened to be sticking upon it when he took it up, produced the woolly locks, and turned the laugli against the i)hrenologist. To retuni to the Africo-Araerican church and its minister. The service was read by a white clergy- man, (the pastor of Trinity Church,) and the sermon delivered by my excellent friend, Mr. Williams. The subject of the discourse was the death of Wilbcr- forcc. After a brief narrative of the philanthropist's early career, the preacher touched upon the difficul- pnrcd with the heads of the children of tlie higher classes. Though here and there was an exception, the heads were in general very low : — narrow in the frontal and sincipital re- gions." — Pliren. Journal. li CHAP. XI.] SERMON ON WILBERFORCE. 343 ties which suiTounded him in the pursuit of that hu- mane object, to which ho had devoted his hfe:— the prejudices of early education — the indifference of friends— the aHurements of fortune— the world's hos- tility and scorn. lie surmounted all : and found in the triumph which ultimately crowned his exertions, the reward of his labors, and a reputation which has identified his name with all that is celebrated in elo- quence and beloved in humanity. "To him," ex- claimed the preacher, " tmr gratitude will be for ever due. To his indefatigable zeal in our cause we owe the redress of our wrongs ; — to his cxam])le shall we bo indebted for the recovery of our rights; when i\w prejudice, which now separates us from our Icllow- countrymen, shall yield to juster notions of religious duty and social obligations. Let all, who are now suffering under unmerited opprobrium or the lash (if the task -master, be patient ; for the day of redemp- tion draweth nigh. The chains of the slave have been broken by that nation which first abolished the cruel traflic that had torn him from his native land; and this example of a generous policy will not be lost upon our country." The congregation were ex- horted 1)V every consideration, which respect for their benefactors and friends— a deep sense of duty to- wards their Heavenly Father and themselves — and the laudable wish to throw off the stigma of unde- served humiliation, can inspire, to cultivate their minds and dispositions ; and to think no effort too U li i ; •st degree ludicrous to witncsr* the anxious interest ex})ressed by the present generation of whites for the condition and com- plexion of their distant descendants. They depre- cate amalgamation as something abhorrent to natuu: an unheard-of and an unutterable monster ; — as if the realization of their fears would not be the surest evidence of their absurdity ; or as if they did not know that the half-castes and quadroons, and the; diluted subdivisions of the in black pcpulatinii In- croasos more than twice as fast as the wliite ; and, in Viriiinia, more than uuc.thirailistcr."_lluvinoud's I'ul. Kcunoinv, n. .'JU?. i ! I h 'If IF ^ :l » ■. I« 354 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XI. founders, or to be more successful in improvin}; the one country than in draining tlic otlicr. The attempt to colonize Africa with people of the same race as tlie aborigines, is, indeed, a hazardous experiment. There is no small risk of bringing into more l"i cquent and more ])o\verful fiction the princi})les of re))idsion between the two bodies than those of attraction and adhesion. Centuries of civilization have given to the Europeans an undisputed sUj/eriority over the barba^'ous tribes among which they have been settled in the darker quarters of the globe; yet how difficult they have found it to maintain their position against the natives, is too well known. To the various causes, however, which produce or prolong hostilities, is, in this case, to be added that tendency to jealousy on one side, and contenqit on the other, which a common origin and a contrariety of habits are sure to create. Self-interest would probably for some time sus-pend or su}i]>ress these feelings ; but, if once excited by any of those collisions of which the liistory of co- lonization presents so many deplorable examples, they would be exasperated by the defeat or victory of eith'jr party. From information su])])lied by the captain of a trading vessel, who had been for two or three years near that part of Africa, and had fre- quently visited Liberia, it appears that the colonists hold their barbarous neighbors in sovereign con- tempt. They carry on a lucrative trade of rum and ' I CHAP. XI.] EMIGRANTS TO IIAYTI. 355 gunpowder witli them ; and the terms and mode of barter serve to increase tliat feelin}:^ of scorn whicli opposes itself lo a friendly intercourse. What occurred in the case of those colored people who eaii^'rated, some years back, from the I'nited States to llayti, strengthens, if it does not confuin, these doubts about the practicability of the coloniz- ation scheme. Many of them were much disap- pointed at the reception they met with*. They had M \ • Tlierc is too tnucli reason to suspoct that some of these emigrants were iiuiuccd, by artful niisreprosentatioiis, to return, and were kithmppcd into tlie Slave states. That many (piitted Hayti may l)e [»roved by official doeunients. Iiniiiiae, the Se- cretary (iciiera! of that repuhhe, pul)hslied a notice upon the subject in l&I,"), declaring tiiat i\n furtiier aid wouhi be ren- dered to such emiirraiits tlian an allowance of four months' provision, and a lot of ground for cultivation, on payinji its value. The Haytian <|i)vernment had hitherto defrayed the entire expenses, not only tif the passju^e, but, in some instances^, of their removal from the interior «)f the United States to the places of embarkinent. ' it caiuiot be denied," says the Se- cretary, "that captains, not satisfied with persuading emiLjrantf:. who had settled in the r('[)ultli(', to return to the United Stati'S, have even shared with them tiic profits of the speculation. How many persons have been known to demand the means of return- ing iUniost before they had deliarked, and before the expiration of the four months for which rations had been granted by the State V" Several families, he declares, demanded permission to return three days after they had landed. The best way of coneeiding these frauds, and securing future I* 'U ■tiiT ii4 i ■ 'ill Ml ; t'i: ♦ - i i Ul' H 356 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XI. been led to expect, from a fancied idea of their own superiority, that they would meet with the greatest respect and deference in their nitercourse with the Haytians. The reverse was the case. Though well treated by the Government, many became a prey to cunning luid unprincipled men, from whose arts it could afford them but slight protection ; and all had to encounter difficulties and annoyances, for which they were unjireparcd, because they had not good sense enough to anticipate them. These facts I have from the best authority ; and may therefore be excused, if I cannot see the wisdom or ex])ediency of entrusting the arduous task of conciliating an unttUiied and jealous people to men who have had little or no opportunity, in their own country, of acquiring sufficient experience to govern others, or sufficient self-restraint to govern themselves. A few well-educated blacks from the south, where the climate has, in some measure, inured them to such sultry heats and unhealthy exhalations as prevail on the coast of Africa, would, if sent to that continent as missionaries, with a competent knowledge of medi- cine and the useful arts, have much greater effect in victims, was to dispose of those who went back, so as to give the captains an additional profit on a new specuhition. Shives, like dead men, tell no tales. Persons have told me that they have seen among tlieni the very men who had embarked some time before for Liberia. HAP. XI. cir own greatest ni\i the igh well prey to ! arts it all had r which ot good facts I elbre be ediency I ting an ave had ntry, of iliers, or A few lere the to such evail on Linent as )f medi- effect in CHAP. XI.] AFRICAN CIVILIZATION. 357 advancing the civihzation, while they increased our knowledge, of that mysterious and interesting portion <^f the globe, than a hundred Liberias, constructed of such materials, and exposed to such influences, as that nondescript offspring of the American Coloniz- ation Society. I as to give . Slaves, tliat thoy kod some I I 358 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. CHAPTER XIT. Frro Blacks — Al)()Iition of Northern Slavery. — Discussion on Kiglits of Man Coniirt'ss at Panama Too mnrh IVoodom in South American States Saint Dominiro exeluded from West India Trade; rhiloso[)!iy of the Skin. — Mnlutto's Parental FoeliiiLrs. — Chivalry of Slave-Owners and Ouekios of Slavery. — The Fanatics mohbed Abolitionists. — Non-intercourse and Non-consumption. TriEiu; is not, I believe, one trade in New York, in vvhicli its colored iuliabitants arc allowed to work with tlin whites. There are nearly t20,0()0 of them in the city, and more than twice that nuniLcr in the State. It will hence be seen at once how clo.jely the self-in- terest of the mechanics and other journeymen is con- nected with the continuance of a prejudice, which thus shuts the door against so many competitors. All classes would gladly get rid of them, if they could; for the same feeling prevnils eviywhere, though it may vary in degree, with that (^x libiled by the Ken- tuckians, when they formed their State Colonization Society in 1827, because, as they stated, the scheme I fj AP. XII. CHAP. XII.] EMANCIPATION. 359 ussion on rocdom in rom West . Parental )f Slavery, ['ourse and York, in to work f tliom in lie State, c sclf-in- n is con- c, which tors. All could ; lhou!];h it the Ken- iiiziition e scheme of the jiarent association was calculated, " to relieve the citizens of that commonwealth from the serioUvS inconveniences, resultinj? from the existence among tliem of a rajiidly increasing; nund)er oi free persons of color, who are not subject to the restraints of slavery." It is seldom that a pleonasm is so full of meaning. Ajjprenticcship was substituted for slavery in the year 18'-I7,by an act which was passed by the legis- lature of the State of New York about ten years be- fore ; all above 27 years of age being declared li'ce at that period, and all below to serve as a))]n-entices till they arrived at the same time of life. No compensa- ti(ni was allowed to the owners; and no injury re- sulted to cither parly from this measure ol" justice. Though so many of these '' scourges " Wijre let loose up(m the public, — (there were 10,0(M> in 18-20,)— no throats were cut and no houses burnt down. Mat- ters soon adjusted themselves to the new ordir of tilings; and the good efl'ects arising from the natural stimulus thus applied to industry were visible in the improved condition of th()S(^ who had Ihh n emanci- pated, and who niaN uow be seen, in great numbers, in the stv<.vts of New York, and of other eities as de- cently dressed and as well bclK^vvd us their skin- prv>ud countrymcni. The transition from slavery to freedom was simple and uniTn})eded ; as the I'oniier had long been found to bo unprolitable, and the latter was not retarded by r: » m m 360 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. bounties to its rival or restrictions upon itself. Stand- ing armies and stipendiary magistrates were not want- ed to protect the few against the many, in the plunder they still retained, and provide employment for the friends of a distant government. So completely was the system extinct, that many masters were willing to give away their slaves, and advertisements in the newspapers announced their intention. That the abolition ol" slavery in New England was attended with little or no loss to the owners of that species of property, is well known. " Negro children," says Dr. Belknap, " were reckoned (in Massachusetts) an incumbrance in a family; and, when weaned, were given away like puppies. They have been publickly advertised in the newspapers to be given away." " In the country, tlie negroes lived as well as their masters, and often sat down at the same table, in the true style of republican equal- ity."— Hist. Coll. IV. 200. There was little merit in relinquishing what it would have been bad policy to withhold ; and no gra- titude was due for a gift, which was clogged with conditions that robbed it of its justice while it left it none of tlie graciousness of a favor. If to support and sanction by words and by actions those principles, on which alone the practices they have laid aside are founded, be criminal, the differ- ence of guilt between the workers of iniquity and its abettors, is all that the citizens of the non-slave-hold- ^ J, '■ » I p. XII. ■>tand- , want- lunder for the t many es, and «d their n New s to the known. cclioned ily; and, ;. They vspapers nogroes down at n equal- what it |d no gra- iied with it left it ly actions fees they lie differ- ly and its Eive-hold- CIIAP. XII.] NEW MODK OF REASONING. 361 ing States can claim. Not a sliadow of excuse, in deed, or palliation can they adduce for their conduct. When pressed by an a])i>eal to their sens(> of religion and justice, they arc utterly at a loss to explain their behavior by motives consistent with either. It was inex])ressibly painful to my mind to witness the blindness and self-delusion under which these people labored. It was a ])sychological anomaly that I could not comprehend —an irreconcileable contradiction to every idea I had formed of intelligent and reasonable creatures -an afilicting picture of " a naked human heart," with all its inconceivable incongruities. Night and day was 1 tormented by the most bitter reflections. I was living with men I could not esteem. I ftlt it was unmanly to be silent: and [ knew it was vain to remonstrate. Sometimes my zeal got the better of my prudence, and I fell into discussions which cxi)erience told me were useless. I had, one day, a long c;^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) 872-4S03 ^ ^7 ^ 362 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. ^tf must be inferior to the white, because his father, who was a physician (a Virginian) had once proved, in a public lecture, that the black had a long heel, and a short forehead*. From this antithesis between the sinciput and the os calcis it followed, as a matter of course, that his intellect was inferior to that of a man whose extremities are contrasted in a reverse manner ! — nothing could be plainer, except the in- ference, that he was a proper subject for coercion and contempt. On the score of conscience, my op- ponent felt perfectly at ease. The colored man had no sort of reason to complain of ill-usage. It was the custom of the country ; and the whites were not in the least to be blamed, because they had deter- mined to act as they did. The " African " was little better than an ourang-outang ; and, as Nature did nothing in vain, the final cause for the i)eculiarity of structiu-e was to be found in the profit and amuse- ment of " Heaven's last, best work " — the Caucasian. Having hinted, that complexion could afford no cer- tain criterion of moral qualities, as its color might be changed by accident, (by the nitrate of silver, for * The same argument, drawn by tlie Anglo-Americans from an assumed physiological fact for enslaving the Africo-Ameri- cans, may be used by their dear and faithful ally, Russia, for her treatment of the Poles. According to a sketch given by Blu- raenbaeh of a Pole's head, and that of a negro, the facial angle is precisely the same in both 2;>ccimens. See Lord's Popular Physiology, 4ti9. p. XII. CHAP. XII.] FOREIGN POLICY. 363 father, iroved, g heel, eiweun matter lat of a reverse the in- cocrcion , my op- nan had It was were not ad deter- was little itm-e did diarity of d amuse- aiicasian. d no cer- (lor might silver, for instance,) I was assured by this infallible disput- ant, that I must be in error, because his father was a physician ; and, if such effects had ever been pro- duced by the improper use of medicine, he would not have omitted to inform his son of such an extra- ordinary circumstance. This was unanswerable. Such is the sort of logic used by those who suffer the understanding to be led by the feelings, without inquiring how they came by them. Talk to them upon common subjects, and they are as clear-headed and acute as other people ; but touch upon this topic, and the best educated man amongst them will utter more nonsense in a given time than the most unlettered clown in the three kingdoms. How ridiculous to challenge the admiration of the world, when every ])hilosophcr that has enlightened it, every poet that has delighted it, every divine that has instructed it, cries " shame ! " upon them for their want of wisdom, generosity, and religion ! It is curious to observe how the foreign policy of the nation is influenced by these feelings. Whether the Emperor Alexander * be solicited to urge upon 1 ( m 'If, jricans from frico-Amori- issia, for her Ivcn by Blu- fticial angle Ird's Popular * ♦' Early in 1825, the United States made overtures to Russia and France, having for their object to procure an acknowledge- ment of the independence of the American repubKcs on the basis of guarpntvM'ing to Spain the possession of Cuba and Puerto Rico." — American Animal Reg., 1825. " You are authorized, in the spirit of the most perfect frankness and fricndshii), which have ever characterised all the r2 r % :]fil TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. XII. Ferdinand the recognition of Soutli American in- dependence ; — whcllier fears be entertained that Cuba should fall into the hands of England or of Mexico; — whether Ilayti is to talurpas.s the 3 bestowed hings, that onger sub- ion to the ico, by the e atWash- :letermined e Southern IS into the w-born li- L, declared iment had 3a ties with 3ression of CHAP. XII.] HAVTI. 371 the slave-trade. " That error," he exclaimed, " has been happily corrected. The first treaty has failed ; and the second was nearly unanimously ro)ect(>d by this body. Our policy, then, is now firmly fixed : our course is marked out. With nothing connected with slavery can we consent to treat with other na- tions ; and, least of all, ought we to touch the question of the independence of Ilayti, in conjimction with revolutionary governments, whose own history af- fords an example scarcely less fatal to our repose. Those governments have proclaimed the principles of liberty and equality, and have marched to victory under the banners of ' universal emancipation.' You find men of color at the head of their annies, in their legislative halls, and in their executive de- partments. They are looking to Hayti *, even now, with feelings of the strongest confraternity; and shew, by the very documents before us, that they acknowledge her to be independent, at the moment when it is manifest to all the world beside, that she has resumed her colonial subjection to France." Worse language than this was used by John Ran- * The government of the United States, as soon as '* a decent regard" for the world's gotjd opinion wovdd admit, ac- knowledged Miguel de facto King of Portugal, while the Ha}tian is still in its eyes a rehel. Yet its import trade with the former amounts to no more than 123,810 dollars, and its export to 28,562 ; while the latter supplies it with goods to the value of 2,833,386 dollars, and takes from it 1,669,003. I li If 4 ( I V \ i ' ' ' ' 372 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAI'. Xlf. clol))li ; and tlic senate cxliibitcd, during the long and protracted discussion, the most rabid symptoms of the endemic monomania. " The peace of eleven States in this Union," said 31r. Benton of Missouri, " will not permit the iVuits of a successful negro insurrection to be exhibited among them. It will not ])ermit black consuls and ainbassadors to establish themselves in our cities, and to parade through our country, and give t!ii ir fellow blacks in the United States j)roof in hand of the honors which await them for a like successful elfort on their part. It will not permit the fact to be seen and told, that, for the murder of their masters and mistresses, they arc to iind friends among the white people of these United States. No ! ]Mr. President, this is a question which has been determined here for three and thirty years;— one which has nevisr been open for discussion at home or abroad, either under the Presidency of General Washington, of the first Mr. Adams, of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, or Mr. Monroe. It is one which cannot be discuss(.'d in this chamber on this day :— and shall we go to Panama to discuss it ? I take it in the mildest suj)- posed character of this congress, — shall we go there to advise and consult about it ? Who are to advise and sit in judgment upon it ? Five nations, who have already put the black man upon an equality with the white, — not only in their constitutions, but in real life : — five nations, who have at this iAi'. xir. lie long mploms )ii," said lie Iruits ^^liibitcd sills and r cities, ve t]i(ir id of the ul cirovt be .seen crs and e white esident, :^d here > never , either , of the son, or jcussed J i(o to St sup- r) there advise s, who ^nality utions, ^t tliis CHAP. XII. J IIAYTI. .373 moment (at least some of them) black generals in their armies, and mulatto senators in their congresses ! " I ninst not forget, while censuring another country, that my own has not only refused to acknowledge the independence of the black republic, but has interdicted all kinds of commerce between her colonies and Ilayti, although ])rovisioiis are five or six times as cheap in the latter. An Englishman, be- fore he boasts of having done justice to the black man, would do well to read the following extract from a statute jiassed by his government in 1S24, and still in force. " And be it further enacted, that no British merchant sliij) or vessel shall sail from anv place in the island of .Jamaica to any ])lace in the is- land of Saint Domingo, nor from any place in the is- land of Saint Domingo to any place in the island of of Jamaica, under the penalty of the forfeiture of sucli ship or vessel together with her cargo," &c. Inter- course by foreign vessels is prohibited by the same act. And yet we constantly hear surprise or exulta- tion expressed that Hayti has not made greater pro- gress, while her resources are thus crippled. After what has been said of the low debasing standard, which has been set up in America to measure every one's eligibility to a respectable station in society, it would be dohig no injustice to those who have adopted it, to designate them by the api^ellation of practical materialists ; since they act '■' f 374 TOUR IN THE UNITKl) STATES. [CIIAP. XII. and jii(lf(o upon the fixed belief tliat there is an indis- solulde tie between the l)odily structure of man and his moral endowments. C'an a more j^ovelling su]»erstition be found in " the rud(! Carinthian boor," or the dusky Hottentot? While the Anj^lo- Ameriean's mind is dcfj^raded by this infirmity, he must submit to be placcsd in the; lowest scale ol" civilised Ixdnjjfs. lie may be admired for his com- m(;rcial enterj>rise, his mechanical slvill. Ids rail- roads, canals and steam-ljoats : — every thinf^ that contributes to his physical vvell-bein^ : — but he can never be respected for moral excellence, expansion of mind, or generous sym])athies. If I were to tell my friends in I'lngland that one of the most enlightened and estimable men with whom I became acquainted in America, (hiclared to me that he really did not think he could eat his dinner were a colored man sitting at the same table with hin», I should bo accused of cxceiiding tlit; limits of a trav(!ller's ])rivilege. To Ix; the dupe; of his own imagination, is the fat(^ of almost every one who visits a foiiign country: but the conviction of the 1 uth which dissipated tin; dreams and illusions I had formed of a land so highly i'av.tred, brought with it no counterbalance to the ])ainful disa})point- nKiUt it occasioned. It surely was not unreasonable to (ixpcct some fiortion of Christian love and humility towards their II A p. XII. CHAP. XII.] IlKLIGIOUS HYPOCRISY. 375 an indis- niaii and Tovclling arinthian Anglo- mity, he scale of liis com- his rail- in;,' that t he can cpan.sion that one en with lared to eat his me table ling the dupe of <'v.ry one ction of illuisions brought ippoint- ^t some ds their immediate neighl)ors, among those who were send- ing out missionaries to evangelize the remotest corners of the globe; — k\v would have been ])re- pared to And an obstinate denial f)f justice and charity where IJible societies ab()und(;d: and soine- thing like lilxirality of mind and grxxl sense might have been looked for in the home aud sanctuary of schools. When a p(!ople make a profession of religion, we have a right to ask them why they set at nought the ])recepts it teaches and the duties it inculcates : and we cannot but be grieved when we sec them lay aside its letter, as well as its spirit, like; an old almanack, to mak(! way for a code of ethics that has nothing to recomuiendit but the humiliation it inflicts upon those whom its framers have injured and o])i)ressed. It may well be doubted whether llu' ])riesthood in any country is ever in advance of the s]>irit of the times. But nowhere, whatev(;r be the sect or deno- mination, have they so basely jtrostituted their sacred calling to the furtherance of the very vices they were ordained to correct and control. 'I'hcy have left a stain u])on their character which c;in neither be removed nor j)alliat(!d. The (Quakers form no excej)tion to this disgraceful servility. 'I'hey are as C()nten)])tuous to their sable brethren as th( strict- est K])i,seo])alian, or the most orthodox Presbyterian. It would seem as if the evil principle w(;re per- mitted to assume the garb of sanctity, to shew that If ■('' ! it ^iik I i, 1 I 376 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. religion must be true or it could not survive under the weight of such hypocrisy. It is not to be snpj)csed that she can escape un- hurt and unconta.ninatcd from such evil communi- cation. Some observaticms made to me on this sub- ject by a mulatto, loft a strong ini])R'ssion on my mind. I had been surprised, on a former visit to his house, at what I thought his calm resignation under unmerited ojiprobrium. He \\ as a man of a very powerful mirul, and endowed by nature with a depth of reflection far above the avcage to ])c found among those who despised him. His son, as I can myself testify from an examination, was a lad of very promising talents and literary habits. The father was but the more distressed and embarrassed what to do with him. He had tried to gd him into a theological seminary, that he might become a minister of religion ; yet, though he was provided \, ith ihe best recommendations, and unexcei^tionable testimonials of the boy's abilities and moral cha- racter, the })oor lad's application, after a susjiense of six months, with all its attendant anxieties and annoyances, was rejected for no other reason but that which was sui)plied by the outer garment he had received liom Nature at his birth. " 1 strive," said the parent, " to suppress the indignati«ni 1 feel at the cruelties to which every one of my race is exposed here : — but 1 candidly confess to you that I am driven almost to desperat" n. I love my boy : CHAP. XII.] KIGHTS OF THE PLANTERS. .377 and wisli to fulfil my duty towards him by givinj^ him a good education, and placing him where he may be usefully and respectably emidoyed. But all my efforts are useless:— my hopes are blasted:— and 1 know not what is to become of him. My belief in religion is shaken, when I see its professors so little influenced by it. We have connnilted no crime :— yet we are condennied witliout a trial, and are allowed no defence. We are held up to the world as the very outcasts of society :~we are out- raged and crushed to the earth with impunity. But, perhai)s, the most galling of all the accusations brought against us is that of cowardice: happy should I be if I had an opportunity of shewing its falsity ! Let us engage hand to hand in equal num- bers ; — and it will be seen whether courage has any thing to do with complexion." I rej)lied, that I trusted the contest would be decided by other wea- pons than those oi" ibrce ; and that 1 firndy believed the day was not far distant, when full justice would be done them. A few days after this conversation, 1 was at a dinner party, where I met a i)lanter from the South, who maintained, or rather asserted, that th i negro was a species of ourang-outang, and ought not to be considered, and, consequently, not to be treated, as belonging to the human race. His slaves, he added, were his property— his cattle; and he s])ok(,- the sentiments of all in the South, when he declared he if i • 3 • 1 , 1 >A 378 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. would draw his sword against any one who should dare to interfere with his rights. This sort of lan- guage, though unusual in civilized society, is natural enough. What is gained or held by injustice, is generally defended by violence. In such a case, it would be want of reason to appeal to reason. There is a law of force, when there is no force of law. The employment of the one proves that the other is wanting. If we see a house barricaded in time of profound peace, we susj^ect that the owner de facto is not owner de jure. The bandit and the pirate are known by the cocked pistol and the grasped dagger. This gentleman felt, or affected to feel, great indifference to the dangers with which the increasing number of slaves menaces their masters ; who, he said, could take care of themselves, and did not need any assistance from the free States. It may well be doubted whether this feeling of security be so general as he declared it to be. Cowardice and cruelty usually go together ; and the absence of the one is not indicated by the blustering of the other. Well, indeed, may the heartless oppressor listen in the midnight breeze for the shouts of his infuriated victims, led on to vengeance by some sable Spartacus or some colored Kosciuszko. The same sort of language was used in Congress by Mr. Blair of South Carolina, in 1832. " lie could tell gentle- men ", he said, " that when they moved that ques- tion (slavery) seriously, they from the South would ' i i. 1 l4^ CHAP. XII.] CONSTITUTION. 379 meet it elsewhere. It would not be disputed in the house:— but in the open field, where powder and cannon would be their orators, and their arginnents lead and steel." The slave-states should be the last to cry out against the interference of the general Government with matters within their exclusive jurisdiction. Does it not already interfere in protecting the mas- ter against the slave ? Then why not interfere to protect the slave against the master? To grant liberty, it seems, is unconstitutional: — to keep up a standing army in time of peace is not so. If the north must not lighten the southern slave's chain, w^hy should the south be permitted to fasten it on the northern free-black .? The free States are taxed to keep down the slaves by an armed force; are insulted by the expulsion or exclusion of their citi- zens from a large portion of the Union, and are then gravely told, that the constitution forbids their meddling with the question of slavery ! This boasted constitution is a very convenient instrument for the south. It converts natives into foreigners, and fo- reigners into natives. It sends away the " Africans" lest they should become Americans*, and refuses * Jefferson said, when objections, on constitutional grounds, were made to a grant from Congress to the Colonization So- ciety, that " a liberal construction, justified by the object would go far, and an amendment to the constitution the whole length necessary." J I; ^' |4i m ' i''« .1 i Ri: f Ni,; i'^l I Jl. 380 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. XII. its promised protection to the Clierokccs that lliey may remain Indians*. The abolitionists are told tliat they must not inter- fere with this " delicate question", because it is a matter of State regulation and out of the jurisdiction of Congress. But tliat is the very reason why they ^should interfere. It is well known that the slaves were worse treated in our chartered colonics than in those under tlie immediate control of the home go- vernment. It is precisely because the general legis- lature cannot check the local legislatures, that tlie * Tlu> poor Cherokees must be sadly puzzled to under- stand the logic of the white man. The Supreme Court of the United States refuses them protection because they are not foreigners ; while the President of the United States refuses them protection because they arc foreigners. " The Court," says the former, " has bestowed its best attention on this question ; and, after mature deliberation, the majority is of opinion, that an Indian tribe or nation, within the United States is not a foreign State in the sense of the Constitution, and cannot maintain an action in the Courts of the United States." " The (juestion presented," says the latter in his first message to Congress, " was whether the General Government had a tight to sustain those people (the Cherokees) in their preten- sions. The ('onstitution declares that no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, without the consent of its legislature. If the General Govern- ment is not permitted to tolerate the erection of a confederate State within the territory of one of the members of this Union, against her consent, nmcli less would it allow a foreign and independent government to establish itself there." I CHAP. XII.] planters' toast. 881 local legislatures ought to be checked by public opi- nion. Here, however, the planter talvcs his stand, and throws do\\ n the gauntlet of defiance to every in- truder upon his domain. The following toast, equally remarkable for the elegance of the language and the humanity of the sentiment, was given, in the aulumn of 1S,33, at a public dinner in (jieorgia : " Southern liberty and southern slavery! — like the Siamese twins, insepa- rably united and mutually dependent on, and ne- cessary to, the existence of each otlier." The Co-" lumbia Telescope (South Carolina) tells the " fana- tics" plainly what they must cxjiect if they do not mind their own business. " Let us," says this Cam- byses of the American press, " declare, through the public journals of our country, that the question of slavery is not, and shall not be, open to discussitm : — that the system is deep-rooted amongst us, and must remain for ever;— that the very moment any private individual attempts to lecture us upon its evils and immorahty, and the necessity of ])utting measures into o])eration to secure us from them : — in the same mo- ment his tongue shall be cut out and cast upon the dunghill. ^^\> are freemen, s])rung from a noble stock of freemen, able to boast as noble a line of an- cestry as ever graced this earth. We have buming in our bosoms the spirit of free men, — live in an age of enlightened freedom, and in a country blessed with its privileges,— under a government that has pledged 382 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. % 1 ; ■ 'r itself to protect us in the enjoyment of our peculiar domestic institutions, in peace and undisturbed. We hope for a long continuance of these high privileges; and have now to love, cherish, and defend, property, liberty, wives and children — the right to manage our own matters in our own way ; and, what is equally dear \nth all the rest, the inestimable right of dying upon our own soil, around our own friends, in struggling to put down all who may attempt to infringe, attack, or violate any of these sacred and inestimable privi- leges." Few would deny to this chivalrous descendant of a long line of ancestry, tlie inestimable privilege of dying, if he can do so, around his own friends in any struggle he may choose to shew his prowess in. And what is this system for which he would wish to die ? It is one, rather than live under which, many have died. Of its horrors some faint idea may be formed, from the atrocities committed under the hope of es- caping from them. In 1824, four negroes were exe- cuted at Greenupsburg in the State of Kentucky, for murdering their owner while he was transporting them down the Ohio to the New Orleans' market. " They died," according to NUes's Register, " with- out shewing the least compunction for the crime com- mitted ; and one of them, the instant he was launched from the cart, exclaimed * Death ! death at any time in preference to slavery ! ' " And what is this system for which the white man would wish to Uve ? Let us CHAP. XII.] INFANTICIDE. 883 attend to what a writer in the same journal says of the condition of Maryland. " We think that we speak with an entire understanding of the facts, when we state, that the character of the white laboring po- pulation in Maryland, as well as their numbers and efficiency, is declining in all the chief slave-holding counties. Whole families (not one of whom can read or write) find an asylum in our factoricfi. But the greater part, miserably equip])cd for the jouniey, desperately aim for Indiana and Ohio. The fee of Maryland (not estimating the counties in which there are few slaves) is hardly worth one-third of what it was; and hundreds of landholders, whose fathers lived in affluence, are reduced almost to poverty, with- out any personal act of indiscretion to cause it. This fact is feelingly felt by all those whose recollection ser\'es them for thirty years past : and things are get- ting worse and worse every day." A very affecting instance of the powerful impression made upon the mind by the cruelties, which every slave is made to feel or witness, took place a short time ago in the State of Kentucky. The Hopkins- ville Advocate calls it *' a curious case." " A negro woman,*' says that paper, " the property of Wilson Cooxy, was arraigned for killing her own child. She was seen to retire on a Sunday evening, apparently cheerful and contented, to the house in which she usually slept. The next morning the child was found dead, and laid out ; having been killed by a blow upon I I)!! wr \'. B-l > i I It' 1- 3S4 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. XII. the head with an axe. The mother was missing, and could not be found for several dajs; and, when found, seemed in a state of stu})id derangement, and almost famished with hunger. For some time, she refused to talk at all ; but, at length voluntarily broke silence, and confessed that she had had it in contem- j)lalion, for several years, to kill her child and then to kill herself; — that she thought both she and her child would be happier in another world than in this; — that about three years ago, she set off to go to a very deep spring in the neighborhood, for the purpose of drowning herself; but that, on her way, she reflected that her child would be left behind, in this world, to sutler in slavery: — that she then determined to return and kill her child, and then to kill herself; but that she had not the firmness sooner to carry her resolu- tion into effect. She had been observed to treat her child with more than ordinary tenderness. She was tried and found guilty of murder ; sentence of death was passed upon her; but her execution was de- ferred, she being enceinte.'''' The medical jurist would probably consider this a case of monomania, aggravated, if not brought on, by the peculiar circumstances in which the unfor- tunate patient was placed at the time of the infanti- cide. In most countries she would have been ac- quitted of the murder on this ground : — but here was a crime, by which property had been destroyed. If declared " not guilty," she would have been no CHAP. XII.] CASKS OF CHCKLTV. .385 longer of value to lier master :— if condeuined, the State would give him some compensation lor the loss. The plea of pregnancy, as a reason for delay- ing the execution of a sentence, is generally granted from motives of justice and humanity. Here there was a more powerful advocate than either. The owner had a pecuniary interest in the birth of the child. So much care is taken to conceal what is passing on the plantations in the South, that it is incidentally only, and when the liberal limit to cruelty is ex- ceeded, that publicity is given to deeds of extra- ordinary atrocity. Enough, however, is on record, of what is daily practised without observation or animadversion, to stamp the whole system with the indelible mark^; of unmitigated and inevitable atro- city. Two very shocking cases of brutality are mentioned by the American Annual Register, as having taken place in Virginia, in 1826. The one was that of a poor boy, whom his master (Captain Carter) ordered, for some offence he had committed, to be suspended by a rope from the ceiling of a smoke-house. There he was left;— and there he died. This occurred in Richmond. The other case was attended with cir- cumstances, if possible, more horribly revolting. A negro, of the name of Isaac Reed, was flogged with a cow-hide by three men,— Grace, Whipple, and Henderson, — and then suspended from the beams of VOL. I. js i 1 It w IriM ! "-'A ■ I ! ■ ill ' if ! ii 386 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [cHAP. XII. a house with his toes just touching the? ground. They lelt him in this state of torture ; and on their return, found him dead. Tlioy were, with much difficulty, secured by the i)ro|K'r officers, and sent to gaol. The most distressing part of the story remains to be told. The poor sufferer was wholly innocent of any offence towards these fiends. lie had been pointed out by an old woman, who had the reputation of a witch, as the person who had robbed Grace or some money he had lost. The money was soon alter discovered ; and it was proved that Reed could not possibly have taken it. It is not stated whether the jier|ietrators of these diabolical outrages were punished or not. There is nothing even said of Carter's arrest. The chances of impunity may be seen in the following case, which I have copied verbatim from the same publication : — premising that another of the same kind is recorded by it of a negro, named William, who was burnt alive, at Greenville, (South Carolina,) in August, 1H25. " .Tuly (1827). Burning a negro. — In the early part of this month, in the Northern part of Perry county, (Alabama,) a Mr. M'Neily having lost some clothing, or other property of no great value, the slave of a neighboring planter was charged with the theft. M'Neily, in company with his brother, found the negro driving his master's wagon. They seized him ; and either did, or were about to, chas- tise him, when the negi'o stabbed M'Neily so that CHAP. xir. [) ground, cl on their ith much id sent to •y remains innocent Ho had ) had the ad robbed loney was hat Reed lot stated 1 outrages even said ty may be ve copied premising by it of a ; ahve, at ^•25. the early ; of Perry lost some value, the rged with s brother, 3n. They ; to, chas- ly so that CHAP. XII.] SLAVE niTRNT ALIVE. 387 he died in an hour afterwards. The negro was taken before a justice of the }>eace ; who, after serious deliberation, waived his authority — perhajis through fear, as a crowd of persons had collected to the number of seventy or eighty near Mr. People's (tlie justice's) house. He acted as president of the mob, and ])ut the vote ; when it was decided he should be immediately executed by being burnt to death. The culprit was led to a tree, and tied to it, and a large quantity of pine-knots collected and placed around him, and the fatal torch applied to the ])ile, — even against the remonstrances of several gentlemen who were j>rescnt, — and the miserable being was in a short time bunit to ashes. An incpiest was held over the remains. This is the second negro who has been thus put to death without judge or jury in this county." One would hope that " thus " does not mean that the other suffered in the same way *. The former case of burning alive was in anotlier State. The repetition of this enormity, under the eyes and with the sanction of a magistrate, pro- claims, in language that cannot be misunderstood, * Niles, after givini: an account of an auto da fe in Spain, where a poor Jew was burnt alive for tlie good of his soul, ex- claims with honest indignation, " What a pack of infernal scoundrels ! may they be rewarded ! — hut can it be true > " This incredulity from the citizen of a country where human beings are publicly burnt alive without a trial, and in the pre- sence of a magistrate, is liighly complimentary to Spain. s2 Vi: "if 1 n :l| i il 388 TOUR IN THIi UNITED STATES. [CHAl'. Xlf. the character of a system, to wliich West Indian bar- barity is mercy and mildness. The spirit that is now abroad has made it a matter of prudence with the editor of the American Annual Register, or rather Niles, from whom he gets the facts, not to liurt the feelings of his readers by narra- tives of this description. It is to put an end to these and similar horrors that the abolitionists are making an appeal to the conscience and honor of their country. It is for their exertions in furtherance of this sacred duty, that they have been stigmatized as incendiaries, and pointed out to the lowest rabble as the proper ob- jects of their blind and blood-thirsty violence. I was present at the formation of the New York anti-slavery society ; and was an eye-witness of the dangerous risks to which humanity exposes herself, when she dares to tell a free people of their crimes and their faults. It was about seven or eight in the evening, when thirty or forty persons, pursuant to an advertise- ment which had been previously published, assem- bled in a place of worship ; the room that thi v had engaged at the Clinton Hall having been refused them by the trustees of that hotel. After they had formed themselves into an association for the abo- lition of slavery, they were about to disperse as quietly as they had met, \n hen the doors were suddenly thrown open, and a mob of three or four hundred men, who CHAP. XII.] NKW VOHK MOIJ. ;}8J) had given notice of tlicir approach hy a most tre- mendous shout, rushed in, uttering threats and exe- crations against the emancipationists, among whom Garrison, who had just arrived from England, and was supposed to be present, was particularly desig- nated by name as the chief object of their fury. This gang was part of a body consisting, as the papers informed the public next moniing, of seven or eight thousand men, who had met together with the avowed object of putting down the meeting ; and finding their prey escaped from tlie Clinton, had retired to another inn, and passed their own re- solutions unanimously. Many of them, if credit is to be given to their own party, were aimed with dirks and daggers ; and all were animated by a spirit from which neither freedom of discussion, nor per- sonal safety to their opponents, could be expected. It was fortunate, however, for all parties that the adjourned meeting had been dissolved, as the pro- jected meeting had been adjourned before the arrival of the enemy at the respective points of attack. Gan-ison, whom they sought, was incognito among the seekers ; and it ha])pened that there was, at the same moment, a school society assembled above. This j)iece of intelligence was communicated to the mob on their reaching the place; and the difficulty of distinguishing between the two meet- ings checked their career, and facilitated the escape of the company, among whom were two female I' It K P I I i 1^ "I I ! 4. 390 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. Quakers with fewer signs of alarm about them than the vest. I remained some time on the spot to see what was coming next, when a wretched looking old black was seized hold of by some one, who thought him, as he stood in the door-way, a good subject for ribaldry, and hurried him to a bench, upon which he was mounted and installed as chairman : mock re- solutions were then passed, and the poor fellow, who had thus been elevated to be insulted, evinced his superiority to the " lords of misrule " by humor- ing the scene. The noise and laughter that pre- vailed, prevented my hearing the whole of what passed ; and I left the church with no favorable impression of a people, who could thus outrage the feelings of a rational being in the very place dedi- cated to the service of their common Father. It would be unjust to involve the inhabitants of New York in the disgrace and odium of these pro- ceedings. The furious passions exhibited on this occasion had been excited by some Southerners, of whom there were a great number in the city at tlie time, and who had addressed the citizens through the columns of a morning paper, — remarkable for its low scurrility and vulgar brutality, — calling upon them to meet in such force at the Clinton, as should for ever silence the Garrisons and Tappans. It is due also to the respectable portion of the press to state, that, both before and after the riot, it repro- bated the intention of employing intimidation, and CHAP. XII.] GUILT OF AMERICA. 391 remonstrated most strongly against the introduction of a precedent, which would substitute physical force for argument, and subject freedom of debate to the will of a lawless mob. It is in vain that the advocates of impartial jus- tice are called upon by the timid and the time-serv- ing to desist or delay. The cause in which they are, heart and hand, engaged, is every day gaining new converts. They are prepared for every .sacri- fice and every trial ; and are resolved to persevere in the task they have chosen, till their country be for ever free from the disgrace and dangers of slavery. America is deeply in debt to outraged humanity. She has enriched herself by plunder and oppression. —The day of settlement is at hand ;— the creditors are clamorous and impatient:— there will be no peace for her till her drafts on Africa are paid. Not the least part of the debt is involved in the cruel indignities to which the free sons of those who were stolen from their native land are subjected by the descendants of the robbers. The heart sickens at the recital of their wrongs. I can say, with the ut- most sincerity, that I left England with a wish to do justice to America. I thought her character had been misrepresented, and 1 was anxious to collect facts that I might adduce in her vindication on my return. I soon found, however, that I must throw up my a I, i «Ir li: ; 392 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CIIAP. XII. brief: — the libel had become a criminal indictment. ; and the former plaintiff was the defendant. I am now in the witness-box ; and I tmst the claims of justice will still be satisfied. Why should ridicule be prosecuted, if oppression is to go unpunished and unrebuked ? What are the insults the Americans complain of having received from strangers, com- pared with the injuries they have heaped upon their own countrymen ? If the charge of vulgarity be so galling, though uttered in a distant land by a few narrow-minded men, what must be the cry of utter and hopeless de- basement, raised and repeated by millions against those among whom they are doomed to live ? Is calumny detestable when it distorts or derides, and blameless when it plants a dagger in the heart ? If the whites had been slaves to a civilized community of blacks ; and had, when emancipated, been sub- jected to tb^ same social excommunication to which they have condemned the free blacks, it may well be doubted whether they would not, ;^t this moment, have been sunk to a level of civilization and respect- ability below that to which the latter have risen. For myself, I have no doubt upon the subject : and it gives me an exalted idea of human energy, when I thus see it surmounting difficulties and discou- ragements, which the pride and wickedness of the old world never, in its worst periods, employed, to ^IIAP. XII. :lictment ; t. I am claims of I ridicule ished and Lmericans ers, com- poii their J, though ,v-minded peless de- s against live ? Is •ides, and eart ? If )mmunity )een sub- to which y well be moment, 1 respect- ive risen, ject: and gy, when 1 discou- iss of the )loyed, to CHAP. XII.] DECLARATION OF WRONGS. 393 arrest the progress of human improvement. Will it be easier to resist the just clains, than it has been to check the career, of a people who possess the elastic force of Antaeus? They well know that justice is not denied them in France or in England? Will the same man who is respected in London submit to be degraded in New York ? Will he be contented to lay down or assume his " indefeasible rights " as he finds himself in Bos- ton or in Paris ? It cannot be : they are already more numerous than the whites were when they ob- tained their independence * ; and every day, while it adds to the strength of the one, diminishes the re- lative superiority of the other. It will not be long before they will be released from a yoke, compared with which the wrongs of the colonists were but an imaginary grievance. Rights of man, indeed !— the text of the declaration should be revised, and "white" inserted: wherever in that lying instru- ment, the words liberty — independence— honor religion, occur, an enonnous " caret" should mark the passage. One of the expedients adopted by the American * hi 1790 there were 694,280 slaves. 1800 889,118 1810 1,191,364 1820 1,538,178 There arc at present considerably more than two millions, ar- cording to the census ; exclusive of the free blacks. IP h4 m HR; WM 1 : i 111 .1 Ff i ' 1 i i M m- ' i 1} 4i I ': • I mpHi I ii m 394 TOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. [CHAP. XII. abolitionists to obtain their object is to abstain en- tirely from the use or purchase of every thing pro- duced by slave-labor, and to encourage the intro- duction of free labor goods. This determination is but a retaliatory measure. Some years back, when the anti-tariff standard was hoisted in the South, •John Randolph, of Roanoke, declared that " he had not purchased a dollar's worth from northern fac- tories ; and, so help him God! he never would; and, if southern gentlemen had one drop of the blood of their ancestors, they never would. He would neither eat, drink, nor wear anything from the north of the Patapsco. There were two remedies for the south ; the hrst, a rigid non-consumption of American fabrics ; and the second he would not in- dicate. It was not to be resorted to until the other had first been tried and failed." The cry of nulhfi- cation arose from a deeper feeling than any the pro- tecting policy could inflict. It was but an expres- sion of that sensitiveness which the haughtiness of slave-holding and the jealousy of northern interfer- ence combined have engendered, A placard had been stuck up some years before in Philadelphia, defying the free States, and urging a separation. The words were : " The Potomac the boundary : — the negro States by themselves." Every man of dis- cernment must see that there is a fatal want of co- hesion and homogeneity between the two great sec- tions of the Union ; and that communities, in which Ll CHAP. XII.] ABOLITION OR SEPARATION. 395 industry is either debased or discouraged, cannot be pei-manently incorporated with those that owe their prosperity and security to the wealth it creates and the respect it commands. The federal fonii of government seems to be che- rished by modern republicans because it is an in- stiument of domestic tyranny, as it was hated by their ancient prototypes because it was a shield against foreign oppression. But it was easier for the Romans to destroy it in Greece, than it will be for the Americans to preserve it at home *. * "La Republique d' Acliaie, etoit formco par une association de villes libres ; le Sciiat declara que chaque ville se gouverne- roit dorciiavant par ses propres lois, sans dependro d'une au- torite commune. La Republiciue rles Beotiens etoit pareille- mont une ligue de plusieurs villes ; mais, comme dans la guerre contre Persee, les unes servirent le jut*- de ce Prince, les autres celui des llomains, ceux-ci les recjurent en grace, moyennantla dissolution de I'alliance conunune." — Montesquieu — Grandeur et Decadence, &c. Chap. VL END OF VOL I. Ci. Woodfall, Printer, Augel Court, Skinner Street, London.